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little_minnie

fertigation - all N and stinky

little_minnie
9 years ago

I am thinking of adding a fertilizer injector to my drip system next year so I don't have to walk around and spray. According to my soil test numbers, (didn't get suggestions, just numbers) the only nutrient I ever need to use is nitrogen, and a little boron. I would like to find a fertilizer of all N so as to not raise P and K and want it to be stinky to aid in deer prevention and liquid to fertigate. I would love help finding a product like this. When I think I have one it turns out to have other nutrients I have very high levels of.

Comments (11)

  • renais1
    9 years ago

    It is quite easy to clog a fertilizer injector with a material that does not completely disolve. This eliminates all the purely organic compounds I know of except urea (46-0-0) and calcium nitrate (15-0-0). Hydrogardens (link) has a number of organic and other fertilizers that might be of interest. I have seen certified organic farms use pelleted urea even though many people say that, since this material is manufactured, it should not be used. In Salinas, CA, there were several certified organic farms which mixed the urea with their compost, and then spread the resulting compost on their fields. When I visited them I was amazed at the extra trouble they went to to mix the urea first with the compost, but they wanted to maintain their certified status, and this was the only solution they could come up with. By using compost to fertilize their fields, they maintained the certification their commercial customers required. The farms were all growing greens, and had year-round production, so they did not have a time slot to grow a cover crop, and the greens were high N consumers. If you do not need to worry about certification, then both calcium nitrate or urea would work in the injector. If you use calcium nitrate, note that there is a film used to coat the pellets, and this film will appear in the mixed solution. I find that it does not clog my drip system, however. Some urea also has a film coating. The other thing to consider is making a pass through the planting spreading one of the fertilizers. With regard to the smell of the fertilizers: we have high deer pressure, and have not found that any fertilizer or other deer repellant works for more than a short time. Some of the worst smelling repellants also leave an undesireable residue on some food crops for a number of days.
    Renais

    Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrogardens

  • Michael
    9 years ago

    Describe your system, is it drip tape or tubing, tiny emitters, at what pressure and flow does it operate? A Hozon works great if there is very little head pressure against it and the flow is high enough. With just drip tubes and no openings ( emitters) to clog blood meal might work, never tried it myself. There's always fish emulsion for stink.

  • little_minnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I have t tape. It is a CSA and market farm.

  • little_minnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I would like to know the ins and outs of urea. I started doing a search the other day but couldn't seem to get actual facts and it seemed to be going in the non-organic direction. I have a feeling urea is less natural than fish emulsion. But it is really hard to find an all nitrogen fertilizer and urea is. I do use a little urine but would need a lot more LOL!

  • Kimmsr
    9 years ago

    The Urea sold today is a synthetic product and therefore unacceptable to organic growers.

  • Michael
    9 years ago

    Minnie, there is a fertigation unit called E - Z Grow. It is a somewhat adjustable injector that comes in different stock tank sizes. One handy feature is the ability to plug a garden hose into it and then come easily out with a filter and pressure regulator for the drip tape. I have one and have used it for years on my drip tape system in the veggie rows.

    Fish emulsion contains urea - N and the emulsion is manufactured. I don't understand how it could be considered organic given that. Is urea - N the bugaboo or is it that somebody uses industrial scale methods to make the emulsion out of only fish?

  • renais1
    9 years ago

    I use an EZ Flo I bought from Dripworks for much of my fertilization needs of the drip system. It is easy to use, and easy to refill. By using the provided flow restrictors needed for very low flow rates, I have been able to use it even for small plots. The Dripworks link has a good discussion of the benefits of the various fertilizer systems to use on drip systems. My personal experience is that fish emulsion will clog drip emitters fairly easily, especially if, like me, you are fertilizing weekly with a small dose. I use pressure compensated drippers, and they are a pain to clean or replace. For my needs, and based on my preferences, I use urea as a source of nitrogen on occasion. As you can see from the discussion above, not everybody agrees with the use of this material for N application. However, it is a very consistent fertilizer, and easy to apply. With soil temperatures above about 50F the urea is converted through ammonium compounds to nitrates in a week or so. The soil food web is very effective at this conversion, and there need not be much N loss. I actually don't use urea very often since I usually want other nutrients as well, and there are other compounds that I find work better for my natural, organic (but not certified) gardening.
    Renais

    Here is a link that might be useful: EZ Flo

  • little_minnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I think that would depend on the fish emulsion product. The one I have had for years was from Irish Eyes and was an all N but powder and all natural. It is no longer available and didn't dissolve well.

  • Michael
    9 years ago

    Alaska brand fish fertilizer is the closest thing you may find to what you want, it stinks and has a 5-1-1 analysis. It may have too many solids for drip tape though. I've never checked the solubility of blood meal, try that and see.

  • Michael
    9 years ago

    Maybe this stuff fits the bill for you, see the link I tried to do below, hope it worked.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Soluble Fish stuff