Urea 46-0-0

I got a small bag of urea 46-0-0 from a friend. Has anyone used this on their plants in the yard? If so, could you please tell me the do's and don'ts. I'm in zone 9 and we still have a small window for growth until the real cold weather hits around January. I will probably use it on a few of my plants that have not grown much. Any discussion or suggestion is appreciated.
This bag was given to me to use on St. Augustine grass. Has anyone used it on shurbs, citrus trees, etc.
Mary D.

This message was edited Oct 11, 2007 6:28 AM

be very careful= i think that could easily burn roots. i had some but only used it in compost where that wasn't an issue

I will, thanks.

i think its used more by real farmers- there should be some kind of guidelines on the bag though. i never bothered to check!

Mary,
The urea is high nitrogen. I don't think I would use it for shrubs.

Seems like anything with that high of a nitrogen content would burn just about any roots - I'd recommend cutting it *heavily* with other stuff before using it on anything alive.

You might want to google it, too....

Yes, thanks for the input. I think I'll cut it or trial test it on some plants that aren't special.

Could it be used to aid in breaking down a rather large pile of wood chips?

I have no idea about that

I agree with Kayte.
Mix it with a lot of carbon and water to make a hot pile.

I would not use it at the recommended rate around plants. Use only a small % especially for the fall when you want to slow plants down, not induce a burst of growth. I think katye has the best idea--use it to jump start compost that has a lot of carbon - wood chips in it.

I wonder if that would work on some of the push-piles a backhoe worker left in my yard?

Great idea, Katye - the K's have it, again!

Some growers use it sparingly on "greens". I read in a garden catalog that Asian greens must be grown quickly, so the growers side dress with a minute amount of urea. I'd be afraid to use it around shrubs and young trees. I would combine it with other material, lot's of material. Or dump it on the wood chips, or to heat up a new compost bin. All that nitrogen, has got to be hot.

Okay, here goes another non-scientific science experiment. I acquired a 50# sack of this sometime ago, knowing it would not be good application for any living plant material. However, I figured that the day would come when I would have a nice pile of wood chips that would need to be broken down - thought this might work.
Since I live in the land of ColdWet, I don't think it will get too hot - (open bin composting takes a lonnnng time when there is no build-up of heat units), and with all the rain we get, much of it will leach out.
But I am so curious to see what would happen with varying amounts on the same size piles in the same location on my property. I will let you know what the outcome is.
As far as using it in the compost bins, does anyone know if this might negatively affect my worms? I really like these little guys, and depend on them for their hard work.