Has anyone used a household ammonia and water solution as a fertilizer to grow corn? I was told it will work. Being envious of the results the anhydrous growers get, I am considering testing it out. I grow approximately .10 acre of sweet corn.
Ammonia and Corn?
- Thread starter ray66v
- Start date
Bird
Epic Contributor
I've never tried ammonia for fertilizer, but I guess you know that "anhydrous" means "free from water and especially water of crystallization". And while it's a popular fertilizer, it must be applied properly and in the proper amount. I know one farmer who told me he had a hose burst while applying the anhydrous. He said he bailed off that tractor and ran, and the area that was sprayed by the leak didn't grow anything that year. I'm not sure, but if I remember right, you have to wait a period of time after applying the anhydrous before planting, too.
But surely we have some members who have used the ammonia and know more about it than I do.
But surely we have some members who have used the ammonia and know more about it than I do.
chh
Veteran Member
Clipped this off the web:
Jerry Baker, "America's Master Gardener," in his book Backyard Problem Solver, recommends household ammonia, the kind you can get for scant pennies in any grocery store, as a source of nitrogen in fertilizing the garden.
I've heard so many bad bits of advice blamed on Baker that I've come to regard him as something of an idiot savant, but without the savant. His advice for ammonia isn't baseless, but it's not ideal. It has roughly the same effect as having the dog pee on your plants. Or peeing on them yourself. It can be benificial or not, a little unpredictably, depending on soil type & the amount of urea & ammonia in the pee.
A teaspoon to a tablespoon of ammonia per gallon of water won't kill the plants, & some people other than Jerry Baker do recommend it as a mild nitrogen fertilizer. However, anhydrous ammonia converts to nitrogen very slowly & ends up delivering very little nitrogen even in acidic soil. In alkaline soil it converts hardly at all. In either case it will likely wash through the soil from watering & rainfall before it has done much good in the nitrogen department. The least wash-through will occur in clayey soils that do not drain well, but the majority of gardened plants will not thrive in soil that doesn't drain.
If you have alkaline soils, there will be no nitrogen effect, so some have suggested adding twice as much vinegar as ammonia to that gallon of water, in order to acidify the soil while the dilute ammonia is poored around a plant. Tinkering randomly with pH is not necessarily a good thing for the plants, however, & it remains that rainfall & average watering will wash the ammonia out of the soil before it breaks down into nitrogen.
Additionally, surface evaporation of ammonia means it is just carried away on the wind. Dilute ammonia placed in the garden while the temperature is above about 50 degrees F. evaporates more swiftly than if applied on a cold day. Yet a warm day is essential if microorganism activity is to be at maximum. If the ammonia is applied on a cold day it does not stimulate the microorganisms which process the nitrogen, but if applied on a warm day it evaporates before it can be processed by plants or by microorganisms.
Additionally, check labels before using ammonia in the garden, as some ammonia is sold with other ingredients mixed with it, useful only as cleaning solutions.
Good nitrogen production is done by microorganisms in the soil, not by adding chemicals which upset the microorganism balance. If the ammonia or ammonia-&-vinegar soil-rinses managed to kill rather than enhance microorganisms, you'll have done more harm than good.
Ammonia nitrate or other forms of ammonia are a common ingredient in balanced commercial fertilizers. These tend to be more stable (less evaporative), & in granular forms do not instantly wash out of the soil. The money saved by using a cheaper household chemical is probably not really much of a savings since it is apt to work unpredictably, inadequately, or not at all.
But fertilizers in general are over-utilized in gardens, as encouraged by vendors & the chemical industry, rather than by sensible horticultural practices. For a vegetable garden or fruit orchard which is regularly harvested, or a lawn with clippings discarded rather than mulch-mowed, soil is being constantly depleted & may indeed require regular artificial feeding to remain productive. But ornamental gardens where everything is recycled back into the garden rather than carted away to eat or discard, chemical fertilization is not half so essential.
Rather than dousing with dilute ammonia, you'll get better nitrogen in the soil by mixing in some composted steer manure & alfalfa powder & keeping the area moist.
This isn't because there's lots of nitrogen in manure compost or in alfalfa (there isn't); it's because these encourage the required microorganisms to produce nitrogen continuously, as it is required, in a form that is the most accessible to plants.
Jerry Baker, "America's Master Gardener," in his book Backyard Problem Solver, recommends household ammonia, the kind you can get for scant pennies in any grocery store, as a source of nitrogen in fertilizing the garden.
I've heard so many bad bits of advice blamed on Baker that I've come to regard him as something of an idiot savant, but without the savant. His advice for ammonia isn't baseless, but it's not ideal. It has roughly the same effect as having the dog pee on your plants. Or peeing on them yourself. It can be benificial or not, a little unpredictably, depending on soil type & the amount of urea & ammonia in the pee.
A teaspoon to a tablespoon of ammonia per gallon of water won't kill the plants, & some people other than Jerry Baker do recommend it as a mild nitrogen fertilizer. However, anhydrous ammonia converts to nitrogen very slowly & ends up delivering very little nitrogen even in acidic soil. In alkaline soil it converts hardly at all. In either case it will likely wash through the soil from watering & rainfall before it has done much good in the nitrogen department. The least wash-through will occur in clayey soils that do not drain well, but the majority of gardened plants will not thrive in soil that doesn't drain.
If you have alkaline soils, there will be no nitrogen effect, so some have suggested adding twice as much vinegar as ammonia to that gallon of water, in order to acidify the soil while the dilute ammonia is poored around a plant. Tinkering randomly with pH is not necessarily a good thing for the plants, however, & it remains that rainfall & average watering will wash the ammonia out of the soil before it breaks down into nitrogen.
Additionally, surface evaporation of ammonia means it is just carried away on the wind. Dilute ammonia placed in the garden while the temperature is above about 50 degrees F. evaporates more swiftly than if applied on a cold day. Yet a warm day is essential if microorganism activity is to be at maximum. If the ammonia is applied on a cold day it does not stimulate the microorganisms which process the nitrogen, but if applied on a warm day it evaporates before it can be processed by plants or by microorganisms.
Additionally, check labels before using ammonia in the garden, as some ammonia is sold with other ingredients mixed with it, useful only as cleaning solutions.
Good nitrogen production is done by microorganisms in the soil, not by adding chemicals which upset the microorganism balance. If the ammonia or ammonia-&-vinegar soil-rinses managed to kill rather than enhance microorganisms, you'll have done more harm than good.
Ammonia nitrate or other forms of ammonia are a common ingredient in balanced commercial fertilizers. These tend to be more stable (less evaporative), & in granular forms do not instantly wash out of the soil. The money saved by using a cheaper household chemical is probably not really much of a savings since it is apt to work unpredictably, inadequately, or not at all.
But fertilizers in general are over-utilized in gardens, as encouraged by vendors & the chemical industry, rather than by sensible horticultural practices. For a vegetable garden or fruit orchard which is regularly harvested, or a lawn with clippings discarded rather than mulch-mowed, soil is being constantly depleted & may indeed require regular artificial feeding to remain productive. But ornamental gardens where everything is recycled back into the garden rather than carted away to eat or discard, chemical fertilization is not half so essential.
Rather than dousing with dilute ammonia, you'll get better nitrogen in the soil by mixing in some composted steer manure & alfalfa powder & keeping the area moist.
This isn't because there's lots of nitrogen in manure compost or in alfalfa (there isn't); it's because these encourage the required microorganisms to produce nitrogen continuously, as it is required, in a form that is the most accessible to plants.
AGRIMAN
Platinum Member
I have used anhydrous many times on both corn and hay/pasture with good success. When properly applied there is very little loss and it seems to stay in place for me.
The only disadvantage to me was the aggravation of dealing with the plow and the tanks. I did fail to properly shut off a bleeder valve once that make me break camp. Never done that again. Fire ants can't take it ether, it wont kill them, but they will pack up and move across the fence.
Unfortunately our local supplier has stop supplying it. They blame increase restrictions and controls over security. Seems anhydrous is a key ingredient in the making of some illegal drugs and the dope heads have learn that farms are easy targets.
The only disadvantage to me was the aggravation of dealing with the plow and the tanks. I did fail to properly shut off a bleeder valve once that make me break camp. Never done that again. Fire ants can't take it ether, it wont kill them, but they will pack up and move across the fence.
Unfortunately our local supplier has stop supplying it. They blame increase restrictions and controls over security. Seems anhydrous is a key ingredient in the making of some illegal drugs and the dope heads have learn that farms are easy targets.
ToadHill
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Unless you have the right equipment don't try using any liquid ammonia. Just buy some high N granular fertilizer and be done with it. Corn needs more than just N. N is what you want for green crops, P is for fruit and flowers, K is for general plant health. If you apply just N without a soil test to determine the P & K in your soil you could end up with a nice field of corn plants with no corn.
ShadowHawk
New member
I guess this reply is "a little" late. Anyway, on the farm we apply anhydrous ammonia as a nitrogen source for our corn when the plants stand at about a foot tall. The applicator is a shank that digs a narrow furrow approx. 4" - 6" deep, with a tube to literally pour the anhydrous into the furrow that is welded onto the back side of the shank and then the furrow is immediately covered back up to prevent the anhydrous from vaporizing and being lost back into the atmosphere, as it converts to vapor immediately upon contact with any form of moisture. The application rate is determined by the results of the soil testing we perform prior to the application.
When the anhydrous is applied, it becomes locked into the moist soil and, as I said, it vaporizes almost immediately. By being covered right back up during application, the vapors are locked into the soil and spread through that layer in the general vicinity of where it was applied (directly between rows, 4-6" deep). It doesn't take long for the nitrogen from the ammonia to make it to the corn roots and start being absorbed by the plants. Usually, you can see the difference in color of the plants within 15-30 minutes of the application. The problem is that too much ammonia will burn the plants and kill them, along with any other plants to receive too much nitrogen from this process. Corn has an extremely voracious appetite and requires quite a large amount of nitrogen to perform well. The trick is to be able to feed it well without over feeding it. What I was looking for was a way to figure a similar method of applying ammonia to my garden sweet corn without over doing it.
Since I don't see an answer on how to do that, I'm going to go with an idea I saw Jerry Baker using on a TV show. He was using a mix of bottled ammonia (approx. a 4% solution, added to a gallon of water, along with some Epsom salts and some dish detergent. He was using approx. 1/4 cup of the ammonia solution from the bottle, along with 3-4 TBSP. of Epsom salts and 1 TBSP of the cheap dish detergent (Like Ajax brand), mixed in a gallon jug, with the rest being water. He then poured this mix near to, but not directly on, the roots of his corn. It might actually be a good idea to Google it just to be sure of the ratios he's using, etc. I was really kind of hoping to find a recipe that had been tried and proven over the years but it looks like I'll have to wing it here and start with the basic premise. If anyone else has come up with a working mix, I'd appreciate hearing about it, as I need to get this mix onto my corn in the next 2-3 days. Timing is everything when it comes to feeding the nitrogen. Also, remember the old farmer's adage: "Rain equals grain!" It's a very good idea to make sure your grain crops, like corn, get plenty of water while they're young if you want full, complete ears of seed to munch on. Once the plants are well established, they should be able to send roots deep enough to get plenty of moisture but making them work extra hard producing roots when they're young substantially limit just how much effort those plants will put into seed production during that period...and from then on forward.
I would appreciate any comments or ideas any one has to offer.
CHEERS!!! and Good Luck!
When the anhydrous is applied, it becomes locked into the moist soil and, as I said, it vaporizes almost immediately. By being covered right back up during application, the vapors are locked into the soil and spread through that layer in the general vicinity of where it was applied (directly between rows, 4-6" deep). It doesn't take long for the nitrogen from the ammonia to make it to the corn roots and start being absorbed by the plants. Usually, you can see the difference in color of the plants within 15-30 minutes of the application. The problem is that too much ammonia will burn the plants and kill them, along with any other plants to receive too much nitrogen from this process. Corn has an extremely voracious appetite and requires quite a large amount of nitrogen to perform well. The trick is to be able to feed it well without over feeding it. What I was looking for was a way to figure a similar method of applying ammonia to my garden sweet corn without over doing it.
Since I don't see an answer on how to do that, I'm going to go with an idea I saw Jerry Baker using on a TV show. He was using a mix of bottled ammonia (approx. a 4% solution, added to a gallon of water, along with some Epsom salts and some dish detergent. He was using approx. 1/4 cup of the ammonia solution from the bottle, along with 3-4 TBSP. of Epsom salts and 1 TBSP of the cheap dish detergent (Like Ajax brand), mixed in a gallon jug, with the rest being water. He then poured this mix near to, but not directly on, the roots of his corn. It might actually be a good idea to Google it just to be sure of the ratios he's using, etc. I was really kind of hoping to find a recipe that had been tried and proven over the years but it looks like I'll have to wing it here and start with the basic premise. If anyone else has come up with a working mix, I'd appreciate hearing about it, as I need to get this mix onto my corn in the next 2-3 days. Timing is everything when it comes to feeding the nitrogen. Also, remember the old farmer's adage: "Rain equals grain!" It's a very good idea to make sure your grain crops, like corn, get plenty of water while they're young if you want full, complete ears of seed to munch on. Once the plants are well established, they should be able to send roots deep enough to get plenty of moisture but making them work extra hard producing roots when they're young substantially limit just how much effort those plants will put into seed production during that period...and from then on forward.
I would appreciate any comments or ideas any one has to offer.
CHEERS!!! and Good Luck!
RalphVa
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Ammonia is a base. Could turn your soil way to basic for nutrient uptake.
Ralph
Ralph
gsganzer
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I've been using this on my lawn and pastures. Haymaker Liquid fertilizer from TSC
A 2.5 gallon jug covers approx. 3 acres, significantly cheaper than any granules I buy.
When you pop the lid, you get a distinct smell of ammonia.
A 2.5 gallon jug covers approx. 3 acres, significantly cheaper than any granules I buy.
When you pop the lid, you get a distinct smell of ammonia.
ShadowHawk
New member
Ralph, how do you explain all the tanks full of anhydrous ammonia we use every year on our corn crops, in order to give them a boost in available nitrogen? I'm quite well aware that over application would not be a good thing. Hence, the motivation for asking the question instead of just "winging" it.