blue fertilizer

[gusbuster]

What brand and if you know what is the analysis of this blue colored fertilizer.

I saw this blue colered fertilizer for the first time the other day. I've never seen it before.
John

[rustybullets]

Could have been UFLEXX, that stuff is blue colored. It is a "nitrogen stabilizer".

[tremor]

Hi Gus,

There is no such thing as "Blue Fertilizer". But there ARE plenty of fertilizers that are dyed blue.

Urea Formaldehyde (AKA UreaForm, Powder Blue, Blue Chip, Formalene, etc) 38-0-0 as a raw ingredient. A little too slow for a turf fertilizer. May not release entirely for several years. May also be sold in it's original form in which case it will be gray. Usually a granular, but may be a suspended liquid. Noram enjoys huge profits from this souce.

Methalene Urea (Nutralene, etc) 40-0-0, another slow release N from Noram. Low salt but pretty fast to release. Almost always a granular. Can be made into a semi clear liquid. Very expensive for what it is.

Polyon. Several grades. The coating is dyed either blue or green. Available in several different coating thickness. The better grades are good stuff..Always granular. Not a bad value in some cases.

Peters, Fritts, LESCO Macron, Doggett, Shultz, Scotts, Miracle Grow, Sterns, etc, etc, etc...all blue (in some grades) all 100% soluble crystals.

None of the ingredients that are used to make any of these fertilizers are blue. Marketing people seem to think that consumers perceive value in blue fert's. So they blow some of the profits on blue dye. It seems to work to. I know some seasoned professionals that are duped into beleiving this garbage. Go figure. Any coated, slow release granular product can be dyed blue or any other color that is darker than the original form. I've seen green, blue, orange, pink, etc. We produce a coated product that is brown. The brown coating is actually a blend of micronutrients (rather than a useless dye). We will not waste money on colored dyes. In Germany, there is a law on the books that all fertilizers must be brown. So we sell a LOT of fertilizer there. Personally, I find brown ferts are harder to see when applied with a rotary spreader. Silly Europeans!

The label contains all the information that anyone needs to know. If you have all this information, & can post it, I can assist in disseminating the truth.

If you can supply more information about the product you saw, I'll see what I can come up with.

Steve

[fertit]

:angel: Blue fertilizer- 38-0-0 is Nitroform, the Original Blue. Anything else is a copycat. Tremor- you may want to update your information. Nitroform was reformulated in the late 1970's to reduce longevity from 2 years to less than 9 months. In some markets, it is conceiveable one application at the correct N rate may suffice. Nitrification inhibitors are not slow-release. Be very careful. They are 96-97% urea.

[Macvols]

Mesa Maybe!!!



Mike

[Williams Services]

Fertit - where do you get nitroform? And what's the price tag?

[cemars]

Most likely the first awnser "UFLEX" or maybe "UMAX" is correct.

[tremor]

Sorry Fertit but I'll stand by my 2 year old statement. Nitroform is 70% insoluble & not 100% available in the same season of application in nearly all cases. The only improvement ever made to UF was methylene urea.

[timturf]

Sorry Fertit but I'll stand by my 2 year old statement. Nitroform is 70% insoluble & not 100% available in the same season of application in nearly all cases. The only improvement ever made to UF was methylene urea.

Uf might all release in 9 months if properly timed application was applied on warm season turf in the deep south, otherwise tremor on the mark, 90-95% released in two seasons!

[Ric]

Uf might all release in 9 months if properly timed application was applied on warm season turf in the deep south, otherwise tremor on the mark, 90-95% released in two seasons!


Tim

Even in my southern location UF will not totally release in 9 months. What is UF?? It is urea, chemically altered to form Long Carbon chains molecules. The way any urea is made available to the plant is by breaking down those carbon bonds by microbial activity. The longer the Carbon chain, the longer it takes the microbes do break them down. To have microbial activity the right environment must be present as well as that microbial and a food source. UF offers the right food source it this case. Microbe are everywhere and the environment selects which ones are in greater population. However it is that environment that determine the amount of activity when all else is equal. factors like pH, field capacity and temperature are the big factors in microbial environments, not to say other factor do not effect them. Soil Temperature, pH, and field capacity Etc that are too high or too low will slow microbial activity. In the case of UF too hot and too dry will stop release

[timturf]

Ric,

They're used to be several manufacurs of uf, who had different chains which vary in length og the hwin, don't know about now. I suspect, that lesco novex is a short chain of uf! I guess, maybe that can also be said about nutralene, methylene also. Maybe tremor could help me out some?

Could put my fingers on the release % of uf by the days, but a tech brochure fromnor am states uf release in 12-16 months, and yes I relize that a very small fraction of the hwin, will last longer!

So, uf applied in the cooler zones of cool season turf could take 2-3 season to release, while in my area, should get all of n in 18-24 months, and I figured in deep southern florida, all would be released in 12 months, since I was assuming soil temps stayed above 50 degrees year round! guess that what you get when a northern cool season turf grower replies about southern warm season turf!

from memory, I think about 50% of uf is hwin, but only 30% of the uf takes more than 180 days to release when soil temps are greater than 50 degrees.

In conclusion, I believe this is the general concept, as I'm pulling from memory, and should reread my info

I think alot of people need to understand how the different types of nitrogen breakdown, become available to the plant. must also under stant the different release rates in a particular source! Example, lesco novex is 16% hwin, 28% hwsn, 48% wscrn, and 8% urea

[Ric]

Tim

With the push to eliminate both Phosphate and Nitrate contamination in Surface and ground water. Controlled Release Fertilizers are becoming more and more popular. Also there is a push to have the Activity Index be part of the label Most people can't get past the top 3 numbers or the brand name. However you are aware the label only tells part of the story of what is in the bag. Most Manufactures will supply supplemental labels like the Activity Index to those of us who will ask. You of course Know depending of weather these index's are only guide lines. Soil composition also plays a big factor.

[fertit]

Tremor- when was the last time you used Nitroform? It has been made by Nu-Gro for over 7 years, so the Noram statement is quite dated, as is your 2 year longevity statement. Give it a try, it works as stated and can reduce applications and service calls, plus provide happy clients. Keep up to date!

[tremor]

I sell UF quite frequently as a component in our Arbor-Green 30-10-7 Tree Fertilizer. No matter who owns the name today, the basic release patern hasn't changed nor should it. UF does what we expect it to which is provide a slow 2 year feed in an irregular release patern that the green industry has tried unseccessfully to improve for years.

If you have data to prove otherwise, I'm all eyes.

[fertit]

I sell UF quite frequently as a component in our Arbor-Green 30-10-7 Tree Fertilizer. No matter who owns the name today, the basic release patern hasn't changed nor should it. UF does what we expect it to which is provide a slow 2 year feed in an irregular release patern that the green industry has tried unseccessfully to improve for years.

If you have data to prove otherwise, I'm all eyes.

Some of us actually use fertilizer. End of story.

[sniggly]

tremor....check your pm's and see if you can advise me.

[tremor]

I spread or squirted 36 million sq ft a year for 8 years before stepping over the counter Fertit. I assure you the only thing new about UF is the gibberish being touted by marketers. IF any manufacturing processes have changed, it was to save the manufacturer money.

No Private Messages.

Email only to sls247@lesco.com

Steve