I have a need to spray urea fertilizer on some trees when their leaves fall. It is supposed to accelerate the decomposition of the leaves to suppress the emergence of a fungus next year.
I read that DEF (Diesel emissions fluid), that is, the substance the railroads do not want to use to comply with the Tier-4 rules, is 32 percent purified urea and the rest de-ionized water.
I read some web pages that yes, you can use this as fertilizer but you would never want to use urea fertilizer in your Diesel's DEF tank as it isn't pure enough and it will mess up your engine. I also read some pages of organic-farming purists who complain that DEF is "synthetic" urea and hence not OK to use if you want to be organic-certified. I also read, yes, DEF can be used on plants (with the recommended rate of dilution so you don't turn your lawn brown), but why would you want to do this when bagged urea fertilizer powder is much, much cheaper than the purified urea in DEF.
Why do I want to use it? Because I can buy a gallon of DEF, which is more than I need for my trees at the recommended spray dilution, for 8 bucks at Walmart whereas a couple pounds of urea powder are 98 cents plus 19 dollars shipping when ordered online.
Do any of our truck-driving forum members know if DEF is really pure urea and pure water, or are there some oddball chemicals in there that would be bad for plants, especially fruit trees? You would think DEF would be pure because it goes into the Diesel exhaust that is supposed to come out of the engine less polluting to the air, so you wouldn't think it has some food-poisonous chemical in it, but one never knows.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Paul MilenkovicI have a need to spray urea fertilizer on some trees when their leaves fall. It is supposed to accelerate the decomposition of the leaves to suppress the emergence of a fungus next year. I read that DEF (Diesel emissions fluid), that is, the substance the railroads do not want to use to comply with the Tier-4 rules, is 32 percent purified urea and the rest de-ionized water. I read some web pages that yes, you can use this as fertilizer but you would never want to use urea fertilizer in your Diesel's DEF tank as it isn't pure enough and it will mess up your engine. I also read some pages of organic-farming purists who complain that DEF is "synthetic" urea and hence not OK to use if you want to be organic-certified. I also read, yes, DEF can be used on plants (with the recommended rate of dilution so you don't turn your lawn brown), but why would you want to do this when bagged urea fertilizer powder is much, much cheaper than the purified urea in DEF. Why do I want to use it? Because I can buy a gallon of DEF, which is more than I need for my trees at the recommended spray dilution, for 8 bucks at Walmart whereas a couple pounds of urea powder are 98 cents plus 19 dollars shipping when ordered online. Do any of our truck-driving forum members know if DEF is really pure urea and pure water, or are there some oddball chemicals in there that would be bad for plants, especially fruit trees? You would think DEF would be pure because it goes into the Diesel exhaust that is supposed to come out of the engine less polluting to the air, so you wouldn't think it has some food-poisonous chemical in it, but one never knows.
Paul -
You are in Wisconsin? Right! There ought to be more than enough farm supply stores within a 30 minute drive to get the bagged stuff yourself. When I raced at Road America several years ago the Fleet Farm store was the 'goto' place for just about anything - fertilizer to ammunition and virtually everything in between.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Paul MilenkovicI have a need to spray urea fertilizer on some trees when their leaves fall. It is supposed to accelerate the decomposition of the leaves to suppress the emergence of a fungus next year.
Note the specific use.
The particular "urea fertilizer" you were going to use for this purpose is important. DEF is essentially 48-0-0 as a fertilizer. "32" is not urea, it's urea ammonium nitrate, which is a different thing. (If you were fertilizing something in a garden, for its proper nutrition, you'd need to add other substances to the "DEF" to create the right mixture. But that's not what's being asked.)
Some consensus is that DEF applied straight will 'burn' plant life if it isn't watered in quickly and well, and that as a fertilizer it should be cut about 10:1 and still washed in well when you test. However, if I understand the situation correctly you want to start affecting deciduous leaves, both on and off the tree, quickly, and you want to spray the product ON the tree before the leaves drop. As long as you know the direct contact won't damage the tree itself, high urea content might be just what you want, and urea definitely promotes growth of soil microbes that break down elements of 'humus' quickly. If getting rid of fungal hyphae that are 'along for the ride' on the dead leaf matter ... so much the better.
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