Eureka!...I mean, you reek ah!...er, I mean, Urea! | spiceoflife's Blog | Gardening Community
Eureka!...I mean, you reek ah!...er, I mean, Urea! | spiceoflife's Blog | Gardening Community: "This was when the Agway employee asked me if I needed any help. They're like that there. (No, I don't work for Agway, smarta$$!) I told him my dilemma - I need a nitrogen source and I don't want to spend a lot of money. Voila! He shows me Urea. It's made by Espoma, it's organic, it's 45% nitrogen, and it's only $10.00 for a 5 pound bag. Sold!
With a few thank yous exchanged I take my compost supercharger back home and dutifully build my yard-waste lasagna by layers - brown leaves, water, sprinkle a handful or two of urea, a couple shovel-fulls of almost-finished compost. Repeated 5-10 times. Pop the cover on it and bake in the sun for 24 hours. Yummo!
I get satisfaction out of doing things well, and this includes making a good compost pile. Today, I get out of work and dash home to check on it. I grab my turning fork and start turning it over. And yep, I can feel that heat starting already! But then, I notice the smell. It's unpleasant, but not overwhelming. And there is the definite twang of ammonia. Darn it, I put in too much urea! The wee little beasties have too much nitrogen and can't metabolize it all and are just releasing it as ammonia. The ammonia smell was weak, and I didn't see any of the urea pellets in the pile, so I'm hoping that this is as bad it will get. I'm going to need to turn it every day or two until the smell goes away."
With a few thank yous exchanged I take my compost supercharger back home and dutifully build my yard-waste lasagna by layers - brown leaves, water, sprinkle a handful or two of urea, a couple shovel-fulls of almost-finished compost. Repeated 5-10 times. Pop the cover on it and bake in the sun for 24 hours. Yummo!
I get satisfaction out of doing things well, and this includes making a good compost pile. Today, I get out of work and dash home to check on it. I grab my turning fork and start turning it over. And yep, I can feel that heat starting already! But then, I notice the smell. It's unpleasant, but not overwhelming. And there is the definite twang of ammonia. Darn it, I put in too much urea! The wee little beasties have too much nitrogen and can't metabolize it all and are just releasing it as ammonia. The ammonia smell was weak, and I didn't see any of the urea pellets in the pile, so I'm hoping that this is as bad it will get. I'm going to need to turn it every day or two until the smell goes away."
posted by Adrian Eyre at 2:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home