Nitrogen Fertilizer: Production & Application of N Fertilizer

Nitrogen fertilizers are omnipresent, especially when it comes to lawns. But what do you need nitrogen fertilizer for? And can you maybe even make it yourself?

As the name already says: The central component of nitrogen fertilizers is the main nutrient nitrogen (N). These fertilizers can either be synthetically produced or derived from natural sources. But regardless of the source, nitrogen is central to plant growth and yield.

Nitrogen is essential for plants to grow vigorously. The better the nitrogen supply in the soil and thus for the plants, the stronger the green color of the leaves. However, if there is not enough nitrogen in the soil, you should help with nitrogen fertilization.

Effect of nitrogen fertilizer

Nitrogen fertilization is essential to allow important functions to take place in your beloved plants. Plants need nitrogen for the following tasks:

• Production of amino acids and proteins
• Promotion of growth of shoots and leaves
• Structure of the leaf green (chlorophyll) - thus an important part of photosynthesis

However, when a plant lacks nitrogen, it can stun the growth. In addition, the leaves may lose their color and yellow, and even premature flowering may result.

Not only can too little nitrogen cause damage, too much of the nutrient can also trigger excess symptoms. These symptoms include masty growth or delayed flowering. Leaves may continue to turn dark green, plants become more susceptible to disease and frost, and plant tissues become soft and spongy. Although vegetative growth is promoted, the plants are less stable.

Pure nitrogen fertilizers supply our plants with nitrogen, but unfortunately they lack it remaining nutrients that the plants need to survive - for example potassium, phosphorus and trace elements. If you use pure nitrogen fertilizer, then your fertilization is very one-sided. In this case, your plants will lack other nutrients.

In contrast to this are the complex fertilizers, which not only contain nitrogen, but also phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) - hence the name "NPK fertilizer“. With such universal fertilizers, the nutrient supply is more balanced than with pure nitrogen fertilizers.

Production of nitrogen fertilizer

Most of the natural nitrogen in the soil comes from the air, because plants such as clover can fix the nitrogen from the air and bring it into the soil. Clover is a so-called legume that lives in symbiosis with nodule bacteria. These nodule bacteria on the roots have the ability to fix nitrogen from the air. However, what very few people know is the fact that nitrogen can also be introduced into the soil by lightning. Animal excretions can also be used as nitrogen fertilizer, for example manure, liquid manure or manure. We ourselves can also store our kitchen waste on the compost convert to a nitrogenous fertilizer or easily produce plant manure.

A degradable nitrogen fertilizer provides for example guano which consists of the excrement of seabirds. This is mined on coasts and can be used as a nitrogen fertilizer. Guano is often found mixed with various fertilizers to increase the nitrogen content. In earlier times, a large part of the guano was imported from South America, but since nitrogen fertilizer can also be produced synthetically, the demand for it has dropped significantly.

Synthetically manufactured nitrogen fertilizers are produced by the Haber-Bosch process, in which the nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia (NH₃) is converted.

Advantages and disadvantages of nitrogen fertilizers

Nitrogen is essential for our plants, but is not found in mineral form in the soil. This means no nitrogen can be released by weathering of the bedrock. However, the plants need nitrogen for their development - if there is no nitrogen left in the soil, satisfactory growth is no longer possible.

Unfortunately, incorrect and improper use can also have negative effects. Unfortunately, nitrogen or nitrate can be washed out very easily and get into the groundwater. Thus, it gets into bodies of water and also into drinking water. Excessively high nitrate levels in water can also be harmful to a wide variety of creatures such as fish. However, an excessively high nitrate content in food is particularly dangerous for small children and babies, as it can lead to methemoglobinemia – an undersupply of oxygen. This can ultimately even be life-threatening for small children and infants.

Properties and advantages of a nitrogen fertilizer:

• Ensures adequate nitrogen supply
• Enables vigorous plant growth
• Promotes growth
• Supports standing and flowering
• Help prevent nitrogen deficiency symptoms such as chlorosis

Different nitrogen fertilizers: which ones are there?

From natural to synthetically produced nitrogen fertilizers, practically everything can be found on the market. Below you will find a brief overview of the various products.

ammonium nitrate

This fertilizer is also called ammonium nitrate or nitrate of ammonium because it is the salt formed from ammonia and nitric acid (NH₄NO₃). In addition to being used as a fertilizer, ammonium nitrate is also used as an explosive. It is solid and easily soluble in water.

urea

What is special about urea (CH₄N₂O) as a nitrogen fertilizer is the fact that urea can be partially absorbed through the leaves. Urea is also known under the names carbamide or carbonic acid amide.

Since urea is converted to ammonium very quickly, only little of it is absorbed through the roots.

Organic urea comes from mammalian urine, but it can also be produced synthetically from ammonia and carbon dioxide. Urea has a high nitrogen content - with around 45% of this, it is an optimal nitrogen fertilizer. Urea is also the world's most commonly used nitrogen fertilizer.

Calcium cyanamide fertilizer

Calcium cyanamide is the trade name of fertilizers containing calcium cyanamide (CaN₂) contain. A calcium cyanamide fertilizer contains around 20% nitrogen, around 55% calcium and can also kill plants and pests such as snails or wireworms. Because of this herbicidal effect, calcium cyanamide is also often used to combat moss on lawns. You can also treat beds with it before sowing to remove unwanted seedlings. However, be careful not to apply more than 30 grams per square meter - this would lead to an overdose and burns. Calcium cyanamide is also often applied to the compost to accelerate decomposition.

Calcium cyanamide is a rather slow-acting basic fertilizer, which, however, also releases the toxic hydrocyanic acid during its decomposition. Therefore, you should be aware that the use of calcium cyanamide affects the pH value - it is lowered.

Natural nitrogen fertilizers

The most traditional nitrogen fertilizers are certainly manure, manure and manure from various animals. But also legumes like peas (Pisum sativum) or kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) bring nitrogen into the soil. With their nodule bacteria, these plants are able to fix nitrogen from the air in the soil.

When people think of manure, most people probably think of cow manure, but manure from other farm animals can also be used as fertilizer. However, you should always pay attention to the different nutrient ratios.

Manure is particularly well suited for cold frames, because heat is generated when it decomposes, which is just the thing in the cool spring. Horse manure in particular gives off a lot of heat when it rots and is ideal for filling cold frames.

Liquid Nitrogen Fertilizers

Natural liquid fertilizers primarily include manure and liquid manure, but many mineral nitrogen fertilizers can also be dissolved in water and used in liquid form. Most liquid fertilizers contain nitrogen, and you will always find nitrogen in special fertilizers for certain plants, ideally tailored to specific plant groups and their needs. However, such fertilizers are among the universal fertilizers, as they always contain several nutrients and do not consist entirely of nitrogen.

For this reason, these fertilizers cannot be described as classic nitrogen fertilizers. Pure nitrogen fertilizers supply the plants with nitrogen, but only with this and with no other nutrient.

Many gardeners prefer liquid fertilizers because they can be applied with irrigation water and don't require laborious incorporation into the soil. It is also possible to use liquid fertilizer for foliar fertilization, and nitrogen (urea) can also be absorbed through the leaves. However, this should only be used to compensate for short-term nutrient peaks - in principle, the nitrogen uptake should take place via the plant roots.

blue grain

Blaukorn is a mineral compound fertilizer, also called NPK fertilizer. The abbreviation "NPK" stands for the three main components of this fertilizer: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The blue grain is available as solid blue granules. It can also be dissolved in water and used for liquid fertilization.

There are divided opinions about the blue grain, many swear by this mineral fertilizer, others do not want to hear anything about it. More to blue grain find out here.

Nitrogen fertilizer for the lawn

Our green lawns also need an additional boost of nutrients from time to time in order to be able to grow properly. Nitrogen is particularly important for growth and for your lawn to retain its rich green colour.

Lawn Nitrogen Fertilizer: Which is Best?

There are currently many lawn fertilizers on the market that differ in their nutrient composition. However, these are not pure nitrogen fertilizers, but rather complex fertilizers. When choosing an autumn lawn fertiliser, always make sure that it has a higher potassium content, as this is extremely important for frost resistance. The fertilizers should also have a suitable NPK ratio. If you are looking for an organic slow-release fertilizer for your lawn, you can use our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer insert.

Lawn Nitrogen Fertilizer: When to Use?

If you use mineral nitrogen fertilizers, you get a quick effect, but to During the main growth period, spurting sprouts occur again and again, but not one even growth. Therefore, you should apply nitrogen to the lawn in spring or autumn, when the main growing season is over. When fertilizing the lawn in the fall, however, you should use a compound fertilizer with a high potassium content for frost hardiness, not a high supply of nitrogen.

If your lawn has survived the winter well, a long-term fertilizer application at the beginning of May is sufficient. However, if the turf shows signs of damage after the winter, you should use a quick brush to regenerate use soluble nitrogen fertilizer in April and again a slow release fertilizer around June use.

Autumn fertilization also helps your lawn to get through the winter well. However, you should rather use a potassium-rich autumn lawn fertilizer, because too much nitrogen leads to unwanted growth in winter. Autumn fertilization is best done in October on an overcast day. More about the optimal lawn fertilization You can also find out in our special article.

Lawn nitrogen fertilizer: How much to apply?

But how much should you apply exactly for fertilization? For example, if you use our Plantura Organic Lawn Fertilizer, which is not a classic nitrogen fertilizer, with an NPK ratio of 8 – 1 – 6, the following application quantities are recommended:

• 40 - 60 g/m² as maintenance and care fertilizer in spring and early summer
• 70 g/m² as regeneration fertilization after scarifying in spring

Our Plantura Organic Autumn Lawn Fertilizer has an NPK ratio of 5 – 1 – 9. For optimal autumn fertilization, you should apply 50 to 80 grams of this per square meter of lawn in the autumn.

Make nitrogen fertilizer yourself

Among the simplest homemade nitrogen fertilizers are certainly the compost as well as manure. It is best for every gardener to get a compost and use it to produce high-quality fertilizer for their own garden. Basically, it is very easy to compost garden and kitchen waste such as vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, leftover fruit and the like. But be careful with the garden waste: only put plant parts on the compost that are free of Pathogens are, and also no weeds that train many seeds or multiply through strong roots and spread. The Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) has no place on the compost, for example.

You can also use plant manure for fertilizing, such as one nettle manure. Such plant manure is extremely easy to produce and supplies the soil and plants with the necessary nitrogen. The practical thing about liquid manure is its wide range of applications, because nettle liquid manure, for example, is not just a nitrogen fertilizer, but also strengthens the plants and can be used for pest control - a real all-round talent.