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Pittsburgh

My soil report suggested to add 2.3lbs of nitrogen per 1000 sq ft. what would be the best source of nitrogen to apply now? Do i need something that is fast releasing?

3/25/2010 6:41:57 PM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

I would recommend blood meal.

3/25/2010 7:45:49 PM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

I'd go with Urea (46-0-0) at 5 or 6 lbs per 1000 sq ft. (cost $1.50 to $2 per 1000 sq ft)

or if you want to go with blood meal you could do that too:
20 lbs per 1000 sq ft (cost $20 to $40 per 1000 sq ft)

3/31/2010 2:48:41 PM

Colorado Springs, CO

I wouldn't touch urea.....with a 20 ft. pole ! Just because it's cheap....doesn't necessarily mean that it is good.

Why do you want "fast" releasing N ? The crash on the other side of the high....will surely stress your plant, just when you want its metabolism clicking for a stable period of flowering, fruiting and maturity. Consider the blood meal, cottonseed meal and/or alfalfa meal and a heapin' helpin' of a mature compost that you have had a hand in creating. Amend your patch now....and wait for the optimal calendar date in your area. You'll have adequate N

3/31/2010 10:40:12 PM

Paradise Mountain, New York

I always go organic with everything now. I never use any type of man made fertilizer. Urea is man made from natural gas.Blood meal is very costly. Soybean meal 48% is also 7-2-1 a great way to go organic and it's loaded with Amino Acids.

4/1/2010 2:10:02 AM

South East

bloodmeal, soybean meal, cottonseed meal, fish meal, feather meal, corn gluten meal, alfa alfa meal........google them.

4/1/2010 8:51:00 AM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

Urea fertilizer isn't "Organic" so if you're striving for that philosophy, urea fertilizer isn't what you want. Tomato Man, PumpkinBrat, and the Cooks give you some fine alternative organic N sources. However, there is nothing inherently harmful to soil organisms or pumpkins about a modest amount of urea during the pre-season.

Actually about 1/2 of the N in manure starts out as urea: http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/pubs/agr165.pdf

So if a person adds manure, they add urea or the products of urea decomposition. Just like with manure, I wouldn't add more than just a little chemical fertilizer (e.g. urea) at any one time during the season, but pre-season (now) is still fine (in the appropriate amount). Soil microbes are well equipped to deal with a moderate amount of urea. There's still time for it to equilibrate with the existing organic matter and mineral soil exchange sites, so if you’re low in N a little urea now should help raise the overall plant-availability of N in the soil early in the season.

Don't get me wrong, organic sources should work fine too assuming the soil warms up enough by planting time.

4/1/2010 4:16:56 PM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

My understanding is that urea is slow release nitrogen, or at least much slower than ammonical nitrogen.

4/6/2010 6:24:25 PM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

Urea breaks down into ammonium and then nitrate pretty quickly (over the coarse of a few days to a couple weeks) depending on moisture/temperature. It is slower release than ammonium or nitrate, but that's not saying much. Blood meal is slower than urea, but pretty available. The plant based N sources (Alfalfa pellets, Soybean meal, etc.) are much slower (and don't give up all the N they hold, which is fine, but one should probably account for that in calculating the amount to add).

4/11/2010 6:43:37 PM