Protected urea.

Are many here using protected urea? What kind of results are ye seeing and when are ye spreading it.
Have used it for the last good few years and find it very good, a bit slower release than CAN but more can be put on in one go.
One of the guys I work with put all this fert out for spring crops in one go and all for winter crops in 2 splits. I seems a more controlled release.
 
Are many here using protected urea? What kind of results are ye seeing and when are ye spreading it.
Spread a bit of it some target stuff and some from possibly Goulding’s I think it was(yellow grains I think) the last year or 2, seems to be grand from what I’ve seen, but be very careful it spreads completely differently to normal urea and to can. On the rauch here for 21m I’m using a drop point of 5 for can, 7 for urea but the protected stuff is only around 3 I think. For the target one anyway
 
Have been using it the last few years especially the 29/0/14 product as it gets a lot of k into crops , used in both spring and winter and on malting crops (although for this I put it all in the seedbed) and have had good results. The fear for this coming year is it’s going to be priced out of the market.
 
Had to use a pallet of it this year, not by choice. It went on high OM land, and im not sure it grew anything, was a disaster compared to the side by side normal urea. But my mind is biased against such a product, so maybe my eyes were reinforcing my belief 🤔
 
Had to use a pallet of it this year, not by choice. It went on high OM land, and im not sure it grew anything, was a disaster compared to the side by side normal urea. But my mind is biased against such a product, so maybe my eyes were reinforcing my belief 🤔
How would it be a disaster compared to normal urea, is it not normal urea with a special coating to protect it so more is used by the plant?
 
How would it be a disaster compared to normal urea, is it not normal urea with a special coating to protect it so more is used by the plant?
No, the name itself is purposely misleading, it doesn't "protect" the urea, or do anything to the urea at all. It is coated with a urease inhibitor. Without getting too technical urease is an enzyme in the soil which breaks down the urea into ammonium which is taken up by the plant. The problem is there are ammonia loses during the process. The urease inhibitor does as the name suggests, it inhibits the ability of the enzyme to break down the urea, thus slowing the process and reducing ammonia losses. The big issue with the inhibitor is it doesn't differentiate between different forms of nitrogen, and will reduce the ability of the urease to break down organic N in the soil as well. The long-term effects are as yet unproven for better or for worse. That's a fairly basic description.
 
Last edited:
No, the name itself is purposely misleading, it doesn't "protect" the urea, or do anything to the urea at all. It is coated with a urease inhibitor. Without getting too technical urease is an enzyme in the soil which breaks down the urea into ammonium which is taken up by the plant. The problem is there are ammonia loses during the process. The urease inhibitor does as the name suggests, it inhibits the ability of the enzyme to break down the urea, thus slowly the process and reducing ammonia losses. The big issue with the inhibitor is it doesn't differentiate between different forms of nitrogen, and will reduce the ability of the urease to break down organic N in the soil as well. The long-term effects are as yet unproven for better or for worse. That's a fairly basic description.
Thats identical to my opinion on the product.
Also stated, it works poorer in high OM soil
 
Back
Top