🔵 Application Rates Per 1k sqft: (Mixed w 1 gallon of water per 1ksqft) Low Rate (0.10 lbs of N) : 9.5 oz per 1k sqft Medium Rate (0.15 lbs of N): 14.25 oz per 1k sqft High Rate (0.20 lbs of N): 19 oz per 1k sqft *BE SURE TO MIX WITH 1 GALLON OF WATER PER 1K SQFT AND WATER IN AFTER APPLICATION.
What about oz to gallons for the sprayer? I sprayer several customers yards and wonder what would be just general how many oz per gallon? So if I have a 3 gallon sprayer how many oz would I use?
FYI: for the results I mentioned earlier, I used your numbers from the video 3.5oz for 250 square feet but I have three sections of yard that are right at 2500 sq ft so I did 350z in a 5 gal Strom battery backpack sprayer for each section and on the high flow setting and regular walking pace, had just enough to cover the area back and forth and side to side.
So 2.4 oz per gallon of water for the medium? I have about 3 acres to do and plan to do prior to rain on Tuesday. Will it hurt landscaping flowers ect if wind oversprays?
Well... I knew it was only a matter of time that someone else would find this out and make it public for all to see! As a diesel mechanic and lawn care freak it didn't take me long to put two and two together! Been doing this for the past 7 years.
I figured this out on my own last week and now ran across this video after testing on my lawn. Luckily I get this stuff for free from wrecked semi trucks I have to replace the tanks on
This might be my favorite video you’ve done. But before everyone goes out buying up all the DEF fluid, understand that 34-0-0 granular is still going to be ~3X cheaper source of N than buying 2.5 gallon jugs of DEF.
It already will. Russia and China produce most of the worlds Urea. They stopped exporting. Which is why fert prices are rising. Semi trucks will be hurting because of it too.
Dude I never even looked at Def fluid since I don’t own a diesel what make you look at the product? Great idea. I would be nervous some products may contain other additives so I guess you should be sure to read the label well as always lol
Hey George, I was a golf course superintendent for 35 years! I use to "spoon feed" liquid nitrogen on my greens! I found this extremely interesting! I think I'll try this on my Bermuda front yard! Thanks for the info! Blessings to you and your family, Kevin Barron
@bobbarone7327 Hey George, I haven't tried it yet! Once the Bermuda comes out of dormancy (around mid May) I'll give it a try! I'll let you know how it works. Blessings, Kevin Barron
As a DIYer with a bad back, I always look at how other DIYers do things. When I saw you bending down using that spray can, I had to say, "Not with my back." I bought a very cheap tool that allows me to stand up and roll the device on its wheel. I just push the trigger when I'm ready to spray. When I fill up my sprayer, I always add a blue dye to the mixture. When spraying, the dye shows me where I have sprayed and any areas I missed.
@@robertlevy4613 Thanks for replying. Oh, did if forget to mention that the dye is hard to wash off. I believe this was covered in the movie Marked for Death.
Thank you for this information. I'd like to tell anybody who's in Canada right now, Princess Auto has an ongoing deal for Shell Rotella DEF. 2.5 gallon (9.7Liters) is 17.77+tax until August 27th. I got one and wanted to inform anybody interested :D
Good stuff, George. I really enjoy your channel. Seeing a lot of the math questions here, I understand why you didn't go into the details about how you worked it out, but just presented clear, concise instructions at 3 typical application rates. Since I'm thinking about using DEF for a fall nitrogen blitz, I decided to go through the math - so I thought I'd share it here. I'll explain the calculations, but probably won't answer a lot of questions. I'm not here to do remedial math tutoring. Firstly, the analysis of 15-0-0 is because the DEF is 32.5% urea and urea is 46% nitrogen (46% of 32.5 is 14.95, rounded to 15). Now for the rest: A gallon of DEF weighs about 9, 9.1, or 9.2 pounds, depending on source, at least that's what my internet searches have shown. I'll use the medium value of 9.1. Our 15-0-0 analysis tells us that DEF is 15% nitrogen by weight, so: -- a gallon of DEF contains 9.1 x .15 = 1.365 pounds of nitrogen. -- and a fluid ounce of DEF contains 1.365 / 128 = 0.0106640625 pound of nitrogen. (There are 128 fluid ounces in a gallon.) And that comports with the rates George shows above. Low rate: 9.5 x 0.0106640625 = .10 (and some change) Medium rate: 14.25 x 0.0106640625 = .15 (and some change) High rate: 19 x 0.0106640625 = .20 (and some change) So if anyone else is thinking about using DEF for their fall nitrogen blitz, we may as well do the calculations for that magic 0.5 pound we're looking for. 0.5 / 0.0106640625 = about 47. (For the math alert, you might have also noticed you could approximate that by taking the above low rate x 5 or the high rate x 2.5). So that's 47 fluid ounces of DEF per 1,000 square feet in however much water you need to spray it to evenly cover 1,000 square feet (George stipulates a gallon) to get your 0.5 pound. And if you're wondering what a fall nitrogen blitz is, I would direct you here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sZmkulMEcg0.html As always - thanks, George. 😄
Been gardening professionally my whole life and never knew about this. Until you mentioned the chemical breakdown of DEF I honestly thought this was a prank video. Glad I found your channel, you just got yourself another subscriber.
After watching your video, I did some quick internet research and found a paper that talked about the benefits of adding urea to herbicides to increase effectiveness (weed and feed in my words) and so I plan to add DEF with my herbicide application to give the lawn and herbicide a boost. Thanks for the pro tip!
oh yes, weeds always die faster when they are activy growing so when fert is applying at the same time it accelerates the rate of absorption into the plant, i usually use ammonium sulfate nitrogen when spraying herbicides because its absorbs faster than urea, will be making a video soon about it
My wife's previous car was a diesel and needed DEF... She has since switched to a new car and I have a couple of containers of DEF left... I'm going to have to give this a try...
Thanks dude! thanks for sharing your app rate, i always wondered how much ammonium was need as jerry baker never says the exact app rates, appreciate you sharing!
@@PrincessCutLawnCare your channel has great content. Lawn care enthusiasts have to help each other out. I add it to my hose end sprayer when I apply my bio stimulants. Not sure about the environmental impact, but you can’t beat the price.
@@greggilbert9403 I put it in a two gallon sprayer and apply it over 1,000 square feet. It needs watered in after applying. I usually put down 1/4 of an inch of water after application. Your mileage may vary.
I paint lines in lawn a lot. Quick Tip: To paint a straight line on the ground focus on one point that you are going to, don't look down, stay focused on that point.
@@АлакПатроваIt's absolutely stupid. A 1990 dodge 12 valve Cummins got 27 mpg if you babied it. A one ton with 902,000 miles and counting. My father bought the truck new it's never had a thing done to it. My new truck with the same 8 foot Reading utility bed. It gets about 12mpg. If you think that is better for the environment you are crazy. The ignorance of our American people is simply astounding.
It's cattle piss, NOT fertilizer. Jeesh dude, research before making such comments. Then again, thanks for giving me a great laugh and yet more proof that "Idiocracy" really was a documentary!
I’ll give you credit, my truck ran out of DEF last year luckily just as I reached my destination, but I certainly would have thought it was a petro-chemical based ingredient not just straight nitrogen, good to know for the apocalypse, lol. Human urine diluted in water is also a cheap nitrogen hit.
I have a 5 gallon bucket that I put a slitted pool noodle around the edge (cheapo toilet seat) when I go camping as a "pee" bucket. I was just thinking a few days about using it to collect homemade urea for the compost pile. Hmmm.
I tried it , it worked great , I noticed a difference in 2 days , and it evened out areas where my dog peeed ! Now my grass is all the same color greeen ! Great tip, thx for sharing!!
I started using this last year and it my goto now. This year in Houston I added it for all this super hot weather and I have the only green lawn in my section. Works great!
Fantastic video. We'll spoken, clear, concise and filled with great information. Keep up the great work and you have a beautiful daughter. I love spending time with my daughter.
DEF is two parts water and one part urea. Urea is also used as a fertilizer. I personally haven't seen any bagged urea at any stores but as a truck driver I have hauled urea to fertilizer suppliers for farms. Buying DEF seems like an in-genius way that anyone can go to a box store to get urea.
Like I’ve been saying George. I’m following your instructions and recommendations and your testimony. I love experiments. Thank you and I wish you blessings and success.
Hey George! I like your education on lawn care for beginners. I have tenacity and I love the product. I used it this summer and it killed the weeds. They returned unfortunately due to lack of watering. Now I would like to use it again for the fall and over seed. Could I send pics of my lawn for further advice?
BIG DAWG!!! I have been hunting Urea for the past two weeks and hadn't pulled the trigger. In fact, I just sprayed some a baby shampoo/dishwashing liquid/Ammonia/Epson Salt cocktail a part of my yard today about two weeks after putting down a bag of Anderson's PGF complete. This is just what I was looking for to ride out the rest of the summer and can now invest the money that I didn't spend on the urea into some more humic and RGS. My man!!
@@PrincessCutLawnCare Found it at Tractor Supply for $12.99. Put it out yesterday about three hours before a good soaking thunderstorm. Back out today and when I pulled up from work around 4pm... man, when I say green up, I mean GREEN UP!! And this coming from someone who use chelated liquid iron from SiteOne and had just put down a round of Anderson's PGF complete at the beginning of the month. But this stuff surprised even me!
1st off I love ❤️ my man George! Always answering a question I didn’t know I had. 2nd it hasn’t been a full 24 hrs and I’m seeing the results. Excited to try some more George approved hacks!
First time on your channel. I was completely impressed throughout this video. Thanks for this DIY Lawn hack. And thanks for another opportunity to say "Dang, I've been on YT for an hour again!?!" Subscribing now after perusing your library of videos and thanks again.
Found this stuff at Costco here in Canada and picked up a jug thanks to you George. You deserve an affiliate link for the amount of business you've sent their way 😂
never thought of this, i haul a lot of commercial fertilizer and i can tell you that the same plants that make granular urea and anhydrous ammonia are also manufacturing def.
The exact same ratio as he listed above in his pinned comment. It doesn't matter HOW you put the product down, but it does matter HOW MUCH. Just follow the application rate instructions above.
George, your videos are such a blessing, and I am very grateful. Please pardon the confusion on my part, but I just want to make certain that I am understanding you correctly. I am to mix 14.25 ounces per gallon of water, which means that I will mix 57 ounces in my 4 gallon backpack sprayer, which sounds like a lot; or, do you mean that I will mix 3.5 ounces per gallon of water, for a total of 14 ounces in my 4 gallon backpack sprayer, which sounds more reasonable. I would greatly appreciate a response, if at all possible, and again, I am grateful for the time/effort/energy/expense that goes into making videos for DIYers such as myself, on a fixed income/budget. FYI, I have Bermuda type grass in Texas. Thank you, and God bless you.
Thank you so much! yes your are correct, 14.25 oz per gallon for the medium rate. If you want to have a more conservative application then do 10z per gallon (.1 lbs of N per 1k)
If I decide to go with the 10 ounce per gallon rate of usage, how much product do you anticipate, more or less, that I would go through to cover 5,000 square feet of lawn? How often can this be repeated during the course of the summer into early fall? Thank you for the quick reply George, extremely appreciated.
I will say that you can buy a 50 lb bag of urea for about 22$ where I’m at in Wisconsin and it costs about 12$ for the cheapest DEF at 2.5 gal from Wally World. That works out to about 2$ per lb of N for DEF and less than 1$ per lb of N for a regular bag of Urea (which can be dissolved in water and sprayed). So it’s really not cheaper to use DEF it’s about double the price of regular urea. I also don’t like that it contains deionized water which could potentially cause issues with the plant/soil (not a whole lot of research on this from what I’ve found but has some potentially problematic properties). I wouldn’t worry too much but I wouldn’t choose it as my only source of N especially when it’s cheaper here to buy a bag of urea and dissolve it myself. Just my 0.02.
Totally agree! Straight urea is def cheaper which is why I made sure to include “liquid fertilizer” in the title as in, cheapest premixed liquid solution. Thanks for sharing dude!
I did a little research and find your pricing is off. The cheapest I can find urea 50 pound bag is $90 and change. That includes Walmart and Amazon. That price of $12 is more in line with 5 pounds. 46-0-0
My pricing isn’t off, those are the local prices at our local farmers cooperative for a 50lb bag of straight urea. You won’t find good deals on fertilizer at Walmart just FYI.
I got 2.5 gal of Walmart Great Value brand DEF for $10. It is the same 32% aria but cheaper. I have 500sf or lawn and use 8oz of DEF on it. 2.5gal of it can fertilize my lawn 40 times and only cost me $.25 cents each time.
Great video. Has anyone calculated the price per lb. of Nitrogen? Unless my math is wrong, I don't think this is any cheaper than granular fertilizer. A 44lb bag of Vigoro or a 50lb bag of LESCO comes out to ~$2.85 per lb. of N, whereas a 2.5Gal jug of DEF comes out to $3.86 per lb. of N.
Here's the trick to DEF, buy the Walmart or auto parts store generic brand at $6-9 for 2.5 gal or go to a pilot gas station where the rigs buy fuel and get it for $3-3.50 a gal at the pump not in the store. The branded def is always double or triple+ the no name stuff and it's all the same as it has a very specific function in diesel exhaust systems none are blended too differently.
That’s great stuff, George!! Many thanks for posting. As a prof, I appreciate and love the scientific approach. (My wife wonders why I don’t mow or fertilize our entire yard every time). Still looking forward to buying you a beer the next time I’m in Chicago! P.S. I bought a reel mower. Only two mows so far. Love it!
I’ve been using this for years. It’s better than 46--0-0 as it has 0 impurities. All DEF in 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 is heavily regulated to meet high standards. 0.25 lbs N/M = 23.5 fl oz. / M . For best results spray early morning (when it’s cool) & let sit on leaf blades for 3ish hours then water in. Or spray at night water in the morning. If you combine it with chealated iron POW! 💥
Works Good, I use it when I apply Weed & Crabgrass Killer in my 25 Gallon tow behind sprayer, I only use 2 ounces per gallon because I can’t water in 2 acres and don’t want to burn it. I think It also helps the weed killer work better
Neat experiment, something I've thought of before, because I work at the fertilizer plant that makes all that stuff. The DEF is actually very expensive fertilizer compared to buying straight urea prills or UAN liquid.
@@PrincessCutLawnCare Of course these are wholesale prices, but we sell UAN currently around $300/ton. That's about $1.65/gallon. The real savings is being able to use anhydrous ammonia, currently about $500/ton or $1.30/gallon. Only the anhydrous is about double the nitrogen as the UAN. It ends up being half the price, but riskier to apply and harder to handle. Most farmers in corn country use anhydrous for the price. But a lot are switching to UAN for the convenience. DEF is starting to be sold at the gas stations, I've seen local pumps selling for $3.59/gallon, bring your own container.
Cool video! I have a 500 gallon holding tank that my sprinklers pump from. Could I just dump a gallon of it in the tank and let it shoot out through the sprinklers when I water?
@@Viper3870750 no, not yet but I'm gonna try it this spring... ideally, I'd love to do an inline Venturi valve with a couple of ball valves to open or close the "circuit" and then have a blue def tank that it siphons from when the sprinklers turn on.
Make sure you run pure water in the sprinkler after the def is put down initially. You can't have the full container mixed and that is the only thing you're watering with it'll burn your grass
First of all, your daughter Sofia, is so cute. This is another video of yours that I’ve learned so much. You’re so informative, you explain things so well, you’re easy to understand and of course, I save money, time and no failures through trial and errors. 👍
Good content once again! I’ve been using Worm Castings this year and I think it’s worked good for the garden. I’m going to try a test plot on some grass and see how it turns out
I never realized that blue diff is the best pure and straight fertilizer on the market. The price is definitely the ticket. Thank you for the tip fella.
@@victoryfirst2878 I explained it in much more detail in a comment above, but DEF (16-0-0) is much more expensive ($4.56/lbs of actual N) compared to a 50lb bag of urea (46-0-0) that is $1.19 per pound on N.
@@victoryfirst2878 The really good news is you can easily make nitrogen solution yourself for a fraction of the cost of DEF. You simple dissolve non poly coated (most branded yard fertilizers are a mixture of poly coated and non coated urea for slow release) urea into water for the desired solution (16% 28% 32% etc...)
This video just came up in my suggestions list. Great video! Good content! Just subbed 👍 What if a person were to put a mixer type of unit on a sprinkler system, water the yard, then introduce the DEF into the sprinkler system at a certain rate for a certain period of time. Shut the mixer off and finish watering the lawn long enough to get the fertilizer to the ground. Just an idea.
Thanks for the sub Ed! means a lot 😀 and yes the DEF would be perfect to add to a fertigation schedule. ive been meaning to get one of those units but havent pulled the trigger just yet
Straight Urea is cheaper bulk, but in lower quantity this stuff is pretty solid. I definitely consider Ammonium Sulfate superior to urea for color and plant availability. Urea can be a nice tool to reduce dog spots due to it’s superior salt index, but iron & Mg uptake (color) are multiple times higher with AMS vs. urea. The exhaust fluid is a pretty good value for most people. To go even further on that spectrum, I just put down .15#N spoon feeding Milo as an experiment to test microbe benefit in summer months. PRG @ .53” in WA state for me currently. As a winterizer application ammonium sulfate can be applied much later and keep the plant from falling asleep so quickly… I seriously got at least an extra 2 months of deep green in the middle of winter after discovering sprayed Ammonium Sulfate. You gotta do a video on AMS George. Keep up the vids. I already know basically all the same stuff you do, but I like your personality & content.
Dude thank you!!! It’s funny you mentioned that! I’m doing a video on ams vs urea right this moment! I literally got chills reading your comment because you totally called out my new video, will be out Monday morning. PS you are ABSOLUTELY right about AMS, in my testing it trumped urea.
@@PrincessCutLawnCare Nice, that’s random, but I guess AMS is the natural progression there I guess. W/ the mention of the last app of the year, I’m in super mild WA (no snow mold… maybe a week of snow on the ground total if that and temps rarely much below freezing)… I had deep green all winter but that might not be a good thing for most areas. I got off ProPEAT despite it being a AMS based fert because it’s hard to spoon feed the stuff so the result is a leopard pattern yard even with multiple passes where liquids are kinda the only way to go for a nice even look, so that might be worth mentioning in the Monday vid for people that are OK spoon feeding. If people are putting down 1/2 a pound of N at a time they probably shouldn’t be putting out straight AMS anyway. If people have gone that far down the rabbit hole it’s probably time for them to bite the bullet and get a FlowZone.
I'm betting the reason you're having better results with AMS is because of the sulfur (21-0-0-24). Sulfur deficiencies are common today because of cleaner burning coal power plants. We used to get adequate amounts of S from rain before power plant scrubbers. I'm not saying scrubbers are a bad thing. The Nitrogen from ams isn't any more available than the Nitrogen from Urea. Nitrogen is nitrogen (when talking about synthetic forms like urea, 28%, ams, anhydrous ammonia ect..)
@@caseymac2287 my understanding is AMS is available quicker… on the spectrum: nitrate sources are available now, Ammoniacal nitrogen is easy for microbes to break down and urea takes a hair longer. Not long ago I blended my own water soluble 100%, but for cost savings I replaced solo WS ingredients (AMS, MAP, & SOP) as much as possible with 24-8-16 Peter’s Professional water soluble and I custom supplement N, P, or K to get the exact ratios I want approximately every 10 days. Raised mowing height from 1/2” to 1” this year also and my lawn has never looked better. I used to do Jack’s 5-12-26 for my micros a few times a year but plenty of premium chelated micros (roughly 10x less) in the 24-8-16. My PH is perfect in my front lawn, so I’m sure the micros aren’t actually doing much. I agree about the sulfur… I was saying the AMS has been shown to generate much higher greening nutrients in leaf tissue analysis vs. urea and I consider sulfur closer to a macro-nutrient. PH in my area actually favors low numbers so I doubt sulfur is rare West if the Rockies as a rule of thumb but that’s just me rambling. Peter’s Pro 24-8-16 is about 1/3 nitrate N, 1/3 ammoniacal N, and about 1/3 urea N…. This creates a slower quick release for even more consistent green when spoon feeding. (For ryegrass only) in Spring I like about .15#N every 10 days in my younger lawn… closer to .08#N in Summer (irrigated) and more like .20#N in much of the Fall based on growth potential for now. If I could own only one fertilizer it would be Peter’s Pro water soluble, but on the edge approaching dormancy at very low rates AMS is able to break down at lower soil temps since it’s closer to available but nitrate nitrogen is even better… might even change my AMS applications to straight nitrate forms at those boarderline low temps (very low rates of course since grass is barely growing). I prefer my lawn super dark green through the winter (very mild winters in my area (pacific NW). I’m aiming at almost 4#N this year for my perennial ryegrass but if I had any other type of grass I would aim closer to 2.5-2.75# annual N to help manage thatch or possibly bump that a little while doing notable amounts of aeration.
@@IntegrityDistribution The nitrogen from ams and the nitrogen from urea are one in the same. Nitrite is Nitrite. Both need to be converted to nitrate by soil microbes and converted into nitrate which is a plant usable form. The plant then converts that into amino acids or proteins. The extra greening you're seeing is from the sulfur. I get the same affect when I side dress or top dress corn with ams compared to 28% solution. What's you sulfur levels from your soil test. Im guessing they're at the lower end of the spectrum.
Hey, my truck used to use this stuff. 😉 I’m glad to see DEF actually being useful rather than a hindrance for diesel trucks. Don’t get it on your shoes or clothes though, that stuff is nasty when it crystallizes.
Lol I'm just waiting for the next bizarre yet awesome tidbit George will teach us. Milorgnaite is priced similarly for me in my area but I am curious to try this. Thank you as well Sensei George!
Amazing! i read a few articles a COUPLE years ago about China shutting down imports of UREA to the U.S. and the price of DEF doubling or tripling, so I went to Walmart and bought 150 cases of Def at around $3-4 each. well i sold my diesel truck and was wondering what I was gonna do with this DEF, NOW I know....THANKS FOR THE HACK!
I have been making terra preta on my property . I make charcoal , dig a pit put the charcoal in it . I save mine and my wife urine and soak the charcoal in it . then I throw some kitchen scraps and compostables in the pit and cover it up . this soil will stay fertile for decades . the DEF would be an awesome way to charge the charcoal without having to save my pee. other fertilizers are too expensive , but this totally doable ! thanks for the tip .
Now how do I convince my parents to let me apply DEF to our lawn.. Great video George, the proof is in the pudding and DEF works for an incredibly inexpensive cost
Ran some quick math. At 16.30 listed as $ online per 2.5 gallons at the medium rate it would do ~1/2 acre.. Alternatively- standard recommendations for urea (46-0-0) granular is ~1# per 1000sqft. I just bought bags for ~25.99 at the feed store yesterday. $13 ish with taxes on 1/2 acre. Ends up being close to a wash in price per acre. Not sure on total urea going down though and relative effect.
