CAN Fert

landlover

Member
This year the only N fertiliser I could get hold of at the time from my preferred source was CAN 27N 12SO3. Having never used this before and seeing the fact that it’s made up of two types of N (one of which is readily available and one that apparently takes 2 or 3 weeks to convert) does it need to be on much earlier or no need to worry? Just looking for peoples experiences with it as I’ve never used the stuff before. Thanks 👍🏻
 

Bogweevil

Member
This year the only N fertiliser I could get hold of at the time from my preferred source was CAN 27N 12SO3. Having never used this before and seeing the fact that it’s made up of two types of N (one of which is readily available and one that apparently takes 2 or 3 weeks to convert) does it need to be on much earlier or no need to worry? Just looking for peoples experiences with it as I’ve never used the stuff before. Thanks 👍🏻

Are you sure it is two types - CAN is generally ammonium nitrate and chalk. https://www.yara.co.uk/crop-nutrition/fertiliser/nitrate/yarabela-can/

So in essence it is AN but more expensive to make, transport and spread, (and unsuitable for bomb making).

You might be thinking of calcium nitrate that is wildly too expensive for general farm use.
 

jpd

Member
Location
rep of irl
i think suphate of ammonia was used in the percussive side of agriculture.
it was hard to spread
but super stuff on sulphur deficient soils here
 

landlover

Member
Are you sure it is two types - CAN is generally ammonium nitrate and chalk. https://www.yara.co.uk/crop-nutrition/fertiliser/nitrate/yarabela-can/

So in essence it is AN but more expensive to make, transport and spread, (and unsuitable for bomb making).

You might be thinking of calcium nitrate that is wildly too expensive for general farm use.

The link you shared states ‘YaraBela CAN contains nitrogen as nitrate and ammonium’. I’m not using this product but thought it consisted of two different types of N??
 

Bogweevil

Member
The link you shared states ‘YaraBela CAN contains nitrogen as nitrate and ammonium’. I’m not using this product but thought it consisted of two different types of N??

yes it contains nitrate that is instantly available but prone to leaching, and ammonium that plants can use but it gets converted to nitrate quite quickly depending on the soil temperatures. In this respect it is no different to ordinary Ammonium nitrate. Calcium ammonium nitrate being merely chalk and Ammonium nitrate. As well as thwarting bomb-makers, CAN does not affect soil pH - on its own AN releases hydrogen ions as it turns into nitrate raising pH slowly acidifying the soil, the chalk in the CAN is alkaline so no acidification occurs.

There is another product called UAN which has urea, ammonium and nitrate, being a blend of urea and ammonium nitrate. Here the urea must turn into ammonia before plants can access it and thence to nitrate.

Do ask which is best, urea or ammonium nitrate and be ready for vehement arguments! Spoiler alert: it doesn't much matter.
 

jpd

Member
Location
rep of irl
it was used in bomb making
used in the oklahoma bombing and in the rampage by the guy on the island in norway when he blew up some govt buildings as well as a killing spree
 

Bogweevil

Member
it was used in bomb making
used in the oklahoma bombing and in the rampage by the guy on the island in norway when he blew up some govt buildings as well as a killing spree
Ammonium sulphate is not explosive. Ammonium nitrate is potentially explosive hence the AN regulations. CAN is not explosive due to chalk content.
 

landlover

Member
The clue is in the name: 'ammonium' and 'nitrate'. Both are nitrogen based.


Forgot to say, unless you are on calcium deficient soils, there is fudge all benefit from using CAN over AN.
The benefit was that I could get hold of some N and that it cost about 320 quid.

So it is comprised of two different types of N which is what I was querying re availability to the plant and timescale??
 

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