Limus Urea

[Hawkes]

I have always used Nitrogen plus sulphur prills on wheat/barley etc but this year our agronomist has come up with a recommendation for 46% Urea Limus. I have no experience of this and wondered what the advantage is perceived to be ? Is it good to spread? Some independent opinions are always good, from someone not trying to sell it to you !

 

[N.Yorks.]

Just had a look on the BASF website and looks like it's Urea that's had a Urease Inhibitor coated onto the granule/prill to reduce the ammonia losses (volatilisation) associated with Urea application.

Seems a credible product, and it would probably come down to cost and practicalities of how you would apply your sulphur.

How much is it?

 

[Hawkes]

£275 a ton quoted. We have some compounds to go on too which include the Sulphur. plus Mgo and Cao.

 

[N.Yorks.]

£275 a ton quoted. We have some compounds to go on too which include the Sulphur. plus Mgo and Cao.

Seems expensive compared to AN when it's supposed to perform similarly........

You could always give it a go over a couple of half fields and compare how things go..... easy if you've got yield mapping, but not everyone has that!

 

[Nowthenblue]

Hi

I think i'm right on this .....
If it's 46% then at £ 275 it's 59.7 p per Kg of N,
AN would need to be £ 206 to be of equal price.
Last price I saw on the Price Tracker for Nitram was £ 215
Less bags to get rid of too

 

[Brisel]

I have yet to see any independent trials data that adds any yield for inhibited urea. By logic, that means it’s not adding any value and therefore isn’t worth paying extra for IMO.

There may be instances where inhibited urea does fit your system e.g. restricted access, isolated land far away, where it could save you a pass. Top dressed to bare soil of very high pH in very hot weather it may lose some ammonia but the whole volatilisation story is just by vested interests - the sellers of higher profit margin AN. The research for volatilisation was based on bare soil under plastic to capture & measure the N losses. Hardly representative of field conditions in a growing crop yet this is partly what is used to hang us from. There is a consultation on banning urea unless inhibited available at the moment.

Sellers of Limus, Alzon etc could do well out of this...

 

[N.Yorks.]

Hi

I think i'm right on this .....
If it's 46% then at £ 275 it's 59.7 p per Kg of N,
AN would need to be £ 206 to be of equal price.
Last price I saw on the Price Tracker for Nitram was £ 215
Less bags to get rid of too

I'm glad you can do the maths on this as I clearly can't on a monday morning!!