Spring dressing of strawberries. Fertilizer for strawberries - how to increase productivity in simple ways? What organic fertilizer to feed strawberries in spring

At the beginning of the summer season, in the spring, as soon as the snow melts, strawberry bushes are fed for the first time. In this case, top dressing should stimulate the growth of young leaves and shoots, and therefore contain nitrogen. We will tell in the article why top dressing of strawberries in the spring is important, how to carry it out in various ways.

Features of spring fertilizing strawberries

In the first year of growing strawberries, you can not feed them - the fertilizers that were applied during planting will be enough for them. In subsequent seasons, the culture must be fed in a timely manner. What and when? It depends on the age of the strawberry. For the second and fourth years, it should be mineral and organic fertilizers; on the third - only mineral.

Tip #1 Fertilizers must be applied directly under the bushes, dropping two centimeters of soil, and between rows to a depth of 8-10 centimeters. Then water the bushes thoroughly.

You can also carry out three foliar top dressings:

For young leaves.
During flowering.
By ties.

What are the benefits of fermenting strawberries

Spring dressing should not be neglected

Relatively recently, it became known that yeast perfectly fertilizes all types of plants. They contain ¾ water and ¼ dry matter. In addition, they contain proteins, carbohydrates, fats, nitrogen, potassium and phosphoric acid. Proteins contain amino acids, fats contain saturated and polyunsaturated acids.

Yeast-fed strawberries get the much needed cytokinin, auxin, thiamine, and B vitamins. In addition, this berry is enriched with all macro- and microelements - copper, calcium, iodine, phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, therefore it develops and bears fruit well.

You can feed strawberries with yeast twice a season. One 5-liter bucket is enough for 10 bushes. A pack of yeast weighing 1 kilogram is diluted with 5 liters of water. 0.5 liters of the mixture is poured under the bush. From dry yeast, top dressing is done as follows: 1 pack and 2 tablespoons of sugar are diluted in a small amount of warm water and the mixture is added to a bucket of water. Insist 2 hours.

Iodine as a spring dressing for strawberries

Ordinary iodine can prevent some strawberry diseases if just a few drops are added to the feeding solution. Iodine is an antiseptic, therefore it is able to prevent the appearance of various bacterial diseases and rot in plants. For watering and spraying, a 10% alcohol solution of iodine is used.

Strawberries are fed with iodine in early spring to stimulate growth and to prevent gray rot and powdery mildew. Also, a solution of iodine is used to spray the culture over the leaf. The concentration of iodine for foliar top dressing should be less, otherwise the plant can be burned.

Top dressing of strawberries in the spring with saltpeter

Strawberries need nitrogen fertilizers for good growth and flowering, as well as for getting bright red large berries with excellent taste. If there is not enough nitrogen, the leaves will become pale, and the berries will turn out small and tasteless. Nitrogen is found in ammonium nitrate and urea (urea). Saltpeter here acts as a fertilizer together with ammonium sulfate and calcium nitrate.

Tip #2 If there is no time to alternately add the necessary minerals, you can use nitroammophoska.

The first time strawberries are fertilized in early spring. A solution consisting of ammonium nitrate and urea (1 tablespoon), diluted in 10 liters of water, is poured under each strawberry bush (0.5 liters each). It must be remembered that an excess of this fertilizer leads to a loss of sugar in the berry.

Potash fertilizers are also important for strawberries. They increase its shelf life, improve taste, increase the sugar content in it. In the spring, strawberries need to be fed with potassium nitrate, wood ash, potassium chloride, potassium sulfate. For this, the so-called tuks are suitable - minerals that need to be mixed into the soil to saturate the soil with nutrients. Inorganic fats are:

nitrogen: with ammonium nitrate, urea;
potassium: with potassium sulfate, potassium nitrate.

During the second spring feeding, strawberries can be fed with this fertilizer: 1 tablespoon of potassium nitrate per 10 liters of water. You can feed strawberries under the roots, or you can directly on the plant, using liquid dressings.

Urea for proper fertilization of strawberries

This dressing is suitable for all types of soil. Carbamide (urea) provides a healthy crop due to its high nitrogen content. When using it, the main thing is to observe the dosage. If you add it more than necessary, then the berries can become tasteless and watery.

When the dosage is exceeded, strawberry leaves curl, turn dark brown. In this case, the plants need to provide abundant watering and limit the exposure of them to sunlight.

What is useful nettle as a fertilizer

Nettle contains potassium (34%), magnesium (6%), calcium (37%), vitamins A, B, E, K, phytoncides, tannins, organic substances. All of them are useful for the full development and growth of strawberries. They are easily digestible. Vitamin K is involved in photosynthesis, increases plant immunity.

Nettle is used in the form of infusion - fermented plant mass. How to cook it? Young leaves and stalks of nettle should be put in a barrel (non-metallic), filled with water and left to ferment for a week or two, stirring daily, without fail. The resulting mixture is diluted with water: half a liter of infusion per 10 liters of water. This mass is watered with strawberries.

Foliar top dressing of strawberries in spring

You can prepare such a solution: for 10 liters of water, take 3 grams of potassium permanganate and 2 grams of boric acid and add the fertilizer used during planting. This mixture is good to feed the strawberries before flowering. When the first flowers appear, the amount of ingredients should be halved by adding 2 grams of potassium sulfate to the mixture.

When to Feed Strawberries

In three years, strawberries completely deplete the soil on which they grow. Therefore, in order to ensure a good harvest, you need to either feed the plants or transplant them to a new place. Read also the article: → "". The first option is preferable, as it takes less effort and time. Approximate portions of fertilizer application on soddy-podzolic soils for strawberries are shown in the table:

Soil security	Compost (manure), t/ha	Nitrogen (N), kg a.i./ha	Phosphorus (Р2О5), kg w/ha	Potassium (K2O) kg a.i./ha
Low	60-80	50-60	100	80-120
Medium	40-50	30-40	80-60	50-80
High	30	10-20	40	25-40

If your strawberries are more than 3 years old, then they need to be fed three times to ensure a good harvest:

when the first leaves appear;
when the buds appear;
when ties appear.

The most suitable time for the first feeding - depending on the climatic region - is mid-late April. First of all, remove the garbage from the beds - branches, leaves, etc. Around the roots of the seedlings with a very thin layer (the earth should be visible through top dressing), lay out manure, chicken droppings or mullein, and sprinkle fertilizer on top with soil 2 centimeters high.

The second top dressing is carried out in the middle - the end of May, when the first flowers appear. It is good to use iodine and ash: pour a glass of ash with boiling water, strain and pour the resulting liquid into a bucket filled with 10 liters of warm water. Add 30 drops of iodine and water each bush with 500-700 milliliters of the resulting mixture.

The third dressing is carried out before the ovary of berries. During this period, the best top dressing is an infusion of weeds. They do it like this: weed the beds, chop the weeds and fill a bucket with them; pour them with water and let it brew for a week in a warm room; strain the mixture, dilute with water in a ratio of 1: 1 and pour strawberry bushes under the root (1 liter per bush). Some gardeners add yeast to such top dressing (200 grams per 10 liters of the mixture). But you should not do this, since this will not particularly affect the growth of berries, but the soil will become rocky.

How to feed strawberries with folk remedies

Fertilizing the soil is the most necessary for the plant, both before planting and during growth, it is a mandatory care item.

In addition to ready-made industrial dressings, gardeners use folk remedies to fertilize strawberries. Everyone knows how important organic material is for plants - manure humus, chicken manure, peat, herbal infusions and even food waste. All these fertilizers contain a large amount of nitrogen, which is necessary for strawberries to be large, sweet and juicy.

Tip #3 Chicken manure is used in liquid form: 1 liter of manure per 10 liters of water. Such a solution must be insisted for three days, otherwise you can burn the plants.

Strawberries can be fertilized with fermented milk products - let's say whey. Milk contains more than 19 useful amino acids, as well as minerals, calcium, sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The most beneficial environment for the development and fruiting of strawberries is slightly acidic soil. And it is in this sense that fermented milk products are the most correct solution, since they make such a soil. They are recommended to be used in conjunction with manure, humus and ash. It is good to spray strawberries with milk - this will scare off insect pests from it - aphids, mites.

Fertilizers from bread are very good for the growth and development of strawberries. They are prepared simply: dried bread is soaked to the state of fermentation in water - maturation will occur after about 6-10 days. This solution is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. Yeast will create favorable conditions for the growth of strawberries. In addition, the yeast fungus acidifies the soil, and the berries receive the necessary nutrition and become large.

It is advisable to feed strawberries with herbal infusions several times during the season. For this, besides nettle, burdock, mint, wormwood, various garden weeds are suitable. It is good to add onion peel to them. All this is put in a net and lowered into a barrel of water. Close the lid and insist for one to two weeks. The resulting infusion is watered under the root strawberries. This top dressing provides strawberry bushes with the substances necessary for full growth and fruiting.

Experienced gardeners advise periodically spraying strawberry bushes with warm dandelion infusion (500 grams per 10 liters of water). This contributes to the destruction of pathogens and insect pests. As an alternative - an infusion of garlic (200 grams of garlic per bucket of water).

Benefits of mulch for strawberries

This is a very efficient and economical way to feed strawberries. Its advantages:

firstly, there is no need to weed the beds from weeds;
secondly, the berries remain healthy and clean;
thirdly, the soil remains wet for a long time, so you can water the plants less often.
Fourthly, after rain, a crust does not form on the soil, which means that its friability is preserved.

Rubric "Question-Answer"

There are many different top dressings that you can either buy in a special store or use folk, time-tested methods.

Question number 1. How to increase the yield of strawberries?

Feed strawberries with live yeast: 2 packs per 10 liters of water. Or humates. If they do not have iodine, then add 10 drops per 10 liters of water. Today, sachets with iodized humates are sold, the contents of which must be diluted according to the instructions. Iodine is the protection of plants from insects. You can also mulch strawberry beds with well-rotted manure.

Question number 2. What to do so that the berries do not lie on the ground?

To prevent strawberries from getting dirty, after flowering, the soil around the bushes should be covered with fresh sawdust, then poured with a solution of ammonium nitrate or urea at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water, and then poured with clean water.

Question number 3. Why are the strawberries dried up?

First, when making beds, put drip irrigation under the film, and only then plant strawberries. Be sure to pay attention to the fact that the heart does not die, but also does not stick out too much. After planting, treat the beds with Epin. If the heart is dry, new bushes can be planted in this place. It is advisable to cut the foliage after planting for better rooting without damaging the heart. Do not cover with foil!

If you planted strawberries a year ago and, when preparing the garden bed, applied organic fertilizers to it, then in this case you do not need to feed the strawberry bushes in the spring: the plants will have enough nutrients already available in the soil.

What to feed: folk remedies

In most cases, strawberries almost completely deplete the soil in which they grow in three years, and in this case, a rich harvest can only be expected when feeding the plants or when transplanting them to new beds. Since top dressing takes less time and effort, most gardeners prefer it. If strawberries are more than three years old, then for a good harvest it needs to be fed three times:

When the first leaves appear;

When buds appear;

When the berries themselves are set.

The most favorable time for the first feeding is mid-late April (depending on the climatic zone). You must first remove the garbage from the beds: leaves, branches, etc. Next, spread manure, mullein or chicken manure in a very thin layer around the seedlings (near the roots) (so that the ground is visible through the top dressing), then fill the fertilizer with soil from above (the soil height is not more than a couple of centimeters).

The second top dressing must be carried out no later than mid-late May, as soon as the first flowers appear. For the second top dressing, use ash and iodine: pour a glass of ash with boiling water, strain and pour the resulting liquid into a bucket filled with warm water (10 liters). Add 30 drops of iodine to the water and pour 500-700 ml of the mixture over each strawberry bush.

The third top dressing, as mentioned above, must be carried out before the ovary of berries. The best during this period is top dressing in the form of infusion of weeds. It is done as follows: weed the beds, chop the weeds and fill a bucket with them. Pour everything with water and let it brew for a week in a warm room. Strain the mixture, dilute with water 1: 1 and pour the strawberries under the root at the rate of a liter per bush. Some gardeners add more yeast to this top dressing (200 grams per 10 liters of the mixture), but this should not be done. The fact is that you will not see a special result on the growth of berries from yeast, but you will make the soil rocky.

How to feed strawberries in the spring without chemistry

If you do not want to use purchased preparations as top dressing, then use either chicken manure (it is advisable to use it only in early spring), manure, mullein, or weed infusions, which necessarily include nettles. Two-year-old bushes have enough top dressing in the form of ash (a glass of dry ash under the root of each bush), three-four-year-old ones need more abundant nutrition: humus mixed with sawdust, chopped pine bark, compost, etc.

A good strawberry harvest depends on many factors: weather conditions, varieties, and comprehensive care. Despite the importance of the listed elements, the yield depends to the greatest extent on whether the strawberries were fed correctly in the spring. Only growing in soil rich in minerals and microelements, plants can form large and tasty berries and give the gardener a good harvest.

1 Features of the procedure
2 What types of dressings are there, their specifics
- 2.1 Root
- 2.2 Foliar
3 How and what to feed strawberries
- 3.1 Mineral fertilizers
- 3.2 Organic
4 Feeding scheme
- 4.1 Features of feeding adults and young bushes
5 Popular Mistakes

What you will learn from this article:

Features of the procedure

Immediately after the earth dries out, dried leaves and mustaches are cut off, last year's mulch is removed and the soil is loosened. The next point of care in the spring is top dressing of strawberries, which stimulates the crop to grow rapidly and increase yields. In addition, the timely introduction of nutrient fluids increases resistance to diseases and pests, which is very important in warm rainy weather.

Strawberries planted last year, during planting of which fertilizers were applied, are not fed in the spring. Plants older than two years need to add minerals and trace elements, since they have already drawn out the nutrients introduced during planting from the soil.

Video: when to feed strawberries inspring.

What types of dressings are there, their specifics

There are two types of dressings: root and foliar. Let's look at each of them in more detail.

root

Root top dressing involves fertilizing under the strawberry stalk or at some distance from it. Use simple and complex mineral mixtures, organics, folk remedies.

Fertilizers for strawberries, which are applied directly under the root, are carefully added dropwise with a layer of earth two centimeters thick. If nutrients are scattered between rows, the digging depth is 8-10 cm.

Foliar

Fertilizing strawberries in the spring for a good harvest can be done not only by the root method, but also by the leaf method. As a result of spraying the aerial parts with nutrient solutions, the plant grows faster, and the ligature increases.

Foliar top dressing of strawberries in the spring is carried out:

mineral highly mobile fertilizers(this group includes easily absorbed mixtures based on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium);
low mobility(and these include slowly absorbing products consisting of iron, copper and boron).

In order to increase the absorbency of the latter, it is worth spraying very carefully so that the composition completely covers the entire aerial part. Spraying is important to carry out on a dry, calm evening or overcast day.

For the prevention of diseases and the suppression of insect attacks strawberry foliar feeding is combined with fungicides and insecticides. Among gardeners, the drug Zircon, Strawberry Rescuer, Fitosporin, has gained great popularity.

Opponents of industrial products for spraying use folk remedies: a solution of iodine, and lime, potassium permanganate, and sulfur.

How and what to feed strawberries

Many summer residents and avid gardeners, before embarking on garden manipulations, are trying to figure out how best to feed strawberries in the spring. As for many other crops, mineral and organic fertilizers are used to feed strawberries in the indicated dose. Each of them will be discussed in more detail below.

Video: strawberry feeding scheme in spring - what fertilizers to use?

Mineral fertilizers

Such fertilizers are single-component and complex. If for the full feeding of strawberries in the spring with simple fertilizers it is necessary to apply several mixtures, then as a result of using complex ones - in addition to nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, secondary elements such as boron, copper, calcium, iron and others also enter the soil.

Fertilizers are produced in the form of liquid and powder, and are intended for root and foliar dressings. Among the abundance of products, experienced gardeners distinguish the following: Mortar, Hera, Ryazanochka, NutriFight, Kemira, Ammophos, Nitroammophoska.

Worth knowing! The culture does not like chlorine, so potassium chloride and ammonium, as well as other products with a high content of the element, cannot be used.

Top dressing of strawberries with urea in spring is carried out in the second half of April, when the temperature rises to +16 C. At lower temperatures, it cannot absorb nitrogen. It is also important to remember: in order to effectively feed strawberries with urea, it is necessary to properly prepare the solution.

To prepare the solution, add one tablespoon of carbamide to the bucket. Half a liter of the resulting product is poured under one bush.

Use minerals only in doses recommended by the manufacturer. If you make a more concentrated solution, the berries will become unsuitable for consumption.

organic

Organics allows you to feed strawberries in the spring, so to speak, "without chemistry." It has several significant advantages: safety, environmental friendliness, availability.

So, immediately after the earth dries out in the spring, under strawberries are fed with a solution of chicken manure. Litter promotes aeration and water permeability of the soil, fills it with useful substances and makes it more loose. Due to the impressive content of macro- and microelements, such top dressing is carried out 1 time in 2-3 years.

To prepare the solution, organic matter is poured into a bucket and filled with water in a ratio of 1: 2. The product is thoroughly stirred to a homogeneous consistency, gain half a liter and diluted in a bucket of water. The solution is added at a distance of 6-10 cm from the bush.

You can fertilize strawberries with chicken manure only once a year.. With the frequent introduction of nitrogen-containing organic matter, nitrates accumulate in the berries.

Important! It is impossible to overfeed the culture with organic matter, especially chicken manure, which contains a lot of acid and urea. As a result of an excess of organic matter, the roots burn out and this leads to death.

Feeding scheme

Fertilizing strawberries in the spring follows a certain pattern, so it is extremely important to know when and at what time to fertilize the plant.

First dressing of strawberries in the spring it is applied immediately after cleaning the beds from organic debris and loosening the earth. Feed with one of the following solutions:

Two hundred grams of bird droppings are stirred in a bucket of water, then the container is closed with a lid and insisted for a day. To prevent the leaves from being burned by the concentrate, the finished mixture is poured between the rows.

300 g of mullein are placed on a bucket of water and insisted for 48 hours. Add a tablespoon of ammonium sulfate to the concentrate. Under one bush contribute 0.5 liters of solution.

50 g of mullein and a tablespoon of nitroammophoska are poured into a bucket and poured with water. Consumption per bush - 0.5 liters.

Ammonium nitrate and ammophoska are mixed in a 1:2 ratio. For top dressing sq. m. berry plantations will consume 15 g of the mixture.

25 g of urea is added to 10 liters of water. Under one plant contribute 0.5 liters of solution.

Video:

Second dressing of strawberries in the spring it is carried out during the formation of ovaries or pouring berries. The following mixtures are used:

A quarter of a bucket is filled with manure and the missing water is poured. The mixture, infused for 3 days, is diluted from a ratio of 1:4. For irrigation of one square. m. an average of ten liters of slurry will be consumed.

For ten liters of water add 5 g of boric acid, 1-2 tbsp. l. iodine, a glass of wood ash. Consumption per bush - 0.5 liters.

Pour into a bucket of water Art. l. potassium sulfate, two tbsp. l. nitrophoska and mix thoroughly.

A kilogram of pressed yeast is kneaded, poured into a bucket of water and insisted for a day. Then the yeast liquid is diluted twice with water and poured under the plants, 500 ml per bush.

Important! It is important to apply all types of fertilizers in the recommended doses. In the case of overfeeding with organic matter, the roots are burned, with mineral mixtures, the aerial part actively grows to the detriment of the fruits.

Video:

Features of feeding adults and young bushes

Strawberries planted last year do not need to be fertilized in the spring if a sufficient amount of organic and mineral fertilizers was applied to the soil during planting.

In the case when there are doubts about the correctness of last year's top dressing, then you need to know how to feed young strawberries in the spring. Young strawberries are fed with a solution of chickenlitter(0.5 liters/10 liters of water) or sodium sulfate solution(one tablespoon / 10 liters). One liter is added.

Unlike annual plants, adult strawberries need regular feeding as the land becomes poor over time. Of course, you can deprive yourself of unnecessary trouble and not feed strawberries in the spring, but you should not expect a good harvest from frail crops either.

If the berry is grown in order to obtain a good harvest, then a culture older than two years is fertilized several times: the first - after the appearance of 2-3 true leaves, the second - during the setting of berries.

Upon reaching 2 and 4 years, strawberries are fed in the spring with organic and mineral fertilizers. For 3 years after planting, only the latter are used.

Popular Mistakes

It is human nature to make mistakes even in the simplest things, let alone the spring feeding of strawberries, which should be carried out at a certain time and in the correct sequence. Having become acquainted with the misconceptions presented below, you can protect yourself from repeating them in your own practice.

Apply too little or too much fertilizer.
Root top dressing in the form of organic solutions is applied under the stem, touching the leaves.
Fertilize strawberries in the spring with nitrogenous substances when the temperature is below +15 C.

Feeding strawberries in the spring for a good harvest is quite simple, the main thing is to know exactly what and follow all the instructions. And then the result will justify even the wildest expectations. And remember, in this case it is worth sticking to the golden mean, otherwise the berries can grow small and tasteless.

When growing such a berry crop as strawberries or strawberries in a personal plot, additional measures will be required to obtain a bountiful harvest.

And they consist in the timely feeding of plants with fertilizer such as urea ().

1 Urea as fertilizer

This chemical compound is the end product of the decomposition of proteins, which was first obtained in the eighteenth century, as a product of the artificial synthesis of organic substances.

Fertilizer with the name "urea" is a granule (white or transparent), which contains 46% nitrogen in its composition. As has long been known, the sufficient presence of nitrogen in the soil has a very positive effect on the growth and development of any plants, and especially strawberries.

Therefore, due to the natural depletion of the soil on which strawberries grow, it must be periodically fed to stimulate growth and fruiting.

Urea is highly soluble in water, which greatly facilitates the fertilization process itself. There are two ways to feed strawberries:

root - the soil loosened around the strawberry bush is watered with a solution of urea;
outside the root - the whole plant is sprayed with a sprayer with the same composition.

In the first option, urea enters the soil and enriches it with nitrogen for a rather long period, and strawberries take the necessary amount of it through the root system. At the same time, an overdose (excessive presence of nitrogen in the soil) does not harm the plant.

This is due to the fact that urea dissolved in water passes from the amide form to the nitrate form over a long period of time. So, you can water from the heart.

The second method is faster, since nitrogen is absorbed by the plant along with moisture through a large area of leaves and partially stems. In this case, spraying should be carried out early in the morning or at sunset in order to avoid the rapid evaporation of liquid droplets on the plant.

1.1 Number of dressings

Proper care of strawberries provides for three times the use of urea throughout the year:

to stimulate active growth and development, strawberries should be fed in the spring, after the beds on which they are located are cleared of dried shoots and leaves. Usually half a liter of solution is enough for one bush. The proportions of dilution with water should be viewed on the packaging, as each manufacturer has its own recommendations. Spring care can be carried out with the onset of stable warm weather;
fertilizing strawberries in August with urea after harvest. This contributes to further development - the release of new antennae and their subsequent rooting;
fertilizing strawberries in the fall makes it easier for the plant to winter and has a beneficial effect on the yield next year.

During flowering and fruiting, the plants do not need to be fed, but if sprayed during the formation of buds, the yield can be significantly increased.

2 What causes a lack of nitrogen?

Since nitrogen is a vital element for the growth of all plants, its deficiency can lead to detrimental consequences. By the appearance of the bushes (stems and leaves) of strawberries you can determine whether the plant is getting enough nitrogen.

The main signs of a shortage are as follows:

growth and development are very slow;
new shoots are too thin and short;
the leaves are not large enough and have a pale appearance with signs of yellowness;
the number of flowers is small or absent.

With such signs, you should not count on a good harvest of berries. Therefore, with their first appearance, it is necessary to give strength for normal growth and fruiting.

2.1 Proper use of urea

This fertilizer is widely known and readily used by lovers of gardens and orchards so that caring for their plants is effective and not very laborious.

The low price and convenient shape of the granules, which prevents caking during storage and transportation, as well as the high dissolution capacity, make it possible to use urea as the main nitrogen fertilizer.

The main part of nitrogen (about 60% of the planned volume) in the form of urea is applied to the soil in autumn. This is done before digging the soil, so that in the future there will be a uniform distribution of the fertilizer from the surface to a depth of 10-15 cm. This method involves using urea not in the form of a solution, but in granules evenly scattered over the surface. In terms of quantity, this usually ranges from 80 to 130 g per square meter.

In spring and summer, care involves only top dressing with aqueous solutions in the proportion of one tablespoon of fertilizer per 10 liters of water.

But when plants show signs of a clear lack of nitrogen, it is necessary to fertilize the soil in full.

The use of urea somewhat changes the acidity of the soil upwards. On non-acidic lands, this does not affect fertility in any way. BUT in order to reduce the increased acidity of the soil when applying urea, ground limestone can be added to it in a ratio of 0.8 to 1. This will help neutralize the oxidative process that occurs when using urea on acidic soils.