Fertilizer
Basics
- A Chemical (Either pure or a mix) added to a feild or hydroponic system to promote growth via optimising nutrient concentrations and/or replacing depleted resources in poor quality soils
- This page explores various commercial options as well as OSE ideas
- They aren't a substitute for proper agricultural managment, and steps must be taken to avoid runnoff, but they may be needed on ocassion and thus should be covered
Comercial Options
Nitrogen Sources
Anhydrous Ammonia
- Hazardous to deal with, but highly concentrated
- Needs more specialized equipment to apply and store
- Also semi-controlled due to use in producing methanphetamine illegally
Ammonium hydroxide
- A Liquid solution of ammonium and water
- Easy to store and apply
- Still is quite hazardous, but does not have the temperature issues of anhydrous ammonia
Ammonium Nitrate
- Easily storable as pellets or powder
- Can be used as a Binary mining explosive which is safe untill mixed and thus easy to handle (ANFO) but this also poses a security risk which is undesirable in certain areas
- Easy to apply
Urea
- Similar properties to ammonium nitrate
- Is broken down into ammonia and carbon dioxide via enzymes from soil bacteria
- Care must be taken to make sure this doesn't happen prematurely
- Is thus a bit more difficult to apply
- Can possibly be extracted from collected urine (Albeit this is an inneficient inductrial method, but may be useful small scale
- Can form compounds that are detrimental to soil if mixed with or applied close to other compounds
Sodium Nitrate
- One of the oldest Soldi Fertilizers
- Typically Mined
- Less efficient as other fertilizers and may lead to an accumulation of Na in soils although the risk of the latter is lesser if managed properly
Phosphate
Diammonium Phosphate
Mined Phosphate containing Minerals
Potassium
Potash
- A name for a mix of various potassium containing compounds, especially potassium carbonate
Compound Fertilizers
- Contain a mix of elements and compounds
OSE Options
- Urea from collected and purified urine seems the simplest but has the disadvantages listed above
- anhydrous amonia and thus ammonium hydroxide COULD be made from this but it would require quite a bit of refining and thus complexity, especially for farm scale use
- Compost and Urine could fill most roles, but are less easily applied and have associated risks of Disease spreas (Primarily E. coli although this can be managed via sterilization and application not being done close to harvest
- Assuming ammonia is made, nitric acid is simple to make and could be used to make ammonium nitrate although again this would add complexity
- The only real advantage to making fertilizers small scale would be not using peterochemicals or mining, like most fertilizers do, and utilizing/recycling local waste products
