Online source for calcium nitrate?

General Discussion
1

I am going to try calcium nitrate to improve germination this year.
Have any of you bought online from Pestrong? If no, do you recommend a good online source for this product? My usual greenhouse suppliers, Farmtek and A.M. Leonard do not sell it.

2

I guess Peter Harris needs to go into business. He bought 50 lb of calcium nitrate from a hydroponics supply place. You need at max, 50 grams per year. Usually smaller lots are rather over-priced.

I just looked up the MSDS on Garotta and was absolutely stunned. I had assumed it was a bacterial culture like Bacterra. But it is just ammonium sulfate, ground limestone and lignite. In the U.S. Leonardite is the lignite from out in the Dakotas that gets used in organic gardening as a trace element supplier and such. I presume this is similar but from somewhere in UK or EU.

So perhaps the Garotta effect is similar to the calcium nitrate effect. Some seeds turn totally black with the calcium nitrate indicating that there’s something going on in a major way. Others don’t.

In the presence of the right soil bacteria (nitrifiers) the ammonium of sulfate will quickly turn to nitrate. And lime is high in calcium, plus some magnesium depending on the type. I’d expect the Garotta effect to be a bit hit and miss, depending on what the rose seeds bring in along with them. In vermiculite there will be very limited organic material for bacteria so the nitrate will not be consumed in making bacterial biomass. In organic mixes, there will be some consumption of the organic plus the nitrate to make bacteria. Hence a lower nitrate level available to stimulate the seeds.

Overall this will be somewhat phosphate limited unless the lignite happens to have high phosphate.

Thanks to Henry K. for pointing out that Garotta is in fact a mineral supplement, not bacterial.

3

Ironically, I was out and about yesterday afternoon and figured a hydroponics store would be my best bet finding calcium nitrate. I Googled them and there are 29 hydroponics stores within 5 miles of my house! I had NO idea I was so firmly entrenched right in the middle of “Pot, USA!” The guy at the first one said his was mixed with magnesium and said most others would likely have what he did, so he suggested Green Thumb, our mom and pop chain which supplied much of what was planted in these parts since WWII. Yup, they carry it. 50# for $36. Needless to say, I didn’t buy it. I don’t want/need 50# of anything. I’m not following “Dr. Tommy’s Rose Feeding Regimen”.

4

I got mine on amazon.com. I was able to get 2 pounds of it. Here is the link. This is the title for it: Calcium Nitrate Cano32 Nh4no3*10h2o 99% Prilled 2 Lb Bag. I noticed it is also now available in 1 pound bags. I am not sure if it is the right stuff (maybe someone who knows can confirm it for me). I have yet to try it but plan on it this winter as long as no one tells me this is the wrong stuff.

I should be able to share some of my supply with anyone (barring any legal restrictions I don’t know of).

5

The double salt with ammonium nitrate is fine. But with all those waters of hydration, you may need to add a little more to get to the same level of nitrate.Still it ought to work OK. I’d have to do the arithmetic. I think I did in an earlier thread, or the newsletter.

Kim, I thought they were growing tomatoes with that stuff. That’s what we do in KS.

6

Kim, maybe you are in an area that has plenty of nitrates in the water already. Check the enclosed map. :<)

http://www.cacoastkeeper.org/programs/mapping-initiative/nitrates-in-groundwater-maps

7

one level teaspoon per quart of the double salt looks like 20 mM in nitrate by my calculation (5 grams/L). So a good tablespoon per U.S. gallon or close to 2/3 oz if you have a scale.

8

Thanks Larry that prevents me from making a mistake. I went to law school so I wouldn’t have to do math. lol

I can’t wait to try this out this year.

9

We have tons of nitrates in our water because of all the farming and the dry weather. But the local water company takes most of it out. We were all asked to cut down our water cosumption this summer so that they have the capacity to take it out.

10

Thank you for the lead, Andre. I will check out Amazon for this product.

Regards,
Cathy