Is Urea in Hydroponics Beneficial at All?

Written by: Soufian b. Harvey

Nitrate vs. Urea in Hydroponics: Is Urea Worth It?

Using nitrate (NO3) for nitrogen in hydroponics is pretty standard, but some people wonder if adding urea—known for slowly releasing ammonia—could give plants a growth boost. Since plants can absorb both nitrate and ammonia, it’s a fair question to ask if urea could help in a hydro setup.

How Urea Breaks Down

Urea breaks down in water into ammonia and carbon dioxide, which plants can take up, or bacteria can turn into nitrate. This slow-release idea sounds good, but it doesn’t usually lead to better growth in hydroponics. Research shows that pure nitrate generally works better than urea, especially in setups without any growing media.

Organic vs. Inorganic Media

In systems with organic media like peat moss, urea breaks down into ammonia faster. Inorganic media speeds up the conversion from ammonia to nitrate. But even then, nitrate still outperforms urea when it comes to crop yields. There have been a few cases where adding a small amount of urea helped a bit, but it wasn’t better than using a little ammonium, which is already known to be beneficial.

Keep it Simple: Nitrate Wins

In general, crops fed with only nitrate grow better than those that had urea mixed in. So, is urea worth using? Probably not. A small amount of ammonium might help, but urea doesn’t seem to bring anything to the table that nitrate alone can’t handle. Sticking with nitrate is the best bet.

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