Mind Blown - Fertilizing Yard with DEF

DEF?

Diesel exhaust fluid

quote:

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DEF is an easy way to get urea in small liquid doses. It cost slightly more than dry pellets last time I looked.

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Urea is a tad over $300 a ton. 0 chance you can get nearly a ton of urea via DEF for that ~$300. Each gallon of DEF has almost 3 pounds of urea, so you'd need almost 700 gallons of DEF. Deionized water isn't that great for your yard to justify overpaying this much.

Cheapest bulk DEF I can find on google shopping is a 330 gallon tote for 1375. So $2750 for a tad under a ton of urea this way. That's pretty close to 10x more expensive.

Ok, so when I said cheap, a jug of DEF doesnt cost much and can be found just about anywhere from gas stations, autopart, stores, lowes, etc. So, it is not expensive and very convenient.

My experience using UREA.....

Years ago, I knew a guy in Baton Rouge that worked at a plant the made UREA. He got me a 50 bag. He told me this stuff is really "hot". I mixed the amount he suggested [just a few lbs] in with a whole bag of 8x8x8 for my St Aug lawn.

I carefully spread it out evenly on the lawn. This was probably late April or early May. A couple weeks later the grass greened up good and started to grow.

This started a "love - hate" relations with using UREA. I would cut the grass Saturday morning and it looked great. But by Monday, the grass no longer looked like it had been cut. By Thursday the grass need cutting. By the time I cut it on Saturday it was very thick and I had to rake a lot of the yard after cutting it.

This cycle went on for the next 2 months until the grass growth finally started slowing down.
So if you use UREA, go light with it.

Here's a secret to those who don't drive diesel trucks that require DEF....get your DEF at a truck stop or Buc-ees. It's a lot cheaper than buying the box.

If all you can find is BlueDEF...it's a LOT higher now.

Even generic brand is more than at truck stops.