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Is this calcium nitrate?

MarwaneldallalMarwaneldallal Posts: 87
in Problem solving
Is this calcium nitrate? It was white and the pieces were round and separate...it caught a bit of water and sand.

If it is, how is it to be used?

Excuse my ignorance.
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  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    How could we identify it from a photo?
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    And if it was, you wouldn't use it once it had formed lumps because of the water.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I think calcium nitrate would be more uniform in shape, but don't quote me.
    To be honest, if you don't know what it is and there's no label or information l would dispose of it safely,  don't try washing it into a drain or anything like that. I wouldn't risk putting it into the garden. 
  • MarwaneldallalMarwaneldallal Posts: 87
    Let me give you some more information...

    It was given to me by a gardener...

    He told me to put 2 tablespoons of it in every galon of water and apply it around march / april time and that it would help flowering...

    I wanted to know what it might be and if the instructions given were accurate or not.


  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I had to google calcium nitrate and it's an inorganic compound used in industrial fertilisers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_nitrate#:~:text=Calcium nitrate, also called Norgessalpeter,fertilizers but has other applications. 

    I'd stick with the organic fertilisers and soil improvers if I were you, stuff that helps with soil structure and feeding micro organisms which improve soil fertility and help plants take up more nutrients and grow strong and healthy.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • clarke.bruntclarke.brunt Posts: 215
    And did the 'gardener' tell you it was Calcium nitrate? It could well be, but it could be countless other things as well i.e. any white crystalline chemical compound, or a mixture of them. If it is Calcium nitrate, then (not surprisingly) it would supply Calcium and Nitrogen to plants - both valid nutrients (a 'balanced' fertiliser would contain Phosphorus and Potassium as well as Nitrogen - and may or may not have any Calcium). 2 tablespoons in a gallon is quite a plausible concentration (i.e. its about the same as any crystalline fertiliser you could buy). I don't see why it would help flowering in particular - nitrogen usually promotes green growth (leaves etc.), and calcium is only needed if it's deficient for some reason (e.g. blossom end rot in tomatoes maybe).

    If he didn't tell you what it was, then maybe it is a balanced fertiliser (like you might buy at the garden centre), which would be more useful for plants than it just being Calcium nitrate.

    Seems risky to apply it with no knowledge of what it is.
  • MarwaneldallalMarwaneldallal Posts: 87
    Thank you folks. Youve been a great help. I used a little on my Walnut and pear and apple all of which dont seem to want to sprout any shoots at all...theyre not dead because still green beneath the bark ...its almost april and no indication of life....of is it still early?
  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    Personally I wouldn't use or handle any substance that I don't recognise or have information on. 
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    edited March 2021
    I suppose a lot depends on what you actually used a little of.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Hope it wasn’t weed killer then.
    Sorry, but what you have done is bonkers.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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