OT? Storing fetilizer

What it contain?

Reply to
Duane Bozarth
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I'm told fertilizer is a hazardous material. After hours on Google, the only thing I find is if the fertilizer contains ammonium nitrate, then it is considered an oxidizer which is considered hazardous. Anyone have any thoughts on storing about 1200 lbs. of lawn fertilizer which doesn't contain ammonium nitrate? What chemicals should be kept away from it if any? Thanks.

Reply to
Samson

I may be wrong but I think ammonium nitrate constitutes the nitrogen (the first # in the XX-XX-XX content label) in all commercial fertilizers.

In this day and age I am not willing to state in a newsgroup that can be read by anyone what may make it go boom. I will say you should be safe if it is stored in garden shed or barn away from heat sources or combustible materials.

I will add that any fertilizer that gets wet with water has the potential to destroy concrete, at least the top layer. It can also corrode metal to the point of ruin.

Colbyt

Reply to
Colbyt

Ammonium nitrate is explosive if mixed with diesel fuel, 6% of diesel fuel by weight. It is hard to set off and requires a good charge to go boom.

Store it dry in plastic sacks. Keep away from iron.

When I was a kid, we had a 25 kg sack of AN that I played with. Mostly made smoke grenades.

A funny property of AN is that when mixed with water, it dramatically lowers temperature. Mix it with room temp water and the temperature of the mix will be like 35 degrees F.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus21190

And you need to store 1200 pounds for what reason?

No it is not a hazardous material, but some are talking about regulating it after the Oklahoma bombing. Although practically everyone know how to use it as an explosive, regulating the purchase is really dumb considering the vast amounts use in agriculture. Ammonium nitrate, as well as any other nitrate, doesn't need any particular storage consideration. Just keep it dry, mainly to keep it from caking. If you are a very cautious person, then keep all other flamable liquids separate from it. The chance of you having an explosion is remote unless you do it intentionally and even then it takes work.

It is not a really good lawn fertilizer because it is easy to apply to much and will burn the lawn

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

Any fertilizer, with nitrate or not, should be kept dry. That's about the only thing important

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

Wrap it in plastic.

PJ

Reply to
PJx

Ask the vender you bought it from for a copy of the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). It will include instructions for safe handling. Ammonium Nitrate is not the only fertilizer that will act as an oxidizer. You should also check with the code enforcement office of your local fire department. The fines for storing hazardous materials in violation of local and state law can be quite steep.

-- Tom H

Reply to
HorneTD

Aren't there handling instruction written on the bags?

A quick browse of the net seems to indicate that most people are more worried about you contaminating groundwater or poisoning your livestock than about you blowing things up, from which I gather that making fertilizer blow up is sort of hard to do by accident.

Reply to
default

Dry fertilizer isn't dangerous to handle. Storage is just on concrete in bins inside a dry building. It's loaded with skid steer or front end loaders and just hauled around in spreader trucks. There are some restrictions, I think, on application times in my area of Nebraska. It's a groundwater contamination issue as you found. Information here on storage:

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:znR-bo4ZqGoJ:ianrpubs.unl.edu/water/farm-a-syst/ec769.pdf+unl+dry+fertilizer+handling+&hl=en The dangerous fertilizer is NH3 or anhydrous ammonia. It can also be used to make meth. That's starting to be an issue here.

Dean

Dean

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

I would have no concern, but it should be used within a year. Store it on pallets up off the floor. Keep it dry or you'll have a mess.

Reply to
Phisherman

fertilizer is hydroscopic. It will absorb water from the air. Make sure it is in a leakproof container otherwise you will end up with liquid fertilizer all over the floor. Makes a great substitute for salt if you want to melt ice around sensitive plants (just don't over fertilize).

I would be more worried about the smell >

Reply to
Jmagerl

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