# Urea question



## IAlawn (Sep 27, 2017)

Hey!

Newbie here to the lawn forum so apologies if this has been addressed in another post.

I have a half opened bag of urea sitting in my garage from when I winterized the lawn last November. My question is, does urea go bad and lose its effectiveness if its been stored in the garage all year? Or would the bag I have still be ok to use this year? I don't mind buying another bag if I have to, but didn't want to waste what I have left over if it would still as good as when it was bought.

Thanks!


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

If it was stored in a dry, cool place and didn't get wet it's fine. I'm still using urea from over two seasons ago.


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## gregonfire (Sep 18, 2017)

pennstater2005 said:


> If it was stored in a dry, cool place and didn't get wet it's fine. I'm still using urea from over two seasons ago.


What happens if it gets wet? I had my 50lb bag sitting outside and had a quick rainshower come through. The bag wasn't opened, but it was made of a heavy paper. I didn't open the bag yet, but it seems like it was just the paper part that got wet, not the inside..


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

If it gets wet it will clump together. I've had it happen before to a small portion.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Even if it clumps, it still works. You just need to make sure to break the clumps up with a hammer. If you try to use it with clumps, you might end up with a polka dot lawn with the nitrogen burn from the clumps.


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

This article talks about nitrogen losses from urea. It does have a small part about what happens when urea gets wet.

https://www.noble.org/news/publications/ag-news-and-views/2009/may/nitrogen-losses-from-urea/


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## wardconnor (Mar 25, 2017)

g-man said:


> Even if it clumps, it still works. You just need to make sure to break the clumps up with a hammer. If you try to use it with clumps, you might end up with a polka dot lawn with the nitrogen burn from the clumps.


This happened to me like 2 weeks ago. It will burn if you do not break them up. I was feeling too lazy and did not break them up and ended up with spots all over. See my youtube video I made about it.


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

It can also get slimey if its moist enough lol


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