# Ortho Dial 'n Sprayer



## Cdub5_ (Jun 12, 2019)

I've had this lying around in my garage for the longest time and never thought about it being utilized to put down some lawn treatments.
I have urea granules and some pelletized iron, is this something I could dilute in the Ortho sprayer and apply it this way rather than using my spreader? 
Would this be considered a foliar application?
What else would you feel comfortable applying to the lawn using the ortho sprayer?
Thanks!!


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## Hammybear (Apr 25, 2020)

Following. I have an ortho dial 'n sprayer and i'm looking to do a foliar application of urea to help fill up some bare spots. Would love to see if anyone has any guidance on what the set up should be on the ortho dial without creating any burn on the yard. The ortho dial holds 32oz and my application rate would be .25 N/lb. If I do that - should I be applying to the whole yard, or just to the areas i'm trying to push?


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## Rooster (Aug 19, 2019)

I apply dissolved urea with a hose-end sprayer. Because I spoon feed at low rates (0.25-0.50 lb N/k) every week I'm not too worried about the imprecision causing burn or anything. When I buy some chelated liquid iron I will add that to the mix as well.

Because the droplets come out so big and it's more highly diluted, I don't think it's the same as a foliar spray-- but for sure some of it stays on the foliage while some goes down to the soil. I think of it as half foliar and half soil drench.


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## Hammybear (Apr 25, 2020)

Could you mix potash in the mix too (need to resolve a potassium deficiency)?

How much urea do you add to the hose end sprayer? That's what I'm struggling with - is it just a couple table spoons with 32oz of water?


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## Rooster (Aug 19, 2019)

@Hammybear, it depends on how much nitrogen you want to put down and how much area you need to cover, but I make it easier on myself with some approximations and using a simple measuring cup.

1 cup of urea weighs _about _1/2 lb. 1/2 lb urea is _about _1/4 lb of nitrogen. So, 1 cup urea is _about _1/4 lb nitrogen.

From there it's just calculating from your area. In my case, the front yard is about 600 sq ft. So if I want to put down a rate of 1/4 lb N per k sqft for my 600 sq ft, I need (600/1000)*1 cup = 0.6 cups of urea. If I wanted a higher rate, like 1/2 lb N, I'd do 1.2 cups.

The back yard is about 1900 sq ft. So for a 1/4 lb N rate, I'd do (1900/1000)* 1 cup = 1.9 cups of urea. For a 1/2 lb N rate, I'd need 3.8 cups (though this may take more than one fill-up of the sprayer-- see below).

Then I just scoop out something pretty close to that, dump it in the sprayer bottle, add HOT water, and stir it up til it's dissolved. Then I use the heaviest rate on the sprayer (in my case it's a 6 gallons per 32 oz rate) to apply, and usually do multiple passes in different directions to get it pretty even.

The HOT water is important as it dissolves much easier. It allows you to put quite a bit of urea in there and still get it fully dissolved. I wouldn't fill your container more than halfway with urea-- maybe less-- to make sure it dissolves fully. So for bigger areas you may have to refill a few times to get to your desired app rate.


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## Grass in Mass (Sep 19, 2021)

Bermuda_Rooster said:


> @Hammybear, it depends on how much nitrogen you want to put down and how much area you need to cover, but I make it easier on myself with some approximations and using a simple measuring cup.
> 
> 1 cup of urea weighs _about _1/2 lb. 1/2 lb urea is _about _1/4 lb of nitrogen. So, 1 cup urea is _about _1/4 lb nitrogen.
> 
> ...


I am going to try this with my ortho sprayer but what setting do you use Shower or broadcast?

Also just checking the math, I have 6k Sq ft, with granular its about 3 lbs gets me roughly .23/k. Should I be dissolving the 3lbs in water and add to the sprayer and spray on max?


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## Rooster (Aug 19, 2019)

Grass in Mass said:


> I am going to try this with my ortho sprayer but what setting do you use Shower or broadcast?
> 
> Also just checking the math, I have 6k Sq ft, with granular its about 3 lbs gets me roughly .23/k. Should I be dissolving the 3lbs in water and add to the sprayer and spray on max?


I mainly use shower, but whatever helps you apply it pretty evenly should be fine.

For 3 lbs and 6k sq ft, I think you have two issues. 3 lbs is too much for one batch in the dial-n-spray, and even it weren't you probably couldn't get good even coverage for an area that big on max.

I think your best bet is three batches of 1 lb, each done on max as long as the first one actually covers all 6k sq ft. If it doesn't, then go on max to cover whatever you didn't cover the first batch, then turn it down for the remainder to make sure you get at least one more go.

Depending on how this goes you could try next time to do just 2 batches of 1.5 lbs each, but I don't think you're going to be able to cut it down to just one batch.


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## Grass in Mass (Sep 19, 2021)

OK, I'll give that a try. Thanks


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## pete_kats (7 mo ago)

Bermuda_Rooster said:


> I apply dissolved urea with a hose-end sprayer. Because I spoon feed at low rates (0.25-0.50 lb N/k) every week I'm not too worried about the imprecision causing burn or anything. When I buy some chelated liquid iron I will add that to the mix as well.
> 
> Because the droplets come out so big and it's more highly diluted, I don't think it's the same as a foliar spray-- but for sure some of it stays on the foliage while some goes down to the soil. I think of it as half foliar and half soil drench.


@Bermuda_Rooster I'm about to start hitting my newly seeded bermuda with .25 lb N/k weekly to push it. How long do you wait after spraying the urea to water it in?


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## Rooster (Aug 19, 2019)

pete_kats said:


> @Bermuda_Rooster I'm about to start hitting my newly seeded bermuda with .25 lb N/k weekly to push it. How long do you wait after spraying the urea to water it in?


At the rates I apply it, and with the hose-end sprayer mixing it in quite a bit of water, I don't usually go back and water it in at all. I don't think I've ever applied Urea at higher than 0.5 ln/k N rates and never seen any burn by not doing additional watering afterward.


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