 How to apply urea fertilizer urea fertilizer is a stable organic fertilizer then can improve the quality of your soil provide Nitrogen to your plants and increase the yield of your crops. You can usually get it in a dry granular form There are several benefits to using urea as a fertilizer, but urea is not without its disadvantages Knowing how to properly apply urea fertilizer to your soil and how urea interacts with other fertilizers can help you avoid These disadvantages and get as much benefit out of your fertilizer as possible Applying urea on its own Minimize ammonia loss by applying urea on a cool day Urea is best applied on a cool day in weather between 32 degrees to 60 degrees Fahrenheit 0 degrees to 15.6 degrees Celsius and with little to no wind At colder temperatures the ground is frozen making it difficult to incorporate the urea into the soil At higher temperatures and in windy conditions the urea is broken down faster than it can soak into the soil Use a urea fertilizer with a urease inhibitor before planting Urease is the enzyme that begins the chemical reaction that turns urea into the nitrates plants need Applying urea fertilizers before planting leads to high amounts of the urea being lost before it can benefit your plants Using a fertilizer with a urease inhibitor can slow the chemical reaction and helps retain urea in the soil Spread the urea evenly across the soil urea is packaged and sold as small solid pellets or granules Broadcast the urea with a fertilizer spreader or sprinkle the pellets by hand evenly across your soil For most plants you will want to keep the urea close to the plant's roots or close to where you will plant the seeds Wet the soil before urea is turned into the nitrates your plants need it first becomes ammonia gas Because gases can easily escape from the surface of the soil Applying fertilizer when the ground is wet will help to incorporate the urea into the soil before the chemical reaction begins This way more of the ammonia is trapped within the soil The top half inch 1.3 centimeters of soil should be wet to keep as much ammonia gas in the soil as possible You can water the soil yourself apply the urea before it rains or apply within 48 hours after the snow on your fields has completely melted Till the soil to incorporate the urea Tilling your fields or garden is a great way to incorporate the urea fertilizer into the soil before any of the ammonia gas can be lost Harrow drag or hold the field in order to incorporate the urea into the top layer of the soil Control the amount of nitrogen you give to potato plants Certain varieties of potatoes can handle high levels of nitrogen while others cannot Be cautious and treat all potatoes the same way Avoid giving potato plants large quantities of nitrogen with your urea fertilizer Urea fertilizers can be applied directly onto potato plants or in a solution with other fertilizers As long as the solution is made up of 30 nitrogen or less solutions of urea fertilizer that are more than 30 Nitrogen should only be applied to fields before potatoes are planted Fertilize grains with urea on a mild day Urea can be applied directly onto most cereal grains, but never in temperatures above 60 degrees fahrenheit 15.6 degrees celsius When applied in warmer temperatures, the plants will give off an odor of ammonia Apply urea to corn seeds indirectly only apply urea to corn indirectly by spreading the urea onto soil At least two inches five centimeters away from the corn seeds Direct exposure to urea is toxic to the seeds and greatly reduces the corn plants yield