Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Calcium Nitrate 15-0-0 (with 19% Calcium)
Most calcium nitrate comes from Norway, where they make nitric acid from atmospheric
nitrogen and then react it with limestone. The process may sound harmless enough, but it
isn't allowed under organic standards. It certainly is a big hit of nitrogen all at once, al-
though interestingly, in conventional farming, it's considered low in nitrogen. That goes to
show how much nitrogen they normally use.
I don't tend to use calcium nitrate much because there are many natural forms of calcium
that have worked for me, but it's quite useful when applied at only a few pounds per 1,000
square feet, especially on leafy greens and members of the broccoli family. It's even used at
as little as a half pound per 1,000 square feet to make nitrogen more available. The liquid
calcium version that I mentioned in the calcium chapter does this, too.
The product is coated in wax in order to keep it from getting too moist in the bag, or you
can get a crystal version that you run through a drip line or turn into a foliar spray. I've
seen 20 pounds of calcium nitrate selling for $20-$30.
