With the increasing investment in agriculture, a wide variety of fertilizers are flocking to the market. Driven by interests, some lawless elements peddle fake and inferior fertilizers, pit farmers and farmers, seriously affecting the enthusiasm of agricultural production and farmers' farming. In order to prevent farmers from being deceived and protect the legitimate rights and interests of peasants, several methods for easily identifying the authenticity of fertilizers are introduced to facilitate farmers' friends to master and apply them. Summarized into five words "see, touch, smell, burn, wet."
1, see: 1.1 fertilizer packaging. Fertilizers produced by regular manufacturers have standardized and solid outer packaging. Generally note the trademark, product name, nutrient content (grade), net weight, factory name, site, etc.; fake and poor fertilizer packaging is generally rough, the information on the packaging bag is unclear, poor quality, easy to leak.
1.2 Fertilizer particle size (or crystalline state). Nitrogenous fertilizers (except lime nitrogen) and potash fertilizers are mostly crystals; phosphate fertilizers are mostly amorphous or powdery amorphous, such as calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizers are in powder form, superphosphates are mostly porous and lumpy; high quality compound fertilizers have grain size and specific gravity. More uniform, smooth surface, not easy to absorb moisture and agglomerate. Such as: Russia produced three-element compound fertilizer (16 * 16 * 16) and the United States diammonium. The opposite is true of counterfeit fertilizers, fertilizers are uneven in size, rough, high humidity, easy to agglomerate.
1.3 The color of the fertilizer. Different fertilizers have their own unique colors. Nitrogen fertilizers except for lime and nitrogen are almost all white, some are slightly yellow-brown or light blue (except for the addition of other ingredients); potassium is white or slightly red, such as potassium dihydrogen phosphate is white; Phosphate fertilizer is mostly dark gray, such as superphosphate, calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer is gray, diammonium phosphate brown, etc., farmers friends can make a broad distinction.
2, touch: the fertilizer on the palm of your hand, press hard to hold or press, according to feel to determine the fertilizer. Using this method, the United States to determine the more effective diammonium, grasping a handful of fertilizer grip several times, there is a "oily" feeling that is genuine; and the original dry is likely to be posing as a counterfeit compound fertilizer. In addition, phosphorus fertilizers made from fly ash can also be easily judged by “feelingâ€.
3. Sniffing: Simple judgement by the special smell of fertilizer. For example, ammonium bicarbonate has a strong ammonia odor; ammonium sulfate is slightly sour; calcium superphosphate has a sour taste. However, the smell of counterfeit fertilizers is not obvious.
4. Burning: The chemical fertilizer sample is heated or burned, and the fertilizer is identified from the flame color, melting condition, smoke taste, residue condition and the like. 4.1 Nitrogen fertilizers Ammonium bicarbonate directly decomposes, produces a lot of white smoke, has a strong ammonia smell, no residue; ammonium chloride, direct decomposition or sublimation occurs a lot of white smoke, there is a strong ammonia and sour taste, no residue Urea, which can rapidly melt and emit white smoke, can be burned by being thrown into a charcoal fire, or when a glass piece comes into contact with white smoke, a layer of white crystalline material can be seen on the glass piece; ammonium nitrate, which does not burn but melts and appears boiling, Smoke with ammonia smell.
4.2 Phosphate fertilizers Superphosphate, calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer, phosphate rock powder, etc. No change in red charcoal; bone powder is quickly turned black, giving off a foul odor.
4.3 Potash Potassium sulfate, potassium chloride, potassium magnesium sulfate, etc. There was no change in red charcoal, and a buzz sound was generated. 4.4 Compound Fertilizer The compound fertilizer combustion is closely related to its constituent raw materials. When its raw material contains ammonia nitrogen or amido ammonia nitrogen, strong ammonia odor will be released and there will be a large amount of residues.
5, wet: If the appearance of the observation is not easy to identify fertilizer varieties, it can also be based on the status of dissolved in water to distinguish. Fertilizer particles are sprinkled on wet ground or moistened with a small amount of water. After a period of time, the fertilizer can be judged according to the dissolution of the fertilizer. Such as ammonium nitrate, diammonium, potassium sulfate, potassium chloride, etc. can be completely dissolved (chemical), superphosphate, calcium superphosphate, calcium ammonium nitrate and other parts dissolved; compound fertilizer particles will be dispersed, dissolved or have a little residue, The fake fertilizers have poor solubility or do not dissolve at all (except for phosphate fertilizers).
Of course, the above is only the most intuitive and simplest method of identification, and it is not yet possible to make precise judgments on fertilizers. If you want to accurately understand the nutrient content in fertilizers and distinguish between true and false chemical fertilizers, it is best to send the fertilizers to the local fertilizer station for testing and identification.