Calcium Ammonium Nitrate in instant cold packs

[papheteer]

I have some Instant cold packs at home. Says on the packaging that it contains Calcium Ammonium Nitrate and water. Opened one and here's what I got:


Big granules some around 3-4mm in diameter. Highly soluble in water. Can I use this for my paphs? Thanks!!

 

[gonewild]

No way would I trust what it says on the label.

 

[NYEric]

Don't worry. He's probably dead already from opening the sealed pack of poison!

 

[papheteer]

Bwahahaha! Still alive! I have just read on here some people using Ammonium Nitrate that they got from Ice packs to feed their plants!

 

[gonewild]

It's probably alright to use but not worth the risk.
It's not packaged or sold as fertilizer or as represented as pure or free of something that may be toxic to your paphs. The value of the fertilizer is not worth the risk to your plants.

 

[naoki]

I think you can use it. Is AN banded in Canada? If you can find it from garden center (or agriculture store), it would be much cheaper than using ice packs.

 

[PaphMadMan]

There may be stabilizers, binders, processing aids, etc. that can be present without labeling. If it isn't intended for human or animal consumption, or for agricultural use, I might spread it on my lawn but I wouldn't use it on my orchids without a guaranteed complete list of ingredients.

 

[Ozpaph]

are you mad????

 

[TyroneGenade]

Contact the manufacturer and find out what grades of these chemicals they are using and what potential impurities there are. I would think they would need to use a high grade product else the thermal properties of the chemicals would be compromised.

 

[Justin]

are you mad????

Was kind of wondering the same thing....go buy some plant food?

 

[PaphMadMan]

With the use of calcium ammonium nitrate in improvised explosive devices, we're probably all higher on the terrorist watch lists now than we were yesterday...

 

[TyroneGenade]

If they are monitoring chemicals like those then everyone with a cupboard of detergents and cleaning agents is under surveillance... It will be years before some snoozing bureaucrat reads the report mentioning us nefarious orchid growers.

 

[ALToronto]

This is available in Canada:

http://www.fishersci.com/ecomm/servlet/itemdetail?catalogId=29104&productId=15165229&storeId=10652&fromSearch=1&distype=0&endecaSearchQuery=%23store%3DScientific%23nav%3D0%23rpp%3D25%23offSet%3D0%23keyWord%3Dammonium%2Bnitrate%23searchType%3DPROD%23SWKeyList%3D%5B%5D&matchedCatNo=S25160||S25173||S25172

If you're interested, I'll give you the contact info for the Toronto area rep for Fisher Scientific.

 

[Trithor]

Interesting idea, but I am not so sure of the advisability of using it. Ammonium nitrate in liquid form should be available from an agricultural supply center or farming cooperative. Failing that laboratory supply companies generally have ammonium nitrate in analytical grade which more often than not does not require a permit (other than signing a register, proof of ID and current residential address).