Has anyone heard of using amonia solution to water plants?

I just got home from meeting with a lady about doing some garden design for her. She said her mother had a fabulously green thumb and always used a solution of amonia and water for both her house plants and outdoor plants. She said she was always afraid of getting the proportions wrong, and had been warned by her mother that if the mix is too strong it could burn or kill the plants, so her mother used to mix it for her. Although unsure, she thinks the ratio was 1 part amonia to 4 parts water. I'm wondering if any of you have heard of this or use it. I'm guessing it's a nitrogen source. Thanks for any info any of you may have on this.
Neal

Yes, it is used primarily for commercial corn as a nitrogen fertilizer. I would not reccomend it to a home gardener. Most plants don't need a heavy dose of nitrogen and there is not much leeway between fertilizing your plants and overdosing them.
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq7758?opendocument
http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/soils/g09176.htm

Thanks for the quick response Farmerdill!

I use it on my lawn. I mix it in a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer with dishwashing soap, beer, and what ever else Jerry Baker recommends for the season. It seems to green up my yard and it doesn't stink. I can't be putting that much on since I do it every 3 weeks. I just use plain old household ammonia and cheap dishwashing soap I get at the 99 Cent stores.

Thanks chunx, very interesting! I'd forgotten about Jerry Baker's recipes.

I use lemon ammonia and lemon joy dish soap to clean my deck. It is supposed to prevent mosquitoes for two weeks at a time, and the plants under my very high deck don't get killed by bleach or deck wash.....

Ivy1, what ratio of lemon ammonia and joy? Do you have a dog and does it irritate them? My dog hangs out on the deck.

I do have a dog, and he doesn't seem to mind.

To tell you the truth, I just pour a sploosh of ammonia in a bucket, and add a few squirts of Joy in. Then I add water about halfway up the bucket and scrub my deck. I never thought about how much, and I've forgotten where I read about it!

Ivy, have you noticed plants greening up particularly well in that area?

Yes. There is rocky sandy soil under there, and I have some butterfly bushes and creeping phlox directly under the deck. Every year, the phlox was dying back and turning brown. Now it is lush, green and full. I even have a climbing rose on either side of the deck. They are very much happier without the deck wash my DH was using.