Should You Fertilize Your Lawn
There are many things to consider before answering this question. Not everyone’s goals and circumstances are the same. So the answer will vary from individual to individual.
If you want a great-looking lawn, and if you have the time, energy, and money to achieve that objective, then the answer is unequivocally yes. Proper fertilization is one factor that can make one lawn in the neighborhood stand out above the rest. Which brings us to the question, How often should you fertilize your lawn? Because, if you truly care about showcasing your lawn, you will want to fertilize it more than someone who is content with a patchy lawn. For the ultimate manicured lawn, you should fertilize it two or three times per year.
But not everyone needs a lush lawn. There are homeowners who value low maintenance over having the showiest lawn on the block. There are some homeowners who are organic gardeners, who shy away from using chemical fertilizers. Homemade compost can be applied to a lawn, instead, but there is work involved in making compost. Gardeners may value what compost is available too highly to waste it on lawns rather than on vegetable gardens. And there are some who simply hold lawns in low esteem for them, grass-covered areas are utilitarian, functioning merely as spaces for walking from point A to point B in the landscape.
When To Fertilize Lawn
Knowing when to fertilize your lawn depends on how often you plan to apply it. If you fertilize once a year, do it around Labor Day thats when lawns absorb the most nutrients. For biannual fertilizing, add a second application the middle of October.
There are exceptions to this timeline depending on climate and soil types, so adjust if your lawn is not retaining enough nutrients. In the spring, if you feel the need, spread a little fertilizer to help the greening process.
Apply Grass Fertilizer Correctly
Now you’re ready to apply. Feeding the lawn is as simple as mowing it, and as easy as walking at your normal steady pace. Just follow these guidelines for easy application and even coverage.
If youre using a broadcast spreader, feed the entire perimeter of your lawn first. Engage the side-shield, which blocks off one side of the spreader to keep the product on the lawn and out of gardening beds and off driveways and sidewalks. Next, fill in the middle by turning off the side-shield feature and walking back and forth in straight lines. To get even coverage, overlap slightly on each pass by moving over 2 steps before you begin the pass.
When using a drop spreader, start by applying 2 header strips at opposite ends of the lawn to create a turning area. Next, fill in the rest of the lawn by applying the fertilizer back and forth in straight lines perpendicular to your header strips. To ensure you get even coverage, be sure to overlap the wheel tracks by about half a foot .
After youve finished feeding your lawn, return any unused product to the bag and store it for future use.
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How Do You Know About The Frequency Of Fertilization
If you are fertilizing too little, you cannot provide the required level of nutrients it needs. Even if you apply the fertilizer, it can become yellow and brittle. If you use excessive fertilizer, it can lead to burning the blades. As said above, fertilizing twice is always a good idea for lawn owners.
The best time to apply is during the early spring and fall seasons. However, this would depend more on any lawn you have. Some people consider fertilizing four times a year. These people opt for the timing during Easter, Memorial Day, Labor Day and Halloween. If you are using synthetic fertilizer, you have the choice of applying it for 8 to 10 weeks.
However, once you find the temperature reaching its peak during the summer, it is always a good idea to avoid the fertilization process. Also, the bad time for fertilization is when you consider it during the grass growing season. So, depending upon the grass and plants growth schedule, the application of fertilization is worked out.
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Apply Your Fertilizer When Grass Is Growing
No matter how frequently you fertilize your lawn, the rule of thumb you should follow is that you should apply fertilizer while your grass is growing the fastest.
Over applying fertilizer runs a big risk to your yard:
- Its bad for the environment, since runoff pollutes local streams.
- It runs the risk of burning your grass, which is when you sap grass of natural nutrients causing it to brown.
- Lastly, youre wasting money by buying too much fertilizer.
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Fertilizing Your Florida Lawn
When to fertilize your lawn depends on a few things, but the biggest rule is to fertilize only when your lawn is actively growing.
In South Florida, turfgrass grows year-round, while in North and Central Florida, it grows from roughly March or April through September, October, or November.
The maintenance plan you choose also influences when to fertilize. If you choose a higher maintenance plan, youll fertilize more times during the growing season, while a basic plan will require fewer applications.
Look for a fertilizer with at least some slow-release nitrogen, which releases the nitrogen to the grass over an extended period of time. Be sure that it also contains 2% phosphorus or less in accordance with Florida State Law.
How Regularly Should You Fertilize Your Lawn
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There’s no doubt that lawns need fertilizer, but it’s easy to make mistakes, like applying the wrong nutrients or fertilizing at the wrong time. If you fertilize your lawn when it doesn’t need it, you’re essentially throwing money away, so it’s essential to apply fertilizers at the right time, and use no more than necessary.
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Best Time To Fertilize Your Lawn
Spring means more daylight and warmer temperatures. After a cold winter, this is the weather your grass is craving. If youre unsure of exactly when to lay down your first feeding, you can base it off of the temperature. Ideally, the ground should be around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on where you live, March to April is the best time to fertilize your lawn. Its also best if your yard is watered a few days before you want to apply the fertilizer, whether thats from rain or a sprinkler.
Fertilizer provides your grass with extra nutrients that help to prevent crabgrass and allow it to grow green and thick. To ensure youre laying the feed correctly, start around the perimeter of your lawn. Then, you can start filling in the middle. Similar to mowing your yard, you should go back and forth in straight lines. And you should always use a lawn spreader instead of your hands to complete the job.
Now that you know that spring is the best time to fertilize your lawn, here are some other helpful tips that will keep your grass thriving.
Fill And Prepare A Lawn Spreader
- Next, check the instructions on your fertilizer bag for the recommended setting to use on your lawn spreader. This determines the amount of fertilizer that will be distributed. The higher the setting, the larger the hole size in the hopper, and thus, the more fertilizer spread on the lawn. Adjust the setting on the spreader accordingly.
- Before you fill the spreader with fertilizer, make sure the hopper hole is closed. Fill the hopper on a hard surface, such as a driveway or sidewalk. This will prevent a potential spill from damaging or saturating a spot on your lawn.
- Be careful not to overfill the spreader’s hopper or the lawn spreader may become hard to maneuver. Your lawn spreader may come with an edging feature to help you avoid dispensing fertilizer onto your driveway, sidewalk or walkway. If so, turn it on before you begin fertilizing that area. Follow all other instructions provided by your manufacturer for operating your lawn spreader.
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Do You Need To Fertilize Your Lawn Every Year Yes And Here Are The Best Tips On How To Do It Correctly
Do you want a healthy, green, weed-free lawn all year round? You are not alone this is the dream. If youre like many others who want that luscious lawn, its probably best to work with a local lawn care specialist who focuses on residential lawn care. From personal experience, we do not recommend working with one of the national providers as they have a low customer retention rate. A quick web search will turn up bad reviews that prove its not what it claims to be. Instead, work with a local company that only does lawn fertilization. Even small companies that also do lawns and landscaping are not ideal as lawn fertilization and weed control is its own specialty. When you hire a company to mow and fertilize, you wont get as good results as if you hired a company that focused solely on lawn spraying and fertilizing. When you hire a reputable company, you can expect them to handle the applications necessary to keep your lawn looking great and growing healthy. Generally a complete lawn program consists of 4 to 6 timely applications per year. Your best bet is to hire a professional. Sure, you can inseminate yourself and it can even be enjoyable, but its not always a simple job. If you want to do it without the help of a professional, be sure to do your research on which fertilizers are best.
Solved! This is when to fertilize your lawn Its not as hard as you think to transform last years brown, patchy lawn into a verdant oasis.
Cool Season Vs Warm Season Grass
Warm season grasses thrive in warm-weather regions, such as the southern United States. It’s best to feed warm season grasses in warm weather as they grow most actively during the heat of summer.
Popular warm season grasses include:
- St. Augustine: Broad dark green blades with a rounded tip
- Zoysia: Prickly, stiff and narrow blades form a carpet-like lawn
- Centipede: Pointed blades with a notch that grows to be dense and soft
Cool season grasses do best where there are extreme temperature fluctuations, such as those in the North, Northeast and Pacific Northwest.
In the North, where cool-season grass types are popular, lawns need to be fed four times a year with each feeding six to eight weeks apart. If your lawn is still green and actively growing in the summer, you can continue to feed it throughout the summer months at the same rate. However, if your grass turns brown during summer heat and drought, temporarily stop feeding until it starts to grow and turn green again in the early fall.
Popular cool seaon grasses include:
- Kentucky Bluegrass: V-shaped with pointed blades, dark green and soft
- Perennial Ryegrass: Pointed blades with visible veins
- Tall Fescue: Dark green, coarse, wide pointed blades with visible veins
Make your lawn fertilizer project easier, with the right products and tools. Find what you need. Use The Home Depot Mobile App to locate products and check inventory. We’ll take you to the exact aisle and bay.
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When Not To Fertilize Your Lawn
Don’t apply fertilizer when a heavy rainstorm is in the forecast. A downpour may wash the fertilizer away. But if you’re expecting a moderate amount of rain to come and to fall steadily upon the earth, this is an ideal time to fertilize: It will save you from having to water the fertilizer in, yourself.
Since heat and dryness are your enemies when fertilizing a lawn, avoid applying fertilizer to your grass during periods of severe drought. Your grass is stressed at such times, increasing the likelihood that a chemical fertilizer will burn it.
When To Fertilize Your Lawn: Our Best Tips
Lawn fertilizer is like food for your grass, providing it with the nutrients it needs to grow and maintain its healthy, green glow. Each fertilizer uses a unique combination of nutrients, though most include nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These ingredients create a vibrant, green lawn that resists weeds like crabgrass while creating an excellent growing environment.
While its important to fertilize your lawn, dont start throwing down these nutrients at any time of the season. Its important to consider your grass type and the environment you live in before deciding on a time to fertilize. This guide outlines the best time to fertilize your lawn, how often you should do it, and the factors that impact growth.
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Whats In Your Lawn Fertilizer
Fertilizer for lawns has three key macronutrients to feed your lawn: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, or NPK. The proportion of each nutrient is usually marked on the bag with these letters.
Nitrogen is the component that makes your lawn grow, while phosphorus and potassium help develop strong roots and cell walls of the grass.
The amount of nitrogen you need depends on your soil and grass type. Apply the right amount and youll get healthy green grass. Too heavy on the nitrogen and youll need to mow all the time, and the grass may not be strong or green.
You can also find fertilizers that contain a weed preventer. This is great to use at the start of summer ensuring a typically healthier lawn.
Picking The Right Fertilizer
Picking the right fertilizer depends on your lawn type and your end goal is. If you want to make your lawn greener and healthier, a product like The Andersons 16-0-8 Fertilizer with Humic DG is great for you. It contains methylene-urea that will give your lawn an even feed over eight to 10 weeks. Its also safe for pets.
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How Many Times To Fertilize A Lawn
Ongoing fertilization begins in the early spring. While its easy to get caught up in the number of lawn fertilization visits, the truth is, its all relative. You could deliver a lot of nutrients in a handful of visits or fertilize over a longer period of time. Its important to remember that it has more to do with the rate of application and the products being used than it does the number of visits.
However, we still want to be clear on what Master Lawn does. In our Gold Program, visits 2, 3, 4, and 5 all have fertilizer included.
Want To Feed And Weed At Same Time
Main manufacturers of weed and feed products claim they kill as many as 175 weeds, including dandelions, clover, chickweed, knotweed, thistle and many broadleaf weeds. These products also encourage grass greening and can extend nitrogen feeding.
Some combination products target crabgrass. To avoid fertilizing done too early but still manage crabgrass, purchase a product only meant for crabgrass control. Pre-emergent herbicides must go on before crabgrass seeds germinate. Not everyone needs crabgrass control, however. Thick lawns reduce light penetration to the soil surface, shading crabgrass seeds and preventing their germination.
To be effective, granules of weed-and-feed products must stick to the leaves of the weeds. That step requires moisture. The perfect time to apply, therefore, is an early morning when theres a heavy dew on the lawn. Whether using a granular weed-and-feed or spraying a liquid broadleaf weed killer, the weeds must be well watered and actively growing for the chemical to work.
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Tips For Watering Your Lawn The Right Way13 Photos
Learn the ins and outs of lawn irrigation, including expert tips for efficient watering.
A day or two before applying fertilizer, water your lawn thoroughly. After grass dries, apply fertilizer. Then lightly water again. This second watering is vitally important, because it washes fertilizer off grass blades and into soil. You can also time fertilizer application between rainfalls to let rain wash fertilizer into soil. Just be sure you don’t fertilize before a downpour, or you may wind up with fertilizer washing away, especially if your lawn slopes. Avoid applying fertilizer during a drought when a lawn has browned or withered from lack of moisture.
When To Fertilize Cool
The best time to fertilize cool-season grasses is in the spring and fall when theyre growing most vibrantly.
Spring: apply fertilizer after the last frost when the grass thrives again, between April to June, depending on your location.
Fall: apply fertilizer just before the trees drop their leaves, from late August to October, depending on your location. Fertilize well before the first frost date, as you dont want to encourage your grass to grow in time for frost to kill it.
If youre using organic fertilizer like compost and only want to fertilize once, fertilize in the fall. The extra compost will help shelter your grass and the soil over the winter.
It also gives the beneficial microorganisms in your grass time over the winter to break down the organic matter into nutrients. This gives your lawn a head-start come spring.
If youre fertilizing twice a year, apply a light amount of fertilizer in the spring and a heavier fall.
Dont fertilize in the summer, especially when the grass has gone brown. The grass is fine. Feeding synthetic fertilizer will not make it turn green. Instead, force-feeding it nitrogen when its dormant is just going to stress it out and could even kill your lawn.
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