How Often To Apply Fertilizer To Lawn

When To Apply Popular Us Fertilizers

Below is a guide detailing how often to apply popular U.S. lawn fertilizers such as Scotts or Pennington. It also states the key features of the fertilizer. Please note that the table only lists the multi-purpose fertilizers. There are fertilizers available for specific grass types such as St Augustine or Bermuda however, the products below are suitable for all types of grass.

Please note that the table below includes Amazon Affiliate links.

*NPK = Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium

How To Apply Fertilizer To Your Lawn

Lawn fertilizers are sold in either liquid or granulated form.

This is mostly important in determining how to spread the fertilizer. With organic fertilizers, the difference comes down to what the fertilizer is comprised of. Corn grain meal based fertilizers are typically granular, while fish emulsions are liquid.

Synthetic fertilizers are available in both forms.

Speaking generally, most homeowners find granular fertilizers easier to apply.

If you want to use a liquid fertilizer, it is simpler to hire a professional service like TruGreen or a local alternative to do so.

Its more difficult to measure out and ensure even application of a liquid fertilizer. Professional services do that regularly and understand how to apply it.

Using a spreader to apply granular fertilizer is a simple process. A small broadcast spreader can be bought locally or for under $40.

Using a spreader is easy fill the hopper up on pavement, then walk the spreader across your yard.

Start with the perimeter, using an edge-guard to keep the material in your grass. Then go line by line until your yard is covered.

Spread it at a lower than recommended rate at first. This way youre sure not to add too much and damage your yard .

Make sure to sweep any granules off the pavement and into your yard. Left on pavement, they can harm the environment if allowed to wash into storm drains.

Heres What You Dont Want To Do

There is no benefit to overfeeding your lawn.

It wont make your grass grow faster, thicker, or greener. In reality, over-applying fertilizer will actually damage the surrounding environment.

If too much nitrogen accumulates in the soil, it can burn turf grass, which will cause the grass to turn brown and die.

For most residential lawns, two to four applications of fertilizer each year will suffice to provide the grass with what it needs.

Exactly when these fertilizer applications are applied depends, in part, on the climate you live in, but the most important determining factor will be what type of grass is being grown.

Ideally, you will want to fertilize your lawn when your grass type is doing most of its growing. During a lawns active growth period, it can be fertilized every six to eight weeks.

You dont want to push growth when your lawn is stressed such as the middle of the summer for cool season grasses.

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When Should I Fertilize My Lawn After Seeding

Now that your grass has been seeded and you have your new regular fertilizer, how soon should you use it? As much as you might want to encourage growth and hurry the process along as quickly as possible, its best to wait before re-fertilizing your new grass.

How long? At least four weeks, and possibly as many as eight.

If you give in and re-fertilize too early, the nutrients will not be absorbed by the roots, and you can have runoff that, as we already mentioned, can make its way into the water supply or harm water-dwelling creatures. Moreover, over-fertilizing can actually leach more nutrients from the soil, leaving a deficiency of nutrients when your new turf is finally ready to be replenished.

Save yourself frustration and possible contamination: do not re-fertilize early. After this, you can adhere to the following regular annual fertilization schedule:

Avoid Fertilizer Burn From Overfertilizing

If you have a lawn with only one species of grass, be careful that youre not overfertilizing your lawn, even if you stick to a once-a-year schedule.

Certain species, like Zoysia and Centipede grass, are incredibly slow growing, even during peaks in their growth cycle.

Remember, the purpose of fertilizer is to replenish minerals that have been removed from the soil.

If you apply fertilizer with too heavy a hand or you add it too often, you risk causing fertilizer burn on your lawn.;

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When To Fertilize Warm

The best time to fertilize warm-season grasses is between late-spring to late-summer, when these grasses are growing most vibrantly.

apply any amendments as required by soil test results and/or compost tea.

Last-spring: fertilize in June. If using synthetic fertilizer, start your 4-to-6 week fertilizer schedule. If using compost, use a lighter top-up, if you choose. Warm-season grass will begin growing actively when soil temperatures reach 65F, which is usually around April.

Late-summer: give one final fertilizer in August while the grass is still growing vibrantly to prepare the winter dormancy grass.

If youve overseeded with cool-season grasses, you may need to fertilize once more in November, when they grow more vigorously. If youve given your lawn a good compost feeding, though, this might not be necessary.

And if you have centipede grass, youre in luck! Centipede grass doesnt like extra nitrogen, so you dont have to fertilize.

When To Fertilize Warm Season Grasses

Warm season grasses grow best when the temperatures during the growing season average between 80 to 95 degrees, and go dormant in winter, turning brown for around three to five months depending on your climate. Dormancy occurs after the first frost.

Popular warm season grasses include:

• Bermuda

Warm season grasses are, as a rule of thumb, much easier to maintain than cool season varieties. They only need a feeding once in the spring after they have come out of dormancy, but are more easily damaged by fertilizer- and so waiting to spread nutrients later is better than earlier. If you are unsure if your grass is fully out of dormancy, consider waiting until you have cut it at least three times to be safe.

However, you can also feed periodically throughout the growing season and into fall if you feel your lawn will benefit from it. Determining if your lawn needs an extra boost from multiple feedings is as simple as running a soil test to see if nutrients are lacking, or if your grass is looking less than vibrant despite applying proper watering techniques. Warmer climates tend towards a quicker growth of vegetation, meaning more nutrients are used more rapidly.

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Watering Your Lawn After Fertilizer Application

Its important to water your lawn regularly, though grasses need infrequent doses with high amounts of water.

Your fertilizer will specify whether you need to water before or after application. Typically, granular fertilizers require light watering after application to adhere the granules to the turf.

Make sure not to over water, though, because youll wash away nutrients before your grass can absorb them.

Can You Use Compost Instead Of Commercial Fertilizer For A New Lawn

If you have a good supply of compost on hand, you can work this into the soil before planting your new lawn. This will provide enough nitrogen and phosphorous for your new turf to establish itself. Its even better if you can use a manure based compost.

In fact, if you live in an area where its not possible to control runoff, this is a much better option.

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Let Abc Nurture Your New Grass For You

Does implementing a year-round fertilization schedule sound like a lot of work?;It can be if you do it all on your own. Plus, there are many ways that you can make a mistake, which will put you right back at square one. Avoid these problems by letting ABC Home & Commercial Services do the hard work for you.;Our professional lawn care technicians have been keeping lawns all across the south looking their best for generations, and we can help your yard, too. Schedule a service today.

How To Fertilize New Sod

When the time to fertilize finally rolls around, do you know how to fertilize? What does the young grass need most?

While your lawn is trying to establish itself, the nutrients that it needs most are carbon, phosphorus, and potassium. Nitrogen-heavy fertilizers will not serve it particularly well, although some nitrogen is needed.

You should look for phosphorus-rich fertilizers, and aim to have around 1 lb. of nitrogen in 1000 square feet of turf. This will ensure your new turf has everything it needs to grow well and start filling out into a beautiful lawn.

You should also aim to get a slow-release fertilizer, if you can. This will ensure your lawn doesnt get too much food at once, and still has access to food as the months go on; you wont feed it again for a little while, so this is important.

Some experts recommend fertilizing at half the manufacturers rate, reducing the amount of food that the lawn is subjected to at once. You are not really doing a full fertilization at this stage; you are just trying to give the establishing grass a little boost to encourage it.

Once you have applied the fertilizer, water the lawn to ensure the fertilizer is evenly distributed and help the grass start breaking it down into useful nutrients.

Our recommendation: try the Scotts Turf Builder Starter Food for New Grass. It has the high level of phosphorus needed by sod at this stage to grow into a strong, established lawn.

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What Does Lawn Fertilizing Mean

Lawn fertilization is described as the application of material over your lawn. These materials consist of nutrients that will act as a catalyst and supporting agent to grow and maintain your garden. Calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus, citrate-soluble phosphatic, etc. are a few fertilizer ingredients that can improve garden health.

The following types of fertilizers contribute to help the lawn adapt to a change in weather:

Fall Lawn Fertilizer: Firstly, these fertilizers boost your garden with a much-needed nitrogen shot after the summer season. Secondly, morning time in the fall season generally gathers dew all over your lawn. This moisture allows the fertilizer to settle and get absorbed by the lawn. Also, make sure your fall fertilizer has greater potassium and phosphorus content as they help in root growth.

Cool-season grass portray great growth in the winter months, thus fall would be a good time to apply fertilizer.

Winterizer Fertilizer: These fertilizers will help your garden store nutrients for the long winter months. Nutrients like these are converted to energy whenever the plant requires it.;

Summer Fertilizer: Summer fertilizers equip the lawn to combat drought and heat conditions. Over-fertilizing can burn the surface of your lawn. Generally, summer months are not a nice time to adapt to blooming gardens.;

What If It Rains After I Fertilize My Lawn

Ideal time for Fertilization is low heat condition in order to get best results. After the fertilization, rainfall is ideal for getting best results. In this way, grasses get an adequate amount of nitrogen to grow vigorously.

On the other hand, excessive rainfall immediately after fertilization is considered to be harmful for the lawn. Because heavy rainwater tends to wash away the fertilizer that your lawn actually needs. Additionally, it will cause environmental hazards when the fertilizer running off and pollute near water source.

In a nutshell, adequate rainwater has a useful impact on your lawn after fertilizing whether heavy rainfall has some drawbacks.

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Where To Get The 16

PetraTools made your search a lot easier because we have the 16-4-8 organic liquid fertilizer youre looking for!

Our product is safe for use on all types of grasses and has the quick- and slow-release nitrogen for fast and ongoing growth.

Its an ideal fertilizer for summer and spring.

To achieve a faster, more accurate, and easier application, use any PetraTools sprayer!

Our wide range of lawn and garden sprayers is a perfect fit for the liquid nitrogen fertilizer application.

You can choose from our HD5000, HD4000, HD4100, HD300, or LT-PRO and get the best spraying experience.

How Often Should I Apply Fertilizer To My Lawn

If you want a lush, green lawn similar to what you would see on the cover of a magazine, your lawn is going to require a professional grade fertilizer with regular applications.

When applied at appropriate intervals and in the correct amounts, fertilizer will provide your grass with the nutrients it needs to grow thickly, as well as fortify it against insects, weeds, and other environmental stresses.

How often you should fertilize your lawn will depend on the climate you live in and what type of grass you are growing.

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When Should I Fertilize A New Lawn

If you have planted a fresh and new lawn, then once seeding has been completed it is a good time to perform lawn fertilizing. The perks of using lawn fertilizer on freshly planted gardens are visible in the long-term. Your grass will not only grow 35% faster but will turn out to be 70% thicker than lawns that have not been fed.

What Months During Fall Should You Fertilize

Although its important to aerate and reseed in early fall, fertilizing can be done during September or October and even later. This is because even after green grass yellows and browns, the roots are still working to absorb as much nutrients as possible before winter sets in. The grasses roots will still respond to fertilizer during these later fall days.

Even after the first frost, you can still apply fertilizer to your lawn. Feeding your lawn in late fall is similar to what animals do before hibernation they fill up to sustain themselves through winter. Until the soil freezes, your grass will benefit from fertilizing.

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After Your First Lawn Fertilizer Application

So now you know about the first treatment, but are wondering how often to fertilize lawn areas throughout the rest of the year?

After your first application, you want to apply another round of fertilizer 6 to 8 weeks later and repeat that two more times with 6 to 8 weeks in between.

Try to schedule your applications so you apply ahead of the hottest part of summer to give your lawn the necessary boost.

For an established lawn, youll fertilize 4 times each season, though that is based on some important assumptions. If your grass is damaged and youre growing it fresh, your lawn will require more treatments until its established.

This is also true if your lawn has a species of grass that isnt native to your climate, like in areas that are more hostile to grasses. Alternatively, the opposite is also true. Fertilizing regularly is most necessary when trying to keep alive grasses that arent native to your area.

Its very likely you can get away with only fertilizing 1 to 2 times per year if the grass in your lawn is native. A healthy lawn can get by with fertilizing in the spring, and maybe again In the fall to keep it strong through the off-season.

What Is Starter Fertilizer

Most lawn starter fertilizers contain varying amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium . This is important for good grass establishment. The nitrogen promotes good growth and a healthy green color. Phosphorous is important for good root development and potassium helps the grass develop drought tolerance, good disease resistance and hardiness.

Therefore, when choosing a suitable fertilizer for your new lawn, check out the NPK rating on the pack. It should have more nitrogen and phosphorous than potassium. This is because the quick release of the nitrogen in these fertilizers allows the grass seeds to absorb more potassium .

There is quite a wide variation available in commercial fertilizer, so weve compiled a table on the most commons brands.

As you can see, most of these starters focus heavily on phosphorous to promote good root growth. The reason that some have low level of potassium, on the other hand, is because this nutrient is also generally associated with flowering and fruiting of ornamental and edible plants. Therefore, its not as important to lawn growth.

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Determining The Best Times To Fertilize

Homeowners who prefer organic fertilizing methods might do a single “turf-builder” application in the early fall to build root systems. In the spring and summer, most may omit all fertilizers and rely on the nitrogen from mulched grass clippings to feed their lawn.

Homeowners using traditional fertilizer might want to apply two or three light applications per growing yearone in the spring, one at midsummer in regions where it is necessary, and one “turf-builder” application in the early fall.

The actual timing depends on your region and the type of turf grasses you have. For information on the best recommendations for your area, contact an expert at a local garden center;or reach out to the nearest cooperative extension office.

Once you have figured out the best time, try to plan the fertilizer application with a short period of rainfall. If not, when you apply the fertilizer, you will need to supply your lawn with at least a quarter-inch of water. However, do not apply fertilizer before a massive storm. A rainstorm increases the risk of fertilizer nutrients flowing into storm drains and streams.

Best Fertilizers To Use

The best fertilizers to use are slow release. When you use slow release fertilizers, the grass will get green without growing too quickly. In the spring, mixtures of 20-5-10 are suitable to use. You can also perform a soil pH test before you start the process. Then, you can base the mixture off of your results. For example, if your pH tests come back with high potassium results, you can look for a combination that is lower in that category.

To keep your grass healthy, its best to have a set plan in place for fertilization. The experts at Moyer Indoor | Outdoor are happy to fertilize your lawn this spring so that you can enjoy the outdoors all season long.

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