No Muss No Fuss Fertilizer For Lawns
The lazy gardener can combine a need for organic, homemade treatment and provide much of the same benefits as purchased products. The easiest way to develop a healthy lawn without adding purchased items is to mow it.
Mow leaves onto the lawn and leave the clippings. If you mow frequently enough, the thatch will not build up because shorter clippings will compost in quicker and start amending the soil and adding nutrients.
The combination of grass clippings and dried leaves hasten the composting process because one is a carbon source and the other is primarily a nitrogen source. This is a one-two punch in the composting world, which breaks down more quickly than nitrogen alone from the clippings.
You may find this the best fertilizer for grass and save some pennies along the way.
Safety While Using Lawn Fertilizer
Most lawn fertilizers are not concentrated enough to cause instant harm, but you still want to make sure you handle them safely and correctly. Be sure you read all directions on both your spreader and the fertilizer bag before beginning. This will ensure you know how to correctly operate the spreader and will let you know if your fertilizer needs to be mixed with anything. Once youve covered your lawn, sweep off fertilizer granules from hard surfaces like sidewalks or roadways to prevent runoff when watering.
How To Match Fertilizers And Goals
Fertilizers come in many different formulations to feed lawns and meet other goals. Pennington UltraGreen lawn fertilizers provide lawn grasses with an ideal blend of plant nutrients in superior forms.
These premium lawn fertilizers deliver quick greening and extended feeding. Half of the nitrogen in this line* is stabilized, which means less nitrogen is lost to the environment and your grass can use more of the fertilizer you feed. The other half releases slowly to continue feeding your lawn for up to three months.
- Pennington UltraGreen Lawn Fertilizer 30-0-4 promotes thick, green grass in all types of established lawns. It’s also phosphorus-free to protect water sources from unnecessary excess lawn phosphorus.
- Pennington UltraGreen Crabgrass Preventer Plus Fertilizer III 30-0-4 feeds grass with phosphorus-free fertilizer and prevents crabgrass seeds from germinating and establishing.
- Pennington UltraGreen Starter Fertilizer 22-23-4, designed specifically to help new lawn grass establish, contains plentiful phosphorus and a higher percentage of potassium. These two nutrients support the development of strong, vigorous new roots and vigorous overall growth.
Weed & feed products handle active weeds in established lawns.
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How To Choose The Right N
Knowing what nutrients your gardens soil lack will help you choose the right fertilizer. A soil test is a great way to decide what nutrients are needed in the highest amount. Reach out to the landscape professionals to conduct a soil test.
If your soil is lacking nitrogen, you should choose a fertilizer with high nitrogen content. If you need more potassium, select a fertilizer that has high amount of potassium. Royal landscapes professionals can help determine what nutrients your lawn needs.
Other factors considered while choosing the right fertilizer for your lawn are soil pH, warm- or cool-season grass varieties, timing to feed your grass, and whether you prefer organic or synthetic formulas.
Fertilizer : The Why What How And When To Fertilize Your Lawn
Few words strike fear into the heart of the average homeowner more than fertilizer. With complex terminology and numerous options, it is easy to see how someone can get overwhelmed. Learning the answers to some of the most common fertilizer questions will arm you with the knowledge you need to fertilize your lawn like a pro.
Why should I fertilize my lawn?There are several reasons why you would need to fertilize your lawn. Over time, many lawns will leech nutrients out of their soil. Most nutrients for your lawn are water-soluble. Over time, whether through rain or irrigation, the water will carry these nutrients out of your lawn. This will leave your lawn nutrient deficient, which will leave you with an unhealthy lawn susceptible to disease. In some instances, the soil that the grass is growing in does not have the naturally occurring nutrients that turf needs to grow. If this is the case, fertilizer will be needed in order to maintain a healthy lawn. To determine whether or not your soil is nutrient deficient, you can purchase a soil test kit to learn more about the soil composition. The results of this test will help you determine exactly what type of fertilizer that your lawn needs.
Nitrogen promotes healthy leaf growth by encouraging the production of chlorophyll, which is a chemical vital to photosynthesis.
Phosphorus helps your lawn develop healthy roots and stems.
Potassium gives your lawn strength, helping it to resist drought and disease.
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Choosing The Right Lawn Fertilizer
When you stop by your local lawn and garden store, youll notice an almost endless display of lawn fertilizers for sale. From weed and feed to lawn food, fertilizers arent lacking in variety. With all of these options, youre probably wondering how you go about choosing the best lawn fertilizer available.
The reason youll see so many varieties of fertilizer reflects the numerous combinations of nutrients individual lawns need to maintain healthy growth.
Is The Fertilizer Number Ratio All That Matters
The nutrient ratio is easy to look at. It can help you decide quickly to consider or eliminate certain fertilizer blends. It is not the only factor deserving of your attention.
Consider learning about the ingredient source that provides the NPK. In addition, the way the fertilizer pellets are manufactured can also affect the value and life-span of the nutrients. Sound too technical?
Check out another simple overview that could save you time and trouble by applying the plant food less frequently. Follow this link to get the details: Learn About Chemical Fertilizer.
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Characteristics Of Nitrogen Fertilizers For Home Lawns
Nitrogen Type| 1. More uniform grass growth
2. Not likely to burn grass 3. Losses through soil or air less likely |
1. May not work on cold soil
2. Most are expensive 3. May not see quick color change in grass |
In addition, a variety of special lawn fertilizers may be found. Winterizer fertilizers are typically high in potassium, and although advertised for fall application can be applied in spring as well. Potassium is used all year by grasses, and is involved in heat and cold tolerance, disease resistance, and other stress tolerances. Weed and feed products contain a broadleaf weed killer for weeds such as dandelions others contain a preemergence herbicide to control crabgrass . Lawn starter products, typically high in phosphorus, are intended for newly seeded lawns and freshly laid sod.
There are a variety of organic sources of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium available to the homeowner. As mentioned earlier most organic fertilizers are derived from plant or animal sources. Plant sources would include alafalfa and cottonseed meal and seaweed. Examples of animal sources would include bone meal and the manures from chickens, cows and horses. Yet another source comes directly from mother nature in the form of rock phosphate for a source of phosphorus and green sand for a source of potassium. Find and use products that are locally available whenever possible to keep the input costs down.
In this section : Planting and Maintenance
How To Choose The Right Fertilizer For Your Lawn
Thriving, luscious, and green lawns dont happen on their own. They need well-balanced and timely nutrition to fuel lush growth of plants and grass. Keeping your lawn at its peak performance requires proper maintenance and right fertilizer. It helps improve grass color, prevent weed invasions and diseases, and recovers grass from stress.
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Create A Lawn Fertilizer Schedule
Making a schedule helps keep you on track to fertilize at the right times. Incorporate it as part of your overall lawn care plan, which should also include watering, weed maintenance, how low or high to mow the grass. Keep a plan for the entire year and break it down by season. Its also important to review and adjust your lawn fertilizer schedule yearly, as some general rules will work for your specific lawn, and others may not.
Understanding The Types Of Lawn Fertilizer
Using fertilizer for lawns is an effective way to prevent disease and pest damage and minimize maintenance. But what type of lawn fertilizer should you use?
- There are time-release fertilizers that are beneficial for feeding the lawn over many months and prevent the gardener from having to remember to feed again at a certain time.
- The gradual release also allows plant roots to harvest the nutrients they need slowly, preventing necessary elements from leaching away into the soil. This type of food is easy to apply and minimizes the chance of burning the lawn.
- Granular fertilizers may be time-release or slow-release. Either way, they are popular due to the ease of application.
- Liquid or water-soluble fertilizers are spread using a hose and provide a quick effective way to introduce nutrients rapidly to grassroots.
Many of these forms come in either synthetic or organic forms.
- Synthetic formulas are chemical and offer immediate release and quick greening of the lawn.
- Organic formulas are naturally made from once-living organisms or their byproducts.
The choice is yours on which application type and formula to use on your lawn.
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Use The Right Quantity
The fertilizer you plan on using in your yard comes with a set of instructions on the pack. You need to follow those to the dot. Especially the ones that tell you how much fertilizer you need to use per square yard. The fertilizer packing also gives you instructions on how to spread the fertilizer through the lawn. You need to use the same spreader.
When To Plant Grass Seed
Plant cool-season grasses like Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and fescues in spring or early fall, when temperatures are between 60 to 80 degrees F. Warm-season grasses like zoysiagrass, bermudagrass, centipedegrass, and bahiagrass should be planted in late spring through early summer, when temperatures are between 75 to 90 degrees F.
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Lawn Care Service Near Sioux City
If it sounds like choosing the right fertilizer is complicated, it is at least if you want to do the job right. Many homeowners in the Siouxland area call Jay-Lan Lawn Care for precisely that reason. Our lawn care program considers your entire landscape, taking care of fertilizing, weed control, lawn pest control, and much more. Its a much easier way to get a green lawn, especially if you dont have a particularly green thumb. Why not call us today and see how we can help you?
Most Common Lawn Nutrients
Almost all lawn fertilizers contain one or more of the three major nutrients required for a lawns optimum growth. The nutrients Nitrogen , Phosphorus , and Potassium are most commonly found in grass fertilizer. Not only are they important to plant growth, but they are also usually the most deficient in natural soils. Each nutrient serves a different purpose for promoting ideal plant growth.
| Nutrient Name |
|
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Choosing Fertilizers For Home Lawns
Burned grass is a drawback of fast release nitrogen fertilizers.
Fertilizing is an important lawn care practice, as it influences grass color, ability to recover from stress, and helps prevent weed invasions and disease. There are important features to consider when choosing lawn fertilizers at the local garden center.
Nitrogen , phosphorus , and potassium are the three major nutrients needed by lawns. Nitrogen is the nutrient required most, although too much nitrogen can cause excessive topgrowth, leading to assorted problems. Percent nitrogen is always the first of three numbers on the fertilizer bag, followed by phosphorus and potassium. For example, a 18-6-12 fertilizer contains 18 percent nitrogen. This number is important because it determines how much fertilizer is needed. In most cases, a rate of one pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet is suggested for each fertilizer application to the lawn. If high percentage nitrogen fertilizers are used, then less actual fertilizer product is needed to supply that one pound compared to fertilizers with low percent nitrogen. Recommended ratios of N-P-K for lawn fertilizers include 3:1:2 or 4:1:2.
When Can I Let My Pets Back Onto The Lawn
Your fertilizer label should give you an exact time frame of when it will be safe to allow pets into the yard. Fertilizers that have not been absorbed by the soil can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and other serious illness in pets. If youre unsure if your fertilizer is safe, look for a variety that is kid- or pet-friendly.
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How To Properly Fertilize Your Lawn
If you want to achieve a lush, green lawn that makes your property stand out, proper fertilization is essential. Fertilizer provides vital nourishment that keeps your lawn healthy. A healthy lawn will have better disease resistance and fight invading weeds, producing the attractive look you want. Whats more, a healthy lawn typically requires less watering thanks to its deep root system.
But if you dont apply your fertilizer correctly, it could do more harm than good. Thankfully, fertilizing your lawn is easy and effective when you follow a few simple tips.
Tips For Applying Fertilizer
The best time to fertilize your lawn is in the fall. This is because the sun and heat dont scorch and evaporate away as much of the nutrients before the grass can absorb them. Spring is the second best time to fertilize.
Always make sure to apply fertilizer as evenly as possible. A is the best way to do this. An even layer of fertilizer will keep your lawn growing evenly. It will also prevent burn marks or streaks.
Be sure to follow the instructions on the bag or bottle of the fertilizer. Each type of lawn spreader requires a different spreader setting based upon the fertilizer you are applying. Read through a full list of residential spreader settings found at Blains Farm & Fleet. Be sure to follow the guidelines listed to ensure you dont damage your lawn.
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A Fourth Fertilizer Number
This question from a reader explains the exception to the three number label.
READER’S QUESTION:I was given a bottle of fertilizer labeled 0.2.0.0. I think it’s .02% N. But I have never seen this before.
Garden Counselor REPLY: Let me offer one assumption different from your idea, plus a way to check it out.
Typical fertilizer labels present only 3 numbers, as you are probably aware. They are always in this order: nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium. So it does appear that your expectation of getting .02% or 0.2% nitrogen is a reasonable possibility, with the way the numbers are presented. But then the remainder of the nutrient numbers can not be properly interpreted the way it is displayed.
Here is the likely alternative. Occasionally a fourth nutrient number is added to a fertilizer formula. Manufacturers will sometimes want to promote a particular fertilizer by denoting that it contains a significant portion of an important trace mineral. When a value is included for the fourth number, it must be specified what that nutrient is, by name. Common entries for this fourth number refer to the presence of sulphur or iron or zinc.
Knowing this, we should suspect that the product you have is:
0% nitrogen / 2% phosphorus / 0% potassium / 0% trace minerals
Why would they add a fourth number on the label, if it is zero? Simply because they produce some products which do use the #4 slot, so it standardizes their operation to show it, even when it is zero.
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Using A Handheld Broadcast Spreader
A handheld broadcast spreader works well for fertilizing small lawn areas. Walk evenly and slowly, and be sure to overlap distribution patterns slightly with each pass. A small spreader like this also works really well when you have shady areas in your lawn that require a different fertilizer rate than the sunny sections. Some fertilizers combine an herbicide with the lawn food. These products are sold as weed-and-feed lawn care products and are applied using a lawn spreader.
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How To Choose Fertilizer For Your Lawn
When it comes to choosing the right fertilizer for your lawn, you want a complete fertilizer. That is, it contains all of the three elements, namely, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
How much of each will vary. But for most lawns youll want something that has 3 parts nitrogen to 1 part phosphorus to 1 part potassium.
You do need to consider all other factors as well. These are the type of grass you have, the climate in your city and the soil you have.
Soil plays a big part here. So, its important to run a soil test before going to the store. You can use a soil testing kit which will tell you the pH of the soil and a few other things.
With this, youll be able to tell the expert in the store to help you choose the fertilizer you need.
Another thing to consider when buying fertilizer is choosing one thats slow release. This type of fertilizer releases the nutrients gradually over time. This allows just enough nutrients to the soil that it can absorb.
It also lets you take more time in between applications.
