Types Of Lawn Fertilizer
Lawns need fertilization because over time, grass may suck all the nutrients out of the soil. The right type of fertilizer for your lawn can restore it to its green glory. The main nutrients in fertilizer are nitrogen , phosphorus , and potassium .
The NPK value shows the percentages of each nutrient in the fertilizer. For example, a fertilizer with an NPK value of 18-20-10 is 18% nitrogen, 20% phosphorus, and 10% potassium.
Different fertilizers release these nutrients at different rates and have their own benefits and disadvantages. Here are the main types of fertilizer.
Using Weed And Feed As Part Of Lawn Care
Weed and feed can rid your lawn of unwanted plants such as crabgrass, dandelion, and clover. These weed preventions products contain herbicides to prevent weeds from taking root. They also contain nutrients to feed your grass to make it more resistant to weeds.
Not all gardeners like using weed and feed products on their lawns. The weed killers are herbicides that can destroy grass if misused. Also, not everyone is happy putting toxic chemicals on lawns, especially if children and pets use the yard.
One way to reduce the need for weed and feed products in lawn care is to switch to organic lawn maintenance methods. Growing grass organically, with only natural products, improves soil structure and health. Also, grass becomes more resistant to weeds, pests, and diseases.
For an environmentally friendly option you can use organic weed preventers. These natural products contain corn gluten meal that works by preventing weed seeds from rooting after germination. Weed preventer is not an herbicide. So, if you already have unwanted weeds growing in your lawn, you will need to remove them naturally using these homemade natural weed killers.
For more information read our article about organic lawn care.
How Trugreen Can Help
When you let TruGreen take care of fertilizing your grass, youre skipping the tricky guesswork, risk of incorrect application and the cost of buying and storing your own supplies. Lawn fertilizer services are included in all our lawn care plans. We use a slow-release formula that stimulates and maintains growth year-round. Our TruExpert® certified specialists undergo rigorous PhD-developed training, so you can be confident that they know the right type of fertilizer to use and when to apply it.
To get a free quote and sign up for a lawn service plan with fertilization from TruGreen, call 888-535-3193.
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Liquid Lawn Fertilizer Vs Granular Fertilizer
The primary nutrient content is the same when comparing liquid lawn fertilizers and granular fertilizers. The main difference between liquid lawn fertilizers and granular ones is how the nutrients are delivered. Water-soluble, liquid fertilizers tend to release nutrients quickly. Most granular lawn fertilizers release their nutrients slowly.
One of the most significant decisions regarding organic or traditional lawn care is to use granular or liquid fertilizers. What are the other pros and cons of using liquid lawn fertilizer compared to granular lawn fertilizers?
Absorption ratesA primary difference between liquid grass fertilizers and granular ones is the rate at which grass roots absorb nutrients. Nutrient uptake from liquid fertilizers is fast compared to granules. Results from using liquid lawn feed are often apparent after a few days. Granular fertilizers are mostly slow-release fertilizers and can be better for long-term lawn care.
Starter lawn fertilizersComparing the two types of fertilizer, liquid fertilizer is the preferred option for new grass. The fertilizer solution quickly boosts the growth of grass seeds, helping them to sprout and develop strong roots.
One alternative to prevent excess salts from building up in turfgrass soil is to choose an organic lawn fertilizer.
Lawn Care Equipment Hassles
Professional lawn care services use professional-grade equipment. Few homeowners invest in all the equipment needed to properly care for a healthy lawn. Maybe you borrow a spreader from a neighbor, rent a sprayer from the place down the street, drag your aging mower from the back of the garage, season after season.
And once you borrow or rent your spreader and sprayer, are you sure youre calibrating them correctly to accurately apply your products?
Don’t forget maintenance costs. Mowers need occasional tune-ups and oil changes. Mower and weed eater blades need sharpening. At Lawn Buddies, we use professional-grade equipment and we keep it expertly maintained saving you the hassle.
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Where Is The Cutting Power
A string trimmer is designed to use high-speed centrifugal force to perform the cutting process. The faster the spinning speed, the stiffer the line and this leads to greater the cutting potential of the trimmer. Many people believe that they can do the cutting just by hovering your trimmer over grass. This is not accurate. The cutting power is focused at the very ends of the trimming line. You must know the sharp point of a cutting tool to use such tool properly.
When You Think About Diy Lawn Care A Lot Of The Work Includes:
- Going to the store and buying the fertilizer and other materials.
- Digging your spreader out of your garage or shed.
- Reading the label instructions to make sure you understand how to use the material and how to spread it evenly.
- Getting the spreader ready and calibrating it to dispense the proper rate of fertilizer .
- Clean-up when the work is done.
- Storing things away like, the left over fertilizer, the spreader, leaf blower or broom used to clean fertilizer off of the sidewalks and driveway.
Notice, none of these bullet points include actually treating the lawn.
Before a professional lawn care service arrives at your house, all of the prep work has already been done. When the technician arrives, all they need to do is treat the lawn and clean-up as needed .
The lawn care applicator has all the materials they need and their equipment is calibrated before they arrive at your house. They also have a leaf blower that is easily accessible and starts on the first pull.
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Professional Lawn Care Tips To Try Right Now
Whether you want to implement a few of these strategies or employ all of them, you should see a noticeable result. However, the biggest impact comes from leveraging all 6 of our professional lawn care tips over the course of the year. See what we recommend:
Sharpen Your Mower Blades
One of the simplest things you can do is also the most effective. Whether you have a push or riding mower, make sure to sharpen your mower blades often approximately every 4 months. When the blades are dull, the grass wont be cut cleanly but will instead tear. This can lead to an uneven length and even sections of grass that turn brown.
Aerate Your Lawn
This is a professional lawn care tip that your average homeowner doesnt do, but youre missing the serious advantages if you dont! Aerating a lawn ensures that the grass has ample oxygen to grow its healthiest. In particular, aerating is responsible for creating a lush and green grass color which is why its a part of nearly every professional groundskeepers routine. We recommend aerating your lawn once a month over the summer and twice in the spring, as well as twice in the fall. Buying your own professional-quality aerator is more affordable than most people think our models start between $1,200 and $1,500.
How To Kill Broadleaf Weeds On Your Lawn
- Identify what weed is invading your lawn, how big of an issue it is, then equip yourself with a broadleaf weed killer like msm turf herbicide to target your broadleaf weed problem.
- You may be tempted to go cheap and buy a general broadleaf weed killer from a box store but you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Our herbicides have a large percentage of active ingredient in high quality concentrates.
- Mixing a small dosage of broadleaf weed killer with water will yield a lot more product and will last you for a whole lot more applications than one watered down generic weed killer container. You’ll save a ton of money over time.
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What Lawn Care Products Work Best
- Some of our top recommended lawn care products include nitrophos barricade for pre-emergent control of weeds and either eraser or msm turf herbicide for post-emergent control.
- Browse our lawn care subcategories to find your specific lawn care issue so you can get the right expert advice and lawn care products to address your problem. Our guides provide you with knowledge and confidence so you can successfully get rid of the weed problem the DIY way.
Get A Trimmer That Can Handle 095 String
Personally, I mostly use .095 string.;
Here’s why .095 string is light enough to not be too much, but strong enough to take on some pretty thick grass. Additionally, with proper handling, it is thick enough to edge when needed.
In my experience, if you need anything thicker you can either use a metal blade, or you simply need a different tool.;
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Use A Variety Of Ways To Deal With Problems
Pest problems that keep coming back are often a sign that your lawn care practices need to change. These changes can include:
- correcting drainage or fertility problems
- adding lime
- increasing mowing height
- removing thatch
For help in dealing with common problems like weeds, pests, and diseases, see Dealing with lawn problems.
Choosing The Right Pre
Some of the best chemicals for pre-emergent weed control include trifluralin, bensulide, DCPA, dichlobenil, oryzalin, and simazine.
These are the active compounds that lawn companies use to kill weeds before they germinate. They are marketed for controlling broadleaf weeds like clover and Black Medic as well as grasses, and they are commonly used around flower beds, trees, shrubs, and even crops.
If you dont have access to a landscape supply company, then you can also look for these chemicals in the products available at your local hardware store, or .
In agricultural applications, farmers can use pre-emergent herbicides such as Avadex Liquid EC, Fortress Microactiv, Edge Granula, or Valtera to prevent weeds from popping up in their crops. The selected chemical can depend on the type of crop being grown, and if youre interested in these products you may be able to find them at your local farming supply store.
If youre hesitant to use harsh chemicals like this on your property, youre not alone. You can avoid these and still effectively prevent weeds by using corn gluten an effective natural pre-emergent herbicide. Espoma makes a good product, but like anything you have to get your application timing and distribution right to see good results.
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Pendelton Turf Supply Liquid Fertilizer
This liquid grass fertilizer concentrate has a combination of fast-release and slow-release nitrogen for quick, but long-lasting turf growth. There is a range of micro-nutrients for grass growth, as well as N-P-K of 18-3-6.
The balance of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium boosts grass growth, helps develop strong roots and increases resistance to drought and disease. The lawn fertilizer liquid concentrate needs only 3 oz. of fertilizer per gallon of water to feed up to 1.000 sq. ft. of grass.
What’s The Best Way To Maintain Your Lawn
Keeping a lawn lush and green requires consistent mowing, weeding, watering, fertilizing and more. If your lawn is particularly large, it may make sense to hire a full-service lawn care provider. Whether you take a DIY approach or bring in the experts, maintaining your lawn requires a range of tasks.
Plan to mow the lawn often, allowing it stay longer than may seem convenient longer grass is healthier grass. The general rule is to cut off no more than a third of the grass blade. This helps prevent damage to the lawn as well as keeping weeds from taking root. Its also important to remove any weeds, then prevent new ones from growing. In spring, consider spraying a pre-emergent herbicide on your lawn to prevent crabgrass and other types of weeds from sprouting from seed. During other seasons, broadleaf weeds like dandelions can be pulled by hand or sprayed with weed killers. The best time to water your lawn is early in the morning, allowing the sun to help dry the grass. Make sure to thoroughly soak the lawn so that the water penetrates several inches into the ground.
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Required Maintenance Vs Addressing Lawn Problems
But thats just the required maintenance. Addressing problems like pests, fungus, brown patches, or weeds will require an understanding these issues. These require using the right products in the right way, with the right equipment. Mistakes in using the wrong products, too much or too little, or at the wrong time can end up costing you more both in terms of time and money; as well as continual frustration.
This lawn is suffering from Ascochyta Leaf Blight, which is a fungus that only occurs in lawns with shallow digging roots.
Lawn care professionals with decades of experience on lawns in Colorado, or Denver specifically, will be able to diagnose and address any lawn problems you might be experiencing. Better yet, they will perform preventative maintenance at the right times to avoid problems in the first place.;
Lawn care pros also have access to lawn care and fertilizer products that arent available to individuals who are not licensed professionals.; If you DYI lawn care vs hiring a professional the end goal is the same, a healthy green weed free lawn.
Addressing Your Concerns
You may have two worries. Lets address both. First, you may think it will be much more expensive to hire professionals to care for your lawn. Second, you may wonder how to find a reliable, professional, experienced lawn care company if you choose to hire one.
So How Do I Decide?
Want to see about how much it cost to have professional lawn care for you home?; Just click on the link below.
The Best Liquid Lawn Fertilizers
Liquid lawn fertilizers are an easy way to keep lawn looking lush and healthy with vibrant growth. Spraying lawns with high-quality liquid fertilizers provides all the nutrients that robust turfgrass needs. The best liquid fertilizers for lawn contain high concentrations of nitrogenthe crucial nutrient for healthy lawns.
Choosing the best type of liquid lawn fertilizer can be challenging. Some fertilizers are ready to useall you need to do is attach a hose to the lawn fertilizer bottle. Other types of liquid lawn fertilizers are concentrate that you mix to the right proportions before spraying them.
This article is a guide to the best liquid lawn fertilizers currently on the market. As well as discussing each liquid fertilizer, youll find out how to use lawn fertilizers to boost your lawns appearance. Well also guide you in choosing the best type of liquid fertilizer for your gardens needs.
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Have A Realistic Budget
A commercial weed eater that can endure heavy workloads and long hours of use is doing to cost you a premium. ;If landscaping is your business, a $99 Greenworks from Walmart simply isnt going to cut it. ;The very best commercial;weed eaters for lawn care professionals are usually priced somewhere in between $250 to $400, but investing in the right tool will save you money in the long run.
Comparing Prices Diy Lawn Care Vs Professional Lawn Care Company
Comparing DIY lawn care prices to hiring a lawn care company is a little tricky, but we will be as fair and accurate as possible.; In the end, our goal is to help you understand the differences so you can make the decision that is right for you.
For example, you will see below that Scotts 4-Step program uses dry, granular material for weed control. But granular weed control doesnt work as well as liquid weed control. Since professional lawn care companies almost always use liquid weed control, to make an apples-to-apples comparison, we are adding the cost of some Scotts liquid weed control to spot-treat weeds that the dry material did not control.
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Improve Your Lawn’s Water Drainage
If your lawn has ever been waterlogged for hours or even days after a heavy storm, you may need to fix your lawns water drainage. Poor drainage is usually either caused by the soil or the layout of your lawn or garden.
A lawn with thick areas of thatch or compacted soil can prevent water from being absorbed. In this case, it is best to aerate the lawn to improve the flow of water.
The layout of your lawn and garden should naturally slope away from your house, however any dips can allow water to pool and cause damage to your grass and roots. In this case, you should consider adding gutters and drains to divert rainfall away from your lawn to prevent water-logging.
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Take Care Of Any Pest Problems
The healthier a lawn is, the less likely you are to find pests like lawn grubs or chinch bugs. These pests tend to show up when lawns are hot and dry with short grass yet another reason to keep your yard as lush as possible!
Examine your lawn regularly for signs of pests. Not all damage to your lawn is caused by pests; there may be environmental factors like road salt or dog urine that are to blame. If a pest problem is identified, you should use a pesticide to clear up the issue and consider changing your lawn care routine to prevent future problems.
To find the best pesticide, check out our;Pesticide Buying Guide.
Tip: Not all insects are pests! Insects that are beneficial to your lawns health include ladybugs, bees, butterflies, moths and earthworms.
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