Choosing the Best Fertilizer for Your Turf
Posted by reuben on Friday, January 19 2007

The USDA mandates that products sold as soil nutrients must have their essential nutrients displayed on the container. These numbers represent percentage by weight. The order of the numbers is- Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. If there is a fourth number it represents Sulfur and would not be good on turf (Sulfur is an acid-loving plant food good for Azaleas and other acidic-soil plants). Choosing the right fertilizer at the right time of year is important to your lawn’s health. Using the wrong fertilizer can burn your grass or promote poor root growth. The biggest thing to watch is your Nitrogen content. If you use a fertilizer with high nitrogen content during the middle of summer you will burn the grass. Always check the bag for application rates. Nitrogen promotes overall growth and makes grass that green color that everyone wants. Phosphorus and Potassium promote root growth. The following schedule gives a pretty good idea of when certain things need to be done. Your area may vary depending on when your seasons start and end.

• January: This is the best time to apply lime. Lime will bring your soil to a pH level that is good for grass and bad for weeds. Lime is also a soil softener so it will help prevent soil compaction.


• February: Depending on when your season starts, you will want to put out a pre-emergent fertilizer BEFORE the grass begins to grow. Pre emergent fertilizer will prevent a lot of weeds from germinating, but be careful because it will also prevent grass seed from germinating (so you will want to seed in the Fall).


• March: This is the time for the second fertilizer application. You will want to wait about 6 weeks between applications (if you have not had much rain you may want to wait a couple extra weeks). This application should be a high nitrogen (the first number in the formula) fertilizer. Use a fertilizer with nitrogen content between 20 and 32. An ideal fertilizer for this application would be 28-10-20.


• April: As the grass begins its explosive growth, you will need to mow frequently. Remember you only want to cut the top 1/3 of the grass so you may need to mow every 4 or 5 days. If you start to see brown patches you may have developed a fungus. Put a fungicide down as soon as you notice the fungus. You may need to apply a fungicide two times about 20 days apart.


• May: It’s time to start thinking about Summer. Put out a fertilizer with low Nitrogen and high Phosphorus and Potassium. This will give the root system a boost before the dry season comes on. Remember to use a very low nitrogen on this application, a good fertilizer would be 5-20-20.


• June: If your area is getting dry and hot remember to only mow when needed.


• July: If you want to boost the green on your lawn at this time of year use pelletized iron (available at your local home store). This will give you the green without burning the lawn like nitrogen will.


• August: This is generally the hottest month of the year. Remember if you are watering to only do it early in the morning. Late in the month put a light application of a fertilizer with a 0 nitrogen content. A rating of 0-15-15 will be good to prepare the soil for Aeration and seeding. If you have broadleaf weeds apply a spray weed killer. Be sure that the spray is a broadleaf weed killer only (this will be listed on the bottle). If you have crabgrass, spot spray a herbicide on the center of clumps (keep the spray low to the ground so you only kill the crabgrass). All of this will prepare you for fall seeding and aerating.


• September: Continue to mow as needed. If you are in an area where Fall has begun you may want to go ahead and aerate and overseed.


• October: Aerate and over seed. Aerating controls soil compaction and helps the root system of your lawn. After you aerate, over seed your lawn and fertilize with a medium fertilizer (12-10-10).


• November: About the middle of the month put out a high nitrogen fertilizer to keep your lawn green through winter.


• December: Rest. Next season will be here soon!

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