Lawn Fertilizing

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I have a 5 week old lawn that is coming in very nice and thick. The hydroseed method is so much easier to establish than the hand seed/fertilizer method I used with my last house 7 years ago.

Anyways, according to Scotts, you should fertilize every other month (roughly 8 weeks) during the growing season for my North Eastern lawn. The logic is that more often will cause excessive growth and stress, and less often means fewer nutrients and a thinner lawn.

Then I started thinking about how fertilizers are suppose to work - releasing gradual amounts of nutrients for the microbes that break it down and supply the grass with a steady supply of energy. I would think that rain and temperature would greatly affect the usefulness life of fertilizers, regardless of additives manufactures use in the processing.

Therefore, I'm wondering if fertilizing every month with 1/2 the recommended fertilizer would produce better and more consistent results?

P.S. I'm only talking about doing this with turf builders , not weed or insect control fertilizers that would loss their effectives.
 
I have been using a low amount of fertilizer every 4 weeks to establish my lawn. I have Bermuda turf up front and I put a mix of bermuda and annual grasses in the back to stabilize the slope of the back yard.
It's hot where I live been topping 100 a couple of times in the past week but this weekend I expect rain. I have also been using the mulch feature of the mower to help establish some tith and organic stabilithy to the lawn that I planted in terrible construction sight soil.

I think your game plan is sound. Most people don't like to do more than they have to but if you are obsessvie (check yes for being here) then you are giving the lawn a more stable release rate.
 
I used to get fertilizer from this company: http://www.gardensalive.com/
It looked similar to barnyard scrapings and had a similar smell.

Haven't fertilized my lawn in over 10 years. Don't water either, except if establishing new grass. My philosophy: If I water it or fertilize it, it will grow. If it grows, I have to mow. Why should I spend time doing something that creates more work.
 
Our small town has free compost. You take your leaves and grass clippings to the town yard and dump it. They turn it and move it along and out the other end comes all the compost you want for free.
Keeps yard waste out of the garbage/landfill and the
end result is free fertilizer.
Spread some of that on a new lawn and stand back or you will get swallowed up in the grass.
wink.gif


P.B.
 
I do that in my backyard. I take all my leaves and neighbors' leaves and let them rot. In a year I have beautiful compost for my garden, landscaping, and grass. I wish our city gave compost for free.

I understand that in Missisauga composting is compulsory and is part of city ordinance.
 
Your better off fertilizing more frequently but use a lower setting on your spreader. Also raise your mower deck to the highest setting and cut high. Lawn will look awesome since grass is still even. Will shade out weed seeds too.

Another trick is to buy some cheap laundry powdered soap,( no bleach in it) and mix it with the fertilizer. will break up surface tension of your soil so it wont compact and water will drain in. Insects hate the soap too and will go to your neighbors lawn.

Jerry Baker has a good book on lawn care, I simply
fertilize a lot and mow high. I never have any insect or weed problems so I dont use pesticides or herbicides.
 
My new town (Stonington) does the same recycling with leaves and offers the compost free for the taking. I've taken about 3 yards so far for general gardening etc. (this is more exciting than free pizza at the office). I plan to top-dress my lawn within the next few weeks but have no planes to eliminate fertilizing altogether.

Once a month fertilizing sounds like the way to go and I think the additional calorie burning session isn’t a bad idea either. I do think that I'll need to reconsider $cott$ dosage as gospel and try to give only what it needs. Therefore, a ULFA may not be a bad idea after all. I'm not far from URI which has a great Botany program and may do soil testing for the public. I’ll have to check.

Do you guys think brand makes a difference (Scotts, Vigoro, Trugreen, “commercial grade”, etc.) or do just differ in their N-P-K content?
 
With all this fertilizer your using, your contaminating storm water runoff. Don't know about you guys, but back in the 60's and 70's, hardly anyone fertilized that I knew of and the grass stayed green. Mulch it and water once in a while and done unless your caught up with trying to keep up with the Jone'es which does nothing but cost you money.
 
URI is my alma matter:)

I dont think brand makes much difference but Scotts tends be less susceptabel to burning.. I time my applications to the day before steady rain is forecast. Also I dont fertilize at all between mid Jun and mid August so I wont risk burning from no water/rain.

How much topsoil did they leave you?? also dont forget to apply some lime, I put that down in fall and again in early spring. I dont go crazy with the amount.
 
If you are using modern slow release fertilizer, every other month should be just fine. Be careful about fertilizing in July and August. Most turf grasses go dorment to some degree in hot weather. Watch the ph, new lawns are fragile for the first summer. Everything depends on the type/condition of your topsoil. A good program would be to fertilize with a slow release starter fertilizer now, then let it go until late August, then another dose of starter. You don't need a lot of tops, build up the root system. Make sure it gets an inch of water a week, do a soil test and add lime if needed. Top dressing with fresh compost is an excellent practice. I do it in the fall. Next spring you can go with the nitrogen and you lawn will look as if it had been sodded.
 
South and North US are quite a bit different as to feeding schedules, etc. The library has books and your state has, probably, agricultural extension agents who will help.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Razl:
I have a 5 week old lawn that is coming in very nice and thick. The hydroseed method is so much easier to establish than the hand seed/fertilizer method I used with my last house 7 years ago.

Anyways, according to Scotts, you should fertilize every other month (roughly 8 weeks) ....


Reminds me of oil companies and quick lubes change your oil at 3,000 mile advice.

Short of a ULFA (used lawn fertilzer analysis) learn to recognize when your lawn wants to be fed and feed it then. Not on $cotts $chedule.
 
In Indiana, I fertilize early March,Late May,Labor Day, and Thanksgiving with Menards premium fertilizer and I get people asking what I use because it stays dark green.

BTW, I don't water my yard even in summer. It will brown up a little but as soon it rains, it will green right up. It is dormant, not dead.
 
What seems absurd is that we process this water to human consumption quality standards and then pour it all over the lawn. Oh well, cheaper than a dual water system.
 
TallPaul, I hear ya. I came from a house that had a well so it didn't really matter how much I watered. I'm paying for it now with city water. I tried getting an irrigation well put in when I installed a geothermal unit, but the well guy wanted an additional $5,000 to do it.

Naturally, I backed out. Instead, I have a net meter that credits the sewer bill for water I use for the exterior. After the lawn really sets in, I'm going to skip the watering. I don't mind if it goes dormant in August.

Thanks all.
 
quote:

Originally posted by MarkC:
More chemicals go into lawns than into farmland in the US. I wonder when people decided that monocrop grass was more attractive than the native plants.

Not if I can have anything to do about it.

http://www.lube-direct.com/agsite/

You get to use less fertilizer, have stonger, more drought resistant grass, and save the environment. What else can you ask for.
 
MS - **** speaks well of the AgGrand liquid fertilizer. I've never tried it....how many years have you used it? How's the coverage? How many gallons do you need per season for, say 1/5 acre of grass?
 
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