Q. What time of year should a lawn be fertilized?
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| A good fertilizer for established lawns should be high in nitrogen (first number), low in phosphorus (the middle number) and moderate to high in potassium (the third number). |
A. For tall fescue lawns, this is 99% of our residential
lawns, I recommend at least three times per year if you are using recycling
mowers; Labor Day, Memorial Day and Thanksgiving.The Thanksgiving day application may arguably be the most important application of the year in keeping
a winter lawn green.
If you have bermudagrass I
recommend Labor Day, Memorial Day and 4th of July. You don’t want to apply
anything to Bermudagrass in the fall if you are planning to overseed your lawn
to keep it green during the winter.
recommend Labor Day, Memorial Day and 4th of July. You don’t want to apply
anything to Bermudagrass in the fall if you are planning to overseed your lawn
to keep it green during the winter.
Most fertilizer bags recommend a
rate of 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet of lawn area. I consider this
to be excessive unless this is a very high-end fertilizer containing lots of
slow release nitrogen. You can cut that rate in half and get very good results.
rate of 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet of lawn area. I consider this
to be excessive unless this is a very high-end fertilizer containing lots of
slow release nitrogen. You can cut that rate in half and get very good results.
It is also very helpful if you can use a mulching mower that chops up the clippings find enough to return to the lawn as a fertilizer.
You can download a copy of my
fact sheet on turfgrass maintenance from here
fact sheet on turfgrass maintenance from here