Lawn Fertilization Archives - Page 2 of 2

A healthy lawn increases the value of your home and makes your business stand out from the crowd.

There’s something about that glorious green that makes people sigh with pleasure as they pass by.

Have you recently planted your first lawn? Your next step is to make sure it stays lush, healthy, and green.

Here are five advantages of fertilizers that can give your lawn a helping hand.

A Note on Lawn Fertilization

Lawn fertilizers are either organic or synthetic, and each one has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Organic fertilizers can be homemade and inexpensive, but they’re slow to decompose and take some knowhow to use.

Synthetic fertilizers can make your grass grow more quickly, and will give it the vibrant green color you’re likely looking for. But they can sometimes burn your lawn if applied incorrectly, and can negatively impact the properties of the soil.

1. It’ll Supply the Right Nutrients at the Right Stage

If you’re growing your grass from seed, your new lawn will need different nutrients at different stages.

New grass requires nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in different quantities than an established lawn. Using fertilizer will make sure your grass gets the correct nutrients it needs.

2. It Encourages Your Grass to Grow

Whatever the type, fertilizer adds nutrients to your grass and will help it to grow.

Depending on the type you choose and if you’re in a hurry, you can even make your grass grow super-fast. Make sure you know when and how to use it.

3. Organic Material Helps Your Lawn Absorb More Water and Nutrients

Your grass is thirsty, and with organic material, you can give it a helping hand to get the water it needs.

Things like old grass cuttings and dry leaves can add an extra porous layer at the base of your soil. This also helps your lawn hold water that the blades of grass can then use when they need a drink.

4. It Can Make Your Lawn Greener

As we mentioned earlier, fertilizer can improve the color of your lawn. The best lawn fertilizer is dependant on you, and what you want for your land.

Natural fertilizer gives a more muted green. Synthetic fertilizer will give you the strong, vibrant color that home and business owners are looking for.

5. It Can Improve the Quality of Your Soil

All fertilizers add nutrients to the soil. Synthetic fertilizers have specific percentages of each vitamin and mineral printed on the package. This takes some of the guesswork out of the application.

It can be a little more tricky to work out the nutrient content of your organic fertilizer, but it will often improve the pH of your soil. It also produces a higher-quality soil with a better composition and texture over time.

Reap the Advantages of Fertilizers With Your Lawn

If you’ve recently planted your nice new lawn, you’ll want to keep it looking healthy, green and, well, grassy. The advantages of fertilizers on your lawn are good and plenty.

Both organic and synthetic fertilizers have their own characteristics. You’ll have to choose what’s right for your lawn depending on the specific result you’re going for.

Do you want to fertilize your home or commercial lawn, but aren’t able to do it yourself? Contact us for a quote, and see how we can help.

We all have that one neighbor with the gorgeous lawn. You know the one, so deep green and lush it almost looks fake. You want one too?

We hear you! Their secret is lawn fertilization. Keep reading to see how you can benefit from using it on your lawn too.

What Lawn Fertilization Can Do for Your Grass

In simple terms, applying a lawn fertilizer provides your grass with the nutrients it needs to grow and thrive. Kind of like how we take vitamins and eat right to nourish our bodies. The environment threatens your lawn’s health, as well as the type of soil it’s growing in, insect attacks, and disease.

Applying a yard fertilizer has the following benefits:

Deep green color
Thicker grass density
Faster growing grass
Lower air temperature through the transpiration process
Quicker damage recovery
Greater resistance to stress

As you can see, these are significant benefits for your lawn. Getting them through the simple act of fertilization is a no-brainer.

Choosing the Right Kind of Yard Fertilizers

Nutrient Profiles Explained

There are many kinds of fertilizers in various formulas, so how do you know which one to buy? Let’s start with the number combinations on the container. For example, 20-10-5.

In order, these numbers represent the percentage of the nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the lawn fertilizer.

Nitrogen is responsible for the green color and is also the most important element in a fertilizer. Phosphorus helps seeds and roots grow which is essential if you’ve planted new grass seed. And lastly, potassium makes the grass healthier and builds a tolerance to disease.

Choose a ratio that specifically helps your lawn issues and local weather conditions. If you have sandy soil, you’ll likely need more nutrients for your grass since the nutrients can leave when the water drains out through the soil. Clay ground tends to hold nutrients well, but the lack of drainage can also cause problems.

Complete vs Incomplete

Not all fertilizers have nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in them. Complete formulas include all three nutrients.

In contrast, incomplete yard fertilizers only contain one or two. You can tell an incomplete version by a zero in the number label, such as 20-0-10.

Organic and Synthetic

Synthetic forms of fertilizer come in two types, quick-release or slow-release. Which one is best for your lawn? Let’s review each so you can make an informed decision.

The quick-release formulas allow the nitrogen into the soil faster resulting in a greener lawn much faster. However, since the yard cannot absorb all the nutrients as fast, you risk future damage and disease. The quick-release formulas may also burn your grass leaving it brown and sparse, defeating your purpose for grass fertilization in the first place.

The slow-release granules won’t give your lawn that instant deep green color, but they won’t burn your lawn or require frequent applications either. These types of fertilizer allow the grass to retain more of the nutrients. Organic fertilizers are slow-release and made from all-natural sources such as feather meal.

When to Fertilize

Naturally, your budget of time and money should determine how often you fertilize. However, according to agronomy research, the most effective regimen is to apply your fertilizer three times throughout the year:

Spring (light application)
Early Summer (light application)
Fall (heavy application)

What’s the Bottom Line?

The benefits of lawn fertilization far outweigh the effort involved in applying them. Now that you know more about yard fertilizers, get started making your lawn the envy of the neighborhood.

Category: Lawn Fertilization