When to Fertilize your Lawn
Fertilizing your grass is imperative to maintaining a healthy lawn. Doing it correctly can promote healthy growth and help ward off lawn disease. But when should you fertilize? Before applying fertilizer, there are a few important factors to consider in keeping your grass looking its best. Read on to learn when to fertilize your lawn.
- The fertilizer: Make sure your lawn fertilizer contains the following macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Your bag should display three numbers, separated by dashes, to indicate the percentage it contains of each element. While all three nutrients are vital to a healthy lawn, nitrogen is what promotes its green color and denseness.
- Grass type: Grasses fall into two categories: warm-season and cool-season. Both types require different fertilizing schedules. Be sure to apply fertilizer during your grass type’s active growing season. When grass is dormant, the soil microbes that usually turn fertilizer into nutrients are inactive, which renders the fertilizer useless and encourages weed growth instead of feeding your grass. While a lawn with warm-season grass can be fertilized year-round, cool-season grasses require fertilization several weeks before the ground freezes. Optimally, a cool-season lawn should be fertilized while the soil is still warm enough for the roots of the grass absorb nitrogen and other nutrients.
- Number of applications: When deciding the number of applications to dispense, just divide the yearly nitrogen requirement into the number of applications appropriate for your type of lawn. Generally speaking, a lawn should have a minimum of three to five applications every two months. For best results, apply six to seven times every four to six weeks.
For warm-season grasses, the first application should be in the spring and reapplied throughout the growing season in spring, summer, and autumn. The last application should occur in the fall and should be done with a winter fertilizer that contains iron. This iron-infused application helps prepare your lawn for the cold months of winter.
The best time to fertilize cool-season grasses is at the beginning of both the spring and fall seasons when the lawn is actively growing and at its healthiest.
Contact us
For further assistance in fertilizing your grass, call Green Lawn Fertilizing at 855-469-0692. We’re here to help you achieve a beautiful yard. Call us today for more tips and tricks to keep your lawn looking its best.