lawn fertilizer

[deereman63]

Prior to owning a tractor I had always been fairly parsimonious about applying lawn fertilizer as the grass grew too thick with the manufacturer's recommendation. This made cutting very difficult and time consuming as one was either continually emptying the bag or raking the clumps off. Now, I reckon that with the added power of a tractor this wont be such a problem. Still Im not that comfortable with over adding fertilizer. General feelings about environmental damage plus specific fears about getting chemicals in to my well water supply. I certainly intended to use a good brand but what percentages do other people use?

 

[slowrev]

Your lawn nutrition requirements depend on a lot of factors. Type of grass, type of soil, amount of rainfall, etc... Your lawns requirements would be very different from someone living in Tampa , FL. I recommend that you take soil samples in to your AG extension office, have it analyzed and consult with them.

Perhaps someone in you area can give you some more specific ideas. I live in KY and just lime mine avery few years and put some 10-10-10 on it and it is fine. When I lived in FL it was an entirely different story. Down there it was frequent poisioning, watering, fertilizing, and occasional fungicide just to keep it alive.

Ben

 

[rbeitz]

Maybe you should try an organic fertilizer. I just started using Agway Nature's Way 8-2-4 organic lawn food. Each 40# bag covers 4K sq ft. It is a slow release nitrogen and it calls for putting it out once in the Spring and once in the Fall. I just started using it last fall and I plan to put out the Spring application later this week. I was happy with the results in the fall but, I had not used anything on my lawn for the previous 7 years so anything I put down was bound to have an affect.

 

[deereman63]

You're right I should be more specific about my soil quality. Its ex farm land and at one time was used for cattle and later for flowers. So it is fertile, but not up to the standard that the chap on the front page of this forum is shovelling around. I dont want to use weed killers etc because of water quality concerns so as long as it looks green from a distance thats fine with me

 

[slowrev]

What kind of grass do you currently have growing there ? Or are you trying to decide which variety to plant ? If you are palnting grass then pick the hardiest kind that will take the least fertilizing and such.
Ben