3/27/2018 - By Harrell's

The flowers are blooming and the birds are singing... if you listen closely the birds are saying “fertilize your lawn dummy”.   Yes, it is time to get your spring fertilization applied to promote healthy turfgrass growth and recovery from the winter cold.

Spring is the time to apply a “complete” fertilizer that contains nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K).   Whether you have a cool-season turfgrass lawn such as tall fescue or Kentucky bluegrass or a warm-season turfgrass like bermudagrass, centipedegrass, or St. Augustinegrass, this is the time that all turfgrasses need supplemental feeding to aid in their growth and recovery from winter dormancy.

For cool-season turfgrasses, this time of year is critical for spring growth.  These turfgrasses are named cool-season for a reason: this is the time of the year that they exhibit their greatest growth.  These turfgrasses do not grow during the hot, summer months so it is important to apply a fertilizer that will supply nutrients during the spring and not during the summer.  Therefore, the use of fast release fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate and urea and/or polymer coated-sulfur coated fertilizers like XCU are ideal to provide nutrient release over the next 6 to 8 weeks.

For warm-season turfgrasses, it would be recommended to apply either slow release and/or controlled release fertilizer sources such as XCU or Polyon due to the fact that the warm-season turfgrasses will continue to grow during the spring and hot months of summer and require continued feeding of nutrients during this time period.  Many lawn care companies apply fast release fertilizers or diluted blends (less than 75% slow release) during this time period and if several applications (6 to 8) are not made, then the turfgrasses will lose color and their health will decline. Fewer applications can be made if the Polyon controlled release fertilizers are utilized compared to XCU, but both will last much longer than fast release or diluted blends (2 to 4 weeks longevity).

It is recommend that any time a slow release or controlled release fertilizer is used in a blended fertilizer, it should be at least 75% of that blend or higher to insure that there are enough granules distributed evenly to provide the turfgrass with consistent growth and color over the entire lawn.  When diluted blends are applied, the turfgrass will appear mottled within a couple of weeks after application (different colors of green to yellow).  This is due to an uneven distribution of the slow release component in the fertilizer blend.

We recommend that you ask your lawn care provider specifically what type of fertilizer they are planning to use and how much slow release is in the blend.  Make sure they know what they are applying and more important that you are getting your money’s worth.