Best lawn fertilization services

What are the benefits of fertilizing my lawn?

Your lawn needs the correct nutrients in order to survive (and thrive). To choose the best lawn fertilizer, you’ll need to determine what nutrients your lawn needs and how often. This will vary depending upon the area in which you live and the grass you have. Additionally, diseases, insects, environmental and weather conditions, and inconsistent moisture levels in the soil can all jeopardize the overall health of your lawn. One of the best ways to combat these potential problems is to provide your grass with the right nutrients. Thanks to lawn fertilization, providing those nutrients for lawn growth is easy. Benefits of grass fertilization include:

• Faster recovery: If your lawn is experiencing discoloration or dry patches, it has likely been affected by a lack of water, high temperatures, insect damage, lawn disease, and/or harmful weeds. A proper grass fertilization schedule in addition to your regular full-service lawn care will contribute to a rapid recovery.
• Faster growth: Grass needs to grow quickly in order to reach a high lawn quality.
• Resistance to weather and environmental conditions: An adequately fertilized lawn provides resistance to stress conditions, like extreme weather and heavy foot traffic. Consider fertilization one of your lawn care tools. The more nutrients your lawn has, the better equipped it is to survive through these conditions.
• Vibrant color: Lawn fertilization is a primary contributor to providing that richly vibrant and green lawn you love. The combination of adequate moisture levels and nitrogen (the ingredient highly associated with deeper hues) gives your lawn a healthy sheen.
• High density: Thick grass makes your lawn look better, but it doesn't stop there. It also aids in weed control by taking up all available space, so weeds have no room to take root.
• Lower temperature: Healthy grass can eliminate up to 50% of heat in the surrounding area because of a process called transpiration.

 

 

 

When should I fertilize my lawn?

Fertilizing your lawn might sound like an easy process, but setting an effective schedule can present several challenges. Can you over-fertilize your lawn? Absolutely! You never want to over-fertilize the lawn. Over-fertilizing lawn can cause irreparable damage by burning the grass.

On the other hand, not enough fertilizer can leave a lawn susceptible to weeds and poor growth. Finding a proper balance for when to fertilize the lawn is essential for lawn health. Most lawns benefit from an annual fertilizer feeding in the fall, so your lawn can prepare for winter with proper nutrients. It is also a good time to fertilize in the spring because that is when the grass begins its growth cycle. It is good to fertilize warm-season grasses with a slow-release lawn fertilizer formula at the start of the spring, summer, and fall seasons. Cool-season grass is slightly lower maintenance, and you can fertilize it in the spring and fall. You don’t usually need to fertilize cool-season grass in the summer as it tends to go dormant.

How do I choose a fertilizer?

You must choose the right fertilizer if you want to have a healthy and beautiful lawn. Where you live, what type of grass you have, and what season it is, are all important factors in choosing the right type of fertilizer for your lawn. How do you know which is best?

Learn the number system

Three numbers, such as 10-10-10 or 20-5-10, are on every bag of lawn fertilizer. These numbers represent the percentage of nutrients. The first number is nitrogen (N), which stimulates plant growth and gives them a vivid green color. The second number is phosphorus (P), for root growth and seedling development (important with new grass). The third number is potassium (K), sometimes called potash, which stimulates root development and provides resistance to drought and disease. In order to figure out which ratio you need, it's best to do a lawn test.

Identify your grass type

You'll need to figure out whether your grasses are cool-season, warm-season, or a mix. Warm-season grasses turn brown after the first frost and cool-season grasses will keep their green color year-round in cool and transitional zones. If you are familiar with grass types in the area, you may already know what types of grass your lawn consists of. As a rule of thumb, southern states generally support warm-season grasses,

Determine soil types and drainage

Selecting the correct fertilizer also depends on your soil type. Sandy soils that drain well, however, nutrients can leak out along with the draining water and therefore won't remain in the soil for as long. Clay soils can actually be quite fertile, but their poor drainage can affect the health of your lawn.

Choose your lawn fertilizer option

Most store-bought fertilizers are synthetic. Synthetic fertilizers come in two categories: quick-release and slow-release.

Quick-release granules let the nitrogen reach the soil fast, which helps the lawn gain its vibrant green color quicker. The drawback is that a lot of nutrients are lost since the plants can't utilize them all at once. Your lawn may look good at first but the risk for damage and disease increases. Quick-release granules are more likely to leave the grass brown (fertilizer burn).

Slow-release granules won't deliver that quick color, but they are less likely to burn your lawn and generally help your lawn last longer. Another advantage is that it requires fewer applications, which will save you time and labor if you’re spreading fertilizer by hand.

 

 

How to apply fertilizer

The first step in preparing your lawn care fertilizer is to water your lawn. A few days before you plan on applying the fertilizer, water your yard really well. This gets the soil in tip-top shape and will allow for the best absorption of nutrients.

Second, pick the best lawn fertilizer spreader. Spreaders fall into two main categories, broadcast, and drop. Each fertilizer product has a unique spreader setting for correct coverage. The fertilizer you plan on using should have specific instructions for spreading.

To begin, apply the grass fertilizer around the perimeter of your lawn. Feeding around the perimeter first will allow you to fertilize the rest of the lawn without worrying about missing any of the edges. You’ll then want to move towards the middle. Similar to a mowing pattern, feed your lawn by walking back and forth in straight lines while slightly overlapping with each pass. An over-fertilized lawn will burn, so be careful when applying.

How to overseed a lawn

If your lawn is thinning out, looks worse for wear, or is just not as vibrant and green as you want it to be, a fertilizer + overseeding combo may be just what you need. Before overseeding, lawn care providers recommended testing your soil and dethatch or rake your lawn, this will help correct existing problems.

By spreading grass seed over your existing lawn, you can thicken up the thin areas. If you’re looking to overseed your lawn, the best time to do this is after fertilization. Can you overseed in the spring? Fall is the best time to introduce new seeds into your existing lawn of cool-season grasses. But, depending on your grass type, overseeding in spring can yield good results too. Grass germination time for seed ranges from 5 to 30 days depending on the variety. It can be even longer than this in cooler temperatures. This is how long it will take to actually see the grass growing. Until this point, the seed, or the soil and mulch in contact with the seed, must stay moist.

Year-round lawn fertilizer services

Fertilization alone probably won’t give you the results you’re looking for. Fertilization is only a step in the lawn care maintenance process. A full lawn treatment service in addition to a regular lawn fertilizer schedule should include mowing and maintenance, trimming, weeding, and leaf clean up.