Feeding Your New Winter Lawn

New Lawn Maintenance

Begin mowing the new lawn when the height of grass is 1/3 greater than the intended mowing height. Be sure that the lawn mower is sharp. A dull mower tends to pull grass seedlings out of the ground or causes leaf blade tips to be bleached or white. Try to minimize traffic on the new lawn until it is mature. Broadleaf weed control may be necessary. Do not apply broadleaf weed control to new lawns until they have been mowed two times. Begin a good, comprehensive fertilization program as outlined below. 

Turfgrass Fertilization

A well planned (and simple) fertility program is essential to turf maintenance. Turfgrass requires 16 basic nutrients for growth. Most of these are available to turf from soil, but not in proper amounts for proper growth. Turfgrass fertilizers usually have some mixture of the most abundantly needed nutrients. The ones needed in the greatest amounts are N-P-K. Sulphur as a fertilizer component is sometimes included, since it is beneficial in lowering our high pH soils. See the appropriate lawn calendars and fertilization guidelines for fertilizer rates and application dates.

Complete Fertilizer:
A complete fertilizer includes some amounts of all three of the major elements of N_P_K. It does not say how much is present (analysis or grade). It does not say in what relative amounts (ratio). Examples of complete fertilizers include (20_15_5) and 34_10_6). Note that fertilizers such as (33_0_0) or (15_0_20) are not complete, because they lack having all three elements of N_P_K.

Fast Or Slow Release
Fast release fertilizers dissolve in water quickly and can be taken up readily by the turf. Since they dissolve quickly, they can burn the turf since the fertilizers are actually salts. Slow release fertilizers are those which exhibit "slow" chemical reactions in the soil in order to make the nutrient available over a larger period of time. There are other types of slow release fertilizers which have coatings which will break down slowly, or have small pores in the fertilizer pellets which "ooze" out the fertilizer over time. New technologies for slow release fertilizers are being developed. Slow release fertilizers should be used only during active growth periods. This is during summer for warm-season grasses and the spring and fall for cool-season grasses. Do not apply a full years fertilizer requirement in one application. 

Iron containing fertilizers are beneficial in promoting good turf color, without the excess growth sometimes experienced with nitrogen containing fertilizers. Ferrous sulphate is inexpensive, but may be short-lived in our high pH western soils. Cheleated irons are more effective but more expensive and are used on high profile turfs.

Don’t worry about your commercial lawn maintenance. It doesn’t matter to us whether you want desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net