When to start fertilizing grass
Fertilize Your Lawn - Beginner's Guide to Understanding Fertilizer
hey everybody my name is Jason creel and
you're watching the lawn care life today
I'm going to talk to you about
fertilizer I'm gonna show you three
different blends of fertilizer that I'm
using on my lawns that I take care of
and we're gonna talk about it may help
you understand which kind of fertilizer
you should be using the timing how much
to put out things like that when it
comes to fertilizer so let's get started
one of the challenges of me doing we
control and fertilization in my business
is learning how to take care of all the
different lawns and to get everything
done on all the lawns different grass
types which require different types of
fertilizer and there's a lot of timing
involved with Czar's when to do a
specific weed control application or
when would be the best time to fertilize
and that's something you need to
understand and know how to execute if
you're just taking care of your own lawn
but it becomes a challenge when you've
got hundreds of lawns and you're trying
to get them all done in a short amount
of time so let's take a look at the
three different bags of fertilizer
alright so here's three bags of
fertilizer and you can see the the
number on the bag and you may be
familiar with some kind of triple 13
fertilizer if you're you're a homeowner
you say well that's what I go and buy
and I put on my tomato plants or triple
a door
some other common blend that you can get
at a big-box store at a seed and feed
place I buy these fertilizers from
harrell's that's where I get most all my
products from they blend their own
fertilizers first of all let's talk
about the three numbers that you see on
the back so you see there's a
twenty-three five eighteen one nine 3806
so the three numbers one of those means
well you maybe hear them described as
NPK the first number is your nitrogen
the second number is your phosphorus and
the third number is your potassium so
NPK nitrogen just quickly the nitrogen
which is the first number and those
numbers are percentages so you've got a
50-pound bag which is pretty standard
and the first number it means it's
twenty percent nitrogen the you know on
this particular bag of twenty three five
so twenty percent nitrogen three percent
phosphorus five percent potassium you
know thirty-eight percent nitrogen zero
percent phosphorus and six percent
potassium so one of those things
well the nitrogen is is the nut the one
that gets talked about the most that's
typically what makes the leaves grow
that's what helps it to have a greener
color and so usually the higher that
first number is is a lot of times can
mean the greener your grass is going to
be or the less that you have to put out
to achieve that green color the second
number is the phosphorus which has to
deal with with growing strong roots and
then the third one the potassium my
understanding reading a little bit about
the potassium just helps with the the
overall cell structure of the plant
which can help it you know be more
drought tolerant help it fight off
diseases and things like that so when
you talk to people who are agronomists
or understand the needs of different
types of turf and different types of
souls in your area then they can help
you choose the right blend for your
grass now you can probably look online
and find out a recommended amounts of
nitrogen to put on your lawn depending
on what type of grass you have but I'm
gonna talk about it in the grass types
that I deal with here in the south we
have Bermuda lawns primarily but we also
have Zoysia we have centipede we have
st. Augustine so here's what I use these
three fertilizers for let's start with
the one in the middle so this is a 20 -
3-5 this is a quick release fertilizer
so I'm gonna open the bag let you look
at it so I'll open the bag and just put
a little bit in my hand you can see it's
just an off-white color and this is
quick release fertilizer so what I do
with this primarily on my Bermuda lines
but let's say it gets into April and the
weather's getting up into the 80s and
our Bermudas coming out of dormancy and
turning green and I'll put this
fertilizer out I'm usually using like a
bag of this per 13,000 square feet and
what I'm trying to do is basically to
give that that law and a quick green up
in the spring when you in lawn business
one of the things that I get asked about
particularly in the spring is the time
when it's it's more difficult to control
weeds and also people are won their
lawns to be green now other things that
I have found that works great for far as
getting your Bermuda lawn turned green
often times is just to cut it low to get
rid of all that dormant grass and allow
the sunshine
down to the roots and oftentimes that
has as much to do with it turning green
early in the spring as it does
fertilizer now that depends on the
weather I'm not saying the fertilizer
doesn't do anything but sometimes if you
cut it low and let that sunshine get
down there it can really green one up
regardless of whether it's had
fertilizer or not but now obviously once
it gets warmer temperatures and you put
this on here it's going to help it turn
green what happens is sometimes though
people are just in such a hurry to make
their long green and they want to
fertilize it too early when the
weather's not warm enough and with this
quick release fertilizer you know if you
if you put it out there too early and
it's still getting cool at night and
then temperatures are not gotten up very
warm then then you're really wasting a
lot of it because if it rains it the
grass is not at a stage where it can use
it yet and you're not gonna see a lot of
results so that's part of the problem
and I think sometimes I see people
they're just very impatient and waiting
on their grass to turn green but like I
said this this is for me to get a quick
green up the other thing you could use
this for is is you want just to really
maximize the growth I'm talking again on
a Bermuda lawn if you want to maximize
your growth if you'd put this out
starting in let's say late April I'm
using Alabama timeframe here based on
our weather typically but if you put it
out about once a month and you could
really grow your Bermuda grass you
better be prepared to mow your grass
quite often let's talk about 18 1 9 I'm
gonna walk over here and I've got some
put in a fertilizer spreader I'm gonna
go show you what it looks like to talk
about it
so here's 18 1 9 blend you see a lot
more colorful picture compared to the 20
- 3-5 let's talk about these I'm summing
the same quick release fertilizer which
is represented by most of those white
pearls at least that's my understanding
then you've got the darker color pearls
that's going to be comparable to a
product like milorganite or some it's an
organic type material if you bought a
bag of milorganite maybe watch the lawn
care nut and he told you to do that then
when you open up the bag it's gonna all
look pretty much like that
and then if you'll notice the aqua
colored pearls are sort of greenish blue
tint those are called
poly on that's a a name-brand that
heralds sales it's a polymer coated
fertilizer so it's a you may have heard
of time release or slow release
fertilizer so the idea is you have this
polymer coating on the fertilizer that's
gonna break down slowly over time so if
you look at this you can see almost an
even mixture between the black pearls
the white pearls and the aqua color
pearls so you're getting some organic
materials from quick release white
fertilizer and some slow release
fertilizer this is the 18 1 9 to 18
percent nitrogen this is the typically
the blend that I'm using on my centipede
in st. Augustine lon so I'll put it out
again going on my time frame my schedule
here in Alabama I'll typically put this
out on a centipede or st. Augustine lawn
around May and then come back again
around July and do it again one more
time and on those type of lawns you're
going no more than 2 pounds of nitrogen
per thousand square feet on your lawn
for the year so I you know I'm looking
to put her out somewhere around point 9
pounds of nitrogen per application and
do it twice per year I've got a little
handheld chest-mounted spread I'm going
to show you the 3806 and this is you can
see far more of the aqua colored pearl
so this is very highly concentrated
think close to 90% slow-release and the
rest is is the white quick release so
the idea is that those quick release
white pearl is going to give it that
quick green color but those slow release
pearls typically lasts around 4 months
so if I can put this out in May I may be
able to sustain that green color for the
entire growing season so for instance
I'd use this on a Bermuda or soil or I
could use it on centipede and say arsing
just gonna go at a lower rate but let's
say on Bermuda lawn I'm gonna put
somewhere around 2.2 pounds of nitrogen
per thousand square feet as it gets
later in the year now let's say I didn't
fertilize until you know late June then
I may back that off to two pounds you
can put a lot more on a Bermuda on I've
read research saying that you know you
can go 5 to 6 pounds
of nitrogen per thousand square feet but
this stuff really works great I like
that it did it's a slow-release that
costs a lot more this is a little over
$30 a bag where the others are cheaper
but yeah I think this is lasting for
four months where some of those others
are not lasting years long now let me
talk to your front as a business owner
and just talk to you a little bit about
the slow release fertilizer and what's
great about that I once talked to a golf
course superintendent or the guy that
goes out and takes care of the the grass
on the golf course and he was talking
about they use that slow release
fertilizer and the reason they do is
because they can put that out actually
in January if they wanted to when the
grass is still dormant and the reason
being is because that slow release
fertilizer with that polymer coating
what it's going to do it's just going to
sit there until the weather starts
warming up and then it'll begin
releasing so you think about that from a
golf course perspective in January
what's going on at a golf course
well they got three old guys out there
playing golf and not much else going on
so they got plenty of time to go out
there and fertilize the grass and they
they're put out the pre-emergence and
things like that but they can go ahead
and get their fertilizer out of the way
and do it and actually put enough out
that it would last the entire year and
not have to worry about fertilizing the
rest of the year on the golf course and
maybe they'll come out and do something
to the to the greens and that sort of
thing not a golf course superintendent
but they could actually fertilize those
Bermuda fairways and be done with it for
the year now they're using some
expensive fertilizer but if it's got
that slow release fertilizer it'll just
sit there - the weather warms up well
same thing can be said for a homeowner
or a business owner you know if I was to
put that fertilizer out in January which
I don't do by the way but that it's that
slow release fertilizer would sit there
same idea now that has some quick
release fertilizer in there so I'd
probably be wasting the quick release
fertilizer and that's one reason I don't
do that but you could go with just a
straight-up slow release 100 percent
slow release fertilizer plant and put
out early and then it'll release when
it's ready when the weather cooperates
so from a
duction standpoint if you've got time to
do that and being able to make sure you
get all your fertilizer out on time if
you could do it some early I can see
where that makes a lot of sense and
definitely for golf courses but also
sometimes for a lawn care business
I like the slow release fertilizer
because you know even though I'm not
putting out in January when I do put it
out let's say May then I don't have to
come back and put it out again in July I
put it out yes it costs more it's almost
double per bag compared to the quick
release fertilizers or some other blends
but it just lasts a lot longer and
instead of spreading fertilizer twice on
that lawn I can do it once and be done
with it
and it holds the color and what it does
is you know it's kind of like this whole
idea of drinking water out of a fire
hydrant you know when you put you think
well I'm just gonna put more and more
and more nitrogen on my lawn whether the
grass can only use so much so the idea
with that Palmer cuz it's gonna release
at the rate that the grass can use it so
when you just take a quick-release prize
and put a lot on there the truth is
you're probably wasting a lot of that
let me talk a little bit about how to
figure out how much to put on your lawn
I've already mentioned on my grass types
what I'm trying to do is go somewhere
around 2.2 pounds of nitrogen per
thousand square feet on my Bermuda lawn
around two pounds of nitrogen per
thousand square feet on Missouri lawns
and on the centipede in st. Augustine's
no more than two pounds for the entire
year so I'm doing two applications at
around 0.9 pounds per thousand square
feet so on those centipede st.
augustine's I'm using that 18 1 9 blend
doing it twice per year on the Bermudas
orgeous the bermudez I come in with that
quick release 20 - 3 - 5 then come back
with the slow release later so let's not
do the quick release in April come back
May or June and put the slow release on
there and it should be good for the year
if from the Zoysia lawns I did I read an
article recently that I'm a member of
the Alabama turf grass Association they
put out a magazine and there was some
research done by some Auburn PhDs about
georgia grass and we fertilizing our
zoysia grass - on in their research they
showed that using more than two pounds
of
nitrogen per thousand square feet did
not necessarily yield any better results
and so they you know basically making a
recommendation not using more than two
pounds of nitrogen per thousand square
feet that any more than that would not
necessarily make your grassy and greener
now let me show you quickly just how to
calculate when I say in two pounds per
thousand square feet one you got to know
how big your lawn is so let's just say
you've got a 5,000 square foot lawn that
would be easy math and on that 5000
square foot lawn let's say it saw your
grass just for the sake of math and you
wanted to put two pounds of nitrogen per
thousand square feet and you're gonna
use this it's 3806 now if you think
about this this is way I was taught
nation my Herald's rep is one who who
taught me how to do this but if you
figure this is a 50 pound bag and so
what's great about that is to figure out
how many pounds of nitrogen is in this
bag all you have to do is divide those
numbers by 2 so it's 38 percent nitrogen
well if I divide that by 2 I get 19
meaning there's 19 pounds in this
50-pound bag so 50 pounds total 19 of
those pounds are nitrogen well let's say
that I want to put 2 pounds on a 5000
square foot lawn actually I'm gonna go
10,000 square foot because the math will
be easier so 2 pounds on a 10,000 square
foot lawn so if my yard 10,000 square
foot that means I want to put 20 pounds
of nitrogen on that lawn if you know
that's easy math I just figured out by
cutting that first number in half
there's 19 pounds in this bag so if I
put this whole bag on a 10,000 square
foot lawn I have used just under I've
used 19 pounds and when I we was going
for 20 so I've used just under 2 pounds
of nitrogen per thousand square feet so
you know if you got a 95 hundred square
foot lawn and you want to put 2 pounds
out for every thousand square feet you'd
use one bag of this 3806 now if you're
using a 20 - 3 - 5 then you think it's
only got 10 pounds of nitrogen in this
bag because you're going to cut that
first number in half that's going to be
10 pounds for the bag so
you have to use more of that or you say
well I'm gonna make two applications
instead of one application so if there's
10 pounds in that bag and you got a of
nitrogen you got a 10,000 square foot
lawn let's say you put out the whole bag
one time on that 10,000 square foot lawn
you just put out one pound of nitrogen
for every thousand square feet then you
come back let's say six weeks later and
you put out another bag now you've added
another pound per thousand square feet
so now you're up to two pounds per
thousand square feet for the year again
you've had to make two passes over your
lawn with that well nice you just do it
one time you're done but like I said the
bag cost twice as much almost so you
know either way eighteen one nine you
cut the first number in half you got
nine pounds of nitrogen in this 50-pound
bag so you can do the math a lot of
things to consider what type of grass
you have how much nitrogen does my grass
need how to calculate that by doing the
math and then am I using slow-release
quick-release and based on that do I
need to fertilize one time of year twice
a year three times a year four times a
year five times you I mean you can do it
different ways there's not one correct
way like that from from me I like to
slow release cuz you put it out and then
you're done you know but if you wanna
come back once a month and put out
fertilizer and fertilizer and fertilizer
certain grass tight like I said with
Bermuda if you want to put out one pound
of nitrogen five times during the year
one pound per thousand square feet and
you had a total of five pounds of
nitrogen per thousand square feet for
the year hey that's great you can do
that and it will grow like crazy and you
need to mow grass a lot you might have
one other thought about how to figure
out how much fertilizer putting out if
you know how big your yard is let's say
ten thousand square feet and you're
trying to put out one bag per 10,000
square feet well you can just set your
fertilizer spreader whether it be a
handheld spreader chest mounted right on
push spread or whatever set it you know
on a specific setting and then just push
it in and see do half the yard and see
if I use more than half the bag less
than half the bag and then just adjust I
don't you know necessarily think you
always got to put pay
four plates out there and catch it that
sort of thing I just start spread and
put on a reasonable number like on my
Spiker spreader if I put it on number
six on the dial that's usually pretty
close but then I can adjust it because
even depend on what type of fertilizer
you use it may be a little different if
you're using a smaller pearl versus a
larger pearl or some it may spread at a
slightly different rate so anyway that's
all I do hope that's been helpful at
least give you an idea of what I'm doing
how to think through your fertilizer and
what strategy you're gonna use whether
it's for your own lawn for your lawn
care business
I'm Jason creel thanks for watching I
would encourage you to subscribe to the
channel go check out some other videos
on the channel and let me hear from you
in the comments you have some questions
comments
what type of fertilizers are using and
just clarify I don't live up north I'm
not as familiar with with rye grass
fescue Kentucky bluegrass things like
that so I'm gonna be more familiar with
a southern grass types but love to hear
from your thoughts if you're up north
and you can help educate me that would
be great
thanks for watching video talk to you
later bye
