Since the late forties , chemical company have encouraged Americans to “ Mary Jane and feed ” their lawn every spring and fall . We bought it bait , line , and sinker , believing that more chemical substance be a greener , sizable lawn .
As a result of this indiscriminate use of fertilizers and pesticide , we havean superabundance of nitrogen and phosphorous in our waterwaysand soil that ca n’t confirm the grass growing in it without the help of more chemical substance . Many American lawn have fundamentally become a chemical substance shit .
Your lawn doesn’t need synthetic fertilizers if they’re fed naturally.
Grasses are plant like any other . In the wild , where green goddess have thrived for millenary , they ’re support by decomposing constituent matter at the stain line , that eventually becomes humus , the alimental - obtuse material which supports all plant life . The decomposition reaction cycle is dependant on the many microorganisms and other creatures that live at or just below the soil line . This is calledthe soil food web .
This raw cycle can be well replicated in your suburban landscape because there ’s no famine of organic textile . In fact , cut grass itself is the proficient germ . A lawnmower with a mulching blade cuts and pulverizes grass clippings into tiny particle which settle to the soil line . There , the soil solid food World Wide Web breaks them down into their ingredient nutrients : 4 percent nitrogen , 2 percentage K , and one pct phosphorous , according the Missouri University Extension . These same nutrients are the basis of bagged lawn fertilizer but in much larger quantities ( show asNPK per centum on the ingredients recording label ) .
chopped grass clippings are the perfect lawn food , as they break down slowly all season , providing a consistent source of nutrient . The mulched pot clippings also isolate the soil , increasing water retention and regularise filth temperature . This insularism slows H2O vaporisation and help tooth root originate deeper .
If I fertilize my lawn more often will it be greener?
The inadequate answer is “ no ” , and overfeeding create other problems .
When too much synthetic atomic number 7 is employ or apply at the improper metre of year relative to your type of gage , the sens grows too rapidly , result in lots of foliage growth and fiddling root development . This makes the lawn very susceptible to drought and pests in the summer . Deep roots are the tonality to a healthy lawn , not top growth . A lawn with shallow solution give up the ghost quickly during a drouth or oestrus extreme . Additionally , plants will use only the nutrients they need at any yield time and the rest runs off into local waterways .
When to feed your lawn
If you live in the mid-Atlantic or northern U.S
In areas with cool climates , you have coolheaded - season grasses in your lawn – or at least you should . Examples of cool - season grasses are Fescue , Ryegrass , Kentucky Bluegrass , Timothy , or Canary Grass . coolheaded - season lawns should only be seeded in the fall . If seeded in spring , sufficient time does n’t exist for the perennial seed in the intermixture to evolve and establish before summertime heat sets in . The grass that pops up in the first 2 workweek are annual smorgasbord that will die in the summer heat . They ’re include in the seed commixture to protect and fill in the soil while the perennial seed take more than 4 workweek to germinate .
Cool - season grasses should be fertilise with a irksome - discharge atomic number 7 fertilizer in September and October only . Slow - release fertiliser like constitutive formulation induce wearisome and even top growth . This will advance solution ontogeny , a thicker turf , and an early spring green - up the following year without do too much top growth . When applied in the fountain , mellow rate of nitrogen hasten too much foliage growing and may predispose the lawn to greater summer damage . During the summer , cool - season grasses go sleeping from the oestrus , so root word ca n’t take up any dressing – all that you apply will runoff into local waterways .
If you live in the southern U.S.
In the South , you have warm - time of year grasses in your lawn , like Zoysia , Bermudagrass , St. Augustine Grass , and Carpetgrass . Warm - season grasses easy green up in leaping , grow like mad in the summer and recruit dormancy at the first sign of freeze . eating is the antonym of nerveless - season grasses : fecundate when the Mary Jane begins its active growth in May and June . Again , for dumb and even growth , use a fertiliser comprise a slow - release N origin . Warm - season grasses should not be fertilized in the fall .
Far and off , the best organic product to fertilize your lawn ( besides mulched pasture clippings ) , is Corn Gluten Meal . It ’s a by - product of Indian corn milling and slow let go of nitrogen throughout the season . As an impart benefit , Corn Gluten Meal acts as a weed suppressantby interfering with the germination of crab grass seed and other unwished Mary Jane seeded player in your lawn .
The truth about lawn thatch
wayward to popular belief , mulched grass clipping do not create Blackbeard – the overuse of chemicals does . When a lawn is bathed in chemical , the pH of the soil drops , and it develops a high saltiness content . Bacteria and other organism that make up the ground food web ca n’t exist theacidic , salty soiland either die off or retreat below to where the soil pH is normal . In ahealthy constitutional lawn , these being hold up at the soil line and wear out down whatever organic matter and grass portion are present , include Gunter Grass clippings . When these organisms retreat , that decomposition does n’t happen , and Teach form .
A few more lawn tips
When you mow , remember that the best mowing altitude for most sess is 2.5 – 3 inches . This height allows the grass to develop inscrutable , strong solution , and the foliage uprise tall enough to shade soil in extreme heat and drought . It ’s also the ripe height for the lawn mower blade to expeditiously mulch the snip .
Just because a lawn plant food is from an organic source , that does n’t mean it ’s safe to use indiscriminately . Only applyorganic fertilizerat the proper time of year and in the proper measure per square base .
The bottom line is a feeding of corn gluten repast and mulched grass trimming is sufficient to nutrify any lawn . But the honest truth is , your lawn does n’t really need any plant food . I have n’t used it in years , organic or otherwise , and you ’d be hard - pressed to tell the difference .
