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When to Apply a Grass Fertilizer

The application of grass fertilizer is an important step in the overall heath of your lawn. Fertilizer supplements your soil with nutrients that your lawn needs to grow. To get the most out of your lawn, you need to apply the fertilizer only at certain times of the year. Applying a fertilizer outside of these times can simply be a waste of fertilizer, or it could lead to the destruction of your lawn.

  1. About Grass Fertlizer

    • While grass requires at least 18 elements to grow properly, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the major ingredients in fertilizer. Fertilizer is labeled with three numbers, like 20-4-8, with each number representing the percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively. To determine what kind of fertilizer you should use, send a soil sample to a testing facility that will analyze the nutrients in the soils and determine which elements you need the most.

    Warm-Season Lawns

    • Warm-season lawns are grasses that grow throughout the summer months like Bermuda grass, improved Kentucky bluegrass and zoysia grass. Start a fertilizer regimen with one application in late August or early September. This application will help replenish any nutrients used up over the summer growing period. Apply a second application in late October or early November, when daily temperatures have dipped below a 50-degree Fahrenheit average. This application will get absorbed into the roots before the winter freeze, causing the lawn to grow nicely in the springtime. One final application in the late spring will provide enough food for the lawn to grow strong over the summer.

    Cool-Season Lawns

    • Cool-season lawns are grasses that grow actively in the spring and fall, but not so much in the summer. Cool-season grasses include tall fescue, orchard grass and conventional bluegrass. These grasses grow best when you apply a fertilizer in September and November, in preparation for the fall and spring growing seasons, respectively. For many home lawns, even a single application between Halloween and Thanksgiving should be enough to keep the lawn looking good.

    Other Considerations

    • The time of year isn't the only factor you need to monitor when applying fertilizer to a lawn. Try to fertilize on a cool day, to avoid getting the grass leaves burnt by the fertilizer, and try to time it just before a rainstorm, so the fertilizer washes off the leaves and goes into the soil. For your late-fall application, avoid doing it during a particularly warm period following a frost, as this fertilizer will get used up instead of being stored in the roots.

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Growing Grass
  1. How to Apply Nitrogen to Grass
  2. When to Apply Grub Control Fertilizer to Lawns?
  3. When to Fertilize an Overseeded Lawn
  4. When to Apply Topdressing to a Lawn
  5. How Come When I Fertilize My Grass it Turns Yellow?
  6. Lawn Fertilizer Basics
  7. When to Fertilize Grass Seed?
  8. Grass Seed or Fertilizer First?
  9. Should I Fertilize When I Plant Grass Seed?
  10. When to Apply Lime to Zoysia Grass
  11. Starter Grass Fertilizer
  12. How to Apply Lawn Seed & Fertilizer Together

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