ISFMA the Blog

So now you plan to fertilize your grass but how and with what? Garden centres can offer you all kinds of Turf Fertilizer both organic and compound, pellet or liquid. Which one do you choose?

Pellet Turf Fertilizer feeds are high in nitrogen content to guarantee your grass the green lush look that we enthusiasts are so keen to see. They are conveniently packaged and readily available.

You need to apply pellets as evenly as you can to be able to achieve a uniform distribution of nutrient and thus, colour. Without a wheeled spreader, this is not easy to accomplish when you consider the weight of the container when applying by hand, though it is good exercise when you’re walking up and down a big lawn! You must choose a day when you apply the Turf Fertilizer just before it rains otherwise you will need to ‘water in’ the Turf Fertilizer with a hose pipe or you face the risk of the grass browning. Browning is due to the pellets resting on the base of the leaves and being heated by the sun causing the grass to scorch. ‘Watering in’ plays an important role in the Turf Fertilizer process by breaking down the pellets and washing the nutrient into the soil and away from the heat of the sun.

Most Turf Fertilizer feeds include nitrogen which rapidly turns to nitrate and is stored in the plants leaves ensuring that flush of lush growth. The plant processes these nitrates into proteins to direct to its roots where the nutrients are needed the most. You will likely mow the lawn again before this process is completed, so putting most of the Turf Fertilizer into the grass box and from there onto the compost heap.

When you apply a Liquid Lawn Care you dissolve a concentrate in water. The Liquid Lawn Care is evenly dissolved and so you have a much better chance of achieving a more even feed because you apply a given volume of water over a given area of grass.

If you are concerned about the weight then use a Hose End sprayer which connected to your garden hose will dissolve the Liquid Lawn Care as you spray. A Fertilizer Dispenser will also cut down the amount of walking you have to do and reduce the time taken by not filling up watering cans.

You have eliminated the risk of scorching as no solids are present on the leaves. If you use a complex liquid lawn fertiliser you can use it all year round and its complex nitrogen is bonded with Calcium which helps the plant survive periods of stress such as drought.

Complex Liquid Lawn Care contains a stabilised form of Nitrogen which does not need to be processed by the leaf and so is much more efficient, as it stays around for long periods. Though don’t expect to see a sudden burst of lush green growth Complex Liquid Lawn Care works on the roots and over time your grass will look great permanently.