If I was watering 2x per week, I would do a couple weeks at every 5 days and then go to every 7 days. The scary thing about chemical fertilizers is how much to use, how often, and how to care for the lawn after applying the fertilizer. With organic fertilizer, none of that matters. You can apply a double dose every day with no water afterwards and everything will be fine. That is why I suggest it for new grass. You can't hurt anything. Once your grass is up and you are mowing it all on a regular basis (2x per week for bermuda), then you can consider a chemical fertilizer. Be sure to water it in right away after applying. Do NOT wait for the next day just because the sprinklers will come on that day. I like alfalfa for the cost and the benefit. Even after you are on a monthly chemical fertilizer plan, I would strongly suggest you supplement the chemicals with at least one app of organics per year. Without that your soil can suffer.

Organic fertilizers are commodities traded world wide based on supply and demand. When I first started doing this in 2002, a bag of ground corn cost $3. Last year a bag of corn cost $21. Alfalfa pellets cost $12 then and now. Thus, last year I went with alfalfa pellets as my primary fertilizer. Here is a picture illustrating the benefit of simply alfalfa on a lawn. The lawn is zoysia and the photo was posted by mrmumbles on the other lawn forum in June 2011. Note the improved color, density, and growth. The alfalfa pellets were applied in May. Grain type organic fertilizer takes 3 full weeks to show improvement. The application rate for your first app would be 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Subsequent apps can be 20, 30, or 40 pounds per 1,000. If you apply too much the first time, the soil microbes will not be able to process it and it will stink on you. Since you are off to such a great start, I would like to suggest you keep it up. As motivation, here is a lawn pic from another lawn forum. This owner is meticulous about soil testing. He goes to great lengths to get his soil chemistry exactly right and then applies tons of organic fertilizer. That picture was taken in July of 2010 when everyone else's lawn was going dormant from the heat. He lives in eastern PA, by the way. Here is another pic of the same lawn in December. Note his is the only lawn in the neighborhood which is not going dormant. I have another one from April of 2011 which shows the rest of the neighborhood as tan colored and his looks just like the one above. The secret is getting the soil exactly right based on annual soil testing...and then pouring on the organics. You mentioned you fertilize with chemicals a few times per year. Unlike chemical ferts, with grain type organics you can apply any time of year, as often as you like, and nearly as much as you can afford. With organics more is better up to the point where you smother the lawn. With chemicals, just a little more or the wrong timing will kill the lawn. If you want to start in the spring, find out when your last frost date is (county extension service should know). Then back up your calendar by 3 weeks. Apply the organic at 10 pounds per thou about 3 weeks prior to the last frost date. Don't worry about whether you get a frost after that. We're only talking about general timing. Then on Memorial Day, apply at 20 pounds per 1,000. Repeat on 4th of July. On Labor Day you can go back to chems or repeat the organic. Or both! If you want to have the best lawn on the block and are willing to mow once a week and water when necessary (as often as weekly in the summer), please visit my member page and send me an email. I know some gurus who can help you out.

Dear Rumbleseat, Thank you very much for the inquiry. I agree with you, it is time to fertilize the lawn again. On new seedings, I like to go at 4 and 8 weeks after seeding. Keep using a starter fertilizer that has a soluble N source. This will provide nutrients quickly to young plants. You can go with a more traditional combination slow and quick release nitrogen fertilizer this fall. Once you have mowed the lawn twice, go ahead and start if you have not already, you can control the broadleaf weeds with a three-way herbicide like Tri-Mec. If you have crabgrass, you may want to add Drive (quinclorac) at a 1/3 rate. Again thanks for the inquiry. Respectfully, Trey Rogers The Yard Doctor

High nitrogen, low everything else, unless you have a soil test that says you should be using something else. So a first number on the bag that's much larger than either of the other two numbers, like 29-0-5 or 43-0-0 or the like. Organics are also a possibility if you'd rather go that route.