lawn

20 years ago

Is their any sense in fertilising your lawn fortnightly during the growing season for it to look sensational, or is it a waste of time?

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Comments (5)

robyn5760
20 years ago
I don't have lawn - I have grass. This is stuff growing naturally on the hill where we built our house. There are two patches that I keep green and looked after all through summer. One patch began to improve when a large garden bed was constructed on the 'up' side and the nutrients from the manure began leaching down through the soil. It reqires less water and copes better with the heat than the unfertilized bits. I then started fertilizing with lawn fertilizer and the spray-on liquid type stuff. HUGE difference. A bit more mowing, but less watering. Give it a try - if it doesn't make any difference, give it up.
femmeradsy
20 years ago
I guess it depends on how much work you want to put in, and how much water you can spare. Fortnightly feeding will use a lot of water, since you have to water it in each time, or use water-soluble stuff. Either way the tap is running. Also too much fertiliser just tends to leach off into the waterways.

I just do mine in early spring, early summer and early autumn and it does really well with just that (it really is the greenest in the street!) It gets a deep water each time, then that's it for the tap. Some people just do this in spring and autumn, with the lawn food designed for that. I used to do it more often than the bag said, but then I figured that they would never recommend you use LESS than you need - that would cut into their profits!

And if you are lucky enough to have rain forecast for a few days, spread the fertiliser during the first showers: frolic about in the rain like a complete nutter! It's good for the soul ...
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Don't do any of those things. Let the grass that has germinated continue to grow. Cut back on the watering frequency but start increasing the volume per session. You want to slowly start transitioning to watering only once a week (and watering for a long enough time to put down 1 inch of water as measured by a rain gage or tuna can). Cut it when it's 3 inches tall to a height of 2 inches; make sure it (and the soil) is dry on that day! After the first cut, raise your mower blade height to the highest setting (ideally 3.5 to 4 inches). That is the height you want the fescue to be maintained at. Never cut off more than 1/3 off at once (so cut when it's about 5 inches tall). Because your lawn is new ... And because you made the big mistake of planting in the spring, you WILL get weed pressure. Resist the urge to apply any herbicide. Your grass will weaken as a result. Resist the urge, resist the urge, resist the urge. Fall is the ideal time to plant fescue, but what's done is done and you will be throwing money away by spraying herbicide. Resist the urge. On Memorial Day, think about putting down an application of lawn food. I wouldn't recommend any Turf Builder or other synthetic fertilizer until the fall, but organics are great. I like Milorganite personally because it's safe for kids/animals and won't burn the lawn. Give it another dose of organic lawn food on July 4th. Once the lawn your put down has established, you might be surprised how well the bare spots will fill in. (Even with fescue.) deep and infrequent watering + mowing high and often is the recipe for success. For any bare spots that you are still unhappy with come September, save yourself some trouble and just buy a jug of Scotts EZ Seed. It should match the Scotts tall fescue that you put down already. It's meant for patching and it's kind of goof proof.
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" 1-2 hours of direct light a day " You will not get any variant of any type of grass to grow successfully under these conditions that will ever please you. It'll sprout. It'll grow for a while. Then struggle. Then die. 1-2 hours of sun per day is deep shade to mostly shady. All grasses are at least part sun--absolute minimum and strongly prefer part shade to full sun. People will tell you that you can grow grasses in lower light conditions. This is sort-of-correct, with massive amounts of care and constant coddling. Sometimes. But tree edges aren't conducive to that, and it usually involves a lot of northlight and/or reflected light. You don't seem to have that. My advice? Embrace things like bleeding hearts and other very pretty low light plants that are beautiful and appropriate to moist, low-light areas. Or embrace the moss (edit to remove incorrect info). Fun fact: Moss killing is really reliable if you're out spraying your lawn with iron sulfate. Your standard 2-4 oz per gallon solution, sprayed on moss, will take it right out. Dish soap...not so much unless reasonably highly concentrated, enough so to be an issue for other plants (salts will desiccate many other plants as well as mosses, particularly younger and more tender ones). Save a plant, green it with a light dose of iron instead of wasting the Dawn in the yard for that particular purpose. I use a quick shot of iron in the gardens in fall and let the moss bodies decay over winter, a warning to other mosses to beware. :-) Plus I get a little moss on the north face where the hose sits. No biggie, but if I'm standing there...
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I just started a business and I'm trying to find clients who want there yard maintained for a smaller price then a bigger landscaping company.i am just doing cuts for the moment but I will be upgrading in a few weeks to spraying and also trimming bushes. Give me a call my name is Jerry. 8432549223
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Sparaxis
20 years ago
If it is a small lawn and you can water it without using an extraordinary amount of water, then that's fine. If it is a large lawn it seems like a greedy extravagence, even if you are not on water restrictions, in a country where water is precious. Brown is OK for grass in summer.
meggs
20 years ago
My first application after winter is in two stages. I put half the recommended amount at the beginnig of September and two weeks later I apply the other half. I have noticed that the first application comes out very uneven if you do it in one go.
femmeradsy
20 years ago
Great idea meggs! I have been having trouble getting it even, but can't quite be bothered enough to buy one of those spreading devices. I'll try your trick next time.

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Comments (5)

robyn5760

femmeradsy

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Sparaxis

meggs

femmeradsy

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