You should not fertilize fescue until late May. Perhaps you were reading the Scott's Fertilizer Company website. They recommend fertilizing early and late in the spring. It sells fertilizer but it's not good because the grass does not need fertilizer until May. It's going to come in fast and furious without fertilizer. If you fertilize it you'll send it off sprinting when it should be jogging. Fertilizing in May simply replenishes the nutrients it used and holds it through the summer. Fall is the best time to feed most lawns. May might be late but there's no penalty for late. The penalty is for early.

Interesting.

This was actually from NC State's turf management department:

http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/turfgrasses/fine-fescue/lawn-maintenance

I was beginning to question the fertilizer now myself because the grass is starting to appear patchy in color. Small bunches are darker green and a littler taller than others.

I did a rennovation last fall. I definitely dropped a round of fertilizer last week because it was hungry from not having gone dormant. I live in Central VA, so if my lawn didn't go dormant perhaps yours didn't, either.

I don't plan on doing another synthetic fertilizer, though. I will start making Milorganite drops every month or so in May through September. It's not a quick release, so I'm not worried about pushing the top growth. I just want to have the organics in the lawn to help retain moisture and supply a steady stream of food as the Milorganite slowly breaks down.

NCSU recommends not fertilizing after March 15th due to increased probability of brown patch later in the spring. Late May is way too late to fertilize in my opinion, fescue is already going dormant. At least here in Greensboro it is. I'm going to apply fertilizer with iron this wekeend, lawn has been green all winter and I'm sure it's hungry. Also going to apply PGR through the spring this year to limit top growth and push all that growth energy sideways and downwards.

So after some research I'm thinking this may be my plan. Please feel free to critique:

3/5: Dimension 19-07 (Is this too much N too early?)

4/1: Start spraying for weeds with Threeway

4/1: Fungicide

4/15: Starter 24-25-4 (Last app before Fall)

How does this look? Really my biggest concerns are if the Nitrogen apps on 3/5,4/15 are too early/late respectively. I'm trying to push it because Morph said my lawn was so difficent in nutrients.

Why use a starter fertilizer? That's typically for seeding/overseeding.

You might want to look @ using Milorganite. That has all the right stuff in it - organic matter, iron, nitrogen and phosphorous. It will make your lawn green because of the iron and it will give it a quick boost from a small amount of nitrogen.

The long term benefits are the most important part; the microbes in the soil will consume the Milorganite. You are feeding the soil, not the lawn, but when you feed the soil, the soil will feed your lawn.

When soil microbes eventually die, they release nutrients from the food they consumed and broken down; these nutrients are released in a form that the plants can take up.

When you feed the microbes, the population of microbes will increase --- and therefore, the amount of food for your lawn increases. As long as you continue to feed the microbe herd, it will feed your grass.

The best part is that the microbes will eat just about any organic matter you introduce; this isn't unique to Milorganite. This is one reason folks recommend that grass clippings be left on the lawn and that fall leaves be run over with the mower & left on the lawn instead of being bagged or blown. However, I (like many others) like to give my soil an extra snack to really boost the microherd; Milorganite is my preferred soil snack because it's cheap and readily available at Lowes, Ace, Home Depot, etc. The microbes are already in your soil, right now ---and they always are ready for a feast.

@owlsnr

Seems like a very roundabout way to feed a lawn - feed microbes so they can die and decompose and finally release the nutrients into the soil - when you can just add the nutrients directly to the soil. Expensive too, since Milorganite costs about 3 more per pound of nitrogen than Vigoro fertilizer. And since it's made of sewer sludge, you get to enjoy the smell of poop.

@jta98z

I think you're asking for trouble fertilizing in April. You will get fresh tender shoots right in the middle of brown patch peak season. Apply the fertilizer before March 15th as recommended by NCSU and no more until fall. You can also split your fertilizer from your pre-emergent and use your starter fertilizer of choice and Lesco 0-0-7 from Home Depot.

If Morph gave you a plan, what did he advise you to do? He gives dates for applications. I like Milorganite. You can use it and synthetic fertilizer. Milorganite supplies nutrients gradually; the grass takes what it can use rather than being being forced to. Look for Dimension without nitrogen in the 0-0-7 formulation. Or look for Prodiamine. The thing in your list that I was puzzled by was fungicide on April 1. Are you planning a preventive program or do you expect to have a fungal problem by April? Synthetic fungicides kill the beneficial fungi in the soil too and should be avoided if possible. If you have an outbreak of brown patch, you may have no other choice (other than waiting for grass to recover in the fall, if it does).There are other approaches. I've used cornmeal (applications in April and May) to help prevent brown patch and when I've done that, I have had much less brown patch. This year I'm going to try Serenade, which has a bacteria. It requires applications every few weeks throughout the season. One application of a fungicide on April 1 is not a preventive program.

Morph's plan was for last year only. It ran out last November. Which is why I'm looking for guidance into the coming year.

The fungicide was intended to be a preventative application, which was advised to my from the guy I bought my grass seed from.

j4c11, I suppose the starter is too late for April. I guess I was just concerned about the grass sustaining without fertilizer for basically 6 months (March-August). I know last Fall when the grass first began to grow, it was drinking fertilizer like water. Morph basically said my soil was so heavily depleted of nutrients, I presumed I needed to be hitting it with fertilizer every chance I could get.

I would advise following NCSU's fertilization recommendations, they are a respectable institution and they have a thorough understanding of the local conditions and climate. Apply fertilizer now - before March 15th - and then move to apply the bulk of your fertilizer in the fall going forward.

Get another soil test and see what is still needed. The concern about fertilizer in the spring is with the nitrogen component. There are fertilizers without nitrogen or less nitrogen than normal lawn fertilizer. If Morpheus had you using starter fertilizer, it was probably because you needed more phosphorus. Do you still need it? Test the soil and see. Do some reading on brown patch. There are cultural practices to follow, like watering early in the day so the leaves are not wet overnight.

I'm from NC, and part of the reason NC State recommends not fertilizing too much during the summer months is because of climate - summers in NC (especially eastern NC) can be hot and exceptionally dry some years. When grass is lacking rainwater/irrigation, fertilizer does not help - it can actually do more harm than good.