- Fertilizing the lawn: The right time
- Fertilize the lawn: how often and how much?
- The right lawn fertilizer
- Fertilizing the lawn with lime: an important contribution to nutrient supply?
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Caring for the lawn is particularly demanding and not easy for many. We explain when, how and with what to properly fertilize your lawn.
The fertilization of the lawn makes many garden owners despair and all too rarely does the green carpet receive exactly the nutrients that make it green and juicy. For correct fertilization, knowledge of the right fertilizer, the right frequency and the perfect time are of crucial importance. It is precisely this knowledge that we would like to convey to you in this overview article. Here you can find out how to fertilize in spring, summer or autumn, how the use of organic and mineral lawn fertilizers differs and how deficiency or excess symptoms can be recognized and treated.If you are perplexed by a dry, torn or holey lawn, the problem may be improper fertilization. We will help you and answer important questions about fertilizing lawns.
Fertilizing the lawn: The right time
Well-planned fertilization guarantees that the lawn grasses are always supplied with just the right amount of nutrients. This includes the fact that only small amounts of nutrients are available in phases of low growth. Because especially when using mineral lawn fertilizers, too much fertilization at the wrong time can have serious consequences: On the one hand, the lawn can be damaged, on the other hand, nutrients may be washed out unused into the groundwater or the soil quality suffers.
In the private sector, two to three fertilizations a year are usually completely sufficient. The first fertilization takes place between February and April to stimulate budding and to provide nutrients for the summer. If you have chosen a very early date here and used a fertilizer without a long-term effect, further fertilization in early summer may be necessary. From July to October at the latest, you should use a potassium-rich autumn lawn fertilizer such as our Plantura Organic Autumn Lawn Fertilizer.
Tip: More frequent fertilizing is only necessary on heavily used and frequently mowed lawns. Examples of this are ornamental and sports lawns.
You can find more information about when to fertilize your lawn in this article.
Fertilizing the lawn in spring
When your lawn actually needs fertilizing for the first time depends on the quality of the underlying soil:
- Light, sandy soil does not store enough nutrients for the lawn to sprout quickly and vigorously enough in spring. In order not to let weeds take precedence, a lawn on such soil should be supported with early fertilization. Fertilize as early as February with an organic lawn fertilizer or between March and April with a mineral or organo-mineral lawn fertilizer.
- A clayey, very loamy or humus-rich soil usually has sufficient nutrient reserves to ensure fast and vigorous budding in spring. You should only fertilize a lawn on such potent soil when natural growth slows down. You can tell by the fact that you don't have to mow as often. Fertilize with an organic lawn fertilizer for the first time between April and May, with an organo-mineral or mineral lawn fertilizer between May and June.
- If you are not sure about the condition of your soil, you can also have a soil analysis carried out - this is offered by the Raiffeisen laboratory service, for example. Or you can observe the growth behavior of your lawn closely and orientate yourself in the coming year by the noted times of budding and slowing growth.
You can read more about "fertilizing the lawn in spring" in our special article here. We have also compiled everything else you need to know about reviving your lawn after winter here.
Fertilizing the lawn in summer
Early summer fertilization may be necessary because of insufficient fertilization in spring - or it may be preparation for winter, which can be started in summer. In summer, however, it is important to bear in mind the drought: plants only absorb nutrients from the watery soil solution. If you fertilize in summer, rain should be announced - or you water after fertilizing. Find out more about lawn fertilization in summer here.
Fertilizing the lawn in autumn
Fertilizing in autumn prepares the lawn plants for winter. Special autumn lawn fertilizers provide less nitrogen, but more potassium than a normal lawn fertilizer. Potassium is oninvolved in the formation of cell walls and the formation of frost tolerance for the winter. It is better not to postpone this important preparation for the winter until the last possible date, so that the lawn has enough time to use the nutrient. The application of organic autumn lawn fertilizer is possible from June, the fertilization should be done by the end of October at the latest. An autumn lawn fertilizer also contains nitrogen, so that your lawn stays green well into the winter and ideally even all winter long.
Tip: Under no circumstances should you use a mineral, nitrogen-rich lawn fertilizer in autumn. Since nitrogen boosts growth, renewed, strong budding would be the result. This fresh shoot is then susceptible to frost and is at risk of freezing to death over the winter and hindering the shoot in the coming year.
You can find more detailed information on the subject of "fertilizing the lawn in autumn" in our special article here. You can also read more about winter preparation of the lawn here.
The right weather for lawn fertilizing
The right weather for fertilizing the lawn is when it is damp and overcast. Rain should be announced after fertilizing, otherwise irrigation is necessary. On the one hand, if the fertilizer is not washed in with water after application, it works more slowly. On the other hand, mineral lawn fertilizer on dry soil can cause "burns" caused by the sudden high concentration of s alt.
Tip: It is best to freshly mow the lawn before fertilizing it. If the lawn is to be scarified in spring, the first fertilization should be done afterwards.
Fertilize the lawn: how often and how much?
As mentioned at the beginning, two to three fertilizations a year are completely sufficient for most private lawns. The amounts fertilized depend on the type of fertilizer selected: Always pay close attention to the recommended dosage in order to avoid unnecessary costs and damage to the lawn, soil and environment. For a commercial lawn with low stress - as most garden owners call their own - we have created an example annual fertilizer plan for you below. Note that these figures are rough guides that will vary depending on fertilizer type and load: Poorer fertilizers are used in larger amounts, and heavily used areas require up to twice as many nutrients as lightly used areas.
| Lawn Type | March | April | May | June | July | August | September to October |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Lawn | 80 g/m2 () | 30 g/m2 () | 50 - 80 g/m2 () | ||||
| Medium hard wearing turf | 80 g/m2 () | 50 g/m2 () | 30 g/m2 () | 50 - 80 g/m2 () |
()=suitable for our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer
()=suitable for our Plantura organic autumn lawn fertiliser
Tip: Mowing and removing the lawn clippings removes a lot of nutrients from the lawn, which you then have to replenish with fertilization. For this reason, mowing with mulching mowers means that you need less fertilizer.
Fertilize turf
Rolled turf also needs to be fertilized. In principle, exactly the same applies to it as to a seeded lawn. There is just one small thing to note immediately after laying: The soil under the rolled turf should already have been fertilized with a complete mineral fertilizer before laying. This fertilization "from below" ensures that the lawn mats root down into the existing soil as quickly as possible, so that the lawn becomes hard-wearing and can absorb water.
Rooting takes about three to five weeks, depending on the weather. You should not fertilize a rolled turf during this time so as not to disturb the rooting. The first fertilization after laying depends on the season in which the lawn was laid. For better orientation, we have summarized this dependency in a table below.
| Turf was laid in… | First fertilization takes place in… |
|---|---|
| spring | Early Summer |
| Early Summer | Early Fall |
| Early Fall | Autumn, with organic autumn lawn fertilizer |
| Late Autumn or Winter | Spring, with organic fertilizer |
You can find more detailed information on fertilizing turf here.
Detecting nutrient deficiencies in the lawn
A nutrient deficiency can occur quite quickly in demanding plants such as lawn grasses. Find out if you are deficient in a specific nutrientthis can be fertilized individually or brought in with a suitably composed compound fertilizer.
Typical for a nitrogen deficiency is a yellowish color of the stalks. But you can fix this with a fast-acting nitrogen fertilization. Better is of course a constantly optimal supply of organic fertilizers or long-term fertilizers, which prevent such a deficiency from occurring in the first place.
Yellowing and drying out in hot summers can unfortunately also mean that the lawn is insufficiently supplied with potassium, which increases tolerance to heat stress and water shortages. In autumn and winter, a potassium deficiency leads to frost damage and thus to yellow, muddy and dead lawn grass.
A lack of phosphate can be observed very rarely: The lawn turns dark green to green-purple. In this case, however, refrain from immediate increased phosphate fertilization: it might not have any effect at all. Because there is often enough phosphate in the soil, but because the pH value is too high or too low, it forms insoluble compounds with calcium, iron or aluminum ions. A pH value of 6.0 to 6.5 is optimal so that the phosphate is dissolved and available to the plants. Therefore, if you are suffering from a phosphate deficiency, we recommend that you first test the pH of your soil, before more phosphate fertilizer simply falls victim to "fixing" in the soil.
The nutrient magnesium is also very important for a he althy lawn. A magnesium deficiency manifests itself in a similar way to a nitrogen deficiency, but the leaf veins of the stalks remain green longer. So checking this may require you to take a really, really close look at your lawn. Most lawn fertilizers contain sufficient amounts of magnesium.
Detect lawn over-fertilization
Lawn - like all plants - not only suffers from a lack, but also from an excess of nutrients. A small excess leads to nutrient-typical damage, which is summarized in the following table.
| Nutrition Element | Excess Symptom |
|---|---|
| Nitrogen (N) | - Overgrowth - Soft Culms - Susceptibility to Frost Damage - Dark Green Coloring - Causes Calcium and Magnesium Deficiency |
| Phosphate (P) | - No/hardly any symptoms on the plant - "Fixation" in the soil |
| Potassium (K) | - Causes Calcium Deficiency |
| Magnesium (Mg) | - Causes Calcium Deficiency |
A very strong over-fertilization, which can only occur with mineral fertilizers, causes the lawn to "burn": The high concentration of dissolved s alts in the soil causes the grass to lose a lot of liquid and thus die. You can also find out more about license plates and how to avoid over-fertilizing the lawn here in this special article.
The right lawn fertilizer
The choice of lawn fertilizer determines how often and when you can or must fertilize your lawn. The type of nutrient supply also has a huge impact on the he alth and quality of the soil. This in turn determines to a large extent how evenly your lawn grows, how well it sprout in spring, how well it is supplied with water and how he althy the roots grow.
Mineral Lawn Fertilizer
Mineral lawn fertilizers contain nutrients in s alt form. After application, these dissolve very easily in the water in the soil. Once dissolved, they can be immediately absorbed by the plants. In summary, mineral lawn fertilizers have the following advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages of mineral lawn fertilizers
- Fast effect
- Cheap Price
Disadvantages of mineral lawn fertilizers
- Mineral fertilizers are mined using a lot of energy or from fossil deposits, the production is harmful to the environment
- Mineral fertilizers bypass many of the chemical and biological processes that lead to the release of nutrients at natural sites. Therefore, fertilization errors can easily occur. Possible consequences are: An unfavorable change in pH, symptoms of excess, loss of nutrients and damage to the environment through leaching, over-fertilization and degradation of soil quality
Since the use of mineral fertilizers leads to fertilization errors much more quickly, we recommend that the use of mineral fertilizers is better left to trained professionals.
Tip: A certain exception applies to long-acting mineral fertilizers. These cause plant damage and leaching due to a special coatingand less likely to release nutrients slowly. However, they too will ultimately degrade the quality of the soil unless organic matter is occasionally introduced into the soil as well. You can read more about mineral fertilizers in general here.
Organic Lawn Fertilizers
Organic or primarily organic lawn fertilizers such as our Plantura organic lawn fertilizers contain nutrients in organic form. This means they are wrapped in a natural casing. This shell is broken down more or less quickly by soil organisms, releasing the nutrients. Organic lawn fertilizers have the following advantages and disadvantages:
Benefits of Organic Lawn Fertilizers
- Organic fertilizers release nutrients slowly and for a long time, so over-fertilization never occurs and leaching is rare
- Organic fertilizers have a natural long-term effect
- Natural nutrient release keeps soil chemistry balanced
- Soil organisms are promoted: Beneficial insects, bacteria, fungi and worms rummage through the soil and ensure good aeration and mixing
- Depending on the type of organic fertilizer, more or less humus is formed. You can also read more about humus and its benefits here
- In particular, the demanding care of lawns is made easier, since forgotten or late fertilization appointments are less of a problem
Disadvantages of organic lawn fertilizers
- The effect of organic fertilizers is always delayed, so that fertilization must be carried out in advance
The Plantura organic lawn fertilizer developed by us and our organic autumn lawn fertilizer also have all the advantages mentioned. In addition, both are free of animal components, the raw materials used are used in the food industry. This makes our fertilizers even more sustainable than other fertilizers based on slaughterhouse waste.
You can find an overview of all mineral and organic lawn fertilizers, their use and their advantages and disadvantages in our special article.
Tip: Organic-mineral lawn fertilizers are also suitable for fertilizing lawns. The combination of organic and mineral components enables both a short-term and a long-term effect. You can use these fertilizers to meet an acute nutrient need -without risk of crop damage, leaching or damage to soil life.
Fertilizing the lawn with lime: an important contribution to nutrient supply?
The liming of lawns has a long tradition. Until a few years ago, lawn areas were preferably supplied with mineral fertilizers. Ammonium was often used as the source of nitrogen. Since the supply of ammonium leads to a drop in the pH value, this trend had to be counteracted by regular liming.
A lawn on normal garden soil that is fertilized with organic fertilizers does not need regular lime applications. Rather, the careless administration of lime can even lead to problems: too high a calcium content in the soil leads to the fixation of phosphate and thus possibly to a phosphate deficiency in the lawn. In addition, a pH value that is too high does not offer optimal growth conditions for lawn grass - on the contrary, lime-tolerant or lime-loving wild herbs are favoured. For this reason, if you think liming is necessary, it is better to test the pH of your soil first. You can carry out this pH soil test yourself or use a soil analysis such as that offered by the Raiffeisen laboratory service.
Of course exceptions prove the rule here. Some properties have soils with an extremely low pH value. This applies in particular to forest properties and those that border on former or existing moor areas. Regular liming to maintain a moderate pH value can actually be necessary here, so that the pH value of 6.5, which is optimal for the lawn, is maintained.
You can also find more detailed information on liming the lawn in this special article.
Tip: If ammonium is fertilized together with nitrate - as calcium ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulphate nitrate - the pH value does not drop. However, the mineral nutrient supply has other disadvantages, as you can see above in the "Mineral Lawn Fertilizers" section.