When it comes to the supply of nutrients, lawns are very demanding. We introduce you to different lawn fertilizers and make a comparison.
The choice of lawn fertilizer not only determines the nutrient supply of the lawn, depending on the type of fertilizer selected, the frequency and comfort of application, the risk of over-fertilization or leaching, the effect on the lawn plants and the soil and in the long term even the subsequent need for watering, scarifying or aerating. By presenting the different types of lawn fertilizers, we want to give you an overview so that you can find exactly the lawn fertilizer that brings the most benefits.
Special iron fertilizer, liquid fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer, blue grain and lawn fertilizer with weed killer are all mineral lawn fertilizers. Liquid fertilizers and nitrogen fertilizers are also available in organic form, and organic fertilizers in particular offer many advantages, such as a natural long-term effect. Organic lawn fertilizers also have these advantages due to a high proportion of organic material, so that after a detailed comparison we ultimately consider them to be the best lawn fertilizers.
Organic Lawn Fertilizer
The difference between organic and mineral lawn fertilizer is in the "packaging" of the nutrients. While mineral fertilizers are present as pure s alts of the nutrients, they are bound in naturally grown structures in organic fertilizers. This has some advantages:
- These structures contain not only some of the main nutrients, but also various trace nutrients.
- In addition, there are many carbon compounds, for example in the form of cell walls, carbohydrates and wood pulp (lignin). If there is a little more carbon or if the living conditions of the soil organisms are not optimal, some of the material remains unprocessed. From these semi-decomposed materials, new humus molecules are formed in biological and chemical processes, which represent a kind of carbon and nutrient store in the soil.
- Humus molecules also have special properties that greatly improve soil quality.
- Introducing organic material provides not only plant nutrients but also the basis of life for many extremely useful soil organisms and material for the development of new humus. This is particularly important because when there is a high nutrient input, soil organisms attack the soil's carbon reserves without the provision of organic material: the existing humus.
The conversion of organic material into the soluble nutrients that plants can absorb takes a certain amount of time. Finely ground organic lawn fertilizers release nutrients for the lawn faster than coarsely ground ones. Heat, moisture and a neutral to slightly elevated pH value accelerate the work of the microorganisms. Nevertheless, with organic lawn fertilisers, you must always fertilize with foresight: You should fertilize organically about a month before the need for nutrients emerges. You can also read more about organic lawn fertilizers in this article.
Organic Lawn Fertilizer
Both mineral and organic lawn fertilizers have their disadvantages: Mineral lawn fertilizers reduce soil quality and organic lawn fertilizers have a delayed effect. Organic-mineral and bio-certified lawn fertilizers are the fusion of both types of fertilizer. The combination of organic and mineral components makes it particularly easy to effectively supply a lawn and the soil underneath. Organic lawn fertilizers have the additional advantage that they only contain mineral components that can also be used in organic farming: the sources are demonstrably used as sustainably as possible. Organic lawn fertilizers are also available in an animal-free form - including our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer and Plantura organic autumn lawn fertilizer. As a result, they are not only less odorous and suitable for strict vegetarians or vegans, but also more resource-efficient due to the lack of "food processing" in the production chain. Incidentally, some organic fertilizers even contain living microorganisms such as beneficial mycorrhizal fungi or special nutrient-releasing bacteria. You can read more about the fertilizing properties of organic lawn fertilizers in this article.
Organic Slow Release Lawn Fertilizer
Solid organic fertilizers always have a natural long-term effect. If humus is built up through use, the nutrients introduced can only be used by the soil years later if the soil is not fertilized properly. This long-term effect is caused by theDuration, which microorganisms need to release nutrients. This also means that the release depends on the living conditions of these organisms. In the table below we have summarized for you what leads to faster or slower release and how these factors can be influenced.
| Faster Release | Slower Release | Influencing |
|---|---|---|
| Warmth | Cold | Pay attention to shadows cast by trees and buildings |
| Sufficient humidity | Drought | Introduction of water-storing clay minerals, increasing the humus content for water storage, mowing frequency in summer (shading the ground, cut stalks increase water loss), watering the lawn |
| Good soil ventilation | Poor soil aeration due to waterlogging/soil compaction | Increasing the humus content through organic fertilization, scarifying, aerating and sanding, organic fertilization to stimulate soil life |
| High nutrient content of fertilizer | Low nutrient | Choice of the right fertilizer, if necessary incorporating additional material that is difficult to decompose to slow down the release, or bring in additional nitrogen to accelerate it |
| Soil pH in neutral range | Acid pH | Check soil pH occasionally and lime if necessary |
Tip: A quick release always means that less humus is built up. If you also fertilize organically with the aim of improving the soil, you should therefore not perfect the working conditions of the microorganisms too much.
You can find more information about long-term fertilizers for lawns here.
Mineral Lawn Fertilizer
Mineral lawn fertilizers contain the main nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in mineral form. In addition, other nutrient elements are often included, which act as partners in the formation of fertilizer s alts. High magnesium and iron contents are often advertised, which are supposed to ensure a he althy, green lawn color. Most of the nutrients it contains come from fossil raw material deposits, while nitrogen is synthesized from atmospheric nitrogen (N2) using the so-called Haber-Bosch process.
Increasingly, mineral lawn fertilizers with a three to six-month long-term effect are being offered, which should make your work easier as the user andLimit washouts more or less well.
Mineral lawn fertilizers, however, do not contain any organic components and completely bypass the soil's natural conversion processes. Through the sole use of mineral lawn fertilizers, the soil is depleted of useful soil organisms and even loses parts of its humus body. Ultimately, this leads to a reduction in soil quality. As a consequence, there may even be an additional effort in maintenance: Scarifying and aerating are necessary more often, wild herbs can be encouraged and fertilization errors are more serious.
Unfortunately, cheap mineral lawn fertilizers in particular are often heavily contaminated with cadmium, chromium or even uranium. These heavy metals can accumulate in the soil, in groundwater, in plants and ultimately through composting throughout the human food chain. Of course, there are limit values for exposure to toxic heavy metals in Germany and the EU, and these have been revised downwards several times in recent years.
Tip: Incidentally, together with the reduction in soil quality, the consumption and the hardly any recycling of phosphorus represents a major environmental problem: The deposits for uncontaminated rock phosphates will be used up in a few decades , deposits with rock phosphates contaminated with heavy metals are already being used. Many experts are therefore of the opinion that the era of mineral fertilizers in agriculture must come to an end in order to conserve resources, soil and nutrients and to avoid adding more heavy metals.
Summary: Mineral Lawn Fertilizers
- In addition to nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, magnesium and iron are often included
- Organic components and other trace nutrients are missing
- Mineral long-term lawn fertilizers extend the fertilization interval and - depending on the type of processing - provide more or less protection against loss through leaching
- Use alone leads to a reduction in soil quality and impoverishment of soil life, which results in additional gardening effort
- Especially cheap mineral lawn fertilizers are more heavily loaded with harmful heavy metals
Iron fertilizer for the lawn
Iron is one of the 14 essential nutrients and is not only used in the lawn for the synthesis of various enzymes and chlorophyllneeded. For this reason, it is often used in lawn fertilizers to create a very green lawn. Unfortunately, however, soil and nutrient chemistry is a bit more complicated than some fertilizer companies make it out to be: Iron is one of the most common elements in our soils. An absolute deficiency - i.e. the complete absence of iron - is extremely unlikely. It is much more likely that there will be a relative deficiency that cannot be permanently remedied by iron fertilization, although plants only need the smallest amounts of iron. Optimizing the growth conditions for the lawn is the cheaper and more natural way to prevent iron deficiency, because lawn grasses are able to absorb iron very efficiently. They have an uptake strategy that is unique in the plant world. So before you spend money on something that has plenty in your own soil, it's best to read this detailed article on iron supply for your lawn.
Tip: The use of iron sulphate against moss in the lawn is recommended far too often. You can also read about why this only leads to the moss dying off in the short term and even increases the moss population in the long term in the aforementioned special article on iron fertilization of the lawn. Here you will also find tips on how to really effectively combat moss in your lawn.
Blue Grain for Lawn
Blaukorn is a well-known mineral universal fertilizer. It has been copied many times by different manufacturers, but usually only on the outside, the nutrient composition and quality can differ. "Blaukorn Classic" contains 12% nitrogen, 8% phosphorus oxide, 16% potassium oxide, 3% magnesium oxide and 10% sulphur. Other products in the "Blaukorn" range may have a different composition or contain special inhibitors that prevent nitrogen leaching.
Blaukorn has all the above-mentioned disadvantages of a mineral lawn fertilizer and is also by no means tailored to the special needs of the lawn due to its universal composition. An application for autumn lawn fertilization would result in environmental pollution due to leaching and incorrect fertilization. The latter would cause frost damage to the lawn and thus prevent the lawn plants from getting off to a good start in the coming year. When you learn more about fertilizing the lawn with blue seedyou will find it here.
Nitrogen Fertilizer
Due to the frequent cutting, lawns have an increased need for nitrogen. As the "motor of vegetative growth" it is essential for the synthesis of DNA, enzymes and chlorophyll. A deficient supply of nitrogen not only leads to an infrequent mowing, but above all to patchy, weak-competitive lawns that are not good at suppressing weeds and moss. An acute nitrogen deficiency is reflected in a complete yellowing of the oldest lawn grasses. As a rule, nitrogen fertilization alone is not necessary, the best way is to use a lawn fertilizer that covers all the nutrient depletion of the lawn together.
The lawn has a high nitrogen requirement, especially in spring and throughout the summer. However, if the year is heading towards autumn, you should gradually reduce the nitrogen fertilization, because stalks with a high nitrogen supply are soft and can hardly withstand frosty temperatures. For this reason, the effect of long-term nitrogen fertilizers for lawns should be phased out by August at the latest and potassium-based fertilization should begin. We recommend the organic supply of nitrogen to the lawn to prevent losses through leaching and over-fertilization. If you have to treat an acute deficiency, an organic-mineral fertilizer or an organic liquid fertilizer is also suitable. Detailed information on nitrogen fertilization of the lawn can be found here in our special article.
Liquid Lawn Fertilizer
Plants can absorb nutrients not only through their roots, but also in small amounts through all organs above ground. Liquid lawn fertilizers take advantage of this fact. Both mineral and organic liquid lawn fertilizers are available. These advertise with an extremely fast effect and an immediately green lawn. The rate of absorption varies greatly depending on the nutrient, but nitrogen quickly reaches the lawn plants via the leaf. The even distribution and simultaneous watering of the lawn, which is also completely dust-free, should also offer an advantage. Even liquid lawn fertilizers with "long-term effects" are offered. However, every lawn owner should be aware of the disadvantages of liquid lawn fertilizers:
- Application leads to spurt growth; as a result, the lawn often does not respond well to disease, heat or coldprepared
- High nutrient concentrations quickly lead to over-fertilization if the wrong dosage is used
- The often contained form of nitrogen urea is difficult for laypersons to assess; It easily leads to a loss of nitrogen to the environment and thus a loss of benefit to the paying customer
- The usually small package size is due to better applicability, but it increases the price per square meter fertilized
- Mineral liquid lawn fertilizers introduce organic matter and therefore degrade soil quality with repeated use
These are just a few of the disadvantages of using liquid lawn fertilizers that are relevant to you and should encourage you to refrain from using them.
Organic lawn fertilizers in liquid form are - if such an application is urgently desired - still the best form of liquid fertilization, because in addition to the mineral nutrients they also contain some organic substance and many trace elements, and the production is more sustainable. However, keep in mind: If you fertilize your lawn regularly, you will not find yourself in a situation where extremely fast-acting lawn fertilization is necessary at all. More detailed information can be found in our special article on this topic. This article also tells you about liquid fertilizers in general - and how you can even make them yourself.
Lawn fertilizer with weed killer
Wild weeds in the lawn do not bother every lawn owner, but some are waging an all-out war against dandelions (Taraxacum sect. Ruderale), daisies ( Bellis perennis), white clover (Trifolium repens) or mosses (Bryophyta). In addition, some lawns appear to be more affected by wild plants, pejoratively referred to as "weeds". Anyone who no longer knows what to do with mechanical means such as digging out, mowing or ripping out may come up with the idea of using a lawn fertilizer with weed killer. This should combine the supply of the lawn grass with fast-acting mineral nutrients and the control of wild herbs.
As beautiful as this promise is, the use of lawn fertilizer with weed killer should not be taken lightly - it brings with it the following, among othersDisadvantages:
- Herbicidal substances may be harmful to wildlife, pets and the user
- Weed grasses remain unaffected by the application of the herbicides, since the agents contained must of course be harmless to grasses
- Careless handling can also damage various other garden plants
- Using only mineral lawn fertilizers leads to a loss of soil quality and can disturb the soil chemistry in such a way that the pH value changes. This in turn can encourage the growth of wild herbs
You can find more information about lawn fertilizer with weed killer and how to prevent and control weeds more effectively in this special article.
The best lawn fertilizer
The direct comparison of organic and mineral lawn fertilizer reveals the weaknesses and strengths of the two types of fertilizer. While organic lawn fertilizers work slowly, mineral lawn fertilizers have a negative impact on the soil properties and thus on the he alth of the lawn. For this reason, after a closer look at the two types, our conclusion is that the combination of mineral and organic elements in lawn fertilization has the most positive effect.
Our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer and our Plantura organic autumn lawn fertilizer are primarily organic lawn fertilizers in organic quality with a long-term effect. We have summarized further information on organic and mineral lawn fertilizers as well as the best care for your lawn in this article.
You can find out everything about "fertilizing the lawn" - from the right time to the right way to fertilize - here in our overview article.