From the experts at Lawns of Dallas, here’s how to feed your landscape with a proper fertilization program. Daltxrealestate.com sat down with Giuseppe Baldi, chemical and irrigation manager to answer your lawn questions:
Daltxrealestate.com: When are the best times of year to fertilize?
Lawns of Dallas: The best time to fertilize is when the grass is actively growing. Typically this would start in early spring. Fertilizing then will help the grass green up quickly and get started on the right foot for the growing season. For most fertilizers, applications can be made every 6-8 weeks during the growing season, with a final application made before the beginning of winter dormancy. The number of applications can be decreased by using a slow-release fertilizer.
CD: Is the old adage true that the best time to fertilize is right before a rain?
LOD: It is generally true. Fertilizers need to be watered in after application so that the nutrients can reach the root zone where they can then be translocated throughout all parts of the plants. This watering should be just enough to wet the granules and start them releasing their ingredients into the soil. Heavy watering or heavy rain can wash away fertilizers and pesticides before they can be of benefit to plants, which pollutes the water table and waterways. Heavy irrigation and/or rain events can also decrease the efficacy of fertilizers so applications may need to be made more frequently.
CD: Speaking of rain and water, can you tell what your lawn needs by looking at it? For example, what does your lawn look like when it needs fertilizer? Getting too little water? Too often watering?
LOD: Watering is best done when plants begin to wilt, although most people don’t (or won’t) wait for that sign. For grass, this is visible in the curling inwards of the blades of grass. They curl in on themselves. As far as overwatering, this is not as easily visible but can cause disease issues, primarily fungal.
Symptoms of an overwatered lawn:
- Having to mow too frequently
- A thick layer of thatch that makes the lawn feel spongy when walking over it
- Dead spots where a fungal disease may be establishing itself
I would not recommend using visual cues as an indicator of a lawn needing fertilizer. Yellowing can be a sign of a lack of nutrients but this can also be a sign of disease (some of which can be made worse by high-nitrogen fertilizers). Dead spots could also be a sign of this. A spongy lawn (thick thatch again) can also be a sign of over-fertilizing.
CD: Any recommendations of best fertilizers, or what Lawns of Dallas uses?
LOD: The best way to determine what the right fertilizer for your lawn is would be to have an analysis done on your soil. We recommend the Soil, Water, and Forage Testing Lab at A&M University. They can analyze the pH as well as the macro and micronutrient levels of your soil and will make recommendations about what treatments or amendments might be necessary.
Also, different nutrients, and therefore, different kinds of fertilizer, are needed at different times of the year depending on whether you want to promote root growth (over winter typically), green-up, etc. As a catch-all, well-balanced fertilizer good for just about any time of year, I would recommend something with an N-P-K ratio in the neighborhood of 28-3-12.
