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The winter can take its toll on the lawn, and in order for it to develop well for the coming season, it is important to fertilize properly, especially in spring. When fertilizing, the right time is a crucial factor for a beautiful lawn and the use of a suitable fertilizer. The wrong composition of fertilizers or fertilizers that are too concentrated can damage the lawn and lead to the death of the grass.
Fertilize the lawn in spring
time
You can start caring when the soil temperature has been around 12°C for several weeks. Then the first measures can be taken and this includes scarifying in preparation for fertilizing.
About two weeks later, when the temperatures remain constant and the soil has recovered from scarifying, you can fertilize for the first time. The mistake is often made of distributing fertilizer for the first time immediately after scarifying. However, this is not the right time because scarifying also damages the turf. If fertilizer then hits exposed roots directly, this can lead to them being burned and the turf possibly also being permanently damaged.
A spreader helps with even fertilization.
If the temperature drops again in the meantime or maybe even a cold snap comes again, you should not fertilize under any circumstances. The temperatures should at least not fall below 10°C in the next one to two weeks after the application of fertilizers.
notice: Exactly when you can start fertilizing often varies greatly depending on the season. In a mild spring, you may be able to start lawn care as early as late February or early March. You can fertilize the lawn for the first time in mid to late March. If the winter is very long, you may not be able to start fertilizing the lawn until April.
Water in fertilizer
However, when you can fertilize is not only related to the soil temperature, the soil should also be dry. However, granular fertilizer requires moisture in order for it to decompose and be available to the roots. The time should be chosen so that it will rain within the next few days, which will immediately supply the roots with the first nutrients. If there is no rain forecast, you may need to water the lawn.
Appropriate fertilizer
composition of fertilizers
Especially after a winter with little rainfall, it may be that only moderate fertilization is required in spring. What fertilizer is used depends on the composition of the soil, which can be determined by taking a soil sample.
As a rule, the fertilizers consist of nitrogen, with the majority of the carbamide nitrogen should matter. Another ingredient should potassium oxide as this promotes resistance to drought in the following months in spring. In addition, the potassium ensures that the lawn can better deal with temperature fluctuations until summer. If the soil sample showed that the soil contains too little lime, you should make sure that the selected fertilizer also contains calcium.
The composition should look like this:
- 25% total nitrogen
- 15% Potassium Oxide
- 6% phosphate
The rest is made up of other nutrients such as calcium and magnesium and filler material so that the fertilizer is not applied in too concentrated a manner.
Fertilizer with a long-term effect
When it comes to the question of suitable fertilizer, not only the composition is relevant, but also the form of the fertilizer. In the spring is a long-term fertilizer ideal in the form of solid fertilizers. They have the advantage that they can simply be spread out over large areas by hand. In addition, solid fertilizers gradually release small amounts of active ingredients, which means that up to ten weeks after the first fertilizer application in spring, it is no longer necessary to re-fertilize.
Suitable solid fertilizers in spring
In addition to the commercially available fertilizers, there are also alternatives to lawn fertilizer. An alternative is already in the garden and is ideal if the lawn has a medium nutrient requirement in spring. pavers compost is a very good source of nutrients and has the advantage that it not only supplies nutrients, but also prevents soil compaction.
As an alternative to purchased lawn lime, you can use crushed eggshells Scatter on the lawn as a calcium supplement. It is important that you finely chop the egg shells so that there are no painful injuries when children run barefoot across the grass.
Potassium, which is particularly important as part of fertilizers not only to promote drought resistance but to help prevent leaf dieback, is also often found in one's home or garden. There is a particularly high amount of potassium in wood ash included, which you can collect from chimneys or from the grill throughout the year and scatter in the spring.
A versatile fertilizer in the garden that can also be used on the lawn is coffee grounds. Coffee grounds should always be collected as part of your own solid fertilizer mixtures for the lawn, as they contain nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Unsuitable fertilizers
Mulch is unsuitable as fertilizer in spring
As an alternative to fertilizer from the trade, the lawn is increasingly being mulched. The mulch that rots on the sod brings nutrients back into the soil. In the spring, however, mulch is not suitable as a fertilizer. It usually does not have the right composition of nutrients so that it can optimally care for the lawn after the winter. In addition, it takes a very long time before mulching can take place for the first time, which means that the time for fertilizing is clearly postponed. This in turn ensures that the lawn is not strong enough when temperatures rise and it can burn from the heat.
As a fertilizer, mulch also has the disadvantage in spring that the temperatures are not yet ideal for rotting. As a result, the clippings will take longer to wilt and potentially smother the turf underneath. You should therefore use a suitable granulate for fertilizing, especially in spring.
