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For many garden owners, rolled turf is a quick alternative to the classic variant with sowing and a long wait until a dense grass surface has formed. Fertilizer is important for the vitality of the lawn. Like all plants, the ready-made lawn needs nutrients that help the grass to grow and thus ensure the desired result in the long term. In order to maintain a healthy lawn, you need to know when, how often and with what to fertilize.
first fertilization
After the turf has been laid, an initial fertilization is particularly important so that the grass is supported as it grows in the ground. It is important not to wait too long before adding the first nutrients, regardless of whether the soil has already been pre-fertilized. The first turf fertilization follows a rule of thumb three to four weeks after laying. This gives the grasses a sufficient energy boost and they can make themselves comfortable at the new location.
frequency
If the first fertilization is successful, the turf must be fertilized with the same frequency over the next few years in order to maintain the dense grass surface. As with the first fertilization, there are certain dates that are particularly suitable and are especially good for the turf. If you have low-traffic ornamental lawns in mind, fertilizing twice a year is enough:
- 1st fertilization: March to April
- 2. Fertilization: July to August
It is important not to apply the fertilizer too early and not too late, otherwise over-fertilization or problems with the weather can quickly occur. How often you should fertilize if you want to use the lawn as a playground, for sports or as a dog park, as follows:
- 1st fertilization: March to April
- 2. Fertilization: June
- 3. Fertilization: July to August
As you can see, heavily used lawns, regardless of whether they are rolled or seeded, require one more fertilization per year. Since these grasses are exposed to higher loads, they have to be supplied with a significantly higher amount of nutrients, which is administered three times a year. This schedule also applies to turf areas where the location or soil is unfavorable:
- nutrient-poor soils
- permanently shaded areas
This schedule repeats itself from year to year and over time the apparent rolled turf changes to a completely closed lawn. For this reason, the same intervals of fertilization are maintained here as with a lawn made from seed. Even if the ready-made lawn has received a lot of nutrient additions before delivery, compared to the classic lawn, you should not skip any fertilization, otherwise you will have to be satisfied with yellow blades of grass and bare spots. If you have the feeling that your rolled turf seems weak, you can fertilize again in October just before winter.
tip: Once a year it is necessary to work the soil thoroughly so that it can absorb the nutrients well and pass them on to the grass on the lawn. In this case, you should scarify the lawn or aerate it if the soil is particularly dense.
fertilizer
Fertilize with what?
Not only the timing and frequency are important when fertilizing the turf. The fertilizer itself must be right in order to supply the numerous grasses with nutrients. As a lawn owner, you have five different fertilizers at your disposal, which are of organic and inorganic origin and therefore work at different speeds. The following list gives you an overview of the respective fertilizers:
1. Lawn fertilizer
If you want to use a ready-made preparation, you should use an NPK fertilizer of organo-mineral origin. These have proven themselves over the long term for lawn care, as their distribution of potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus is ideal for the grasses. They work faster than organic fertilizers and have a long-term effect that has a beneficial effect on the vitality of the grass. The structure of the soil also improves, which often makes special lawn fertilizers one of the best solutions for the turf owner. Make sure you rely on a high-quality product, for example from manufacturers such as Neudorff, Cuxin or COMPO.
2. Nettle manure
If you produce nettle manure, you can also use it as a lawn fertilizer. To do this, you need to ferment nettles in a rain barrel of water for a period of two to four weeks and dilute them with 10 parts water before use. Otherwise the liquid manure would be much too aggressive for the lawn. This is simply applied with a watering can. The advantage of nettle manure is its rapid effect and the numerous nutrients that are immediately absorbed by the grass.
3. Chicken manure
Chicken manure has proven to be a good fertilizer for lawns as it is high in nitrogen and potassium. To do this, mix 500 grams of manure with ten liters of water and then fertilize the turf with it. Alternatively, you can use other manure or guano.
4. Horn shavings or horn meal
Horn fertilizers are ideal for turf because they contain a lot of nitrogen and can be easily incorporated into the lawn. It is simply distributed generously and then unfolds its effect.
5. Compost
You can also spread well-ripened compost from animal and vegetable waste on the lawn. Compost based on lawn clippings is well suited.
Pure mineral fertilizers are in no way suitable for the lawn, as they have no effective long-term effect and only ensure short-term, lush growth. However, this subsides after a few weeks and then the area often suffers from a nutrient deficiency.
tip: If you are struggling with a lot of moss in the rolled turf, this can indicate acidification, which you should definitely determine with a soil sample. In order to bring the soil back to a pH value of over 5.5, which is ideal for the grasses, it is best to spread rock dust, as this reliably deacidifies the surface.