Torrential Designs

Above all things, remember the basic goal of late summer and early fall fertilizing is to promote root growth. When you have strong roots, you have healthy plants! By helping roots grow strong before winter sets in, you are insuring that your lawn will green-up more quickly in the spring and become more resistant to disease and drought all summer long.

Late summer fertilizing is just one essential part of your late summer and early fall lawn care maintenance you should be performing every year to prepare your lawn for the winter and make sure it is ready to thrive next spring.

Fertilizer By The Numbers
It’s important to remember that all fertilizer is not created equal. Each bag will be labeled with a formula to help you determine which type of fertilizer is best for your lawn application. (Remember to always follow the manufacturer’s recommended rate of application.)

On each package of fertilizer, there are three numbers (often called NPK) that tell you the percentage of nutrients in the fertilizer. The three main components are:
• Nitrogen (symbol N) for lawn blade, leaf development, foliage growth and vivid green color.
• Phosphorous (symbol P) for root growth.
• Potassium (symbol K) sometimes called potash, for root development and disease resistance.
For example, the common 16-4-8 fertilizer is made of 16% nitrogen, 4% phosphorus, and 8% potassium.

September
Early in September, your lawn is likely recovering from a long hot summer and may even be coming out of a drought-induced dormancy, so you’ll want to give your lawn a good shot of nitrogen to boost the blade growth. A fertilizer with a formula of 20-8-8 will give it the nutrients it needs to head into the fall strong.

Late October or Early November
While a late summer dose of fertilizer is important, an application in late fall around the end of October or early November is absolutely essential. This application should provide a good dose of phosphorus will stimulate root growth through November and even into early December. A fertilizer with a formula of 13-25-12 works very well this time of year.

If you are a bit nervous about the cost of putting two applications of fertilizer on the lawn in both the early and late fall, you may want to use only half of the recommended amount of fertilizer in that early fall job and half of the recommended amount in the late fall application. This will really cut the costs while still giving you some important benefits. Some people also treat their lawn for weeds and insects at the same time, but unless there are signs of trouble or a history of problems with your lawn, don’t bother applying anything but fertilizer.

Whether you choose to fertilize your lawn two, three or four times per year, remember you should always give your lawn a good dose of fertilizer in the fall – it’s the most important one of the year.

Tags: fall, fertilizer, late summer, Lawn