What have you heard about fertilizer? Do you think it kills your grass?

Keep reading to learn the truth about lawn fertilizer and how it benefits your North Dallas yard. You’ll be relieved when you know the truth.

In this blog post, you’ll learn about

  • Understanding fertilizer basics.
  • Can fertilizer kill my grass?
  • Bagged weed and feed for your North Texas lawn.

Understanding Fertilizer Basics

Fertilizer is essential to a healthy lawn because the primary nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, are building blocks for healthy green grass growth.

  • Nitrogen helps with grass’s leaf growth
  • Phosphorous aids with root growth
  • Potassium helps your lawn’s overall vigor and builds a robust root system.

There are two types of lawn fertilizer: Synthetic fertilizer adds minerals during manufacturing at a fertilizer facility. The second type of lawn fertilizer is natural: manure, composted plants, grass clippings, and other organic ingredients.

Finally, fertilizer can be applied as a liquid or in a granular form. The liquid fertilizer will immediately add nutrients to the soil, while granular fertilizer may take up to several weeks to be absorbed by the soil.

Learn more: Understanding Texas Lawns and Turf Weed Control

Looking at a lawn fertilizer bag in a store, you’ll notice three groups of numbers listed: 12-34-56. This tells you the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium in that bag of fertilizer.

How do you know how much of each nutrient your turfgrass needs? Through a soil test.

For a soil test, dig up soil in different parts of your yard, mix them in a bag, and send them to your nearest Aggie Extension office.

The extension office will send your sample to their soil labs. You should receive the results with specific notations of the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium the fertilizer needs to have to feed your lawn.

Will Fertilizer Kill My Grass? And Other Lawn Care Lies

Fertilizer won’t kill your lawn unless you overfertilize it. Fertilizer feeds the lawn by caring for the turfgrass plant at the root zone and aboveground with the turfgrass.

Overfertilization will harm your Plano, TX, lawn because it causes excessive growth, which is unhealthy for a lawn. Overfertilization causes the turf extra stress and opens it up to diseases. For example, St. Augustine grass is susceptible to lawn disease when excessively fertilized with quick-release nitrogen.

Read more: Benefits of Full-Service Lawn Care in North Texas

Another lawn care myth you may have heard about is that leaving grass clippings on your lawn causes thatch. Grass clippings don’t cause thatch. Instead, they’re chopped up using your lawn mower’s mulching attachment. Grass clippings can give your lawn up to a 25% nitrogen boost.

You may have heard that you don’t need to have your lawn aerated in the spring because it doesn’t do anything.

However, turf science has shown that aeration and overseeding benefit your warm season lawn, allowing more oxygen, water, nutrients, and grass seed to go deep into the soil.

Aeration also relieves soil compaction so your turfgrass can grow thick and dense, crowding out weeds.

What About Bagged Weed and Feed for Your Sachse, TX Lawn?

Bagged weed and feed fertilizers aren’t an effective way to put down weed control and fertilize simultaneously because the weed and feed are trying to do two things at once—feed the lawn while killing weeds.

It has been found that bagged weed and feed products do poorly at preventing weeds and feeding the turfgrass. Granular weed control may or may not stick to the weeds and not kill them. Conversely, the weed control could stick to healthy turf and kill it.

Instead, it’s better to allow us at College Fund Landscaping to apply our Round 2 lawn treatment. Granted, you must sign up for our Fertilization and Weed Control package to get Round 2.

Round 2 starts in mid-February through March and includes a liquid pre-emergence treatment that also has post-emergence control. Then, our technicians put down granular lawn fertilizer, which needs to be watered into the ground. The granular fertilizer will slowly be released into the soil over six to eight weeks.

Why You Need to Hire a Professional for All of Your Lawn Care Needs

Suppose you’re a DIY homeowner; you may feel confident about caring for your turfgrass. You know that bagged weed and feed products aren’t a good investment, and you know which fertilizer and weed control works best for your McKinney lawn. And that’s fine.

However, if you’re a busy family with careers and children, you may not have the time and energy to spend on fertilizing and putting down weed control for your lawn. You have never bought lawn maintenance products before, and turfgrass science is out of your wheelhouse.

Then, you’ll benefit by hiring a landscaping company to take over your lawn care tasks. You’ll save time and the hassle of buying the right products to put on your lawn.

You get the following services and benefits from hiring College Fund Landscaping to take care of your Wylie, TX lawn’s needs:

  • College Fund Landscaping will create a custom program that meets your unique lawn care needs.
  • Lawn care applications will depend on the turfgrass type growing in your yard and your lawn’s condition.
  • When fertilizing your lawn, we’ll identify any weeds and take corrective measures to ensure the weeds won’t spread to the rest of your property.
  • You’ll find that your lawn is less prone to diseases and irregular growth. Your turfgrass will develop a natural resistance to weed growth and pests.
  • Your turf will also develop a robust root system.

Summing Up: Empowering You for Your Lawn’s Success

Education about fertilizer and weed control helps you be a better consumer. The more you know, the better choices you can make for your North Dallas lawn.

If you don’t have experience caring for a lawn or are very busy, you can hire us at College Fund Landscaping to apply fertilizer and weed control at the right time for your turfgrass.

Why Choose College Fund Landscaping for Your Lawn Fertilization Needs

We don’t provide a one-size-fits-all approach to our customers’ lawns. Instead, we will visit your property to see what it needs and then customize a program for your lawn to transform it into a healthy, dense turf you can enjoy all summer.

Contact us today to schedule your lawn evaluation to get your turfgrass looking its best this year. Get started today by calling us at 972-985-0279 or filling out our contact form.

We serve the following cities: Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Murphy, North Dallas, Plano, Richardson, Sachse, and Wylie, Texas.

Sources:

AgriLifeExtension.TAMU.edu, Soil Testing.

LoveYourLandscape.org, Fertilizing 101.

Extension.Missouri.edu, Grass Clippings, Compost, and Mulch: Questions and Answers.