A carefully measured and properly timed dose of fertilizer is essential for strengthening your lawn for the coming summer. Your lawn’s color and growth will tell you what it’s hungry for, and Maple Leaf Landscaping & Maintenance delivers!
Nitrogen
For a lawn with consistent dark green color and rich growth, nitrogen is the key nutrient. Nitrogen application must be done with great care and strategy. Overdoing it will result in thin and wispy, but fast-growing grass. This means increased thatch build up, which blocks nutrients from the roots and weakens the grass plants. If your lawn comes back thick and green on its own this spring, fertilizer application should be delayed until later in the season.
Other lawn care decisions affect the amount of nitrogen fertilizers needed. For example, mulching your lawn clippings (cutting the lawn with a special blade and leaving the smaller clippings on the lawn, rather than bagging) can reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer by as much as 1/3 to ½.
A lawn that is craving nitrogen will have an inconsistent and thin scattering of spring blade growth and slow growing or stunted blade length that is yellowish and lighter shades of green. If a proper dose of nitrogen doesn’t solve these problems, then the lawn may be craving other nutrients.
Phosphorus, Iron, Potassium
Lawns require a variety of nutrients to stay healthy and look beautiful all summer long. Phosphorus, Iron, and Potassium are a few of the other essentials for lawn health. A lack of phosphorus, means a fuel deficiency for a grass plant’s “metabolic machinery” and dramatically slowed leaf, stem, and root growth. Iron is essential to a plant’s ability to make chlorophyll, which it needs for photosynthesis, and therefore growth. Potassium is needed to protect your lawn from harsh weather, drought, temperature changes, and other environmental stresses. As with nitrogen, these and other nutrients can actually harm your lawn, your pets, and other parts of your local ecosystem, such as rivers and ponds, if applied too heavily or at the wrong time.
Local Fertilization Experts
Consulting with an experienced lawn care professional in your area before you choose your fertilizer mixture and application timing is the best way to maximize the benefits for your lawn. Variations in soil condition, climate, and watering practices factor in to fertilization decisions as well, so choosing a reputable local expert is very important. Call Maple Leaf Landscaping & Maintenance in Grand Junction, CO (970)234-9691. We will bring your Grand Valley lawn just what it needs, when it needs it.