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Originally Posted by toppick08  Dude, go see the lawns I do, and come back with me later..........you don't want nitrogen in the the fall...........You must have soft hands... |
Gee there...... Topper. I didn't mean to ruffle your tail feathers so bad. I don't know what you mean by soft hands either. But the simple fact of the matter is you really don't know what you are talking about. There are several reasons you don't want to apply a high phosphorus fertilizer like 5-10-10.
1.) P & K are rather expensive and you are wasting your money unless your soil test tells you that you need it. The only exception is for seeding. The recommendation for newly seeded lawns in our area calls for a starter fertilizer containing 3/4lb N, 1lb P and 1LB k per thousand square feet. A fertilizer like 18-24-12 at a rate of 4lbs per thousand should do the trick. Or you could apply your 5-10-10 at 10lbs per thousand. But you are only applying 1/2 pound of N per thousand square feet. And, it is not the nitrogen that your new seedlings need for root development; it's the phosphorus. Nitrogen plays a different role as a part of chlorophyll rather than plant structural development.
2.) Phosphorus is the worst of the 3 primary plant nutrients as far as nutrient overloading of the Chesapeake Bay is concerned. If possible, we should be using 0 phosphorus fertilizer. I said in previous posts that Scott's was ok because they signed an agreement with the states in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed to start producing 0% P fertilizers. In no way did I intend that to be a plug for their products. I do not work for Scott's. I am their competitor.
3.) Agronomicaly, it is just not a good idea to always apply high rates of P every year. I have seen a few examples where there was an alkaline pH (above 7.0) and high levels of P in the soil. They have problems with disease and drought tolerance. The soil scientists at our soil testing lab explained to me that when P levels are through the roof with a high pH, many of the micro-nutrients that the grass plants need become severely tied up in the soil.
4.) Phosphorus is not water soluable. However, studies have shown a tendancy for P to move if there is too much.
As far as fertilizing in the fall, I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you are taking care of warm-season turf. You do not want to fertilize warm-season turf with N in the fall. Cool season turf, as I said before, requires an annual rate of 3lbs per thousand square feet of N; 2/3 (2lbs) applied in the fall and 1/3 (1lb) Applied in during the growing season if you need it. Fall N fertilization is essential for cool season grasses because this is when they collect and store carbohydrates for the next year. Nitrogen applied properly in the fall will help the cool season lawn green up the following spring. These are not recs for Philly or New York (although they work there too). These fertilizer recommendations come straight from the University of Maryland. I am not making them up. You can view these at
Maryland Turfgrass Council - Maryland Publications 
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