The importance of fall fertilizer
Why fertilize in the fall:
It’s pretty common to fertilize your lawn in the spring and not the fall, but don’t let the cooler temperatures of autumn fool you. Though many assume that the coming of winter means the end of their lawns maintenance, fall fertilizing is definitely a last step to consider in yours lawns to-do list, and here’s why. After the summer’s heat and stress, grass regains its strength before winter with a good fall fertilizing. Professors from Colorado and Ohio State Universities stress that the application of nitrogen fertilizers in late fall produce lawns that are visibly greener the following summer. Imagine an earlier spring green-up while avoiding the excessive shoot growth of lawns fertilized in the spring. Fall fertilizing is not meant to stimulate growth in Autumn, but to prepare it for the harsh winter and give your lawn a good star the next year.
The best way to determine what nutrients are lacking in your lawn is a soil test. These tests measure the soil’s pH levels along with the Potassium, Nitrogen, and Phosphorous in it.
If your lawn has been properly fertilized in late summer and fall, your grass can start to store carbohydrate reserves in the stems. These reserves help grass resist winter disease and injury, and are a source of energy for shoot and root growth the following spring.
When should you fertilize? Proper timing is very important, if applied too early, while the grass is vigorously growing, it can invite snow mold and winter injury the next spring. You also do not want to wait until the ground is frozen, making autumn the time of year to do this.
How can GEM help? Glaciers Edge Maintenance offers fall fertilizing services, as well as a fall clean up services to help your lawn. You can request an estimate here.