Lawn Fertilization

Today we are going to give a little info about fertilizer. This may not sound very sexy but it is necessary knowledge if you want a beautiful lawn.

16 essential nutrients are required for proper growth of plants and all of them are on the periodic table. It makes me wish I had not skipped out on science class so often.. Haha. All of these elements, except carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are obtained from the soil. A soil test can be done to see which elements your lawn may need for proper nutrition.

Fertilizers all come with a number like 10-4-8, or 16-4-8. Have you ever wondered what this meant? It simply refers to the amount of different elements in the fertilizer. A more detailed explanation can be obtained from The University of Florida IFAS Extension.

It is important to understand this process to some degree because if you use too much Nitrogen it can burn your lawn. Nitrogen is the most used element in the soil and so is  included in fertilizer. What type of fertilizer and when to apply it must be determined in order to properly nourish your lawn. 

The link above will give all of the current Florida guidelines. If that is a little more information than you would like, just leave it to the pros.

I hope this article was helpful.

Thank, 
Lawn Pro

Lawn Sprinklers are quite overlooked at times when we think of maintaining various components around the house.  They may be the most overlooked. This is simply because they work when we are not looking. They come on in the very early hours of the morning or late at night. We may not even notice them until we see our lawn turning brown or notice excessive insects due to standing water.

Here are a few tips to check to make sure you lawn sprinklers are working properly.

1. Check the heads to make sure there are no leaks. This is an easy task but may require you to get up a little early. Most sprinklers are set to operate early morning so that the lawn and garden get water before the hot sun can evaporate it. If the heads are leaking they should be replaced. This is not a major job and can be done by the home owner if desired.

2. Check on the valves. They should be opening and closing properly  and distributing the proper amount of water. You may want to check on city codes for how much water is allowed for irrigation. A general measure is 1 inch per irrigation.

3. Check to see that all of the sprinkler system zones are watering evenly and that there is no overlap. This will cause excessive water and we will address that in the next issue.

4. Check you lawn. This sound simplistic but your lawn will tell you if it needs water. Are the blades of grass folded over? Does the lawn recover from a footprint? What color is the grass? If the grass is grayish in color, folded, or does not recover well it needs water.

We will cover more topics later. I hope this was helpful. If you have any comments or questions just post them and we will talk.

​Thanks, The Lawn Pro