11 fertilizing tips for a lush and healthy lawn.
1. Get a Soil Test
This one’s first on the list for a reason: soil testing is the only way to really know what your lawn needs to reach its healthiest, lushest potential. It tells you if your soil has imbalances in nutrients (like iron) or conditions (like pH). The results then guide your fertilizing, telling you specifically what to add and what not to add (did you know too much nitrogen is toxic for your grass?).
Soil tests are easy to perform. Just dig up some dirt, put it in a bag, and mail it off. It takes about 10 minutes and it’s cheap – about $20.
Download a test form with directions from Texas A&M Agrilife Extension.
2. Use Organic Fertilizers
Choose organic fertilizers that contain natural ingredients such as compost, bone meal, blood meal, feather meal, or fish meal. These provide slow-release nutrients and improve soil health.
3. Stick with a balanced, low nitrogen ratio
In the absence of a soil test, apply a balanced NPK ratio (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Look for 3-1-2 or 6-2-4 on the bag. Avoid high nitrogen for the long-term health of your lawn.
4. Use a slow-release fertilizer
Look for “slow-release” on the bag so you get a steady, gradual release of nutrients over several weeks or months. This consistent supply of nutrients reduces the risk of over-fertilization, nutrient imbalance, waste, and environmental impact. With fast-release fertilizers, many nutrients are not taken up by plants and can be wasted and cause environmental issues.
5. Apply at the right time
Fertilize your St. Augustine grass (and other warm season grasses) in the spring and fall when it’s actively growing. Avoid fertilizing during the hot summer months to prevent stress and disease susceptibility.
6. Use Organic Soil Amendments
Organic soil amendments are vastly superior. Unlike synthetic amendments, they improve soil structure, microbial activity, fertility, and water retention and they’re better for the environment. Synthetics are salt-based which suppresses microbial activity, compacts the soil and harms the environment.
7. Water After Application:
Water your lawn immediately after fertilizing to help activate the nutrients and prevent burning. Watering also reduces the risk of fertilizer runoff.
8. Read the Label
Always follow the instructions on the label regarding application rates and timing. Lawns suffer from overfertilizing as well as underfertilizing.
9. Topdress with Compost:
Perhaps the single best thing you can do for your lawn, topdressing it with 1/4 inch of organic compost each spring and fall will supply a wide range of nutrients, enhance microbial activity, increase water absorption and retention, help suppress weeds, and improve soil structure.
10. Mulch Grass Clippings:
Leave grass clippings on the lawn after mowing. They will decompose and return nutrients to the soil naturally. Clippings alone can provide 1/3 of the nutrients a lawn needs.
11. Avoid Weed n Feed
Weed-n-Feed, while a clever marketing tool, simply doesn’t work. This is because the right time to prevent weeds doesn’t match the right time to feed your lawn. Apply wee-n-feed too early and the fertilizer leaches out of the soil by the time the grass can use it. Apply it too late and the “weed” part has no effect because the weeds have already emerged. Bad for the environment and pets, too.
