If you are a homeowner, chances are good that you want your lawn to look as good as possible in order to increase your home's value and make your house look more aesthetically pleasing. However, when you go to the store, you might be overwhelmed between the number of choices that you have. There are two main categories of fertilizer that you can choose between. One is quick-release fertilizer, which will dissolve when you apply water to it and will immediately release the nitrogen inside of it so that it is available to the plants. The second is slow-release fertilizer, which releases the nitrogen and other nutrients in the fertilizer slowly. This is not water soluble. Here are some questions that you should ask yourself in order to correctly choose between quick-release and slow-release fertilizers.
1. Do you need the fertilizer to take effect immediately?
The first thing that you want to do is assess what your fertilizer needs are. If you have grass that you suspect is not getting the nutrients that it needs and it's one of the late spring or summer months, you want to be sure that you purchase fertilizer that is going to take effect immediately. This will allow you to improve the resilience and the appearance of your grass while it is still growing. If it's the end of the summer and into the fall, you probably want to use slow-release fertilizer in order to gradually release the nutrients over time. Since the grass is not going to be growing as quickly, it does not need as rapid a supply of resources in order to look good as it grows.
2. How likely is your grass to get leaf burn?
Leaf burn is when a plant is damaged by the chemicals that you apply to it because its system becomes overwhelmed by the nutrients and chemicals available. If the grass that you are tending is more fragile, you might want to err on the side of slow-release fertilizer in order to make sure that you don't give the plants too many nutrients too quickly. If you have very strong, resilient grass, you can use quick-release fertilizer without any worries.
3. Are you worried about nutrient leaching?
Finally, if you live near a farm or some other area where the composition of the soil needs to be maintained, you want to use slow-release fertilizer because there is less of a chance that the nutrients in the fertilizer leach into the ground and spread to other areas. If you are just tending your lawn and live in the city, you don't have to worry about ground composition as much and can use quick-release fertilizer even if the plants aren't able to use all of the nutrients at the same time.
For more information, talk to a company that specializes in lawn fertilization.
Share9 February 2016
