Garden Column for Salisbury Post 

Darrell Blackwelder 

September 12, 2006

Fall fertilization is a necessary part of maintenance for cool season fescue lawns.  Fescue lawns grow best in fall and even in the winter. Now is the time to take advantage and begin fertilizing cool season fescue and bluegrass lawns.

Carefully measure your lawn before applying fertilizer. Lawns with the best results are the ones carefully measured before application. Also, careful measurement saves both money and our environment.

Turf type fertilizers with slow release fertilizers are excellent for constant feeding over the fall and winter months.  These fertilizers are generally formulated in 5,000 and 10,000 square footage bags. Premium fertilizers seem more expensive, but a cost comparison with grade fertilizers proves that the turf fertilizers are actually about the same price. These fertilizers are sold as 4-1-2 ratios such as 16-4-8 or 21-3-6. Other turf-type starter fertilizers are high in phosphorus such as 11-22-6.  Root systems of newly seeded fescue lawns benefit from high phosphorus starter fertilizers.

Fescue grows best with two pounds of actual nitrogen per one thousand square feet of lawn in the fall and one pound of nitrogen in the spring.  Each bag is labeled with the percent of nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), on the side or front of each bag. For example, a fifty pound bag of 10-10-10 contains 10 percent actual nitrogen or about five pounds of nitrogen. Grade fertilizers such as 10-10-10 or 17-17-17 quickly release nutrients with rapid growth occurring soon after fertilization.  These fertilizers are consumed rapidly by quick growing turf or leached through the soil by heavy rains.  Rapid turf growth is short lived.

Below is fertilizer rates needed for 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet: Remember, this is the one pound rate; fescue needs 2 pounds in the fall and 1 pound in the spring.

Fertilizer Bag Reads:           Amount needed for 1# rate

10-10-10                                                                                                                                                            10 lb

17-17-17                                                                                                                                                                 6 lb.

20-5-5                                                                                                                                                                        5 lb.

33-0-0                                      3 lb.

Fertilize lawns by splitting the applications in September, October and November for best results.  A good way to remember is to fertilize near the holidays, Labor Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving. 

Many homeowners and professionals use a combination of slow-release and grade fertilizers for extra growth or quick starts. Getting turf off to a good start in the fall increases chances of withstanding droughts in the summer.  Fertilization now becomes more or an art than a science.  

Darrell Blackwelder is an agricultural agent in charge of horticulture with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Rowan County. For archived garden columns or other information, visit the Rowan County Master Gardener web site at www.rowanmastergardener.com , e-mail Darrell_Blackwelder@ncsu.edu or phone at 704-216-8970.