I noticed something in my headlights this morning ; green grass! Under the brown of winter, is green. Yep, it’s starting. The green, green grass of home is popping out all over. Spring is on the way, and now is the time to prepare the lawn for the hot days of summer. We’ll be mowing in 4 weeks or less.
Prevent new weeds from competing for nutirents and water in your lawn by applying pre-emergent now. Pre-M provides a protective layer against new weed germination, and combined with an application of post emergent it attacks pesky winter weeds. We don’t need no stinking weeds in our lawn, don’t waste water and fertilizer on weeds. Get rid of them before they take hold in your lawn with Pre-emergent treatments.
St. Augustine lawns receives application of pre-emergent only and a 5-10-31 10% fertilizer to encourage strong root growth.
What do the numbers on a bag of fertilizer mean?
Take for example A bag of 5-10-31 10% used for St. Augustine now (and fall):
5% N (nitrogen) 10% (P) phosphorus and 31% (K) potassium by weight with 10% iron. The three numbers on the fertilizer bag represent;. percent by weight of 5% nitrogen (N), 10% phosphorus (P) and 31% potassium (K) with 10% Iron. The information is always listed in the same order.
Each nutrient provides a resource for the plant:
Nitrogen During the growing season we see this number go from 5% up to 28% +
- Essential for foliage or blade growth
- Produces lush, tender, green leaves (or grass blades)
- Builds resistance to adverse environmental conditions (drought, do what you can NOW to help your lawn through drought)
- Deficiency results in a yellow-green color and little to no growth
Phosphorous (available as phosphate)
- Stimulates root growth (drought, strong deep roots help plants through drought)
- Accelerates the maturity of plants
- Promotes development of flowers and fruits
- Remains in the soil quite well
- Deficiency can result in slow or stunted growth
Potassium (water soluble potash)
- Builds drought, heat and cold hardiness (duh! drought) Prepare now to help your lawn through our seasonal droughts.
- Helps disease resistance
- Deficiency can cause weak stems and/or slow growth
The Math:
If you want to spend time to determine the total pounds of nutrients in a bag, go ahead. Lots of information out on the world wide web to help you through the math. Me? I will rely on soil tests and experts for accurate application rates.
