County Agent Update

Fertilizing your lawn

With all of the rain and moisture the last week in Williams County, right now is a wonderful time to be fertilizing your lawn. This rain will be pushing your lawn to grow, along with all other plants. With this rapid growth that will be occurring, the grass can become stressed if it does not have the proper amount of nutrients. With the hot summer days right around the corner, we want our grass to be healthy and prepared. With fertilizer and moisture, that also means more mowing of your yard.

Springtime fertilizers often contain a crabgrass preventer, which by the start of June crabgrass has already germinated and will not prevent it from growing this year. These fertilizers should not be used if you are planning on putting down grass seed in a bare area, these fertilizers will kill the seedlings. The key to a thick lawn is a strong root season, fall fertilizing is the most successful time for promote root growth. Springtime fertilizer promotes a lush green looking grass.

Fertilizing your trees

One misconception is since we fertilize our lawns and gardens, our trees need springtime fertilizer as well. Most trees in a landscaped area do not need fertilizers, especially if you are fertilizing the lawn. If you fertilize your lawn in May and late autumn you will not need to worry about fertilizing trees. When fertilizing trees it is important to remember that a trees roots are extensive and found within the top 18 inches of the soil, they are found there because the water, nutrients and air is the most abundant. The easiest way to fertilize trees is by using lawn fertilizer, because of the high nitrogen levels, which will promote growth. The tree fertilizing spikes are expensive and do not move the fertilizer well throughout the root system.

If you ever have questions on your soil health, doing a soil test is the best way to gather information. NDSU Soil Testing Lab can run tests to see what fertilizers your trees will need for proper growth. Contact the NDSU Extension Service Office if you have any questions, 701-577-4595.