Nitrogen fertilizers for lawns: application & effects

Nitrogen fertilizer ensures a lush green lawn. We explain here how to optimally supply your lawn with nitrogen and what to watch out for.

All plants need large amounts of nitrogen, and lawns in particular have a particularly high need. In this article you can find out how and when to apply nitrogen and how to identify a nitrogen deficiency or excess. You will also receive tips on choosing the right fertilizer.

A lawn can only show the desired properties if it is supplied with nutrients according to its needs. The lawn is a heavy consumer, so it needs all nutrients in relatively large quantities. Nitrogen (N) is of enormous importance for all plants - including the lawn. It is part of chlorophyll, DNA and many proteins that are necessary for the life and development of plants.

Why does the lawn need nitrogen?

As the "engine of vegetative growth", it is required in particularly large quantities by lawns, because the recurring mowing removes nitrogen in the form of grass clippings will. Anyone who concludes that omitting nitrogen fertilization leads to a beautiful lawn with less mowing work is unfortunately on the wrong track. Because the frequent mowing alone stimulates the constant branching of the lawn plants. This leads to a dense and step-resistant sward, while wild herbs are effectively suppressed.

Nitrogen fertilizer: when to fertilize?

Nitrogen as the "motor of vegetative growth" fuels the lawn shoot. This is very welcome in spring and summer when a lawn is mowed and used a lot. Strong budding also means strong competition against wild herbs. But there are times when little or no nitrogen is needed and even causes damage. In the beginning of spring, in mild weather, the lawn is torn out of hibernation with a fast-acting, nitrogen-based lawn fertilizer. This becomes problematic when severe frost sets in again after a few mild days. The driven stalks still have a low frost tolerance and can therefore easily freeze to death. They die off, lie yellow discolored on the rest of the lawn, shade it and thus hinder further growth. You can find out here in our special article whether your lawn has a Fertilize the lawn in spring needed to drive out.

In early autumn, prepare the lawn for the cold temperatures of winter. If nitrogen-based fertilization is carried out too late in the year and the nutrients are suddenly available, the same thing happens as described above for spring. The drifting stalks are not sufficiently frost-hardy and the lawn is more likely to be damaged in the winter. We therefore recommend that the last lawn fertilization is not carried out too late. This article can help you find out about the right one Lawn fertilization in autumn inform.

tip: Use a mainly organic lawn fertilizer like our Plantura Organic lawn fertilizer. You can apply this from February and its release depends on the weather. The nutrients become available to the plants only slowly, so that there is no sudden surge of frost-sensitive stalks. Therefore, you can still use organic lawn fertilizer in autumn without hesitation.

Even in very hot summers, nitrogen fertilization can be problematic. Lawn growth stimulated by a lot of nitrogen is also not well positioned to deal with dry air and lack of water. The result can now be damage caused by drought, after all, the stalks can no longer compensate for their high transpiration rate by absorbing water. Since too frequent mowing can damage the lawn in hot summers, you should avoid using mineral fertilizers with too high a nitrogen content during these months.

Nitrogen fertilizer against moss in the lawn

A sufficient supply of nitrogen is always the indispensable basis for preventing moss growth. Because what is certain is that an insufficiently nourished lawn is not competitive enough to keep moss in check. But moss in the lawn can have other causes: lack of light, lack of oxygen at the roots Waterlogging and / or soil compaction are just as possible as a soil pH value that is too low (below 6). Since these different causes - also in combination - cause moss in the lawn, a strong nitrogen fertilization is by no means a magic bullet against moss in the lawn. If you want to know how Fighting moss in the lawn you can also take a look at this special article.

Detect nitrogen deficiency in lawns

Since lawns require large amounts of nitrogen, a deficiency is quickly noticeable. During the growing season and mowing time, you can recognize it by the slowdown in growth and the associated rarer mowing. Now is the time to add more nitrogen in the form of fertilization. An acute deficiency can be recognized by the complete yellow coloration of the grass, because nitrogen is required to build up chlorophyll. However, freshly sprouted stalks are often still green, because nitrogen can be transported from the old leaves to new ones. If your lawn is chronically undersupplied, it can be recognized by a thin sward of grass through which the soil shimmers everywhere. Many weeds in the lawn also indicate malnutrition: some of them get by with fewer nutrients than the lawn plants. But also one Lawn over-fertilization with nitrogen is possible: This special article deals with the overfertilization of lawns.

Tip from the professional: Clover and dandelion are pointer plants for nitrogen deficiency or excess. White clover (Trifolium repens) is adapted to lean, low-nitrogen soils. As a legume, it is able to enter into a symbiosis with so-called rhizobacteria, which bind nitrogen from the air and make it available to plants. For this reason, the presence of clover in the lawn indicates malnutrition in nitrogen. Unfortunately, this does not mean that the clover will go away after fertilization: once it has become well established, sometimes only generous removal and re-sowing will help to get rid of it. Dandelion (Taraxacum sct. Rudderals) prefers the exact opposite: it prefers to grow in nutrient-rich locations and thus shows that there is no deficiency.

Like you white clover, dandelion and others Banish wild herbs from the lawn you can find out here.

Nitrogen fertilizers for lawns: application and application

Even if nitrogen is of paramount importance for the lawn, nitrogen fertilization alone does not have to be carried out. The necessary nitrogen is usually applied in combination with the other plant nutrients as lawn fertilizer. The nitrogen requirement depends on how the lawn is used: a heavily used, frequently mowed, tough lawn requires 20 to 30 grams of pure nitrogen per square meter per year. On the other hand, 10 to 20 grams of pure nitrogen per square meter per year is sufficient for a typical lawn. The nitrogen content in percent can be found in the declaration of the fertilizer used.

The indication "10 - 4 - 6 - 2" indicates that it contains 10% nitrogen, 4% phosphorus compounds, 6% potassium compounds and 2% magnesium compounds. So if you put one kilogram of such a fertilizer, you have distributed 100 grams of pure nitrogen.

When dosing nitrogen and lawn fertilizers, you should always follow the recommendations of the respective manufacturer. Note that the amount of pure nitrogen applied at once should never exceed the limit of 5 grams per square meter in mineral fertilizers. Otherwise the lawn can be washed out and damaged. To keep this limit anywhere on the lawn, we recommend using fertilizer spreaders if the size of the lawn allows it. The application of larger quantities as long-term fertilizers or organic fertilizers is not a problem.

Organic nitrogen fertilizer

Some organic fertilizers mainly contain nitrogen and can be used to supply the lawn. However, always keep in mind that the other nutrients are also necessary for maintaining a healthy lawn. Horn fertilizers contain 10 to 14% nitrogen. Depending on the degree of shredding, they work at different speeds: Horn meal faster than horn semolina and this faster than Horn shavings. During the growing season, you can apply 50 grams of horn meal per square meter every six weeks. The use of coarser horn fertilizer allows larger applications and longer fertilization intervals. Unless the soil under your lawn has a proven excess of potassium, phosphate and magnesium, it is better to fertilize with a full-fledged lawn fertilizer. We have our mainly organic Plantura for the sustainable fertilization of your green spaces Organic lawn fertilizer as well as our organic Plantura Organic autumn lawn fertilizer developed, which ensure gentle care of the lawn while at the same time enhancing the quality of the soil.

Mineral nitrogen fertilizer

Pure mineral nitrogen fertilizers are not actually needed or used in the private sector. The reason for this lies in the numerous dangers inherent in its use: over-fertilization, leaching and frost damage are much more common with mineral fertilizers and especially with nitrogen than with organic or organic-mineral fertilizers Fertilizing. In the case of an acute nitrogen deficiency, the application can certainly be useful: One Liquid lawn fertilization with urea or the application of calcium ammonium nitrate works many times faster than any organic nitrogen fertilizer. However, since an acute deficiency can be avoided with the regular application of long-acting lawn fertilizers, their use should be the exception rather than the rule.

More information on the various Lawn fertilizers get here. Everything else on the subject of "Fertilize the lawn“You can also find out here in our overview article.