Fertilizing turf: when is the first time? With what and how often?

For many garden owners, turf is a quick alternative to the classic variant with sowing and a long waiting time until a dense grass surface has formed. Fertilizer is important for the vitality of the lawn. Like all plants, the ready-made grass needs nutrients that support the grasses in growth and thus ensure the desired result in the long term. To be healthy race You need to know when, how often and with what to fertilize.

Initial fertilization

After the turf has been laid, an initial fertilization is particularly important so that the grasses are supported as they grow into the ground. It is important not to wait too long before adding the first nutrients, regardless of whether the soil has already been pre-fertilized. The first rolling lawn fertilization is carried out according to a rule of thumb three to four weeks after laying. This gives the grasses a sufficient boost of energy and allows them to make themselves comfortable in the new location.

frequency

If the initial fertilization was successful, the turf must always be fertilized with the same frequency over the next few years in order to maintain the dense grass surface. As with the first fertilization, there are certain dates that are particularly suitable and especially good for the turf. If you have low-traffic ornamental lawns in mind, it is enough to fertilize twice a year:

• 1. Fertilization: March to April
• 2. Fertilization: July to August

It is important not to apply the fertilizer too early or too late, otherwise over-fertilization or problems with the weather can quickly occur. How often you should fertilize if you want to use the lawn as a play area, for sports or as a dog meadow, as follows:

• 1. Fertilization: March to April
• 2. Fertilization: June
• 3. Fertilization: July to August

As you can see, heavily used lawns, regardless of whether it is a rolled or seeded lawn, need more fertilization per year. Since these grasses are exposed to higher loads, they have to be supplied with a significantly higher amount of nutrients, which is administered three times a year. This schedule also applies to turf areas whose location or soil is unfavorable:

• nutrient poor soils
• permanently shaded areas

This schedule is repeated from year to year and over time the visible turf changes to a completely closed lawn. For this reason, the same intervals between fertilization and fertilization are observed here as with a lawn made from seeds. Even if the ready-made turf is given a lot of nutrients before delivery compared to the traditional turf you should not skip any fertilization, otherwise you will have to deal with yellow blades of grass and bare spots to be satisfied. If you have the feeling that your turf is feeling weak, you can fertilize again in October just before winter.

tip: Once a year it is necessary to work the soil thoroughly so that it can absorb the nutrients well and pass them on to the grasses of the lawn. In this case, you should scarify the lawn or aerate it if the soil is particularly dense.

fertilizer

What to fertilize with?

It is not only the timing and frequency that are important when fertilizing the turf. The fertilizer itself has to be right to supply the numerous grasses with nutrients. As a lawn owner, you have five different fertilizers at your disposal, which are of organic and inorganic origin and therefore act at different speeds. The following list gives you an overview of the respective fertilizers:

1. Lawn fertilizer

If you want to use a ready-made preparation, you should rely on an NPK fertilizer of organic-mineral origin. These have proven themselves in the long term for lawn care, as their distribution of potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus is ideal for the grasses. They work faster than organic fertilizers and have a long-term effect that has a beneficial effect on the vitality of the grass. The structure of the soil also improves, which often makes special lawn fertilizers one of the best solutions for the turf owner. You should definitely rely on a high-quality product, for example from manufacturers such as Neudorff, Cuxin or COMPO.

2. Nettle manure

If you Nettle manure you can also use it as lawn fertilizer. To do this, you have to let the nettles ferment in a rain barrel for a period of two to four weeks and dilute them with 10 parts of water before use. Otherwise the liquid manure would be far too aggressive for the lawn. This is simply applied via a watering can. The advantage of nettle manure is the quick action and the numerous nutrients that are immediately absorbed by the grasses.

3. Chicken litter

Chicken manure has been shown to be a good fertilizer for lawns because it is very high in nitrogen and potassium. To do this, mix 500 grams of manure with ten liters of water and then use it to fertilize the turf. Alternatively, you can use other manure or guano.

4. Horn shavings or horn meal

Horn fertilizers are ideal for rolling lawns because they contain a lot of nitrogen and can be worked into the lawn without any problems. It is simply distributed generously and then unfolds its effect.

5. compost

You can also spread well-ripened compost made from animal and vegetable waste on the lawn. Compost based on lawn clippings is well suited.
Purely mineral fertilizers are not suitable for the lawn in any form, as they have no effective long-term effect and only ensure short-term, lush growth. However, this subsides after a few weeks and then the area often suffers from a nutrient deficiency.

tip: If you are struggling with a lot of moss in the turf, this can indicate acidification, which you should definitely determine with a soil sample. In order to bring the soil back to a pH value of over 5.5, which is ideal for the grass, it is best to distribute rock flour, because this reliably deacidifies the surface.