Fertilisers

There are many different types of fertilisers available. Let us start with those that are available to the domestic market through retail outlets.

These are generally low grade fertilisers containing the cheapest ingredients. You will not see these being used in the professional sector ie golf and other sports surfaces. Whilst they do not harm the grass itself if correctly applied, they do often contain high levels of soil contaminants ie salt usually in the form of ammonium sulphate. Overuse of these type of products, particularly on sandy soils will destroy the beneficial soil bacteria and fungi that we need working for us.

Fast release fertilisers

Fast release fertilisers do exactly what they say. Nitrogen is usually in the form of ammonium nitrate which is immediately available to the grass plant.

Its use in the lawn care market is limited as it can have a high scorch potential, and is usually too short lived to be considered.

Slow release fertilisers

Slow release fertilisers are the most well known and are widely used in the turf care industry. They are designed to last over a period of time (usually 8/ 10 weeks) but this can be reduced significantly in periods of heavy and sustained rainfall. Again the forms vary but we avoid those with a high salt index.

Controlled release fertilisers

Controlled release fertilisers are a type of slow release but they work in a different way. This product is generally a ureic nitrogen with a polymer coating. It is designed to release its nutrients over a period, but is much more dependent on conditions. If there is no rainfall it is not able to release its nutrients, or will do so more slowly, and therefore becomes in effect a trickle feed. We would not generally use these fertilisers because of their unpredictability.

Organic fertilisers

Organic fertilisers are the in thing at the moment, but understanding what % of these is actually organic needs to be carefully considered. Manufacturers marketing can be very clever, but also misleading and I have found that these types of fertilisers do not need to contain very much organic material, to be called organic.

Which fertilisers do Just Lawns use?

There is really no limit because we have our own fertilisers blended to our own specifications, and therefore are able to use whatever we consider will work best in any given situation.

If, for instance we are working with a sandy loam soil we can add live soil microbes to the fertiliser to boost the soils ability to process nutrients and help break down thatch.