The Grass Doctor

When and how much fertilizer I should use on my grass?

I fertilized my grass a few weeks ago using fertilizer with "haltz" to prevent crab grass and weeds. Can I fertilize my grass again this week using fertilzer "lawn food" without the haltz in it?

Public Comments

1. it depends how dead it is
2. You should only fertilize grass once or twice a year. If you fertilize too often the grass will grow fast and weak and be susceptible to disease and drought. The idea with grass is to keep it tough and hardy. You should only give it water once per week, to a maximum of one inch of rain equivalent. Get a cheap rain gage, and if it rains enough don't water. DO NOT water every day. The grass will get greedy for water and it will not send its roots deep. (By the way, you are too late in the year for crabgrass preventer to work. If you have crabgrass it will have already germinated).
3. Overfertilizing can kill the grass. Read the directions on the product you are using. A good sign of making a mistake is when using a spreader and the drive wheel is on the outside of the turn and the fertilizer keeps flowing while turning. The lawn gets burnt at each corner from excess chemicals.
4. The best treatment for grass is to set your mower to leave the grass 3" long and leave the clippings on the grass where they will help fertilize it. And keep the mower blade sharp.
5. I prefer to use half the amount recommended on the bag then do a second application about two weeks later. It's just something I've found through trial and error to give results. If you used the entire amount recommended for your size lawn in the first application, you shouldn't fertilize again at this time.