Why Fertilize Your Lawn?
We hear this question a lot. It would be nice if we could fertilize our lawns once and be done with it, just like it would be nice if we could mow once for the season and that would be it. In the real world, where your lawn provides a growing, natural setting for your home and a place for your family to relax and play, it needs a regularly scheduled fertilization program to reach its potential. Grass that receives appropriate levels of fertilizer — not too little and not too much — produces a dense root and shoot system capable of filtering out impurities or other components that might be found in runoff.
Healthy soils turn certain chemical compounds into a soluble solution that can easily be absorbed by turf grass. Once absorbed into the plant, it is this solution that allows the plant to turn sunlight into food so that the plant can grow. Over time, turf grasses will deplete these solutions from the soil faster than they can be replaced. When fertilizer is added to the soil, the microbes in the soil can then digest these compounds into a solution that can then be absorbed by the plant.
Weed Control
Weed control can be broken down into several methods: prevention and spot control. Many weeds can actually be prevented from developing in your lawn by preventing the weed seeds from germinating and taking hold in your lawn. This pre-emergent application actually creates a fine layer on top of the soil that thwarts weed seeds from developing. This type of treatment is great for keeping crabgrass from growing.
Spot treatment is a good way of controlling seeds brought in by the wind or by birds and other animals. When the weed becomes visible to the naked eye, it can then be treated and removed from the lawn.
A thick healthy lawn is one of the best ways of reducing weeds. Weed seeds typically need a certain amount of light to germinate. A thick healthy lawn prevents that light from reaching the soil and thus reduces weed seeds from germinating.
