When you look at the three numbers on a bag of fertilizer, the first one is always nitrogen. You probably have noticed that this number is usually higher than the others as well. That’s because nitrogen is arguably the most important nutrient your lawn can get during the growing season.

What nitrogen does for the lawn

1. Healthy lawn growth. Nitrogen pushes the grass to lengthen its blades, adding more leaf structure to soak in sunlight. The more sunlight the grass can effectively catch, the more photosynthesis can take place, loading sugars down into the root system of the lawn. The more sugars are thrown into the roots means more roots are made. The cycle then starts over as more roots leave more room to push up more blades, making nitrogen important to keep the process moving along. Pretty cool right?
2. Healthy lawn color. Nitrogen also helps the lawn maintain that pretty, deep green color we all strive for. The greener the better for looks, of course, but also for photosynthesis. Green leaf surface area is optimal for grabbing sun rays. Nitrogen gives the grass that green it needs.
3. Lawn disease resistance. A green lawn that is actively growing will be able to resist disease problems much more readily than an under fertilized one.

The only time nitrogen can be bad for the lawn is when it is used too heavily or in super hot and dry weather. Too much nitrogen in hot weather with no moisture will push growth that is not supported by enough moisture, stressing the lawn big time!

I always recommend you give your lawn at least a half to three-quarters of a pound of nitrogen in the spring, and once again in the fall. That’s enough to keep it going all season long. If you feel you need an extra boost, go ahead and apply a bit more in the late summer, as long as you plan to keep the lawn well irrigated!

We have talked a whole bunch over the years in regards to proper lawn treatments while stressing the need to stick with a solid program. I have urged you to get on a program to help your lawn grow vigorously without an unhealthy push. But still many of you want more. You want to ensure you are getting the most benefit for your lawn dollars spent, and you’ve wondered what can be done to stretch the effectiveness of lawn fertilizers and other products applied. So here are two tips that will help you for sure.

Lawn aeration

Aerating the lawn is an important practice that I highly recommend for every lawn, healthy or not. However, aeration can also be used as a tool to extend the effectiveness of fertilizers. Our goal in fertilizing the lawn is to get nutrients into the root system of the grass. These nutrients support photosynthesis which in turn allows the lawn to thicken up.

When you aerate, you are opening up the root system and exposing it to air and water, but more importantly, nutrients. The idea here is to apply a nice coating of quality fertilizer right after you aerate. This puts the granules right down into the root zone where they are used much faster, thus producing better results.

Watering and irrigation

Most of your store-bought synthetic fertilizers are water activated. This is because the nutrients are bound to other materials used as “carriers.” The carriers themselves serve no other purpose than to give the granules weight so they are easily spreadable.

If you “water in” your applications immediately upon application, you will release the nutrients from the carrier and get the lawn growing.

If you will follow these two simple ideas during your spring and fall grass care regimen, you are sure to get much better results than in previous years.