Multipurpose Fertilizers: Are Additives Worth the Costs?
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| Photo Credit: Daniel Overcash |
| Once only used by professionals, slow-release fertilizers are now available for home lawn care. |
Spring is an ideal time to give your yard a good dose of nutrients. But standing in the garden center, trying to determine which bag of fertilizer to purchase for your lawn, can be overwhelming. Your options might look something like this: Slow-Release 28-3-8 for $28, or 21-2-8 + Weed Control for $34, or the standard bag of 21-4-8 fertilizer with no additives for $10. Faced with the concern of what to do, you may wonder, “Is the value of the additives worth the difference in cost?”
Let’s figure that out. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Daniel Overcash | | Weed and Feed combination products promote grass growth and weed killing, but they can be costly. |
All fertilizer has a guaranteed analysis (by law), which means a bag of the most expensive, nationally branded 22-10-20 contains the same amount of fertilizer as a bag of the generic, store brand 22-10-20. The difference is in the additives that companies “add” to the fertilizer to create a multipurpose product.
A standard fertilizer – one with no additives – releases all the available nutrients soon after the first rain or watering. This leads to a period of rapid green growth that tapers off before the end of the season. To combat this, the industry developed a system to slow down this rapid release of nutrients with “slow-release” fertilizers.
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| Warnings |
- Fertilizer + weed control products contain pesticides and must be applied according to the label on the bag.
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| Tips |
- Broadleaf weed control products take care of weed problems without providing nutrients. You might want to add an inexpensive standard fertilizer to provide the desired nutrient supplement. (The fertilizer and weed control applications can be made the same day, but not as a combined application because the application rate for each will be different.)
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| Facts |
- Leaving grass clippings on the yard returns up to 10 percent of fertilizer to the soil. (This might be referred to as “grass-cycling.”)
- Slow-release fertilizers have been used for years in nursery crops, but are now widely available for lawn care.
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| Faqs |
- Q: When is the best time to fertilize my lawn?
A: For cool-season grasses like fescue and bluegrass, the first week in March is usually a good time. For warm-season grass like Bermuda and zoysia grass, the first application can be applied in May.
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