# Fertilizer on dormant grass



## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Ever seen fertilizer applied to fully dormant grass? Over the holiday weekend, I drove by a fully straw colored Zoysia lawn with some weeds (probably garlic or onion plants). It had a fresh yellow pesticide sign. Maybe someone just sprayed for the weeds, but really...? We all know that a pre-M with Nitrogen fert was likely applied.

It really irks me...it's likely to leach or even runoff without being utilized. Now, it could've been a clueless homeowner, but most people don't use the yellow signs even though you're supposed to. Usually it means a fert company came. This has been discussed in the B&R podcast. All it takes is one person to give the industry a bad rep. Hopefully that is not what went down. Most industry pros do care about what they're applying and why, and avoid bad practices. There's no excuse.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Green said:


> …We all know that a pre-M with Nitrogen fert was likely applied.


I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. It is quite common to apply spring pre-e without N to warm season lawns.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Ware said:


> Green said:
> 
> 
> > …We all know that a pre-M with Nitrogen fert was likely applied.
> ...


Good to hear. I actually do the same in my cool season lawn, with a 0-0-7 product because I fertilized well in the Fall. Thanks for giving me something positive to think about. There are relatively few lawns with Zoysia, let alone true Zoysia lawns around here...easily less than 10% probably. Hopefully the infrastructure and knowledge exists around here, and they don't accidentally get treated like the status quo cool season lawn.


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