# Starter fertilizer, Milorganite, or both?



## CPA Nerd

Hi all. After re-seeding my lawn last fall with limited success, the company I paid (will be doing all lawn care myself going forward) came back about five weeks ago and re-seeded a second time. I have seen good results this time. I had put down a starter fertilizer, but only about 3/4 of the bag rate. The company came back a couple weeks ago to redo some trouble spots a third time and now I'm seeing even more grass coming in. The lawn is filling in nicely, but has different colors of green all over. Much of the new grass is a light green.

My question is, should I put down another application of starter fertilizer all over? Since they came back a third time, there is a lot of new grass since the last time I applied starter fertilizer five weeks ago.

Will "too much" starter fertilizer do any damage to my existing mature grass? I want to make sure that the new grass survive and thrives, but I don't want to do any harm to the existing grass.

Should I use:

A) Only starter fertilizer on entire lawn
B) Only Milorganite on entire lawn
C) Both on entire lawn

My instinct tells me that the answer is either B or C.


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## Ridgerunner

Any chance you had a soil test done (not a big box store test or a soil savvy test, but one of the established standardized tests)? What is the NPK (X-X-X) of the starter fertilizer you are going to use? Because young grass has not yet established much root mass to collect nutrients, the point of applying a starter fertilizer is to make NP&K more readily available to the turf. Short answer, is at about 6 weeks, spoon feed (a light application) of a 10-10-10 fertilizer would be advantageous. Maintain water throughout the Summer too.


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## kaptain_zero

You need to watch the Nitrogen content. 1.5lb per 1000 sq feet is bandied about as the maximum and seems to be a safe bet.

Starter fertilizer.... there's lots of them out there at all different combinations. What are the numbers and how long ago did you apply it last.

The LCN suggests a combination of starter fert and Milorganite, but points out that you want to keep it to no more than 1.5lb total N per 1000sq. f and this is was on a rehab, not a brand new seeded lawn.

Please note, I'm only an expert in neglicting lawns.... so my advise is probably not worth much.

Times between fertilizer applications are typically 5 to 8 weeks and it sounds like it's been 5 weeks or more since your last application, so you can likely do another one at this point. As for using a starter fert on an established lawn, I don't see any problems. In fact, that is my plan this fall and again in the spring. I will also be using an organic fertilizer in a seperate application on the same day, keeping the 1.5lb N total in mind. In my case, I'll be doing a 1/2 rate application of my starter fert to boost the phosphorous content, and a full application of my organic fert. I got some starter fert that is 12 - 36 - 15 which will give me a good dose of phosphorous even at 1/2 the normal rate.

But, like in ALL things... a little may be good, but that doesn't mean a lot is better. We are also coming into the heat of summer and a reduced amount of rain, so a full application of fert would likely require watering on a regular basis.

I think I'll sit back and watch this thread as it might be the way I have to go.... Nuke and re-seed.

Regards

Christian


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## CPA Nerd

Thank you both for your responses. Would this 10-10-10 fertilizer be okay? It is supposedly for gardens and shrubs but I don't think there's anything different about this than a "lawn" fertilizer.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Hyponex-40-lb-All-Purpose-Fertilizer-10-10-10-523902/202968725

I was thinking of mixing this in with half my normal amount of Milorganite.


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## Ridgerunner

That 10-10-10 is fine. Apply at the rate of .3 to .5 lbs of N/1000 sq ft. (3-5 lbs of product per thousand sq ft) If you already have the Starter as long as it has some potassium in it, that would be fine also, just keep the amount of N applied at .5 lbs/M or less as we are going into Summer heat.


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## CPA Nerd

Thanks so much. Milorganite too, or skip it?


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## Ridgerunner

I don't see any advantage to adding Milo. It has no potassium, just N and phosphorous. Although 60% can be slow release (which is nice) 40% is fast release. I wouldn't overdose new grass with N this late in Spring.


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## CPA Nerd

Thanks! I'll apply the one I linked at 3-5 lbs per 1,000 square feet by end of June and then Milorganite at bag rate in the fall.

Appreciate the help!


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## Ridgerunner

I wouldn't apply the synthetic that late. I suggest you get it down this week. If you like, you could apply either the Milo at half rate now and then the synthetic at 0.3 lbs of N/M mid June (or vice versa) if you are up to spoon feeding.


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## CPA Nerd

I'll go with 0.5 lbs of N/M synthetic this week and skip Milorganite until fall.


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