# July fertilizer options



## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

I know you don't want to add much N and force the top growth to outpace the roots in hot weather. But what about P and K? Can those be safely added in hot weather before a day or two of rain? As I understand P and K help with drought tolerance. Was thinking about a potash only app.

I know July 4th is on the Milorganite schedule, and people have different views on whether that's a good idea or not. Milo isn't practical for me due to size, so I'm more interested in synthetic ferts. I have a couple bags I could use in targeted areas though.

Other thing I was thinking about were foliar apps, is something like 0.1lb N with Fe okay? Or is that going to be a waste on semi-dormant grass?

The problem I'm having is the bad parts of my lawn are going into dormancy due to shallow roots but the good parts are still growing. I would like to improve the drought tolerance of my lawn as much as possible and get it to stay green without growing. I don't have irrigation. I've been trying to spoon-feed before rainstorms. Lawn is only 1.5 years old.


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## troksd (Jul 27, 2018)

FAS mix will certainly give your lawn a colour boost. N-EXT 0-0-2 or 7-0-0 (U'll need 2.5 gallons or more) will do the same. I have been using N-ext's 0-0-2 or FAS + Vermaplex (worm casting juice).

Wisconsin's weather is likely milder than the 90 degrees we are seeing here in Charlotte. If your day time temps are still in the 70's, U can definitely use 0.25 - 0.5 lbs of N.


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## beardizzle1 (Jun 13, 2019)

New to the lawn world.. what is FAS?


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## troksd (Jul 27, 2018)

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=211



beardizzle1 said:


> New to the lawn world.. what is FAS?


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## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

troksd said:


> FAS mix will certainly give your lawn a colour boost. N-EXT 0-0-2 or 7-0-0 (U'll need 2.5 gallons or more) will do the same. I have been using N-ext's 0-0-2 or FAS + Vermaplex (worm casting juice).
> 
> Wisconsin's weather is likely milder than the 90 degrees we are seeing here in Charlotte. If your day time temps are still in the 70's, U can definitely use 0.25 - 0.5 lbs of N.


I already have low pH problems, so I'm not adding anything that has sulfur.

Seasonal temps here are in the 80's.


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## jingobah (May 6, 2019)

How bout this stuff since you have no irrigation
https://www.hydretain.com/


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## troksd (Jul 27, 2018)

Yeah, many of low N, high Iron products are Sulfate based. With temps in the 80's I would use a low N product. I believe Site One sells a 5-0-20 +6% Iron for around $60. It has no sulfur in it. HyrBrix has a similar product too.



LeeB said:


> I already have low pH problems, so I'm not adding anything that has sulfur.
> 
> Seasonal temps here are in the 80's.


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## BXMurphy (Aug 5, 2017)

LeeB said:


> I know you don't want to add much N and force the top growth to outpace the roots in hot weather. But what about P and K?


N is plant food.

P and K are plant vitamins.

If your soil test says you need these, throw it down.

B


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## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

jingobah said:


> How bout this stuff since you have no irrigation
> https://www.hydretain.com/


That stuff seems like a mystery to me. They claim it's hygroscopic. Most hygroscopic compounds are very water soluble, so I'm not sure what would be keeping it from dissolving and washing away the next time it rains heavily. Perhaps it would work for a short time, but since it's not supported by mainstream science and it's expensive I think I'll pass.


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## Pete1313 (May 3, 2017)

LeeB said:


> Other thing I was thinking about were foliar apps, is something like 0.1lb N with Fe okay? Or is that going to be a waste on semi-dormant grass?


.1 lb/M of N with Fe is perfectly fine this time of year. It is what I do about every 2 weeks. You will need to have precision with spraying. It will be a waste on dormant grass though. If it is not actively growing, it will not absorb it.



LeeB said:


> The problem I'm having is the bad parts of my lawn are going into dormancy due to shallow roots but the good parts are still growing. I would like to improve the drought tolerance of my lawn as much as possible and get it to stay green without growing. I don't have irrigation. I've been trying to spoon-feed before rainstorms. Lawn is only 1.5 years old.


Increasing shallow roots and improving drought tolerance are best done in fall and spring. Unfortunately I dont think you will improve those much now that summer is here. It's time to hold on with what you have during the tough part of the year. I'm not sure what part of Wisconsin you are in(I'm in NW IL), but the current weather I am seeing is tough on grass(90f+ temps, 74 dew point, soil temps just above 80f).



LeeB said:


> I already have low pH problems, so I'm not adding anything that has sulfur.
> 
> Seasonal temps here are in the 80's.


Products with sulfate based sulfur will not lower soil PH. Only elemental sulfur has the potential to drop soil PH.


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## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

Pete1313 said:


> .1 lb/M of N with Fe is perfectly fine this time of year. It is what I do about every 2 weeks. You will need to have precision with spraying. It will be a waste on dormant grass though. If it is not actively growing, it will not absorb it.
> 
> Increasing shallow roots and improving drought tolerance are best done in fall and spring. Unfortunately I dont think you will improve those much now that summer is here. It's time to hold on with what you have during the tough part of the year. I'm not sure what part of Wisconsin you are in(I'm in NW IL), but the current weather I am seeing is tough on grass(90f+ temps, 74 dew point, soil temps just above 80f).
> 
> Products with sulfate based sulfur will not lower soil PH. Only elemental sulfur has the potential to drop soil PH.


I'm in western WI. We are getting lots of rain so hopefully that helps it come back. Will think about spraying if it does. Precision spraying isn't a problem, my rig is calibrated.

Sulfate doesn't change the pH much, but ammonium ion and metal ions are acidic (ferric iron is more acidic than vinegar). Therefore I'm wary of FAS. Because of solubilities I don't think you can spray Fe without some acidity, I just need to be careful. Need to find a chelated iron mix low in sulfur or just skip the iron until my pH gets back to normal.

Here's a little article that talks about ammonium and metal ions in regards to soil pH: http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/resource/download/res00000885/cmp00001096/pdf


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

@LeeB, if potassium or phosphorus are needed, they're safe in the heat as long as the application is 1 lb of P or K per thousand or less, and this is not done more than once per month or so.

For Potassium, I like to apply in July actually because it helps with Summer stress. But I use Sulfate of Potash for major applications instead of Muriate of Potash, which has chloride, and can cause stress to the grass.

I think foliar N apps can be good, but I'd probably want to stay under the 0.1 lb/M level in the heat. I'm pretty new to foliar, and learning as I go.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I think it will be rare to have low pH in Wisconsin. Do you know why it is low?


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## quattljl (Aug 8, 2018)

g-man said:


> I think it will be rare to have low pH in Wisconsin. Do you know why it is low?


It's all that methane from the cows and cheese heads up there breaking down in the soil. :lol: :lol:


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

Might be a good thread as a jumping off point for how and why roots grow. As a start, if soil is wet, roots grow. They don't look for water. They're roots. No intelligence. The plant wants to grow root structure but needs the carbs and proteins to do that. A bigger plant can support more roots and more roots can support a bigger plant. Not sure if there's a chicken and egg thing there. If a plant needs more nutrients from the soil it will uptake more water. That need for more water will spur yet more additional root growth of roots that are (already) wet enough to uptake water from the soil. The catch 22 is to grow those roots, the plant needs nutrients from the soil. If there are none where the roots are growing into, there may not be enough to support the growth of those roots.

With that in mind, the basic formula for deep roots is an ever larger actively growing plant, with adequate water and nutrients deep in the soil. If those conditions exist, the roots will go deep. If water and nutrients are on top with dry soil beneath, they won't. The whole deep and infrequent thing is good advice but not because roots stop growing with enough water on top, but because they stop growing if a watering pattern results in dry down deep.

Roots will stop growing if the plant can't synthesize enough to support additional growth (a variety of conditions will cause this) or if they meet soil so dry they are unable to uptake water from it.

That is my understanding of root growth. It is contrary to a lot of common stuff everyone always repeats and might be wrong, but it's what I understand of plant biology.

If you can't irrigate you have a problem. On the one hand, availability of adequate nutrients in the soil will reduce water needs versus inadequate availability. On the other hand, applying anything that spurs growth or has any chloride load will increase water needs, a lot. The plants could crash, fast and hard. The general solution for not enough water is water, not foliar or other nutrients. Now that it's dry, it's kind of risky to look at apps to try to counter that. You can try very small apps and see how things go, or leave it alone and focus on adding irrigation for next year.

In the future, make sure the soil has adequate fertility before it gets dry. Soil tests, apply what it needs, blah, blah.


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## troksd (Jul 27, 2018)

@LeeB and @Delmarva Keith thanks for the excellent info.


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## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

g-man said:


> I think it will be rare to have low pH in Wisconsin. Do you know why it is low?


My property was formerly a farm field, and decades of indiscriminate fertilizer usage has caused the soil to become very acidic (low 5's). I just got done applying 1800 lbs of lime a few weeks ago (that was fun to haul home in my car). My well water is also high in nitrates and is not drinkable without treatment as well from fertilizer overuse. The soil is also extremely hard clay. When it's dry, you can't even poke a little lawn flag into the ground in some areas because it's like concrete. I'm aerating twice a year but it's hard to pull deep plugs because the soil is hard and there are tons of rocks below the surface. The other joy of living here is you are surrounded by all these crazy weeds trying to invade that have varying degrees of glyphosate resistance. It was no small feat to get a decent lawn going in the first place. Due to size, I'm limited to sticking with cheap alternatives and doing the best I can since I don't have thousands to spend on fixing it. Could use twenty dump trucks of black dirt and start over...


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

Addressing your hard soil, I saw a youtube video the other day with Pete from GCI Turf talking about his formerly hard clay soil. He says years of humic acid applications changed things to the point where he could drive a compaction tester full depth with one hand. I saw him do it so I believe he did it.

I have no clue what the science is linking humic and loosening up soil (I could guess but I won't) but it appears to work.


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