# Summer Color



## Wolverine (Jan 17, 2018)

Like many I'm sure, spring color is amazing then heat settles in and color fades. I'm not pushing N for obvious reasons but would like color to hold through the summer. Is liquid iron the only option?


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## DTCC_Turf (May 26, 2018)

There are granular iron products out there.


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## Stegs (Aug 29, 2017)

Milorganite

Only 6% nitrogen....so no worries about too much n.

It will help your soil, plus has 2% iron.....so you get alot green without growth


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## Wolverine (Jan 17, 2018)

I have used Lesco fertilizer with 6% iron and the lawn responded really. With the heat of summer coming on I am on a .5 lb/k of milorganite every 2-3 weeks until fall blitz. We just came out of 5 days that were 90 plus so maybe grass is just in recovery mode.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Another way is with PGR. It slows down grow (less nitrogen and water needs) and get some green up.


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## Wolverine (Jan 17, 2018)

g-man said:


> Another way is with PGR. It slows down grow (less nitrogen and water needs) and get some green up.


Which PGR do you recommend?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

T-nex because of price.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Stegs said:


> Milorganite
> 
> Only 6% nitrogen....so no worries about too much n.
> 
> It will help your soil, plus has 2% iron.....so you get alot green without growth


One thing to remember is that the 6% nitrogen can still give you nearly a pound of N if you throw out 15pounds per thousand. Granted it is slow release but relative to a product with 33% nitrogen that you throw down at 3 pounds per thousand you are getting the same amount of N. Just be careful of the pounds per thousand if you are concerned about pushing too much N.


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## kevreh (Apr 3, 2018)

Just got back from Site One and bought a bag of Lesco 5-0-20 with 10% Iron. Paid about $25. So that's an option.

Recommended rate is 1 lb/1k so thats only .05 LB of N. Curious to see the greening effect I get. However when I do the math with Milo I was getting 40% Iron but with this lesco product I'll only get 10%. (I have 3500sf, so a 36lb bag of milo = 10lb/1k, 10*4%= 40%). To get the same 40% with the Lesco product I'll need to drop 4lb/1k which is .2LB of N. Guess thats not too bad, even though we're approaching hotter weather. Can someone tell me if that sounds right?

Here's the label if anyones interested: https://www.scribd.com/document/208607204/Lesco-5-0-20-10Fe.


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## SJ Lawn (May 7, 2018)

The 4lbs would be 0.2lbs of all FAST release nitrogen.


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## kevreh (Apr 3, 2018)

Hmmm. Wonder how much of an effect that will have on growth. Really don't want more growth at this point. Don't mean to derail this thread, but worth noting is the granular Iron needs a carrier. I picked the product with the least N but it still may be too much.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

The bag of Milo has 4% by weight of iron. 36lb * 4% =1.4lb of iron. When you spread it in 3.5ksqft, it is 0.4lb of iron per k.

They recommend a rate to get 1lb of potash, 5lb of actual product. If you apply the recommended amount of the lesco, you will get 0.5lb of iron per k. (10% of 5lb). You will also get 0.25lb of N /ksqft.

The iron in the lesco product is not chelated, so if your pH is above 7, it won't have any color improvement.


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## kevreh (Apr 3, 2018)

Thanks for that explanation g-man. I mis-read that application rate. I bought this bag planning on using it a couple times this summer. Is the .25lb of N getting into the "not a good idea in the summer" zone, or is it negligible?

Wolverine- This is what I found at Site One. They had other high FE mixes with more N in it. I originally wanted to buy the 12-0-0 liquid but thought it was too much N. If you find anything else let us know!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

0.25lb of N is not too high. You could always do half rate. If you can irrigate or get rain, I would not sweat the 0.25lb of N.

It would be lower N rate than Milo.


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## Wolverine (Jan 17, 2018)

kevreh said:


> Thanks for that explanation g-man. I mis-read that application rate. I bought this bag planning on using it a couple times this summer. Is the .25lb of N getting into the "not a good idea in the summer" zone, or is it negligible?
> 
> Wolverine- This is what I found at Site One. They had other high FE mixes with more N in it. I originally wanted to buy the 12-0-0 liquid but thought it was too much N. If you find anything else let us know!


There is a site one 10 minutes from my house that I purchase a few items from. I like the low N and high iron for summer....tough to find it seems in granular form. Temps in my neck of the woods are in the 60s at the moment so Lawn is looking really good.

Last week I applied .54 lb N per K of Milorganite and applied 4 oz per K of N ext RGS. I also just ordered 5 gallons of N ext greeNE effect whic has 6% iron.


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## kevreh (Apr 3, 2018)

g-man said:


> 0.25lb of N is not too high. You could always do half rate. If you can irrigate or get rain, I would not sweat the 0.25lb of N.
> 
> It would be lower N rate than Milo.


But, milo is slow release vs the urea in the one I bought. But to your point, it is only .25 lb of N.

With a site one nearby you should see what they have in granular. Will be cheaper than the $100 you paid for the green effect(?)


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## Wolverine (Jan 17, 2018)

kevreh said:


> g-man said:
> 
> 
> > 0.25lb of N is not too high. You could always do half rate. If you can irrigate or get rain, I would not sweat the 0.25lb of N.
> ...


The greeNe effect will last for 4-5 applications for my Lawn size or roughly 2 seasons worth. I will stop by Site One tomorrow and check out the granular that you found....thanks for the find.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

kevreh said:


> But, milo is slow release vs the urea in the one I bought. But to your point, it is only .25 lb of N.


Milo is not all slow release. I think it is 40% water soluble (fast). I apply 0.20lb of N of AS (super fast) weekly when the conditions are right (68F). I know I could do 0.5 and 0.75 if I'm careful with overlaps. You should be fine and if in doubt apply half the rate and then the other half in 2 weeks.


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## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

Wolverine said:


> kevreh said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for that explanation g-man. I mis-read that application rate. I bought this bag planning on using it a couple times this summer. Is the .25lb of N getting into the "not a good idea in the summer" zone, or is it negligible?
> ...


How would Greene effect compare to FAS that's long been topic of discussion


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## Wolverine (Jan 17, 2018)

kolbasz said:


> Wolverine said:
> 
> 
> > kevreh said:
> ...


Not sure. I just applied 8oz per k tonight. I will post results next week. 7% urea nitrogen/6% iron is the make up of the product. I just like an excuse to use my Chapin 24v sprayer more often........


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

In Michigan this time of year, assuming normal weather, there's no issue with using some Nitrogen at this time of year, unless you have a specific reason not to...which I think is what you were wondering due to the fungal disease. Speaking of which, I am not sure what disease(s) you have based on the presentation. It could be more than one.

Absolutely no issue under normal circumstances with 0.25 lb/M of N this time of year for your area, unless it was like 90 degrees. If it were, you might want to go lower or skip it until it cooled down.

As far as disease, some types do better with more N and some with less...but you still need to provide adequate nutrients, regardless. If your soil test says you need Potassium as well, I would go for it.


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## fusebox7 (Jul 27, 2017)

Adequate water (1-1.5" per week). Do you have supplemental irrigation? Slow release nitrogen and iron do help but without sufficient amounts of water the grass will be wanting to shut down to preserve energy.


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## Miller_Low_Life (Apr 12, 2017)

I usually flip flop between Milorganite and Ironite in the summer every other year. Ironite gives me a quick green up for the 4th of July.


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## Wolverine (Jan 17, 2018)

fusebox7 said:


> Adequate water (1-1.5" per week). Do you have supplemental irrigation? Slow release nitrogen and iron do help but without sufficient amounts of water the grass will be wanting to shut down to preserve energy.


I do have inground irrigation with excellent coverage. The last heat spell we had, I was a little delinquent on watering. With kbg I need to stay on top of watering.


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## glenmonte (Sep 15, 2017)

My local test only does N,P,K, and pH. I also use Soil Savvy (I know there is a split opinion on that) and it gave me 1.33 ppm of Fe (low). For that and summer green, I'm looking to add granular iron. No spray and accessibility are priorities. Time is tight. I don't want to push much more nitrogen, so I was considering this Dr. Iron from Home Depot.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Monterey-Dr-Iron-21-lb-Organic-Lawn-Pellets-LG7122/202043621

It has 22% iron in a 21 pound bag, and at their max rate, looks like it will be .77 lb/k. Looking for thoughts.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

glenmonte said:


> My local test only does N,P,K, and pH. I also use Soil Savvy (I know there is a split opinion on that) and it gave me 1.33 ppm of Fe (low). For that and summer green, I'm looking to add granular iron. No spray and accessibility are priorities. Time is tight. I don't want to push much more nitrogen, so I was considering this Dr. Iron from Home Depot.
> 
> https://www.homedepot.com/p/Monterey-Dr-Iron-21-lb-Organic-Lawn-Pellets-LG7122/202043621
> 
> It has 22% iron in a 21 pound bag, and at their max rate, looks like it will be .77 lb/k. Looking for thoughts.


The drawback of using soil savvy is that the test doesn't show what is in the soil. It only shows what is plant available. You may have plenty of iron but it is bound up in the soil. Iron uptake is affected by ph and other nutrients in the soil. If you don't mind the expense, you can try adding granular iron. You may or may not see a difference. This is why spraying iron is the preferred choice. It get absorbed through the leaf and isn't affected by the soil. Another option is to use humic acid to help chelate the iron in the soil to increase plant availability. But, without knowing how much iron is in the soil, who knows if the humic acid will help.

Personally, I have used ironite. I didn't notice any difference. I tried spraying iron and in 2 days, wow. What a difference! Instant satisfaction!


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## vnephologist (Aug 4, 2017)

g-man said:


> Another way is with PGR. It slows down grow (less nitrogen and water needs) and get some green up.


+1 on this. Combine it with whatever N and Fe you decide and it'll add color and limit top growth too.


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## Kalous86 (Apr 8, 2018)

Hell I just bought a 2.5 jug liquid iron 4-0-0 with 6% iron for $21... but helps I work for a fertilizer company to get great prices lol


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