# How to spoon feed N?



## Pezking7p (May 23, 2020)

Sorry if this is a silly question, but a couple quick searches didn't turn anything up.

I can't tell you how many times I've read about spoon feeding in my whole three days on this forum. But when I tried to figure out how to do it I realized it didn't seem quite as simple as I thought based on what I have.

I've determined that the new grass I planted is at the stage where I should be spoon feeding it N to keep it moving. However, for this 2.3k area, I'm struggling to understand how to put down 0.2 lb/k of a fast acting granule. I've got starter fertilizer (18-24-12), but even that I need to somehow spread 2.5 lbs of granules even over this area. I'm not sure if this will even be effective. Also: I have a pretty crappy Scotts spreader that has a tendency for granules to get "stuck" in nooks and crannies when the hopper is low, so I would have to fill the hopper and trust my settings (I don't trust them).

Are the folks who are talking about spoon feeding strictly spraying? 
Am I over analyzing how evenly this needs to be spread? Particularly if I'm going to be applying possibly weekly?
Should I put down a higher amount of N, say 0.4-0.5 lb/k and just do it bi-weekly instead of weekly?

TIA.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Great question. Most members are using one of Urea (46% N) or AS (Ammonium Sulfate)(21% N) for their spoon feeding applications. Depending on size of lawn, you can spread or dissolve in your sprayer (the easier way of doing it).

The general rule for rates is:

0.25lb of Nitrogen each week or,
0,5lb of Nitrogen every 2 weeks

For a smaller area, you can use a hand held spreader. Spraying for most people seems to be the easiest way to ensure even coverage.

Starter fertilizer is going to contain slow release N and wouldn't be ideal for spoon feeding applications.

Hope this information helps.


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## Pezking7p (May 23, 2020)

@Harts Thank you! I assumed the starter wouldn't work, which made my dilemma even more difficult as AS and Urea both have higher nitrogen contents, but thanks for confirming.

It sounds like most people are using sprayers. I have a 3-4 gallon backpack that I have always used to spray glypho, so not sure I want to convert that and deal with all the the other issues that come along with it....cleaning, nozzles, learning how to spray...on my first spoon feeding, which I need to do, like, now.

Am I really kidding myself by thinking I can make it through life with just a spreader? It seems like treatments in general are just more available and versatile using a sprayer, but it also seems like a big jump up in time and equipment.

I think for now I will try to find some AS and do a double pass trying to put down 0.5 lb/k N tonight or tomorrow.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Only you can decide how much time and money you want to spend on this hobby. You can absolutely get by with just a spreader. However, the deeper you get into lawn care (if that's your decision to go) a sprayer does start to make more sense and does become more of a necessity.

We all tend to make things more difficult than what they really are. Here is a tip for using your spreader:

Open the hopper until bare anything comes out. Make one pass. Then go back to your starting spot and open the hopper a little more. Go ahead and make your passes in one direction then do a second perpendicular pass. If you have material left, make a third pass diagonally.

Spraying is just as simple. Most people use 1 gallon of water for every 1,000 square feet. Fill your sprayer with 1 gallon. Mark of 1,000 sf and start spraying. I go in 2 directions when I spray. That way I'm walking at an even pace - not too slow and not too fast.

Don't make spraying and spreading anymore difficult than that.

I will say if you have a crappy spreader, and you do plan on making this a long term hobby, I would invest in something better. You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on something. I just use the cheap Scott's spreader from HD.


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## Pezking7p (May 23, 2020)

@Harts I have a problem with going all-in on hobbies, so of course I'm out researching sprayers now. It's very tempting.

That said, I'd like to get through this year without any major purchases, as I believe I can do 80% of what I need with what I have already. Certainly none of my neighbors with nicer lawns are spraying anything.

I appreciate the spreading advice. Thanks again!


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

Pezking7p said:


> ... I have a pretty crappy Scotts spreader


I am a member of this club, for the time being.



Pezking7p said:


> Are the folks who are talking about spoon feeding strictly spraying?


Not necessarily. I've done 0.25 lbs N spoon feedings of ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) by granular. It works.
With urea (46-0-0) it is not really feasible to spread due to the tiny amount of more concentrated product, so spraying is almost necessary for that product and rate.



Pezking7p said:


> Am I over analyzing how evenly this needs to be spread?


Maybe. Probably.



Pezking7p said:


> Am I really kidding myself by thinking I can make it through life with just a spreader?


Probably. Can't spray for mosquitoes using a spreader  nor apply fungicides or herbicides that need foliar contact.
If you already have a backpack sprayer that works, clean it out and put it into service, no need to drop $$$ on a fancy new one.



Pezking7p said:


> Certainly none of my neighbors with nicer lawns are spraying anything.


Ahem. It is generally forbidden on this forum to have neighbors with nicer lawns.


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## Pezking7p (May 23, 2020)

ScottW said:


> Pezking7p said:
> 
> 
> > Certainly none of my neighbors with nicer lawns are spraying anything.
> ...


HA! We were doing pretty well until a few weeks ago, now there are like 3 lawns on my block nicer than mine. I have no clue about lawn care so I'm just trying to sort out what I need to do (working on soil test, then ammendments).

Give me until fall, I'll blow them away!

EDIT: I forgot to ask, I can't find AS locally apparently. However I do see some 29-0-5 with 2% iron that appears to be mostly urea, with some (6%) urea coated to be slow-release. Can this be used to spoon feed?

EDIT EDIT: I can get 10-10-10 as well, which appears to be urea + ammoniacal, which both appear to be fast acting. This might work, too?


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

Pezking7p said:


> I'm just trying to sort out what I need to do (working on soil test, then ammendments).


Ideally you wouldn't apply anything until _after_ you collect your soil samples. Pull those samples now/ASAP if you haven't already. Keep track of anything you put down between now and whenever you get your results back.



Pezking7p said:


> EDIT: I forgot to ask, I can't find AS locally apparently.


You're looking for farm/ag/feed store type places like a Farmers Co-op if you have those, or maybe lawn/turf specialists like a SiteOne (Lesco). Might have to call around a bit.



Pezking7p said:


> However I do see some 29-0-5 with 2% iron that appears to be mostly urea, with some (6%) urea coated to be slow-release. Can this be used to spoon feed?


Sure, but the higher the %N the more difficult it will be to spread evenly at a low 0.25 lbs dose.



Pezking7p said:


> EDIT EDIT: I can get 10-10-10 as well, which appears to be urea + ammoniacal, which both appear to be fast acting. This might work, too?


Yup. Easy to evenly spread 2.5 pounds of that per 1,000 for a 0.25 lbs dose of N.
Long term, you would not regularly fertilize with it because you _probably_ won't need the P and K in equal proportion to the N (need soil test results to know) but for a spoon feeding or two it will be fine.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Sorry in advance for the long post, but I hope you gain some useful information from it.

Above are all great ideas. Unless I missed it, there is something that wasn't mentioned directly, but alluded to with using AS over urea, to get better coverage at low rates. Since the AS is only 21% N, you need to spread more material (more particles) to get the same amount of N per area than 46% N from urea. As a result, you should have more even coverage.

Another way to get more even coverage at low rates is to use products with smaller particle sizes, so you can apply less overall fertilizer evenly. Many turf fertilizers (just about all pro/commercial fertilizers) list the particle sizes on the bag and in their literature. Look for the SGN. It stands for the Size Guide Number. Standard sizes are typically somewhere around 210-225. Greens grade SGNs are smaller and generally around 90-110. Greens grade fertilizers tend to be homogeneous, too, meaning they have all nutrients (NPK, iron, etc.) in each particle. This is an advantage for spreading low rates evenly, as opposed to most general fertilizers that have different components to make different ratios of NPK (different colors).

I realize that these are more specialty fertilizers that are harder to find, but if you can find the SGN on products available to you, you can make better choices. A SGN of 150 is better than one of 210, if you're looking at lower rates. Also, Milorganite can be used in the spring to spoonfeed, since it's homogeneous and a lower rate of N (6%). It does have a mix of slow and fast release N (about 60/40). The slower release will begin to release as temperatures warm throughout the spring/summer, and as long as you don't go completely nuts dropping Milo, you shouldn't have any issues (some guys dump 2-3x bag rate weekly, which gets expensive). You generally don't want to try to spoonfeed with synthetics that have mixtures of slow/fast release N, because you can't put the brakes on like you can with urea or AS (because they're all fast release). They even make a greens grade version of Milo for even lower rate applications on very short cut turf (greens grade is also smaller so it falls into the turf canopy, so it doesn't get picked up by greens mowers).

In full disclosure, I've used urea and Milo in the past to spoonfeed, and started using AS some this year. I also found a biosolids product that I use now that has a little AS, urea, SOP, kelp and humates. I like it a lot. It's called Bioplex 5-3-1. It also has 6% iron. Particle size seems to be larger than Milo, but it's still very spreadable.


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## Ohio Lawn (Mar 20, 2019)

Great info. Does spraying urea or AS do any harm to a sprayer?


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Ohio Lawn said:


> Great info. Does spraying urea or AS do any harm to a sprayer?


As long as you rinse it out well after spraying, nothing will happen. If you don't clean it, you might see corrosion in some metal parts.

Melt the urea or AS down in water before pouring it into the tank. If you can't get urea that is pure enough to melt down in your area, or you just don't want to deal with it, you can use diesel exhaust fluid which can be bought from many places. It is pure urea (32.5%) dissolved in deionized water (67.5%). The analysis is 15-0-0.


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## jha4aamu (Oct 16, 2017)

sorry if this was mentioned above. but if you are really interested in starting to spoon feed N, but not ready to jump in to buying a sprayer, you could look in to getting a scotts wizz spreader. its very good at spreading small amounts of AS


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^ +1

I've spread 1lb of urea to 6ksqft (0.08lb of N/ksqft) with the Scott wiz to prove it can be done. There is no need to complicate something you want to do at a weekly rate.


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## corneliani (Apr 2, 2019)

Not sure if there's a clear-cut definition on what the "spoon feeding" products &/or intervals should be.. It can range from regular fertigation applications to once every couple weeks, depending on product & quantity used. So if you're spraying, 1/10th# of N every week sounds sufficient ... but if using granulars you can consider 1/4# every couple weeks. The end result is to keep good color while minimizing growth surges.

On new turf I think the value lies in having nutrients constantly available for the (shallow) roots to access.

Just for reference, I'm "spoon feeding" 10-10-10 every couple weeks on my Bermuda section, along with foliar apps of FAS every now & then. It accomplishes what I need as far as pushing growth on a sloped portion of the yard during the growing season.


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