# Is there such a thing as fairway grade 10-10-10?



## Groundskeeper Willie (Feb 22, 2019)

Hello all, just got a soil test done thru UGA and I'm looking for some fertilizer advice based on their findings.
I told myself this winter that I would go with Fairway Grade fertilizer to ensure uniformity and avoid burning.

This is for my sister's 2Kft^2 bermuda lawn, which they report has 8lbs/A of Phosphorus (Low), 136lbs/A of Potassium (Medium), and a Ph of 6.9 (High). They recommended a fert program of 10lbs of 10-10-10 per thousand at green up, which is upon us. After that I should follow with 3lbs of 32-0-0 in mid-June and again in early August, or else 2lbs of 46-0-0. Another dose of 10-10-10 to wind up the year in Sept.
In all, 4 applications a year.

This all looks very standard, and while it's some relief to see recommendations that are easily followed, I wonder whether this is really the best plan, or just the standard plan. I'm having a little difficulty matching up the recommendations from UGA to my own plan to use only stuff good enough for a golf course.

To begin with, the 10-10-10 fert. Would it be better to use a separate phosphorous-only product to deal with phosphorous deficiency, deployed along with the same high nitrogen fertilizer I will use by itself in June-August?

Or, let's say I opt to take their advice to use a 10-10-10 fert. Does any company make a "balanced 10" product that has a small, uniform particle size - I mean like SGN 135? And if it exists, who can I buy it from? I used a "tenner" on this lawn once before and the prills were like marbles. It burned freckles into the lawn. I'm trying to keep this bermuda at 11/16" or at most 7/8". All similar products I've seen before strike me as being the same way: too chunky. The big chunks sit on top of dense turf and burn. Most consumer brands of fertilizer never post a SGN figure. The reason I got a soil analysis done in the first place was that I wanted to get finer golf-course grade fertilizer this year, and I didn't want to splash out the cash for that kind of product without knowing exactly the nutrient ratio I needed.

I've seen a listing for Pennington 14-14-14 (only slightly more concentrated than 10-10-10) but I don't know if it's really right for low cut turf. It also says it's intended for "Turf & Ornamental" and in my limited experience anything that's for ornamentals has massive particle size.

Thanks for any advice.


----------



## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

The Anderson's makes an 11-8-9 with a 75 sgn that includes micros and humic acid. I'm not sure how difficult it will be to source though.


----------



## Jace (Feb 28, 2020)

Harrell's has a 15-5-15 fairway fertilizer, don't know if that helps you or not. We use Harrell's on our golf course

https://www.harrells.com/Products/ProductDetail?sku=200167


----------



## McDiddles (Feb 24, 2020)

Post your analysis so we can have a look. 8lbs/acre of P is low. I could be wrong but I think the recommendation is for the turf's annual requirement. Not necessarily a specific recommendation for your lawn.

Consider a starter fert You'll need the N anyways. Unless you have a golf contact you might be hard pressed to find what you're looking for retail. I think greens are anything less then 100sgn, fairways are 200sgn or less. Not a golf guy...Site One is probably your best bet outside of online sources.

I've seen some lawns dotted up before, as you've described. Try applying late in the evening when it's cooler, and dry, when the lawn is due for cutting. Water it in the next morning, and cut that afternoon or the next day. Maybe that will relieve some of the problem.


----------



## rwhite4573 (Aug 24, 2018)

Sorry you are looking for a 10-10-10. I have used this on TTTF and it sure made it green  
Carbon90PLUS 10-0-10 Pro Peat They sell an 11-11-11


----------



## Groundskeeper Willie (Feb 22, 2019)

Here's a copy of the report:


Thanks for all the ideas and responses. I thought maybe that I was overlooking something easily found. Looks like it's pretty hard to find after all. Never even heard of Harrell's before. Maybe plain ol starter type fertilizer is the way to go - easy to find and inexpensive. Some of them are about equal on N and P, and the soil has a fair amount of K in it already.


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Product I see used on golf courses here is Yara 16-15-15. This is in the form of homogeneous prills that rapidly dissolve when watered. I am familiar with the type and degree of injury caused by bulk blend AG grade fertilizers. It is my guess that big chunks of Potassium Chloride are present in those blends and that causes salt burn.


----------



## Groundskeeper Willie (Feb 22, 2019)

Yara "Miniprills" 15-15-15 sounds almost ideal. The Andersons greens grade 11-8-9 also sounds nearly ideal. 
Thanks for the ideas, I'm trying to run these down. But as hinted above, sourcing these products is proving pretty difficult.


----------



## Groundskeeper Willie (Feb 22, 2019)

Harrell's seems to have a 14-14-14 product in the range of SGN 120-170. That would be ideal, if I'm understanding the size range on it correctly. I wonder if my broadcast spreader can even handle sub 100 SGN granules correctly. It would probably dump it all out too fast even on the lowest setting. Wish Harrell's was here in GA somewhere.


----------

