Natural Lawn Fertilizer And Synthetic Lawn Fertilizer: A Balance
We have been talking a lot about natural lawn care, and obviously, that is the point of this site, but I need to clue you guys in on something, and that being the benefits of using synthetic fertilizers in your lawn treatment program as well.
First, let’s define some terms so you guys can follow my thinking ok?
What is Natural Fertilizer?
A natural lawn fertilizer is one that is derived from elements that are naturally occurring on the Earth. Yeah, not the most technical definition, I know, but think about this:
Your lawn needs nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus to grow properly in most cases. These are known as “macro-nutrients.”
There are other “micronutrients” such as iron, that will also help your grass, but for our purposes here, we are focusing on the macros.
There are naturally occurring phosphorus and potassium deposits throughout most of world. There are also ways to find naturally existing nitrogen.
Natural nitrogen usually comes from organic sources, namely plantlife. Just so you know, not all natural fertilizers are organic, but all organic sources are natural! Read that one twice ok?
Long story short, we need to find a way to get natural nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus into our lawns to make them healthy. The problem with this is that many natural sources of macro elements are not concentrated enough to do us any good. This is why we do, on occasion, need to utilize some synthetic, or man made sources and include them in our lawn care treatment program.
What is Synthetic Fertilizer?
Synthetic lawn fertilizer still contains the macro nutrients for the lawn that I mentioned above, however, the elements are chemically bonded or “made” in a lab somewhere. Think of synthetic fertilizer just like daily vitamin capsules you take. When you take a store bought vitamin supplement, that is man made and it gives you 100% of your daily needs in a convenient, small dose. You could, theoretically get the same nutrients by eating 100 stalks of broccoli every morning, but who can do that right?
Synthetic fertilizers work the same way. You put down much less to get a big impact, faster.
What Is The Natural and Synthetic Fert Balance?
Here’s the key to it all: natural fertilizers will only release nutrients (break down) when there is sufficient heat to do so… and they release very very slowly. This is good because the lawn can intake the nutrients slowly, growing and thickening at a normal, healthy pace. But the problem comes in when you are trying to green up your lawn in March and April and the night time temps are still in the low 30s and 40s … it’s just not warm enough to break down those natural nutrients.
This is where proper use of synthetic fert comes in. The synthetics are made to break down with water! And what do we get lots of in March and April?… yep, rain!
So the key is to use a nice balance of good synthetic fertilizer in the spring, and slow releasing, healthy natural fertilizer in the fall. Bing, bang, done!
If you’d like to learn more about this concept, one that I call a “hybrid lawn treatment solution” then get my step-by-step ebook for just $7 now. It takes you through the exact steps you should be following during the year to achieve a healthy, natural, thick lawn. It basically tells you “when to do what for your lawn” without using harsh products that will do more harm that good. Get the book here.