Natural Green Lawn

I get this question quite a bit in my real world lawn care business, so I figure I might as well answer it here for you all too. The long and short is that iron is what makes Kentucky Bluegrass look blue! Yep, a little iron in your grass and you will get that deeper blue-green appearance. (the picture to the left is a closeup of my lawn after being treated with iron. Notice the deep blue-green appearance? Sweet!!!)

Iron For Lawns

However, iron can also be used to correct soil deficiencies and is considered a viable organic alternative to heavy synthetic nitrogen. (nitrogen will make the lawn green for sure, but too much of it will also cause it to over-grow!) If your turf grass looks dull yellow, chances are a good dose of iron will help restore it.

Best Iron For Lawns

I have used quite a few different iron treatments on lawns over the years and all have worked pretty well. The hose-end liquid iron applications do a pretty good job if you don’t have access to a dry spreader. Liquid iron treatments will absord quickly and become immediately available to grass plants.

If you do get a granular iron source, get one that is chelated iron. By definition, chelated iron has been chemically bonded in such a way as to make the iron readily available for grass plants to use. Minerals are not easily absorbed by plants, and can also be caught up in high pH soils. Using a chelated iron product will get more of the iron into the grass plants quicker for better results.

Milorganite For Lawn Iron

I prefer to use an organic source of iron and one that is available almost everywhere is called Milorganite. This form of chelated iron also has some nitrogen in it, but not too much, and the nutrients are released very slowly anyway. That is exactly what we want! Slow release means slow, long lasting results. In fact, Milorganite is applied ar t about 15lbs per 1,000 sq feet of turf which is 5 times the amount of conventional fertilizers. You will feel like you are dropping buckets of this stuff on the grass, but trust me, that is how you do it. Also, Milorganite has a pretty ‘crappy’ smell, but it ain’t that bad!

Some general purpose fertilizers will have a small percentage of iron included as well. Scott’s makes a blend with 2% iron, for example. The problem with these products are that they include way too much fast-releasing nitrogen that will end up pushing unnecessary growth in your lawn.

The other very popular iron additive for turf grass is called “Ironite.” It is available in most garden centers. It works well but can do more harm than good if not applied properly. If you are going to buy ironite, buy the liquid form.

Potential Problems With Iron And Lawns

First off, Ironite, for example, will stain your driveway, brickwork, patio and deck a rusty orange color! There is almost no avoiding this. Once one small pellet hits one of these areas and gets wet, it’s immediately stained. Milorganite, however, does not stain and is much easier to apply with no worries.

Secondly, too much iron will turn the lawn a strange dark grey color. If you use Milorganite, you don’t run this risk due to the extreme slow release nature of the product.

When to apply Iron to the Lawn

Late spring is the best time to put down your iron treatment. Ideally, temperatures will be between 60 and 70 degrees. NEVER apply iron when temperatures are in the low 80s or higher as this can cause undue stress to grass plants.

You can also apply some iron to your lawn in the early fall to give the truf another blue green dosage! Below are some great choices of iron applications that I have used and recommend.