You may have noticed that your lawn isn’t growing nearly as fast as it was over the summer … and for those of you who mow your own lawn, it’s probably been quite a relief! Don’t worry though, this is not a sign of a sick lawn … in fact, if you’ve been following a regular treatment schedule this year, it’s likely your lawn has never been healthier. As the temperature drops, the grass growth slows significantly. All lawns react to the cooler weather this time of year by entering a period of dormancy, and it is in these last weeks leading into winter that we recommend applying the final lawn fertilization treatment of the year.
November is the perfect time to fertilize your lawn, because it is during the winter months that your grass will develop a stronger, healthier root system to store nutrients for the next growing season. It is therefore important to encourage root growth as long as possible, and is the very reason fertilization is critical this time of year.
That said, it should be noted that lawn winterization is not the same as a regular lawn treatment – and more importantly, applications available in home improvement stores and typical garden centers will not produce the same effect as professional winterizer formulas.
Although phosphorus promotes a strong and healthy root system to help grass tolerate diseases and extreme temperatures, it is not the primary ingredient in winterizing lawn treatments. Potassium also plays a very important role in regulating plant growth, but contrary to popular belief, it is no longer specifically thought to regulate winter hardiness either – it is better suited to regular lawn treatments throughout the year. Research now proves that it is much more important to apply nitrogen to lawns this time of year to prepare for the cold winter months – the results seen every spring in nitrogen-enriched lawns speak for themselves!
So, given that it’s the single most important nutrient for late fall fertilization, we apply a treatment of 100% nitrogen to our customer’s lawns. Unlike the do-it-yourself mixes that you can buy at local hardware stores, Benjamin Lawn & Landscape applications don’t contain any phosphorus or potassium fillers.
Benjamin Lawn & Landscape has years of experience applying winterizing lawn treatments to Kansas City area lawns, and we have seen first hand the positive results our nitrogen-rich treatments produce. If you’re not already on our annual treatment plan, there’s still time to schedule a winterization application – but December will be here before you know it, so don’t wait too long – call us today!