Taking Control Of Lawn Soil Deficiencies

When lawns lose their color, or lushness, it is often a sign that the soil is deficient in one or more essential components. Many gardeners simply throw an all-purpose fertilizer at the problem, however, this may only serve to exacerbate the problem rather than fixing it. In fact, unless you use a slow release fertilizer, most of the fertilizer you apply is wasted. It is either washed away, escapes into the air with evaporating water, or is used up by weeds.

Rather than throwing all -purpose fertilizers, use dedicated products that are designed to restore deficiencies. You can often diagnose deficiencies yourself simply by looking at the grass itself. If you can identify problems before there are any long term effects, you will save a lot of time and money on lawn repair and expensive lawn repair tools. Here are a few common problems and the best way to deal with them.

• Rusty colored grass blades - This can often be an indication of a calcium deficiency. You can apply fireplace ash (so save it up over winter) or copper sulfate. You should also cut back on nitrogen.
• Pale green grass blades – This is often an indication of too little nitrogen. Natural remedies include blood meal, cotton seed meal, or corn gluten meal.
• Yellowing tips of grass blades – This is a sulfur deficiency that is best remedied by applying phosphate rock, gypsum, or elemental sulfur.
• Pale yellow grass blades – Pale yellow lawns can be an indication of an iron deficiency. Apply cheleated iron or iron sulfate – be sure to use iron supplements designed for lawns.

Iron is an interesting addition to lawns. If you have ever wondered how a movie or TV program always manages to have lush dark green lawns, it is because of the addition of iron. If your lawn looks a little dull, and you’re planning an outdoor activity like a wedding, then apply an application of iron four to five hours before the event. You can almost see the lawn darkening up before your eyes. This is a great tip for those about to have an open house viewing in order to sell their home. The effect lasts 10-14 days before the lawn starts to return to normal.

Whenever possible, use natural products to repair soil deficiencies. You will find the long-term costs are much lower, yet the results are much better than using general purpose fertilizers. You can see from the above list of problems that a calcium deficiency could be made worse by the application of a general purpose fertilizer containing nitrogen.