Bet You DON'T Know This About Nitrogen Lawn Fertilizers
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- čas přidán 5. 08. 2021
- Most people fertilize their lawns to get nitrogen into their grass for the purpose of getting it to green up, thicken up, and grow faster but there are a few key points that are misunderstood by a wide majority of people, points that I discuss briefly in this video.
For more in depth content on fertilization see the following videos here on this channel and articles over on my website:
Best NPK Ratio For Lawns
• Best NPK Ratio For Law...
Micro-Nutrients vs Trace Minerals
• Micro Nutrients vs Tra...
What Does Nitrogen Do For Grass Exactly
turfmechanic.com/what-does-ni...
Does Nitrogen Make The Grass Green?
turfmechanic.com/does-nitroge...
Don't Waste Urea Nitrogen Anymore!
• Don't Waste Urea Nitro...
►► And possibly most importantly, this article is my main hub for lawn fertilization. ◄◄
turfmechanic.com/fertilization/
As mentioned in the video for light viewing, the following link is to my first mow of the year this year. It is short and meant to be thought provoking and inspirational. I hope you like it!
1st Mow Of The Year - Intro To Spring
• First Mow Of The Year ...
◙◙◙◙ More About Me & Other Related Links ◙◙◙◙
(My Other Channels)
Turf Mechanic Briefs - / @turfmechanicbriefs
Turf Mechanic Vlogs - / @turfmechanicvlogs
My Latest Yard Tour
• End Of Lawn Season Yar...
My Lawn's Change Log
turfmechanic.com/my-lawn-in-2...
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turfmechanic.com/brian/
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►►► Want to fix your lawn for the long haul but don't know where to start? I can help! Click here right now and get started today: turfmech.link/dont-know-where-to-start ◄◄◄
These are the follow-up vids that I highly recommend if you have the time:
► Best NPK Ratio For Lawns
: czcams.com/video/aZWHd-O5EBY/video.html
► Micro-Nutrients vs Trace Minerals: czcams.com/video/DZjepmKfxVs/video.html
►Don't Waste Urea Nitrogen Anymore: czcams.com/video/JAB7hnPBgYY/video.html
Informative and from a different perspective.
COMPO (German brand) has Floranid with crotidur and isodur. Together with DCM (Belgian brand) they offer the best quality and balanced fertilizer on the market.
And yes, it's always best to do a soil test.
Regards, a Belgian.
Your hands don't have to be constantly moving and the jump cuts every 5-20 words spoken takes away from what you're saying and is a sign of poor production.
@@stoddern He's not a lawyer... jus say'n
I don't know what you do for a living, but know you are a great teacher. You are to the point and thorough, no wasted time with a lot of fluff and useless extraneous info. You have done your homework and ours also. Keep up the good job.
Thanks so much for that comment! I'm constantly trying my best to convey the best possible information as efficiently as possible. I fail at it it more times than not but the mission is gradual improvement over time which I think I'm getting to as the quarters roll by.
Most importantly I'm a stay at home dad... but professionally I'm a content producer and educator just like you see here on this channel.
I run educational websites mostly, this channel of course, my newest project Turf Mechanic Briefs (on CZcams), and unbeknownst to most of my viewers of yard care topics I also run the topoffmycoffee website and corresponding youtube channel where I try to help people out with coffee related information and product purchases. These online endeavors pay the bills for me and they buy my kids pop tarts whenever I feel like I want to be hero dad. :)
Really?? From 3:29 to 4:22 I wanted to shoot myself.
100% agree!! He is better than several of my old university professors. More knowledgeable
A perfectly balanced presentation for the novice as well as the expert! Thank you 🙏🏼
That's an awesome compliment Gary, thanks. I'm hopeful that this will help get a lot of people thinking a bit longer term with their lawns. :)
Just get to the point💡
Haha good one
Lol
Longer than John wick 4
Great came to see about something I didn't understand and was explained something else I also don't understand 😂
Nuts and bolts
Hi my real name is Steph (this is my wrestling account). I have a masters in biology from the University of Cambridge and i just wanted to say, you could give my ecology lecturers a run for their money!!
I love how you explain not just WHAT we should do but WHY. You dont just think about the grass but also about promoting healthy bacteria in the soil. The microclimates. Aerobic/ anaerobic. I have no idea what your background is but your understandings of plant biology are better than most!!! Love learning from you
Hey Steph! I love hearing from people like you! You actually study this stuff and to get a comment like that means a lot to me! I have a business degree and MBA so no formal training in botany or plant/soil sciences. Just got a love for this hobby and a neverending to understand things at a deeper level. Thanks for reaching out 😊
I can’t believe I missed this last year. I learned a ton from it. Thank you!!! 👍👍👍
Great video. Super job on covering a lot of important topics with brevity. I will continue to tune in.
In summary, his grandfather took good care of his car and your lawn needs more then just nitrogen.
Amazing video. Very informative. I love the car gas/ nitrogen analogy in your story. Thanks.
I thought it was a great analogy
Great analogy, spot on.
You are a veritable professor of lawn care. Thank you for sharing your insight and expertise. This is the best channel on the subject, bar none.
SPF, making me blush again :) Thanks for the comments but honestly I'm glad to be putting value out there for the community!
Thanks for sharing, very helpful info 🌺🌷🌸
Great source of information, thank you! Also know that urea & nitrogen are a by product of oil. Therefore the cost of nitrogen has gone up significantly in the past year.
What a great video!! Those car examples made me understand things much better. :D
1:55 I see your cat has mastered the art of teleportation. 😯
I might add that it’s best to mulch your clippings and research is showing that you should expect to reduce your N requirement from 4lbs to 2lbs annually just by leaving the clippings.
There’s incredible research coming out of John Kempf at Advanced Eco Agriculture which shows that the correct amount of calcium may be even more important than N and that we shouldn’t think of making grass grow as much as driving photosynthesis which is truly the best way of thinking about plants.
I would also add that it’s not really the N that the grass needs as much as the synthesized amino acids. Research is showing that adding aminos versus N helps turf process more during stress like high heat and drought. I’ve been adding aminos to my summer program so it’s too early for me to give my assessment.
Love your sweat equity but just curious why you deferred the organic matter. They are working with farms in central Texas and the data is showing that getting your soil “fluffy” to the greatest depth possible is where the magic is as soils releasing CO2 in the morning drives the N cycle most effectively. It’s my goal but wet clay is the bain of my lawn care journey
Is there a full balance or blend to use?
Good video and point taken Brian.
Me? Wasting time in the lawn? It’s kinda what I do, 😝😜🤣. Good video and great info! It’s always fun hearing stories about grandparents and great grandparents, that generation had an art that’s lost today. I love the analogy.
Possibly sensationalized wording lol. Thanks a lot, I'm going to try more often to include story-telling into more of my vids. I think it helps but it can be hard to do well. I'm always learning and striving to be better. I only wish my grandparents were still here - my grandfather was a great carpenter, my dad is a great orator...at least he's still around to learn from.
👏👏👏 - if there was a traceable metric that demonstrated the amount of fungicides applied due to P & K deficiencies, I think it would cause heads to explode. Agronomy triumphs. Great presentation and analogy!
Agreed, excellent analogy!
Thanks a lot Matt! I've been wanting to make a fungicide video all year and just never got to it. I applied a touch of disease ex last fall but have since joined the no fungicide bandwagon. Focus on grass health and most disease problems will go away or correct themselves- focus on soil health and biological processes that keep lawns in best form will thrive.
@@TurfMechanic I couldn’t agree more, videos like this are much appreciated. I’ve learned so much in this community in the last year about turf health and how to adjust the “knobs and levers” to make a great lawn it’s amazing. Thank you for putting this stuff out there for the guys and gals that want to learn and be their best!
Haha this would be awesome
I just made a cocktail of def fluid (4 oz per 1000) Microgreene (8 oz per 1000) and liquid iron (3 oz per 1000) after a nice afternoon summer rain. It already looks and smells delicious after applying some Walmart epsom salt with eucalyptus by spreader (2 lb per 1000)
Great information! Thanks
You're welcome! Glad that a lot of people found this one valuable. Thanks for your comments Juan!
Brian, I am a quick learner.......ONLY if I am being instructed by a very rare personality type. After watching a few of your videos today being a complete neophyte to this subject can honestly say that by this time next year my yard (known as the worst yard in Oklahoma) Will have people asking me my secrets and I will send them to the source. Turf Mechanic on CZcams. I think I have always had it easy being a quick learner, but I could not convey a narrative to another human the way people like you can. I am glad I found you on CZcams. Great story about your patriarchs too. I am not even an inch surprised that you come from that level of proficiency.
Great point and I love the analogy
I'm not a car guy but stories like that about that man are awesome and really do help drive home the point of following a wholistic approach to everything we care about. My dad's told me a handful of other cool stories about him too. Thanks for watching!
@@TurfMechanic I would agree. Nice
Excellent analogy my friend
👊
Any idea why my grass grows great into my driveway but not in the yard! 😆
Lol, well everyone knows that grass likes to be driven on by cars as much as possible, you could try parking on the lawn and see if that changes the situation this year 🤪🤣
Lime
It makes a big difference what type of grass you have and what type of soil you have. In most places Nitrogen is the only macronutrient your lawn will ever need and people waste their effort and money on other treatments. I'd say that without knowing what you have in the ground you need a soil test first. When people ask how my lawn stays so green I simply answer: Nitrogen, water only when it is dry, mow it high, mow often, and soak it down with a trimec type product late fall. That's it. Nothing for bugs, nothing for thatch, nothing more for weeds, takes some time to mow so often but its very simple and cheap. Where you live lawn needs might be more complicated.
in new jersey u think is nitrogen all u need , how do use liquid and every month
Did you check the gearbox oil ?
Hey Brian! I got a soil test done and it came back as excessive P and excessive K. Should I put down nitrogen only fertilizers (with micros of course) for a year and then retest?
That makes sense to do, should make things easy for you this year. :)
Well done great presentation,when it comes to nutrition to quote Joel Williams, nothing is superior and nothing is inferior when it comes to nutrition
Curious to know where you live. Not sure if you mentioned it. Your backyard view looks similar to mine...
Well I've worked like hell trying to get my new lawn (planted last November) to be prolific. Green? In places. No bare spots? Well sorta. Brian, I'm watching and learning and have to say I didn't have a clue what to do. Your videos are very helpful. Now if I could just get this intense heat to decline! I'm waiting to fertilize due to fear of burning it. But it definitely needs the "gas", "oil", and "coolant"! 🙂
Should be ok to use a low nitrogen fert. Milorganite is perfect for that but you’re just not getting much p and k. Guessing you could find one that will fit the bill or add the other nutrients separately as the TM shows in another vid.
Ray you were actually one of my viewers back in Feb and March! Love having you around. I think our weather is finally breaking here, hopefully it will for you too. I don't see a 90 degree day on my 10 day forecast for the first time in a month and a half! I'm actually just starting my prep work for fall seeding, your bare spot should be able to fill in quick in a few weeks to a month if you plan on taking advantage of good timing.
Yep, just last week or so I applied a half app of milo only a couple weeks or so after a small app of lawn luxe. Combined these apps give a good nearly even mix of N and K with a little less P - all natural sources so nothing fast acting. Milo gave a touch or iron, lawn luxe got me a touch of sulfur and humic acid, topped it all off with my mid-summer d-thatch and cytogro for biostimulants, it all works in tandem without pushing unnecessary growth. In a few weeks I'll core aerate again and top dress with azomite and biochar probably...oooo I can't wait! 😁
@@jimshorts5970 what is p and k? Also, thanks for the comment!
@@TurfMechanic we are showing 104 here next week. I am watching your activity and trying to emulate that!
What a neat lawn! Bravo! Would you be interested in using our drone to photograph the lawn after it's been tended to? I would be happy to arrange for you to have one of our Bwine F7MINI Drone.
Came to look at your video about nitrogen fertilizer but spend 1/4 of your video about your grandfather and automotive.
My biggest question is how much nitrogen do we really want to put down for a whole season? I have super Sandy soil, so I feel like everything that i drop eventually drains fast.
Always a good question. Most lawns will look fine with 2lb N per year and great with 4lb but some can easily take more even though it's probably not nessesary. If you think you are losing fert due to sandy soil then consider switching to either a spoon feeding schedule of light applications every couple weeks (not my preference) or to organic fertilizers from either plant or animal sources. Although these are usually more expensive you will see nearly no loss of nutrients at all over the year and the products will improve your soil structure slowly over time. Just think if you apply 4lb of standard N to a lawn in a year but lose half of it to a mix of groundwater and the atmosphere, you could probably get similar results applying half as much naturally sourced fert because none of it will be lost - it isnt water soluble and wont gas off like urea does. Food for thought.
Can I use the same NPK blends spring and fall?
Sure can, its all just labeling gimmics used for marketing purposes. The only thing that really matters is the source of nitrogen as some don't work in cool soil, other sources are high on the salt index making them harder to manage in high heat. Natural sources on nitrogen need to be broken down by soil life to be used by grass.
Actually you need to have a chemical breakdown done. Your states Biggest university probably provides a detailed report for you. If you have to much ok the P&K you can actually lock up your soil. Look into what I just told you you'd be surprised by what you find out. I was actually certified to apply fertilizer
Interesting.
And people think it strange to replace a car water pump and t-stat every 5-6years as general/preventive maintenance.
Loved the analogy!
Sometimes I find an analogy that works! lol :P Thanks for being here so often Chris!
I'm confused, how much gasoline should I put on my lawn? What grade or octane? Can I smoke around my lawn after spraying gas on it?
I clearly said 89 octane gasoline unless your car pre-dates 1978 or your truck is newer than 1991...otherwise it's diesel only, obviously 🤔
Absent a soils test, applying other nutrients besides nitrogen is simply a wild assed guess. Yes, other nutrients are necessary, but many soils already contain sufficient nutrients for healthy growth. Nitrogen is always in short supply since it is used voraciously by plants/microbes.
Virtually every soils test will show nitrogen deficiency (unless you've taken it immediately after a nitrogen application). It's the rest of the nutrients that need to be looked at - in many cases, soils will already have good to high nutrient levels. So feeding your garden a high nitrogen fertilizer is likely a far better bet for the Average Joe than adding so-called 'balanced' fertilizers that lead to excess nutrient levels and runoff contaminating groundwater/creeks/rivers/lakes.
For some gardens, it's PH levels that matter most - if your PH levels are very high/low, nutrient uptake can be drastically effected. Adding more fertilizer will not help and can make things even worse. One more reason to do regular soils testing.
Do a soils test before you do any fertilization so you know what nutrients are needed.
Okay, enough analogy with engine oil. What other nutrients do we need!!
Those wildfires are really getting to you huh. It's not that bad (yet..) in my part of Western Washington. But I do remember about 3 years ago we had a lot of ash falling for a few days.
yeah we've had a few really bad days but the last couple have probably been the worst. Today wasn't so bad though. I live approximately 20-25 miles away from the Bootleg fire in southern Oregon, been fortunate that the fire didn't spread towards us and that the smoke has mostly trended south-east of us but we have multiple fires to our east west and south right now in addition to the bootleg fire. These fire seasons are longer than ever before these days and unfortunately any time we get rain clouds it's mostly just a drizzle here and there and enough lightning to start new fires. It's rough some days.
Handsome cat!!!
Good info. Recently used some Lesco 18-24-12 from Lowe’s after initially putting down Milorganite. Lawn is looking extremely healthy. Also used some Revive which I think helped as well. Going to throw down some ag lime going into winter so should be in great shape coming out next spring. Keep the info coming!
That's a thick dose of P for sure but still a good spread especially since you'll likely add more N and possibly K in the fall during growth before winter dormancy sets in. Don't forget the minors though! 😁 Also, thanks for the tip on Revive, I've never looked at that product before. I'll look closer at it in the coming days.
The landscaper neighbor that take care of my neighbor yard told me this one is better and he’s using it for a long time 13-0-5 LESCO
Do you apply the nitro and the micros together or in separate stages? Nitro first?
You can apply at the same time although it may make sense to apply micros ahead by a few days or weeks. That's a level of granularity that's probably overkill for most people though. Just think of it like cereal and milk, you can't have a satisfying bowl of cereal without milk and vise-versa. You can pour a bowl of either on their own and fill your stomach but it's just not the same as having them together. I tend to fertilize with micros earlier in the year, Spring, but if you only apply once or twice even if you apply N 3-6 times a year you'll probably be fine.
This was exhausting
It would take about one minute to say (do a soil test) &
then decide how much (N) & What Micros are needed.
How much & how often are a personal choice.
The next soil test a year after the first one, will tell you
how your doing with whatever your putting down the previous year.
@BudgetLawns sent me over. Subbed 2 minutes in
Travis is the dude! Glad you found some good stuff here and look forward to hearing from you more this season!
I'm just here for the cat.
The cat(s) is worth the it...I've kept them around for years. :)
Sir nitrogen how to apply any other crop plz tell me God give u good taking from Pakistan mm u soil is clay and pH 7.8
We've got a language barrier but I think you are asking how to get nitrogen into the soil - if you have access to clippings, weeds, or other plants that would otherwise go to waste or compost you could submerge them in water and let them sit for a couple weeks. The water will get pretty gross and smelly but a lot of the nitrogen will leech out into the water and once strained it can be used to inject nitrogen into the soil for either lawns or gardens. The physical material that is strained out of the water after a couple weeks can then be placed in a regular compost pile for use later if desired. As for soil pH, the more life you can inject into the soil via plants, grass, soil biology the soil will slowly revert to a more neutral zone as the season pass. You could speed it up though by topdressing with soil sulfur (elemental sulfur). Once the soil is closer to 7.0 ph or upper 6 ph than most plants, grass included, will perform and grow much better with fewer inputs. Hope that helps a bit.
On and on and on and on.
what surprises me about the story is that your dad sat inside eating cookies rather than learning from his dad.
This video could be cut in half w/o all of the back stories, just being candid.....
True, but what fun is that? 😆
If you just nitrogen say every 4 years you should be fine, right ?
Nitrogen gets used by the plant pretty fast so regular feeding is a must. Some people feed their lawns small amounts of nitrogen every 30 days, they call this spoon feeding, others will fertilize say ever 6 weeks. Good question though
Since hearing about the biome in soil, I no longer fertilize the grass. I fertilize the soil instead.
You've got it Ty! That is the attitude that s so hard to sell on people. Once you are there you will never look back or regret it. Enjoy your Spring; It'll be here in just a few weeks. :D
Save for family reunion
👍
7:38 I could have put to better use!
Is this about cars or grass?
Nobody really knows 😅
The car analogy was a distraction. A clear explanation for the lawn would have been so much more beneficial and valuable. Time market 5:50 gave a far better explanation.
we talking cars here or lawns? lol
Lost me after saying " just like brake fluid, u dont need it in the car if ur not driving the car"
Thats crazy
Always wondered how he knew that much in every video and yet the lawn behind always looked bad..
This should be a 90 second clip. Someone really loves the sound of their own voice.
I go to sleep to the sound of my voice 😆
Lol 😂
I just throw some def fluid on it good enough lmao
My soil is clay
I like cookies
You want a 3-1-2 NPK balance. Your welcome
Just say grass needs more nutrients than just nitrogen…simples😁
99% also believe Weed and feed is actually good
Dude just stop and break down the nitrogen and nutrients as summer comes.
2 minutes and you haven’t mentioned anything relevant to what I’m looking for
That video could've been 5 mins shorter.
And you could have shut it off five minutes earlier.
I know this sounds gross, though has anyone ever tried HUMAN urine diluted with water?
If so what was the outcome?
very good,,the chinese use to pee in their gardens because the plants flourished from the nitrogen
That's seven minutes I'll never get back. Every commercial fertilizer I've ever seen has contained Nitrogen, usually around 20% and the number one ingredient. So what's the point of this rambling video?
To long of a video and you drag it out keep it short and to the point
We don’t give a shit about the mythical grandpa stories… yea, great grandpa made an alternator from melted aluminum in 20 minutes…yada yada yada.
Lol, you sound like you'd be a blast to hang around with for a weekend 😒
Turf Mechanic Not as amazing as your Great Grandpa. He would make SpaceX rockets out of recycled soup cans (while we wait).
@@razzlekhan292 it would be interesting to see people like him in modern society, how they are similar or different. Regardless, I hope you at least appreciate the point of the video in regards to fertilizers. ✌️
The best thing about your stories is that you never get to the point…
Haha, that actually made me laugh out loud 😂
The lawn doesn’t look good…
It could be better - lawn care is a journey imo.
Talk too much
Do I?
This video was a complete waste of time. Tell me something I didn't know about nitrogen. Seemed to be an introduction to his other videos.
This is my channel trailer afterall...but thanks for the watch and comment anyway and I'm happy you have a firm grasp on N in the lawn. Say hey again sometime!
Complete BS your grandfather disassembled and reassbled his car every year. Please elaborate.
Stop wasting water on your lawn.
Thank you for your passionate intervention 🙄
Waters not really wasted it just goes back in the system through the ground or the air. The Earth’s water system is closed like a terrarium. The Earth has the same amount of water now as it had millions of years ago.
This is garbage.
Jeez. What a waste of words. Get on it.
You want to know the trick to having healthy lawns? Quit mowing.
Bla,blabla bla,,get to the point
Lol, don't just fertilize with Nitrogen, how's that? 😁
Hi Turf Mechanic I really enjoyed your content on Nitrogen Fertilizer and let me know if you can help me Demonstrate my Products on your Channel for my Canadian Start-up Company, EcoLawn Aerator in Chatham Ontario and I am hoping to hear from you when you are available for a conversation or feel free to Email me also. Cheers Bruce Avery, B.Eng.