Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Fertilize with the environment in mind

The grass is green, the dogwood and azalea petals are starting to fall, and my itching eyes and scratchy throat tell me my allergies are in full bloom. These are all sure signs that our landscapes are now fully awakened from their winter slumber.

Most people take great pride in their landscape. This shows by the amount of money and time they spend on their own corner of horticultural paradise. At this time of year a lot of that time and money is spent on fertilizing. People fertilize with the best of intentions. Fertilizing helps get that great looking lawn or good plant health in their landscape. Unfortunately, they too often apply fertilizer unnecessarily or incorrectly. This not only wastes the time and money spent but it can also have a severe impact on our environment. One of the more serious problems is that excess fertilizer can run off yards into waterways or seep into groundwater, polluting our drinking water.

I can understand how this happens. It is not easy to know how to correctly apply fertilizer to our landscapes. A lot of us are not originally from this area so our plants, climate and soils are new to us. Also, there are many fertilizer choice,s and there is a lot of misinformation to confuse people.

Fortunately, there are several fertilizing techniques that can avoid these problems and save you time and money as well. They are:

• Fertilize according to a soil test. A soil test can tell you exactly how much fertilizer to use and what type. This eliminates excess fertilizer from being washed away and polluting our lakes and streams. Also, a soil test will give you the pH of your soil. Soil pH is critical to the efficient use of fertilizers. If the pH is too high or low, the fertilizer will not be effective and will be wasted. The County Extension office is a great source to get your soil tested and answer your soil testing questions.

• Utilize slow release fertilizers. Slow release fertilizers release nutrients as plants need them, according to temperature and moisture availability. This allows for even plant growth while preventing nutrients from leaching into our water supplies.

• Before applying fertilizer, calibrate your spreader. If not properly calibrated, the spreader may apply too much fertilizer, which will not only damage your plants but also may cause run-off and ground water pollution.

• Sweep up any fertilizer that is spilled onto walks, driveways and streets. Spilled fertilizer can cause serious pollution problems when it runs off into storm drains and into streams and lakes.

• Several types of “organic” fertilizers are available in both dry and liquid form. The dry forms offer the same benefits as slow release synthetic fertilizers. They are less likely to leach away, and the nutrients are made available slowly to the plant.

• Remember that most mature trees and shrubs need little or no supplemental fertilizer. They get many of the nutrients they need from the breakdown of organic mulches.

• Avoid fertilizing during dry periods. Fertilizing stimulates new growth, which requires water.

Still have questions? Feel free to call or visit us at the Fayette County Extension Service in the Fayette County Administrative Complex, Suite 209 in Fayetteville. The phone number is (770) 460-5730 ext. 5412. Our office staff and master gardener volunteers will be glad to answer any of your horticulture questions. We also have over 400 free publications many of which deal with proper fertilization techniques or other environmental friendly landscape practices.