Choosing lawn fertilizer

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Radio interview source: Trey Rogers, Briggs & Stratton Yard Doctor

Go to the store to find a bag or two of lawn fertilizer and you're bombarded with all different kinds: slow-release nitrogen, quick-release, granular and liquid. What you buy depends on the state of your yard, and how you prefer to put it down.

Some lawn care companies use liquid fertilizers, but the granular kind is more forgiving for amateurs when it comes to even coverage, and you can see where you've been.

Trey Rogers is a professor of turf management and a yard doctor for consumers. He suggests that when you're choosing a nitrogen-fix for the grass, choose a slow-release fertilizer.

"It's almost like a dripping faucet," Rogers says. "It slowly emits the nitrogen for use by the turf grass. Most homeowners like that because it keeps the growth nice and even. They're not going to get huge flushes so they get behind on mowing."

The feeding action will last anywhere from three-months up to a year.

Now, you'd use a quick-release fertilizer in a couple of other situations. One would be on new seedings, and the other is for a fast recovery. If you had a party in the backyard and the grass was trampled down, a quick shot of fertilizer would do it good.