can the wrong fertiliser damage your lawn?

john_om_om

hey,

Fairly clueless when it comes to lawn management! Just discovered I put a 24-2.5-10 fertiliser on a lawn when I wanted 10-10-20. Guy in the shop threw wrong bag in my car and didn't cop on til I took it out after I did the job! Its a pretty new lawn - seeded at start of summer. Anyone know what the consequences will be?? Thanks in advance.

Kashkai

I used 10 - 10 - 20 and it worked a treat on my lawn and it was considerably cheaper to buy than the stuff from the larger DIY outlets.

However in your case, you might have seriously overloaded the lawn with Nitrogen (which is the first element in "10 " -10 - 20. Nitrogen promotes fast grass growth and gives it a lush green colour but you might have poisened your new lawn if the soil was already fertile enough. You'll have to wait a few weeks to see.

bbam

It should be OK...
It will grow a heavy crop but to be honest the excess N will wash away...
May be a pain to have extra growth so late in the season as cutting it may be an issue...

john_om_om

thanks for the replies. little bit worried now really hope I didn't poison the lawn! its a big lawn maybe 700 square metres or so and not mine to boot! think I used the fertiliser fairly sparingly probably 5kg for the whole lot? it was a bit patchy so more growth I can handle but if I poisoned i'm in trouble!

secman

Just a quick question .......... When do you apply 10 -10-20.

Is it just simply a feed ? How do you suppress weeds ?

Thanks

Secman

bbam

Yes its only a feed...
spring or summer would be OK for 10-10-20 on a lawn... I wouldn't apply any fertiliser with high N in autumn as it will encourage growth late in the season which might be hard to keep mowed...

netopia

Can I just ask what brand the fertiliser you got is, I'll be looking for a similar mix, with a high N content for making my lawn look like a lawn in the Spring.

10-10-20

I just thought I had to say something here...