Seed Fertilizer
Using a good seed fertilizer will always improve the thickness and germination rate of new lawns. Having tried a lot of different brands of seed fertilizer, the best one so far is Scott's brand starter fertilizer. The fine fertilizer goes on in small particles to feed seeds evenly. In addition, this seed fertilizer contains a lot of slow release chemicals that will feed the lawn for up to 6 weeks. Lastly, in addition to nitrogen, this fertilizer contains Phosphorous, Potassium and some micro-nutrients to help seeds get the best start possible.
When seeding it is important to remember that it can take up to 3 weeks for the grass to come up and up to 6 weeks before the grass seed feels in most of the way. If you lawn has a lot of moss you may need to use a lime.
What are the fertilizer chemicals in seed fertilizer?
Each fertilizer has their own NPK number. The N-P-K number is given on the front of fertilizer package. Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium are referred to a macro-nutrients and are needed by your lawn (and garden) in large quantities. (Good fertilizers also contains micro-nutrients such as bromine and calcium.) In most lawn fertilizers the first number represents the nitrogen and is the largest. Starter fertilizers have a lot of phosphorous, which is needed for young grass seedlings. Weed killers typically do not contain phosphorous so that they do not fertilize the weeds.
An important issue when finding which fertilizer to use is to find out weather they use a slow release nitrogen product or a quick release nitrogen product. Quick release fertilizers get quicker results, but are also used up quicker. Quick release fertilizers can also turn the soil temporarily acidic which can burn your lawn. As a general rule, the more synthetic fertilizers are quick release and the organic fertilizers release a lot slower. In recent years, synthetic fertilizers have also started to become longer lasting. Most slow release products last 8 to 12 weeks or 2 to 3 months. This means that you need about one application per growing season. In the northwest, we need to apply fertilizer 3-4 times per year. In other areas 2 applications my be enough. Some fertilizer companies want you to fertilize every 6 weeks. (Of course, they get paid for every application.) Sometimes this is beneficial especially if they are treating your lawn for pests, weeds, crabgrass, and moss.
Organic vs. Synthetic
Their are several types of organic fertilizers ranging from chicken manure to organic composted lawn tea. The advantage of Organic fertilizers are that you are using product that occur naturally in the environment. They also tend to enhace microrganismal activities in the soil.
Fertilizer 10 10 10
This fertilizer 10 10 10 is a good general purpose fertilizer. 10-10-10 means that it has an equal amount of nitrogen, phousperous and patasium. As a general fertilizer 10 10 10 can be used on trees, shrubs, gardens and lawns. It will help replenish nutrients that have been lost do to plant growth. It is a little bit slower acting that most nitrogen fertilizers.