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| What does iron do for your lawn?
Iron is a great additive for your soil. It has two main purposes, the first being to help yellow lawns turn green and encourage growth and the second purpose being a cheap way to kill moss. If you are fortunate to live in a part of the country that does not have moss, then the first part of this article applies to you. If you have moss and would like to get rid of it, please read the second part of this article which will specifically address how to use iron for getting rid of lawn moss.
1) Iron promotes growth and turns your lawn greener.
Is your lawn looking a little yellow this year? Well in truth there could be several reasons for this, but the most common reason (aside from not watering) is a lack of iron in your lawn soil. Just adding a little iron every year to your soil can turn your lawn green without having to excessively mow. Alkali lawns tend to have high amounts of minerals, acidic lawns, such as those found in the northwest; tend to be slightly acidic and deficient in minerals. These lawns will benefit most from the addition of iron. Not only does iron help your lawn turn green but is also acts as a catalyst to encourage steady and healthy growth. Do you every wonder why the neighbor’s professionally serviced lawn looks better than yours? Well they probably added iron to their fertilizer and this is the only reason their lawn looks greener. Lawn fertilization companies have known about this for quite a while. Recently, fertilizer manufacturers have also starter to use 2% iron mixtures in their fertilizers. Different types of grasses have different levels of affinity for iron. Blue grasses and fescue are two of the most common grasses on the west coast and they love iron. I have been dealing with iron in lawns a long time and the only negative effects are that it can turn a lawn orange and to much iron can temporarily turn a lawn gray.
There are two types of iron chelated (organic) Milorganite and non-chelated (synthetic) Ironite. Both of them are excellent products we have used a lot and are highly recommended the best internet prices we could find are listed below. The organic iron is more readily absorbed by the plants because it is in an organic form and it slowly broken down and released into the soil. Another advantage of the organic iron is that it does turn concrete orange. Synthetic iron is cheaper, quickly released into the soil, and better at killing moss. Just be careful around driveways, walkways, patios and cement curbing. The iron has to get wet before it will react.
2) Iron is a very affordable way of getting moss out of a lawn.
Iron can be used to kill moss before it gets out of control. Lilley miller maks a brand called Moss Out which works exceptionally. Adding iron and then waiting a few days will work if you have less than a 1/2 inch of moss. Small amounts of moss will decompose after they are dead. If the moss only turns yellow you have not added enough iron and will probably need to reapply the moss control to your lawn. If it turns brown or black then you have killed it. If it is a thick layer you may need to have it thatched out of your lawn. If you don't it will just grow back even thicker.
The best time to apply iron to your lawn is in the late fall or early spring with ideal temperatures ranging between 60 and 80 degrees.
After using iron to green the lawn or kill moss, you may also be interested in lawn aeration or using a thatch rake or dethatching rake to pull out the moss.
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