Fertilizing Your Lawn – Too Much Of A Good Thing
Fertilizing a lawn in the spring can be very beneficial. It can help the lawn get a good start on the year, encourage a healthy lawn and help with a quick green up. A healthy lawn means it has a better root system to combat heat, cold, drought, mowing, foot traffic, and other stresses. 
It’s important to note that there is a difference between fertilizing the lawn with tons of Nitrogen to get a dark green lawn and properly fertilizing to groom a healthy lawn.
In Maryland we are limited 0.9 pound of Nitrogen per 1000 sq ft per application and less than a total of 2.5 pounds of Nitrogen per 1000 sq ft annually. You can learn more aboutMaryland’s Lawn Fertilizer Law here.
While this limitation may seem frustrating for some, using less Nitrogen helps build a stronger healthy lawn in the long run. When a plant, any plant not just your lawn, is over fertilized there is a faster flush of growth that can cause issues. Lawns look lush and full at the beginning but there can end up being major issues with all that fast growth.
These issues can include:
- Extra mowing required for quicker growing can compact the soil due to all the added laps around the yard. This can cause suffocation or smothering of the lawn by compressing the soil, so it doesn’t allow oxygen and moisture to reach the roots.
- Also, you may notice weakened blades of grass due to the fast growth. A weakened lawn becomes more susceptible to disease and fungal issues. Any plant grows if it is forced with large amounts of Nitrogen. It can cause the cells grow too fast, resulting in thin cell walls making it weaker.
- Lastly there is the issue of the top of the plant outgrowing the root system. With heavy amounts of Nitrogen, the growth rate of the foliage will outgrow the roots ability to support the plant in the summer months and drought situations. I know the lawn will look beautiful in the spring when it’s raining but when the summer hits and the ground begins to dry even for a short time it will cause a lot of stress to your lawn.
One of the most important things you can do for your lawn is to feed it. We do recommend fertilizing your lawn, just remember not to overdo it.
