How much lawn fertilization (and other?) really needed?
 

Will arrive shortly in Sanibel, and plan on starting out DIY in lawn care. Have done a lot of this over the years, but certainly nowhere near this far south!

I see the recommendations here commonly say 4 fertilizer applications April to October, or thereabouts. I know this depends somewhat on soluble-to-insoluble nitrogen in the product (assuming, say, 15-0-15), and while I don't want to badly compromise the lawn, I don't require the meanest and greenest property in the county. Can fewer fertilizations suffice?

Also, are there any major lawn weed and disease issues to watch out for here that may also require treatment?

More than you can even imagine - probably better to leave it to the pros. We have done our own thing as well, but Florida turf, temperature, fungii, and bugs are like nothing we have ever seen.

This is assuming you care what your yard looks like. We have several neighbors who do their own thing and boy does it show.

Cinch Bugs - they eat your lawn. Our lawn company treats for them in early May.

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There are many of us that do our own lawn maintenace.
Here a few sites with helpful suggestions:
Central Florida Sod Farm | Lake Jem Farms
EMPIRE Turf | Zoysia Grass | One Lawn, Many Benefits
http://www.sodsolutions.com/t_empire.shtml
Circle C Farms - Interactive Problem Solving

our lawn is just coming back from the dead...it took three visits from deans to fix it

Pesticides
 

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You will be living in Sumter Co. As I do. The Sumter Co. Extension Office/Master Gardeners has Q& A sessions weekly in the Bradenton Rec. Center or at their office. They have helped us tremendously in our first year here. Call them and go visit them and all your questions will be answered correctly. They are a great help.

To tell you all about my lawn would be a long boring story. Basically, I never fertilize, although I did hire someone one year. That was one year out of 8 years since I've been here. My side yard is perfect. The back yard is very good. In the front yard (of my patio villa) I have a different kind of grass that, so far, never needs any special attention. It's drought tolerant and never gets attacked by cinch bugs or any other bugs. It's also slow growing and hardly ever needs to be cut.

I only fertilized my shrubs once and they always look great. The only thing I accomplished by fertilizing them is that I made them grow faster so I had to trim them more often.

Which is better for fertilizing: Scotts Turf Builder or something with 15-0-15 ?

keep in mind that most of the media lawns and shrubs are planted in is about one inch of top soil and the rest is sand.

We are trying to grow lush lawns and landscaped spectacles based on what we had "back home". It is not the same.

You are in essence trying to grow grass on a sand dune.

Nutient contents= zero.

Nutrition retention after applying treatment = zero.

The more rocks and non grass the better. And be sure to be aware of the cold hardiness of many of the tropicals...they look nice but do not survive the periodic cold spells we have in this area.

When mine die off I replace with local vegetation only and only that which can stand to go below 30 degrees for prolonged periods.

So far I have replaced every tropical that we first put in. When it stays in the twenties like it has a few of the past January montns they don't stand a chance. Covering protects from frost....no protection for freezing.

Good luck.

btk

He nailed it. Florida sand = no nutrients.

How you treat your lawn depends upon the kind of grass you have. The major one is St. Augustine; you will see some bahia around; Zoysia seems to be popular in some neighborhoods.

There are subdivisions of St. Augustine, such as drought resistant Floritam, etc. Determine what kind you have.

The nutrients, supplements, weed suppressants and insecticides to be used will vary according to the grass. Some chemicals intended for one kind will kill the other kind.

If you really want to do it yourself, get with your county extension agent and become well informed before you start.

If you tire of doing it yourself and want to hire a company to apply fertilizers and insecticides, I recommend getting several bids. Too many people simply call on Massey because the see the trucks in the neighborhood. Frankly, I use Massey because when we bought the house there was already a contract in force, but I find them pricey.

With regard to plantings in the yard, my rule is that if it cannot withstand a freeze (not just frost) it doesn't belong in my yard.

You might want to leave the lawn to the professionals and confine your green thumb efforts to shrubs and flowers.

Enjoy!

I didn't put in one tropical. But I do have Zoyzia and was hoping to hear if 15 0 15 was what I should be using or a general Scott's Turf Builder.

The pros recommend 15-0-15 for Zoysia, see the web sites I posted earlier on this thread.

We moved in in April and decided to do our own lawn. Since the lawn was new we did fertilize 4 times this year. We used Lesco 15-0-15. Our lawn looks beautiful. We cut the lawn every 5-7 days during the growing season and we cut it high, 2 to 2 1/2 inches. We applied grub control in May and we applied a fungicide two times during the growing season. As far as the plants and trees, we sprayed twice with a liquid fungicide and every 4 weeks we use miracle grow. We also spray our home outside with home defense. We have not had a bug in the house. We go through this process the first of each month in the early morning. Fertilizing, pest control, and fungicide is completed within 2 days. We have the rest of the day and month for our enjoyment. We do this ourselves as we feel it Is good exercise and we enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done as well as the compliments we receive from the neighbors.

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