what are you trying to single out & observe? you’ve added quite a few additions to the mix that singling out the results of one N source vs the others seems impossible now.
Urea 46 0 0 vs other fertilizer
I have been doing some testing with fertilizer this year. I've been putting only 46 0 0 in one section another area I put only XGRN and another I used one app of scotts Greenmax and one baystate fertilizer. The area that got only XGRN is kbg hogan's mix the area that got green max and baystate was 2 areas one is mono Blueberry kbg and rhe other is bewitched kbg and 4rh Millennium tttf. The are that just urea is another area of mono Blueberry kbg.
I gave 2 apps so far, each at .5 N. The area with just urea 46 0 0 looks the best by a pretty good margin.
Anyone else ever notice this or play around with testing different fertilizers?
I gave 2 apps so far, each at .5 N. The area with just urea 46 0 0 looks the best by a pretty good margin.
Anyone else ever notice this or play around with testing different fertilizers?
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What's hard to follow? One area has only urea and the other 2 have fertilizers have more than just N....so my point I'm trying to make is do we in general make to much of a big deal about all the other elements we add in like humic, biochar, even P and K...at the end if the day it's all about the N...I will continue to use only urea in this area for rhe whole year and then will make my jusgement.what are you trying to single out & observe? you’ve added quite a few additions to the mix that singling out the results of one N source vs the others seems impossible now.
I agree with @corneliani, you have different cultivars in different sections of your lawn, mono stand and mixed cultivars. I’m guessing those areas probably have different amount of sunlight.
I’m not familiar or don’t recall the composition the fertilizers you mentioned , with the exception of urea. But I’m guessing the others have either slow release and/or controlled release nitrogen.
In regard to humic and biochar, it’s unlikely you’ll see any immediate difference. For P & K, if you already have sufficient nutrient in your soil, then you won’t notice any difference.
I think it’s great that you’re doing a test, but to actually make a good comparison you’ll have a similar situation for each test plot with the exception of the product you’re comparing.
I’m not familiar or don’t recall the composition the fertilizers you mentioned , with the exception of urea. But I’m guessing the others have either slow release and/or controlled release nitrogen.
In regard to humic and biochar, it’s unlikely you’ll see any immediate difference. For P & K, if you already have sufficient nutrient in your soil, then you won’t notice any difference.
I think it’s great that you’re doing a test, but to actually make a good comparison you’ll have a similar situation for each test plot with the exception of the product you’re comparing.
Ok so let's just compare the 2 mono Blueberry kbg areas one had urea twice and the other had scotts greenmax and baystate which is a local biosolid fert...I agree with @corneliani, you have different cultivars in different sections of your lawn, mono stand and mixed cultivars. I’m guessing those areas probably have different amount of sunlight.
I’m not familiar or don’t recall the composition the fertilizers you mentioned , with the exception of urea. But I’m guessing the others have either slow release and/or controlled release nitrogen.
In regard to humic and biochar, it’s unlikely you’ll see any immediate difference. For P & K, if you already have sufficient nutrient in your soil, then you won’t notice any difference.
I think it’s great that you’re doing a test, but to actually make a good comparison you’ll have a similar situation for each test plot with the exception of the product you’re comparing.
They both also are south facing and are in the front of my house...apples to apples.
I normally get a soil test every year this year I didn't but my P is usually high and k is low...
The monostand testing site is a good idea. I'm assuming what you mean by looking good is color response?
Things also to look out would be
1. Duration of color response
2. Disease development with the same preventative regimen
3. Clipping yield
4. Grass density
5. Root growth and mass
Things also to look out would be
1. Duration of color response
2. Disease development with the same preventative regimen
3. Clipping yield
4. Grass density
5. Root growth and mass
For one you're not controlling variables. Different cultivars without applying the same thing to them. Comparing Bay State (Massachusetts Milorganite) to a fast release fert makes no sense. Just about any non slow release will out perform it because they're meant to be used differently.What's hard to follow? One area has only urea and the other 2 have fertilizers have more than just N....so my point I'm trying to make is do we in general make to much of a big deal about all the other elements we add in like humic, biochar, even P and K...at the end if the day it's all about the N...I will continue to use only urea in this area for rhe whole year and then will make my jusgement.
Man you guys are tough here....what am I comparing here??? Visual response that's it, how my lawn has responded and how it looks over all. Different cultivars where they are in my yard blah blah all that doesn't matter. At the end if the day it's how your lawn looks that matters that's what we do this for.
Currently the area with urea not only looks better it is thicker and kbg is spreading faster as well. So greenmax and baystate have iron in them and we do this for the color response I want to say the color is also better with just urea...
So my point is we get all these other products, granular, sprays to have the best lawn ever, my simple test is to see if I can get the same or in my case so far, better results for less products and be cheaper overall. But to each thier own my friends
Currently the area with urea not only looks better it is thicker and kbg is spreading faster as well. So greenmax and baystate have iron in them and we do this for the color response I want to say the color is also better with just urea...
So my point is we get all these other products, granular, sprays to have the best lawn ever, my simple test is to see if I can get the same or in my case so far, better results for less products and be cheaper overall. But to each thier own my friends
How much Urea do you use, how frequent?
If you can add comparison pictures, it would be great addition to the thread too! : )
I assume you have a irrigation system also?
If you can add comparison pictures, it would be great addition to the thread too! : )
I assume you have a irrigation system also?
We're seeing exactly what I would expect here. The urea, being a synthetic organic, has to be broken down by microbes but that can happen really fast this time of year...like 3 days for you to start getting N into the grass.
The green max is about 1/3 fast urea and 1/3 AMS, so you're going to get a slightly faster response but might not be able to see it since it's small in amount of AMS at the rate you used. And you'll only get 2/3 the amount of rapid fertilization due to the ratios versus straight urea (since the complex urea chains that comprise the final 1/3 take a long time to be broken down). I'm not sure how good the sucrose-complexed iron in it is. But I personally don't put a lot of focus on iron, ever.
Similar story with the XGRN...except it's about 1/3 AMS and the rest being organics that are even slower.
The Baystate is also mostly slow release but there is some AMS in biosolids (note the water soluble portion).
If simplifying the routine now that XGRN is discontinued is the goal, I would combine organics, Urea, and good quality humic products. The organics and humic, if applied with the urea, can help to capture and hold some of the N and help it last longer and reduce losses. I don't mean mixing them. You can apply them separately but around the same time.
You can do a lot with just urea N. The main disadvantage versus the others is that the fast urea will not do much more after 3-4 weeks.
Baystate, organics, methylene ureas, etc, make good adjuncts but to rely on them as heavy hitters is inefficient. You will see me using a lot of natural ferts in Spring, but that's because I used a lot of urea and AMS (with some organics) on the back end of last season, and those are helping hold it the following Spring.
The green max is about 1/3 fast urea and 1/3 AMS, so you're going to get a slightly faster response but might not be able to see it since it's small in amount of AMS at the rate you used. And you'll only get 2/3 the amount of rapid fertilization due to the ratios versus straight urea (since the complex urea chains that comprise the final 1/3 take a long time to be broken down). I'm not sure how good the sucrose-complexed iron in it is. But I personally don't put a lot of focus on iron, ever.
Similar story with the XGRN...except it's about 1/3 AMS and the rest being organics that are even slower.
The Baystate is also mostly slow release but there is some AMS in biosolids (note the water soluble portion).
If simplifying the routine now that XGRN is discontinued is the goal, I would combine organics, Urea, and good quality humic products. The organics and humic, if applied with the urea, can help to capture and hold some of the N and help it last longer and reduce losses. I don't mean mixing them. You can apply them separately but around the same time.
You can do a lot with just urea N. The main disadvantage versus the others is that the fast urea will not do much more after 3-4 weeks.
Baystate, organics, methylene ureas, etc, make good adjuncts but to rely on them as heavy hitters is inefficient. You will see me using a lot of natural ferts in Spring, but that's because I used a lot of urea and AMS (with some organics) on the back end of last season, and those are helping hold it the following Spring.
@Green I was thinking about this, I wonder how soil composition affects nutrient uptake. I have sandy soil, I mean it can pour for 2 days and I will have no puddles in my yard it just soaks it in. I'm wondering if the slow release part of the fertilizer is being soaked in below where its usable to the plant. So in this case using all fast release I would benefit more....??? Thoughts
In the end the only comparison you have , (forgive me if I mis read your post ) is the 46-0-0/blueberry and the scotts with blueberry.
as I read your post
46-0-0 has Blueberry
XGRN has hogan
Scotts has blueberry
Baystate bewitched/millenium
sun exposer , soil conditions , watering can be varying enough to effect results.
You did not include square footage and amount of product applied.
Did you put down .5 lbs N /1000
Of each product on the same day . Did you water them in per directions? Did the direction vary?
Heck even the square footage and how you applied the fertilizer could vary enough.
Anyway if you think this crowd is tough check out lawnsite, lol
a better test would be smaller test lot say 1600 sqft or so of one grass type and 4 different ferts
a soil test would help also to see what your soil did or did not have.
i have 3 very different soil conditions in my yard and one large section that is just a mess of different soil types with in 10k ft2 and you can see the difference in how the grass grows
in the end if your happy with your grass thats what you do
as I read your post
46-0-0 has Blueberry
XGRN has hogan
Scotts has blueberry
Baystate bewitched/millenium
sun exposer , soil conditions , watering can be varying enough to effect results.
You did not include square footage and amount of product applied.
Did you put down .5 lbs N /1000
Of each product on the same day . Did you water them in per directions? Did the direction vary?
Heck even the square footage and how you applied the fertilizer could vary enough.
Anyway if you think this crowd is tough check out lawnsite, lol
a better test would be smaller test lot say 1600 sqft or so of one grass type and 4 different ferts
a soil test would help also to see what your soil did or did not have.
i have 3 very different soil conditions in my yard and one large section that is just a mess of different soil types with in 10k ft2 and you can see the difference in how the grass grows
in the end if your happy with your grass thats what you do
It shouldn't. Not the insoluble slow release part. That's where insoluble fert helps. You're thinking of the soluble forms of fast and slow release N. But yes, it really does happen with soluble N. You can lose a lot of your urea before it even gets broken down to ammonium. When we get 3 inches of rain, a lot of what we put down in the prior week or so can get lost to runoff or go below the root zone. Ideally, we don't keep getting rain in huge chunks like that every 3 weeks. You can help it out a bit by keeping your soil on the drier side (though not so dry that it becomes hydrohpbic), but there's still only so much you can do.@Green I was thinking about this, I wonder how soil composition affects nutrient uptake. I have sandy soil, I mean it can pour for 2 days and I will have no puddles in my yard it just soaks it in. I'm wondering if the slow release part of the fertilizer is being soaked in below where its usable to the plant. So in this case using all fast release I would benefit more....??? Thoughts
Supposedly humic acid helps hold onto some of it. John Perry told me this directly when I emailed his company after one of those rainstorms this Spring. I had applied one of his products with my fertilizer.
Otherwise, it's a waste (of both fert and water) every time we get a lot of rain. Some of both will tend to be lost.
I think going forward urea will be my heavy hitter fert and I will use organics or slow release at appropriate times so spring and fall it will be all urea...its not just the color that's better the aggressive spreading has been insane....
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