Lawn Care

As soon as the spring season arrives, homeowners start to fret about their lawn care. These days, one of the most confusing decisions that need to be made is about lawn fertilizer. Will you go for organic or synthetic lawn fertilizer this spring season?

Well, as long as the nutrients grass needs to grow well are available in a form the grass can use, your lawn can't tell the difference between organic and synthetic lawn fertilizer.

But there are differences and you'll want to make an informed choice. Let's take a look at what sets them apart:

What is organic lawn fertilizer?

Organic fertilizers are derived from plant or animal ?waste.? For example, sheep, cow, horse and other animal manures are in the organic category, as is compost. Compost is a rich, friable substance that results when plants and kitchen waste decompose. Organic lawn fertilizer has beneficial micro-organisms that speed up the decomposition of clippings when you cut the grass.

The resulting organic material improves the soil structure and is a very important aspect of lawn care. There is less chance of burning grass roots or over using lawn fertilizer. A disadvantage some gardeners see is that the nutrients in organic lawn fertilizer take longer than synthetics to become available to the grass, hence lawn care results are slower.

What is synthetic lawn fertilizer?

Synthetic fertilizers are created by man, not nature. They are manufactured into salt compounds that contain nitrogen, potassium, calcium and magnesium. These elements are referred to as essential (chemical) elements and are useful lawn care items.

Common nitrogen sources such as ammonia, ammonium sulphate and urea are byproducts from the oil and natural gas industry.

The main advantage with chemical lawn fertilizer is that the exact amount of a given element can be accurately calculated and these nutrients are immediately available to the plants once applied correctly. But there are disadvantages that some feel outweigh the advantages. For example, a too generous application of chemical lawn fertilizer can have an adverse affect on lawn care, and this type of lawn fertilizer also leaches easily in the spring season due to rain or irrigation.