Category Archives: fertilizer for winter

Prepare This Fall for Great Turf Next Year

Winter is most certainly coming. Now’s the time to start planning a strategy on how to put your lawn to bed for Winter.

One of the most important preparations should be a ‘winterizer’ fertilizer. A ‘winterizer’ is an application of fertilizer applied in late Fall. This helps prepare the lawn to get through a long, cold winter and can help minimize damage.

Benefits of Late Fall Fertilizing

Your grass needs nutrients at all times of the year, even Winter. Giving your lawn the nutrients it needs to thrive at the right times is the key to success, and ensuring your grass has the adequate resources it needs to get through Winter is the primary goal of ‘winterizer’ fertilizers.

The Benefits of Applying Fertilizer in Late Fall Include:

  • Minimizes disease susceptibility
  • Reduces the risk of winter kill
  • Promotes deep rooting in late Fall and early Spring
  • Prolongs dark green turf color into early Winter
  • Enhances the storage of carbohydrates
  • Increases shoot density
  • Provides early Spring green up

What is a Winterizer Fertilizer?

Winterizer fertilizers are essentially regular fertilizers with more potassium and slightly less nitrogen

Potassium plays a big part in winterizing because it has been shown to improve cold tolerance and enhance the root systems of turfgrasses. Because lawns use nitrogen more than any other nutrient, winterizers still provide plenty of nitrogen for late fall even though “winterizer” is usually associated with potassium.

When to Apply a Late-Fall Fertilizer

Late fall fertilizers should be applied when the grass stops growing in the fall, but while it is still active in the root system. You can tell that your grass is still active by the strong green color.

Your location will depend on when exactly this is, but it is usually mid-late November. On rare occasions, it could even be early December.

When you stop needing to mow your lawns regularly, it is time to apply winterizer.

Late-Fall Products Available at Eco Lawn and Garden: