Fertilizer

Recent question "I was curious what fertilizer brands are recommended for this year?"

Fertilization - In new sod or seed applications a preplant fertilization is desirable. High quality SLOW RELEASE fertilizer should be applied to the soil prior to seeding or sodding. This will spoon feed the new plants for 6-8 weeks. You can also apply another light application of fertilizer after the first mowing. Always use slow release fertilizers!!!!. Recommendation from Gardner is to use a triple coated fertilizer containing (Urea, Sulfur Coat and Ploy coated) particles. Good balanced fertilizers are best. If you are located in the Western US I'd also recommend that the fertilizer have a component of iron (chelated iron is best). My personal favorite at this time is Sta-Green Ultra. This fertilizer lasted 4 months before I had to reapply and I ended up only fertilizing twice last summer with winterizer applied in the fall. Okay I cheated and applied liquid iron in July so technically I fertilized 3 times. My lawn was the greenest on the block all summer long! :)

Natural/Organic- I'm a big fan of compost tea and we actually brew our own (farming purposes only not for resale) at our El Paso location. Chicken droppings are a very good nitrogen source and can be purchased at most box stores. You can also apply compost a couple times per year. I would suggest contacting your local municipal waste treatment plant as most of them now produce some fairly high quality compost and will give it away for free!

Optioins for seeding leach field in CO. From Tom

Tom, there are many options for seeding a leach field. If the field is in an outlying area and you want to match your existing native grass species you can contact a couple of seed companies Pawnee Buttes Seed and Arkansas Valley Seed. Both of these companies can assist you in selecting a good seed mix. Best time to plant natives without irrigation is in the fall with the exception of Buffalograss. If you want to match the leach field to your existing lawn then you can plant sod in this area. I know many people will say that sod or typical bluegrass species will ruin the pipes by clogging them with roots. Believe me that native grasses can and will produce deeper, more, denser roots than bluegrass given the right situation and on a leach field is the right situation. Last time I looked 99% of the leach fields I see have grass of some type on them and I don't see them having to fix/repair them.