How Did The Fall Nitrogen Regimen Work For You?

[NJDan]

This was my first year using the aggressive regime with urea. I think I got started late with it and only did 3 or 4 at most weekly applications on my KBG. Lawn greened up nicely and I'll be doing it again next year.

[PSU4ME]

I used the aggressive regimen this year as I wanted my front (2nd year) and back (1st year) renos to really fill in and I’d say that it definitely helped with that.

The extra cutting (about every 5 days) wasn’t really fun though!

The negative, for me, was that my color was green but not a nice rich green that I would get from using baystate with the iron in it. Baystate is pretty cheap for me so I’ll prob go that route next year or find a balance to incorporate it into the aggressive schedule..... or find another way to add iron (FAS treatments are time consuming).

My neighbor, whom I’m helping, had a nice green from the milo treatments we used.

[andy10917]

I don't know that the "nice green" is from Iron. I've commented many times that there is a certain blue/green that I can get from Vitamin M that I have never been able to get from any synthetic product, with or without Iron.

It is not easy to do an aggressive regimen and switch back and forth between Milorganite/Bay State and Urea - the Milorganite is still in the middle part of releasing Nitrogen when the next Urea app slams in. It can be done, but it's tricky.

[PSU4ME]

Yeah Andy, it’s the “milo green” that I’m referring to and I get it with baystate and with the stagreen with 2% iron synthetic do I always attributed it to the iron.

Certainly understand the trickiness of mixing the two regimens and I’ll likeky not do it. Each have their uses so I think it’s up to the homeowner to pick which they need. Aggressive is far cheaper I’ll say that!

[Oldschool]

It went well for me. Started late but still got four “pre-pause” applications down. Winterizer app went down on Halloween. Good thing too, snow came that night and haven’t seen my grass since.

One observation was the color of my turf deteriorated from a beautiful deep green to green/beige from mid September thru October. My newfound knowledge though tells me the lack of green color is caused by the high ph (8.5) and no vitamin M (chelated iron) since mid August.

No worries though. Anxious to see the color in spring and can’t wait to do it again next year.

[PW405]

Attached is the best illustration of the difference a Fall N Regimen made. In 2016 and 2017 I dropped TTTF seed around the same date. Both pictures were taken within 10 days. Great at showing the difference in color and (what appears to be) health of the grass blades. Bear in mind, some of the color difference shown can be attributed to lighting conditions/camera exposure, but the difference is pretty clear.

[Green]

It is not easy to do an aggressive regimen and switch back and forth between Milorganite/Bay State and Urea - the Milorganite is still in the middle part of releasing Nitrogen when the next Urea app slams in. It can be done, but it's tricky.

I did just that successfully this year. I feel my good results weren't due to luck...but due to understanding what I was doing. As you said, it can be done...but without a few years of experience first--doing your plan exactly as written, I wouldn't have had the proper intuition needed to understand how my lawn and soil would react to that modification. I'm not going to answer questions about it if anyone is thinking of asking, because I feel that my experience is specific to my lawn and micro climate, as well as the weather patterns of Fall 2017. I don't think it would generalize outside of that. If some of the weather conditions were a little different, I would have been altering some things no doubt...my plan was tailored to the conditions of 2017, and there were modifcations that had to be made around every corner as conditions fluctuated.

[andy10917]

As you said, it can be done...but without a few years of experience first--doing your plan exactly as written

Ahem! This explains why the combo isn't documented (and never will be!). You have to learn how to read all of the signs and results first -- and that's part of what I'm always hammering away at. You can become a Master Google-Fu and 50 years later still not have a clue about how to read the signs and hints about what is going on in your yard.

If you learn to read what's going on in your yard, you don't need me telling you when it's smart and when it's dumb as hell...

[Green]

Yeah, but those first couple of years...

They were tough. I had to rely very heavily on advice, because I had no idea how things were going to react. Certain general rules really helped a lot...like the concept of the pause...which is something I now understand you just don't violate...though you can question the data that goes into it.

I would recommend that even a very detail-oriented person who wants to learn to modify things, like a Fall aggressive regimen (I think detail-oriented describes a lot of people on here) should do Andy's plan exactly as written for the first couple of years...until they can reliably predict/visualize what the result of x- or y- done in such-and-such way is going to be.

For me, the really fun part is when I can start putting my own way of doing things into play, and see it actually work as I intended...which is the stage I'm at now...and I think, one of those stages where the learning is the fastest.

For example, in one of my other hobbies, which I still enjoy a lot, but have a lot more experience with (20+ years) I've settled into a flow of what works for me over time, and mostly make major split-second decisions automatically now. This is pretty much how the learning process works in all areas, and it doesn't help to short-change yourself by playing with too many variables all at once, whether you're just starting out, have a few years under your belt, or are very experienced...people simply don't learn as well that way.

When it comes to things that involve some science, like grass growing, nothing beats experience, observation, prediction, and then analyzing results.

[PW405]

Perhaps it is still to early to judge spring results from my aggressive fall N regimen, but so far preliminary indications are good: Some areas of fescue are starting to grow again and really have a nice dark "fullness" to them that I didn't see last spring. Of course, this year I've also started my soil remediation plan per my Logan Labs test & Andy's infinite wisdom. 4" soil temps currently ~51°.

My front yard has annual rye in one section, and fescue in another. The annual rye is really starting to go gangbusters. Note to self: Aggressive fall N regimen on rye means a mowing season starts early.