Fertilizer on top of leaves?

[Green]

Looks like the Winterizing app will probably be in the next week or so. Someone recently posted a thread about applying on top of snow, so I'm starting one about applying on top of leaves. Not major leaf cover, but enough leaves to do a mulch mowing. Problem is, I may have to guess when to apply due to uncooperative weather. But I'm fine with that, taking an educated guess based on soil temps, experience, and the current weather conditions, that is. There will most likely be some leaves around still though. A local pro I used to talk with years ago said he wouldn't winterize customer's lawns if there were still leaves; they had to take care of them and call him back after that.

What do you guys think about applying when there are still some leaves if you can't mow first due to it being too damp? I've never had this situation before, so figured I'd seek your opinions and experiences on the subject.

Seems to me, it might mess with the exact coverage a bit, but the rain should wash it into the soil off the leaves.

[Chris LI]

Maybe you could blow the leaves to the perimeter and mulch them at a later date.

[Kharps]

Can you use a leaf blower to clear the area, spread the winterizer, blow the leaves back onto the area, then mulch them into the lawn when conditions are more favorable?

[andy10917]

I don't get it - if you don't have time to deal with the leaves once, how are you going to find the time to deal with them twice?

[Green]

I don't get it - if you don't have time to deal with the leaves once, how are you going to find the time to deal with them twice?

I'm not sure I understand the question, but it's all hypothetical right now. It's not a time thing. But it's based on the current trend of rain, snow, and temperatures. I don't know if it's been exactly the same where you are the past two weeks (doubtful), but we've gotten 0.5+ inch of rain every 3-5 days during that time, even before the 10 inches of snow the other day. "Moist" is an understatement, and it's soon to be frozen for 24 hours between Wed and Thurs.

I have never seen this situation before in my 7 years doing lawn care, and am trying to plan ahead in case my strategy needs to be modified. Have you seen this happen before in your 30-ish years doing lawn care?

My winterizing window might occur before my next "leaf cleanup" window, since it's been so weird.

[Green]

Can you use a leaf blower to clear the area, spread the winterizer, blow the leaves back onto the area, then mulch them into the lawn when conditions are more favorable?

Can't do that, unfortunately...don't have a good enough blower. And actually, my main blower (an electric handheld since I don't make huge use of it) broke recently, so I'm using a battery model as backup.

[Green]

Maybe you could blow the leaves to the perimeter and mulch them at a later date.

Excellent idea, but as noted above, unfortunately not feasible.

[Green]

Guys,

For reference, here is my recent weather history so you know what I''m dealing with (lower MA/RI/lower NY should be relatively similar, but as we've seen the expected variance between the areas is definitely there):

2-Nov: 1.5 in rain
6-Nov: 1.0 in rain
10-Nov: 0.7 in rain
13-Nov: 1.1 in rain
15-Nov: 10 in snow (some still on the ground)
-------
19-Nov: more rain coming
Lastet mow was 12-Nov.

[umbo514]

Guys,

For reference, here is my recent weather history so you know what I''m dealing with (lower MA/RI/lower NY should be relatively similar, but as we've seen the expected variance between the areas is definitely there):

2-Nov: 1.5 in rain
6-Nov: 1.0 in rain
10-Nov: 0.7 in rain
13-Nov: 1.1 in rain
15-Nov: 10 in snow (some still on the ground)
-------
19-Nov: more rain coming
Lastet mow was 12-Nov.

Green, I know exactly what your dealing with, the rain has been heavy and non stop. I'm located in southeastern RI and I cut on the 12th as well. I took the mower (push mower) yesterday for a quick test to see if I had any growth... very little but still growth. The rain is supposed to hold off till later tonight, I was planning on rushing home today from work to get a leaf clean in. If you can't fit it in today, we're really not supposed to get a lot of rain tomorrow and this weekend, well Saturday is looking nice. Maybe a leaf cleaning this weekend for you? The 3 week window after stoppage is making me hope the weather participates within the time frame.

[Green]

Green, I know exactly what your dealing with, the rain has been heavy and non stop. I'm located in southeastern RI and I cut on the 12th as well. I took the mower (push mower) yesterday for a quick test to see if I had any growth... very little but still growth.

Thank you! I have to add to that: 1.3 inches of rain on Oct. 27th. Not a 3-5 day span, and not this month, but yeah...

I wish I could do that. But I still have around 80% snow cover (having gotten 10 inches just a few days ago, there's still 1-2 inches left in most places, but some green is starting to show through in the front.

In Southeastern RI, you're likely just a bit warmer than here, still, though not as warm as Cape Cod. That possibly works in your favor for having a wider window for winterizing compared to me, even maybe this year.

The rain is supposed to hold off till later tonight, I was planning on rushing home today from work to get a leaf clean in. If you can't fit it in today, we're really not supposed to get a lot of rain tomorrow and this weekend, well Saturday is looking nice. Maybe a leaf cleaning this weekend for you? The 3 week window after stoppage is making me hope the weather participates within the time frame.

Exactly what I'm hoping for...we will see how much more snow melts first. The thing is, it appears my next window, if it opens, will be extremely short as well...even more rain and snow is predicted the end of the week and following week, beginning in the later part of Saturday! Good for watering in fertilizer. Bad for putting down fertilizer, and bad for mowing/mulching leaves. Actually, there's more of a chance I'm going to have to bag the leaves in all likelihood. The grass is so wet and matted down after the 10 inches of snow.

Finally, my hunch based on this early snow and my soil temps yesterday, was that my window for the winterizer is going to be closer to 1 week this year than 3 weeks. Andy's recent post of that NOAA climate tool provides even more evidence this will be the case.

[Green]

Good news...

The snow was essentially gone by this afternoon (Wed.), and I was able to get a mow in. There were essentially no clippings, as expected. So, the plan is to do the final mow and Winterizing fertilizer application on Saturday.

[Green]

Update: I was able to get the majority of the leaves taken care of before putting down the final fertilizer today.