Final Urea App Question....

[Green]

Morph,

I feel like your rhetorical question about "why should we expect a difference with one more app if we've already maxed out N?" Is a reason a lot of people have skipped their winterizing app. I've seen some guidance from the heavy-duty researchers advising no N in the period when soil temps are below 50F. They predictably shy away from recommending early Spring N as well for all the usual reasons, but at least one recommended a low-rate early Spring app if color and grow lag. That recommendation didn't sit well with me.

But I view it a little differently. Last year, I did some related experiments, and that included skipping my winterizing app on a test area. I was not happy with the performance of that area in early Spring. It just seemed to lag a bit. I split that area in two, and did a fairly low-rate early Spring app on half (at roughly under 40F soil temp, which is not recommended because Spring rains supposedly will result in enhanced leaching when soil is cold). But I wanted to see if I could mimic the late Fall winterizing app in terms of results. It worked ok, but I didn't view the early Spring app as a viable solution for many reasons, and it's not something I plan to implement.

So I'm of the mind that a winterizing app of some form is warranted, and provides better results. Maybe eventually I'll write up how I stepped into the current experiment, which uses a reformulated pre-pause winterizing app. It might sound wonky, but when you really delve into it the science, the formula and timing actually make a lot of sense on paper. For now, sufficient it to say you were one inspiration with your Vigoro Super Green when mostly everyone else was using straight urea or AMS. Hint: I'm not using polymer coated urea, though. Im using methylene urea blended with a bit of fast release N. And the other inspiration was the spoonfeeding on the mostly sand-based systems. But as Andy said, not everything that works or is necessary on sand is going to work the same or be necessary on soil. So I tried to make it more sandy-loam friendly and more homeowner/LCO friendly as well. Then you add in my 7 years of winterizing experience as well as observations of other lawns nearby and conversations with a few residential fertilizer pros in the area. It's really not possible to do a comprehensive write up at this time since there are so many factors. But the experiment is fun, anyway, and maybe the results will be decent next Spring.

[dantis496]

I am in SE Mass and was going back and forth with the same question. I decided to wait after the "monsoon" passes. We are getting decent amount of rain. I see a window on Wednesday before light rain moves in on Thursday, so hopefully this is it. As a side note, this was my first year using "aggressive" urea approach. Must say I am very happy with it...see you in a few months! Happy Holidays!

[MorpheusPA]

I tend to also think of things as "insurance." Cheap, cheap insurance (when using urea, which runs me $0.50 per pound or less). As we slide into...well, as much late fall as we seem to be getting, the lawn is green as compared to everybody else's. And that's where it'll stay until spring, except for blasted tips.

Now mind, I don't spoon-feed except in the sense that I let the organics do it for me. I have no problems or objections with doing it or with other people doing so, I merely don't. I just like looking out and knowing I'm spoon feeding while I sit by the computer with my reference images up, Pluto TV playing a bad Asylum movie with sharks in it, and the painting I'm working on in front of me.