Milorganite in Transition zone?

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redcoat
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Milorganite in Transition zone?

Post by redcoat » May 20th, 2017, 3:00 am

Hi,

I'm trying to understand how late in the Spring/Summer I should continue to use Milorganite?

My last drop was 4/28, at bag rate, and I"m thinking of applying one more in about a week before taking a break? The temps have been in the low 90's the last few days, but going to dip again into the low 80's.

What's the best way to decide if this is appropriate?

nocsious
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Re: Milorganite in Transition zone?

Post by nocsious » May 21st, 2017, 11:04 pm

If you irrigate I don't see a problem.

g-man
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Re: Milorganite in Transition zone?

Post by g-man » May 22nd, 2017, 8:27 am

It depends. If your lawn struggles to survive at +95F temps, then feeding it too much nitrogen (Milo) is not a smart idea. You will be pushing grow that requieres water when it needs water to survive. If you have partial or full shade and a mild summer and good rain, then go for it.

In essence, you need to keep your eyes open and adjust to what you are seeing in your yard. Always judge the risk/benefit of what you are doing.

Billy
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Re: Milorganite in Transition zone?

Post by Billy » May 22nd, 2017, 9:43 am

Since most of the N in Milorganite is from a water-insoluble source, you won't have to worry about the burn associated with quickly available sources in hot weather, so that worry is off the table. I suppose your only other worry would be excessive N encouraging brown patch on your tall fescue in the hot summer. Because Milorganite doesn't provide much quickly available N, there's not much to worry about from the acute side. But, you'll want to keep a running total of N throughout the year. Keeping your yearly total in the 4-5#N/M range will produce an excellent tall fescue turf without all the worry that goes with excessive fertilization.

One additional wrinkle could be application timing. Milorganite claims their product mineralizes over a 10-wk period. So, you'll want to chart this all out and time your apps so that you're not mineralizing more than about 1#N/M during any 2-wk period during the summertime.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: Milorganite in Transition zone?

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » June 12th, 2017, 1:43 pm

I use other organics, but if I used Milorganite and had questions about summer heat, I would stop at the end of May. I'm not sure why there would be an issue, but maybe I'm missing something (summer dormancy??).

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