Fall - to feed or not to feed?

As another season of lawn mowing and maintenance comes to an end, it's time to do some planning for the coming year. One of the most common questions I am asked is, "should I fertilize in the fall?" I love the feel-good commercial that one of the better known fertilizer company is running right now on television. They have a number of homeowners telling the benefits of "the fall feed." I couldn't agree more, especially since most of us don't put as much into our lawns during the year as the folks depicted on the commercial.

What are the benefits? First, our turf puts on more roots and stores more energy (carbohydrates) in the fall than any other time of the year. One of the first things we learn in turf class is that despite what the ravages of summer have done to our lawn, tremendous recovery occurs from September through early November, when the plant shifts gears from putting on top growth to storing energy and building roots for the next season. What better time to offer our lawn some assistance on this?

Second, soils are warmer in the fall than in the spring. Any fertilizer we use, whether it's a slow release, organic or a quickly available source, needs adequate temperature for the soil microbes to break down the fertilizer into forms that can be utilized by the turf. Without these microbes, your fertilizer will either sit in the soil doing nothing or be leached by the seasonal precipitation. Because the soil is so cool in the spring, it's especially important in the Inland Northwest to put the "food" down when it can do the most good. We will invariably experience some kind of winter damage in our lawns, and if we wait until spring to apply the fertilizer needed to help it recover, we'll be waiting much longer than if had applied it the previous fall.

Third, your lawn is out of gas. If you're anything like me, you probably haven't fed your lawn as often as it needed, so it's important to refill the tank so the turf can recover from the winter damage that so often occurs under that blanket of snow.

What kind of fertilizer should I use? I like something with a good balance of N-P-K so the plant can get a complete feed. Typical blends you can find at your home centers or other suppliers may have a 5:1:3 ratio or something close to that. Nitrogen will be readily stored in the root systems, phosphorous can be utilized in small amounts (although fall isn't the ideal time since the soils are cool), and potassium is critical for winter hardiness. The analysis isn't critical, so don't get too hung up on that. What is important is to get it down before the snow falls. The later you can make the application, the better.

Next week we'll discuss what other things we can do in the fall to come out of spring in the best possible condition.

Kevin Hicks is the Golf Course Superintendent at The Coeur d'Alene Resort, and can be reached at khicks@cdaresort.com if you have any questions or feedback.