
Fertilizer
When to Fertilize: Autumn Matters More Than Spring
When to fertilize a lawn: autumn matters more than spring for cool-season grass, the reverse for warm-season — plus the state laws that close the window.

Organic Lawn Fertilizer
★★★★★ 4.7/5
our editor rating how we score4.6/5 from 3,379 shoppers at Amazon — their number, not ours.
$30–$42 (32 lb)
Typical price · 2,500 sq ft per bag
Affiliate links — see our disclosure. Commissions never influence verdicts.
The cult classic: burn-proof slow-release nitrogen plus iron for deep green color without surge growth.
The most forgiving fertilizer you can buy — impossible to burn, safe in summer disease season when fast nitrogen is risky, and the iron delivers color without a growth flush you have to mow twice a week. Trade-off: you'll carry more bags, and results build gradually.
Product type
Organic Lawn Fertilizer
Active ingredient
6-4-0 biosolids with 2.5% non-staining iron
Price range
$30–$42 (32 lb)
Coverage
2,500 sq ft per bag
Best for
Burn-proof feeding and deep color without surge growth
our editor rating
4.7 out of 5
Matched against each state's actual disease, weed and pest pressure.
Application window: Bermuda and zoysia: May through August. Centipede: one light feeding, and that is the whole programme
Application window: UAF gives fertilizer analyses rather than pounds of nitrogen. Minimum maintenance is 5 lb of 22-11-11 per 1,000 sq ft in spring and again in late summer. A premium programme is 5 lb of 22-11-11 in late May, 5 lb of 22-4-4 in late June and again in July, then 5 lb of 8-32-16 in late August or early September — the last one deliberately low in nitrogen and high in phosphorus and potassium to build winter reserves
Application window: Bermuda: light monthly feedings May–September, plus iron for alkalinity yellowing
Application window: Bermuda and zoysia: May through August. Fescue in the north: September and October only
Application window: Fescue: October–November and March–April; Bermuda: May–August
Application window: CSU splits it by grass: bluegrass and ryegrass take 0.5–1 lb N mid-March to April, 1 lb May to mid-June, none July to early August, 1 lb mid-August to mid-September and 1–2 lb early October to early November — buffalograss and blue grama invert that entirely, taking nitrogen only from May to early August
Application window: UConn's two dates are May and early September, with a third in June only if you bag the clippings — 2 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft a year if clippings are returned, 3 lb if removed, and never more than 1 lb of soluble N at once. Nothing before April 15 or after mid-October
Application window: Delaware is a soil-test state by law and by Extension practice — the University of Delaware declines to publish blanket rates and tells you to follow the report. The autumn feeding is the one that carries a transition-zone lawn; 3 DE Admin. Code 1204 sets per-application limits, no-application periods and setbacks on top of that
Application window: April–May and September–October (check local summer blackout ordinances)
⚖️ Florida's Urban Turf Rule limits phosphorus applications unless a soil test shows deficiency — and many counties add a June–September nitrogen blackout.
Application window: Bermuda: monthly light feedings from full green-up (late April) through August
Application window: Rate follows species: hybrid bermudagrass has the highest requirement, zoysia, St. Augustine and seashore paspalum are intermediate, and centipede needs the least. Because growth never stops and the soils leach, the pattern is lighter and more frequent rather than two or three big applications — and seashore paspalum wants nitrate-N rather than ammonium-N during establishment
Application window: UI publishes a five-slot schedule for a medium-to-high maintenance bluegrass lawn: half to one pound of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft in mid-March or April, one pound in early May or June, NOTHING in July or early August, one pound in mid-August or September, and one to two pounds in early October or November with the higher rate optional. A season total runs anywhere from 0.5 to 5 lb depending on the quality you want; a low-maintenance tall fescue lawn sits at 2 to 4 lb
Application window: Labor Day and Halloween feedings do 80% of the work; optional light Memorial Day application
⚖️ Some Illinois municipalities restrict phosphorus lawn fertilizer — check local ordinances.
Application window: Purdue's five slots: up to 0.75 lb slow-release in April, 0.75–1.0 lb in May, 0.75 lb in July on irrigated lawns only, 1 lb in September, and 1.5 lb of fast-release urea in November after the final mowing while the grass is still green
Application window: Early September and late October — the fall programme carries an Iowa lawn
Application window: K-State splits this by species rather than by month. Tall and fine fescue: about 1 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft, applied in autumn. Zoysia: 1 to 1.5 lb, in early summer. Buffalograss: the least of any Kansas lawn grass — 1 lb in early June improves colour and density, and more than that makes it weedy
Application window: Fescue and bluegrass: September and late October. Check the soil test before buying anything with a middle number — Inner Bluegrass limestone soils routinely test phosphorus-sufficient already
Application window: St. Augustine takes at least 1 lb of nitrogen in June and again in early to mid-August, up to about 3 lb a year, applied from midspring to midsummer
Application window: UMaine is specific and restrained: no more than two pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft a year, and if you feed once, do it between August 15 and September 15. Any remainder goes down in May after spring green-up, not before it
Application window: Tall fescue feeds September and late October — and the state's blackout starts November 16, which is earlier than most neighbours
Application window: Late spring and early September, with a late-October application where the rules allow — the season is short enough that timing matters more than rate
Application window: April through October, and MSU is specific that applications should go down before November — later nitrogen leaches over winter rather than feeding the grass
Application window: The University of Minnesota scales nitrogen by maintenance level AND soil organic matter: a low-maintenance unwatered lawn takes a single September application of 0.5–1 lb, while a watered lawn with clippings removed takes four — August, September, early October and May–June — and no single application should exceed 1 lb per 1,000 sq ft
Application window: Bermuda: May through August. Centipede: one light feeding a year and nothing more
Application window: Fescue: September and late October, with a light spring feeding at most; zoysia and bermuda: May through August
Application window: MSU's figure for most Montana conditions is 2 to 4 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft a year, split into two or three applications, with never more than 1½ pounds of available nitrogen going down at once. It also warns off high-nitrogen and rapid-release products specifically because they promote disease. A spring seeding gets a ½ lb nitrogen starter before the seed
Application window: UNL publishes dates, not seasons, for cool-season lawns: April 15–25 at 0 to 0.5 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft, May 25–June 5 at 0.5 to 0.75, August 25–September 5 at 0.5 to 0.75, and October 15–November 1 at 0 to 0.25. Western Nebraska shifts one to two weeks later in spring and one to two weeks earlier in autumn. Buffalograss and zoysia get one application, May 5–15, at about 0.5 lb — and buffalograss should never exceed 2 lb a year
Application window: Bermuda in the south: May through August. Tall fescue and bluegrass in the north: spring and early autumn
Application window: One to two pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft a year is UNH's range for a home lawn — lower than the coastal states south of here. The last application of the year should be down before September 15 in northern New Hampshire and October 1 in the south
Application window: Legally March 1 – November 15 for homeowners (professionals get to December 1), and capped at 3.2 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft a year — weight it to September and October
Application window: New establishment gets 0.5 to 0.75 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft every other week for six to eight weeks. After that the calendar follows the grass, not the state: cool-season lawns in the north feed spring and autumn, warm-season lawns in the south feed through the warm months and stop well before dormancy
Application window: September is the one application Cornell recommends at every level of lawn quality; May, June and October are optional extras, and no application may exceed 1 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft
Application window: Fescue feeds in fall: September, October and late November — never in summer
Application window: NDSU is emphatic that autumn is the most important time. If you feed once a year, feed in September and target Labor Day; a fuller programme is two applications of 0.75 to 1.0 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft, one in early to mid-September and one around the final mow. Nitrogen applied before September 15 should be about 50 percent slow-release
Application window: September and early November (winterizer) carry the lawn; optional light feeding late May
Application window: Bermuda and zoysia: May through August. Buffalograss wants almost none — feeding it is how people lose it to weeds
Application window: Light and frequent through spring and autumn west of the mountains; east-side lawns follow a shorter, more conventional cool-season programme
Application window: September and late October, and the state closes the window on December 15 — the tightest legal autumn sequence of any state here, because the rate caps limit how much can go down in each of those passes
⚖️ Pennsylvania's fertilizer law restricts phosphorus to soil-test need, new seedings or repairs.
Application window: Late spring and early September, with the September application doing most of the work. The Water Resources Board's statewide guidance asks for moderate rates and never above label — and municipal ordinances in the bay towns cap it far below that
Application window: Centipedegrass takes nitrogen in May and once in late summer only, 1–2 lb a year total; the last application goes down before August 15 in the Upstate and before September 1 on the coast
Application window: SDSU puts the emphasis late and scales it to how you keep the lawn: a low to moderate maintenance lawn gets one application about Labor Day; a moderate to high maintenance lawn gets one in late August to very early September and a second roughly four weeks later, around October 1
Application window: Fescue: September through November; Bermuda and zoysia: May through August
Application window: Late April after full green-up, June, and early September
Application window: Late spring and early September, kept modest — pushing growth in a place where every inch of it is irrigated costs water as well as fertilizer
Application window: Late spring and late August to early September, with the late-summer application carrying the year. Get it down early — the growing season closes fast north of Rutland
Application window: Cool-season lawns take 2.0–3.5 lb of nitrogen a year across September, October, November, April and May at 0.5–0.7 lb a month; bermuda and zoysia are fed only between April 1 and August 15
Application window: Mid-May only if the lawn is thin or yellow, then September–October; slow-release synthetic as late as mid-November
Application window: Autumn carries a transition-zone lawn, so the September feeding is the year's most valuable. Nitrogen is the one nutrient required regardless of what the test says; phosphorus, potassium and lime should all follow the report, which in West Virginia usually asks for lime
Application window: About 2 lb of nitrogen a year in total: roughly 1 lb at the second mowing in spring and 1 lb between September 1 and 15, with any summer application kept under 1 lb and only on irrigated lawns
Application window: UW's numbers are the lowest of any state we cover, and deliberately so: 1 to 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft a year produces a very nice lawn in most of Wyoming, never more than 1 pound in a single application, and one to two applications a year is the manicured programme. For Kentucky bluegrass or tall fescue specifically, UW suggests considering fertilizing once every one to three years. Use quick-release in spring while soils are still cool, and switch to slow-release or organic once they warm
Common questions
Milorganite Slow-Release Nitrogen Fertilizer (6-4-0) typically runs $30–$42 (32 lb), covering 2,500 sq ft per bag.
6-4-0 biosolids with 2.5% non-staining iron.
Low analysis means heavy bags and more of them
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Fertilizer
When to fertilize a lawn: autumn matters more than spring for cool-season grass, the reverse for warm-season — plus the state laws that close the window.

Lawn Diseases
Brown patch treatment needs two things: the right fungicide, and the summer nitrogen habit that caused it. Fungicide alone buys you a repeat next July.

Lawn Diseases
Dollar spot is the one lawn disease caused by too little nitrogen, not too much — the exception to every other fungus guide here. The hourglass lesion confirms it.

Fertilizer
How to read a fertilizer label: what N-P-K actually means, how to work out the nitrogen you are really applying, and the claims worth ignoring.

Fertilizer
Buying organic does not protect your well. Two things decide whether nitrogen reaches it — how much you apply and how much water moves through. Both are free to fix.

Fertilizer
Lawn soil pH decides whether lime or sulfur is the fix — and the right answer inverts between Georgia and Arizona. What the soil test number means.

Product Reviews
The organic weed killer that works on lawns is iron — it burns broadleaf weeds and moss in hours without harming grass. What it won't do: kill the roots.

Fertilizer
Your lawn is yellow and nitrogen is only one of nine causes — feeding the wrong one wastes a season. Diagnose by pattern, blade and timing first.

Weed Control
Wisconsin Extension: selective herbicides are rarely an option. So the fix is a wiped, not sprayed, application of a non-selective — and once is not enough.

Fertilizer
Purdue is blunt: buy a lawn analysis like 28-2-10, not 10-10-10. The deciding spec is then the slow-release fraction, and it changes with the season.

Fertilizer
UGA gives a calculation and a threshold: at least 30% of the nitrogen slow-release. Neither word — liquid or granular — appears in it. The form is a delivery choice.

Lawn Diseases
Penn State: in most situations red thread is not severe enough to warrant fungicide. It is a nitrogen reading — and the fix is feeding, not spraying.

Lawn Diseases
Illinois Extension: the rust is removed by the mower blade. It is the one lawn disease where the treatment is a machine you already own — and a sharp one.

Grass Types
Penn State lists high nitrogen among the conditions fine fescue is not adapted to — beside heavy traffic. It is the one lawn grass you can spoil.
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