@beckyinrichmond.
Hello. It has been a while and I am looking back on this post. I have been following what you had said but I have a question about the first feeding(May 31st).

Why cant I use Urea for this May 31sr feeding the same way you had suggesting using urea for the september and october feeding? I understand that the common practice is to not feed during summer but isnt using the slow fertilizer at this feeding actually feeding during the summer months anyway? Why can't I just do 1lb/k every 2 weeks from May 31st until Labor day? Then just continue 1lb/k every 2 weeks until October 31?

Do you have a cool season grass (Kentucky bluegrass, fescue, rye)? I assumed so since you had the recommended times of May, Sept, Oct, Nov. Cool season grass has enough stresses in the summer without fertilizer being forced on it. It may even want to go dormant. You can use urea in May/June for two 1 lb/k feedings. Each feeding will deliver 1/2 lb of nitrogen. That's enough to replenish what it has used up in the spring. Skip July and August. You can go back to the spoon feeding in September and October, every two weeks. I would stop in mid October and then wait until after the grass has stopped growing but before the ground freezes for the last feeding. If you do two 1 lb/k in the spring, four 1 lb/k in the early fall, one 2 lb/k in late fall, that gives you 4 lb of nitrogen for the year. That's more than fescue and rye needs, plenty for KBG, Water well after each application. If you have warm season grass, it has a different schedule as summer is its most active growing season. For cool season grasses, it's fall for It's most active growth, followed by spring. It slows down in the summer and we should let it slow down then.

Ok. Yes, I have exactly that(kentucky bluegrass, rye, fescue), I'm in zone (7a). I'm glad to hear I can use the urea for this spring feeding as well because it's a lot cheaper.
Ok so you are saying it is ok if I do 1lb/k urea on May 31st, and 1lb/k urea on June 31st? And that should be good until labor day?

46 is a huge percentage, from a water quality standpoint I'm not sure using that much is a good idea. Also it seems like it might result in all the humus under your lawn being broken down rapidly, resulting in trying to maintain a lawn on a degraded soil.

June 30 is too close to July. You can do it May 31 and June 14. Or May 17 and May 31. Or May 24 and June 7. Or the weekends following these Wednesday dates. You're aiming for late May, early June. And that's enough until Labor Day.

A normal fertilization aims to deliver 1 lb of nitrogen. Tye is doing a half application twice instead of one apllication. If you were using 20-20-20 fertilizer for a normal feeding, the rate is 5 lb/k. If you were using 10-10-10, the rate is 10 lb/k. I have never heard of urea having a detrimental effect on humus. You are welcome to elaborate if you have information.

Thank you very much for the information. In case anyone is interested, here is a link to my soil test in August/2016.http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4174510/logan-labs-soil-test-results

From what I gathered, I should test again in August/2018. In general, is this a good "date" of year to test, or should I shoot for spring/2018. I am trying to do this every two years.

Stick to the same time of year for your tests.

Ok great!

Soil organisms use N to decompose organic matter.

Decomposition of organic matter is a good thing. It's part of the cycle of life.

@tye22tye

Where are you located? Are you the person that tried to apply prodiamine through their sprinkler system?

You do understand that urea is a quick release fertilizer, don't you? That's why it's better to spoon feed small amounts more often than to use one larger amount. It volatizes if left exposed to the air but watering it in gets it into the soil. Apply when the grass is dry. It can burn leaf foliage if applied to wet grass. So apply when grass is dry and then water it right away, enough to help it get into the soil. If you are concerned about your grass having enough nitrogen in July and August without fertilizer, you might want to consider an organic feeding for the late May fertilization instead of the urea. You could use Milorganite or a grain. That would be slow release and hang around longer in the summer. If it were me, I'd do that instead of urea. No need to water in organic feedings. Also, leave your clippings on the lawn when you mow. They help feed the lawn. In the fall mow your leaves and leave them on the lawn chopped up in bits. They provide great organic matter.

How much milorganite do you use?

Bag rate will supply about 3/4 lb of nitrogen, which is plenty for a late spring feeding. I believe a 36 lb bag says it covers 2500 square feet. Read the bag to confirm. You will get a combination of fast release and slow release nitrogen.

Sorry for the sporadic responses. It's hard to see everything with this phone while at work. My dilemma is that I have a half acre and would love to use Milorganite but it can get expensive at $36 for 2500sqft with this size lawn. I can do Urea at 1lb/k twice on the whole lawn for $25. Right now I feel I can get away with using Urea because the soil test results of Aug/2016 really dont call for P or K. I do mulch mow grass clippings and also mulch in leaves every fall. And I just put down 500lbs of cracked corn this April 1st. I plan to do another 500lbs July 1st and repeat this every year.

1)Just out of curiosity, why wouldnt you personally use Urea for the spring like I plan to? Will my grass be ok doing it this way?

It would be really helpful to know where you're located. You're exposing yourself to major fungus issues with that kind of fast release nitrogen so close to summer in 7a. I wouldn't do more than half pound water soluble N beginning of May.

If you're looking to keep a trickle of N going for color, look into acquiring some 21-4-11 from SiteOne and apply that 1lb of product/thousand sq ft monthly through summer.

I am in Long Island, NY (7a).

I just cant win. Every time I think I have a plan, someone else chimes in and turns me upside down, but I mean this in a good way as I need to get this right. I did have a bad problem with fungus in August 2016 and I dont want that again (which is why I am using cracked corn now.

Listen to my new plan:

If I opted out of using Urea for the spring feeding all together, because it sounds a little "iffy", how much milorganite or synthetic slow release fertilizer should I use on May 31st to be good until laborday?

So here it is:

1) April 1st Cracked corn(20lb/K)

2) May 31st Milorganite or synthetic slow release fertilizer(how much?)

3) July 1st Cracked corn(20lbs/K)

4) Sept 1st. (1lb Urea/K,)

5) Sept 15th (1lb Urea/K)

6) Oct 1st (1lb Urea/K)

7) Oct 15th (1lb Urea/K)

8) Nov 24th (2lb Urea/K)

Is this a good plan? Anything I should add? I need to get this to a science.

If you're doing by cracked corn twice at 20 lb/k, that could substitute for the late spring fertilization. If you get Dchall's attention (maybe in a new thread about cracked corn), he could advise. From what I can find, it seems cracked corn has 1.65% nitrogen, and a 20 lb/k application would thus supply 1/3 lb/k of nitrogen. Two applications would supply 2/3 lb/k of nitrogen. What kind of grass do you have? Do you know which fungus you had? Do you know if cracked corn will work on your kind of fungus? If you have fungus issues, it's good to be extra cautious about nitrogen.

I have KBG, Rye, Fescue. I dont know what kind of fungus I had last year, but I figured the cracked corn couldn't hurt as a preventive measure for any fungus it can knock out.

So what do you think about question application #2 above if I did away with Urea for the spring and used Milorganite or a synthetic slow release instead? How much is the normal amount for that feeding? Am I aiming for 1lb of Nitrogen/k for either or?

Yes, the normal amount for a feeding is 1 lb/k. When we were talking about urea, it was two applications supplying 1/2 lb/k each for a total of 1 lb/k for the late spring period. I don't think you need any fertilizer for late May if you do the cracked corn.

Oh Im sorry. I understand now. When you siad "late spring" feeding, for some reason I was thinking you were referring to Juneish.

Ok I will find out. That would be good news if the cracked corn would be enough.

Are you in Suffolk County? Fertilizer is banned from November 1 - April 1. Here is a website: Healthy Lawns

In Nassau County it's banned from November 15- April 1: Cornell factsheet

So it looks like you'd better take the late fall feeding off your list.

Suffolk County

Section 8. Exemptions.

Newly-seeded or planted landscapes and newly-seeded or newly-sodded areas.

Throw some seed down in September :-)

Becky: That I also heard from the sod farm about the no fertilization within that time frame.

J4c11: That sounds like a good loop hole.

I did not get time to start a new thread about whether me putting cracked corn down twice a year should determine whether I do a late spring feeding or not, but I was under the impression you can put as much organic fertilizer down as you can afford without worrying about too much nitrogen. I think morpheuspa stated something along those lines in a thread. Can anyone else explain or confirm that?

He was probably making a point that it's hard to overdose on organic feedings as the plant takes in only what it needs. If you use urea, the plant is going to get an immediate kick of nitrogen right then, whether or not it was looking for some. Ask your sod farm what it recommends for the amount of nitrogen in a late spring feeding for your grass. You're getting 1/3 lb/k of nitrogen from the cracked corn in April. The July corn will give you another 1/3 lb. Both of them will be slowly available over a few months. Is that enough? Mention your fungal issues. If they say you need more in late spring, you can act accordingly. You just don't want to overdo it. That corn does supply some nitrogen. I applied some cracked corn myself this week (25 lb/k which should be about 0.4 lb/k N which is plenty for my tttf). It is getting hot and humid here already and I have had brown patch in past years. I hadn't thought too much about what I was going to do for fertilizer in May and your mention of the corn reminded me that I might combine a fungal preventive measure with a feeding.

Hey, I was kicking around the idea of using milorganite for all feedings except for the thanksgiving feeding. I was searching around and I dont know why I was thinking milorganite was $36 a bag, but it is only about $12 here. So in general, aside from the cracked corn issue, if I was to use milorganite for the Sept. 1st and October 1st feedings as well as the May 31st feeding, would this be ok? I am thinking to do this:

1) May 31st: Milorganite 5-2-0 at 20lbs/k
2) Sept. 1st Milorganite 5-2-0 at 20lbs/k
3) Oct. 1st Milorganite 5-2-0 at 20lbs/k
4) Nov. 24th Urea 46-0-0 at 2lbs/k

You can do that. The last feeding with urea should be after the grass has stopped growing but before the ground freezes, whenever that happens to be.