The winter season means it’s time to put your mower away and enjoy the cold weather. However, lawn care is still critical during this season, which is why you need a winter fertilizer. Fortunately, Lesco produces some of the best fertilizers. Therefore, you need to know the Lesco winter fertilizer best for winterizing your lawn.
Lesco winter fertilizers are designed for healthy lawns and struggling yards alike. Many come with coatings to ensure slow release of nitrogen during these dormant months to promote healthy root growth. This scheduled release makes different blends effective from 3 to 6 months.
Understanding how Lesco winter fertilizers work and how to use them is just as essential as knowing the best one to use. This is why I have written this article to inform you of everything you need to know about winter fertilization.
Contents
Can I Even Fertilize My Lawn In Winter?
Before getting into the best Lesco fertilizers for winter, you need to understand how winter fertilizers (winterizer fertilizers) work.
You can fertilize your lawn in winter as long as the type that you use is designed for the dormant stages of your chosen type of turf. Using fertilizers designed for the colder months means ones that have higher higher potassium and nitrogen levels than other types of micronutrients.
Winter fertilization is important because it helps to keep your lawn healthy before spring comes around. The fertilizer helps your lawn restore essential nutrients it may have lost during the summer.
Doesn’t Grass Stop Growing In The Winter?
All lawn fertilizers contain nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, amongst other macronutrients. These are vital nutrients that promote stem growth and help the root system. This type of growth actually continues all during the winter months.
Though the leaves or blades of the grasses in your lawn may not grow much during colder temperatures, the root systems are a different story. Root systems expand and grow underground all during cold weather.
This is the reason that most types of overseeding happens in the mid to late fall. The seeds will have time to germinate before the harshest freezes of winter, but will then continue to grow root systems underground.
When spring arrives the grasses begin to grow their leaves rapidly and by summer they are firmly established. If overseeding is done in the spring, the heat of the summer months will dry out and burn off much of what was planted due to underdeveloped root systems.
What Are Winter Fertilizers?
Winter fertilizers are actually just fertilizers with a higher percentage of certain macronutrients.
When the winter season comes, your lawn needs a high amount of nitrogen and potassium. These nutrients help your lawn thrive by increasing its hardness and tolerance for cold weathers.
However, keep in mind that potassium works best in the summer so your lawn does not need as much of it as it does nitrogen.
Most fertilizers have a set of numbers printed on their bag. These numbers tell you how much of each nutrient the fertilizer has. There should be three numbers; the first represents nitrogen (N), the second represents phosphorus (P), and the third represents potassium (K).
You should lookout for a fertilizer with higher potassium and nitrogen levels than other fertilizers. These kinds of fertilizers are classified as “winterizers.”
For reference, many winterizing fertilizers come with the number designation: 16-4-8.
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Which Is The Best Lesco Fertilizer For Winter?
Lesco has four types of fertilizers that are great for the winter season. Each one of these fertilizers has different benefits, which is why you need to decide what exactly you need the fertilizer to do. I will list and explain the benefits of each fertilizer below.
Below are descriptions of several winterizing fertilizers from Lesco. My recommendation for most homeowners and landscapers in most areas of the United States is the Lesco 16-4-8 Profesional Winter Fertilizer that you can find on Amazon.
Lesco PolyPlus
This fertilizer is perfect for a healthy, good-looking lawn. It works by optimizing the release of nitrogen to give you the best results.
The fertilizer has a high-tech polymer coating that lets it release nitrogen periodically over 16 weeks with PolyPlus XR (Extended Plus) or 24 weeks with PolyPlus SL (Season Long).
With the slow release of nitrogen, your lawn has a more regular and long-lasting greening process making your turf much stronger. With Lesco PolyPlus, you can use less fertilizer than you would with other fertilizers, leading to you saving money.
Some benefits of Lesco PolyPlus include:
- Maximum root health and minimal thatch
- Less mowing and clippings
- Reduction of Nitrogen run-off and water usage
Lesco PolyPlus-Opti
The PolyPlus-Opti works almost like the PolyPlus. It is also created with a polymer coating that releases nitrogen over time. However, this fertilizer works for a more extended period (6 months). This fertilizer is optimal if you want a consistent release of nitrogen that aids the greening process of your lawn. The Lesco PolyPlus-Opti is formulated to release nitrogen 90, 120, and 180 days after usage.
Some benefits PolyPlus-Opti includes:
- A quicker greening process.
- Protection against wastage of nitrogen in the first three days of application.
- Effective for six months, so you don’t have to apply for a long period.
Lesco NOS
Lesco NOS (Nitrogen Optimization System) is another fertilizer you can use during the winter.
The fertilizer is formulated (not coated like the PolyPlus) with dicyandiamide (DCD) infused stabilized nitrogen to help reduce leaching and denitrification for up to 8 weeks. It also helps your lawn to get the most nutritional value (including nitrogen) out of every use.
Just like the PolyPlus, this fertilizer is released overtime. You use it in a slurry for a liquid application; this mode of application makes this product stand out in the fertilizer market.
This product helps keep your lawn green and grow steadily, and it does all this at a great price.
Some benefits of Lesco NOS include:
- More access to nutrients because of the reduced nitrogen loss.
- With less denitrification and leaching, the nutrients you apply will last longer.
- The nitrogen stabilization system from the NOS is top-notch, and the nutrition of your lawn is at a maximum.
Lesco NOS Plus
The NOS Plus product has everything the NOS product does (including the nitrification inhibitors), but takes it a step further with a coating over it.
This coating allows for the slow release of infused stabilized nitrogen when it breaks down. This technology is brand new, and no other product on the market has it.
Some benefits of Lesco NOS Plus:
- Due to the slow release of infused stabilized nitrogen, this product offers maximum fertility of your turf
- Similar to the NOS, this products aids in incrementing nutrient uptake.
- Also, due to the slow release of this product, there is additional nitrogen in the soil with makes it available for a longer time.
- NOS Plus protects the environment by limiting leaching and volatilization.
When To Apply Winter Fertilizer?- Lesco Fertilizer Schedule
The timing of fertilization for normal fertilizers depends on the species of plants on your lawn. You should fertilize your turf between May and June if you have warm-season fertilizing in mind in the colder zones of 4-6. In the warmer 7-9 zones spring fertilizing should happen from April to May. Though with winter fertilizers, when should they be applied?
Winter fertilizers are best applied in zones 4-6 in September through October. In the warmer zones of 7-9 winter fertilizers can be applied from October to November. These fertilizers should be applied at least one week before the first freezing temperatures arrive.
Keep in mind that the duration of effectiveness for each fertilizer differs. Winter fertilization should not be reapplied in zones with below freezing temperatures. In climates zones where frost and freezing is not an issue, one additional application before spring is optional.
A 50lb bag of fertilizer should be able to cover from 8,000 to 12,000 square feet depending on your application method. In order to plan out your fertilization schedule, calculate your square footage and the number of times you wish to apply according to your zone.
Ensure to clean the fertilizer off of painted surfaces to avoid discoloration. Also, do not apply if you are expecting heavy rain that would wash away rather than help the fertilizer to absorb into the soil.
Try to keep safe by wearing safety goggles, gloves, and a face mask.
The Final Touches On Lesco Winter Fertilizer…
Fertilizing is not only for the spring, but a good idea to help your lawn survive the harsh temperatures of the winter months. It also can help any overseeding attempts by promoting healthy root growth during the dormant season for most grasses.
Lesco has a wide variety of products for this with many variations of slow release for nitrogen into your soil. Applying it at the right time and temperature for your region is also a must.
Here’s hoping your lawn comes out of the winter months green and healthy.
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