What to feed ornamental grasses
 

Like the ones you buy at the garden centers at the big box stores. Will just
a regular grass fertilizer work? Thanks.

--
Paul O.

What to feed ornamental grasses
 

Food is a substance that provides and energy source, mostly. Nutrient is a
substance that provides an energy source, elements, and other substances
essential for life, in types and amounts that can provide a healthy life.
Fertilizer is a substance that provides elements, as salts mostly, or in
bonded forms, that require microorganisms to alter to forms that can be
absorbed by plants. Elements are single groups of atoms of the same kind
such as calcium and nitrogen.

Product pushers claim fertilizer is plant food. False advertisement.

Grasses manufacture their own food in a process called photosynthesis.

You can add essential elements. Go very low with nitrogen.
--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Tree Biologist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.
Some people will buy products they do not understand and not buy books that
will give them understanding.



"Paul O." wrote in message
...
Like the ones you buy at the garden centers at the big box stores. Will
just a regular grass fertilizer work? Thanks.

--
Paul O.

What to feed ornamental grasses
 

Food is a substance that provides and energy source, mostly. Nutrient is a
substance that provides an energy source, elements, and other substances
essential for life, in types and amounts that can provide a healthy life.
Fertilizer is a substance that provides elements, as salts mostly, or in
bonded forms, that require microorganisms to alter to forms that can be
absorbed by plants. Elements are single groups of atoms of the same kind
such as calcium and nitrogen.

Product pushers claim fertilizer is plant food. False advertisement.

Grasses manufacture their own food in a process called photosynthesis.

You can add essential elements. Go very low with nitrogen.
--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Tree Biologist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.
Some people will buy products they do not understand and not buy books that
will give them understanding.

"Paul O." wrote in message
...
Like the ones you buy at the garden centers at the big box stores. Will
just a regular grass fertilizer work? Thanks.

--
Paul O.

[quote=symplastless;809768]
Like the ones you buy at the garden centers at the big box stores. Will
just a regular grass fertilizer work? Thanks.

--
I have also never fed ornamental grasses. I've grown them on heavy clay (and added grit to the planting hole), on very light sandy soil and in pots. They are drought tolerant. They need lifting and dividing occasionally and some will spread if not checked, but most are extremely easy

What to feed ornamental grasses
 

On 8/13/2008 5:05 PM, Paul O. wrote:
Like the ones you buy at the garden centers at the big box stores. Will just
a regular grass fertilizer work? Thanks.


I have red fescue (Festuca rubra) for my back lawn. My soil tends to be
alkaline and heavy clay (adobe). I feed the lawn once a year (in the
early spring) with a cheap, house-brand lawn food; I choose the lawn
food that has the most nitrogen per dollar. In the fall, just as the
rainy season starts (we all hope it starts this fall), I broadcast
gypsum over the lawn; the rain or my lawn sprinklers will rinse this
into the soil to break up the clay.

To determine nitrogen per dollar, I bring a pocket calculator to the
store. The N-P-K numbers (e.g., 25-15-15) on the sack of fertilizer
indicate the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, the
first number being nitrogen. I take the weight of a sack of fertilizer
and multiply that by the percentage of nitrogen (25% or 0.25 in the
above example); that gives me the pounds of nitrogen. I divide that by
the price of the sack; that gives me the amount of nitrogen per dollar.
Since nitrogen is generally the most defficient of the three nutrients
in my soil, I want the most nitrogen per dollar.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

What to feed ornamental grasses
 

On 8/13/2008 6:21 PM, Jangchub wrote:
On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:05:02 -0700, "Paul O."
wrote [in part]:

I have alkaline soil, clay loam, with a lot of organic matter. I don't
rake leaves, or clean up debris, and mulch is made of shredded native
trees, not pine deco bark. So the microbes in the soil tend to the
grasses nutritional requirements.

My red fescue is planted as a lawn under a very large ash tree.
Therefore, I must rake leaves in the fall. Otherwise the leaves will be
so dense that they will smother the grass and leave dead patches.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/