My wife seems to think that when my lawn fertilizer (30-0-3) gets into
her flower bed, it causes the flowers to put out more leaves and less
blooms. Specifically lillys.

True - or false?

Lawn Guy said:
My wife seems to think that when my lawn fertilizer (30-0-3) gets into
her flower bed, it causes the flowers to put out more leaves and less
blooms. Specifically lillys.

Her concern is reasonable. Excess nitrogen is not good for flowering
perennials.

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/fertili...nial_gardens_f
eed_em_and_weep


--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

email valid but not regularly monitored

On 6/8/2014 7:40 PM, Lawn Guy wrote:
My wife seems to think that when my lawn fertilizer (30-0-3) gets into
her flower bed, it causes the flowers to put out more leaves and less
blooms. Specifically lillys.

True - or false?


Depends on how much gets in there. A little bit probably won't hurt,
but if you're talking a standard application, well then you'll
probably end up with much taller plants and potentially fewer flowers.

I made that mistake my first year of gardening, when I was a teenager.
I later used it as an example of over-use of fertilizer in my talks I
gave as a master gardener: "The first year I grew broccoli, it was
four feet tall. The stems were thick as baseball bats. I was so proud!
I waited all season, but it never set heads..."