Turf Update for Spring
What’s in my Fertilizer Bag and What’s it Doing for Me? By Meta L. Levin As more and more landscape contractors approached him with essentially the same question, Dr. Chuck Darrah, a consulting landscape agronomist, decided to do something about it. That’s how “What’s in My Fertilizer Bag and What’s it Doing for Me?” his popular presentation at ILCA’s 2018 Turf Education Day, was born. It wasn’t so much what was in the bags that concerned the landscape contractors and turf specialists, but how to make their employees comfortable when working with it. “For years people in the industry have told me that their employees were afraid of what was in the fertilizer bags,” Darrah says. He has been through three generations doing this work and has seen the concerns of each about working with fertilizers. Darrah brings science to his argument that correctly handled, the risks are minimal. “We need to reinforce how innocuous these chemicals are.” In addition, some homeowners were pushing back, telling contractors that they didn’t want chemical fertilizers on their lawns. “You come in contact with many of these chemicals every day,” he says. Urea, for instance, is made in the body and can be broken down into nitrogen and ammonia. Nitrogen is one of the essential plant nutrients. We use fertilizers to boost nutrients in the 42
soils. “Soils are reservoirs of plant nutrients,” says Darrah. That’s something most lawncare professionals already know and understand. Urea is the most commonly used nitrogen fertilizer in the world and, of course, is found in nature, since it is in the urine of humans and animals. Because it is quickly dissolved in water, rain and irrigation can easily move the urea into the soil for use by turf. People may also encounter urea in other areas, most notably it is used in power plants and diesel exhaust systems to reduce emissions of nitrous oxide gases, in addition to as a protein supplement for cattle and other ruminant animals. Urea also is used to make many common industrial chemicals. Because urea breaks down into nitrogen and ammonia, those who have a sensitivity to ammonia, may notice a rash when handling it without adequate protection. Darrah says that if they ask their parents, they will find that as babies they had a bad case of diaper rash, from, of course, the ammonia in their own urine. Nitrogen, the other product that is made when urea breaks down, is present in three different ways in fertilizer: fast or quick release, controlled release, slow release or a combination. “Nitrogen makes the grass green and phosphorus makes it healthier,” says Darrah. Nitrogen also is responsible for tolerance to heat, cold, drought, compaction and wear, as well as
The Landscape Contractor March 2019