One of the parts that a lot of lawn owners don’t understand the difficulty of is applying the fertilizer. This is by far one of the most overlooked parts when it comes to maintaining your lawn. But don’t be mistaken, this can actually have a profound impact on your lawn’s health and looks.
So, if you’re a responsible lawn owner, please take care of applying for fertilizer well. Now, you may choose to go with both drop spreaders and broadcast spreaders to apply it (click here to read the differences between drop and broadcast spreaders) but that’s not all that there is to it. You still have to choose the kind of fertilizer you want for your lawn!
Now, the kind mineral composition depends perfectly on your lawn’s needs, and you need to figure that out by testing your lawn. However, fertilizers are usually of two types: Liquid and granular. So, when you compare the liquid lawn fertilizer vs granular lawn fertilizer, which one takes the lead?
Let’s find out the answer to that question in today’s article right here at Turf Mechanic. We really hope you would be able to learn a lot of new things in today’s article. So, it is really recommended that you read it till the very end!
What are the main features of Liquid Fertilizers?
Liquid Lawn Fertilizers are actually a little different than granular ones. And I’m not talking only about their texture, but also their overall features. There are some specific things that you can expect from each of them, and we are going to look at them.
So, if you consider Liquid Lawn Fertilizers, you might expect to see these following features:
- First of all, the overall mixture is homogeneous, meaning all of the drops have equal amount of each required nutrient. Also, the whole thing is distributed pretty evenly when you’re using liquid lawn fertilizers.
- Now, in liquid form, the plants can take up the nutrients readily. So, you can directly apply it to the leaves of the plants as well (of course, you can still use it on the ground if you want).
- Again, you can actually easily mix up more things such as pesticides with a liquid. This makes it easy for you to simultaneously apply quite a few things without having to work too hard.
- Now, once applied, it isn’t going to just drift to another place, keeping your other plants free from it if you don’t intend to give it to them. Also, cleaning up is comparatively easier when it comes to liquid fertilizers.
- Naturally, there are some negative aspects about it too. One of the main things that people complain about is that this idea is no longer valid if your lawn is really large. Imagine having to walk through the whole lawn applying it- it could take you days on an end! So, if your lawn is that large, it might be a wise choice to avoid liquid fertilizers.
- Again, it is really easy to mix the things in a wrong amount, which could spell disaster for your lawn. So, that’s something that people dislike about this method too.
- Overall, this method uses comparatively expensive products and their shelf lives are not too high either. There’s also a bit of wastage associated with this method since you might spray it in the wrong place, and the substance is actually pretty volatile in liquid state. So, if you want to save up a bit on costs, this might not be the best choice for you.
Quoting BackYardBoss on the benefits of Liquid Lawn Fertilizers, we can say:
Liquid application can be applied in various ways to provide instant nutrients to your lawn. It is an efficient way to quickly correct recognized nutrient deficiencies, and is more readily available to your plant as the liquid nutrients reach plant root systems more easily, and can also be taken up by the plant through foliar application, as explained below.
Liquid fertilizers are also able to provide a consistent application of nutrients as the components are suspended within the viscous form, which is then applied in an even manner. This means that all parts of your lawn receives the same amount of fertilizer.
Liquid recipes are also more easy to personalize for lawn feeding. This is especially helpful for commercial businesses as one lawn may be very different in its needs from another. Plus these nutrients are immediately available for plant uptake, meaning that problems are treated instantly upon application, and results will be seen within days.
What are the main features of Granular Fertilizers?
Now, as you might have guessed, Granular Fertilizers have some special features too. In order to compare these two types of fertilizers, it is important to know about the main features of this one as well. So, the main features of the Granular Fertilizers might be summed up in the following points:
- Granular Fertilizers are much more customizable when it comes to applying them. There are choices to apply them slowly, so it is much easier for you to control how much you apply.
- Again, Granular Fertilizers can also be specially mixed to actually fit the requirement of your lawn. Its ideally a better choice for pre-plant applications.
- You can actually buy a lot of it together, since it does not really go bad if you store it properly. Also, you can buy it for much cheaper if you buy it in bulk amounts.
- Another good thing about the application of Granular Fertilizers is that you can see where you have used it in the lawn. So, you know how much of it has been applied to each individual spot.
- Now, there are some negative points with granular fertilizers too. To begin with, failure to apply it properly might also seriously damage your turf.
- Again, cleaning is much more of a common scene when it comes to granular fertilizers. Since the grains are going to be scattered, some places are bound to have extra and some places are bound to have a little less, and you might find yourself doing your cleanup.
- Also, unless you’re really ,lucky, you cannot get the perfectly same amount of nutrients in all the spots. This is owing to the facts that all the nutrients are in a granular form, and a balanced distribution is almost impossible.
- However, if you’re looking for a more economic choice or if you’re covering a larger area, the Granular Fertilizer can be a better choice for you. It costs significantly less and you can easily buy a bulk of it and apply it to a large area in a quicker period of time with the right equipment. So, that’s one of the best things about Granular Fertilizers.
Quoting GrassHopperLawns:
Consider the size of a lawn: No one with half a brain is going to drag a liquid hose across 100,000 square feet of lawn. First off, it wouldn’t reach. Second off, even if it did reach, think of the time it would take to walk 100,000 with a hose. Not very cost effective.
On the flip side, techs applying granular can hop on a machine and bang out that 100,000 square foot lawn in about 2-3 hours, versus and entire day if they walked it. Very cost effective.
Liquid Lawn Fertilizer VS Granular Lawn Fertilizer
Now, you must have noticed that there are quite a few differences between the two despite the fact that both of them are fertilizers and only mean to do your plants well. So, let us now compare the two of them to find out which one would be the better option of the two, and why.
The main differences between Liquid Lawn Fertilizers VS Granular Lawn Fertilizers can be represented as thus:
- Size of Lawn: Liquid Lawn Fertilizers are a great choice if your lawn is within certain size. Beyond that, it just becomes too much of a hassle to use it. So, if your lawn is huge, you might choose the granular one.
- Homogeneous Nutrients: Now, you might want to give all your lawn the same amount of nutrients. This is practically impossible to do if you’re using granular fertilizer- you must accept a certain range of flexibility. However, with Liquid Lawn Fertilizers, it becomes really simple to actually use the same mixture for all of your lawn. Liquid lawn fertilizers also make it much easier to apply other things such as pesticides at the same time, giving it a much higher level of functionality.
- Cleaning up: There’s basically zero cleaning up to do after you’re done with a liquid lawn fertilizer. This is mostly because of the fact that you really can’t do much anymore. However, with Granular Lawn Fertilizers, cleaning up is still possible. So, mistakes can be rectified a bit when it comes to the granular ones, but extra effort is required for that.
- Application: You can actually apply liquid lawn fertilizer on the leaves of plant as well. However, since granular fertilizers aren’t readily absorbed, you have to put them on the soil and wait for them to the nutrients to be picked up by the root.
- Expenses: It is a well known fact to all lawn owners that liquid lawn fertilizers are much more expensive of the two. This is partially owing to the fact that you have to actually use more expensive equipment. Another major reason is that it has a greater level of wastage, and it cannot really be stored for too long. Add to that the fact that its equipment has a really short shelf life, and you will understand why it’s much more expensive.
Quoting LawnLandscape on the expenses:
There are many advantages to having liquid in your program; however, one drawback is the up-front cost. To administer liquid applications, one needs the investment of equipment. That is the need for agitating enhanced spray tanks to apply liquid fertilizer on lawns. This equipment can range in cost from $4,000-$18,000. Additionally, if it is the desire to mix the liquid products prior to distributing to each individual truck, there is the need to invest in a bulk mixing tank system.
We invested in this when we reached 30 trucks in our service location. This cost us approximately $40,000. So, although it is a very good investment, it will take three years to see a return on investment. However, once accomplished, we have a clean method of loading trucks quickly and efficiently, making it more cost-effective.
Which one should I go for?
Well, now that’s a question you have to answer for yourself. We can help you find out the main features of each of the choices, but the perfect answer depends on your specific needs and circumstances.
So, please know what you’re actually dealing with and looking for. And once you judge every choice accordingly, you’ll easily find the best option for yourself. For example, as we saw earlier, the liquid lawn fertilizer is not the right choice if you have a really large lawn!
Conclusion
We have finally reached the end of today’s article. Thank you for taking your time to be here with us till now and for reading this article till the very end. We really hope that you could learn at least something new from it that would help you achieve the beautiful lawn that you dream of.
We here at Turf Mechanic are always here for you! Again, we also understand that you might still have a few questions for us, and we look forward to answering them from you! So, if you would like to talk to us about anything, please do not hesitate in reaching out to us- we are here for you!
Once again, thank you for reading this article till the very end. If you liked this article, we have a great idea for you! You might actually want to check out our other articles! Here are a few to get you started: