When to fertilize your lawn in North Georgia

Know which grass you have first

Fertilizer timing in North Georgia depends on your grass. Bermuda and Zoysia are warm-season grasses: they go brown and dormant in winter and grow hardest in summer heat. Tall fescue is a cool-season grass: it stays green most of the winter and struggles in July and August.

If you are not sure which you have, look in winter. A brown lawn in January is usually Bermuda or Zoysia. A green lawn in January is usually fescue.

Get a soil test before you buy anything

A soil test tells you how much lime and which nutrients your lawn needs, so you are not paying for fertilizer it cannot use. The UGA Cooperative Extension office in Cherokee County runs soil tests for a small fee. You take a few cups of soil from around the yard, drop it off, and get a report with recommendations for your grass type.

Bermuda and Zoysia: feed in late spring and summer

Wait until the lawn has fully greened up and you have mowed it two or three times, usually late April to May. Feeding before green-up mostly feeds the weeds.

• First feeding: after full green-up, usually late April to May
• Follow-up feedings: through early summer, spaced as your soil test and fertilizer label recommend
• Last feeding: by mid-August, so the grass can slow down before fall
• Skip nitrogen in fall and winter while the lawn is going dormant

Fescue: feed in the fall

Fescue does its growing in cool weather, so fall is when it uses fertilizer best. Most of its feeding should happen from September through November, often alongside overseeding.

Go light or skip feeding in late spring and summer. Nitrogen in hot weather pushes soft growth that is more likely to get disease and thin out.

Common timing mistakes

• Feeding warm-season grass in early March, before it has greened up
• Feeding fescue heavily in summer
• Spreading fertilizer right before a heavy storm, which washes it off
• Guessing at lime instead of testing the soil

Questions to ask a lawn care company

• Which grass do you think I have, and how did you decide?
• Will you do a soil test, or work from one I already have?
• What will you apply at each visit, and when?
• How do you adjust the schedule for a dry summer or a wet spring?