Lawn Spreader

Hello all,

First time poster but have been reading for months. I think this is a really excellent forum.

Have been renovating my lawn for the past three months - scarifying, aerating (I use a Stihl Multi System if anyone is interested) - and feeding (using Rolawn Spring Lawn Feed).

My question is for 'Pro Gard' and anyone else who can help.

What lawn spreader would you suggest? When using lawn feed it's important to get the right amount spread to get the best out of the product.

I've been looking at lawn spreaders but want to know if anyone has experience of using one. How easy is it to control the flow of lawn food onto the lawn?

Any advice gratefully appreciated!

 

Have you considered a liquid lawn fertiliser instead? Almost no chance of "burning" the grass, no need to pray for rain after use!, just attach a bottle of concentrate to a diluter/sprayer that fits on the end of the hose, and walk up and down with it!

Shorter lasting than granules, but quicker effect, so I think you may get more improvement for a renovated lawn.

 

Hello,

Yes I have used the liquid feeds before to mixed results.

I used a box of Rolawn and after a good 20 years of mowing lawns, I was simply astonished at the transformation. It was like I had hand painted the grass in British Racing Green.

 

I'll look up Rolawn then, sounds good. Presumably they have Light and Dark shades so I can get nice British Racing Green Stripes?

 

In terms of spreaders:

I think you have two choices. The ones that Dribble out underneath, and the ones with a rotating Spinner that "fling" the granules out.

The Dribbler is narrow, the Spinner wider.

With the Dribbler you can position the wheel on the track from the previous pass, and thus be sure to cover everything. You can also go around complicated shapes. With the Spinner its more difficult to gauge how much width to leave from the previous pass, but you make fewer passes. Likely to "fling" granules into flower beds etc (which would presumably be a problem if using a product including weed killer).

Dribbler can be used for seed too.

With either I would guess its best to apply at half the required rate, and then repeat at right-angles for the other half.

I did some research on fertiliser prices etc, and although the Rolawn stuff looks very tempting I am now totally confused as to what the benefit of one over another is. Price is an issue too.

Rolawn £ 11.00 for 100 sq.m., feed only (NPK 11:5:5 containing Magnesium with Iron and Manganese) [Don't they have any bigger bags?] 22p/sq.m (one application each of Spring and Autumn feed)

EverGreen Complete £ 17.99 for 360 sq.m feed, weed, control moss. (NPK 14-2-4) [This is what I have used the last two years] £15.88p/sq.m (one spring application plus one Autumn feed below)

(Prices below assume one spring plus one autumn application)

Scotts Lawn Builder Autumn Lawn Food £10.88 for 100 sq.m. (NPK 15-0-26)
Scotts Evergreen Lawn Builder £ 30.00 for 400 sq.m feed (NPK: 27-3-4 plus iron) 18.38p/m
Scotts Evergreen Lawn Builder £ 36.00 for 400 sq.m feed & weed (NPK: 22-5-5) 19.88p/m

Maxicrop Liquid Lawn Fertiliser £37.95 for 1,500 sq.m feed (NPK ???) [apply every 6 weeks from March to October - I make that 7 applications 17.71p/m

Green Up Liquid Lawn Feed £6.37 per 400 sq.m (NPK 20-0-2 with iron) For a high quality lawn, spray at monthly intervals [I make that 8 or 9 applications] 12.74p/m

Doff Liquid Lawn Feed £1.66 per 125 sq.m NPK 15:3:3 with trace elements. [I'm guessing that it needs applying once a month, so 7 or 8 applications] 9.296p/m

 

So, the Rolawn products certainly aren't the cheapest by any means.

I used to have what I thought was an OK lawn, but several poor summers and big mole attacks really put my lawn into a rough condition.

I've tried the Scotts and Evergreen products before, and they only seemed to last for a week or so. Didn't see too much of an improvement.

This year I decided to start early and follow all the best advice I could find.

I scarified bigtime, going well past the point I would usually stop. Aeration too.

Then I had a ton of Top Dressing delivered, and repaired all of the holes in my lawn, and mixed it in with a liberal amount of Medallion Lawn Seed.

So scarification, aeration, repair, top dressing and overseeding. Check.

Next was feeding. And it came up incredibly well. So for me, well worth the cash.

They suggest you go again 8 weeks later if the lawn is being repaired. So that's what I'm going to do.

My top learnings this year have been

- scarify bigtime with a decent tool
- don't cut the grass so short
- buy some top dressing..

 

"Scotts ... they only seemed to last for a week or so"

I haven't been that impressed this year. But its been pretty wet, so may have been leached. Clearly if I have to use 2xSpring feed of Scotts then 1 x feed with Rolawn would be cheaper ... "Buy cheap, pay twice"

I had a look at Rolawn's top dressing. I'm up for trying that, although the main, back, lawn is so uneven its going to need more than just a bit of dressing! I filled in a large pond last year, and expected it to sink, and it has done! but I'm reckoning on cutting the grass within a mm of its life and then spreading topsoil level across the whole lot, and reseeding.

Maybe I should aerate and top dress before that, without improving the "level", so that the existing turf has a bit more body / draining - at least on the higher bits of the lawn that will mostly remain pretty unchanged.

Buying some turf (I have a patch that is bare, and it would be nice to have it green without waiting for autumn seeding) and some top soil gets me 10% off the whole bill - so adding grass seed, a year's feed, and several tons of dressing, all at 10% off, looks like a good deal!

I'm going to try some liquid feed on the front lawn. The spring fertiliser has worn off, and I'd like to try liquid to see how I get on. I'll report back.

 

Agree pretty much with Kristen on this. I have a spinner type spreader, which is quicker on a big lawn, but it's difficult to be very accurate on the rate, and some goes in to the flower beds. I do what Kristen suggests on spreading at a low rate, and going over the area in different directions until the total amount has been put down. This evens out the addition and helps both to avoid scorching and missing areas.

 

Hi, Ive been on holiday so no reply.

The drop spreader I use Is an old one I got given by an old greenskeeper,all metal and very acurate I normally use it for seed and topdresssing.

Personally I mainly use liquid feeds via an Allen groundsman sprayer, farr cheaper for larger areas and I can vary the strength of feed via the dilution rate.

 

Pro Gard: What brand of liquid feed do you use?

 

As i use a lot i buy it trade from ALS. The stuff i use is ALS 15-0-6 slow release. I usually additionally give a spring autumn treatment of iron sulphate for green up and moss killing. If youve got a large lawn area then ill post contact details for als.

Phostrogen works well as a straight nitrogen feed, ive also heard mention of a product called lawn builder or similar from folk on here.

 

"If youve got a large lawn area"

Well, I bought 5 bags of Scotts Evergreen and they are supposed to do 400 sq.m. each - so if 2,000 sq.m qualifies! please send me contact details.

Thanks.

 

Amenity land Services Tel 01952 641949

The product is ALS premier 15-0-6 slow release, sold in concentrate form 10 litres for £32 plus vat and deliv. I tend to use it at the medium aplication rate.

Youll need a knapsack sprayer.

 

"Youll need a knapsack sprayer."

Got one of those Thanks for that.

 

I use liquid feed everytime

see www.superspray.co.uk for lawn feeder that clips to hose and dilutes as you spray about £10 mail order plus "Lawn Magic" corny name but amazing results. by from same website in 5 litre bottles of concentrate covers about 1000 sq m for about £18 I recall.