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Wow..where do you start ? Requirements are dependent on type of grass - what its used for, how often its used, whether clippings are returned, etc - so while organisations like the STRI will give guidance - its very subjective.
For private customers it largely boils down to an annual quantity that corresponds more about how much they are happy to pay and how many KG it takes to make the lawn look good enough for them to be happy.
As a (rough) guide, STRI guidance says for Coarse Turf to look tip top (and no cut & drop) - its 160-200kg/ha (10,000m2) applied over 4-5 applications
For newly seeded areas of mostly ryegrass on soil/ loam: 160-200kg/ha over 4-5 applications.
For fine turf on sandy/ well-drained soils (golf/ bowls) you can apply as much as 300kg/ha but conversely on a 2 application per year visit to an average lawn it can be only 80-100kg/ ha to manitain a decent sward.
Also factor in how much has been applied to the area over the years as that may reduce N requirements...I'd better stop there as I've probably just demonstarted how varied and subjective it can be without really trying !
Richard@Progreen
Thanks Richard.
Another factor is whether regular mulch / drop mowing. This will return around 50% of required nutrients over time, and so you halve the requirements.
200kg per ha a year equates to 20g per m2, I assume this is just N we are talking about? 4 treatments of that a year mean each treatment should be an average of 5g/m2 max, or 4x14% N content treatments a year of 30g/m2 feed. This seems a lot to me, so I suspect closer to what Niall is recommending would be ideal. That could be something like 2x10% N content and 2x4%-ish.
What about the phosphorous and potassium?
...really without a soil analysis done you're, at best, guessing how much P & K is required. Phosphorous is increasingly regarded as a pollutant and is very persistent in soil. So any excess followed by blind fertilising simply creates a bigger & bigger problem - encouraging annual meadow grass, disease -prone grass and potentially leaching into water courses, water tables etc causing a natural imbalance in waterways and upsetting nature.
Potassium is required more for summer & autumn months so the message is really, get soil tested so you can adapt to the conditions and apply relevant nutrients only when they are needed. There are so many fertiliser analyses offered out there, you can be sure of finding low, or zero P & K products as well as flexible amounts and forms of N.
Thanks for your input guys- always appreciated!!