Fertilization is one of the most important steps to take when encouraging your landscape and plants to grow throughout the year. Combined with a strategic watering and lawn mowing schedule, fertilization can keep your yard the neighborhood envy no matter what season you’re in.
However, you can have too much of a good thing when it comes to your fertilization process. When that occurs, it poses a threat to the ecosystem of your lawn and the environment in general, due to excess nutrients leaching into our groundwater.
No gardener wants to see their plants suffer or be responsible for destructive gardening practices. Here are some obvious signs that you’ve over-fertilized and need the help of a lawn care professional to get your landscape back on track.
Discoloration and Distorted Look of Plant Leaves
When your plants are over-fertilized, it’s easy to spot with the naked eye. Plants are meant to look robust, healthy, and green where they need to be. Unfortunately, when you’ve over-fertilized your yard, you’ll quickly notice a change in your plant’s demeanor.
First, take note of the plant’s leaves, if they are yellowing and beginning to wilt, you’ve over-fertilized them. Other visible signs of over-fertilization include:
- Browning of your leaf tips, giving your pants a burned and unhealthy look
- Leaves completely falling off after they’ve wilted
Root Damage
Another major sign that you’ve over-fertilized is if you begin to notice root damage in the plants that don’t survive. Take a look at the roots of the plants you pull. If they are black, brown, or generally rotten, it’s time to put your fertilization technique in the hands of a lawn care professional.
Your Fertilizer is Crusted on the Surface
Fertilizer is meant to sink into the soil and enrichen your plants. When done right, these mixtures usually get the job done effectively, with little to no sign that you’ve used them. If you’ve fertilized and within a couple of days notice that your fertilizer has crusted on the surface of your soil, this is a huge red flag that you have impacted your soil too much with these nutrients.
Slow Growth of Your Plants
Fertilizer comes with instructions for a reason. If the soil is too impacted with the product and it’s damaging your roots, you can expect an adverse effect to what you are trying to achieve. Instead of beautiful growth, your plants can easily slow down their growth process and eventually stop growing and die.
This occurs when your soil experiences what is called fertilizer burn. Overfertilization increases the amount of salt in your soil and leeches out any water that you’ll provide for your landscape and plants.
Fertilize The Right Way This Summer With Executive Lawn Care
If you’ve found that your plants are over-fertilized, Executive Lawn Care can help. We know our way around residential greenery and are ready to put our expertise to the test for you. Contact us today to learn more about our services in your area, and get your landscape on our schedule.
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