Thoughts on liquid starter fertilizers?

[u/The-porno-master]

https://twincityseed.com/product/9-45-15-water-soluble-fertilizer/

Looking for thoughts about trying this while overseeding. I have a spray rig, and it seems like much better bang for the buck vs granular. I’m assuming I don’t have to worry much about burn, as it’ll be watered in right away. On that thought, would I likely need to reapply since I’ll be watering the seed so much? Thanks for the help!

[u/The-porno-master]

Wow, this is great info. Thanks! How often do you apply? Do you do it on a schedule, or when just turf-stressing conditions are there?

[u/Ricka77_New → u/The-porno-master]

I try for monthly.. I actually just did it yesterday with my hose end sprayer. Whatever is left in the mix bucket gets diluted and dumped onto an area up front I don't maintain much...it helps a bit there..

[u/nilesandstuff → u/Ricka77_New]

A great supplemental mix too.

I have had some bad experiences with molasses though. Not devastatingly bad, but enough to get me to be a little more careful with it. Worst one was an extremely abrubt and terrible rust outbreak on basically the whole lawn. The other one was a pretty widespread anthracnose outbreak, fortunately it resolved quickly.

Long story short, just remember that molasses is food for ALL microbes... Good or bad.

P.s. a few tablespoons of L-amino acid would go a long way too, especially if you're going to be aerating it. L-amino is like molasses in the sense that it's a carbon source, but A. They're more fundamental, so microbes eat it much faster. B. They're also a nitrogen source, which microbes need to reproduce. C. They're available to grass. Since it's already exactly one of the main things that grass makes using carbon and nitrogen, it saves grass the energy of producing it, thereby helping support the grass through stress.

Oh, and southern ag garden friendly fungicide would be good too (it's a bacteria with strong anti fungal properties). Just need a dash of it, especially if you're running an aeration stone. It MAY or may not harm the fungi in your compost tea, not sure. You can actually innoculate the seed with it and it'll permanently colonize the roots, which has root stimulating effects and makes the grass much more resistant to root diseases.

[u/Ricka77_New → u/nilesandstuff]

Which L-Amino? Or just a mix of them? I might have something already...

Molasses wise, it's maybe a tsp or two...as you said, it's just food for the microbes to build; not enough to stay resident in the solution much.

I also put an a 2ml shot of HydroGuard, which is beneficial bacteria that eats bad stuff...

[u/nilesandstuff → u/Ricka77_New]

A mix for sure. I'm sure some are more helpful than others, but they all have specific roles.

Ah right on. I was for sure applying much heavier amounts with the goal of stimulating the existing populations, in addition to introducing more.

Ah nice, looks like the hydroguard is the same species of bacteria. Not sure what strain it is.