Ornamental Grass....Question

[john]

What do i use to fertilize an ornamental grass in the gardens. Grass fertilizer or plant fertilizer?? Thanks

John W

[Timothy]

Good day John. There really isn't a "plant" fertilizer or a "grass" fertilizer nor is there "plant food". All fertilizer is nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in various amounts. Nitrogen is the chemical that gives plants their green color and phosphorus is needed for flower production.

For lawns and other grasses you would want to supplement them with more nitrogen than any other chemical. The numbers on the bag/container of fertilizer tells you how much of each chemical the bag contains. The first number is _always_ nitrogen. A bag of fertilizer that has a 21-3-7 number on it is telling you that the bag has 21% pure nitrogen in it.

If these grasses are in a mixed flower bed, then fertilize them with the fertilizer that your going to be using for the other plants. No need to use different fertilizer for them. Most flower bed fertilizers will be a low nitrogen number and higher phosphorus and potassium numbers. I use a

10-16-10 for flower beds for the most part.

If you use a high nitrogen fertilizer in your flower beds you will have much more green growth than flowering which is generally not what people want out of their flower beds.