With spring starting soon, Lee County is asking homeowners to be aware of best practices for lawn maintenance as the seasons change. From maintaining a desirable appearance to promoting the health of what’s beneath the turf, residents can ensure a healthy yard by following a few simple tips.
Fertilize Smart
Consult the Lee County UF/IFAS extension for a soil sample to determine the best fertilizer for your lawn. While fertilizer should be avoided during the winter since dormant turf will not absorb its nutrients, fertilizer can be applied once the seasons change while following Lee County’s year-round fertilizer regulations:
· Sweep up spilled fertilizer granules.
· Don’t fertilize within 10 feet of bodies of water and avoid impervious surfaces.
· If rain is in the forecast, don’t fertilize.
· Water Smart by limiting irrigation to once per week through May.
Wake up dormant grass
In early spring, homeowners can aerate their lawns to help wake up dormant grass and allow their lawn to breathe after a dry winter. Lawn aeration involves using an aerator to core holes in your lawn and extracting plugs of soil, which allows water, oxygen and nutrients to permeate the soil.
Leave the soil plugs on your lawn as a natural fertilizer.
Mow mindfully
When mowing your lawn, never cut more than one-third of the grass blade’s total height. Cutting the blades too short can cause your turf to become susceptible to disease, insect and weed invasions, and drought. Similarly to soil plugs, lawn clippings can be left on the lawn to act as a natural compost.
Year-round, Lee County residents are asked to be mindful of lawncare by abiding by Lee County’s fertilizer ordinance and Fertilize Smart initiative. To learn more, visit FertilizeSmart.com.
Town of Fort Myers Beach fertilizer ordinance
The Town of Fort Myers Beach has a fertilizer ordinance which bans fertilizer from being applied within 15 feet of any canal, lake, pond, stream, wetland or from the top of a seawall. Newly planted turf or landscape plants in those zones can only be fertilized within a 60-day period beginning 30 days after plantings.
The town’s fertilizer ordinance, which was last updated in 2020, also limits any use of fertilizer in the town to one pound of total nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per application. No more than four pounds of nitrogen can be applied to any 1,000 square foot area in any calendar year. Fertilizer can not be applied to any landscape area more than four times a year.
Fertilizer with nitrogen must contain no less than 50% slow release nitrogen.
In addition, the town’s fertilizer ordinance bans the use of any fertilizer containing phosphorus unless a soil or plant tissue deficiency is verified by a testing methodology approved by the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
The ordinance also bans any mowed or cut vegetative material from being deposited into the water.
In addition, any commercial applicator of fertilizer in the town is required at all times to have and carry certification by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as a commercial fertilizer applicator.
The ordinance allows town code enforcement to regularly inspect the use of fertilizer. The town can issue fines of $250 per day to violators or $500 per day for repeat violators.
Lee County’s fertilizer ordinance completely bans the use of fertilizer containing nitrogen from June 1 to September 30.