Milorganite at full bag rate every month as a supplement to the standard Nitrogen fertilization.

Water as needed.

The Iron and Calcium will help it green up in a hurry.

Did the trick for me. I am following the Bermuda Bible Fertilization schedule. My lawn would green up some as soon as the Nitrogen hit, grow like the dickens, then turn back to an apple green... It was full and lush and growing like mad, but not a real pretty dark green...

I set out Milorganite 2 weeks ago at Bag rate... 1st time in the season... and then it rained last week.... BAM... Pure dark green spectacular like I have only seen at Golf Courses...

Thanks

This milorganite sounds intriguing, I would like to put some out this weekend if it stops raining and I can cut the grass. Would it be ok to put it out a month after putting out the ironite? Can I just buy it at any of the big box stores? Rday thanks for the tip, I just put down a 34-3-11 lesco fertilizer last weekend before I posted this. I wanted the 39-0-0 that Texas Weed recommends but that was the highest one that the John Deere store had so that is what I went with.

Northtexas, I am very familiar with your area. 90% chance your soil is low in iron, and/or the PH is too high. Your area is notorious for high PH and iron poor soils.

Skip Ironite, go with Milorganite instead.... unless you already bought the Ironite...

I buy mine at either Lowe's or Home Depot.. but I hear you can get it at many other places like Menards too...

It's fine to put it on this time of year... especially on Bermuda -- it's a natural slow release 5-2-0 fertilizer product... Won't burn your lawn.

An additional benefit is that it seems to be pretty good as a deer repellent...

Thanks

John

I do not recommend either Ironite or Milorganite for iron supplements as they take too day long to work or have enough iron to do much good.

Look for a product called Bonide. It is a liquid, you spray it on, and it starts to work the next day, and last all season long.

There's lesco fertilizer that has 5% iron. I think it's like 34-0-0 with 5%FE. Try that. It's only around 25 dollars at Lesco/John Deere Landscape store.

I wonder if the Bionide is the one for bug repellant? I'm going with it. Texas Weed has spoken. I'm in Georgia I just have to find it.

Chelated iron...kind of expensive, and the color won't last long, but for an immediate, eye-popping difference, that's the answer. (Think deep, ballpark green.)

Use 21-0-0 and follow it up with a liquid application of Ferromec AC or Lesco's 12-0-0 Iron. Be very careful when applying liquid iron around fences and concrete areas, it will stain!!

I'm in the Aledo area, and Alfalfa pellets have worked wonders for my yard and my pocket!

While Iron is definitely the secret to getting a quick darkening of the grass, all Iron is NOT the same, and those recommending applying Iron to the soil don't understand the soil chemistry, or the regional quirks of the DFW area. Soils in the DFW area are very often at pH 7.5 - 7.8, and are calcareous (large excesses of Calcium and sometimes both Calcium and Magnesium). Iron solubility is heavily influenced by both Calcium and pH - the same amount of Iron may be 1000 PPM soluble at pH 6.3, but will drop to 352 PPM at pH 6.5, 35 PPM at pH 7.0 and 3.5 PPM at pH 7.5. Unchelated Iron will become unavailable almost immediately upon soil contact. Chelated (part of an organic molecule) Iron will last longer. Milorganite behaves as chelated because it came from the organic bacteria that digested the sewage.

The way to get very dark grass quickly is to apply it in a foliar fashion to the grass instead of the soil. Backpack or pump-up sprayers are best because the droplets are much tinier than the hose-end sprayer applicators, and less runs off. The bad news is that it grows off in 2-3 weeks as the grass grows out, and must be reapplied to maintain the look.

Be careful - while it can work literally overnight, it doesn't take much -- and too much will make the grass look a muddy slate-gray.