Prepare your turfgrass for autumn and winter period – Mivena

From a fertilizer perspective there are five important rules of thumb to help your turf endure the winter months:

Minimize availability of nitrates;

Total N-dosage should move with turf needs;

Maintain Cation balance;

Potassium Sulphate instead of Potassium Nitrate;

Prevent leaching.

Minimize nitrate NO₃ availability

High nitrate levels in winter increase the disease pressure turfgrass and should be avoided. In fact, every crop becomes more susceptible to diseases and pests at high nitrate levels. Particularly Fungi can be a real challenge on turfgrass in the winter period.

Total-N dosage depending needs of the turfgrass, regulated by soil temperature

In Northwest Europe, it is typical for autumn that we never know exactly how long the grass will continue to grow. Soil temperature is an important factor here, together with minimum temperature during nights. Here comes the big advantage of Mivena’s Durable CRF resin coating: release of elements is only influenced by soil temperature, so release of Nitrogen by Granucote CRF is linear with the needs of the turfgrass. This means that it is safe to use when temperatures go down.

N-cation ratio (K-CaO-MgO) according to soil composition

There is less need for nitrogen and especially nitrate in winter, however the availability of cations such as potassium, calcium and magnesium must be maintained during the autumn and winter period. Mivena autumn / winter products are perfectly balanced to increase the availability of potassium as well as magnesium while maintaining some availability of controlled release Nitrogen.

Use potassium-sulphate as a slow release potassium source

A common mistake during the colder months of the year is the use of potassium nitrate as a potassium source. Besides the fact that potassium nitrate leaches out very quickly, the nitrate is not desirable during this period. Potassium-sulphate is a much better choice because it is much slower available to the plant but also the additional some sulphate is very welcome.

Prevent leaching elements during rainy autumn – winter period

For the environment and of course to prevent waste, we must prevent leaching at all times. Granucote CRF contains Durable CRF resin coating so that only just enough minerals are available to meet turfgrass needs. This reduces waste and minimizes leaching effects, which in turn is better for everybody.