Question

A lawn service recommends covering 36,000 square feet with 6 pounds of fertilizer. Which graph has a slope that best represents the average amount of square feet covered per pound of fertilizer.

Answer 1

Fertilizer recommendations for lawns are usually given in pounds of nitrogen to be applied per 1,000 square feet. Home gardeners sometimes have difficulty converting these recommendations to the amounts needed for their selected grade of nitrogen fertilizer and their lawn size. This fact sheet provides conversion tables and examples showing you how to calculate the amount of fertilizer needed for your lawn.

Step 1

To determine the pounds of fertilizer to apply, first determine the percentage of nitrogen in your fertilizer. This can be found on the fertilizer bag. Nitrogen is always the first number in the three-number series listed on the fertilizer bag.

Step 2

Now determine the number of pounds of fertilizer to apply based on the percentage of nitrogen in your fertilizer and your fertilizer recommendation. Table 1 lists the number of pounds of material needed when nitrogen content ranges from 1 to 46%.