Fertilizing equipment selection is important because it can make or break your application.  If you are a professional lawn care provider, you understand the need for productive and accurate equipment.  Depending on the size of your operation, you might fertilize your properties with a push spreader or a ride on unit.  Choosing the most reliable unit will save you lots of time and money.   At the same time you can keep your customer happy with their application.  Using substandard equipment or non commercial fertilizing equipment compromises the quality of your application.  It is important to calibrate your fertilizing equipment before you begin each round.   Calibrating your equipment allows you to check for proper distribution.  Applying too much fertilizer may burn the lawn and applying too little fertilizer may not give you the desired results.

Fertilizing equipment.

There are several ways to apply fertilizer to your lawn.  If you are using granular fertilizer products, you can apply them by using a drop spreader or a rotary spreader.  Drop spreaders are almost non-existent in the commercial application market because they are very unproductive.  There are more opportunities for something to go wrong when you use a drop spreader.  If you do not over lap your product enough, your lawn may be striped.  If you over apply your fertilizer with too much product in one area, you may also stripe it.

Fertilizing equipment commonly used by commercial applicators is mainly limited to rotary spreaders because the do a better job of making a uniform application.  If you are applying a coated urea product, you still have to be careful not to stripe the lawn.  Some low-grade coated urea products may contain smaller particles which break down faster than the whole product.  These smaller particles may make your grass-green up faster than the rest of the areas, causing striping.

Liquid fertilizer products are used by the national chains because they are cheaper.  Liquid fertilizer may burn your grass where stabilized nitrogen products may not.  What ever way you are applying fertilizer to a lawn, make sure to properly mix your product and calibrate your equipment correctly.  Always read your product labels prior to mixing and applicating your product.