{"id":24813,"date":"2020-11-04T14:15:23","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T19:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=24813"},"modified":"2020-11-04T14:54:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T19:54:39","slug":"blackout-dates-for-lawn-fertilizer-applications-take-effect-on-november-16-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2020\/11\/04\/blackout-dates-for-lawn-fertilizer-applications-take-effect-on-november-16-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackout Dates for Lawn Fertilizer Applications Take Effect on Nov. 16"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/MDA-Fert-FB-AD_web_403_c.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"23170\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2020\/03\/04\/protect-local-waterways-by-following-marylands-lawn-fertilizer-law-2\/attachment\/mda-fert-fb-ad_web_403_c-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/MDA-Fert-FB-AD_web_403_c.jpg?fit=403%2C403&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"403,403\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Be Wise, Don&amp;#8217;t Over Fertilizer\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/MDA-Fert-FB-AD_web_403_c.jpg?fit=403%2C403&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23170 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/MDA-Fert-FB-AD_web_403_c.jpg?resize=403%2C403\" alt=\"\" width=\"403\" height=\"403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/MDA-Fert-FB-AD_web_403_c.jpg?w=403&amp;ssl=1 403w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/MDA-Fert-FB-AD_web_403_c.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/MDA-Fert-FB-AD_web_403_c.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>ANNAPOLIS, MD<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u2013 The Maryland Department of Agriculture reminds citizens that fertilizer blackout dates authorized by Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law will begin on November 16 and run through February 28.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law prohibits residents and lawn-care professionals from fertilizing lawns with products containing phosphorus and nitrogen between the specified blackout dates. An exception exists for lawn-care professionals, who may apply up to 0.5 pound of soluble or insoluble nitrogen per 1,000 square feet to lawns they manage until December 1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Potassium and lime may still be applied during the blackout dates, since they are not considered a threat to water quality. Citizens and lawn-care professionals may resume lawn-fertilizer applications containing nitrogen and phosphorus on March 1 as long as the ground is not frozen or heavy rain is not predicted.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A soil test is required before phosphorus may be applied to established lawns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The department reminds citizens that it is prohibited to use fertilizer products to melt ice and snow on steps, sidewalks, driveways, or other paved surfaces. Applying fertilizer to hard or frozen ground provides a direct pathway for nutrient runoff into storm drains that feed into the Chesapeake Bay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law requires lawn-care professionals to be licensed and certified by the Maryland Department of Agriculture to apply fertilizer to the properties they manage. A list of certified lawn-care professionals can be viewed on the department\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/SiteAssets\/Pages\/fertilizer\/CertifiedLawnCarePros.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For more information about Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law and fertilizer best management practices, visit: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/Pages\/fertilizer.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">mda.maryland.gov\/fertilizer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"># # #<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/mdagdept\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@MdAgDept<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANNAPOLIS, MD\u00a0\u2013 The Maryland Department of Agriculture reminds citizens that fertilizer blackout dates authorized by Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law will begin on November 16 and run through February 28.\u00a0 Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law prohibits residents and lawn-care professionals from fertilizing lawns with products containing phosphorus and nitrogen between the specified blackout dates. An exception exists<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2020\/11\/04\/blackout-dates-for-lawn-fertilizer-applications-take-effect-on-november-16-3\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24813"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24816,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24813\/revisions\/24816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}