{"id":26373,"date":"2022-03-31T13:21:24","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T17:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=26373"},"modified":"2022-03-31T13:21:24","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T17:21:24","slug":"protect-local-waterways-by-following-marylands-lawn-fertilizer-law-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2022\/03\/31\/protect-local-waterways-by-following-marylands-lawn-fertilizer-law-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Protect Local Waterways by Following Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mda.maryland.gov\/SiteAssets\/Pages\/fertilizer\/Webowl.jpg?w=760&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Edwin Remsberg Crep Photo\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>ANNAPOLIS, MD<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2013 The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) reminds homeowners to follow Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law while doing yard work this spring. Fertilizer products containing nitrogen and phosphorus may be applied to lawns beginning March 1 as long as the ground is not hard frozen or snow-covered, and heavy rain is not expected.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law is designed to prevent excess nutrients from entering the Chesapeake Bay and local waterways. The law requires both lawn care professionals and those that care for their own lawns to obey fertilizer application restrictions, use best management practices when applying fertilizer to lawns, observe fertilizer blackout dates, and follow the University of Maryland Extension\u2019s (UME) fertilizer recommendations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additionally, lawn care professionals are required to be licensed and certified by MDA to apply fertilizer, or they must work under the direct supervision of an individual who is certified. A list of MDA-certified lawn care professionals can be found 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\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These individuals have been trained in bay-friendly fertilizer techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>If you care for your own lawn, follow these best management practices:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Skip the spring fertilizer, especially if your lawn is healthy. Fall is the best time to fertilize cool-season grasses like fescues and Kentucky bluegrass.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sharpen lawnmower blades. A dull blade tears and weakens the grass, opening it up to disease. Many local hardware stores or garden shops can sharpen your blade for you.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Raise the cutting height of the mower. Taller grass shades out weeds and needs less water. A three-inch cut length is ideal for most lawns.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leave grass clippings on the lawn. They provide free fertilizer all season long.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get your soil tested to see if your grass will benefit from additional nutrients or lime. Watch a UME <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ye7WtedsbsE\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">video<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on how to take a soil test.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>If you decide to fertilize:.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Always follow the directions on the fertilizer bag.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do not apply phosphorus (indicated by the middle number on the fertilizer bag) to lawns unless a soil test shows that it is needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clean up any fertilizer on sidewalks or other impervious surfaces.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Keep fertilizer applications 10 to 15 feet away from waterways.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do not apply fertilizer if heavy rain is expected.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For more information on Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law and fertilizer best management practices, please visit MDA\u2019s<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/Pages\/fertilizer.aspx\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> For lawn fertilizer recommendations and additional tips, please visit the UME Home and Garden Information Center\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umd.edu\/programs\/environment-natural-resources\/program-areas\/home-and-garden-information-center\/yard-and-landscape\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">website<\/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 the Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/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 (MDA) reminds homeowners to follow Maryland\u2019s Lawn Fertilizer Law while doing yard work this spring. Fertilizer products containing nitrogen and phosphorus may be applied to lawns beginning March 1 as long as the ground is not hard frozen or snow-covered, and heavy rain is not expected. Maryland\u2019s Lawn<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2022\/03\/31\/protect-local-waterways-by-following-marylands-lawn-fertilizer-law-4\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"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-26373","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\/26373","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\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26373"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26375,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26373\/revisions\/26375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}