Natural lawn care offers lawn care professionals an environmentally compatible, easy-to-use alternative to high input care. Natural care improves the beauty and vigor of your clients' lawn - and reduces your cost of business. Converting your business to natural methods is easy with AGGRAND products.
AGGRAND Natural Fertilizer
The foundation of the AGGRAND natural lawn care program, AGGRAND Natural Fertilizer will improve your whole operation, from the quality of the lawns you produce and your profitability.
Prevailing lawn care practices depend on high rates of nitrogen input, which promotes an excessive leaf development to root reserve ratio. Such over-abundant top growth is easy prey for disease causing organisms and insects, while the shallow root systems can not store the reserve to cope with drought stress. Heavy, excessive top growth also leads to and excessive amount of clippings, which outstrip the ability of soil organisms to break down dead materials, leading to thatch build up, increased disease risk and unsightly appearance. Finally, all that top growth needs frequent growing.
How does AGGRAND help to restore "excessives" in normal lawn care. Below is a couple of charts that explain how the "excessives" can be corrected easily.
 | Excessive Nitrogen | AGGRAND |
| Rapid leaf growth | Balanced leaf and root development | |
| Poor Root Development | Balanced leaf and root development | |
| Frequent Mowing | Reduce mowing frequency | |
| Poor stress tolerance | Good stress resistance | |
| Rapid thatch build-up | No thatch build-up | |
| Poor nutrient cycling | Cycles nutrients efficiently | |
| Depletes plant reserves | Increase plant reserves | |
| Favors weed growth | Favors grass growth | |
| Leaches of of soil | Stable in soil, no leaching | |
| Pollutes nearby waters | No pollution | |
| Increases soil salt content | No salt increase |
AGGRAND Natural Fertilizer 4-3-3 helps lawns develop deep root systems with proportional top growth by supplying nitrogen as part of a balance of nutrients. Due to its balanced growth, the natural lawn resists disease, insects and drought more successfully than high input lawns do. Naturally managed lawns cycle nutrients efficiently, preventing thatch buildup. In fact, recycling thatch actually gives the lawn an extra two pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet over the growing season - a nice little boost. Finally, natural lawns require less mowing than high-nitrogen lawns.
- Conventional lawn care may cause micronutrient deficiencies and inefficient nitrogen usage. Plants take up nitrogen and micronutrients in a fixed proportion, so when nitrogen is highly abundant, micronutrients should be too. Most commercial fertilizers don't supply micronutrients, so lawns may suffer micronutrient deficiencies and often fail to use all the supplied nitrogen.
- Natural lawns depend on fixation and release of nutrients by soil microbes to regulate soil fertility. Nutrients that are not directly taken up by the grass are stored and released slowly in proportions that promote healthy growth.
AGGRAND Natural Fertilzier 4-3-3 contains kelp and fish, macro and micronutrient sources. Many of the nutrients are in chelated form which holds them in reserve until needed. Plants get the nutrients they need when they need them.
- Conventional fertilizers supply nitrogen as a salt. Salt dissolves quickly in soil, releasing nitrogen which encourages weed growth. In fact, a late season nitrogen spike specifically favors crabgrass. Lawn grasses respond to a nitrogen spike by producing excessive top growth in lieu of storing carbohydrates. Lawns with poor carbohydrate reserves go dormant during drought or other stressful times. Rapid fertilizer release also allows nitrogen to leach through the soil which pollutes the ground and surface waters.
AGGRAND Natural Fertilizer 4-3-3 supplies many of its nutrients in organic compounds, such as carbohydrates and proteins. The water insoluble compounds are held in the soil until microbes and other organisms digest them, "time-releasing" plant nutrients, with no leaching, no pollution.
- Salt based fertilizers toxify the soil which reduces soil microbes and earthworm populations, and consequently reduce nutrient cycling, decreases soil organic matter content, increases soil compaction and damages soil structure.
AGGRAND Natural Fertilizer 4-3-3 helps restore soils to their natural nutrient balance, encouraging soil microbes and earthworms to repopulate the soil which increases nutrient cycling and loosens soil structure.
- Sprayable liquid is available in quarts, 5-gallon twin packs or 55-gallon drums. Guaranteed analysis: 4-3-3. One quart treats 3,000 to 8,000 square feet.
AGGRAND 4-3-3 rates for specific grass species:
One quart per 5,000 to 8,000 sq. ft.
- Buffalo grass
- Fine fescue
- Tall fescue
- Bermuda grass
- Carpet grass
- Kentucky blue grass
- Perennial rye grass
- Zoysia grass
- Bahia grass
- Bent grass
- Centipede grass
- St. Augustine grass
Lawns that exhibit a slow growth, yellow color and a large number of weeds may have other problems that need to be addressed. If weeds are problematic, then they need to be removed either by hand or the application of an herbicide. Herbicide applications should be made when the weeds are just beginning to grow. As a general rule grassy weeds begin to grow in the early Spring when the soil temperature reaches 50 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas broad leaves take off later in the Spring when the soil temperature reaches 60 degrees Fahrenheit. It makes matters worse to "feed and seed" the lawn because resistant weeds will grow that much faster. A workable plan involves these steps:
- Note weed types and areas in lawn where they are growing the first year.
- After speaking with an authorized weed control specialist, implement a weed control plan the second year.
AGGRAND Natural Liquid Bonemeal 0-12-0
AGGRAND Natural Liquid Bonemeal provides an immediately available source of natural phosphorous to your lawn. Phosphorous makes an important contribution to root development which is essential to the establishment and long-term vigor of the lawn.
- Sprayable liquid, available in quarts, 5-gallon twin packs or 55-gallon drums. Guaranteed analysis: 0-12-0. One quart treats 1,000 to 2,000 square feet.
AGGRAND Natural Liquid Lime
AGGRAND Natural Liquid Lime contains high quality (99.6% pure) dolomitic limestone in suspension specifically formulated for faster penetration around the roots. AGGRAND Natural Liquid Lime features lime particles two times finer than those of conventional, bagged lime. As a result, it penetrates the soil profile more rapidly, providing immediate availability.
- Sprayable liquid available in quarts, 5-gallon twin packs or 55-gallon drums. One quart treats 1,000 to 5,000 square feet.
AGGRAND Natural Kelp and Sulfate of Potash 0-0-8
AGGRAND Natural Kelp and Sulfate of Potash enhances plant health by providing potassium, micronutrients, sulfur, hormones and amino acids. AGGRAND Natural Kelp with 2% Sulfur increases heat, cold and drought tolerance while decreasing the susceptibility to insect attack and infection by disease causing organisms.
- Sprayable liquid available in quarts, 5-gallon twin packs or 55-gallon drums. One quart treats 5,000 to 10,000 square feet.
AGGRAND Ratings and Timings
Application rates and timing vary according to grass species, soil type and lawn condition. Normally, 4-6 applications of AGGRAND 4-3-3 per year are sufficient. The first application is 
made as soon as the grass shows signs of growth (green color) in early Spring. The second application follows in three or four weeks (shorter interval for sandy soil). On lawns in good condition (mostly turf grass, with few weeds and a small amount of thatch) a third application can be made before the grass goes into Summer dormancy. Resume fertilization in late Summer when the grass starts to grow again. Fertilize two or three more times before the end of the season at the same interval as the Spring fertilizations.
The addition of one pint/5000 square feet of AGGRAND 0-0-8 to the spray mix once in early Spring, before Summer heat and/or drought, and in early Fall provides increased beneficial effects to plant health. Addition of 1 quart/2,000 sq. ft. of AGGRAND 0-12-0 once in the early Spring or later Fall provides further enhancement of root development.
- In early Fall, after weeds are controlled, overseed the lawn with turf species mixed with compost or well-composted manure (if the lawn is very uneven, one-third sand can be used in the mixture to help level the lawn).
- Fertilize the lawn with AGGRAND 4-3-3 as you would normally once the new grass has been mowed two or three times.
If the lawn is full of plantain, dandelions and/or quickgrass this condition could be caused by compacted soil. Check to see if the soil is compacted by trying to push a blunt object into it in a number of different spots. If the soil is difficult to penetrate, then the lawn needs to be renovated (killed, desodded, tilled, reseeded) or dethatched, aerated and overseeded.
Check with some lawn care professionals before taking the renovation route, although it may be the only workable solution on very weedy and/or compacted lawns. If renovation is necessary be sure to add compost/manure, adjust soil pH and apply 1 quart of each AGGRAND Natural Fertilizer 4-3-3 and AGGRAND Natural Liquid Bonemeal 0-12-0 and 1 pint of AGGRAND Natural Kelp and Sulfate of Potash 0-0-8 per 1,000 sq. ft. before the final trip over the ground with the rototiller.
Slow growth and yellowish grass may be the result of compacted soil because oxygen is unable to penetrate into the root zone where the roots use it for respiration (the release of energy from store carbohydrates). The other cause of yellowish grass is a low pH. Another sign of a low pH is the growth of moss in the lawn. If the soil pH is below 6.0 then the pH surrounding the roots needs to be raised by apply AGGRAND Liquid Lime. Apply 1 quart per 1,000 sq. ft. every 3-4 weeks during Spring and Fall (along with fertilizer applications).
Lawn Care