Vigoro Ultra Turf Winterizer Weed & Feed - Prep your lawn for winter

It wasn't until I owned my own home that I figured out I needed to winterize my lawn. This ritual consists of me knowing I need to winterize, then realizing that unless I do it this weekend it will be too late and finally, going out and hopefully finding a store that still has some. This year, I planned ahead and got the Vigoro Ultra Turf Winterizer Weed & Feed. Did this tough-sounding substance baby my lawn and tuck it into bed for the winter?

Read on, dear reader...

•• What it is ••
Vigoro Ultra Turf Winterizer Weed & Feed is a winterizing fertilizer. Duh.

•• Features and Commentary ••
Before we delve into this particular product, it's important to know why we need to winterize our lawn. There is a lot of conflicting information, but the consensus I can draw is that you want a high nitrogen fertilizer combined with high phosphorous and potassium. The nitrogen keeps the blades green all winter long and the potassium and Phosphorus encourage root growth for better winter survival and stronger spring growth.

Would a regular fertilizer do the job? Probably, depending on the concentration. I've used plain fertilizer before when I couldn't find winterizer, but it never seemed to green up the grass as I would have liked. I also noticed it didn't grow back as thick and lush in the spring after using a regular fertilizer.

Ok, that said, the Vigoro Ultra Turf Winterizer Weed & Feed has a combination of 22-4-11 which means 22 of Nitrogen, 4 of Phosphorus and 11 of Potassium. That is a pretty standard mix for a winterizer and has a little less nitrogen and a lot more phosphorus and potassium than a standard fertilizer.

I applied this fertilizer in the late fall when the growth had slowed down. I was only mowing once every few weeks and the turf was starting to turn a little brown and lethargic.A few weeks after applying the Vigoro Ultra Turf Winterizer Weed & Feed, I didn't notice a huge difference. The grass greened up a little bit, but not a tremendous amount.

It wasn't until after the first snow had come and gone that I noticed how well the fertilizer performed. It's mid-December and I need to mow the lawn! Looking at my lawn compared to the neighbors, it looks thicker and greener. Now I'm no turf expert, but digging down into the soil, I noticed the roots were thick and looked healthy and strong.

The fertilizer also has a weed killer mixed in and it works fairly well. Supposedly it kills 250 different varieties of weeds. We have a grand total of about 5. I noticed a few of the tougher weeds survived the onslaught of weed killer, but the smaller ones died very quickly. And 2 months later, no new weeds have arrived. This should aid the lawn in preparation for spring by eliminating weeds which steal resources.

The application of the Vigoro Ultra Turf Winterizer Weed & Feed was quite easy. They recommend a drop spreader, but I used my trust hand spreader with setting of 5, the widest opening available. This ensured that a good amount of fertilizer was dumped on the grass. My lawn tends to be very hungry, so I give it a little more than the bag calls for. Your mileage may vary.

•• Conclusion ••
Need to tuck your lawn in for the winter? Try Vigoro Ultra Turf Winterizer Weed & Feed!