Football Pitch FAQ 9. What fertiliser should we use?

There are practically hundreds of fertiliser products available and many are very similar, with some having a bit extra or less of some nutrients, and with others having some micro-nutrients as well. The mainstay of fertilisers is granular, although controlled slow release might be considered, as well as a liquid and foliar feed during the summer months.

The amount of nutrients to apply over the year, as well as the number of applications will vary according to desired quality, available resources, the intensity of maintenance, whether the grass clippings are boxed off or mostly let fly and returned to the sward, soil type (which might be a clay dominated soil through to a specially constructed sand profile pitch), pitch location (which might range from an open playing field to in an enclosed stadium) and the available nutrients within the soil (especially phosphorus and potassium).

Carrying out a soil test for these nutrients is a good idea, otherwise you may not only be wasting money on unnecessarily including them but can also make weeds and undesirable grasses more competitive, but in practice it is the wear from usage during the playing season which is going to be the main issue to manage.

As a useful base line start for amateur league pitches you might consider a granular fertiliser with 12% nitrogen content, being applied at a rate of 35g/m² at renovation time – the end of April to early May. For the end of the summer period, during August or September, then the use of a fertiliser with 5-10% nitrogen content (35g/m²) would usually be quite adequate.

For many volunteer-maintained pitches, especially in lower leagues and/or where budget resources are very limited then the use of a traditional grassland granular with an analysis of 20:10:10 (25g/m²) twice a year may not result in a large difference in ultimate outcome of pitch playing quality, assuming this is at the basic entry level, than from using more expensive specially formulated turf fertilisers. A lot will depend on how you determine value for money, along with efficiency and effectiveness of resources.

For higher quality pitches fertilisers which have been specially formulated for football pitches would be the usual approach, and this would also result in an increase in applications, along with increased resources overall, so that much greater control over grass growth and development can be achieved.

Permutations for what might be applied and when can be almost endless, so consider what is needed for your specific requirements rather than what another club or grounds person may be using or what may be being promoted in various media outlets at the time of planning your fertiliser programme.