Interesting food for thought

Carbohydrates — The Real Plant Food

Lawn fertilizers are often marketed as ‘plant food’. Although most people realize that nutrients from fertilizers are required by plants for proper growth and development, they may not realize that fertilizers are not really plant food. Plants make their own food through photosynthesis, a chemical reaction in leaves involving water, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and light energy. The end products, carbohydrates, are used by plants for energy and growth and are the true plant food.

Carbohydrates can be stored in stem and crown tissues when they are made faster than they are used. Storage is greatest in fall and is beneficial since the plant needs carbohydrates for recovery from injury when turf is damaged by pests, drought, heat, and mower injury the following year. Depletion of carbohydrates is fastest in spring, especially under low mowing heights and high nitrogen fertility. If depleted too quickly, the turf may go into the summer months in a weakened state. This is one reason why turfgrass professionals do not apply excess amounts of nitrogen and mow below optimum heights of cut in spring.

Prepared by Peter Landschoot, professor of turfgrass science

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