Sudden Impact for Lawns 10kg, what it does

What Sudden Impact for Lawns actually is

Sudden Impact for Lawns is Neutrog's pelletised lawn food, and it comes in a 10kg bag and a 20kg bag, which is the only difference between the two. The 10kg is the one most people want for a home lawn, and the 20kg is worth it if you've got a big block or you're feeding a couple of lawns.

It goes on as a dry pellet rather than something you mix up in a watering can, so you spread it and then water it in, and the pellets break down over the following weeks rather than all at once. That's the bit that matters, because a lawn fed slowly grows evenly and a lawn hit with something fast goes dark green for a fortnight and then sulks.

When to put it down

Feed a lawn when it's actually growing, because a fertiliser going onto grass that's shut down for the cold is money sitting on top of the soil doing nothing. For most lawns around here that means the warm half of the year, with the two obvious slots being as the lawn wakes up and comes out of winter, and again partway through summer when it's had a hard run.

Read the rate off the back of the bag and use that, rather than a number off the internet or a number off me, because the rate is different between products and Neutrog print theirs for a reason. The most common mistake is putting more on than the bag says on the theory that more food equals more lawn, and what you actually get is burn.

How to spread it

You can spread it by hand out of a bucket if the lawn is small and you're careful, and honestly a small spreader is worth the money the moment the lawn gets past about the size of a carport. Hand spreading tends to go heavy where you start and light where you're running out, and you see exactly where that happened about ten days later when the stripes come up.

Walk it in two passes at right angles to each other, half the rate each pass. It takes twice as long and it's the difference between an even lawn and a plaid one.

Water it in properly, and this is the step people skip

Water it in straight away and water it in deep. Pellets sitting dry on the surface do nothing at all, and worse, they sit against the leaf and that's where burn marks come from. Give it a proper soak, not a flick over with the hose, and if rain is forecast that day then let the rain do it for you.

Stay off it while it's wet if you can, because walking pellets into the grass unevenly gives you the same patchy result as spreading it unevenly did.

What it will not fix

A fertiliser feeds grass, and if the problem isn't hunger then feeding it harder won't help. Compacted soil, water running off instead of soaking in, grubs eating the roots, or a lawn mown too short are all things that look like a hungry lawn and aren't one. Fertiliser on a compacted lawn is the classic one, because the food can't get down to where the roots are.

So if you've fed it properly and it still looks tired, have a dig at the soil with a fork and see whether it's hard as a brick, and have a look under the surface for grubs before you buy another bag.

How it sits next to the others

Blade Runner is the slower release one in the same range and it's a longer feed, Sudden Impact is the one you reach for when the lawn needs picking up sooner, and Go Go Juice is a liquid and a different tool again. Plenty of people run a granular through the year and use a liquid in between, which is a reasonable way to do it.

Shop related products

• Neutrog Sudden Impact for Lawns 10kg. The size most home lawns want.
• Neutrog Sudden Impact for Lawns 20kg. Same product, bigger bag, for a bigger block.
• Neutrog Blade Runner 15kg. The slower release lawn food in the same range.
• Go Go Juice 1 Litre. A liquid biological, for in between the granular feeds.

Did you know we also stock lawn seed, gypsum and a garden fork in the shop that aren't all listed online, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.

The rest of the lawn and fertiliser range is in the garden centre, and if you bring us a photo of the patchy bit we'll usually tell you straight away whether it's a feeding problem or something else.

More on lawns

• Neutrog Blade Runner, what it is and when to use it
• How to keep your lawn green, and what usually goes wrong
• How to aerate a lawn, and when it is worth doing

I am still the person who spreads half of it in the first ten metres, which is why I'm so keen on the two pass method.

Cheers,
Candeece

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