Lawn care companies working in Washington, D.C., have until Saturday, Nov. 14, to finish the year’s last fertilizer treatments. From Sunday, Nov. 15, until March 1, the District’s fertilizer law bars professionals from spreading it on turf at all.
Homeowners who feed their own grass are not legally bound by the same cutoff. The D.C. Department of Energy and Environment says it strongly encourages them to follow it anyway.
The Nov. 15 to March 1 Window
The rule comes from the Anacostia River Clean Up and Protection Fertilizer Act of 2012, which took effect April 20, 2013. Under the section of the D.C. Code that sets application restrictions, fertilizer may go on turf only “after March 1st and before November 15th” in a calendar year, and only when the ground is not frozen.
DOEE’s lawn care guidance puts it plainly: do not apply fertilizer between Nov. 15 and March 1. The same guidance says to skip it when rain is expected, when the soil is already saturated and when the ground is frozen…