Dry lawn fertilizers can be applied to your grass with two types of fertilizer spreaders, drop or broadcast. To use a broadcast spreader properly, you need to know how wide a band the spreader covers. If the directions that came with the spreader don’t indicate the width, put some fertilizer in the spreader and run the spreader over a short stretch of lawn to find out.

Applying dry fertilizers evenly by hand is difficult. If you have no other option, apply the fertilizer carefully and only on small lawns. Wear gloves and walk backwards across the lawn as you throw the fertilizer as evenly as possible with a sweeping motion.

You can apply liquid or water-soluble fertilizers with handheld, hose-end applicators. Liquids are more difficult than dry fertilizers to apply evenly, because it’s done by hand, and the handheld sprayers require frequent refilling on large lawns. They save you the cost of a rotary tiller spreader. When using liquid fertilizers and handheld sprayers, follow the label instructions precisely.

The key to applying fertilizer evenly is to use the spreader properly. Uneven fertilizer application leads to uneven greening or burning of the grass. Move at your normal walking speed. Then move back and forth between the edges. To avoid missing strips, make sure to overlap the path of the wheels when using a drop spreader. You should have a little overlap at the edges of broadcast spreaders.

Turn the spreader off when you reach the end strips, when you come to a stop, or when you’re turning around to avoid uneven application.

Water the lawn thoroughly after fertilizing. Watering in the fertilizer washes the nutrients into the soil where lawn roots can use them and where they won’t be washed away by a heavy rain. Watering also gets the fertilizer off the leaves which may cause burning. A dry lawn is more likely to burn than a wet one.

When you finish, clean the empty lawn fertilizer with a hose. If you skip the cleaning, the spreader can slowly corrode. Wash out the spreader on the lawn. Let the spreader dry before storing.