It should go without saying that applying fertilizers to your lawn requires extreme caution to ensure the safety of you, your family and your pets. You should never even attempt to apply fertilizer to your lawn without being sure what type and how much fertilizer your lawn requires. If you are ever in doubt about the specifics of the fertilizer you will be applying, you can consult your lawn care professional or a local lawn and garden store.

Once you have purchased your fertilizer, appropriate storage is very important. If you have children or animals, make sure to store the fertilizer higher up where it is out of reach. It is also essential to keep fertilizer in a cool, dry place. When it’s time to apply the fertilizer, proper protection for your hands and eyes is necessary. Fertilizer can burn if it touches bare skin, and can be extremely painful if it comes in contact with a cut or scrape. Goggles and protective gloves can be purchased at most home improvement stores.

After you fertilize your lawn you need to keep your children and pets off of it until there has been a good water to immerse it into the ground. Otherwise, it may be accidentally ingested, which can cause serious health issues.

One of the easiest safety precautions to take when it comes to fertilizer is following instructions. This is not a good time to rely on guess work or estimations. You should also never exceed the recommendations for how much fertilizer to apply in hopes of speeding up the process. Fertilizer run off is a serious environmental hazard as these chemicals are carried by rainwater into local water sources. Too much fertilizer can also negatively affect your lawn.