Question
Hello, my house is just south of Charlotte, NC, in Lake Wylie, SC.  I grow tall fescue.  I had a soil test done through my local co-op extension (Clemson University) and the results said that my soil was extremely low in nitrogen and that I should add 16-0-0 in September, again in November and then again in February I believe.  My questions is this though.  Every fall I aerate and re-seed and put down a starter fertlizer when I seed.  Should I skip the starter fertiler and just follow the recommendations of my soil test, or should I use the starter fetilzer at the time of seeding and then pick up with the 16-0-0 in November or some comination of the two?  Thank you.  

Answer
Tall fescue should be fertilized in late spring, early fall and late fall. September and November sounds right, but I would postpone the spring fertilization until the grass has greened up and started to grow on its own, say, early April.

The problem with soil tests is that you can not reliably test nitrogen unless you have field tests done (once the soil is dried and transported to soil labs, you loose an accurate nitrogen reading).

Instead, it is recommended to apply nitrogen regularily throughout the year as explained above.

you want to put down 1 lb ACTUAL NITROGEN per 1000 sq feet lawn area which you can determine by the 3 numbers on the bag. A 29-3-4 fertilizer has 29% nitrogen in the bag. A 16-0-0 has 16% nitrogen. Nitrogen is the first number in the bag.

You can always divide 100 by the first number of the bag to determine how much fertilizer to apply. E.g. a 29-3-4 fertilizer for a 5,000 sq feet lawn area requires: 100 / 29 x 5 = 17.25 lbs. E.g. you would meassure out 17 lbs and distribute same evenly over the soil.

If you use a 16-0-0, you would use 100 / 16 x 5 = 31.25 lbs and distribute same. If your lawn was 8,000 sq feet instead, you would need: 100 / 16 x 8 = 50 lbs to cover the entire lawn.

Starter fertilizer is just regular lawn fertilizer but with elevated levels of phosphorous. If your soil test show adequate (optimum) or high (above optimum) levels of phosphorous and potassium then there is no reason to use same. E.g. you can buy 16-0-0 to fertilize your lawn. This means that no phosphorous (second number) or potassium (3rd number would be applied).

In my book, I would continue to fertilize with 29-3-4 which is the most common fertilizer for lawns out there. You may also find 33-3-3, etc. What you want is a fertilizer with a high first number. The two latter numbers should be small or zero. It is not critical that they are zero as stated.

Do not use starter fertilizer and 16-0-0 (or 29-3-4, 33-3-3, etc) at the same time. Use either or.

The rigth time to fertilize in your area is late spring, early fall and late fall.