EXPENSIVE FERTILIZER VS. CHEAP FERTILIZER
EXPENSIVE FERTILIZER VS. CHEAP FERTILIZER
What Fertilizer are you using this season? In this video I cover the pros and cons of using expensive fertilizer vs cheap fertilizer.
In the first section we go over your common big box store fertilizers. The first type found in many stores is a general lawn food. These are know to provide a quick green up and tend to push a lot of top growth and contain high levels of nitrogen usually around %30percent or more. A popular form of this lawn fertilizer is Scotts Lawn Food in the Green bag which is personally one of my favorite and best fertilizer for a quick green up.
Another common fertilizer found at your local store is Weed n Feed which are a good option for the homeowner that what’s a quick and easy solution to feed the lawn and kill weeds at the same time. Weed and feed fertilizer contains the herbicide 2,4-D which is especially good for controlling dandelions and clover while at the same time feeding and thickening your lawn.
Another fertilizer that contains a weed killer is Scotts Starter Fertilizer + Weed preventer. This is a starter spring fertilizer to be used while seeding a lawn. It contains the herbicide Mesotrione aka Tenacity which is the only herbicide that can be used while seeding and overseeing a lawn. It is very important to apply this during spring seeding as weed pressure can ruin your seeding project.
We also cover organic fertilizers that you can buy locally such as Milorganite and Purely Organic lawn Food. Milorganite is a slow release lawn fertilizer That will give you the darkest green up of any of the other store bought fertilizers due to its iron content. Unfortunately due to its increase in demand, it is hard to find AND the price has literally tripled in the last two years. Because the cost is so high per pound of nitrogen. I feel there are much better cost effective options on the market.
There are many premium fertilizers on the market such as yard mastery , Next products , Andersons etc. Some of the benefits of using these fertilizers are they usually contain more organic materials, micro nutrients and iron then your typical store bought fertilizer. Today I will be applying a light application of yardmastery flagship fertilizer to my front lawn. This fertilizer is a mix of organic and synthetic fertilizers and it contains biosolids similarly to milorganite fertilizer which is slow release and will make your lawn dark green longer.
The last premium and some would say expensive fertilizer I cover is liquid fertilizer . These provide a quick shot of Nitrogen phosphorus and potassium along with micronutrients . I am personally new to using liquid fertilizers and cant speak about there long term results. They are commonly used on golf coarses to provide a quick green up to their greens. I will be testing out the simple lawn solutions 16-4-8 this season on my low mowed Kentucky bluegrass and will follow up with my results in future videos.
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➡️ Products used:
Flagship fertilizer: https://shrsl.com/2x4sx
Double Dark fertilizer: https://shrsl.com/2x4t4
Simple Lawn Solutions 16-4-8: https://amzn.to/3x1KJnf
Scotts weed n feed: https://amzn.to/3tBnAG8
Scotts starter+weed preventer: https://amzn.to/3gi3JI5
Lesco spreader: https://amzn.to/3akhhPo
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Thank you for watching!
Really enjoy all your videos.
I just contacted Hunter industries for a professional review of my crappy Rainbird system.
Are you available for consultation. Have a large property that the developer used a very bad landscape company and laid sod on top of construction trash!
Scotts is way too expensive. $50 a bag and you use the whole bag on a tiny lawn and it doesn’t even do much.
Today I learned that what I used to think of as "expensive fertilizer" is really "cheap fertilizer" – I guess I’m too frugal, lol
I find using my hand held spreader works the best for my lawn.
I think the best is Milorganite cost 12.88 for 36 pounds works well.
Thank you for all info.I got some very useful tips from you
Great vid man and am becoming a fan of your content, but am I the only one who noticed his front yard was the worst looking one in the neighborhood? Lmao not sure if thats because its a suck a low cut KGB or what but just an observation that made me chuckle. Still a fan of your informative content keep up the good work
Scotts fertilizer with Meso will damage Zoysia grass..Many are unaware of this
Milorganite is up to 24.97 for 32 lb bag now at home depot
Love my milorganite
I’m in Chicagoland as well. I bought the Flagship Fertilizer and holy moly does my lawn look great! I never saw a big difference with the other regular fertilizers I used. Neighbors at either side have a bunch of dandelions and the dandelions are afraid of my lawn. Thanks again! Also, I got the big bag which was very economical
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I have been in commercial lawn care for 22 years. George, you communicate better than most of the presenters at the lawn care workshops I have to attend for my license requirements. I have subscribed and will continue to follow!
Ok George.. I accidentally went a little fertilizer crazy.. Ive been looking for videos about too much fert 😬😬😬 I may have slightly over applied but we got a good rain after like half inch and more rain tomrw. Do you know when I would start seeing if I messed up bad or not?! I used Scott’s Lawn Food 32 nitrogen yikes.. and I put down roughly 12,500 on 10,000 sq feet.. maybe like 5 lbs extra 😬 I cringed a little when you said go light on your spring application. I think I went too heavy and hope I didn’t jack up my lawn 🤦🏼♀️ only time will tell..
Awesome job George
Flagship is overpriced and a waste of money. All the metals are in the oxide form which means that unless your soil pH is maintained at 6.0 and under, the grass cannot uptake it. You’d get better results using Sunniland Niro Green 16-0-8 at 1/2 the price.
Iron does not give you a dark green lawn. Where are you getting your information from? I have been in professional lawn care for more than 30 years.
I have been using Jonathan Green for 3 yrs now.
The results are beyond great.
Started with Love Your Soil.
This is a must for anything else to work.
George a lot of people I’ve met who say they are from Chicago are from a suburb of Chicago. I was born near North Ave and Wells back in the early 50’s. The only grass I knew was in Lincoln Park. Now I live in Houston. My lawn is a version of Bermuda called Celebration. My friends and neighbors tell me how green and lush my grass feels. I on the other hand am pulling weeds by hand , watering brown spot with the hose and having nightmares about burning my grass using the wrong chemicals. Help me Obiwan.😊 I miss my condo in LA.
I heard " so I’m excited to try out this black shhhhh.." which melorganite is….
I have been watching your channel and really like it so much easier then others
We don’t get the blue bag of Scotts up here in the PNW and I really wish we did. That would be my go to fertilizer. Great video again man! makes me consider the price on the stuff I throw down.
Very cool way to deal with the neighbor situation. I’ve seen other YouTubers make it awkward or act annoyed behind the neighbor’s back, you made it friendly and fun for her, us, and yourself.
…mmm if that’s your lawn , it needs a lot of work !
George, great video! Scott’s recommends applying seasonal fertilizers. Would you say to ignore Scott’s and apply generic fertilizers like milorganite? What’s your strategy of type of fertilizer in different seasons?
I have found that The Andersons products work very well for my particular area in north Georgia.
George 2022 milo $22 H,Depot
Great video, have you tried the pgf complete granular? This video really helps out a lot. Thanks
I have to ask- is that caprice an LTZ across the street? (Flat badge v stand up Ornament)
Personally—after watching many lawn care videos—and reading online literature about lawn care—the absolute number one thing that must be accomplished is a valid soil test. No mailing in this step: in a figurative sense of course. In a literal step, of course it must be mailed in.
Any other treatment to a lawn is just being done in the blind. If you’re in the Chicago Area within 20 miles of downtown, so much of the the soils will be quite high in phosphorus and quite low in nitrogen and potassium. Milorganite will not be the best choice which to prevent leaching of phosphorus into the groundwater.
And after you get the soil test results back, the first thing I would check is the pH level. Cross reference this level to the desired level of the grass you’re trying to maintain which is 6.5 to 7.0 pH on Kentucky Bluegrass.
I can tell you from first-hand experience it matters not how many tons of Pennington iron pellets full of volcanic waste or whatever it is boron I can’t remember the article you put on the lawn the green is not going to stay more than a few days if the lawn is alkaline pH.
You must reduce the pH if you want effective uptake of the Iron by the Kentucky Bluegrass. I sulfer ass off trying to reduce the soil pH and trying to counteract the alkaline tap-water.
I’m also trying a new method this year: I get it from the main guy I watch on YouTube for lawn care: I’m essentially putting on a quarter pound of nitrogen every week although this week in the hundreds I might skip. I also put down 6/10 of a pound of potassium because both nitrogen and potassium were low on my soil tests.
I watered and immediately so the Urea nitrogen doesn’t volatize. I’m trying to keep the grass growing and growing so that it can withstand the drought that’s maybe coming in the end of July and in August. As hot as this bed June’s being maybe it’s already here but it’s rained a lot in the beginning of June.
I got good color and if I can keep it growing I think I’m less susceptible to a fungus infestation which I lost most of my lawn a couple summers ago.
Use super juice lol
Miracle grow lawn food on centipede grass??will it work , is it safe?
@10:00
I’m not certain that using pounds of nitrogen is a good way to differentiate granular from foliar.
Much better would be to use the square foot to see how much each would cost and use that for a comparison metric.
For example: granular "A" fertilizer might be 3¢ a square foot while foliar "B" might be 8¢ a square foot.
But this is just a financial comparison. With my alkaline soil and alkaline tap water, I can only use foliar chelated iron because the granular iron will not react in alkaline soils.
Watched and enjoyed many of your videos.
Fertilizer is probably not as essential as touted
Stay away from scotts products!!! Complete trash…
I’m new to lawn care and have a few questions.
1. When is best time to lay out insect repellent granulated?
2. Can you put weed and feed with a fall seeding?
Thank you
Thank you for this great info.
Which fertilizer to be used for Kentucky Blue Grass? I am thinking to seed KBG.
As per your video Scotts Starter Weed Preventer would a good option?
I put down Scotts with Mesotrione 4 days after seeding and not at the time of seeding. Think I will be alright since nothing germinated yet?
Chicago Chicago Chicago
Great job with the video. I have been moving toward the Yard Mastery products for my customers.
What’s the absolute best grass seed to reseed with, rye or fescue I live in northeast Ohio
What about all the other fertilizers that we can buy online? So many other ones.
I have a liquid fertilizer weed and feed. Not sure how to use because I just have not done it before. Need some help please
I’m loving your videos.
I have been using True Green for my lawn but next season I might do it m.
I like Lesco but it’s getting too expensive at $70 for 15,000 feet. I used it last year. It was their new slow release but it was way too high a percentage that it took 2 months before I saw any affect.
I’ve bought enough cheap fertilizer to get through the season but it has too low a percentage of slow release and a little iron and no sulfur but it was $20 for 10,000′ and on sale now for $15.
I’m on sand with a sandy top soil and it eats up fertilizer pretty quickly and the grass turns yellow when it’s out of food.
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3 Things you Must do when SEEDING in the SPRING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgay0NwSUhY&t=160s
I have sat through 100 hours of these videos, which are mostly Bravo Sierra. This guy speaks to me. Great job —
I wouldn’t really consider Scott’s fertilizers to be the "cheap" fertilizers (as shown in you video’s title), but more middle of the road. How about the other less costly stuff at HD, W@lmart or M&nards ? Stuff like Vigoro, Sta -Green, Forever Green, Simplify or M&nards brand stuff? Those are the cheap brands. Are they worthless or what since they are less than half the cost of boutique brands? If you are not a professional and not trying to attain a "golf course" lawn are these good enough? I think it’s more important to aerate regularly and overseed for a few seasons to develop a good thick lawn (using a good cultivar to begin with) that keeps most weeds out naturally. So what do you say about those cheaper brands?
Thanks for the video! Yesterday I followed your fall seeding prep (substitute hand pulling of crabgrass for plug aeration) and today I’m seeding tall fescue. Have you ever come across a weed and feed that leaves clover alone? I actually like the look, it’s drought tolerant and is good for the soil. I add clover seed to the grass seed, at least in the backyard.