fertilizer is not all made by the same company and it is not all created equal.

 

Lawn Man 5

Now that K gro is gone or going. It doesn't hurt anyone to say it was not a bad fert. Big seller in the homeowner market at one time, Jerry Baker and his treat fungus with 7up was there spokes person. Yes Jerry has a whole bag of tricks that will have you ROFLYAO. However there is some science in Jerry's home cures, I didn't say modern science.

As for the number you gave as being equal for 15,000 sq ft. Sorry. They would have to be different weight bags to even get close.

 

You know, I was reading the Sunday paper after reading this and hunted out and found the K-mart ad. Here in NJ, same ad, same fertilizer, same prices..

Makes me wonder as well if $24 for treating 15,000 square foot is a good deal. Sounds real cheap compared to scotts, the the NPK #'s you posted were correct..

Any one else have any other information on it?

 

Doogiegh

Larry would tell you. In your case $24.00 to treat 15,000 sq ft with straight fertilizer is a real bargin.

 

I could be wrong but doesn't Scotts have certain % of slow release N. A difference in Slow N and type can have a big difference in price.

Mark

 

I believe part of Scotts high price is due to the fact of smaller grain size. It costs more to make smaller grains. Not to mention you are paying for the name as well.

 

I saw the same prices but the fertilizer had the crabgrass preventer in it as well. I have tried all kinds of homeowner fertilizers and Scotts is definintely worth the money. I wouldn't buy anything else for homeowner use.

 

Smaller prill increases price.
More slow release N increase price.
Check the Posash: Muraite or Sulphate. Sulphate is more $.

Check the N carriers and report the percentage of each.

 

At Lesco: 12-2-14- about $13.50 a bag.
16-4-8- about $8.50 a bag. I also was told the more slow release N, the higher the price. Slowly, but surely, I'm learning.LOL

 

All fertilizer is not created equal.

If you pay $24 for a product that is primarily soluble N (urea or cheap coated urea) 30-45% of the N is lost to leaching or volitalization. The net result is you loose $10 worth of the product. If you are determined to use cheap fertilizer apply small amounts frequently (spoon feed).

You can get a very very nice professional product for $24/50#bag but not at K-mart, Home Depo or Lowes. A good pro product will feed at least twice as long and produce less flush growth immediately after application.

The higher the N% the more CRN (controlled release nitrogen) you should have. A 16-4-8 with 30% CRN is ok but if you are going to use a 25% product you should have at least 40% CRN.

There is no reason to pay more for small particle (<190 SGN) unless you are applying to short tight turf. Bentgrass greens and tees for example.

Scotts is a marketing company that makes fertilzer not a fertilzer company that does marketing. They spend as much as Pepsi on advertising (about $40 million / year) so the big box stores are compelled to cary their brand.

Retail products are a poor value for the money. The large box retailers insist on 30% margins and the manufacturer is in a very competitive situation trying to get their product on the shelves. The manufacturers only way to make a margin is to produce a product with the lowest possible cost.

 

Facinating post.

Amazing that Scotts spends as much as Pepsi on marketing.

As far as leaching/volitization, those factors are weather, temp and soil dependant, so I'm not sure you can assign a blanket number to those.

 

Scotts retail line is the envy of the supply side of the fertilizer industry. Nobody makes money on the products except for them though. Boatloads of it too. They enjoy the highest manufacturer profit margins in the industry hands down. And retailers use it to get you in the door, then try like heck to sell you a product (that's probably just as good, but not made by Scotts) that they do make money on. I blame the retailers themselves for not investing in and training a quality sales force. Due to the competitive nature of mass merchandising, they claim they can't afford good sales people. So you find highschool kids in the aisles that are lucky if they can find the stuff let alone tell you what it does & why you use it. The retailer relies on Scotts name brand recognition to lure the consumers money with the least amount of customer/sales interaction possible. After 100 years in business they do have a name regardless of the actual product. The quality of the prodcut is fine though if you want a quicker than average release. Rarely deviating from analysis with good screening integrity in their plants.
Also keep in mind that most commercial quality ferts are packaged & labeled with the assumption that the user is going to apply the product at 1 lb of N/M. Retail products vary from .5-1lbN/M & consumers almost never have any idea what 1lb of N even means. Slow release content has a lot to do with it too. You'd think Scotts was putting a lot of slow in the bag if all we saw was the price, but that's rarely the case. The difference is mostly just marketing costs & margins.

Steve

 

Does anyone actually open up a bag of K-Gro or Scotts on a lawn they are about to do? If your going to use it, go out and buy a days worth of Lesco products and reuse the bag.LOL

 

The super K gro is the best fertilizer I have ever used. I used it every year until they closed in my city. When kmart announced they were closing in our area, a friend of mine went there and bought two pallets of it so he would never run out. The compliments on my yard were plenty.Where can I buy it?