Fertilizer Plan

rehunter31 – posted 27 January 2005 11:08

I’m about to purchase some organic products to fertilize my lawn next week and just wanted to run it by you guys first. I have about 2000 sq ft of lawn and want to maximize my efforts. I plan on putting down 10lbs of corn meal, 10lbs of soybean meal and 3lbs of blood meal per 1000 sq ft. I figured the availabilty of the meals are so different that I will not have to fertilize again until the fall. I believe that blood meal has a rapid availability while the corn meal and soybean meals availabilty are moderate and slow respectively. I also have some bone meal and alfalfa pellets but am not sure if I want to put them down or not. I also use liquid seaweed every month for the minerals and trace elments it provides. The lawn only receives water when it rains or if I notice signs of distress. How does this sound?

ted – posted 27 January 2005 13:09

i can’t think of anywhere in the U.S.A.(except south florida) that would benefit from fertilization this time of year. Most grasses dormant at this time. Only exception might be overseeded rye grass in the south.

turfie – posted 27 January 2005 16:42

I think its great your going organic. I agree with Ted that it is the wrong time of year, though. Many slow-release and organic products rely on microbial degradation for release of nutrients. Microbes in the soil are active when soil temperatures are above 65 degrees.

My other concern is that you may not be putting enough blood meal out to get a response. If you are putting out 3 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft. (I think that is what you said), and blood meal is only 9% nitrogen, you are only applying about .3 lbs. of N per 1000 sq. ft. You can get a good response by applying about 1 lb. of N per 1000 sq. ft., so you would need to apply about 10 lbs. of blood meal (if it is 9% nitrogen).

As for the cornmeal and soybeam meal – I’m sure it can’t hurt.

Hope this helps, and look forward to hearing how you did.

rehunter31 – posted 28 January 2005 04:43

Ted and Turfie, I live in Tampa FL, and most of the turf in my area has not gone dormant. As for applying only 3lbs of blood meal, I thought that my soybean meal and corn meal would supply more N to the turf. Is this not correct?

turfie – posted 28 January 2005 08:41

The N value of cornmeal is very low, and it isn’t readily available to the plant. Therefore, I would not expect to see a noticeable “greening” response, and wouldn’t count it as a significant supplement to the blood meal. However, it may be good for the soil in that the carbohydrates could be a food source for microorganisms, thus promoting good soil structure and breakdown of organic matter in the soil OVER TIME. I would consider it more of a soil conditioner. Proably the same story with the soybean meal. If you are looking for a pretty, green lawn, and you want to go strictly organic, I would rely more on products such as the blood meal, “ringer” products (hydrolyzed chicken feathers), and bone meal, which provides phosphorus. More conclusive research has been done on these products, and they are designed to give you better results. They will be more expensive than your traditional fertilizers, but might not break you for a home lawn.