Picking The Best Organic Lawn Fertilizer For Your Yard
The one thing all of these organic lawn fertilizers on our list have in common is being child-safe and pet-safe. Hopefully, our article and guide help you pick out the very best one for you and your lawn.
At any rate, our overall best pick is Espoma LS7 Organic Lawn Fertilizer. This stuff is made by one of the most respected brands in the business and will definitely give you a greener yard. That said, it does take a bit of time for results, and it does have an odor to it.
If you arent into organic, after reading through this guide, why not have a look at our top picks for the best lawn fertilizers in general?
Why Trust The Spruce
This article was written by Amanda Rose Newton, a freelance writer and Garden Reviewer for The Spruce. To make this list, Amanda Rose tested each product on various grass types, following manufacturer’s instructions. She also considered the difficulty in application, chemicals used, and green growth. For expert advice, we also spoke with Chris Enroth, a horticulture educator at the University of Illinois Extension, and Veronica Lorson Fowler, former editor of Better Homes and Garden’s “Flower Gardening” magazine and a Master Gardener based in Ames, Iowa.
Best Starter: Pennington Ultragreen Starter Lawn Fertilizer
Home Depot
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Works on all grass types
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Covers up to 5,000 feet
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Contains all macronutrients and iron
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Could wash away in heavy rains
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Shouldnt be used on mature lawns
Heat is the number-one enemy of new lawns, and Penningtons slow-release nitrogen formula allows grass to build strength over time, making it capable of withstanding intense temperatures. This formula includes a healthy dose of iron, a key ingredient essential to getting the desired shade of lovely green. Each bag can cover up to 5,000 square feet , and the instructions are beautifully organized and easy to read.
Since UltraGreen is slow feeding, you shouldnt worry about remembering to put down fertilizer with frequency, as it feeds for at least 3 months. So if you recently moved or are revamping your landscape, Pennington makes an excellent fertilizer to strengthen new grasses, whether you start from seed or sod.
Price at time of publish: $23
NPK Ratio: 22-23-4Type: Slow ReleaseFeed Duration: 12 weeksApplication Type: Granular
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Best Fertilizer To Prep Your Lawn For Winter
I like Jonathan Green Winter Survival Fall Fertilizer, a late-fall fertilizer, because its low in nitrogen and has a healthy amount of potassium.
We want our lawns to slow down as winter approaches, so its important to know when to fertilize in fall and which fertilizer to use. Applying too much nitrogen forces it to grow when it would rather start preparing for winter. The 10-0-20 analysis delivers just enough nitrogen to help repair your lawn from a stressful summer and to give it a kick-start the following spring. The healthy dose of potassium will also safeguard your lawn from potential snow mold activity and severe winter conditions.
Why And When You Need To Start Using Organic Lawn Fertilizer
First of all, youâll need a special fertilizer for lawn â for example, fertilizers for fruit trees or fertilizers for orchids wonât do. Learn how to apply your fertilizer in our review of the best commercial fertilizer spreaders. So why would you even want to use organic fertilizer and when is the right time to apply it? Hereâs all you need to know:
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If You Want To See The Results Try It Now
It may seem the grass feeding takes too much efforts and time. Nevertheless, its worth waiting. Your lawn is not just decoration for your neighborhood. It is the basis for a healthy living: safe walking on the greenery, making picnics, sunbathing. Do not delay with fertilizer, especially if you started to notice lawn burns or lack of grass. I have chosen the products mentioned above to persuade you that soil needs your attention as much as plants. Choose the natural organic lawn fertilizer according to your soil peculiarities. Thanks to a great amount of plant food on the market, you will definitely find yours.
As I have already stated, my favorite fertilizer from this list is the Scotts Natural Lawn Food. What fertilizer suits you the most? Or, perhaps, you have your top list of fertilizers? Please, share your thoughts and experience in the comments below.
Contents
The Basics Of Organic Lawn Fertilizer
Organic fertilizer gives your lawn grass a boost of nutrients. Natural lawn food fertilizer products are available online and at local garden centers.
High-quality organic lawn fertilizers are formulated to gently provide the nutrients grass needs. The nutrient nitrogen is perhaps the most important nutrient for lawns and is also a nutrient that lawn soil is likely deficient in. Organic fertilizers provide nitrogen for turf with a low amount of risk both for your lawn and the wider environment.
Organic fertilizers are the natural counterpart to conventional fertilizers. Synthetic fertilizers are manufactured in chemical manufacturing plants and are seen as providing a quick fix to green up a lawn. Organic fertilizers generally contain a mixture of naturally-sourced nutrients . Organic products focus on the long-term health of the lawn by providing a steady release of plant nutrients.
Organic fertilizers are safe for the creatures of the soil food web , which are critical for lawn health. Organic fertilizer in combination with natural lawn care practices will help create a low-maintenance, thriving lawn.
Healthy soil free of synthetic chemicals grows robust turf that looks great and requires minimal maintenance. The lawn is sustainable over the long term .
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Should You Fertilize Or Seed First In The Fall
You should apply the fertilizer first before adding the grass seeds.
Heres the deal, these seeds are highly vulnerable. So if the soil conditions arent right, they may fail to take root and grow. Applying a fertilizer enriches the lawn soil, creating a productive environment where the new seeds can grow.
That said, be careful with the amount of fertilizer you use. Adding too much or too little fertilizer can harm the seeds in the long run.
And definitely dont use a pre-emergent or product containing pre-emergent herbicide when seeding your lawn. These products will block grass seeds from germinating.
Scotts Turf Builder Winterguard Fall Lawn Food
Best Widely Available
Scotts is a giant brand in the lawn maintenance niche, with most of its products ranked as best-selling in their categories globally. So if youre looking for a fall fertilizer thats readily available, the Scotts Winterguard product wont disappoint. I just checked, and my local Home Depot has 142 bags in stock right now.
Im gonna need a bigger lawn!
Heres a more in-depth review of this products features and performance:
Composition
If theres one thing that sets this 32-0-10 fertilizer apart, it has to be its high nitrogen content .
Thanks to the generous amount of nitrogen, this fertilizer helps any turfgrass green up pretty fast. So if your summer lawn was looking a little crispy, this is a great way to jump-start it for the fall season.
Potassium is another one of this fertilizers ingredients, making up 10%. Not only does it help support overall plant health, this is enough to repair any damage caused by excess summer heat or drought.
Coverage and Application
This lawn fertilizer comes in granular form, so its very easy to spread. As with any fertilizer product I dont recommend using a hand spreader, and neither does Scotts. But any good walk-behind broadcast or drop spreader will work well.
If you have a larger lawn, consider buying the 43-pound bag of fertilizer that offers 15,000-square foot coverage. But for small-size lawns, the 12.5-pound bag that covers 5,000 square feet should be enough.
Fertilizer analysis |
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Gs Plant Foods Organic Liquid Fish
This liquid fertilizer is a blast in more ways than one.
Brimming with beneficial fish proteins and nitrogen derived from aquatic sources, it provides the soil with the booster shot it needs to ensure the growth of plants and healthy grass alike.
While much of the nitrogen in standard fertilizers is lost to the surroundings soon after application, the oils and collagens in Organic Liquid Fish help bind it to the soil.
Pros
- Great for both soil and grass
- Oils and collagens in the fertilizer bind nitrogen to the soil
- Liquid nature makes it ideal for application
- Can be diluted for repeated use over a long period
Cons
- Lawn smells fishy for days after application
- Potent to a fault, container may explode upon opening
HIGHLIGHT: MOST POTENTUSER RATING: 4.5/5
The Best Organic Lawn Fertilizers For 202: Complete Buyers Guide
Heres our picks of the top organic lawn fertilizers that will restore your grass to its former glory, making your lawn healthy and resilient.
There was a time when your lawn looked beautiful, with lush grass glistening in the sun and butterflies fluttering around daintily in search of a place to rest on.
It formed an ideal backdrop for every snapshot of your children, and few visitors could resist observing how it simply had to be the greenest patch on this side of town.
That was then.
Today, the lawn is yellowing faster than the pictures in your family album, and no amount of watering seems to be helping.
To top it all, the store-bought fertilizer you used last month in a last-ditch effort to resurrect the grass only provided a quick nutrient deficient sugar rush.
Maybe its time you gave up
Or maybe not.
Sad as your lawn may look, chances are that its just missing out on some holistic encouragement. Heres our pick of top organic lawn fertilizers that will restore your grass to its former glory, making your healthy lawn the talk of the neighborhood again.
Enriched with nitrogen and soluble potash derived from a cocktail of feather meal, soybean meal, blood meal, alfalfa and molasses, this fertilizer immediately gets down to restoring the proper balance of natural elements in the soil.
The result?
Healthy grass with roots that are just as well-developed as the blades overground.
Pros
Cons
HIGHLIGHT: EASE OF USEUSER RATING: 4.1/5
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Choosing A Grass Fertilizer
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. That same axiom applies when you buy lawn fertilizers. You can go cheap and regret it, or pretend your lawn is the Yankee Stadium outfield and throw fiscal responsibility to the wind. Id like to think theres a middle ground. Lets focus on value rather than price.
Lets find a handful of lawn food gems that give your lawn an edge over your neighbors. But before heading to your favorite home retailer or buying online, have a clear understanding about what youre trying to accomplish.
Are you simply trying to green up your lawn? Is your goal to feed your lawn and control weeds or insects? Maybe youre starting a new lawn and want the best for those delicate little seedlings as they break ground? Are you considering a naturally organic approach to feeding your lawn?
Lets take a closer look at six top-choice options that will leave you feeling good about what fertilizer you pour into your spreader.
What Is The Benefit Of Non
Nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria have the edge over rhizosphere counterparts because, being sheltered inside plant tissues, they face less competition and can make available the fixed nitrogen directly to plants contribute up to 47% of nitrogen derived from air, which in turn enhance plant growth. Garima Gupta, Jitendra Panwar, Mohd Sayeed Akhtar, and Prabhat N. Jha. Endophytic Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria as Biofertilizer, 2012.
- Optimal plant health facilitated without harsh chemicals.
- Increased water retention
- Pest, disease, and drought resistance as nature intended
- Heavy metal buffers and filters
- Plant immunity boosted
Often organic non-synthetic fertilizers can be one of the best choices to use as not only are you cooperating with plants but tapping into the symptomatic cultivation of the local microbes which have evolved and cooperated with the indigenous plants to promote their growth and protection for seven hundred million years.
As lawn health increases gaining continuity, the soil microbe populations and humic compounds will only increase.
This is what Japanese farmer and author Masanobu Fukuoka described, as you learn from nature, a system is created that is self-supporting, self-maintaining, self-balancing, and self-nurturing.
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When Should You Apply Organic Fertilizer
The best time to apply organic lawn fertilizer will vary depending on the type of grass you are growing. Usually, regardless of the grass type, you will need to apply fertilizer several times throughout the year and particularly during the growing season.
A warm-season grass like zoysia, Bermuda, or centipede needs to be fertilized two to four times each year, ideally at the start of spring and the end of the summer as well as several times throughout the summer months.
Cool-season grasses, on the other hand only need to be fertilized right after the lawn comes back after being dormant over the winter as well as at the beginning of the fall. Unlike warm-season grass, cold season grass should not be fertilized during the summer.
For all kinds of fertilizer and grass types, do so first thing in the morning or at the end of the day, in the evening. This will prevent your grass from burning in the hot summer sun.
Can You Apply Fertilizer To Wet Grass
It depends.
Yes, you can add fertilizer to wet grass but only if youre using a liquid or granular product that needs to be diluted. If the fertilizer is meant to be applied as is, then dont put it on wet grass it could stick to and burn the leaves.
Its not great to apply any kind of fertilizer on a saturated or waterlogged lawn. If you insist on doing so, the fertilizer will simply be run off instead of getting absorbed into the soil, so youre better off waiting.
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What Is The Best Organic Fertilizer For Grass
The best organic fertilizer for grass is a question that is constantly asked. There are many factors to consider when selecting an organic fertilizer for grass, including the plants specific needs. Some of the most common organic fertilizers for lawns include ammonium sulfate, potassium sulfate, and magnesium sulfate.
Milorganite Organic Nitrogen Fertilizer
If you follow Mad Backyard, you know we love Milorganite.
Put your money on this if you have a well-established lawn thats having a hard time reaching its true potential. Trusted by homeowners and golf course professionals alike, Milorganite Organic Fertilizer can be used freely on your patch of green without fear of leaching or unhealthy grass growth.
This slow-release nitrogen fertilizer, composed primarily of heat-dried soil microbes, also contains 4 percent non-staining iron for making your grass look its best.
Pros
- Fast-acting fertilizer that promotes healthy growth
- Works on flower beds and vegetable patches as well
- High iron content gives sick-looking grass a lush green color
- Distinct odor said to discourage deer from destroying lawns
Cons
- Lack of root-growth support makes it ideal only for well-established grass
- Not suitable for lawns in regions prone to regular droughts
- Expensive in comparison to regular fertilizers
HIGHLIGHT: MULTIPURPOSEUSER RATING: 4.8/5
Mined from an ancient mineral deposit in Utah, Azomite Micronized Organic Fertilizer contains a broad spectrum of over 70 minerals and trace elements that benefit grass and house plants alike.
This organic lawn food is an ultra-fine powder largely consisting of soluble potash, calcium, chlorine, and sodium, and works best for growing grass seeds from scratch.
Pros
Cons
- Difficult to use with drop spreaders and in windy conditions
- Some lamented the lack of instructions on how to apply the fertilizer
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What Is Organic Lawn Care & How Does It Work
What Is Organic Lawn Care & How Does It Work?
Were often asked to explain the pros and cons of organic lawn care practices and why we recommend switching to an organic lawn program. Instead, organic lawn care companies use carbon-based substances derived from plant and animal parts or residue. For details on the techniques you can use to make lawn care easier and more effective, see our article on organic lawn care tips > > Is Organic Lawn Care better than conventional lawn service? As you can probably guess from our name, Organic Plant Care LLC provides truly organic lawn care services.
If youve heard friends or neighbors complaining that organic lawn care doesnt work its probably because their lawn service provider didnt apply enough organic materials. .
How To Use Organic Lawn Food 10
Jonathan Green Organic Lawn Food 10-0-1 is great for both newly seeded lawns and existing lawns.
If your lawn is established and already doing well, spread 20 lbs. of Organic Lawn Food per 5,000 sq. ft. For newly seeded or thinning lawns, apply a higher concentration of 20 lbs. per 2,500 sq. ft.
Spread Organic Lawn Food on dry grass or soil and then water it in. You can apply it any time during spring, summer, or fall, and it will consistently feed your lawn for eight to ten weeks.
When you commit to an organic lawn care program, patience is a virtue. Unlike fast-release chemical fertilizers that are absorbed immediately by the grass leaves, stems, and crown, while bypassing much of the plants root system, organic lawn products do not work instantly.
Organic lawn food is absorbed by the microbes in the soil and then feeds the grass plants through the roots. Microbes are most active when the soil temperatures are warmer , which is usually during the months of June through September. This helps build deep roots and is how grass plants are meant to be fed. Turfgrass without a deep and well-developed root system will succumb more easily to the stresses of heat, disease, and insect stresses.
For more information about the best organic lawn fertilizer and how to care for your lawn, visit us online at JonathanGreen.com or visit your nearest independent hardware or garden center for expert lawn care advice.
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