[Pelican]

I've been hired to install a lawn and after bidding it the customer has specified organic fertilizer. Does this stuff exist? Is there a mix prepared for new seed? I'm in NY, anyplace it can be found here?

[Fine Edge]

It does exist, not sure where, however.

[VoodooChile]

North Country Organics is what we always used, based I think in Bradford VT. You will need to track down a distributor in your area, cause they don't sell direct.

Gardens Alive is another, expensive, possibility.

Milorganite is also billed as "organic", not that anyone agrees on what that means.

Yes, formulations for new plantings and lawns are available.

Wish I could tell you more, but we got out of lawn fert. a while ago.

[jwholden]

I second North County Organics.

You can go to Agway and they will have organic fertilizer as well. The number for Nitrogen should be below 8, or it ain't organic!

When applying organic fertilizers you are feeding the micro-organizms which release nutrients to feed the plant. It isn't a direct correlation of dump fertilizer, water, watch lawn grow five inches in one week.

[OptaGreen]

You could also check into Plant Health Care's products.

[Dale Wiley]

How can you bid something and then have the specification changed ??

[Hamons]

I use organic ferts in my program. I use Naturesafe products primarily.

www.naturesafe.com

10-2-8 is my base fertilizer but they do have a 5-6-6 that would work It is 100% organic.

Another great starter fert for seed ins

There is alos nutrients plus which is an excellent choice! nutrientsplus.com



I also use theri blended ferts like 21-3-7 -- uflexx blended to boost nitrogen.

When I need orgainc starter fert i usually use bulb-tone from espoma -- 4-10-6. Espoma products are available at all the stores around here.

[Pelican]

Thanks for all the info!!

John, are you saying the results will be delayed with organic fert.?

Dale, I advised the client the job would be rebid once I located the fertilizer they desire.

[LandArts]

You'll get fast enough results with organic fertilizers and they last a lot longer. Cheapest way to go is Milorganite. It's sewage sludge-cheap and works VERY well. I like the Espoma products. Their Lawn Food used to be great until they added too much urea, now it releases as fast as a conventional fert and makes the lawn grow too fast. Plantone is what I use for lawns and all other plantings.

[TrickyDick]

We've started using North Country too. Haven't tried it for lawns yet but the best lawn I have ever worked on was fertilized (by someone else) organically.

[sleepy]

Originally posted by Dale Wiley
How can you bid something and then have the specification changed ??

Its called a change order " hopefully mentioned in your contract". I give them 5 copys. They fill it out and put in my prices and they hand it to me, I sign it ,its a done deal. Its a great thing cause you can give them exactly what they want and thats the key to our buis.!!!!!!!!! We sell services and products can always be changed for the price of product + 20% . Allowences are also another crucial part. Say they want a bench in the landscape they can even pick it out themselfs!!! That way they are part of the job and you dont have to shop for something they wont like. If you have to assemble the bench welp thats in the change order also for labor $40 per hour. + the 20 percent markup. I bid the bench in a median price and if their bench is the same price well than ok no problem ill put in that one instead whats the diff? If its more charge em. Also your overall bid shoud cover all this. WE need to achieve a 50 % profit on all jobs Its hard to get on the small ones but the big full on ones is no prob for the ideal customer. Do your bid multiply by 1.5 = 50% profit. Thats the way to make money.
( cant say I adhere to this but for the construction industry its the rule)

[jwholden]

You won't get an overnight green up with organics. But you will have healthier turf with a more extensive root sytem.

I applied organic fertilizer to my lawn and synthetic fertilizer to my neighbors lawn in early-April. My neighbors lawn is showing yellow (after all the rain) while my lawn is staying green. I applied organic fertilizer to his lawn a week ago to see if it makes a difference.

[Hamons]

Careful making broad statements about organics -- there are many different organics as their are synthetics and they all release differently. For example - -the 10-2-8 I talked about has a lot of blood meal in it. Bloodmeal release pretty fast as you WILL see green-up on Hungry turf within a week,

[jwholden]

I see blood meal is 13-14 % N. Thanks for the tip Hammons!

[LandArts]

Blood meal is nasty. I would rather use a bridge fertilizer that has some urea for fast green up. Urea is much cheaper also.