Scott's does it again

[Jangchub]

Their latest rip off item is this "specially formulated fertilizer made for the heat." What crap. Please don't buy into it.

[Alan Sung]

Could you substantiate what your complaint is? After reading the label, it appears to just be a fertilizer with a bit of insecticide in it. Formulation is 28-3-8 vs regular old Turf Builder is 29-3-4.

-al sung Rapid Realm Technology, Inc. Hopkinton, MA Zone 6a

[Jangchub]

My complaint is their marketing line of bullshit, that its formulated especially for the heat of summer. For people in the south, like where I am in Texas, things, including turf goes dormant in high summer and you'd be feeding weeds if you fertilize now. I don't like the way they doop unsuspecting people.

[sg_fla]

I understand about hot places and fertilizer. I'm a horticulturist in SW Florida, and applying fertilizer in the heat of summer is like spraying acid on your lawn. It just burns the hell out of the grass.

Scotts did this because sales drop severely for fertilizer in the summer in the south. It's a marketing ploy. Unless it's something like Milorganite or Organo (totally organic), don't put it on your southern lawn in the summer!

Jangchub wrote:

[Ann]

"sg_fla" expounded:

Don't put it on *any* lawn in the summer!. Lawns go dormant in our summer heat, also, it's a natural process, they green up with the fall rains. There is no need to fertilize in the summer.

[Phisherman]

[Jangchub]

So, it seems about everyone who responded agrees with me that Scott's is duping the public with their special heat formula. I also use Milorganite on the lawn and trees once in early spring after I've mown the turf twice, again in fall, which around these parts isn't until sometime in November (temperature wise).

[James]

I never put much stock in them. Their advertising would leave you with the impression that they invented the grass seed they sell and anything else was a cheap knockoff.

[bizbee]

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 00:09:29 GMT in , Jangchub graced the world with this thought:

Ah, so everyone should do as you say. OK.

[Gideon]

Alan Sung wrote"

Could you substantiate what your complaint is? After reading the label, it appears to just be a fertilizer with a bit of insecticide in it. Formulation is 28-3-8 vs regular old Turf Builder is 29-3-4.

================

Alan,

I agree. This appears to be a fertilizer that has been formulated for turf grasses specific to the Southern states in America. I don't see any particularly misleading claims for this product. Although I haven't seen a bag of this product, it is my impression that Scott's is not claiming that it has any hot weather advantages over other Scott's products, such as Turfbuilders. They do claim that the formulation is better for typical southern varieties of grass. The NPK has been tweeked a bit, along with adding a bit of Iron.

I own and use many different fertilizers and I attempt to use the optimal one for each application. I'd never put lawn fertilizer on my tomato crop, or vice versa. If I had a southern lawn and I owned many bags of traditional Scott's Turfbuilder, I wouldn't hesitate to put it on the lawn. But if I were purchasing new bags of lawn fertilizer, why not buy something that is optimized for my turf?

Gideon