fertilizer

[Ralph Mowery]

I went to Sothern States and bought several bags of fertilizer. When I got home I notice it was not exectally what I thought I was getting. The bag had numbers of 24-4-4 and the 40 lb bag said it covered 8500 sqft. It did have some weed killer in it that another brand did not have , but the other bag had the same 24-4-4 in it and covers 15000 sqft. Why would one cover almost twice the footage as the other ? I could see it being in the weed killer, but the nitrogen being a high number like 24 seems that it would make that way too much.

[Steveo]

The herbicide carrier dilutes the amount of fertilizer per pound of product.

[Bob]

Where in the hell did you get an idea like that? 24-4-4 means a total of 32 lbs of fertilizer, no matter who bags it or what else it contains. USDA requires standard labeling on all fertilizer.

To give the OP an honest answer, I'd say the texture of the fertilizer would be the difference. Coarse fertilizer would cover half the area that a finer fertilizer would cover. Bob

[Steveo]

Simple math, and I do mean simple.

24-0-0 will do 12,000 sq ft with a full pound of N in a 50 lb bag.

Is this your first year in lawncare, Bob?

[Steveo]

Is that you Stubby?

[Lar]

A 50# bag of 24-0-0 will contain 12 lbs of nitrogen.

Lar

[Steveo]

You said what I said.

[Bob]

I guess you're a politician since you doubletalk and dodge the issues. You said the herbicide carrier dilutes the amount of fertilizer per pound of product. It doesn't. There is just as much fertilizer in a bag whether it has a herbicide or not. There is filler in every bag and the herbicide uses up about 1/4lb of the filler, not the fertilizer. You said a full pound of N in a 50 lb bag will do will do 12k sq ft. Since there's 12 pounds of N in a 24-0-0 bag, are you saying it'll do

144k sq ft? And no, I have a hell of a lot of years of lawn & AG experience along with a wall full of certificates from one of the top AG colleges in the country. What do you base your lack of knowledge on? Bob

[Ralph Mowery]

The bags weigh the same. I was guessing that the numbers were related to the percentage of components in the bag. That would mean to me that the bag that had the herbicide in it was putting a lot more nitrogen per sqft than the one that did not have the herbicide in it. I did not care if the herbicide did anything or not , just wanted the nitrogen on the grass, so I applied it at the more spread out rate so the 8500 sqft bag was applied at the 15000 sqft rate.

[trader4]

I don't think that's guessing. The numbers are the percentages of nutrients. So, it sounds like one bag has it being applied at a lower rate. That's the only way to get higher coverage for the same size bag with the same X-X-X percentages.

That would mean to me that the bag

[JimR]

[snip]

[snip]

Yes! Lower rate of application because they are different products. There are pieces of information missing -- the way in which the nitrogen is available, and what is used to determine the spread rate. Even though both bags are 24% nitrogen, the OP didn't specify how much of that is slow release and how much is water soluble, which has a big impact on the nitrogen's availability to the turf.

Additionally, everyone so far has assumed that the nitrogen is the determining factor in spread rate. It isn't for the weed-and-feed, in which the pesticide is the determinant factor, and which has primarily water soluble nitrogen to combat the immediate effects of the pesticide and very little (if any) slow release nitrogen. (This also affects the timing of the next application . . .) Regards --