Has anyone heard or tried the Converted Organics brand fertilizer now sold at Home Depot? It is made from food waste. Here it the Converted Organics link: Click here for more information

ooh, didn't see that today when I was there....

Very interesting. I'd like to hear some input from the experts around here. Home Depot is definitely easier to go to then a feed store for me.

From what I can see, it's like Milorganite that hasn't been digested first. So I'm fine with it. I find their suggested application rates a bit low, but I find Milorganite's to be a bit low, too.

I couldn't view the MSDS (the file came up damaged in my browser), but I'm sure it's OK. I'd want to read the actual label to see the ingredient list before making a final determination, however.

Morph,
Here is the the MSDS and Label as JPEGs.



Greg

Thanks! Sometimes Firefox won't let me view a PDF, depending on the version.

Condensed grain fermentation solubles, I'm OK with that (brewer's waste). Hydrolyzed feather meal (poultry waste), sure, although feather meal isn't my favored source of anything. Fine though--the feathers are just broken down under heat and pressure so they decay in a reasonable amount of time. Raw, they take forever. Even hydrolyzed, they're slow, but that may be a good thing depending on what you want.

Sulfate of potash? Yeah, I know it's acceptable in an organic program, but I'm not so thrilled with this. Most organics are fairly potassium short, and I was wondering what the source was to get 4%. Now I know. It's there to get closer to the optimal 4-1-2 ratio for lawn fertilizers.

I think, over the longest haul, you'll lose a bit of phosphorus over time (only 1% being in the fertilizer), but it's not a big deal. That's easy enough to fix as long as you're keeping an eye on it every now and again.

I'm already phosphorous short but I'm really just looking into options to raise the OM in my soil. I plan on using Milorganite monthly for the OM and iron. I using the starter for now for the phosphorous. I still don't know, however, how much organics to use in order to improve my soil this year (and in the future). Is the milorganite once a month enough? Should I use something like this if I can't find grains? (Actually I can find soybean meal for 17.25 for 50 lbs but I need to order it.) Also are these organics enough nitrogen for my KBG lawn? Not 100% sure of what to do as I move to organics.

Define "improve." 80 to 100 pounds per thousand per year is entirely sufficient to improve a soil slowly. 400 to 500 will do it a lot faster.

For less lawn-obsessed people, I tend to tell them to drop once a month at bag rate or higher, and they're happy. The soil and worms are happy. It works out around the 100 pound per thousand per year mark. That would have been way too slow for me, who was starting with a terrible soil, so my average over 3 years was a bit over 600 pounds per thousand per year.

I do like to mix it up at least a little, but if you were to go with pure Milorganite you'd be fine. People do. At 100 pounds per thousand per year of only Milorganite, you'd be adding 5 pounds of nitrogen equivalent--entirely enough for established KBG, a bit trim for young KBG. Were you to use 100 pounds of soybean meal, that's 7 pounds of nitrogen per year, or enough for anything (too much, really, for fescue, but it won't mind it organically).

Realizing, of course, that the organic nitrogen numbers don't mean much, but it's an adequate guide while transitioning.

Thanks! Unfortunately I am lawn obsessed so should I be dropping 10 lbs per 1000 square feet of soybean meal a month in addition to the monthly milorganite (which I want for the iron) at bag label? Would that provide a strong feeding and good OM for my soil? Would I at any time drop synthetics again such as in the Fall?
Greg

gryd wrote:Thanks! Unfortunately I am lawn obsessed so should I be dropping 10 lbs per 1000 square feet of soybean meal a month in addition to the monthly milorganite (which I want for the iron) at bag label? Would that provide a strong feeding and good OM for my soil? Would I at any time drop synthetics again such as in the Fall?
Greg

Yeah, me too with the obsession thing. Ten to fifteen pounds per thousand of soy will be 0.67 to 1.0 pounds of N on top of the Milorganite (assuming bag rate, 36 over 2,500 square feet, 0.72 pounds of N). That's not a problem (uh, I went to 34 pounds N total per thousand last year organically, an average of four pounds per month).

That will be, assuming CT is how I think it is and October is the last month that soil temperatures reach fifty or close, seven months of feeding per year, 1.39 to 1.72 pounds N per month, 9.7 to 12.0 pounds N per year. That's enough for any reasonable (and most unreasonable) purposes, but low enough that it won't smell, or shouldn't.

Total organics would be 24.4 to 29.4 pounds per thousand per month, around 175 per year give or take. That will be a faster change, and still well within reasonable range (Year 3 for me was 1,200 pounds per thousand total, not a reasonable total, but it worked beautifully).

Edit: Sorry! Missed the synthetics question. Yes, you should still winterize the lawn after top growth stops, but organics won't work then (soil temperatures are dropping into the mid to low forties). I like Vigoro Super Green 35-0-5 for my last feeding as it's urea based, but about a third is slow release to cover me during winter thaws. I try for a total of 1.2 to 1.5 pounds N from that--since 1/3 is slow, 0.8 to 1.0 pounds N fast release.

Thanks Morph! The plan is starting to make sense now. I'll keep you posted.
Greg

Really, the ultimate goal is to have the plan be, "Lawn looks like it needs something. Guess I'll throw it down." I'd like to get to the point where I'm feeding 4 to 6 times per year for a grand total of 100 pounds per thousand (still high), and organically added N of 5 to 7 pounds per thousand per year (still high).

MorpheusPA wrote:Condensed grain fermentation solubles, I'm OK with that (brewer's waste). Hydrolyzed feather meal (poultry waste), sure, although feather meal isn't my favored source of anything. Fine though--the feathers are just broken down under heat and pressure so they decay in a reasonable amount of time. Raw, they take forever. Even hydrolyzed, they're slow, but that may be a good thing depending on what you want.

Sulfate of potash? Yeah, I know it's acceptable in an organic program, but I'm not so thrilled with this. Most organics are fairly potassium short, and I was wondering what the source was to get 4%. Now I know. It's there to get closer to the optimal 4-1-2 ratio for lawn fertilizers.

I think, over the longest haul, you'll lose a bit of phosphorus over time (only 1% being in the fertilizer), but it's not a big deal. That's easy enough to fix as long as you're keeping an eye on it every now and again.

I agree with Morph. I don't know why the commercially branded organic fertilizers all have potassium sulfate in them. There must be some marketing "ploy" going on. Maybe people won't buy it with fractional NPK numbers. For organics I'd really like to see them go to a different numbering system. I don't know what but protein would be in there. Maybe certain kinds of bacterial inoculations so the compost based fertilizers could have a chance of selling. Enzymes?

Any idea how much this stuff costs? There are all kinds of great 'commercial' organic ferts like Ringer, Espoma etc. Would I pay 10x as much as the same stuff costs at the feed store? Uh, no. Also, it doesn't look like all Home Depot's carry the stuff. The closest retailer their website lists for me is quite a bit more than a hop, skip and a jump away.

I think it's about 15 dollars for a bag. The label says it covers 4000 square feet.

gryd wrote:I think it's about 15 dollars for a bag. The label says it covers 4000 square feet.

Decent price, but not a steal by any means. Milorganite regularly goes on sale by me for $6.99 a bag, so that would be 5000 ft² coverage for $14. I've been to four Home Depot stores in the past few weeks and haven't seen this stuff either.

FYI I just picked up several bags of this stuff at Home Depot...on 20# bags on sale for $8 from $18.

bags say 8-1-4 5#/1000 0.045% WSN and 9.954% WIN and smells as good as a bag of Milorganite

Five per K is rather trim for a good feeding--that's only 0.4 pounds N equivalent. Fine if you do it every month, but still a might trim and it won't be delivered on the grass' preferred schedule.

I tend to strike lighter in March, April, July, and November, then hit hard in May, June, August, September, and October. The heaviest months are August and September.

That actually means that there's heavy release of organic N in late May, June, late August, September, October, and into November--just when the grass likes it.

Looks like a Massachusetts product, will be interesting if it makes it down to LI.

jglongisland wrote:Looks like a Massachusetts product, will be interesting if it makes it down to LI.

It was on clearance ($8) in Bloomfield, CT. Also checked Enfield, CT and it didn't even have a "home spot". Probably a discontinued item.