I can't find SBM in the Hartford area. Melzen n Glastonbury has it back-ordered. CCC Feed in Manchester says they'll sell me a minimum of a ton. Any place else to check?

Also is Bay State available anyplace in Western MA?

Thanks

There are half a dozen Agways near you. Did you ask them if they'll order it for you?

Andy, Thanks. that's my next step if I can't find anyone that stocks it.

CCC Feeds offered it to me in 50 lb bags earlier this year. I may have screwed us by taking a ton last year. Agway special orders it as well, at least on the western side of the state that is.

Pauly, earlier this year I did buy 4 50lb bags from CCC.

Today I ordered 5 bags @$16.75 from Winsted Feed.

Thanks

not sure if you are willing to drive to blue seal in litchfield, but when i called earlier in the year they had 16 bags or so. i'm planning to get some from them in a week or so if they have any left. i believe the price was similar to what you were quoted from winsted

is $20/50# a horrible price at a store that's down the road and I can buy minimal quantities? also they say its 48% SBM, and its listed as hog feed...Blue Seal product.

how much do i want to put down per 1000sf?

this is my first try at this so pardon my ignorance.

Thanks.

What's the other 52%, or is it 48% protein? If the latter, that would be normal, and $20 per 50 pounds is quite a good price.

You'd want to use about 15 pounds per thousand to deliver 1 pound of nitrogen (equivalent) per thousand square feet.

I'll have to do some more research, it was the 3rd guy at the 3rd store that looked at me like I had three heads.

Thanks for the 15# info.

MorpheusPA wrote:What's the other 52%, or is it 48% protein? If the latter, that would be normal, and $20 per 50 pounds is quite a good price.

You'd want to use about 15 pounds per thousand to deliver 1 pound of nitrogen (equivalent) per thousand square feet.

yep, 48% protein...got it right from the horses mouth (sorry, I couldn't resist). Ordered 300#. How many times a year and when should this be done?

Minimum would be three times a year, May 1, August 1, and September 1 at about 15 per thousand square feet to supply a grand total of 3 pounds of N equivalent.

That really is the absolutely bottom of the barrel minimum. Adding another one October 1 or backing it to 3 weeks apart from August and applying 3 times (depending on how cold you're getting in October) would help, plus a synthetic winterizer when top growth stops. That delivers five pounds of N.

However, if you want to do it monthly from April through October, that's also just fine.

dropped my first 300# of SBM tonight. i've been feeding my KBG reno in increments with synthetic, safe to assume i can resume normally? - next synthetic drop is scheduled for next week.

i kind of liked the smell, it just rained so maybe the smell will change.

i would love to find a cheaper source, especially if i'm looking at 5x/season. but who wouldn't want cheaper.

Yep, you can resume your synthetics normally at the same time as SBM, which is 100% slow release nitrogen. That won't even think about coming in for three weeks and should last at least three months at modest levels.

I see Tractor Supply has cracked corn, should I follow the same 15#/k? Can I get that down in addition too the SBM before the end of the season, or should I wait until spring?

Feed guy was very receptive and wanted me to let him know how it works out, but he did slide in that Scott's is only $50/bag - I tried to explain it was a slow even feeding.

Cracked corn is a decent fungal suppressant and a terrible feed (but good for adding OM to the lawn). All things considered, soy is around 7-1-2 (you could argue 7-2-1 if you want, it's a judgment call).

Corn is 1.65-0.65-0.40. You'd need 60# per thousand to get the equivalent of 15 pounds of soy (1 pound nitrogen equivalent). Only about 15-20 pounds per K is required for fungal suppression, although that's kind of spotty (but it does work).

Corn's great if you're trying to load organics into the soil because of the low nitrogen levels. You can easily drop 60 per K without having it smell, making it a pretty good soil treatment.

I tend to use it twice per year at 15 pounds for fungus suppression at this point. A few years ago I was dumping 80 pounds per K at a shot pretty frequently to change the soil.

add 20#/1000 of cracked corn to my growing list of "what the hell are you putting down now" season.

Pretty much. You can safely drop corn with anything else, soy, synthetics, whatever. In any amount that pleases you. 80 per K of corn plus 15 of soy wasn't unusual for me at a time two years ago, for a grand total of more than 2 pounds of organic N at a shot. Don't try that with a synthetic, but the lawn's only response to the organics was to get very, very green and grow very, very quickly and strongly.

From what I can tell, if 15lbs of soy results in 1lb/k of N., then it must contain 6.7% N. I think the N-P-K is 7-2-1.

Milorganite is 5-2-0, with 4% Fe or course too.

It seems to me that soy is a more efficient source of N. since less of it can be applied to get to the magic number of 1lb/k, however, what is the break down of WSN/WIN of soy? Is it a good substitute for Milorganite now that the ratio of WSN/WIN has altered with respect to an early spring feeding?

Soy is roughly 100% slow release. There might be a wee bit that quick-releases, but it's not much. All grain and bean products (soy being a bean, of course) are 100% slow release.

It's a good substitute, save that it has no iron in it (other than what the soy always has). It's certainly far under 1%.

What would you recommend for an early April feeding now? I was thinking Ringers, Scotts organic, or maybe now Soy? Of course, if you asked me a month ago I would have said Milorganite.