TestDIYOrganic

I needed a new pump sprayer for my lawn renovation project and the  Smith 2-Gallon Contractor Sprayer seemed to be the best garden sprayer available and at a reasonable price.



I used to own a Stanley metal pump sprayer that lasted for over a decade until the nozzle got clogged and I couldn't clean it. I was shopping around for a replacement nozzle and was about to order one when I realized I can't find my old sprayer! Don't know what might have happened to it. It's not like it's a sock.



While looking around for replacement parts I kept seeing the Smith pump sprayer and it had very good reviews and a well thought out design so I decided to purchase it.





The image on Amazon (where I ordered it) was slightly different than the sprayer I received. It seems that they have made some upgrades and rebranded it as a "Contractor Sprayer" instead of a "MAX Contractor Sprayer".

The nicest upgrade is the addition of a plastic base for the sprayer. It includes a cup like section where the tip of the wand goes for storage. This collects any material that might happen to drip from the end of the nozzle or at least keeps a wet tip from coming in contact with anything when the wand is snapped into the wand holder for storage. I think it's clever.



One of the main reasons I purchased the Smith Contractor Sprayer was because it came with a shoulder strap. It allows me to carry the sprayer and leaves one hand free for other purposes. For example when I was spraying herbicide to kill my existing lawn I used a sheet of cardboard as a shield to prevent overspray. I didn't need to constantly stop to pickup and move the sprayer body. It gives the convenience of a Backpack Sprayer to those of us that don't need a sprayer larger than 2 gallons.



The 18" long wand that comes with the sprayer makes it easy to reach the areas you want to apply product to. The valve is easy to operate and includes a switch to keep the sprayer on when you need to cover a large area.



The end of the wand has a 45 degree angled adapter to spray liquid out at a more comfortable angle but I believe it is removable. For spraying compost tea I think removing the angled adapter might be beneficial as I read that angled ends can damage the fungi or provide areas where biofilm may attach and build up over time.



The Smith garden sprayer can use different tips depending on your application. Five tips were included (4 pictured below).






From left to right they are a plastic adjustable tip, a brass adjustable tip, a foaming tip and a red fan tip. There was also a yellow fan tip included but it is currently attached to the sprayer. The fan tips are great for applying liquids to your lawn quickly and evenly.



I used the yellow fan tip to apply the organic herbicide to my lawn earlier today. It creates a nice, wide, even spray pattern that allows you to quickly apply your product and gives you pretty good control to avoid overspray.



The brass adjustable sprayer would be good for applying compost tea because it allows you to open up a wide stream. At least 400 microns is necessary to allow some of the fungi to pass through.



Even though the body of the sprayer is plastic, it's a very thick walled plastic that can hold up to the pressure inside the container. The plastic is just translucent enough to allow you to see the level of liquid in it.



The pump was easy to operate even when the spray was slung over my shoulder. It gave a very consistent spray even while pumping.




A nice feature that my old Stanley sprayer didn't have was a pressure relief vale that allows you to depressurize the sprayer when you're done. I've heard horror stories of people unscrewing the top mounted pump of their sprayers when they thought the sprayer was depressurized but it wasn't and they got a face full of chemicals.  Not fun! The manually operated relief valve helps prevent that.



I found no leaks anywhere in the sprayer and I'm very happy with it. It's reasonably priced and includes free shipping from Amazon. I've been looking over different brands of sprayers and I'm very happy I selected the Smith pump sprayer.



My only complaint is that the fill markings on the side of the sprayer are difficult to see but that can be remedied with a Sharpie.



If you're looking for something to help spread liquid herbicides, liquid fertilizers like fish hydroslate, amendments like humic acid or soluable kelp or even compost tea, the Smith pump sprayer will help you get the job done fast.

Is Using Cornmeal to Treat Lawn Disease a Myth?

Not only does Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott consider the use of cornmeal as a fungicide a myth, an article from 2010 claims the myth is busted. Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott is the author of The Informed Gardener and numerous articles on horticultural myths



When I discovered Dr. Chalker-Scott's myth articles online a few years ago I read threw them all and found myself mostly agreeing with a lot of the content and was able to find corroborating work in other studies from what I remember. I even referenced her when I was asking myself... does SuperThrive work?



In this case however I find I can't agree with everything she says. Sadly, from the time I first started writing this piece, some of the links I originally quoted are now broken but I've tried to find similar research. The original article wasn't meant to be a rebuttal to Dr. Chalker-Scott but I tried to incorporate her opinions in the new version.



Note I actually started writing this article one or two springs ago which is why I have reference to all the rain. Right now it's the middle of summer and there hasn't been much if any rain but I'm leaving that verbage intact to illustrate what I was seeing at the time. I decided to finish it after seeing Dr. Chalker-Scott's article recently.



Well, it's been raining here for quite some time and it's going to continue for another week it seems. I've touched on the issue of lawn disease recently and it should come as no surprise considering the wet weather.



In the few breaks in the rain, I've managed to get in a few bike rides and there are plenty of brown, yellow or orange tinged lawns throughout the neighborhood. Brown and yellow could just be a result of lawn crews waiting too long to cut the grass as they try and squeeze what they can in between downpours but most likely a good bit of it is due to fungus caused by all the moisture and landscapers that are mowing the grass when it's wet because they can't afford to wait for dry weather.



As I look over my lawn and compare it to the neighbors there is a vast difference in color. Mine is a nice dark green, theres is a mixture of light green and orange (grorange?) Part of the reason for that is a much discussed organic fertilizer that tends to make people laugh or look at me funny when they hear what it is.



In the early morning when other's are mixing up cornmeal for muffins, I'm out spreading it on my lawn. Plain old corn meal that you can get from the supermarket. (Not corn gluten meal.) I've posted about corn meal recently (where to buy big bags of corn meal, how to get organic corn meal delivered every month or two) but with so many grorange lawns out there I thought it might be good to explain it a little more about how it works and how to use it as well as some other organic fungicides.

How Corn Meal Cures and Prevents Lawn Disease

Well the truth is, corn meal doesn't kill fungus. In fact, it does the opposite. I can hear you now saying "But you said...." Hear me out.




With organic lawn care, you're not usually solving the problem in one step. Instead you create a condition where beneficial organisms can thrive and/or add beneficial organisms. Such is the case with cornmeal.



The beneficial organism in this case is trichoderma, a family of cannibalistic fungi that kill other fungi. When you apply cornmeal to your lawn you're not killing lawn disease, you're supplying the troops of trichoderma so they can multiply and wage war on lawn disease.



The video isn't in a language I speak but I'm pretty sure based on the title and the footage that this is a video of trichoderma killing sclerotinia. A form of sclerotinia occurs in lawn and is commonly referred to as Dollar Spot.







Trichoderma are found in most soils and grow well on corn meal. Corn meal, like everything else that hasn't been sterilized, also harbors bacteria and fungi and trichoderma is a common fungi to find on cornmeal (I think from what I read). Even if it's not on the cornmeal it's a fungus that's commonly found in soil.



Three of the species of trichoderma that are used to fight plant and lawn disease are trichoderma harzianum, tricoderma viride and trichoderma hamatum. They are parasitic and feed off other fungi in a variety of ways. Trichoderma harzianum for instance can excrete and enzyme called chitinase under the right conditions. Chitinase breaks down, hydrolizes, digests, whatever you want to call it, chitin which is what the cell walls of fungi are made of. It basically disolves other fungi.





There are (were?) ongoing university studies that have shown promise using corn meal to treat plant diseases such as this study on controlling fungi in peanut fields with corn meal (link no longer works but is available on archive.org referenced here). My emphasis added.

It is known that certain fungal species in the genus Trichoderma feed on
mycelium and sclerotia of Sclerotinia minor. Sclerotium rolfsii and Rhizoctonia
sp. All peanut fields in Texas tested to date have a natural population of
Trichoderma. For several years, tests have been conducted in Texas using corn
meal to stimulate Trichoderma development as a way to control the major
soilborne disease fungi. When yellow corn meal is applied to fields in the
presence of moist surface soil, Trichoderma builds up very rapidly over a 5 to
10 day period. The resulting high Trichoderma population can destroy vast
amounts of Sclerotinia, Sclerotium and Rhizoctonia. This enhanced, natural
biological control process is almost identical to the processes that occur when
crop rotation is practiced. The level of control with corn meal is influenced
by: 1) organic matter source 2) soil moisture, 3) temperature, and 4) pesticides
used. Seasonal applications of certain fungicides may inhibit Trichoderma.
Testing will continue to determine the rates and application methods that will
give consistent, economical control.

The above quote is the reason why some of us started using cornmeal on our lawns in the first place. Dr. Chalker-Scott calls it "research" (with quotes) indicating it wasn't really following the scientific method. It's hard to say without being able to see the original report but from what I remember it seemed to have been conducted using sound principles. From what I recall, they didn't just guess that trichoderma populations increased, they actually examined the soil.



Dr. Chalker-Scott also claims the study just proved that crop rotation is a beneficial practice that can prevent disease. That's not what I'm reading here.



I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist but I do find it odd that the original paper and some of the others I linked to below are no longer online.



The study that led to the discovery of corn gluten meal as a weed control also had an interesting observation regarding corn meal and lawn disease. The original study was regarding pythium on bentgrass. Pythium was cultured in the lab on corn meal, which is a common growth media for such fungus. There were three plots observed. A plot which received the pythium and corn meal, a plot which received fresh corn meal without pythium grown on it and a third control plot which did not receive any pythium or corn meal. Pythium failed to establish in the treated plot where the pythium grown on corn meal was applied. It seems Dr. Nick Christians Ph.D. focused more on the lack of germination in the corn meal plot as I can't find any documentation that he tried to determine why the pythium may not have established.



The previous quote from Texas A&M doesn't say anything about lawns or common lawn diseases does it? Hmm... OK this is the problem with organic research. While it has been studied for a long time, it unfortunately hasn't been that long and you may not find direct evidence of exactly what you're looking for. So this is what we do, or I do at least. I'm not the type of person that likes to waste money and see if something works just because someone said it does. I want to see something that justifies the claim. Sometimes you can't get to it directly so you have to find corresponding research and peice it together without getting so convoluted that it looks like a Chewbacca defense.



Now that we know it's not actually cornmeal that's curing the lawn disease all we have to do is look for research that indicates trichoderma is effective at killing a particular diesease. That shouldn't be too hard because according to the Wikipedia article there's a strain of trichoderma that can kill almost any other fungus and trichoderma is found in all soil. Maybe not in soil that has been treated with some fungicides such as chlorothalonil (Daconil) but some species of trichoderma seem to be resistant to copper based fungicides.

Lawn Diseases That Corn Meal Can Treat

Well theoretically treat that is. I'll be updating this list as I have time but here's a quote from a Cornell publication on trichoderma:

So far as the author is aware, different strains of Trichoderma control every pathogenic fungus for which control has been sought. However, most Trichoderma strains are more efficient for control of some pathogens than others, and may be largely ineffective against some fungi. The recent discovery in several labs that some strains induce plants to "turn on" their native defense mechanisms offers the likelihood that these strains also will control pathogens other than fungi.

These are common lawn diseases that trichoderma attacks. If you can get trichoderma to grow on your applied cornmeal then there's a chance for corn meal to treat the following:



Sclertinia (Dollar Spot) - See video above and this paper found trichoderma provided up to 71% control of dollar spot and was able to delay disease development by up to 30 days.

Botrytis (Grey mold) - An interesting study at Cornell (link dead) using bees to disseminate Trichoderma harzianum to protect strawberries from Botrytis was effective. Here's a working link that discusses using trichoderma to suppress Botrytis of Begonia in a peat/compost potting mix.

Pythium - A nasty lawn disease can be controlled with trichoderma harzianum and trichoderma virens according to this PSU paper. There are even two products that contain trichoderma that are EPA registered for treating pythium. The link to the paper is gone but this PSU fact sheet indicates Trichoderma harziamum, Trichoderma virens as well as Bacillus subtilis, Candida oleophila, Gliocladium catenulatum and Streptomyces griseoviridis are biological controls of pythium.

Fusarium - There are a number of documents indicating trichoderma is effective against fusarium including this Colorado State study on trichoderma against fusarium on tomatoes.

Necrotic Ring Spot - This publication indicates trichoderma hazrianum is effective against necrotic ring spot in laws and that there is an EPA registered product.

Drechslera tritici-repentis (Leaf Spot) - In vitro study showed Trichoderma "inhibited significantly the mycelial growth ofD. tritici-repentis between 50% and 74%"

Rhizoctonia solani (Yellow Patch) - This in-vitro study showed that various strains of trichoderma were up to 81.8% effective at inhibiting mycelial growth of Rhizoctonia solani.

Organic Products With Trichoderma

In researching the topic I found a number of different products that contained trichoderma that were EPA registered fungicides.  The first time I used cornmeal on my lawn I did it without adding anything else and I found the application of cornmeal was beneficial to my lawn. It may have been the tricoderma, it may have just been that my grass needed fertilizer and the extra boost it got from the cornmeal allowed the grass to grow out of the disease or make it healthier so it could resist it. I'm not a horticultural specialist and I don't have the tools to know the difference.



These days, when I apply cornmeal to my lawn I also apply Organica Plant Growth Activator Plus using a pump sprayer that I filled up 2 days prior to allow the chlorine to outgas. Chlorinated water can kill the beneficial fungi I'm trying to spread. Humic acid and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) are also said to reduce chlorine in water.



Organica's Plant Growth Activator Plus contains a number of beneficial bacteria and fungus some of which have been shown to prevent or control plant and lawn disease. It contains:

• Trichoderma hazianum 2,000,000 CFU per gram. 


• Bacillus subtilis 10,000,000 CFU per gram. 


• Bacillus licheniformis 10,000,000 CFU per gram, 


• Bacillus megaterium 10,000,000 CFU per gram, 


• Paenibacillus polymyxa 10,000,000 CFU per gram, 


• Streptomyces lydicus 2,000,000 CFU per gram, 


• 30% natural sugars, 


• 10% hydrolyzed soy meal 


• 4% humic acid (derived from leonardite), 


• 3% seaweed extract (derived from Ecklonia maxima). 

I can't find a link to the original Rutgers study but it's referenced here. Application of PGA+ every 2 weeks was able to control around 90% Summer Patch (Magnaporthe pose) on Baron Kentucky Bluegrass which is similar to the control rates of the other commercial chemical based fungicides. Even after application stopped the PGA+ test plot continued to provide effective control.



Organica's PGA+ is a product I looked into quite a bit and is something I apply in my garden regularly. The kelp and humic acid seem to work well together to reduce plan stress from what I've read.

Compost Helps with Plant Disease

So Does Cornmeal Cure Lawn Disease?

One comment Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott made which I do agree with is that there hasn't been enough scientific research to definitively prove if it does or not. She also stated that she can't prove a negative (that it doesn't work) and that it's up to those that are making the claims that it does work to prove it does.



I thought that's what the original Texas A&M group was doing and can't figure out why that link no longer works.



Here's what I do know:

• Various strains of trichoderma (as well as other fungi) are grown on corn or corn agar when researches need to cultivate a given quantity of the fungi. It is a good growth medium for such.


• Various strains of trichoderma have been shown in different studies to have effective control of various plant pathogens including ones that are found in lawns.


• Trichoderma are found in nearly all soils.

Here's what I assume:

• Since corn meal is a good base to grow fungi adding cornmeal to moist soil should be able to increase the population of those fungi.


• Since trichoderma is some sort of predator fungi that kills other fungi it's understandable that the population of trichoderma would outcompete the other fungi growing on the cornmeal medium since it will attack those other fungi. 

I think there's enough evidence related to using cornmeal and trichoderma to control lawn and plant disease that further research is warranted.

So what's the problem? Where's the research?

OK, it's time to put my tin-foil hat back on. Research isn't cheap. It takes time, resources and money. University research labs need to have funding to carry out their experiments. Who pays for that research? Some of it comes from government grants but I believe most of it comes from companies that are developing and patenting products for eventual sale. They work with university researches to determine if their new product works or not and try to improve it. They are willing to pay to have that research done.



Who is going to pay to research cornmeal? It's not patentable. It can't be sold as a commercial product.



You also need to be EPA registered if you claim your product is a fungicide. That's not free either.



More research needs to be done as fungicides are some of the more toxic things applied on lawns, but just because she can't verify the claims doesn't mean Dr. Chalker-Scott can call this myth busted.

So Does Cornmeal Cure Lawn Disease?

For a long time, there was no manufacturer selling an organic starter fertilizer product and to be honest, not many people cared. The only benefit of having something marketted as an organic starter fertilizer is to help those that are transitioning from synthetic fertilizers that are accustomed to grabbing something with that label when it's time to seed. In this post I'll discuss the one new product that's labelled as an organic starter fertilizer and the role of starter fertilizers in organic lawn care.

What is a Starter Fertilizer

In the synthetic fertilizer world, anything labeled starter fertilizer has one unique characteristic. It contains a higher proportion of phosphorous than the other fertilizers. Phosphorous is the middle number in the NPK guaranteed analysis on the bag of fertilizer. A starter fertilizer might have a guaranteed analysis of 11-23-10 where another fertilizer from the same like would have an analysis of 26-1-12.

Why is Phosphorous Important When Seeding Lawns?

Phosphorous is an important nutrient for your lawn. Phosphorous is important for plant cell division and aids in root development. When soil is low in phosphorous the grass will not grow roots as deep as it would if there phosphorous levels were adequate.



Getting your new seedlings to grow and establish strong roots is exactly what you want which is why there is such an emphasis on starter fertilizers high in phosphorous.



An individual grass seed actually contains all the nutrients it needs to get started. Other than water, it doesn't need anything to go from seed to plant. The nutrients stored in the seed get depleted quickly and by the time the roots are forming it will need to get nurtrients, including phosphorous from the soil. If it doesn't find enough it will slow or halt it's development.

Why Are There No Organic Starter Fertilizers?

So if starter fertilizers seem to be so important in the synthetic fertilizer world, why has there been little development in the organic lawn care industry or demand from consumers until recently?



It's pretty simple actually. Organic lawn care isn't just about buying something that's not synthetic. It's also about maintaining a healthy soil. Once you have a healthy soil, you'll have a healthy lawn and adding phosphorous may not be necessary.



Phosphorous isn't used up as quickly as something like nitrogen. It also binds to the soil and doesn't leach out as much as nitrogen does so a little phosphorous can go a long way. Excess phosphorous serves no purpose, unlike excess nitrogen that will darken the grass and cause it to grow faster.



If your soil already contains an adequate amount of phosphorous, there is absolutely no reason to add any. The best way to find out what nutrients your soil needs is to send a soil sample to your local university cooperative extension office for analysis. Many people will find that they have adequate or even excess phosphorous levels in their soil. Unless your soil test indicates that you need to add phosphorous then adding it may not do anything.



Many organic lawn fertilizers are also already high in phosphorous compared to synthetic fertilizers. For example, Ringer Lawn Restore, which is a popular organic lawn fertilizer, has a guaranteed analysis of 10-2-6. Compared to the synthetic fertilizer mentioned above, that's more than 5x the amount of phosphorous by weight in relation to nitrogen. If you've been following an organic lawn fertilizer program chances are you don't have a phosphorous deficient soil.



There are also some environmental concerns regarding phosphorous, especially if you live near any body of water. Your local municipality may have also banned or restricted the use of phosphorous containing fertilizers. From what I've read, phosphorous doesn't seem to be so bad if used properly. Once it's applied and watered in it doesn't leach out much unless there is a large excess in the soil.

Organic Phosphorous Soil Ammendments

Not every soil is perfect and many people do need to add phosphorous to their soil after consulting their soil test results. There are very few organic soil amendments that are high in phosphorous. The most readily available high phosphorous organic soil ammendment is bone meal. It's one of the more expensive soil amendments but as stated previously, it's not necessary to apply as often. Espoma Bone Meal (pictured right has a guaranteed analysis of 4-12-0 which means it's 4% nitrogen by weight, 12% phosphorous and contains no potassium. If your soil test indicates you need to add 1 lb of phosphourous per 1,000 sq ft to your lawn, you would need to apply about 9lbs of Espoma Bone Meal per 1,000 sq ft to reach the achieve the appropriate level of phosphorous.

Finally An Organic Starter Fertilizer

I recently noticed that the Espoma Company has 2 organic starter fertilizers, Pro Granular Bio-Tone Starter and Pro Granular Bio-Tone Starter Plus. They are essentially the same except the Plus version contains endo and ecto mycorrhizae fungi, which I'll discuss further down.



The NPK of Bio-Tone Starter is 4-3-3. While not as high a concentration of phosphorous, it has a higher percentage of phosphorous than most other organic lawn foods. The full guaranteed analysis lists:



0.6% Water Soluble Nitrogen (N)

3.4% Water Insoluble Nitrogen

3.0% Available phosphate (P2O5)

3.0% Soluble Potash (K2O)

4.0% Calcium (Ca)

1.0% Total Magnesium (Mg)

0.6% Water soluble Magnesium (Mg)

2.0% Sulfer



These nutrients are derived from feather meal, dehydrated manure, bone meal, alfalfa meal, greensand, humates, crab meal, cocoa meal, and sulfate of potash magnesia.



In addition, they contain the following 15 strains of bacteria which are beneficial to your soil and plants:

Bacillus subtilis

fights fungus and is the main component of Seranade Garden Disease Control, an organic garden disease spray. According to Serenade it controls bacterial spot, powdery mildew, rust, gray mold, leaf blight, scab and more.

Paenibacillus polymyxa

is a bacteria that colonizes in the root zone and promotes plant growth and helps fix nitrogen.

Bacillus licheniformis

Another fungus fighting bacteria and helps cycle nutrients in the soil.

Pseudomonas alcaligenes

A bacteria used in bioremediation because it can degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon which is found in fossil fuels.

Bacillus megaterium

Used in bioremediation of soil.

Pseudomonas chlororaphis

An anti fungal bacteria.

Bacillus marinus

I believe it helps break down organic matter into nutrients plants can use.

Pseudomonas putida

Used to degrade organic matter and in bioremediation.

Bacillus coagulans

Secretes acids which helps make phosphorous soluble and more readily availible to plants.

Acidovorax facilis

I think helps fix nitrogen.

Bacillus thuringiensis

A bacterial pesticide.

Arthrobacter agilis

This one's neat it can biodegrade a number of common herbicides such as glyphosate (RoundUP) and 2,4-D. (source)

Bacillus pumilis

Helps decompose organic matter.

Rhodococcus rhodochorus

I think is used in bioremediation.

Bacillus lentimorbus

Similar to Bacillus popilliae which is used in Milky Spore Disease type products which help control grubs.

I'm not a microbiologist but I have been looking into some of these bacteria that are found in some of the Organica products I use regularly



Bio-Tone Starter Plus also contains endo and ecto mycorrhizae. These are fungi which attach to the roots of plants which helps increase the root mass. They help the plant get water and nutrients from the soil.



Even though I decided to get Bio-Tone Starter Plus instead of the regular Bio-Tone Starter fertilizer, I'm not completely sold on the benefits of mycorrizae especially in the context of this organic starter fertilizer.



From what I read, when the plant needs the help of mycorrizae it secretes carbohydrates from its roots. These carbohydrates attract and feed the mycorrizae. If the plant is growing in a soil that already has adequate phosphorous levels, it will grow large, deep roots on its own and not need the help of the mycorrizae. Since the starter fertilizer is already high in phosphorous.



These microorganisms should already be in your soil and some people feel adding them is a waste of money. I think that they are beneficial, especially when it comes to soil that has been previously treated with synthetic fertilizers. I have personally seen good results with microbial containing products such as Organica Plant Growth Activator Plus which I now apply regularly to help prevent lawn disease.



Bio-Tone Starter Fertilizer seems like a good product to use when you're laying down new sod or seed. It can also be used for transplants and other areas of your garden. This is an interesting account of Jesse Eldrid that used Bio-Tone Starter to help boost his Amaranth plant's growth so he can acheive the world record height.



The smell isn't too bad, it smells a lot like ORGANICA BIO-MATRIX which is my favorite organic liquid fertilizer. The smell goes away in a couple of days.



There are no spreader settings on the bag or on Espoma's website. I just did what I usually do. I know the approximate square footage of each area of my lawn so I just determine how many lbs I need to apply to each area, set my spreader to a medium setting and make multiple passes until it's done. After the first pass I see how much is left in the hopper and adjust the spreader up or down accordingly. With organic fertilizers you don't have to worry about burning the lawn. Making multiple passes also helps insure even coverage. I start going north to south, then east to west. The bag has a couple of holes that act as a handle which I found convenient. Other big bags of Espoma products have the same built in handle. After spreading the fertilizer it's important to water it in.



The best time to apply Bio-Tone Starter Fertilizer is 2 weeks prior to seeding or sodding because organic fertilizers need to be broken down by the soil microorganisms before their nutrients are readily available to plants.



Before deciding to use Espoma Bio-Tone Starter I would recommend you do a soil test and see if you need that much phosphorous. If you don't, but you still need to add nitrogen and would like to add the bacteria found in Bio-Tone Starter you can use Espoma 30LB 7-2-2 Lawn Food which contains less phosphorous and all the microbials in Bio-Tone Starter, except for the mycorrizae in Bio-Tone Start Plus.

One of the nice things about using organic lawn fertilizers is that their safe and natural. Many of the ingredients are used in animal feed. If you're storing your organic fertilizer in your garage or shed you might be concerned about your pets or the local wildlife (mice, rats, squirels, racoons, skunks, deer, bears) sniffing it out and breaking through the bag. It is also important to keep the organic fertilizer dry so that it doesn't spoil.



The best and most affordable items I've found for storing dry organic fertilizers are the Iris Pet Food Containers. It makes sense since these fertilizers are essentially pet food. The Iris pet food storage containers are durable and airtight. They'll keep the fertilizer fresh and prevent any animals from smelling the "food" and getting in to it. Use the link above to order from Amazon which has the best prices I've seen and free shipping on most of the sizes you would need. It also looks like Iris products are made in the USA.





They also makes storing the products easier and neater. You can stack them and unstack them quickly. You should label the containers so next application you know what's inside or you can just throw the whole bag inside the container which will make it obvious what the contents are.



If you're like me and you buy fertilizer for the entire season all at once, or sometimes have products that will last more than one season and need to be stored you will appreciate having the Iris pet food containers. The only difficult decision is which size you'll need. Organic fertilizer and ammendments are sold in lbs and these containers are sized in quarts.



What I have discovered that 1 lb of organic fertilizer is roughly 3 cups. It's not exact but it's close enough for most organic soil ammendments that with a little room for error should help us make the right size decision. The container doesn't need to be filled to the top to keep the fertilizer from spoiling.



For your convenience, below is a table listing Iris pet food containers and the amoung of organic fertilzer or soil ammendments they should be able to hold.

Container	Size (qts)	Holds (lbs)	Comments
	8 qts	9 lbs	Good for storing one or two bags of the Espoma Organic Tones small bags
	12 qts	14 lbs	Good for storing left over fertilizer or amendments from larger bags or 3-4 of the Espoma Organic Tones small bags
	15 qts	17 lbs	Good for left over fertilizer for large bags or mixing multiple small 4-5 lb bags.
	21 qts	25 lbs	Good size for holding common 25 lb bags of organic fertilizer or ammendments. Not quite easy to just throw an entire unoppened bag in it but you can empty out the bag in this container.
	28 qts	32 lbs	Has wheels to make it easy to move around. You can throw an entire 25 lb bag in this, bag and all or half of a 50 or 60lb bag.
	30 qts	35 lbs	Also good for storing whole 25lb bags or 30 lb bags as well as left over fertilizer from larger bags.
	46 qts	51 lbs	Good for storing 2 25 lb bags or one 50lb bag emptied.
	55 qts	62 lbs	Good for storing large 50-60lb bags of organic fertilizer or amendments or 2 25lb bags.
	60 qts	68 lbs	Good for storing large 50-60lb bags of organic fertilizer or amendments or 2 25lb bags.
	67 qts	76 lbs	This is the largest size they have, good for storing large bags of fertilizer or a couple of smaller bags.

They have different lid colors and you can choose to get them all to match or use the different colors to help identifiy different organic ammendments. There is a price difference between colors so I just went with the cheapest ones.




Iris also makes a 2 cup scoop to help empty the containers into your spreader. It also has free shipping from amazon so if you order a container add the scoop for 2 bucks more, it will be well worth it.




If you want to be super neat and organized, Brother makes and affordable label maker that will help you identify what you have in each container.



Hope you found this information useful and that it makes it easier for you to use organic products on your lawn. One of the difficulties in using organic fertilizers and ammendments is you can't always find what you want locally. So you either order it online or have to drive quite a ways. To save money on gas and shipping I tend to buy more than I need. I also don't have a huge lawn so in some cases one 50lb bag might be good for 3 or more applications and I need to be able to safely store what was left over.

Over the past few years I've been overseeding my lawn with better quality grass seed to improve the appearance and disease resistance of my lawn. Along with proper mowing, watering and a good organic lawn fertilizer program I have seen big improvements in my home lawn. I just completed overseeding my lawn for the fall and hopefully it will be the last time I need to do so for a while.



I got off to a late start but the soil temperature is still above 65 degrees which is very important. Normally I would have liked to start around early to middle September.




I've found a couple of seeds that I'm very happy with and decided to stick with, both are from Jonathan Green & Sons, Inc. They also contain no weed seeds or at least less than similar mixes from Scotts and have good germination rates in my lawn. I have one small area that receives very little direct sunlight which I have been using Jonathan Green's Dense Shade mix with good results. It contains the following varieties of seeds

• 39.25% Eugene Creeping Red Fescue


• 14.75% Hood Chewings Fescue


• 14.75% Carmen Chewings Fescue


• 9.83% Frontier Perennial Ryegrass


• 9.82% Darkstar Perennial Ryegrass


• 9.82% Blue Sapphire Kentucky Bluegrass


• 1.71% Inert Matter


• 0.04% Other Crop Seed


• 0.03% Weed Seed

For the sunny areas I used Jonathan Green's Sod Maker Kentucky Bluegrass mixture. This is their highest quality bluegrass mix and from searching around it appears that a number of sod farmers use it. It was a toss up between Sod Maker and Galaxy Kentucky Bluegrass Blend 10lb Sack but since I got a late start this fall I decided to go with Sod Maker because I've used it in the past with good results and it was available at my local garden center. Pound for pound the Galaxy blend is a little cheaper. The Sod Maker label lists the following grass seed cultivars:

• 39.40% Deepblue Kentucky Bluegrass


• 29.55% Blue Sapphire Kentucky Bluegrass


• 19.70% Blue-Tastic Kentucky Bluegrass


• 9.83% Midnight Kentucky Bluegrass


• 1.52% Inert Matter


• 0.00% Other Crop Seed


• 0.00% Weed Seed

Preperation

Before spreading the seed there was a bit of work to get the lawn ready. After edging with my Black and Decker Edge Hog I dropped the deck of my mower down to the second lowest setting possible and mowed the lawn collecting the grass clippings. This was a drastic reduction in height. The reason was to give the new grass plenty of light once they start to germinate. Cutting the grass so much would also stunt the existing grass' growth which would give the slow growing Kentucky bluegrass seed some time to establish without having to compete with the existing grass as much.



After mowing the lawn I used my thatch rake. I didn't have a lot of thatch build up but it is important to have good seed to soil contact and dethatching helps in that matter. There were also some areas where I had to use the thatch rake to remove ground ivy and clover. The thatch rake took care of it quickly and easily. The thatch rake is adjustable and I tilted the head back to make deeper cuts in the soil. Not only was I dethatching and removing ground ivy and dutch white clover but I was loosening and cultivating the soil which would help the seeds germinate.



The thatch rake also makes it easier to spot some weeds such as crabgrass that you might other wise miss. As I went along with the thatch rake, I kept my Weed Hound handy to pull out any weeds I found. Sometimes I could just pull them out by hand since the thatch rake had loosened the soil so much. I also pulled out some of the tall fescue that has grown in one portion of the lawn but I don't think I got it all.

Seeding and Spreader Settings

I use a Scott's Accugreen Drop Spreader. Jonathan Green has appropriate spreader settings for Scotts Rotary and Drop Spreaders on their website. They have rates for overseeding and for seeding a new lawn. Since I exposed a lot of bare area with the thatch rake and low mowing I decided to use the new lawn setting, in fact I went even heavier with the grass seed. Birds will wind up eating some and some won't germinate so I didn't mind adding a little extra seed just in case.



I set my spreder to a little more than half the new seeding rate for the seed I was using then made two passes over the lawn, one north to south, the other east to west. After that I went over some of the bare spots a few more times. This ensured I got even coverage at a rate slightly higher than the normal seeding rate.

After Seeding

Once the seed was down I used the back of a regular leaf rake to help work the seeds into the soil. Then it was time for a good watering to soak the seeds and soil. After which I mixed up a batch of Organica Plant Growth Activator Plus
in my Orth Dial-N-Spray hose end sprayer and applied it to the newly seeded lawn. Organica's Plant Growth Activator contains a number of beneficial microbes as well as other ingredients that I found seem to help when seeding. It's something I apply every month throughout my garden on everything.




It's a good idea to apply a fertilizer at the same time and lime if you need to adjust your soil's pH. My soil pH is finally in a good range but I just ordered some Espoma Bio-Tone Start Plus to apply to the lawn. In addition to being a 4-3-3 organic fertilizer it contains many important microorganisms including mycorrhizae which are fungi that colonize on plant roots which help them absorb water and nutrients. It is applied at 25lbs per 1,000 sq ft of lawn.

Top Dressing

The next step would be to add a 1/4" layer of a good, screend compost over the lawn. That's about 1 cubic yard per 1,000 sq ft. This will help cover the seeds, keep them moist and provide nutrients. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be doing it this year because of time and cost considerations. I don't have a large enough property that I can get bulk compost delivered cheap and buying bags of compost would be expensive. I might change my mind if I can get some extra time and set aside the extra money.

Watering

Keeping the seeds moist is crucial. If the seeds dry out they won't germinate even if you water them the next day. Up until the seeds begin to germinate, the first 4 weeks or so, I will be watering for 10 minutes 3 times a day at 9:30 AM, 12:30 PM and 4:30 PM. After the first 4 weeks I'll cut back to 2 times a day at 9:30 AM and 3:30 PM and slowly work my way back down to a normal lawn watering schedule. This time of year in this area there should be quite a bit of rain and in between I'll be using my hose end sprinklers and timers.

Fertilizing

In addition to the starter fertilizer, I'll be applying an organic fertilizer once the lawn has established to provide it with food that it can store up over the winter so that come spring time, the lawn is thick and healthy.

Corn meal is used by organic gardeners to help fight and prevent lawn diseases caused by fungus. Applying at a rate of 10 lbs per 1,000 square feet every month helps prevent disease, 20lbs to fight an active disease. It is also a very mild fertilizer. Around 1.7-0.7-0.4 NPK. It's not just good for your lawn but also other plants (roses) and vegetables (tomatoes) that are susceptible to disease.



I just found something that I think is worth sharing. It's going to be a little more expensive than buying it from your supermarket, which is already more expensive than buying at a feed store or wholesale food distributor but you get the benefit of having it delivered to your home every month for free!



No excuse to forget it. It comes, you apply! And it's 100% organic so you're not applying genetecally engineered products to your organic lawn.



It's normally about $35 for 24 lbs with free shipping, but if you order a subscription it's only around $30. There is no obigaion. You can discontinue your subscription when you don't need it. You just have to remember to start your subscription in early spring when you start getting your lawn ready to wake up.

Click here to order your free delivery subscription of Organic Corn Meal now.



UPDATE: Also recently found Great River Organic Milling, Organic Specialty Corn Meal, 25-Pound Package which is a better deal Even more so if you subscribe to receive it monthly.