DIY lawn care is actually much much cheaper than you think and today I’m going to talk through it when it comes to fertilizing your lawn and turning in double-dark green.

I’ve done posts like this before but it came up again recently when I was talking this weekend about the “Easiest Way To Get a Green Lawn, Fast.” In that video I talk about the 3 primary elements you want to look for in any fertilizer if you want to get your lawn green.

All 3 of those elements work directly with, on, or in chlorophyll. It just so happens that it’s chlorophyll that makes grass green. Push the chlorophyll and you push the color of the lawn, deeper, greener and even bluer. Check out the video here if you missed it.

In that video, I made a recommendation for those of you who don’t want to slog to the store and get fertilizer but would rather have something delivered right to your door. That product is 24-0-6 Flagship and it just so happens to have nice amounts of all 3 elements, and in some cases, those elements are in higher concentrations than anything found at your big box retailer anyway.

But why is the bag so expensive?
Answer: it isn’t when you break it down.

24-0-6 Flagship (with 3% Iron) and Bio-Nite™ - Granular Lawn Fertilizer is a 45lb bag and the cost is $55 delivered (includes shipping). So for sure, there is some shipping cost in there that takes the sticker price up some, but what I have done is formulated it to work REALLY well with a lower rate or what we call “fewer pounds on the ground.”

If you want to know the secret, that’s really it. I formulate my DIY lawn fertilizers to work VERY well at low rates. Throwing down less and getting the same results - let’s take a look.

Flagship DIY Granular Fertilizer: 45lbs

Application Rate: 3lbs/1,000 (this means you spread 3lbs of product across each 1,000 sq ft of lawn area)
Bag covers: 15,000 sq ft 45/3 = 15

So you can get 15,000 sq ft of coverage from just one bag. To find out how much this will cost you for a single application, you have to know your lawn size.

Don't Let The Math Deter You!

If this is starting to get confusing, please DO NOT click away - instead, get yourself some DIY Yard Care training. I have helped thousands of DIYers learn how to care for their lawns by teaching them the basics of lawn care and a lot of that starts with things like understanding your lawn size, and learning the lay of your land.

Check our Yard Care BootCamp here.

Before buying any fertilizer, invest in yourself by getting some good training that will set you up for success now and in the future. It’s full video and audio training plus a forum where we answer your questions. I’ll teach you all about fertilizers, what they do and how to apply them and why. We talk about all grass types too. You also get your choice of my warm or cool season full e-guide at the end of the course.

It’s all there, and I know you’ll be more confident after completing this training. Sign up for Yard Care BootCamp here. It’s never too late to invest in yourself so you can translate the knowledge to your lawn.

If You Have a 5,000 Sq Ft Lawn

And we know that a bag of Flagship covers 15,000 sq ft, and you have a typical 5,000 sq ft lawn, then you can get 3 applications from one bag. At a cost of $55 for the bag, that means each application only costs you $18.33.

Not too expensive is it?

Now compare that to a bag of Scotts lawn food at the local Home Depot.

Can you see in the top right that this bag covers 5,000 sq ft? And what is the cost?
Answer: $18.48

Pretty much the same as you getting some Flagship from me and having it sent right to your door.

So far we know Flagship is slightly cheaper and for sure more convenient. But how do these ferts stack up when it comes to nutrients?

I’ll tell you now - both are going to turn your lawn green. There really isn’t a “bad” fertilizer. And any company that is going to take the time to get themselves into a Home Depot is going to make sure their stuff brings the green. Plus, we all know Scotts: your dad and grandad used their products and had an awesome lawn right?

I can also tell you that Flagship works. My DIY friends all over FaceBook are posting results pics nearly everyday.

So how do these two stack up, side by side? Let’s look at the label:

The Scotts on the left has more nitrogen, that’s for sure. However, Flagship contains more potassium and more iron. Overall we can look at those as a wash.

Now the Scotts does have Sulfur and that is an important element, so I have to give them that one, but look at all the other minor nutrients that Flagship delivers for you.

Boron, Copper, Manganese, Molybdenum and Zinc. You will find those in short supply in many soil tests and here they are, riding along with the Nitrogen, Potassium and iron.

What About Bio-Nite?

Now, let’s look at one more differentiator and that’s the filler material. Truth be told, all fertilizers are actually mostly just “filler” material. There is only so much nutrient you can pack in before it becomes overkill so the rest is filler material to help make the fert easy to spread.

Most companies use something benign as their filler material - you could even say “useless” - and that’s ok. It’s just what is done.

With Flagship, however, I go a step further and add 10% of my filler as Bio-Nite. Bio-Nite is the Florida version of Milorganite and it contains additional slow release nutrients, including additional chelated iron, calcium and some other goodies. These are not claimed on the label because we use them as filler - but they are still there and they deliver the smell of success in the fert.

That smell of success is also great for building overall soil health because natural additives like biosolids (Bio-Nite is a biosolid) increase the soil’s overall carbon percentage. You don’t get that with the cheaper fillers used in the Scotts.

Lastly, there is the small business angle. Yard Mastery is now entering its third year in business my team and I work hard everyday to help our customers succeed while creating positive content for this community I have been building for more than a decade now. So let me once again say, “Thank you for supporting an American small business!”

I hope you’ve learned something here - even if you never buy fert from me, I hope you will take the thinking, approach and strategy I’ve taught you today and take better control of your budget as you continue on your DIY lawn care journey!

I’ll see you in the lawn!