Just stick with soybean meal every fall and spring at a minimum as long as there are right set of organisms in the soil otherwise he will have to apply compost or compost tea to get more diversity in the soil. Look at the soil biology as if it is microscopic world with all kinds of jobs. The more diversity, the better to help the world spinning....

20k sqft front lawn seems a tad bit too big for my taste. My entire lot is only 9k! Personally, I'm not a big fan of supersized lawn and I'd focus more on restoring part of property back to "native" area for birds,bugs, etc and have smaller lawn. More trees, plant beds, and many other options to reduce the lawn size mainly around the perimeter of the property for privacy screening while keeping the middle part open for lawn.

Yeah, 20K sq ft is large and not going to be cheap...

Lou's plan would work fine. I'd feed more often (the holiday plan, or my lightly once a month plan) and diversify the feedings to favor different organisms, but that's just me.

Sorry guys, Im referring to the front half of his acre lot/lawn. This 20k sqft front half of lawn includes his front, side and part of his back yard. See illustration below.

Lou, his total lot size is 65,340 sqft. He already has tons of native trees and plants with mulch around all of them, lots of landscape, etc, etc. (See pic) At this point in time the cost would be considerably more for him to incorporate more plants and trees into his property than to maintain the existing.

Do you guys think 10lbs of SBM per 1000sqft would be sufficient?

Oh okay. That make sense now except for the back half shaped like that.

For cost wise, SBM would be fine at 10-15lbs per 1000 sqft. The most important thing is having the proper set of organisms in the soil mainly fungi species to help hold more nutrients in the sandy soil so that the nutrients from grass, leaves, etc don't get washed away. That's the biggest key.

I like that! It's much nicer than the slash-and-burn crud they did here to get the houses in. Not that there was really anything to slash or burn...

10 per K should be just fine (er, 7% N = 0.7 lbs of actual N per thousand per feeding). It's a touch light, but going organic means never having to say you're sorry.

Or something like that. If those grasses follow the 1 lb per month mine do (they may very well not and further research is absolutely required), that means an app every 0.7 months, or about three weeks, for optimal results.

Less, however, will still work just fine.

You could look into the composted poultry manure products like cockadoodle doo too. I know you can get cockadoodle doo in large quantities. Some golf courses use the product and they're not dealing with 40lb bags.

It might be more economical for your buddy to place a bulk order for the year. Critters aren't attracted to manure products like they are to the feed meals and you can easily store them for a year or more if you keep the product dry.

On that size of lot he might want to check out getting an agricultural type spreader to apply a manure compost annually. That should wind up being quite a bit cheaper.

Then he could save the organic fertilizers for the lawn area around the house.

Unfortunately, Cookadoodle Doo isn't sold near us (according to their website). However, Wilcox's Nursery on Indian Rocks Road sells chicken manure (Black Hen made by Black Kow located south of Ocala) - I have always used BH with great success.

I would be interested in a bulk purchase through Black Kow (or Amberglen) if you and your buddy are interested.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Lou, years ago the right side of his lot was a dirt road/service easement used by the county. They were no longer using it and the previous owner purchased from the county. Thats why the back right side is shaped like that.

morph, Im not sure about monthly feedings, I think the cost would be way to high. S.A. typically requires, for optimum results 4-6 lbs of N per year for full sun areas. Do you use milogantie along with grains?

rcnaylor, great idea. that would be a big job for an acre.

rose, funny you said that. I was talking to him last night and mentioned the same thing about buy grains in bulk and possible saving some money. He was all for it. How would one go about ordering Black hen in bulk, and whats the price. On a side note, did you read my post on Alfalfa pellets with Sodium Bentonite? Its on the main page.

Any other ideas are greatly appreciated