AlbanyNYJen Welcome to the Organic lawn care forum. Congratulations on your decision to switch to organic lawn care. There is little you could do better for your lawn than switching to organic fertilizers. There are many to choose from. For me, the workhorse of organic fertilizer is soybean meal. It is rich in nitrogen, cost effective and usually available at farm animal feed stores. Many like to diversify there fertilizers by switching between soybean meal and corn meal or cracked corn, Alfalfa pellets (rabbit food) is also used. Commercial organic fertilizers are available from Scotts and Milorganite. Both are generally available at Lowes, Home Depot, or Mennards. Used Coffee grounds are very good and available free for the asking from Starbucks and other coffer stores Cultural practices are very important. Mow high and water deeply but infrequently. You fertilized on April 20. Your lawn would benefit from another application of organic fertilizer of your choice. Do keep reading and contributing to our forum.
Bill Hill

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Lawncare FAQ

The Jonathan Green corn gluten has a 9-0-0 fertilizer in it. Should I still apply more? I like the coffee grounds idea. I'll start saving today! My husband is going to think I'm a nut. He's unhappy that our lawn is not as green as the neighbor's chemical lawns...BTW, how can I attach photos in this forum?

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I figured i'd chime in here too, not only am I upstate NY (Rochester) but this too is my first organic spring.

Im coming up on another scheduled feeding in a few weeks. I did Soy Bean Meal as BillHill suggest above and saw great results!

should i diversify and go with alfalfa or just stick with the SBM?

Whether you diversify don't is not critical. If it is convenient and cost effective, than diversify. I do recommend using corn meal or cracked corn while the microbes are still active in the Fall and again in early Spring. I believe that in doing so will give your soil a good population of beneficial fungi to help prevent serious snow mold issues next Spring and help with powdery mildew in the Spring. Said practice worked well for me despite the fact that I applied Urea in late November.
Bill Hill

This isn't my first year, actually my third. But I have alot to learn. I use a 4 step program from a company named Organica. My question is, how would I know if adding something like Soy Bean Meal would be beneficial if I have been adding the fertilizer that Organica makes? Don't these organic fertilzers(like chemical)have everything needed in them? Also, if I were to apply only Soy Bean Meal and Corn Meal, would there be anything my lawn would be missing?

Thanks,
Kevin

Commercial fertilizers like Organica and Milorganite are fine. I don't know whatÂs in Organica, probably soybean meal, some dried blood and other stuff. Grains work very well. Many feed their lawns exclusively with grains with excellent results. If you are concerned that grains may not have everything need, then diversify your grain applications. I'm pretty sure you will fine grains just as good and at a significant lower price than Organica. Find a farm feed store and try one application of Soy meal at about 15 lbs per thousand sq. ft. and see for yourself.
Bill Hill

Thanks for the response Bill. I think I will try an application of soy meal. Another questions I have is what can I apply besides corn meal to help as a pre-emergent weed fertilizer? I say besides corn meal because it is really too expensive. I keep my grass high and water deeply 2x a week, but I would like to help by apply a fertilizer if there is one out there.

Thanks,
Kevin

Corn GLUTEN meal is the pre emergent. regular corn meal will do nothing to fight weeds. I'm trying molasass to control dandelions. I'm hoping for the intended results.

Live in Orlando Florida. Switched over to Organic fertilizer 8 months ago. Notice grass greener and soil richer. Organic fertilizer is easy to get here. However we had problems with weeds and major problems with Chinch bugs where we will have to replace some Floratam sod in the spring.

What can we use on both weeds and especially Chinch bugs?
Can you please provide specifics (names, brands and places to order, as well as when to specifically apply)
No one here seems to have anything Organic to fight weeds or Chinch Bugs.

We want to continue being Organic but it is like the stone age when it comes to getting the products you need in order to do it.

Breeze - Sorry you so neglected! I live in Apopka and have had a chinch bug problem. The organic answer to that is to buy Beneficial Nematodes - if you google the phrase, numerous companies will come up. The problem is they should be applied before a rainstorm, ideally, but a strong watering after application should do the trick. I can't remember the name of th com,pany I bought from but thrre are a number of them on the web.
I think it stopped the chinch activity. Good luck.
Jeanne