Yes, that is cheap. I am not sure how much you use, how often, whether it is quick or slow release, etc; and you have to be careful with numbers like 4-5-3 when comparing products. The fertilizer numbers can be used to calculate how much of a fertilizer needs to be applied to equal 1 pound of the nutrient you are trying to add to the soil. So if the numbers on the fertilizer are 10-5-5, you can divide 100 by 10 and this will tell you that you need 10 pounds of the fertilizer to add 1 pound of the nutrient (nitrogen) to the soil. If the product is 20-20-20, you only need 5 lbs of the product --- thus, while the 20-20-20 might cost more than the 10-5-5 brand, the actual expense based on application might be less! For example, another excellent product that may seem expensive by comparison is Intrepid Blue Ribbon Biodynamic Fertilizer which is 6-6-7, but is around $18.95 for a 5 lb container. However, you only use 1 tablespoon per plant, it is organic and it also contains strains of soil microorganisms. One "tub" of this has lasted me all season and my garden plants look good. Remember, you only use one tablespoon per plant per application! I use it at transplanting, flowering, and heavy fruiting periods. I also take soil sample with a test kit to see what the plant needs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Intredid Blue Ribbon Biodynamic Fertilizer

well, usage is on the label most of the times. in organic we dont find higher NPK numbers, most like 10-10-10 or 20-20-20 are mostly synthetic. I like the ingreadientes of this organic fertilizer, so 4-5-3 could be prety balanced here with the exception of low K number here. I know Espoma sells tomatotone 3-4-6 20lb for $17 (only at Ozbo.com), so if you look at it from comparizon perspective, this one is sure a big steal, specially when I see prices of this 15lb elsewhere well over $15. I am stocking up and will mix this with Espoma and make y fertilizer 4-5-3 (Garden Elements) + 3-4-7 (tomatotone) = 7-9-10

If looking for cheap organic: contact a local chicken farmer.

If I had to pay those prices for I'd be broke before the season ever started but i'll admit I splurged on a whim and bought 2 1/2 gal each of foliar applied nutrients- Nutri-Cal & Nutri-K for $100. I guess we all need to try and learn.