Scott's has always been high priced. My Dad ran a Monsanto fertilizer plant. The fertilizer components were brought in by the train car and mixed at the plant to different proportions. I think much of the fertilizers offered come from the same source, other than specialty items like Osmocote.
Yes, he offered fertilizer in 50 lbs. bags for yard and garden.
IMHO a lot of the price of Scotts brand comes from the marketing.
They certainly have the market cornered around here at retail outlets. Menards, Home Depot, and Lowes all carry Scotts.
Try some Milorganite, made from biosolids. I used it at my last house, never used anything else and had good results. Once every 3 years I put it down, lime every 5 years or so. Admittingly had dandelions and clover but had the greenest lawn in July and August without ever watering.
I don't want rant but Scotts and other fertilizer companies harm the local environment at least when it comes to lawn care. All those chemicals end up in the lakes and around here Long Island Sound. Algae loves this stuff.
A little research and you can go organic very easy and very cheap. May take a few years to build up the soil but doable.
I know in some neighborhoods your neighbors would look down on you if you had a blade of grass out of place.
How much do people spend on a acre of lawn to fertilize, couple of hundred I bet with the four step system.
When I was younger we used some waste that was sewer district solid waste that was burned to remove pathogens and such.
If they don't they are likely to burn their yard.Seriously, would the average homeowner know the difference between 8-8-8, 20-20-20, 16-4-8 and 27-10-12?
Scott's claims they use no fillers (inert ingredients) in their fertilizer, and that other brands contain up to 40% fillers. I don't know if that's completely true but as I stated before, it just works better. :dunno:
On the subject of yard fertilizing, I've read and it makes sense, that fertilizing in the spring with a high nitrogen fertilizer is a waste of money. All it does is make the grass grow fast and create more mowing.