There's a huge difference between the brand name fertilizer and the stuff in the bargain bin. The stuff in the bargain bin costs much less. Other than that, there's no real difference.

I agree with BP, up to a point, but the point depends on you, more than on anything he said. He's quite right: price=money. There's a lot of money to be made, selling homeowners some convenience, or selling homeowners a better result than they could do, or are willing to do, on their own. The converse of that would appear to be that a homeowner can save a bunch of money with a little more labor, or a little more study about technique.

1. You want to fertilize your lawn, once in the fall, and once in the spring, and that's it? You can't do better than Scott's products: those fertilizers are 'slow release' (read "long lasting") and will very likely keep your lawn better looking than if you had not fertilized, right up to the time you get around to doing it again. Scott's costs a little, or a lot, more.

2. You have the time (retired?) or enjoy the time (lawn forum?) you spend on the lawn, dinking with this, dinking with that? You are in a position to save a bunch of cash, but an accountant would demand that you factor in, in some way, the extra hours that you will spend, over a summer, on that lawn.

The el cheapo fertilizer is inexpensively made, which means that it will break down, and release it's nutrients, in the presence of moisture, which means, to you, immediately. In fact, if you're going to buy the el cheapo, I recommend that you get a couple five gallon paint cans, WITH LIDS, to store any unused (but already opened) fertilizer bags. The material will start to absorb moisture, and thus start to clump, just in the hour or so it might be open, or already sitting in the top of your spreader, waiting to settle down to the bottom of the spreader, and be spread. It will release its nutrients immediately, upon hitting the lawn. The lawn will love it. The lawn will also need more fertilizer sixty days later: the cheap stuff is gone, used up.

For many of us, that is not a problem at all.

The cheap stuff also has the potential to burn the lawn, if it is over-applied. Over applied means 'too much stuff AT ONCE', it does not mean 'six applications over a summer'. If you're willing to grab the hand held whirley spreader, and tell yourself you're going to do a half-application, rather than a full application, by walking faster (same rate of dispensing, but you're walking faster) you will do mahvelously. A light, half-application, will not burn the lawn: even if you've done two prior half-applications, after one full application. Not burn? The lawn will look fabulous. But it's because the lawn had several (light) applications, two or three or four weeks apart. Now you're into 'continuous feeding' baby, but yes, it's you doing all that walking. You're also going to get better results, because of your 'overlap' by walking different directions with that whirley spreader. If a Scotts user (remember the Scott's user? He's out at the beach, rather than working on his lawn) misses a stripe, that stripe is going to show for six months, isn't it?

So yes, you can save a bunch, by using the el cheapos. I'd avoid the huge numbers: you don't want a 20-20-20, you want a 10-10-10 or an 8-8-8, or even better, a big first number and smaller second and third numbers, like a 15-1-2. Or an 8-1-1.

But here's your general rule with the cheapos: smaller, more frequent applications. If you have the discipline to do that, you will love the results. If you don't have the discipline to do that, just buy the more expensive, slow-release stuff.

+1 Philes.

As a general rule, the longer the release, the more expensive it is. There are exceptions to that. The faster the release, the more gently you have to feed and the more often you have to feed to keep it stable.

Bargain Bin = Fast Release = Cheap
Cadillac Brand Name = Moderate Release = More Expensive
Slow Release Brand Name = Slower Release = Still More Expensive
Organic = Slowest Release = Really Pricey

There may be some truth to that, but there are bargain/generic slow release fertilizers and brand name fast release fertilizers. If you get a generic fast release 10-10-10 or a brand name one, it's going to be essentially the same. And if you get a generic fast release or a brand name fast release, it's going to be the same.

I also don't necessarily agree with the thinking that you should avoid a big first number. Around here, the soil is naturally high in P and K, so if you're going to use a chemical fertilizer, it's best to use one with 0 for the second and third numbers. That usually means either 21-0-0 or 46-0-0. The key isn't how big the first number is, but how much of it you use. You use about 1/2 as much 21-0-0 as 10-10-10 and a little less than half as much 46-0-0 as 21-0-0.

At my local nursery, the guy's line is that, with Scotts, you pay for their advertising. They keep the non name brand stuff in the back for the landscapers. I was there the other day when a landscaper was picking up his supplies for the spring. The guy was loading up on a preemergent with "team," so I said, "What the heck" and bought some. The only problem is that the smallest bag was enough to treat 80,000 square feet. I think that I will be applying preemergent at all of my friends' homes!

As for Scotts, the one product that I really like is the Organic Choice Lawn Food. It might have been a coincidence, but my lawn stayed dark green very late into the winter after applying that this year. I particularly like it because I am hoping that regular Scotts users will consider using it instead of some of their regular applications (such as steps 2 and 3, which are totally unnecessary much of the time).

BPGreen--Yep, I was overgeneralizing considerably. Brand names have diversified over the last decade to include a lot of things, organics among them.