When to apply a fall plant food can be a bit tricky because you will want to feed those plants so they can store that food before they go dormant, but if there is an active Soil Food Web about 8 weeks prior to when soil temperatures will drop low enough to slow or stop that activity. In my area of the world that means late September or early October at the latest.
Soybean meal, Cottonseed meal, Corn meal all (or about 95 percent) come from seeds from Genetically Engineered crops which should not be acceptable to an organic grower because we do not know what affect these have on the environment or us.

Where are you located? That has a significant impact on timing. In my area of cool season turf grasses, one can fertilize well into November.

As to the impact any GMO'd seed crops used as fertilizers on turf grass may have on you or the environment, it is your decision, beliefs and understanding of the issues that will rule the day :-) There is SO much misinformation and fear-mongering regarding GMO'd plant material that it hardly bears discussing. Perhaps the biggest issue is that genetic engineering of plants has nothing to do with them being organically grown or not. They are two very separate concepts.......in fact, many crops are GE'd just so they can be grown organically.

Lordy, lordy.........one could get the impression that by applying GMO'd soybean meal to your lawn would result in some sort of bizarre Frankengrass........or strange deformities to the homeowner. Geesh!!

There is a big difference between genetically modified and genetically engineered plants. Most all of the plants we grow, today, are genetic modifications. The problem lies with those plants that have been genetically engineered. Some people don't, or maybe don't want to, know the difference.
Genetically engineered plants and plant materials are not acceptable to organic growers.

This post was edited by kimmsr on Tue, Sep 23, 14 at 7:12

Once again......there is a big difference between genetic engineering and organic gardening. There is really no relationship between the two. Just read up on the subjects to confirm. And FWIW, I have never read any literature that indicated genetically engineered plant products cannot be considered acceptable organic gardening products and in fact, many do carry the OMRI label.

That something might have the approval of the Organic Materials Review Institute means little to many of us organic growers since that body has been diluting what is acceptable for years to meet the needs of those not true organic growers.
All of the plants we grow today are the result of genetic modification. Any time you pollinate a plant and the genes from those two plants combine that is genetic modification. Genetic Engineering can only take place when a gene, that would not normally combine with the genes of the target, is made to become part of that plants genetic make up. One of the problems with genetic engineering is the unintended consequences, that what makes, say, corn resistant to glyphosate apparently has escaped and has become part of the genetic makeup of the unwanted plants that the glyphosate was supposed to control.