No they are not the same but they accomplish the same thing so it is pretty much your choice as to what to use.

Milorganite 5-2-0
Corn gluten 9-0-0
Alfalfa meal 2-1-2
Soy meal 7-2-1

If I were choosing, I'd pick either the Milorganite or the soy meal as they are a bit more balanced and with a decent nutrient load.

I mulch mow so don't fertilize but I do advise on natural lawn care, including fertiliation. For a cool season lawn the spring fertilization is optional. I am disinclined to fertilize much in spring (May here) as the lawn growth is already vigorous because of our climate - in less mild or drier areas, the lawn may very well need a boost. But do it well before any hot weather sets in in your area. I never recommend fertilizing in summer. Cool season grasses want to go dormant in summer and fertilizing them at that time just puts an unnecessary strain on the lawn and requires more watering. The most important application(s) are in fall - depending on your weather, mid to late September and again as late in the season as is reasonable for your climate. Here, once in late October or early November is sufficient to keep the lawn and its roots properly nourished through winter.

By nature, organic fertilizers are slow release. Their nutrients are disbursed over an extended period, usually around 4 months or so. So you do not need to fertilize nearly as often as you would with a synthetic/chemical fert. And if you mulch mow, you may not need to fertilize much at all. Mulch mowing - aka grasscycling - will eliminate as much as 85% of any need of added fertilization. And if you are not obsessed with having a perfectly lush lawn, it can replace fertilizing entirely.

Thanks Gardengal. . . There are so many conflicting comments re both/all of the grain meals, and recently ran into some negativity re Milo. I guess if you read long enough you will find pros and cons to anything. . .

I started my lawns health diet last summer. Reading on worms etc I discovered (probably here) that the chemical ferts can destroy the worms, bad for your lawn. . . blah blah blah. . . anyway I bought and used Milo. This spring my lawn came in like it has never done before. Green from the start (after the brown dormant grass woke up) and I was so impressed. I have a good lawn, and did before but was always leary of the chemicals, they can do more harm than good if applied wrong.

So fast forward to the present, I have read even more (researching dead grass from dogs) about grain/meals. Now I want to jump over to the grain/meals and stop the Milo. I called some feed stores and the only one I can find is SBM, which is a good thing. I was a bit surprised being in cattle country there wasn't more choices. No alfalfa, CGM, or plain corn meal for that matter. They do carry cracked corn, however.

" And if you are not obsessed with having a perfectly lush lawn, it can replace fertilizing entirely". . . it just so happens I AM. . .very much so. . . I can't help it. . . if I could I would vacuum my lawn. I'm the family on the commercial that moved their living room outside, seriously. I can see me dragging out the lawn mower if my hubby dropped potato chips on the ground. . .

So. . .Im off to the feed store. . . I got some work to do. . .

Thanks again. . .

~Debi

Milorganite is a biosold, sewage, that has been processed for use as a fertilizer.

Corn Gluten Meal is a byproduct of one of the many processes corn goes through and is suggested for use as a pre emergent weed barrier with some fertilizer value.

Due care is necessary in selecting which corn or soybean meal to use since most come from Genetically Engineered crops. Some, not true organic growers, do not find that a problem while others do.

Grass clippings, mulch mowed back into the turf can supply up to 1/2 the Nitrogen needed by a lawn, so some supplementation will be necessary as well as maybe soil pH corrections. That information requires a good reliable soil test being done periodically. Some think that recycling the grass clippings by mulch mowing produces thatch and where the soil is pretty dead, has very little activity by the Soil Food Web, they may build up but thatch is mostly dead grass plants. A good healthy soil with an active Soil Food Web will keep any thatch under control.

http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/centers/turf/extension/factsheets/thatch

kimmq is kimmsr

"Some, not true organic growers, do not find that a problem while others do."

That statement is ridiculous. The only issue with using seed meals that may have come from GMO'd crops is if you are a certified organic grower and need to maintain that certification. It hardly applies to a homeowner wanting to maintain their lawn using organic - non-chemical - methods. There is a disconnect between GMO'd products and organic gardening that few understand. A genetically engineered crop does not mean that crop was not grown organically - that is, without using chemical/synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. In fact, that is the primary reason GMO'd seeds and plants came to be - to reduce chemical pesticide usage. Too much is unknown about what possible negative effects GMO's may present to come to any hard and fast conclusions. Most of the hue and cry about GMO's is scare-mongering and little to do with actual science.

Plus, we are talking about a lawn here..........not something you might eat, which is where most of the fear arises.

Coming from someone that has demonstrated repeatedly here and on other forums that the advice you give is not always truly organic I'm not surprised you find that statement ridiculous.

Non of the "hue and cry" about Genetic Engineering is scare mongering or ignorance but is about genuine concern about what is happening to our world. There was no research done to determine what affect Genetic Engineering might do to humans since the proponents convinced the regulators that it was essentially the same as what nature was doing for eons with pollination. This Genetic Engineering was not supposed to move from those plant via normal pollination routes but it did, telling us that the researchers did not do proper research. You are exposed to these things by many means not just ingesting them, and if you eat anything that contains corn syrup you are ingesting these genes, whther you put them on your lawn or not.

The precautionary principle says that you do not put out something until you know it will do nothing adverse and is a simple principle to follow.

kimmq is kimmsr