Would you know how many pounds per square feet to apply?

Not enough protein IMHO. I'm sure it's fine but soybean meal has 40+% protein for comparison. Just curious how much you get the DuMOR 16% Layer pellets for?

Both would be fine for a gentle feeding, and the alfalfa is applied for the growth hormones more than the nitrogen anyway.

Using alfalfa, 10 pounds per thousand would be great, up to about three times per year. Don't call it a good feeding, though, as it only provides about 0.2 pounds of nitrogen per thousand square feet. Going higher, however, overdoses the hormones.

For the layer pellets, I'd be comfortable going all the way up to 50 pounds per thousand (1 full pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet). Monthly, if you so desire, although I tend to recommend taking June and July off (organics applied in early August won't be available until August 20th at the earliest anyway, which is getting close to the correct time).

By contrast, soybean meal would be a 1 pound N per thousand feeding at 14 pounds per thousand, but these other two look really good as soil conditioners and ways to slowly increase organic matter.

Think of this less as a "fertilizer" and more of a food source for the soil bacteria that should inhabit the soil and feed the plants that grow there. How well it will work will depend on how healthy the soil your turf grass is growing in.

Mishmosh,

Both products were in the $14 range for 50lbs, from a TSC.

Everyone,

Thanks for everyone's inputs.

Do you think either would be worth using as a fertilizer or are they really only a soil conditioner?

They would definitely cause my grass to grow faster, turn darker green, and become more dense. You can call it soil conditioner if you want, but it works like a fertilizer to my definition.

At TSC... check out the Catfish food. Comes in 50lb bags and has 32% protein.... vitamins/mins. It goes through the spreader easily.

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Dorothy, if you have a lawn question, feel free to start a new topic. This one is 5 years old, and is pretty specific. Your question is probably not the same as this one.