There's More Than Milorganite

I notice from my search results that a fairly high percentage of people arrive here searching for application information or tips about Milorganite.  This is a good thing, and I'm very happy to see an organic fertilizer be this popular.

I do want to tell people:  there's more than Milorganite!  In some cases, these fertilizers may be better for your task, or cheaper for you.  However, they probably won't be easier to find.

Most grains can be used on your lawn or gardens, and you can get most of these at a grain mill if you have one near you.  Some Tractor Supply stores carry grains as well (although the price is generally not quite as good), and local farmer's co-ops may have these available as well.  It might be worth a little time to look around.

Corn:  Cracked corn or Corn meal is best, and I find that cracked corn flows through a spreader very much like Milorganite or a synthetic fertilizer.  Corn meal tends to be a little too powdery.  Corn, as I've mentioned, isn't a very good fertilizer.  If it were a synthetic, it would be labeled 1.65-0.65.0.40, which is really low.  It is, however, an excellent soil conditioner and fungus preventative.  Since I discussed this back in April, I won't go too far into it here.

Soy:  Soybean meal is my heavy-hitter on the lawn.  It flows beautifully, and it's a pretty powerful organic fertilizer at 7-1-2.  Application on the lawn at 15 pounds per thousand square feet four times per season is sufficient to feed the lawn quite well.  Apart from its large nitrogen percentage, it has no other specific advantages.

Cottonseed:  Cottonseed meal is comparable with soybean meal in terms of nitrogen, but soybean meal is more prevalent in the northern states while cottonseed meal is more available in the southern states.  Keep in mind that cotton is treated with many pesticides, so the residues will be in the meal. This isn't toxic or a major issue, but the purest organic regimen may not allow cottonseed meal.

Alfalfa:  You may find this as horse feed if you can't find it as a grain.  At 2-1-2, it's weaker than soybean meal by quite a lot, and closer to corn.  However, the growth hormones in the alfalfa will help enhance root systems, and roses love alfalfa.  A handful a month will keep your rose blooming and looking beautiful.  For the lawn and gardens, limit alfalfa use to 10 pounds per thousand two or three times a season tops.  Too many hormones are not a good thing.

Kelp:  Kelp is harder to find, and tends to be expensive.  Kelp contains every single non-radioactive element and can be used to apply trace elements to the lawn, but isn't a substitute for a soil test or rebalancing your nutrient levels properly.  Besides this, kelp also contains growth hormones that will help out your root systems.  Roses, however, are fairly neutral about kelp and act about the same as they do with most other organic feedings.

Coffee Grounds:  You've been throwing them away for years.  Stop.  Toss them on the lawn instead, or into the gardens.  Sure, it's not a vast amount, but every little bit helps.  Earthworms love coffee grounds and seem willing to travel considerable distances to get them!  You can also contact your local coffee shop to see if they save grounds for people who want to compost them, and some Starbucks do this as well.  While minimal in terms of nitrogen and it tends to be difficult to gather enough to feed anything other than a postage-stamp lawn, these are free and a great soil conditioner.