Build Better Soil with Free Organic Fertilizer!

Image Gallery You can build better garden soil by applying the right types and amounts of organic fertilizers. BARBARA PLEASANT

As more and more people recognize the many benefits of organic gardening methods, a fresh crop of organic fertilizers are sprouting on store shelves. Many are overpriced, and some are stunning rip-offs that reputable stores and catalogs should be ashamed to sell. The really amazing thing is that two of the best organic fertilizers are easily available to most of us absolutely free! (See below) It’s definitely a buyer-beware world out there. If you’re not careful, you could pay five, 10 or 4,000 times more than necessary to get the nitrogen and other nutrients you need. Here's what we found when we evaluated the pricing for 21 fertilizers:

How to Compare Fertilizer Prices

Nitrogen is a major nutrient that is likely to become deficient in garden soils, so we used it to compare prices. The prices for blended organic fertilizers sold in garden stores and home improvement centers tend to cost more than a bag of soy or alfalfa meal at a farm supply store. Also, dry fertilizers are almost always a much better buy per pound of nitrogen than liquid products.

FREE Fertilizers 
Grass clippings, 2 to 5% nitrogen
Yard waste compost, 1 to 4% nitrogen

Meal-based Fertilizers, price per pound of nitrogen
Cottonseed meal (6-1-1)                       $7.25
Pro-Gro (5-3-4)                                  $11.10
Alfalfa meal (3-1-2)                               $6.60
Soybean meal (7-2-1)                            $4.00
Espoma Garden-Tone (4-6-6)             $32.40
Peace of Mind All Purpose (5-5-5)      $39.75

Manure-based Fertilizers, price per pound of nitrogen
Fertrell Lawn & Garden (3-2-3)             $12.15
Black Hen (2-3-2)                                  $16.00
Miracle Gro (3-2-3)                                $24.15
Bat Guano (10-3-1)                                $30.00
Bradfield Tomato & Vegetable (3-3-3)    $33.25

Liquid Organic Fertilizers, price per pound of nitrogen
Age Old Organics Grow (12-6-6)               $46.50
Maxicrop (5-1-1)                                       $63.60
Ferti-lome Fish (5-1-1)                               $63.60
FoxFarm Grow Big (6-4-4)                         $79.70
Earth Juice (2-1-1)                                    $239.00
TerraCycle Plant Food (.03-.002-.02)  $16,987.00

Non-organic Liquid Fertilizer
Pennington’s Plant Food (.02-.02-.02)     $4,067

You can put various products to the test using this simple equation:

1. Multiply the retail price, let’s say $8.95, by 100, which gives you 895.
2. Multiply the weight of the package, say 10 pounds, by the percentage of nitrogen (often about 5 percent), which gives you 50. The percentage of nitrogen is the first number in the product’s “guaranteed analysis.” For example, the “5” in “5-3-2.”
3. Divide the first number (price X 100 = 895) by the second one (weight X nitrogen content = 50). This is the cost per pound — $17.90 — of the nitrogen in the fertilizer.