The Grass Doctor

Which fertilizer is better for this Fall (Scotts 22-2-14 or Vigoro 12-3-18)?

There are two brands of fertilizer that i can apply to my lawn to prepare it for the coming winter months (here in Southern Ontario Canada)...the two products are: Vigoro UltraTurf 12-3-18 Scotts WinterCare 22-2-14 Which do you think is the better of the two to use for my lawn. Recall that for fall it is best for the potassium to be higher (the 3rd #)...So with that said Vigoro would be the best choice since it is sporting potassium at 18 while Scott's brand is at "14"...But what struck me as a odd was why Scott's brand has nitrogen at "22" while Vigoro is at "12"....Nitrogen is used for greenup and crown growth but since we are in the fall months why would this need to be high at all..shouldnt this number be low as is seen with the Vigoro product.....the last thing i want the grass to do is to continue growing when the winter frost is coming (i want it to store as much nutrients as possible before winter).....Any thoughts? Thank you so much

Public Comments

1. winterizing a lawn does not require the higher nitrogen supply of scotts but it won't hurt the lawn. I would go with the least expensive of the two
2. I agree with your assessment. It is a matter of how much green up you are wanting. Another thing to consider is weed control, fall is your opportunity for controlling certain types of weeds.
3. Go with the Vigoro as it has less nitrogen and won't send the grass into a vigorous growth spurt but will help the root growth so it can take off next spring.
4. Why would you apply nitrogen now? Cool season grasses have two main growth periods; spring & fall. After the heat & drought of summer has passed, it is very important to apply a fertilizer with adequte nutrient levels. Failure to provide adequte nutrients can result in a stressed, weaken lawn. The new growth put on in fall allows your grass to increase its leaf area and photosynthesis - producing food stores needed for winter survival and spring green-up. This is also the time of year that cool season grasses send out tillers. Fertilizing in late summer/early fall with nitrogen increases a turf's density. You control how much nitrogen is applied by how much product you apply. The percentage on the bag simply tells you what percentage by weight is nitrogen. It's not that important what the absolute number is; it is important what the ratio of nitrogen is to the other nutrients. A 3-1-2 ratio is generally recommended for turf grass maintenance (without a soil test). The Scotts fertilizer maintains this recommended ratio between Nitrogen (22) and Potassium (14) but drops the amount of Phosphorus (2). This is really a low Phosphorus fertilizer (ratio 3.1-0.3-2.0) more than a high Potassium "winterizer". The Vigoro maintains a ratio of 4-1 between Nitrogen (12) and Phosphorus (3) and boosts the amount of Potassium (18). So the Vigoro is the only true "Winterizer" (ratio 4-1-6) of the two, but at the recommended rate of 1 lb. of N per 1000 sf you will use nearly twice as much Vigoro as the Scotts product.
5. the first number is nitrogen, and in the winter you don't want so much nitrogen, it promotes leaf growth, the blades of grass, you want root growth,.....higher numbers in the last 2 then the first number,.....for the winter,.....