Golf Green vs Scotts

By: John Degroot

April 23 2011

Golf Green vs  Scotts - Garden Clippings for April 23, 2011

                The battle lines are drawn with each camp claiming their offering is better than the other.  They have strong television ad campaigns, and they resort to attack tactics to get their point across.

                Sounds like politics? Well, yes, but I am talking about the lucrative business of lawn fertilizers.  Every spring, the two big fertilizer companies, CIL Golfgreen and Scotts, promote themselves to be better than the competition, promising to build you a better, greener, and more weed free lawn.

                But, like politics, their platforms are quite similar, and both will produce good results.

                Both Scotts and CIL are the frontrunners for lawn fertilizers and both have worked hard to build brand loyalty.  Several additional fertilizer companies exist including Vigoro and Manchester with equally good quality products, but without the powerful advertising.

                Scotts has always been a favorite brand south of the border and they have only fought for market share in Canada during the last decade or so.  Their slick ads have convinced Canadians that their products are of the highest quality.   Scotts has cleverly claimed their products have no added filler, thereby suggesting that the others fill their bags with something useless.

                  CIL with their line of Golfgreen products makes the claim that each kernel of their fertilizer contains the listed blend of fertilizer with the balance being valuable organic matter.

                  Both are correct.  It is only the cheaper generic fertilizers that add inert materials in order to enable the homeowner to spread their product easily.

                Both CIL and Scotts have tried to confuse the buyer with odd bag sizes, designed to make it difficult to compare their products with the completion.  CIL packages their fertilizer in 7 and 14 kg bags.  Scotts posts their bag weights in fine print, trying to focus on coverage rather than weight.  Scotts products are indeed lighter, which saves money on shipping.

                  CIL is not as concerned about bag weight, because their manufacturing plant is right here in Ontario.

                   All quality fertilizer manufacturers have made the move to using slow release nitrogen, designed to give your lawn a shot in the arm as well as extended staying power.   A good quality fertilizer will slowly release its nitrogen for about two months.

                  Research has shown that lawns require much more nitrogen than the other two ingredients: potassium and phosphorous.  Be careful when applying fertilizer, and broadcast it evenly at the recommended rate.  With today's high concentrations of fertilizer it is easy to apply it too heavily.

                Both Scotts and CIL carry their own line of grass seed, at higher costs than the generic brands.  Scotts has taken the next step of blending mulch with grass seed, and packaging a ready to use product.  Use it only if you have a small area to cover, because it is frightfully expensive.

                  Both Scotts and CIL have websites that are chock full of information on their products as well as gardening information of all kinds.  CIL has a handy fertilizer test kit which enables the gardener to test their own soil and obtain recommended fertilizers tailored to their particular needs.