I have 20,000 sq ft of bermuda lawn in McKinney and am thinking of going with Dry Molasses (20 lbs per 1,000) for the 2nd fertilization. I used regular corn meal for the first. I'm not sure if Dry Molasses is enough (is it considered fertilizer?) or should I use a blend (eg - used Chicken manure based fertilizer last fall).?

Using organic fertilizer is a matter of applying protein to feed the soil microbes. They eat food just like we do. Molasses is food but it is not a very complete food. Molasses is a great source of carbohydrates but not so good for protein, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. Corn meal is a good mix of all the above, but there are better sources for protein. As a matter of fact, corn meal, cottonseed meal, and used coffee grounds are near the bottom of the list for supplying protein. A lot of people are using soy bean meal for three reasons:

• It is an excellent source of protein
• It is available to them at their feed store
• Corn meal is not available to them at their feed store

Other good protein materials are alfalfa pellets, corn gluten meal, wheat flour, and flax seed meal. Any ground up nut, bean, or seed makes a pretty good organic fertilizer. Use the ones that are most available to you.

Carbohydrates are good especially if you want to stimulate the population of bacteria in your soil. One great reason to do this is if you have dog urine spots in your yard. Spray with molasses or scatter a handful of sugar on the spot and it should disappear and be replace with tall green grass in 3 weeks.

thanks - I'll look for the soy bean meal