How to get Fert. in bulk

[WDrennan09]

I run a smaller business I do some fertilizing not that much but how can i get fert. in bulk...bigger bags or something so my fert. price isn't so high ? Also how much should i charge to spread fert. ?

[Seascape]

Try farm depots. Most dont carry any turf materials,, however some that are located near highly populated counties have picked up on it.

[MN_FISH]

If you are in or by a farming community you can go to a fertilizer plant or the local elevator. They sell it by the ton & mix it according to your specifications. If you don't know them & they are decent people they should mix-up small amounts if you aren't asking for to small of an amount? Check it out? Around here they will let the people that want small amounts clean up in the fertilizer plant and have the fertilizer for free. Look in the yellow pages or a web search in superpages.com
Bulk is cheaper but you need someway to handle it! If you can try to schedule all your fertilizing in one day or two so you should know how much you need? The more the better for where you are going to get it so they are more apt to help you out?
Good luck on your search and let us know what you came up with.

[Phil Nilsson]

Lesco offers discounts when you buy in bulk ...

[Seascape]

Talk to your dealer about "skid price" .

[Phil Nilsson]

Talk to your dealer about "skid price" .

and no ... Mike doesn't mean "skid row" ... ... he means the pallet price ...

[Ric]

Filbert

Lesco is a valuable supplier especially to newbies. They can go in and get advise from Failed landscapers who now work for Lesco. Lesco also serves as a 7-11 type store, right on the corner in almost every town. However when it comes to price you will pay for location convenience and "service". I put SERVICE in quotes, tongue in cheek. Like most of the Green Industry, it is the failed Landscaper that ends up telling the new guys how to fail.

True National companies can get real price breaks from Lesco. However even symbiont doesn't get enough discount to match others prices. A real Businessman who would go price shopping apples to apples would soon realize Lesco is far from competitive on price. Lesco does have the advantage of multiply service centers in every state so They can provide a product to there National accounts in every area. Uniformity is important to large companies and Lesco can provide that uniform product across the nation. But I don't think anyone on this forum is in the position to buy nation wide in the quantity to get the big discount.

I am not trying to knock Lesco, they have excellent produces. I used to buy from them like I Buy from 7-11. But the question here is where do I get supermarket or warehouse type prices. Welcome to the world of business Filbert. You can not get convenience store service and Warehouse prices at the same place unless you are lucky enough to be very close to that warehouse. Then are they going to give you warehouse prices if you only buy small quantity???

WDrennan09

Check you area for a small fertilizer manufacture. You may be able to pick up pallets at a good price. However remember some of these small guy might not have the clean blends that Lesco is famous for. In fact most agriculture Fertilizer is known for being quite dusty. Helen, UHS, UAP, and Volpack are national fertilizer companies you might try also. Apples to apples comparison of products is important. All 10-10-10 blends are not the same by any means. The second book I am working on deals with Fertilizer and I hope it will be valuable to the reader as a bible to compare fertilizer blends. But I am still trying to finish my first book "Application Calibration for the Innumerate"

[Phil Nilsson]

Actually the cost of fertilizer is low ... as a percentage of chemical lawn care sales ...

[Ric]

Actually the cost of fertilizer is low ... as a percentage of chemical lawn care sales ...

Filbert

Nice way to change the subject and take the heat off your not so informative misinformation. ARE you not the one who preaches PROFIT MARGIN? I believe the basic P & L consists of 3 basic Numbers, Gross Income minus Costs equals Net profit. I believe this thread was started about the COST factor.

[Phil Nilsson]

Liquid fert is "dirt cheap" ... ... actually labor and materials are very low as a % of gross sales ... way under 50% ... whereas CGS on MAINT is much higher ...

[Ric]

Liquid fert is "dirt cheap" ... ... actually labor and materials are very low as a % of gross sales ... way under 50% ... whereas CGS on MAINT is much higher ...

Filbert

VERY GOOD. How go price Coron 28-0-0 and come back and make the same broad statement of misinformation.

Sorry but you would be best advise to stay out of the Pesticide Fertilizer forum if you want to impress people. It is very obvious you don't have the first clue.

[Phil Nilsson]

Filbert

VERY GOOD. How go price Coron 28-0-0 and come back and make the same broad statement of misinformation.

Sorry but you would be best advise to stay out of the Pesticide Fertilizer forum if you want to impress people. It is very obvious you don't have the first clue.

Ric ... in case you don't know ... liquid fertilizer is diluted in water and is very cheap (by volume) compared to granular ... granular is far more expensive per square foot ... I'll post some price comparisons ... later on

[Ric]

Ric ... in case you don't know ... liquid fertilizer is diluted in water and is very cheap (by volume) compared to granular ... granular is far more expensive per square foot ... I'll post some price comparisons ... later on

DUH really????? What about slow release??

Filbert

Yes Liguid fertilizer is generally cheaper for straight Nitrogen. But there are 16 other elements that make up the total nutrients needed by plants. I will bet you can't name all of them, let alone get prices for comparison. But while you are doing that big cost conparison Please be sure to add in Labor factors. Don't forget to add in Equipment costs also. It isn't cheap hualing 400 gallons of water around town.

In the Over all picture it is actually Pesticides that are cheaper in Liquid form. Any time you buy a combiation Products like Weed & Feed you are paying a premium. By Tank mixing you can save quite a bit of money per thousand. Labor wise there is a cost factor also.

Let me see if you can tell us which form of application is the most cost effective?? That means Labor and equipment also.