It's a new hydro-seeded lawn with questionable soil composition.

Thanks

I'm not a pro, so hopefully someone will chime in here about your hydroseeded lawn and soil.

Huh? Where did you come up with that propaganda? Since When did nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium become toxins? You would die without those elements. You can prove it to your self, just quit breathing, eating, and drinking. You will be dead in about 5 minutes or less.

We all know this story is out there. I think it comes from the idea that poisonous herbicides and insecticides are not used on organic gardens. I realize that every precaution is taken in dosing out the poisons but that does not prevent someone from over applying. Generally with fertilizers, the poison problem should be very minimal. Still, parents do worry.

The big difference between organic fertilizer and chemical fertilizer is that organic feeds the soil microbes while chemical feeds the plants directly. Chemical fertilizers do not feed the microbes but affect the microbes with the salty nature of the chemicals.

I believe plants do know the difference between being force fed through osmotic pressure (salty chemicals) and receiving natural plant food through the natural processes.

I found the following that I prepared here many years ago.

Here's a list of things an organic program can do that no chemical can do. The beneficial microbes in the soil do the following.
1. Decompose plant residues and manure to humus.
2. Retain nutrients in humus.
3. Combine nitrogen and carbon to prevent nutrient loss.
4. Suppress disease.
5. Produce plant growth regulators.
6. Develop soil structure, tilth, and water penetration/retention.
7. Clean up chemical residues.
8. Shift soil pH to neutral and keep it there.
9. Search out and retrieve nutrients in distant parts of the soil.
10. Decompose thatch and keep it from returning.
11. Control nitrogen supply to the plants according to need.
12. Pull minerals out of inorganic soil components for plants.
13. Provide the exact chemical nutrients to the plant that the plant has evolved with rather than man's cheapest chemical approximation.
14. Provide exactly the required quantity of nutrients that the plant needs.
15. Provide the nutrients at exactly the right time that the plant needs them.

No chemical can do any of that. To be fair, no single microbe can do all of that either. In fact, it could be that it takes 10 different species, one working right after the other, to do any one item in the above list - sort of like a microbiological assembly line. But at least it's real easy to get all the right microbes. The biology of the soil is very complicated.
At the same time, many chemicals inhibit the microbe's natural abilities to do these things. Herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides are all designed to kill various biological life. As a byproduct, they often kill off the beneficial microbes that are doing 1 through 15 above. Any break in the assembly line can interrupt the process, damage the mini ecosystem, and lessen the benefit of the organic methods.

We could argue specific points of this, I'll admit it needs to be updated, but in general this covers what an organic program will do.

Have you read the Organic Lawn Care FAQ on the Organic Gardening forum?

"My most important pro for organic fertilizer is that I have peace of mind knowing my kids are not getting poisoned when they play outside in the yard."

Absolutely one of the most ridiculous pieces of misinformation I continue to see from people who don't take the time to become educated on the subject matter of synthetic fertilizers. Fertilizers can be composed of any one of the 16 essential elements required for plant growth and development. If it does not contain any one of these elements, then it is not a true fertlilzer. The comments above from texas-weed say it better than I could.

In the future, please become more educated on the subject matter before posting such pieces of misinformation. I have to believe that the OP was thinking of "pesticides" instead of fertilizers.

I did the organic thing the last year we lived in IL as an experiment figuring if I trashed the lawn it would not be my problem. Between milky spore for grubs and Milorganite for fertilization, and proper care + hand-control for weeds, I only had to use one Scott's application and that was to winterize since soil temps were already too cold there at that time to allow the Milorganite to do its thing.

I suspect if you try Milorganite for a season you won't have much reason to go back to Scott's.