Yard Mastery is a soil treatment and fertilizer production company. They own some of the most used soil treatment products in lawns around the United States. While that’s the case, many of the spreaders out there may not have guidelines or manuals on how to spread these products to achieve optimum results.
Thus, we’ve taken the time to test out some popular spreaders on the most used Yard Mastery products, coming up with a standard spreader settings guide that you can follow during topdressing.
Yard Mastery Spreader Settings
It’s important to point out that the settings below should be used as starting point and shouldn’t exactly define the line in the sand when it comes to Yard Mastery spread application settings.
Moreso, there are many factors like age, and factory calibration that may affect the results of a calibrated spreader, so you want to be testing on a small portion of the lawn (no more than ¼) before spreading on the entire area.
Yard Mastery Freedom 12-7-6 Spreader Settings
| SPREADER | SETTINGS (3lbs/1000 sq. ft.) |
| Scotts Elite | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard DLX | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard MINI | 5.25 |
| Earthway 2600 A Plus | 16 |
| Earthway 2050 | 16 |
| Echo RB 60 | 5.5 |
| Lesco | 14 |
Yard Mastery Stress Blend 7-0-20 Spreader Settings
| SPREADER | SETTINGS (3lbs/1000sq.ft.) |
| Scotts Elite | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard DLX | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard MINI | 5.25 |
| Earthway 2600 A Plus | 16 |
| Earthway 2050 | 16 |
| Echo RB 60 | 5.5 |
| Lesco | 14 |
Yard Mastery Flagship 24-0-6 Fertilizer Spreader Settings
| SPREADER | SETTINGS (3lbs/1000sq.ft.) |
| Scotts Elite | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard DLX | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard MINI | 5.25 |
| Earthway 2600 A Plus | 16 |
| Earthway 2050 | 16 |
| Echo RB 60 | 5.5 |
| Lesco | 14 |
Yard Mastery Double Dark 16-0-0 Spreader Settings
| SPREADER | SETTINGS (3lbs/1000sq.ft.) |
| Scotts Elite | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard DLX | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard MINI | 5.25 |
| Earthway 2600 A Plus | 16 |
| Earthway 2050 | 16 |
| Echo RB 60 | 5.5 |
| Lesco | 14 |
Yard Mastery Starter Fertilizer 12-12-12 Spreader Settings
| SPREADER | SETTINGS (3lbs/1000sq.ft.) |
| Scotts Elite | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard DLX | 5.25 |
| Scott Edguard MINI | 5.25 |
| Earthway 2600 A Plus | 16 |
| Earthway 2050 | 16 |
| Echo RB 60 | 5.5 |
| Lesco | 14 |
Yard Mastery Dithiopyr Spreader Settings
| SPREADER | SETTINGS 4lbs/1000sq.ft. |
| Scotts Elite | 6 |
| Scott Edguard DLX | 6 |
| Scott Edguard MINI | 6 |
| Earthway 2600 A Plus | 17.75 |
| Earthway 2050 | 17.75 |
| Echo RB 60 | 6.5 |
| Lesco | 16 |
Yard Mastery Prodiamine Spreader Settings
| SPREADER | SETTINGS 3lbs/1000sq.ft. |
| Scotts Elite | 5.5 |
| Scott Edguard DLX | 5.5 |
| Scott Edguard MINI | 5.5 |
| Earthway 2600 A Plus | 17 |
| Earthway 2050 | 17 |
| Echo RB 60 | 5 |
| Lesco | 15 |
There you go! If you’ve got any of these spreaders, starting with the settings above will surely put you on the right path to achieving a well-dressed lawn.
However, in cases where you’re using a spreader not among the ones listed, you can set your gauge to around ¼ of the entire scale, and follow intuition to get the right settings. At any rate, if it’s a spreader using similar gauges like the ones listed above, then you can simply replicate the settings; it’ll do just fine.
How to Apply Any Fertilizer to the Lawn: Step by Step Guide
For the average Joe applying fertilizers to the lawn may only involve spreading the fertilizer with a recommended spreader setting and watering down. However, the steps aren’t all that simple in an actual lawn banding or topdressing.
This section of the page will give a step-by-step guide on applying any type of fertilizer to a lawn. Before we go into detail, it’s important to first understand that although this is directly a guide for fertilizer application, part of it can also be used for soil treatment application, just need a few tweaks from your end.
Step 1: Test the Grass Sample
Testing the grass sample first is vital to achieving optimum results. This is because the result gives you the information needed to know the grass’s breed, thus you know when to apply the fertilizers in the first place.
Typically, you want to be fertilizing warm-season grass twice every spring and fall, with each application having a 30-days interval. Also, you should carry out the first application procedures during the first week of both spring and fall.
On the other hand, cool-season grass should be fertilized once during spring and twice in the fall. Also, you want to give a 30-days interval between fertilizer applications in the fall and make sure the first application in both spring and fall happens during the first week.
Step 2: Mow the Lawn
Now here’s where the work begins; you want to mow your lawn three days before fertilizer application. Also, you should water after mowing to give the soil a soft texture, preparing it for fertilization day.
Step 3: Apply Your Fertilizer
Next, you want to carry out the fertilizer application with the right spreader settings. We recommend you use a fertilizer of equal composition of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium; NPK 10-10-10 or NPK 12-12-12 are good examples.
However, in cases where there are certain nutritional deficiencies in the soil, a standard fertilizer may not be needed, so you’ll have to go for a soil treatment product. You can find out what exactly your soil needs by conducting a soil test.
Step 4: Water down the Fertilizer
To round up, you want to water the lawn with a sprinkler. If you don’t have a dedicated sprinkler, you can improvise by fixing one on a garden hose, or making sure the hose supplies water in a squirting manner. This is because a direct application with a hose may risk overwatering which will wash away the fertilizer. Lastly, you want to stop watering after getting a depth of 3 inches.
