YardWorks is one of the biggest domestic spreader manufacturing companies in the United States. Their product line primarily consists of manual broadcast and drop spreaders, ideal for lawn dressing in the home.
At the same time, some contract lawn top-dressers are also fond of their tools due to their durability and assurance. While it may be easy for contract lawn top-dressers to work with the right spreader settings because they’re quite experienced with many products, the story changes when it comes to homeowners who do their top-dressing themselves.
There are many cases where first-timers or amateur top-dressers try to spread a product with the wrong settings and end up using more than they should; sometimes, it gets even worse when their spread isn’t enough, thus affecting the effectiveness of the spreading.
To avoid this scenario for all first-timers using Yardworks spreaders, we’ve outlined standard spreader settings for a plethora of lawn dressing products. These settings below will cover spreader settings extensively for all types of topdressing and soil banding products you’ll ever need for your lawn.
Yardworks Spreader Settings
For this article, we will focus on Yardworks’ bestselling broadcast and heavy-duty drop spreader, the Yardworks 85LB Broadcast Spreader (Model BS0001-85), and the SKU#264-1227 Heavy-duty Drop Spreader (Model CT0085-75).
Yardworks design their spreaders such that the spreader settings are compatible with both types of spreaders. While that’s the case, if you’ve got another broadcast or drop spreader by Yardworks, you can also use the same settings because that aspect doesn’t get a lot of changes even on different models. At any rate, we will give a simple strategy for getting a proper spreader setting for users working with other spreader models.
| Product | Settings | lbs/1000 sq. ft. |
| Lesco Pre-M.80% Plus Fertilizer 25-0-7 | 2 | 4 |
| Lesco Starter Fertilizer 18-24-12 | 2 | 4.2 |
| Lesco Turf Fertilizer 21-2-11 | 2 | 4.2 |
| Lesco Weed and Feed | 2 | 4 |
| Pennington Lawn Starter Fertilizer 18-21-6 | 2 | 3.6 |
| Pennington Master Turf High Traffic Lawn Seed Mixture | 2 | 10 |
| Pennington Master Turf Shady Lawn Seed Mixture | 3 | 4 |
| Pennington Master Turf Sun & Shade Lawn Seed Mixture | 3 | 5 |
| Rebels Supreme Blend Grass Seed for Sun and Shade | 2 | 10 |
| Real-Kill Multi-Purpose Lawn and Garden Insect Killer | 1.5 | 2 |
| Ringer Lawn Restore 10-2-6 | 2 | 10 |
| Master Turf Ultimate Tall Fescue Blend | 2.5 | 4 |
| Milogranite 6-2-0 | 5 | 16 |
| Miracle-Gro Lawn Fertilizer Plus Weed Control 28-3-3 | 2 | 3.2 |
| Miracle-Gro Starter Lawn Fertilizer 20-27-5 | 2 | 3.6 |
| Miracle-Gro Starter Lawn Fertilizer 29-3-4 | 1.5 | 3.1 |
| Ortho Lawn Insect Killer Granules | 2 | 4.8 |
| Ortho Max Insect Killer for Lawns | 2 | 4 |
| Parkers Super Soilife Lawn & Garden Fertilizer 10-10-10 | 3 | 10 |
| Parkers Super Soilife Lawn & Garden Fertilizer 16-4-8 | 2 | 6.5 |
| Sam’s Choice Crabgrass Preventer 30-3-4 | 3 | 6 |
| Sam’s Choice Insect Control Plus Fertilizer 28-4-6 | 1.5 | 3 |
| Sam’s Choice Lawn Food 29-3-4 | 2 | 3.2 |
| Sam’s Choice Starter Fertilizer 20-27-5 | 3 | 6 |
| Scotts Classic Grass Seed Fall Grass Seed Mix | 3 | 4 |
| Scotts Grubex | 1.5 | 2.3 |
| Scotts Grubex Season Long Grub Control | 2 | 3.1 |
| Scotts Lawn Fungus Control | 2 | 2.7 |
| Scotts Pure Premium Kentucky Bluegrass Mix | 2 | 2.2 |
| Scotts Pure Premium Sun & Shade Grass Seed Mixture | 2 | 2.5 |
| Scotts Starter Fertilizer 20-27-5 | 2 | 3.6 |
| Scotts Turf Builder 28-3-8 | 2 | 2.7 |
| Scotts Turf Builder Supreme Guard | 2 | 2.7 |
| Scotts Winterizer 22-1-1 | 1 | 3.3 |
| Sevin Lawn Insect Granules | 2 | 2.3 |
| Spectracide Grub S.op | 2 | 3 |
| Spectracide Triazicide Insect Killer Granules | 1 | 3 |
| Sia-Green Lawn Weed Control | 1.5 | 2 |
| Sia-Green 200 Plus Weed & Feed 28-3-3 | 2 | 3.2 |
| Sia-Green Starter Fertilizer 18-24-10 | 2 | 3.6 |
| Sia-Green Weed &Feed 28-2-1 | 2 | 3.2 |
| Sun & Shade Grass Seed Mixture | 4 | 10 |
| Vigro Insect Control Plus Fertilizer | 1 | 3 |
| Vigro Turf Fertilizer 29-3-4 | 1.5 | 3.2 |
| Vigro Ultra Turf Winterizer 22-3-14 | 1.5 | 3 |
| Vigro Starter Fertilizer | 2 | 3.6 |
| Vigro Weed & Feed | 2 | 3.2 |
| All America All Purpose Fertilizer 10-13-10 | 3 | 10 |
| Bayer Season Long Grub Control | 2.5 | 3.8 |
| Bayer Complete Insect Killer | 2 | 3 |
| Bayer Power Force Multi-Insect Killer | 1 | 2 |
| Bayer Grub Control | 1.5 | 3 |
| Bayer Lawn Starter Fertilizer 20-27-5 | 2 | 3.6 |
| Bayer Lawn Fertilizer Plus Crabgrass Preventer 30-3-4 | 2 | 3.2 |
| Eliminator Ant, Flea & Tick Killer Granules | 2 | 3 |
| Eliminator 5% Diazinon Insect Killer Granules | 2 | 2 |
| Howard Johnsons All-purpose Fertilizer 8-8-8 | 2.5 | 7 |
| Howard Johnsons All-purpose Fertilizer 10-10-10 | 2.5 | 7 |
| Howard Johnsons All-purpose Fertilizer 12-12-12 | 2.5 | 7 |
| Ironite 1-0-0 | 2 | 5 |
| Klay Soft Pelletized Gypsum Soil Conditioner | 2 | 4 |
| Wal Mart Garcens Kentucky Bluegrass Grass Seed | 2 | 2 |
| Wal Mart Weed & Feed 29-3-3 | 2 | 3.2 |
How to Determine Your Spreader Setting without a Setting Chart or Table
While most lawn topdressing products will come with spreader settings compatible with many popular lawn spreaders, others will often need your intuition to get the right spreader settings for your application. Also, people with less common spreaders are affected because settings for their particular spreader may not be included with others written on the bag or pack of the product.
As said earlier, getting the proper spreader setting in these cases will require some intuition, and also, a level of trust in your abilities. You want to go slowly while using a testing ground that’s no more than ¼ of the entire yard, and of course not your results during testing.
You can follow the steps below:
Step #1
Add a weighed portion of the material you’re spreading to the hopper. This weighed portion should ideally follow the recommended quantity used with other spreaders per 1000 sq. ft. If the available manual has a random lbs/1000sq.ft. depending on the spreader, you will need to work with the average, rounding up to the nearest 0.5lbs.
Step #2
Set the spreader to no more than ¼ of its entire setting range, and proceed to test. Focus on the coverage and application rate; allowing you to determine the correct lbs/1000 sq. ft. and the proper setting. You can get the correct lbs/1000 sq. ft. when you measure the leftover material in the hopper, and in cases when you come up short, decrease the settings before spreading the remaining part of the lawn.
Ideally, you want to start small if you’re spreading fertilizers; it’s better to under-fertilize because over-fertilization can damage the lawn. However, if you’re applying a soil treatment or insecticide, you go in larger quantities.
