Fertilizer Spreaders - Let me Complain

[Hondo]

Can I complain for a moment? You are reading a post from someone who is really, really frustrated over what he's finding in the way of fertilizer spreaders here in the US. Let me take you into Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine (and that may be going back too far for most of you, come to think of it...)

I remember when my Dad bought his Scotts spreader. It was big, green and yellow, and was made of metal. I mean, like ALL metal. The hopper was metal, the control bar on the bottom was metal, even the wheels were metal with hard rubber treads. When I finally bought a home around eleven years ago, I went on the hunt for a spreader of my own. I ended up with what is now called a "Scotts Classic Spreader", which I think at the time they called a Scotts 2000. I used it one season before it broke, and thought I was a real fool for pissing away my money on something so unbelievably cheap. All plastic, except for the handles. The design was so poorly executed, the metal handle would flex and twist every time I tried to turn the spreader to start the next row. I was beside myself. How could a company with the reputation of Scotts put such a tremendous piece of junk on the market? Maybe they figure you younger folks don't know any better. But I figure a spreader that is so flimsy it twists and flexes every time you turn it is on the border of a breakdown, and designed (like many things these days) to be the "bare minimum acceptable" design. IMHO, taking that kind of design philosophy approach produces nothing but junk. And so we have the Scotts drop spreader.

So what about a broadcast spreader? Well the big concern there is two-fold. Double coverage of fertilizer, and wastage due to fertilizing areas like my garden, sidewalk, driveway, and street. Good lawn fertilizer is expensive, and candidly, I don't like the idea of putting so much fertilizer, weed killer, insect killer, etc. into our local lake and streams. In nearly all cases, I can't see that the broadcast spreaders are much better than the drop spreaders, with issues such as poor hopper design/feeding, poor feed channels, no mechanism for breaking clumps into granular form, throwing fertilizer on your legs, etc.

I located one company that makes a decent metal drop spreader, but it runs in the range of $500, and that's just too much when you consider I use it two times each year. So I'm in a quandary. I am currently using my Dad's old spreader, which had a fiberglass hopper and plastic feed bar, but it's dying and I need to find a replacement. If I must go with a broadcast spreader, I will, because I'm not going to blow off $57 for another Scotts drop spreader that looks like it cost about $10 to manufacture. So I'm open to ideas for anyone will to share.

Man, I sure wish they still made a variation of the old metal spreader. Granted, it did have a tendency to rust at the feed channels, but it's 2016 now, and I'm sure Scotts could come up with a good solution. Is it really THAT HARD and THAT EXPENSIVE to continue manufacturing a design you already own? As of right now, I see nothing but junk, but maybe I'm being too harsh. Tell me your good news story.

[OldGlory]

I have this:

https://www.amazon.com/Scotts-Pro-EdgeG ... B004TTB0QG

The edge guard works ok and does help to keep fertilizer off of driveways and out of flower beds. If you watch your disbursement pattern you can ensure good coverage with little waste. There should be some overlap but not excessive. The hopper and auger are plastic but have held up for a few years now. I use it weekly during the spring and a few times a month in Aug-Oct. Big tires roll easily even when holding two bags of Milo.

[ken-n-nancy]

If you're patient, craigslist can be your avenue to pick up a used drop spreader like your dad used to have. It will probably only cost you $25 or so, and give you many years of satisfaction.

[desirous]

If you're patient, craigslist can be your avenue to pick up a used drop spreader like your dad used to have. It will probably only cost you $25 or so, and give you many years of satisfaction.

Like this?
https://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/grd/5825732925.html

[desirous]

How could a company with the reputation of Scotts put such a tremendous piece of junk on the market?

In the business world, "the reputation" is called "goodwill". It is on the balance sheet, a substantial part of the assets of a company. At some point, a company decides to convert that goodwill to cash. They start selling crap at high prices, slapping "Scotts" label on it. We buy it because of the reputation. Of course, eventually that reputation changes. That's why the "goodwill" has a cash value.

Unfortunately for me, I've worked at an iconic company when it decided to cash in on the goodwill...

[LoneRanger]

I located one company that makes a decent metal drop spreader, but it runs in the range of $500, and that's just too much when you consider I use it two times each year.

Decent?! That price range will snag you a 36" top quality; all-metal construction; professional brand with stainless steel, precision metering-plate and sintered bearings.

[01redcrew]

eartheway seems to be a decent name around here

[1977212]

Argifab isn't that bad either. Remember to always calibrate it yourself.

[flyin-lowe]

I always start in far enough from the edge/garden/sidewalk, so I am not slinging material where I don't want it to go. I know how far one direction me spreader will go so I work off of that.

[MorpheusPA]

Honestly, I can't complain about my Scott's EdgeGuard. The last one moved 10,000 pounds of material before it finally died. This one is already at about half that and still doing very, very well.

[rtomek]

The previous owner left one of those metal drop spreaders in the shed when I bought my house. I picked up an edgeguard from a big box store, used it once and off to the curb went the old one. Your complaints about the broadcast spreader make it sound like you never used one.

[bpgreen]

I think he just wanted to vent. It looks like he hasn't been back since posting his complaint.

[Kran]

I'm with Hondo,
I'm pretty new to the scene of yard management and have been contemplating a spreader for about a year until recently. We don't have too many options in Ozz,it's either big money product or cheap off the net. Pretty much all cheap,means just that. In the end I went for a sprayer and thought I'd go back to basics with an old school manure mix and go liquid. Now the misus jumps on the mower, sprayer behind just to water the plants. It worked a treat as my purchase all of a sudden became justified. Hehehe..

[crabgrass]

The concept of edgeguard is that, when enabled,the right side spray is blocked. So I make a counter-clockwise pass of the perimeter of the property in this mode, and a clockwise pass of any mulch "islands". Then I do the lines but turn short of over-spraying anything This minimizes over-spray. After I leaf blow to get any prills back to the lawn, and finally irrigate. Works fine.