Have you debated over whether it is better to apply you own weed control and fertilizer or to hire a professional? Well, let’s time some time and break down the pros and cons of both options to help you decide.

I have to admit up front that I have some experience with the DIY process, but being a professional weed control and fertilizer applicator I have more experience in that area. I do talk with customers on a daily basis about the complaints and trials that they have when they DIY.

I went out and researched the best DIY product I could find and I bought 4 5000 sq2 bags of Scott’s products. I found serval different types of Scotts and you can easily order them online or visit your local hardware store to purchase them. I found it confusing on what bags to buy online as there were so many options.

I bought four bags to use for a 4 app program for my lawn. Each bag covers 5000 square feet and the cost was approximately $25 per bag not including shipping. To compare on cost, if you were to hire All-Terrain for a 5000 square foot lawn your cost would be $44 per application for a 5000 square foot lawn. So we are looking at a $19 per application savings of doing it yourself.


-You could save up to $19 per application.

-You can apply it whenever you want and not have to be on someone else’s schedule.


-You literally have to do it yourself. You have to put the labor and time into the project.

-You have to know how to spread fertilizer. The process isn’t as easy as it looks, and people tend to run out of product before the lawn is done.

-A spreader costs $30-$200

-You have to store a fertilizer spreader.

-If something goes wrong you have no one to blame but yourself. There isn’t a guarantee behind your personal work.

You can do it yourself or you can hire a local professional to do it.


  1. Figure out what the size of your lawn is. This actually might be a tougher step than you think. You could possibly get a bid from a professional and ask them your lawn size. You could measure yourself, or there are tools online to help you such as Google Earth or local property searches on city of county websites.
  2. Go buy some fertilizer with weed killer. Local stores do not carry it out of season, so you will have to wait until Mid-March to purchase unless you do it online, but then you have to deal with shipping costs.
  3. Find a day/time preferably after mowing to apply your fertilizer. You need to make sure you are applying the correct amount of fertilizer so you don’t run out before you have covered the entire lawn. If you get some and sill have some left over that is not great either. You can go back over spots of lawn to get all of the product but I would pick a specific are to double up on instead of randomly throwing some around as that may cause uneven growth. When applying the fertilizer make sure to stop applying when you get to the ends of the lawn and turn around. All too often the ends the ends get covered multiple times. Applying granular fertilizer takes a couple times for people to do it correctly so keep that in mind and educate yourself before you apply.
  4. After you have applied your product you will want to sweep or blow off of your driveway, sidewalks, and patios as you will have granules on these areas. Reviews online say if you don’t blow it all off immediately it can stain concrete so be vigilant on this.
  5. You will want to wash your spreader and put it away and then you are done with the application process.
  6. Follow up with proper mowing and watering per instructions on your bag.

Your other option is to hire someday to do your weed control and fertilizer.

  1. Research and call somebody you trust to give you pricing. This company will also hopefully be real with you about how many applications are right for you as it is not the same for everyone.
  2. Hire a company and talk through needs you have such as locked gates, pets, lawn problem areas, and set up a plan.
  3. A professional finishes your application, leaves a note in your door for what you should do next.

An average lawn in the Fargo/Moorhead Area is 7000-8000 square feet.

Square Feet DIY Price All-Terrain Price DIY Savings
3000 $25 $30 $5
5000 $25 $44 $19
8000 $50 $55 $5
10000 $50 $63 $13
15000 $75 $81 $6
20000 $100 $100 $0