What is the significance, if any, of the color of osmocote? Is it an indicator of release rate? Retail products seem to come in tan and grey and green is often found in nursery containers.
different manufacturers of time release nutrients. Osmocote is a brand name, like Aspirin. there is also Nutricote which is grey. the green stuff I know of and its common but I dont know the name of it. Within a product line color can indicate individual nutrients (although a blended prill is preferred) or, the coating type (speed of release)
Acer brand is green, sold by Evergro. Osmocote is tan coloured, much pricier than Acer, nutricote is priced between those two.
re price. I think the last bag I bought of nutricote 14-14-14 180 day release was about $80 or $90 for a 50lb bag. thats (was) the wholesale cost.
So the color of osmocote (in the generic sense) is an unreliable indicator of anything other than possibly the manufacturer. My initial thought of the small, green ones is that of a quick-release type to give a plant a boost at the nursery just before being sold or shipped out.
Colour doesn't indicate release time, correct. My Acer (green) is 8-9 month release, but all the brands make stuff that can release in about 3 months as well. The coating is the same, just different thicknesses of it. Paul, the Acer is quite a bit cheaper, as you probably know, $50+ per bag. I'm trying oscmocote this season to see if it's worth the premium...when you figure how much it costs per plant the difference is just pennies and would be worth it if the quality and uniformity of growth was noticeably better. Guess I'll know by next fall! Glen
for myself, I have switched most of my fertilizing methods to get away from the specific blended salt based , so called "chemical" fertilizers. I am mostly using, alfalfa meal, glacial rock dust, compost tea, sea kelp liquid and some others. I dont do a lot of this work but I have been happy with the results so far.
I use Osmocote (don't recall the ratio) but it's yellow. Not the tan, gray or green mentioned in the original posting. It fades thru the season as it activates in container applications to a very pale, almost clear (fish egg) remnant by November. It's a product I purchased at a wholesale rate for larger applications.
