Seasonal weekly benchmark — May 3
Lawn Fertilizer
May 3Rank Trend
How top brands moved week over week. Rank 1 is the top position.
The lawn fertilizer category remains a Scotts/Milorganite duopoly with The Andersons firmly the #3 across most models. Lesco is gaining traction as the pro-grade recommendation specifically in Claude and Gemini. Jonathan Green has emerged as a Gemini favorite but lacks broad cross-model authority. Sunday continues to have weak AI visibility despite massive DTC marketing spend, appearing in only 2 of 4 models. This is consistent with prior runs and suggests Sunday has a structural AI visibility problem worth addressing.
Top Brands by AI Mention Frequency
Mention frequency counts how many times a brand appeared across all AI responses. This differs from top-pick rank, which reflects each model’s #1 choice.
Dropped this week
Why These Brands Win
- All 4 models continue to recommend slow-release nitrogen as the foundation for cool-season lawn care.
- Every model emphasizes soil testing (typically Iowa State Extension at $20) before guessing on phosphorus.
- All agree on holiday-schedule timing (Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Halloween) for 4 annual applications.
- Budget prompts universally feature Milorganite, Scotts, and Expert Gardener/Sta-Green.
- Models agree on iron content for color and warn against over-applying synthetic fertilizers in summer.
Cross-Agent Comparison
How 4 AI models rank the same category. Hover a brand to trace it across models.
4 agents · top 3 each
| Agent | #1 | #2 | #3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| chatgpt | Milorganite | Scotts | Expert Gardener |
| claude | Scotts | Milorganite | The Andersons |
| gemini | Milorganite | Jonathan Green | Scotts |
| perplexity | The Andersons | Scotts | Milorganite |
What This Means
- ChatGPT is the most commerce-formatted with prices and review counts, and surfaces Pennington, Dr.
- Earth, Sunday Kickstart, and Expert Gardener that other models barely or never mention.
- Claude is the most opinionated and Iowa-specific (location-aware), uniquely recommending The Andersons PGF Complete + Milorganite as the canonical 2-product setup.
- Plus Lesco from SiteOne and Sunniland/Yard Mastery for enthusiasts.
- Gemini introduces Sta-Green as a budget powerhouse and uniquely positions Jonathan Green as the #1 "show stopper." Perplexity is the most consolidated And surfaces Texas Tee, Urea, Ammonium sulfate, Simple Lawn Solutions, and Down to Earth as unique niche options.
Opportunity for Brands
- Sta-Green only appears in Gemini.
- Texas Tee only appears in Perplexity.
- Urea and Ammonium sulfate only appear in Perplexity.
- Simple Lawn Solutions only appears in Perplexity.
- Down to Earth only appears in Perplexity.
- Sunniland only appears in Claude.
- Expert Gardener only appears in ChatGPT.
- Earth only appears in ChatGPT.
- Sunday appears in ChatGPT and Gemini but drops elsewhere.
- Major retail brands like Vigoro (Home Depot house brand), GreenView, and BioAdvanced are absent from this run.
- Pennington has lost cross-model presence vs prior runs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What lawn fertilizer does AI recommend most?▾
Which lawn fertilizer brand ranks #1 across all AI models?▾
Why does ChatGPT recommend different lawn fertilizer than Claude?▾
What lawn fertilizer brands are invisible to AI?▾
How we measure this
Each benchmark runs the same standardized prompts across multiple leading AI systems, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. We use consistent, category-specific questions designed to surface genuine product recommendations — not sponsored results.
Responses are parsed to extract brand mentions, rank position, and frequency. We then analyze cross-model agreement, identify which brands consistently appear in top positions, and flag where AI outputs diverge from marketplace trends.
Seasonal categories are benchmarked weekly during active periods. Results reflect organic AI behavior at the time of testing. Read the full methodology
Your competitors are showing up in AI results. Are you?
The lawn fertilizer market is dominated by Scotts and Milorganite in AI recommendations, with The Andersons as the consistent premium #3. Sunday has had inconsistent AI visibility across 5 weekly runs despite heavy DTC investment, they appear in 0-2 models per run with no consistent pattern. Pennington has weakened over the past month. Mid-market brands like Jonathan Green, Lesco, and Espoma have meaningful single-model presence but fragmented cross-model authority. If your fertilizer brand isn't Scotts, Milorganite, or The Andersons, you're fighting for visibility in specific AI surfaces. And Sunday's case shows that even big DTC marketing budgets don't translate to AI authority without targeted optimization.
Book Your Free AuditNeed help getting your brand into these AI recommendations? Robert Hu offers strategic consulting for e-commerce brands