The Best Lawn Spreaders

This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more

A spreader is the cheapest tool in the garage and one of the easiest to get wrong. Uneven coverage shows up a few weeks later as green and yellow stripes, or as thin patches where seed never landed.

The fix is mostly technique: the right spreader type, a quick calibration check and a two-direction pattern. The spreader itself only needs to be steady and hold its setting.

I look after my own lawn and work with tools and machinery in my workshop. I have not tested these spreaders. The picks are based on the published specs, owner reviews on the maker pages, and university extension guidance on calibration.

The picks

Scotts’ coverage figures mean square feet of Scotts product per fill, not hopper weight. Heavier or lighter products change that.

Broadcast vs drop vs handheld

Broadcast (rotary) spreaders

Product falls onto a spinning plate that throws it out in a wide arc. Penn State Extension explains that rotary spreaders cover large areas quickly but are less precise, so passes need to overlap. Clemson’s Home & Garden Information Center adds that the spread is heaviest right in front of the spreader and lighter toward the edges, and that faster walking and heavier granules throw product farther.

Best for: medium to large lawns. Scotts puts broadcast spreaders at lawns up to about 20,000 sq ft without a lot of landscaping, per its spreader help guide.

Drop spreaders

A row of holes drops product straight down between the wheels. Penn State says the swath is usually 1.5 to 3 feet wide, and that drop spreaders are more accurate and better for small or confined areas and fine granules, but slow on big lawns. Clemson recommends them for edges and sensitive areas, like around a pool.

Best for: lawns with lots of beds, walks and edges, and anyone who wants product to land exactly where they aim.

The catch: passes have to line up edge to edge, “like laying wallpaper strips,” as Penn State puts it. Miss by a few inches and you get a stripe.

Handheld spreaders

A small hopper with a crank or a battery-powered spinner. Scotts recommends handhelds for lawns of 1,500 sq ft or less and tight spaces.

Best for: small lawns, patching bare spots, and spreading ice melt on steps.

Quick guide

1. Scotts Turf Builder EdgeGuard DLX: best overall

The EdgeGuard DLX (SKU 76232B) is Scotts’ full-size broadcast spreader. Scotts says it holds product for up to 15,000 sq ft, comes pre-calibrated with no assembly beyond flipping up the handle, and works with fertilizer, grass seed, granular control products, ice melt and screened rock salt, per Scotts’ product page.

Ace Hardware’s listing gives a 60 lb hopper, a spread up to 5 feet wide, a curved hopper and a dual-bladed agitator for steadier flow.

The EdgeGuard lever blocks the right side of the spread pattern. You use it on the first lap around the edge of the lawn, so product stays off the driveway, sidewalk and beds.

Why it’s the pick:

• Big enough for most suburban lawns in one fill.
• Edge guard handles the boundary pass without a second spreader.
• Scotts bag labels list settings for it.

What to watch: plastic construction and plastic wheels. Scotts offers no mechanical warranty, only its one-year money-back guarantee. Scotts’ help guide also says these broadcast models can’t be manually adjusted, so if a calibration check fails, the fix is replacement.

2. Scotts Turf Builder EdgeGuard Mini: best for small lawns

The EdgeGuard Mini (SKU 76121B) covers up to 5,000 sq ft per fill, has the same EdgeGuard lever, and arrives fully assembled and calibrated, per Scotts. A fold-down handle helps it fit on a garage shelf.

Why it’s a good choice:

• Right-sized for city and townhouse lawns.
• Lighter and cheaper than the DLX.
• Same edge control.

What to watch: you’ll refill often on a lawn over 5,000 sq ft. Like the DLX, it has no mechanical warranty, just the one-year money-back guarantee.

3. Scotts Turf Builder Classic Drop Spreader: best drop spreader

The Classic Drop (SKU 76565A) has a 22-inch spread pattern and holds product for up to 10,000 sq ft, per Scotts’ product page. It comes assembled and factory-calibrated, and Scotts’ help guide includes a simple check for it: set the micrometer to 8 and see if the shutoff bar lines up with the calibration line, then turn the adjustment screw if not.

Why it’s a good choice:

• Product lands only where you push it.
• Adjustable, unlike Scotts’ broadcast models.
• Good on lawns cut up by beds and walkways.

What to watch: a 22-inch strip means many more passes than a broadcast spreader, and lining them up takes care. Scotts listed it as out of stock on its own site when I checked, so check retailers.

4. Scotts Wizz: best handheld

The Wizz is a battery-powered handheld broadcast spreader. Scotts lists coverage up to 2,500 sq ft, a trigger with no cranking, 4 AA batteries included, an EdgeGuard lever and dial settings that match Scotts bag labels, per Scotts’ product page. A dealer listing for the earlier part number 71131 gives a 5-foot broadcast area (Paul B. Hardware).

Why it’s a good choice:

• Even spinner speed without hand-cranking.
• Handles seed for patches, fertilizer on small lawns and ice melt in winter.
• Small enough to hang on a hook.

What to watch: it’s a small-lawn tool. Scotts’ own guide puts handhelds at 1,500 sq ft or less, so on a larger lawn the arm gets tired and coverage gets uneven. Scotts’ US page shows SKU 71141 while older listings use 71131.

5. Earthway 2150 Commercial: best heavy-duty broadcast

The Earthway 2150 is a steel-framed walk-behind broadcast spreader built for heavier use. Gemplers’ listing gives a 50 lb hopper, 13 x 4.00 pneumatic tires on rustproof poly rims, a fully enclosed gearbox, rate controls on the handle, adjustable left and right side ports, a shut-off plate and hopper screen, a 23 lb weight and US manufacture. Walmart’s listing confirms the 50 lb poly hopper and 13-inch pneumatic tires.

Why it’s a good choice:

• Pneumatic tires roll over bumpy ground without bouncing product around.
• Side ports let you shape the pattern near edges.
• Built to be repaired rather than replaced.

What to watch: it isn’t pre-calibrated to Scotts bag settings, so you need to calibrate it yourself. It costs roughly twice as much as the DLX, and neither listing gives a coverage figure. For a typical suburban lawn used a few times a year, it’s more than you need.

How to calibrate a spreader (quick version)

Label settings are a starting point, not a guarantee. Clemson and Penn State both say to calibrate for each spreader, each product and each person, because walking speed changes the output.

1. Find your swath width. For a drop spreader it’s the width between the wheels. For a broadcast spreader, Clemson’s method is to lay shallow pans in a line 1 foot apart, walk over them several times, and weigh what lands in each. The effective swath is where the outer pans hold about half of the center pan.
2. Mark a test strip, 50 or 100 feet long.
3. Work out the target. Multiply the label rate per 1,000 sq ft by your swath width and strip length, then divide by 1,000.
4. Load a known weight, around 5 to 10 lb, and walk the strip at your normal pace.
5. Weigh what’s left. The difference is what you applied. Adjust the setting and repeat until it matches.

For Scotts’ own spreaders, its help guide gives quick checks: a 1/4-inch drill bit test at setting 3 for EdgeGuard broadcast models, and the calibration line at setting 8 for the Classic Drop.

How to spread evenly

• Fill on a hard surface, not the lawn, and sweep up spills.
• Do a header strip first. Run one lap around the edge with EdgeGuard on, then fill in the middle with it off.
• Walk at a steady pace. Scotts suggests about 4 feet per second.
• Start walking before you open the gate, and close it before you stop or turn. Penn State also says not to push the spreader backward.
• Use the two-direction method. Set the spreader for half the label rate and cover the lawn twice, the second time at a right angle to the first. Both Clemson and Penn State recommend this to hide skips and overlaps.
• Space broadcast passes by your measured swath width. For a drop spreader, overlap the wheel tracks.
• Avoid windy days with light products like seed.
• Follow the product label for the rate, whether the lawn should be wet or dry, and watering in.

Fertilizer timing depends on your grass. Cool-season lawns in the North are usually fed mainly in fall, warm-season lawns in the South during summer growth. See when to fertilize your lawn and my lawn care calendar.

Cleaning and storage

• Empty the hopper after every use. Put unused product back in its bag and seal it.
• Rinse the spreader, including underneath, and let it dry fully. Fertilizer salts corrode metal parts.
• Lubricate moving parts before storage, as Penn State recommends.
• Leave the gate open in the off-season to relieve spring tension, per Scotts.
• Store it dry in a garage or shed.

What to spread with it

• Fertilizer: see best lawn fertilizer.
• Pre-emergent: see best pre-emergent for lawns. Timing matters more than the spreader here.
• Grass seed: see best grass seed and how to overseed a lawn.
• Ice melt: broadcast spreaders and the Wizz handle it. Rinse well afterward.

My pick

For most lawns, buy the Scotts EdgeGuard DLX. It’s pre-calibrated, covers a typical suburban lawn in one fill, and the edge guard keeps fertilizer off the driveway. Small lawns can go with the EdgeGuard Mini, and patch work suits the Wizz. Choose the Classic Drop if precision near beds matters most, and the Earthway 2150 if you have rough ground or spread often.