What do the three numbers on my bag/bottle of fertilizer mean?

The 3 numbers on fertilizer bags and bottles are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the three main macronutrients that your turf needs to dominate.  When you see 3 numbers on bags/bottles of fertilizer, those are representative of the percentage of these 3 nutrients in that particular fertilizer. 

This is a standard: ALL fertilizers will have an analysis on their bag or bottle, just like this example bag of our 24-0-6 Flagship fertilizer below: 

The analysis 24-0-6 stands for N-P-K and tells you that 24% of the bag contains nitrogen (N), 0% contains phosphorus (P), and 6% contains potassium (K). 

Here is an example of a bottle of fertilizer where you can see those numbers as well: 

You can see in this GreenePunch example that there is 18% nitrogen (N), 0% phosphorus (P), and 1% potassium (K). 

Here is a blog post from the Lawn Care Nut himself with more details: https://thelawncarenut.com/blogs/news/the-ins-and-outs-of-lawn-fertilizers 

Keywords: fertilizer, macronutrients, numbers, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus