Pesticide/Herbicide Free Lawn Care

The big chemical lawn companies are starting to have "organic" programs, but from what I've heard they are overpriced and the salespeople try to dissuade people from using them. Also, I don't really think I trust a company that used to be called "Chemlawn" to use truly organic substances....

What we're doing is:

1. In spring and fall, spread an organic fertilizer (I've been using something called Lawns Alive which works beautifully)

2. Brew some "compost tea" (Google it to find out more - it's awesome stuff - great for flowers, shrubs, veggies etc. too) and apply it a few times throughout the year

3. Mow the lawn high... like 3"... which lets the grass thrive while choking off weeds

4. In early spring, spread corn gluten meal which naturally prevents weeds from germinating (don't use this at the same time of any overseeding because it will cause grass seeds not to germinate too)

5. Spot-spray any pesky weeds with an organic weed killer (or you can yank 'em out by the roots, or pour boiling water on them, or spritz with vinegar)

6. I haven't done this yet but it's GREAT for improving soil quality, attracting earthworms (which naturally aerate your soil), which further fertilizes naturally etc... spread compost throughout the lawn. It will work its way down into the soil and really improve the quality.

The great thing about going organic is that after a year or two, you can ease back on how much care you give it... because you're building microbe life and earthworm activity who will NATURALLY fertilize and aerate your soil. Microbes also make your soil more drought-tolerant and a lot of other benefits. With chemicals, you have to keep applying fertilizer or your grass will suffer... and meanwhile, those chemicals are deadening your soil. 

Paying a small child a penny a piece to de-head the dandelions is a nice organic lawn fix, at least in our house.  And hot water on weeds works well too though be careful where you pour.  Crunchy poodle is correct about the height of the lawn:  a too short lawn [which most americans have] is a mecca for weeds but horrid for grasses.  Longer is better.

If you really really want a lawn service instead of do-it-yourself, I'd check a health food store or food co-op.  Where we live, those places all have community bulleton boards where you can find ads for people offering organic gardening services.

That said, personally, lawns are highly overrated.  They take LOTS of water to maintain and are a completely unnatural environment.  We are in the process of turning our front lawn into a veggie garden for organic veggies.

Use white clover in the lawn mixture for automatic nitrogen fixing.  Your lawn will grow just fine.  I never got why anyone would want to cut their lawn MORE OFTEN anyway.

Clover will also act as a ground cover, and keep things moist underneath.  So less need to water to keep green.

Weedkiller is for poison ivy.  Otherwise, why worry about any other plants.  Some are really pretty.  Dandelions make wonderful spring salads, so eat them instead.

We make lawns far more difficult than they need to be.

Hi PS73 - this lawn tonic "recipe" was on our local news a while back, and my SIL swears by it for doing wonders for her lawn. I keep meaning to try it, but haven't yet!

-One full can of regular pop (any kind-no diet soda)

-One full can of beer (no light beer)

-1/2 Cup of Liquid dishwashing soap (do NOT use anti-bacterial dishwashing liquid)

-1/2 Cup of household ammonia

-1/2 Cup of mouthwash (any brand)

-Pour into 10-gallon hose-end sprayer (other sizes will work too)

-In high heat, apply every three weeks

The liquid soap is a wetting agent, helping the formula penetrate to the roots. The ammonia promotes growth and turns your lawn green, and the mouthwash does something you would never suspect mouthwash would do. It kills the bugs and grubs. NOTE: Do NOT use anti-bacterial dishwashing liquid in the mixture as it will kill off important microbes in the lawn and soil that help "digest" thatch.

"It essentially messes-up their re-productive cycles and keeps them out of your lawn and makes it look a lot better and leaves it minty fresh," laughs Heffron. And because it's applied with the hose sprayer, it's a direct shot to your sod. "When you don't have a lot of water and we're on watering restrictions, this is another way to get the nutrients to your lawn and keep it growing."Our lawns are getting enough water this spring to grow and stay green. But how will they fare when the heat hits in a few more weeks?
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9News Consumer Reporter Mark Koebrich looks at a simple formula that many call a "tonic" for a drought stressed lawn. It's a formula you can mix yourself.

It's made up of five common household products that you measure out into 10-gallon hose-end sprayer. A former Golf Course Groundskeeper who lives in Parker, Tim Heffron, found it while watching television years ago in Oklahoma. "I started using it about five years ago back in Oklahoma where it's 100 degrees every day, day in and day out," says Heffron.

Heffron clearly has the best looking lawn in his neighborhood. He has no sprinkler system and only hand-waters his lawn sparingly. He does use small amounts of dry fertilizer as well.

You'll find many similar formulas on the Internet, and we've listed some sights below, but this is a formula that seems to work well in Colorado.

You can use any size hose-end sprayer you can find. Since our first story, many of the 10-gallon rated sprayers have sold out. The "10-gallon" size is just a reference to the hose-end sprayers capacity when under pressure from your hose. It does not mean the sprayer has a 10-gallon tank. Again, if you don't already have a hose-end sprayer (a device with a little plastic jug, usually about a quart to a quart-and-a-half in size, with a nozzle top that attaches to your hose) you can use any hose-end sprayer you can find. Just adjust the mixture accordingly if your sprayer holds less than the recipe calls for. Most homeowners are telling us they need two sprayers-full to cover 5,000 square feet, or the average lawn. But everyone's sprayer has a different flow rate. The tonic is best applied in the evening after you mow. You do not need to water it in as you're applying it with water and it's already going to the root

 oops, Fritz Haeg.

D.

thenewme, the concept is good but that's a lot of chemicals (unnatural stuff in the soft drink, ammonia, and don't even get me started on mouthwash)... what I do instead is to use compost tea.

Compost tea is compost mixed into water then aerated for a couple of days. It's basically a shot of beneficial microbes and nutrients for your lawn/plants.

The idea is to take some compost, stir it into chlorine-free water (rainwater is ideal), and optionally add some unsulfured molasses which is food for the microbes. Aerate it for 2-3 days (I use a cheap aquarium pump), and then you have this brew of intensively rich "tea" for your plants. You can dilute it with more rainwater to make it go further, or put right into a watering can or sprayer and apply.

Gardeners who are on to this compost tea secret go to great lengths to brew up a batch regularly for their plants, and even customize to provide specific nutrients (such as a nitrogen-rich version for their lawn).

Here's a recipe I used several times last year with great results:

5-gallon bucket almost full of dechlorinated water
A big handful of compost
A handful of alfalfa
A tablespoon or two of used coffee grounds (has a beneficial fungus that fights off harmful fungi)
A handful of corn meal (feeds beneficial fungi to chase away the bad fungi)
A tablespoon or two of molasses (to feed the beneficial microbes and make them multiply like crazy)
A T or two of kelp (great nutrients)
A bit of Black Kow composted manure

Brew for 2 days then apply.

On an organic gardening forum last year, a woman posted photos of two batches of vegetables she was growing... one with her regular organic treatments and one with all that plus compost tea. The compost tea vegetables were spectacular... they grew larger and lusher and the peppers were beautiful and plentiful. I first tried compost tea because I had gigantic patches of dollar fungus on the lawn (as did everyone in my neighborhood). The above "beneficial fungal" recipe cleared up my dollar fungus beautifully and my lawn was greener than the next-door neighbor who uses Chemlawn.

The Tonic mix of soda pop, amonia and the like is one of the concoctions of a man named Jerry Baker who used to be on PBS alot [at least on the East Coast] and who was known as America's Master Gardener. I think he still has a website with lots of his stuff.  But he was the first to come up with a lot of that information---I remember it being a big deal at pledge drive when he would give out his recipes.  You can also find organic gardening info on the website for "the Victory Garden" which is another PBS gardening show that has been running for YEARS.

Would agree about the MotherEarth New for organic gardening tips.  Also if you have community gardens in your town/city most of those are filled with people who are big on organic gardening and happy to share their knowledge.

I used to be in a community garden.  You don't really need an elaborate airation system to make compost tea--you can get good results by tying the ingrediants in a muslin piece and dunking it alot and stirring it.  [my community garden lacked electricity!]

As far as hostas and deer are concerned, I believe blood meal is supposed to work well on detering deer.  it also works as fertiziler.  And yes, you do have to reapply but for the most part, you'd have to reapply the nasty chemicals too so why not go with the non-toxic option?