Organic lawn care help–fertilizer and weed control?
July 20, 2010 by admin
Filed under Organic Fertilizer Question
ok…i’ve taken the first step to stop poisoning my lawn…go organic but i really have no clue about any good brands out there. i’ve looked around some websites but i could use some help with some good brand name organic lawn fertilizer and weed control…for the spring.
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There are very few national brands out there. Of the Organic Lawn Fertilizers I know of is: (Used in Golf & Professional Turf that is tested by universities.)
Naturesafe by Griffin Industries
Roots by Novazymes
Healthy Turf and PHC For Turf by Plant Health Care.
You can find these at professional Landscape supply compaines like John Deere Landscapes(Lesco).
On the liquid side you could try Rutopia by Poulenger USA.
This product is built on molases and has proved itself very well in the Ag, Turf and Golf industries.
Of course compost and manure products can work as a general fertilizer. These are very slow acting, but works well.
As for Organic weed control, there really isn’t anything out there I could reccommend as a post emergent herbicide (A lot of fly by night companies are pushing products, I haven’t experencied one that works. There has been some promise shown in Corn Gluten as a pre emergent herbicide.
Good ole fashion hand pulling is the best option. Although a healthy turf is your best defense. Aerate and apply compost at least once a year (I reccommend 2).
Also the best lawn is a lawn that doesn’t allow run off. This is what our problem truly is. Products that are washed away during storms and put into streams and lakes. My suggestion is to build a rain garden also to capture any run off. This will filter the water and allow for the water to naturally percolate into the soil.(Doesn’t hold water).
Hope this helps!
One f the whole points of organic gardening – whether grass/lawn/veggie patch – is that there is not a need to BUY stuff to amend the soil. Hay and leaves and compost (the product of weeding and food scraps) can be used and thereby avoid the use of store bought things.
Start a compost pile as SOON AS POSS. The soil that comes out of a compost pile is the best amendment to the lawn, or the veggie patch.
Then enjoy a few hours after work in the lawn PULLING the dandelions by hand with a forked end digger (ask in the garden supply shop). Weeds go into the pile and make next year’s compost. It is healthier than TV!
I do suggest you start now. I have a lovely lawn, mowed to high grass level (which helps keep the moisture in in the summer and the cold out in the winter), and then I pull weeds and pull weeds.
One year I paid my sons a penny a dandelion (root and all), and I gave out over $20.00 during that spring! They were tickled!! and I was not so! But now I am not nearly so plagued with dandelions as in the first couple of years in this home.