Alternatives to Pesticides

A TruGreen ChemLawn -Free Lawn

The good news is that you can get a beautiful green and healthy lawn without the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Truly organic lawn care does not put families, children, pets, and water supplies at risk.

Truly organic lawn care system:

Does not use pesticides or synthetic fertilizers to create a healthy lawn. It involves a different approach, one that looks at things like soil pH, water retention, and compactness of soil.
Sees pests and weeds as messengers of problems, not enemies and targets the solutions to these problems, not just killing the messengers.
Is as expensive as pesticide approaches, and take a bit longer for results, especially if the lawn is used to chemicals.

"Organic" lawn care is a term with no specific definitions or standards.

TruGreen ChemLawn offers "natural organic" and "natural fertilizer" programs as an alternative to their traditional pesticide-based lawn care treatments. However these alternatives are simply fertilizer applications that provide little or no analysis of the soil and other environmental factors which impact the context in which the lawn grows. If your lawn suffers from weeds and or insects TruGreen ChemLawn offers no true pesticide free alternative.

In the absence of any national standard for truly organic lawn care, the Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA) has developed rigorous standards based on those used in organic agriculture. You can find more information at www.organiclandcare.net

If you are looking for a professional service that uses an organic lawn care system, GO BELOW TO FINDING AN ORGANIC LAWN CARE PROVIDER.

If you are looking for organic lawn care steps you can take for a healthy, green lawn, here is some helpful information from the Erie County Environmental Management Council.

Use the right grass seed

Select the proper grass for your site based on intended use, and amount of sunlight. Choose a good quality seed mixture (look for the lowest percentage of “other ingredients” in the mix). The best time to seed new lawns is: August 15 - September 15.
Overseed (plant new seed on an existing lawn) in areas where the turf is thin to help grass force out the weeds. To overseed: mow close, rake to loosen soil and ensure that seeds and soil make contact. Water to get grass started.

Mow the correct way

Mow High - no shorter than 3 inches to prevent weeds from getting sun and water, essentially choking them out of your lawn. Don’t cut off more than a third of the blade of grass at each mowing because it stresses the plant; that means mow when grass reaches 4 1⁄2 inches.
Leave clippings on the lawn. It adds essential nutrients to the soil and saves you money on fertilizers.
Sharpen mower blades at least once a year.

Develop Healthy Soil

Test soil before you buy fertilizer or lime. Choose a quality lawn care service that will provide a soil test to determine your needs.
Many products are combinations of fertilizers and pesticides. Read labels carefully to avoid paying for product you don’t want.
Feed the roots in the fall and for healthy grass in the Spring. If you need to fertilize, use a slow release product and fertilize on or around Labor Day.
Soil pH should be between 5.5-7.0. Plant nutrients are more available and beneficial microorganisms are more active within this range. Lime and sulfur are rarely necessary. Apply lime to raise pH or sulfur to lower pH only if indicated by soil tests.
Aerate the lawn, which helps water and nutrients reach the roots. Rent a machine or hire a lawn professional. In the preferred method of core aeration, a plug of soil is removed by a machine. The resulting dime-size hole reverses the effects of soil compaction and brings moisture and air to the root zone. It also becomes a place where new grass seed likes to sprout.
Organic matter is critical to soil health as it holds water and nutrients and prevents compaction. If your soil test shows less than 5% organic matter, apply a 1⁄4” layer of finished compost in the fall. Compost will not be visible in a few days.
Water properly: Many people over water. If you choose to water your lawn, know that average soil needs about one inch of water a week. Water your lawn only if it’s not raining enough. When you do water, place a tuna can under the sprinkler so you can measure the water you’re adding. If water is running off the surface, you are wasting water. Keep in mind, lawns may turn straw colored and go dormant during a dry spell, but will revive when it rains. To protect the dormant turf do not allow significant foot traffic.

Manage weeds

The best strategy to prevent weed invasions is to maintain a healthy lawn. Follow the tips above and you should not have a lot of weeds. Realize that a lawn with 15% weeds looks weed-free to the average observer. Putting-green perfection is not necessary.
Identify which weed species are present before choosing a management strategy. Most weeds are not problematic, while others can be invasive. Knowing which weeds you have also provides information about your soil. For example, Broadleaf plantain thrives in heavy, compacted soil, so aerate and top dress with organic matter to discourage plantain from returning.
Some weeds can be effectively pulled by hand. Look for hand tools for removing specific weeds and reseed bare spots.
Be patient, it takes several seasons for a lawn to change from chemical dependency to an ecosystem in balance. In a season or two you’ll fight fewer pests and spend less money.
Be tolerant. A natural yard is not a monoculture but an abundance of pests, predators, weeds, and our favorite plant species. Some weeds are even beneficial. White clover fixes nitrogen, which benefits grass, and the much-maligned dandelion provides food for tiny parasitic wasps that attack garden pests. Many of the bugs we think of as pests are dinner for birds. Put out a bird feeder and a birdbath. Chickadees spend winter eating aphid eggs; Baltimore Orioles can eat 17 tent caterpillars a minute.
Squirt weeds. Instead of RoundUp, use BurnOut (lemon juice and vinegar) to kill weeds along walkways.
Realize that grass just can’t grow well in certain spots. At the base of a tree, for example, consider wood chips or native (non-invasive) shade perennials.

Insect Problems

Know your enemies: Every insect has a population level below which spraying does more harm than good. Some species of white grubs, for example, hatch just once every seven years, so if you’re treating your lawn every spring, you’re not only wasting money, you’re also killing beneficial insects.
Try "natural" alternatives to chemical pesticides. Diatomaceous earth and boric acid are sold in garden centers. SharpShooter (citric acid) is an effective insect deterrent. Or make your own solution of three to six tablespoons of dishwashing soap (without degreaser) per gallon of water.
Test your lawn: In late August cut back three sides of a square foot of sod an inch deep. Peel back the square. If you find fewer than 6 to 10 grubs, put back the sod, water it thoroughly, and relax. Your lawn will be fine.

FINDING AN ORGANIC LAWN CARE PROVIDER

To make sure your lawn care company is really using an organic program, follow this advice from Beyond Pesticides:

Do not simply take the company’s marketing claims at face value; find out what products (and their active ingredients) will be used -- they will speak for themselves.
Investigate the toxicity and environmental effects of each ingredient. There is at least one fertilizer on the market that bills itself as "natural based," but in reality, this product contains a small percentage of composted chicken manure mixed with a large percentage of synthetic, petroleum-based fertilizer. Be cautious of the word "organic" - one definition of organic is any class of chemicals containing carbon, which most pesticides contain.
Question the service people you contact. When a service provider asserts that he or she has an alternative lawn care or indoor pest control service, find out the specifics of their program - an integrated pest management program is only as good as the principles of the person providing it. It is important to know the components of a good IPM program.

Here are a few questions to get you started:
- What products do they consider acceptable?
- Do they monitor for pests (good) or spray on a fixed schedule (bad)?
- Do they attempt to determine the cause of a pest problem and fix it (good) or do they treat the symptoms only (bad)?
- Do they perform yearly soil tests?
- Do they keep records of their monitoring results?
- What training do they have in alternative services?
- Is most of their business is chemically-based programs or alternative ones?
Make sure you read the fine print on any contract or literature: some companies will choose to use "plant protection chemicals" (pesticides) if a "special situation" arises. Get what you want in writing, and hold them to their commitment.
- Be wary of "green consumer" claims. Growing consumer interest in environmental issues has encouraged many companies to pursue environmentally sound or "green" images. There are a growing number of reputable companies. Unfortunately, often businesses only change their image and not their product or service! The best defense against false claims is to look at labels closely and to question salespeople with a critical ear.
- Examine labels. Don’t trust the company’s marketing claims; read the label and find out the ingredients of the products being used. The ingredients speak for themselves.
- Investigate the toxicity and environmental effects of each ingredient and decide whether you think the product is environmentally sound. There is at least one fertilizer on the market that bills itself as "natural based," but in reality, this product contains a small percentage of composted chicken manure mixed with a large percentage of synthetic, petroleum-based fertilizer.
- Question service people. When a service provider asserts that he or she has an alternative lawn care or indoor pest control service, find out the specifics of their program - an integrated pest management program is only as good as the principles of the person providing it. What products do they consider acceptable? Do they monitor for pests (good) or spray on a fixed schedule (bad)? Do they attempt to determine the cause of a pest problem and fix it (good) or do they treat the symptoms only (bad)? Do they perform yearly soil tests? Do they keep records of their monitoring results? What training do they have in alternative services? Is most of their business is chemically-based programs or alternative ones?

For homeowners in New England, you can find Northeast Organic Farming Association accredited organic lawn care professionals at www.organiclandcare.net/professionals.php