Lawn chemicals bad! How can we fix that?
 

One thing that always makes me cringe when I see it is the invasion of little yellow flags on people's lawns warning to keep off the grass due to pesticide applications.

The small yellow flags usually have a symbol of children playing, and the universal "don't do this" of a circle and crossbar.

Hmmmm. I don't know about you, but I thought lawns were for playing on!

To make it even worse, I live within eyeshot of a lake. It seems that as you get closer to the lake, property values go up, and so does the likelihood of the homeowner to use a lawn service, complete with pesticide application. That means the places closest to the lake, are also the ones most likely to pollute it!

Meanwhile, I have a few more weeds on my lawn (or bio-diversity as I like to call it) and I always leave the lawn a bit longer, so it's root system can stay long and healthy and survive droughts better. (Houses closest to the lake seem to water their lawns more as well!)

I propose that we come up with some sort of a sign indicating that our lawns are INTENTIONALLY all-natural, drought-resistant, & pesticide-free. This could be a bit of a parody of those "keep off the grass" signs. Instead, the logo might show happy children and animals on a lawn, "PLAY ON THE GRASS, IT'S ALL-NATURAL" or simply indicate that "THIS IS A PESTICIDE-FREE YARD"

I imagine this sign being just a bit larger than the "keep off the grass" ones so that it is easily readable by walkers and cyclists. It would also be made from durable, recycled/recyclable outdoor materials.

Does anyone agree with this whole concept? What would you imagine to point out an "eco-friendly" yard vs the typical chemical lawn?

I could see this as having the potential to become a national campaign. We all have to start somewhere. Why not at home?

-Ben

Real yard pros don't need no freakin' poison for lawns! My time landscaping, I used 0 pesticides, and very little fertilizer, because pesticides are not the answer! Go Ben GO! Came up with this in GIMP because I had half an idea...lolhttp://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1246336155 Not my best work, but it's what came to mind while reading your micro-rant, which is totally justified.

Maybe "Safe, Organic Land - no overspray, please." I hope your dandelions are still safe to eat.

Has anybody else noticed that there are no bodies of water in suburbia that are NOT covered in green scum?

We are killing everything in these ponds, and I'm sure our ground water is contaminated with fertilizer, as well as pesticides.

Cosmetic "weed and feed" use has been banned in ontario. You can only get weed sprays that kill whatever they hit (roundup). I THINK that pesticides are also banned, but i may be crazy.

The totally unknown-to-the-public factor in lawn care is that fertilizers and pesticides kill all the stuff that would naturally help your lawn. So if you've been using it for years, your lawn is helpless without it. But, a simple organic re-vamp on your lawn kicks it back into shape.

I just moved into a house last october. Had I known better, i would have done a fall treatment. The previous owner used no chemicals and barely used a lawn mower, so it isn't poisoned, it is just heavily "bio-diversified" (thanks, Ben). Our front lawn has taken about 5 hours of labour to remove all but a few weeds and the back lawn that was totally fubarred with weeds and half brown-caked earth is starting to be more grassy without even pulling any weeds, just by cutting it long and spreading new seed every few weeks. The dead patches we've raked some compost over and are sprouting well. I've spent 13 dollars so far, plus about 1 liter of gas.

This fall I will give it the Corn Meal Gluten treatment and next summer I'll be enjoying a weed free yard with good bugs that like to eat the bad bugs. I could use an aeration, too.

oh... if i put up a non-pesticide sign right now, it would send everyone running for pesticides... I need some work before i can join the revolution :p

Timely subject for me Ben...

I woke up early this morning for a round of 18 holes before work...6am tee time and I'm used to the grounds crew still being on the course doing their work when I golf that early...

Much to my dismay it was "pesticide and fertilizer morning" at the course. The entire course was covered with a murky white layer of scum. It was all over my clubs, shoes, hands, etc. The ponds had a milky white film on them and all of the ducks were sitting out of the water.

And to top it off, now that I'm at work my hands feel like they have been soaking in bleach all morning. I had not golfed in two weeks (due to rain and work) and should not have this morning but it had been so long since I swung the sticks. I should have chosen differently, especially after I saw the grounds crew guy driving the pesticide tractor while wearing a full white suit with respirator mask.

That's nasty... Call them and demand a free round of golf... be sure to cough a weeze while speaking to them. Just a note about the Ontario chemical ban, golf courses can still use them.

Well they post a sign on the first tee that tells you what is being done on the course that day and where it's being done (tees, fairways, greens) so I knew what I was getting into...just didn't know it was that severe today.

We've had 12 out of 13 days of rain and I'm sure it washed their course clean of all their chemicals so they were reapplying today. I just have never seen it that thick on the course because I was the first one on today and the traffic had not worn it off yet. It was sad to see all the ducks just sitting by the ponds and not in them...red flag for sure!

You think the chemicals are bad? Around here, there are companies that will spray-paint your lawn if it's not green enough.

Mechanical aeration and twice-annual applications of compost at 1/2" deep works well for lawn health. Good dirt = good results.

The second is irrigation. Controlled irrigation over a lawn with excellent tilth pretty well takes care of all other potential problems.

I'd use chemicals the first year until the above is done. Properly. Some properties are quite far gone (going back decades). Starting over is never cheap, and that is the attraction of chemicals to act as substitute for mechanical labor.

Lawn, hmm, mine is all natural without any odd chemicals, however there is less lawn and more other things, but it really does not bother me as it is still green, well mostly:
http://jtbo.pp.fi/images/house/puuta...sen_kaveri.jpg

Now my pet hate of sorts is attitude where things must look nice, despite how things work, it is way too common to see that kind of attitude everywhere.

For example there are people who buy those pesky carbon credits and try to appear as environmentally awakened, but while they do that, in other end they put out more trash out and buy more useless stuff than 10 of practical minded guys who don't care about how things look as long as things do work.

What really tickles my nerve in bad way is how most of green movement seem to be just way to force people to do things that appear nice and sell instead of going to root of the problem which is hyper consuming of this date.

Now with lawn, such persons are easy to identify, they put those do not use the lawn signs, spray paint lawn and use silly amounts of chemicals to make lawn appear as nice looking, but if we take that grass to laboratory it would require class III protection to handle such hazardous substances, hardly one can say such to be any lawn, it might be lawn like chemical disaster or something, but not a lawn.

I did buy once pizza cheese, without looking enough closely what it was made of, it was cheese like vegetable oil product, sure it did look like a cheese, but there was no way to eat that as it was certainly not tasting anything like a cheese, so what is point of such thing, why would I make pizza that looks like a pizza, but is not a pizza, one that hardly could be even eaten?

Is it marketing or education that creates individuals that don't stop and think bit further than just the surface?

Only substance I put my lawn is wood ash, it changes Ph a bit so that there would be bit more grass and bit less of mushrooms and those other things growing, but I think it is lost fight, that green stuff grows even on surface of car if not driven for some time, I think it is in the air here :D

I think that nature is always finding it's way, we can only change direction slightly, but many times I choose not to, I like to see where nature will end up to, so I have been curiously observing what will come of one tree on my yard, there is lot of life in it as can be seen from the photo:
http://jtbo.pp.fi/images/house/naava.jpg

It is bit hard for me to understand why to force nature to be what it is not, it would be wiser to adapt and accept nature as it is, but I guess we are too civilized for that.

Great idea !
Not to divert the thread, but on a similar subject : blowers !

Not only do they pollute the air, but the airwaves as well !
I swear on somedays I can hear them over a mile away.

Ok back to the topic of lawn pesticides, some of these chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides are so poisonous that they kill insects and plant life for an entire year.

That's just scary.

Think about it. After a year of rain and weather they still have the toxicity to kill.

In line with my above post: check depth of topsoil. That usually is enough to tell what will be needed. The chemical balances present can be done via soil analysis.

Bringing in tons and tons of quality topsoil, and re-grading the property usually only happens if one has big $$. But there is no challenging the effectiveness. Drainage that favors collection at some point remote from the house, gets rid of standing water problems near the house (or in basement), and spreads evenly across the property is ideal.

Chemicals have their place, and only enough to halt problems in place until mechanical means can be employed to re-set the property, is their role.

You can bet that anyone who gardens will have a small arsenal available to them. And knowing how to use it properly is everything. Being a "purist" is stupid if it means that insects or other pests destroy ones efforts prior to a matured property that is fairly drought and freeze resistant.

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