By DAVID STEINKRAUS
Journal Times | Posted: Monday, April 21, 2008 12:00 am
RACINE - There is one space around the house that is at once green and potentially not green. It's your lawn, and if many people just cut what grows while others strive for the golf course look, both may have the same question: how to make the lawn a more environmentally friendly decoration.
There is a way, and although the movement to a more natural way of lawn maintenance has been around for 10 to 15 years, only recently is it of real interest.
"All of a sudden it's exploded. Especially mothers with kids are becoming concerned with chemicals in the lawns," said Racine area landscaper John Melby. Until this past winter when he went to a Chicago conference, he hadn't thought much about the issue. In Chicago he had a revelation.
"I just realized that, my gosh, what I've been doing 30-some years is damaging the environment," he said. "And most of all children - I've got grandkids now, and I worry about chemical exposure in general."
Scientific studies are building blame for household chemicals as a factor in childhood asthma and childhood leukemia. We know pesticides exacerbate asthma, said Dr. Claire Gervais, a family practice physician in Madison, but for many other illnesses the proof isn't in because the studies are difficult to do.
Yet we should take precautions and limit our use of these chemicals while we seek answers, she said. Along with a neighbor, Gervais started the Healthy Lawn Team, a neighborhood network now working with communities all over the state to promote the elimination of lawn chemicals.
The only thing that fertilizers do for you, Melby said, is make grass greener faster in the spring.
In a more basic way, the question comes down to what a homeowner wants and what compromises she or he is willing to make. "It's actually relatively easy to have a low impact lawn," said John Stier, associate professor of environmental turf grass science at the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
Of course many people already have that. About half of homeowners don't do anything to their lawns, and Melby said that in the arid West and Southwest there aren't any lawns because the ecology makes them difficult to support.
Organic lawn care is really what has been done for hundreds of years, before the use of synthetic chemicals became widespread after World War II. Having a low-maintenance, environmentally friendly lawn means compromises, however. "It's easy to do if one is willing to accept a different quality of lawn," Stier said. "You probably give up some perfection, probably have more weeds and more brown turf in the lawns. Is that really bad? We probably would not have lawns all looking the same. Is that bad?"
How to
Melby said the first step is to have a soil analysis done to provide guidance on what fertilizer may be needed. There are organic options, but one must be careful, Stier said. Some organic fertilizers such as manure have a very high phosphorus content, which most lawns don't need but which does promote algae and weed growth in streams and lakes. Corn gluten, which will also stop weed seeds and any other seeds from germinating, can be a good fertilizer because it is relatively high in nitrogen, which is what turf needs, Stier said.
There are three basic things anyone can do to improve lawn care without chemicals, Stier said.
n Mow high - 3 to 3 ½ inches - and frequently. That will be enough to keep out most weeds.
n Make sure your mower blade is sharp so grass is cut cleanly and heals easily.
n Leave the clippings on the lawn to act as fertilizer and protection for the grass.
n Plant the right grass in the right place. Kentucky blue grass, which most people have, prefers full sun and fertile, well-drained soil. It doesn't do well in the shade or in soil that is extremely wet or dry. Someone who wants a hardier grass that requires less care should plant a fine fescue. That grass will have more brown in it, won't look as neat, and it's not made for high-traffic areas.
The first two items are easy for most people, he said. It's a bit harder to replant a lawn.
"I don't think going green is a black or white thing," Stier said. "It's little decisions that a person makes throughout their day. I think the bottom line is if people are willing to accept different quality of turf, we can be green pretty easily, and it's never left us."