[compost_tea] For those who compost tea lawns.....

From: Jeff Lowenfels <jeff_at_gardener.com>
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 21:40:14 -0800

from the May 20, 2004 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0520/p15s02-liga.html

Organic lawns: it's easy being green
By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Americans love their lawns - so much so that they've planted some 30 millio=
n
acres of them - from the White House to the California desert.

If you lumped them all together, they could cover an area the size of
Mississippi.

But concerns are rising that those lush, weed-free lawns represent an
environmental hazard. The problem isn't the lawns themselves, which benefit=
 the
environment in many ways, critics say. It's the way they encourage overuse =
of
everything from fertilizer and pesticides to water.

Such practices are coming under increasing scrutiny, not only from
environmentalists but also from lawn-industry companies, which are keeping =
a wary eye on
the amorphous, but rapidly growing, organic lawn movement.

"Lawns probably haven't risen to the level of a major national environmenta=
l
issue - yet," says Paul Parker, executive vice president of the Center for=
 
Resource Management in Salt Lake City, a nonprofit environmental group that=
 
encourages collaboration among business leaders, government, and environmen=
tal
groups. "But the acreage of lawns is so significant that water, pesticide u=
se, and
loss of wildlife habitat are increasingly important."

Consider:

. For the first time ever, lawn equipment, fertilizer, and pesticide indust=
ry
representatives have joined with environmental groups and the Environmental=
 
Protection Agency to create a "Lawn and Environment Coalition." In March, t=
he
coalition unveiled the first-ever draft guidelines for national lawn-care
practices to help Americans protect the environment while they green their =
lawns.

. By most accounts, the number of lawn care companies touting a natural,
organic approach is rising rapidly. At least one traditional lawn care comp=
any is
developing its own line of organic products - although there's no agreement=
 on
what "organic" means.

. San Antonio's water department is working with builders to encourage the=
 
use of more drought-tolerant grasses in subdivisions. In Milford, Conn.,
residents hold "freedom lawn" competitions, giving awards to the best-looki=
ng lawns
that eschew the standard chemical approach.

. Across the border in Canada, Quebec will restrict the cosmetic use of law=
n
and garden pesticides beginning next year. Dozens of other Canadian
municipalities have also restricted pesticide use.

. The National Wildlife Federation and the National Audubon Society are amo=
ng
several groups now campaigning to convince Americans to plant more gardens=
 
and plants and less lawn. If attendance at organic lawn-care classes is any=
 
indication, consumers are beginning to listen.

Two years ago, Leticia Safran told her husband she was dropping their
traditional lawn-care service to go the natural route. "What made me switch=
 was my
three kids and our dog," says the Natick, Mass., homemaker. "On the days wh=
en
the chemical company came to spray the lawn, I just didn't have a good feel=
ing
about the little sign they put on lawn - telling us to stay off for two day=
s."

Instead, she hired an organic specialist who treated her lawn with a
combination of gypsum, compost, humate shale - and a combination fish-emuls=
ion and
seaweed spray. This spring her lawn received those ingredients plus a "comp=
ost
tea" that also included yucca extracts and sugar.

The Safrans could be on to the next big thing. About 4 out of 5 US househol=
ds
have private lawns, according to a 1998 academic study. They are typically=
 
about a third of an acre, and in 2003, Americans spent $38.4 billion tendin=
g
those yards and gardens, about $457 per household, says the National Garden=
ing
Association. A growing portion of that money appears to be going organic,
observers say.

"Hybrid mowers, water conserving sprinklers, and organic fertilizers are al=
l
potential gold mines for industry players," wrote Don Montuori, acquisition=
s
editor for Packaged Facts, in a market-research report last spring. "Consum=
ers
who want to tend their yard in an ecologically sound manner will pay big mo=
ney
for the right tools, and as the industry stands right now, the big players=
 
are missing out on all of that revenue."

That may be changing. Scotts, the big fertilizer and yard-care products
manufacturer, is developing a new line of organic lawn-care products.

But whether lawns really represent an environmental threat remains hotly
debated. Environmentalists point out that all those lush, weed-free acres s=
op up
gargantuan quantities of water and chemicals. In a typical year, the averag=
e
lawn consumes about 10,000 gallons of water over and above rainfall, the
Environmental Protection Agency reports. Nearly a third of urban water use =
in the
Eastern US goes to watering lawns, it adds.

In addition, millions of pounds of chemicals get dumped on lawns. In 1999,=
 
the last year such figures were available, 78 million pounds of yard
insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides were sold to US households - not i=
ncluding
professional applications, the EPA said. If they're overused (and some woul=
d argue
even when they're not), pesticide and fertilizer runoff can pollute rivers =
and
groundwater.

Then there are the millions of gallons of gasoline used in lawn equipment,=
 
whose engines are generally not as efficient as cars and can cause signific=
ant
air pollution, California Air Resources Board says.

"The consumer, science, and the private sector have interacted in a way to=
 
come up with the 'industrial lawn,' something that's always green and alway=
s
watered and fertilized," says Gordon Geballe, coauthor of "Redesigning the=
 
American Lawn: A Search for Environmental Harmony."

He argues that a new set of ethics and expectations is needed to put lawn
care more in sync with nature. "Why put out a bird feeder to feed birds, bu=
t put
pesticides on the lawn and kill worms so they have no food?" Dr. Geballe as=
ks.


Each year, the US adds about 2 million acres of residential property, a 200=
1
US Department of Agriculture study reports. The result is a loss of habitat=
 
for birds and other animals, says Tess Present of the National Audubon Soci=
ety.
"We recognize that lawns are near and dear to everybody. But we'd like peop=
le
to start thinking about whether they need as much area in lawn."

Even industry officials agree that more needs to be done to educate
consumers.

"We're making sure we're communicating with consumers that applying the rig=
ht
amount of fertilizer is important," says Jim King, spokesman for Scotts, th=
e
Marysville, Ohio, company that is the largest US yard and garden products
manufacturer - and part of the new Lawn and Environment Coalition. "Applyin=
g twice
as much fertilizer or insecticide is not going to get them results that are=
 
twice as good."

But lawns also have environmental benefits, these groups point out. For
example: Turf saves energy by staying 30 to 40 degrees cooler than bare soi=
l and 50
or more degrees cooler than streets, helping keep homes cool, notes the
Better Lawn and Turf Institute, a trade group.

Grass also produces oxygen, with a 50-by-50-feet patch of lawn producing
enough for a family of four, the Institute says. One acre of lawn can soak =
up 100
pounds of sulfur dioxide each year. And a 10,000 square-foot lawn can preve=
nt
erosion by sopping up as much as 6,000 gallons of rainwater during a
rainstorm.

The coalition between environmentalists and manufacturers of yard and garde=
n
products is an attempt to bridge sides. "This [coalition] was a way of gain=
ing
consensus between groups traditionally at odds," says Allen James of
Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment, which represents fertilizer a=
nd
pesticide companies. But some environmental groups attending the conference=
 disputed
the guidelines, which are still under development.

Even defining "organic" remains problematic. "Not all organic care is the
same," says Nick Novick, who runs Small Planet Landscaping in Ashland, Mass=
.
"We're at the point in this industry that organic foods were a few years ag=
o. We
need standards and government enforcement...."

That seems to be coming. The Northeast Organic Farming Association recently=
 
published the first-in-the-nation technical standards for organic yard care=
.

But the biggest change of all may be the expectations of people like Debora=
 
White of Wellesley, Mass., who is in her third year of organic lawn care. S=
he's
changed her outlook on what a lawn should be.

Despite living in an affluent community, Ms. White doesn't care anymore if=
 
she sees crabgrass here and there - though her husband prefers it "looking =
like
a green carpet." After a transition phase, weeds have been minimal, althoug=
h a
willingness to put up with clover and to use a dandelion fork and pull an
occasional weed is part of going natural, too, she says. "My neighbors were=
 
recently admiring my lawn, and they had no idea I had dumped the chemical c=
ompany,"
she says. "I just thought it was a better way to go. I don't want to be a
crusader. I'm just doing what I can do."
Grass roots

. The average American homeowner spends 40 hours per year mowing the lawn.=
 

. Of 103.9 million households with lawns, more than half (58 million) use
insecticides; 40 million use herbicides; 14 million use fungicides.

. A one-acre lawn generates almost six tons of grass clippings a year, or
nearly 1,000 garbage bags' full.

. The EPA estimates that the amount of pollution emitted by a lawn mower
operating for one hour equals the amount of pollution emitted by a car driv=
en for
about 20 miles.

Sources: Audubon Science Office; Environmental Protection Agency; Toward a=
 
Low Input Lawn by C. Barth (2000) in T.R. Schueler & H.K. Holland (Eds.), "=
The
Practice of Watershed Protection" (Article 130). Ellicott City, Md.: Center=
 for
Watershed Protection

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Plant a row in your garden to feed the Hungry. Ask me about PAR and I will =
tell you how.



Received on Thu May 20 2004 - 11:58:56 EDT

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