Health effects of Non-Organic Lawn Care Products

·        Synthetic lawn chemicals i.e. herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers endanger human and animal health and damage the environment 

·        A report by the National Academy of Sciences shows that the health of 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 4 children are negatively impacted in some form by lawn pesticides

·        Children are especially at risk for negative health consequences due to their size, physiological development and proximity to the ground

·        Numerous studies link lawn chemicals to cancers and other long-term diseases

Healthy Lawn Benefits

A healthy organic lawn is weed free, harmful insect free, less expensive to maintain. and healthier for you, your family, and the environment.

Years of applications of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides have made your soil biologically sterile.  The number and activity of microorganisms in the soil is depleted.  High salt fertilizations programs reduce humus count to less than 2%.  Synthetic fertilizers and pesticides make your lawn green but they also turn your lawn into “a junky” that always need more.  A green lawn is not necessarily a healthy lawn.

Healthy lawns grow in healthy soils. Lawn problems (disease, weeds, and insect infestations) often can be attributed to poor soils. Most healthy lawns can fend for themselves in the world if given a fighting chance by providing a healthy environment for them to grow. Take away that healthy environment and they become weakened and these opportunistic pests can over take them.  Characteristics of good quality lawn soil

Natural landscaping Increased Real Estate Market Value

·    A Gallup survey reported the 62% of all US homeowners felt investment in lawns and landscaping were a good or better than other home improvements.

·     Proper and well maintained landscaping adds 15% to a home's value according to buyers.

·     The investment recovery rate is actually 100 - 200% for landscape improvement, compared to a deck or patio that will recover only 40 - 70% of the installation cost.

Lawns purify water entering into underground aquifers.

·    The lawns root mass and supporting soil microbes act as massive filters that capture and breakdown many types of pollutants common to our environment

Environmental Benefits

·    Healthy, dense lawns absorb rainfall 6 times more effectively than a wheat field

·    Prevents runoff and erosion of our precious top soil

·    Keeps additional phosphorus from entering our streams and rivers. A healthy lawn also traps much of the estimated 12 million tons of dust and dirt released into the US atmosphere annually

·    Front lawns of just 8 average houses have the same cooling effect as about 70 tons of air conditioning

Cost, Dangers and Culture of Maintaining a Healthy Lawn

Decades of doing lawn care the same way has produced many dangers to people, pets and the environment.  Its extraordinary how many health issues have been associated with pesticides.  Cancers, neurological problems, and birth defects are some of the most dramatic, but increased asthma attacks and skin disorders take a huge toll on the people affected. Pesticides are also increasingly suspected of being endocrine disrupters, a nasty category of chemicals that can cause a wide array of disorders from cancer to miscarriage to immune system problems.

Cats and dogs are even more vulnerable to most of these disorders than humans, because they have more skin area in proportion to their body size, so they have a proportionally larger surface through which they can absorb poisons. Besides that, they lick their fur and their feet -- they never wear shoes.

But the most vulnerable group of all is children (see Children and Pesticides DON'T MIX). They have much thinner and more permeable skins than do animals, but like animals, they have a larger skin area in relation to the weight or volume of their bodies than do adults. Children's immune systems are not fully developed, so they cannot protect themselves from toxins as well as can an adult's system. Furthermore, as they play they roll around on grass, crawl on it, walk barefoot on it, and sometimes eat it. As a result they absorb more of whatever is on the grass, and they absorb it through more routes than do adults. They also eat and drink more than adults do in proportion to their weight, so they take in a higher proportion of pesticides found on or in food and water.

Much of that money goes to products that "help" grass only in the most superficial ways and that degrade the soil, pollute any water they reach, and pose serious health threats to humans, their pets, and any wildlife in the area, including birds. As people become aware of these facts, attitudes towards conventional fertilizers and pesticides are beginning to change.  Treating the symptoms and not the problem has to be addressed. 

Lawn weeds and insect infestations are signs of the problem, not the problem! 

The decades old use of chemical and synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides have nearly killed of the biolife in the soil.  Remember, soil is the soul of the lawn!  This website stresses the natural or organic lawn and how to develop and maintain it in a manner that is safe for you, your children, your pets, wildlife and the environment. 

Organic Lawn Care

Natural and organic lawn care requires a preventative view rather than knee-jerk reactions to various problems using chemical pesticides or herbicides that kill 60 - 90% of beneficial soil biolife.  The only way to reduce a dependence on chemical fertilizers is to develop a healthy lawn, which is naturally resistant to weeds, insects and diseases.  

Lawns do more than make your yard look good. Lawns absorb water, which helps reduce storm runoff and improve water quality. Lawns also have a significant cooling effect, provide oxygen, trap dust and dirt, promote healthful micro-organisms, prevent erosion and filter rainwater contaminants. 

Lawn care has come at a high cost to the environment. According to the U.S. National Wildlife Federation: 30% of water used on the East Coast goes to watering lawns; 60% on the West Coast. 18% of municipal solid waste is composed of yard waste.  Employing organic, natural lawn care greatly reduces much of the environmental cost associated with lawn care. 

The only way to reduce a dependence on chemical fertilizers is to develop a healthy lawn, which is naturally resistant to weeds, insects and diseases.  

Here are just some of the many benefits of Our Organic lawn Care Products.

• Bioactivates both clay and sandy soils and increases Organic Matter
• Buffers harsh chemical salts or chlorides found in many commercial fertilizers
• Provides carbon which feeds beneficial soil microbes
• Improves soil structure, soil biology and aeration
• Stimulates root growth and supports most plant functions
• Relieves soil compaction and breaks bu Clay soil improving drainage
• Unlocks and chelates major and minor nutrients. Reduces fertilizer needs.
• Improves plant's ability to capture (fix) atmospheric nitrogen
• Prevents Thatch buildup and helps stimulate the decomposition of existing Thatch
• Increases earthworm activity
• Makes iron and other nutrients more available in poor pH soils
• Improves plant resistance to disease, insects and other stress
• Supplies over 30 micro-nutrients and vitamins
• Increases nutrient density in pasture grasses and silage
• Works as a catalyst for both soil regeneration and plant growth
• Contains 58.2% Humic Acid and 41.8% Seaweed
• Kid safe fertilizer
• Pet safe fertilizer
• Our liquid fertilizer, liquid aeration, liquid dethatcher products require no expensive, complicated equipment to apply 

POSITIVE ASPECTS of the organic approach:

• Water insolubility provides for slow release
• Lawn benefits FULLY from each biological fertilizer application
• A biological fertilizer is a natural fertilizer
• No rapid growth spurt to deplete carbohydrate reserves
• Lawn remains more independent with strong root system
• Rate of aeration & decomposition enhanced by adding beneficial micro-organisms.
• Little or no drop in pH (no acidity increase)
• Earthworms and micro-organisms remain to maintain soil
• Grasses thrive at neutral pH levels
• No health hazard to you, your family, your friends, your pets, or your lawn

The Organic Lawn Care Store