LAWN CARE RENEWAL TIME

 

With the cold of winter at your door and windows, now is the time to discuss your 2013 lawn care program. If you haven’t received a call from your lawn care provider as of yet, you will. Lawn care providers are getting their numbers together for the products they will be purchasing for the upcoming season.
 

As for the homeowner, this is the time to reflect on what your lawn needs? How you may ask? There are many variables that can contribute to a great lawn as well as a bad one. Take for example the weather of 2012! The weather will always have a negative or positive effect on your lawn as well as you! Let me ask you these questions and answer them on a separate paper:

 

How often did you cut?

What height did you cut?

What type of grass plants are growing in your lawn?

How often do you over seed and with what type of seed?

Did you water? How long? How many days per week? What time of day?

Does your lawn have thatch?

Is the soil compacted? What type of soil do you have?

Is there a tree on the property or adjacent? How much shade to sunlight for each area

What about foot traffic?

What insects or disease was there or have a history of?

There are many more variables, but these are the more important right now.
 

There are two variables that have an effect on your lawn that you may never have considered? 1) What products does your lawn care provider or you use? 2) What is the history of what has been done to your lawn? The philosophies differ from each company as well as from consumer to consumer. What the lawn care provider and consumer have applied, have long term effects not only to the lawn, but to the environment and us. Thou we’ve had a ban in Ontario since 2009 for cosmetic use of pesticides on lawns, these products are still in the environment today; as well as still being used in the golf and agricultural industry.

At an Acres USA Conference held December 6-8, 2012 inLouisville, KY, many revered speakers were present to provide scientific facts such as “The Myths of Safe Pesticides”, by  Andre Leu “synthetic pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. These poisons are used in food production to kill pests, diseases and weeds. Major international studies have raised the issue of agricultural chemicals as significant contributors to negative global environmental change and human health due to toxicants that are responsible for cancer, endocrine disruption, immune system diseases and developmental toxicity.”
 

Today’s lawn care companies and consumers who “do-it-themselves” need to stop an out of date lawn care practices that continually destroy our soils; as well as increase greenhouse gases. Some may say “that we’ve been doing this for years” or “I am not going to be here for long.” Here at Stangl’s we use Professor Albrecht’s system for success and this is what Neal Kinsey had to say about Albrecht: “Albrecht's soil balancing protocols work equally well - or even better! - in organic production systems than when accomplished by synthetic fertilizers on less alive soil. When calcium, magnesium, and the other nutrients and micronutrients are in the proper balance on the soil colloid, crops thrive, weed and insect pressures lessen, and yields and soil tilth improve season after season.” “Following this past growing season, most are interested in drought-proofing soils, but many still often ignore minerals.”
 

Deeper understanding and due diligence is required for all. Many consumers have high expectations of what their lawns and gardens should look like, but are unable to understand the requirements from both the lawn care provide and themselves. From your answers, go to the net and research what is needed for each of your questions. Please do not stop at one site, but search many to find what is consistent and what resonates with you. As for your lawn care provider, I highly recommend not using any synthetic granular fertilizers. It is not needed, but their sales team will tell you different. Did you know that granular fertilizer has only 5 nutrients and that only 20% of the nitrogen fertilizer applied is used? Nitrogen is mobile; thus will move into our water table,streams, into rivers, lakes and oceans creating large algae blooms killingmarine life, and then it will turn into nitrous oxide that will increase greenhousegas. That is what you are paying for!

 

Majority of lawn care providers follow an outdated business plan to provide quick fix results to meet the consumer demand of unrealistic expectations. Continuing this plan will not only continue to cost the consumer more and more; while damaging the soil, environment and us. They’re lawn care providers that copycat each other without their own due diligence. They’ll use the latest quick fix products say for weed control that does not live up to expectations.  Repeat applications are required which will incur further costs as well as it damages your soil and thus your end result gets farther and farther away due to endless quick fix solutions.

 

The process starts in the soil, but healthy soils do not happen overnight. Starting now will restore and balance your ecosystems diverse system to develop a healthy lush lawn with very few if any weeds, insects and disease. This is where the lawn care provider and consumer again fall short. Weeds are not a plant out of place, but the opposite. They are required where they grow to heal the soil. Each weed will grow in specific area due to a lack of; in the soil. This is where your lawn care provider and you fall short. A quick fix is not the solution for what is lacking in the soil; thus another weed will take its place to continue the healing
 

Each of our applications contains a minimum of 42 nutrients to heal and activate the soil. This process is ongoing; requiring six applications per year. When chemistry is involved with the many positive or negative variables, results will vary, but our process will always move your soil into the positive. With your combined efforts you will soon see results leap frogging to meet our expectations. As we continue to restore the soils balance, the insects, weeds, disease and crabgrass will become virtually none because of the healthy soil which in turn provides a healthy strong lush green lawn.