Question
I just started trying to go the all natural way with my lawn.After my husband has insisted using chemicals.I have used the Jerry baker approach half handedly the past two years. My lawn has gotten better but not to what i consider great. Now i read what you say about Bakers approach and wonder. Also check out www.outsidepride.com. He still insist on getting these 3 products he doesn't belive the all natural way will work. How bad are these products for the lawn. please help me prove him wrong.  

Answer
Jerry Baker deserves a lot of credit, actually.  I mean, that old Gardener's Saying, Rome was not built in a day.  Who can resist Jerry Baker's lawn cocktails and Coca Cola treatments?  Some of them work!  And NONE of them -- N-O-N-E NONE -- do the damage that a Scotts product will do.

This is Intelligent Gardening, Michelle.  It is based on SCIENCE.  And your husband can't argue with that.

You have to remember that Scotts spends a LOT of money on advertising.  They are geniuses at selling those bags of powder and jars of liquid.  Your husband things he'll be looking at a perfect lawn.  Their products are Guaranteed. Really!  They are!  I know because when people write all summer long about how the Scotts Weed and Feed or whatever burned their entire lawn crispy fried, Scotts made good on their Guarantee and refunded their money on the Weed and Feed.  Nice guys, those Scotts people.

Don't get me started on the factories where those products are made, and the people who get sick and die there. People just like you and your husband.  People with families, fathers and mothers, teenagers, people who just want to make a basic living, have enough to buy breakfast and dinner, people like us.  If those products are so safe, those people would be healthy.

Want to turn your house into a Superfund Site?  Scotts makes it easy as pie.  Scotts Step 1: Herbicides everywhere - Scotts Step 1 kills ALL microscopic flora while killing crabgrass and contaminating your entire
lawn with Pendimethalin.

What's THAT?

Cornell University says this weedkiller "is ranked more hazardous than most chemicals in two out of four ranking systems, and is ranked as ONE OF THE MOST HAZARDOUS
COMPOUNDS (in the worst ten percent) to ecosystems and health".

It gets better!

Scotts Step 2: 2,4-D plus Dicamba complete with skull and bones (required by law) - Holy Mackerel!  Need I say more?

Scotts Step 3: Let's kill all the insects in the neighborhood.  Bifenthrin, an insecticide which the EPA classifies as a Class C Carcinogen, "moderately" toxic to birds, highly toxic to fish and crustaceans, and deadly to bees -- tell me, what will the birds on your block be eating for breakfast?  Because there are not going to be any bugs around.

You -- and maybe your husband -- probably have heard about the great things that happen to aphids when Ladybugs and Praying Mantids are around.  Now consider this:  One single female cricket eats up to 50 weed seeds a day.  Mice and squirrels eat even more.  Bugs, arthropods and rodents are a wonderful thing.  Scotts is NOT good for them.

Which brings us now to Scotts Step 4, a high-Nitrogen fertilizer 31-3-8.  Sounds benign enough.  Pure fertilizer.  What's not to like?

Actually, there's plenty.

These are salt buildup factories.  Not great for grass.  Murder on microbes.  Ecological disaster for fauna.

But Scotts will sell it to you anyway.

Because people trust Scotts.  They spend billions on their lawncare and gardening products.  And you can tell these people are not rolling in money.  The target audience for Scotts is the mass market.  Not rich people.

But that's a matter for another day.

Let's decide what you can tell your husband that will change his mind.  He wants a great lawn.  He thinks you can't do that Organically.  Big mistake.

Let's begin with "5 Reasons not to use Weed and Feed", one of the highest selling 2,4-D products, listed by The National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticidefreelawns/

How does your husband feel about 2,4-D?  Bet he's used a lot of it.  By the way, my neighbor across the street died of pancreatic cancer.  He did all his own lawn treatments.  Loved his Weed and Feed.

I am not clear on what you mean by "these 3 products".  If they are sold by Outsidepride, they are no doubt excellent and earth-friendly.  They only sell a single brand of manual lawnmower, with a max height of 1 inch, which is only good for putting greens and not helpful if you want to grow a typical lawn.  For those, I go to CleanAirGardening.com and other sites for a German adjustable push mower.  But much of Outsidepride's product line is microbes-based and high quality.  Their website is smooth and incredibly helpful -- note the links re Pennsylvania lawngrowing.

Let's focus on weed control.  It's a major issue for most lawns so your husband is probably worried about that more than anything else.

I mentioned the weed seed eating animals above.  Keep the animals happy, and you vaporize hundreds of weeds every summer without lifting a finger.  But we agree, that's not enough.

The Corn Gluten Meal treatment is my favorite weed killer.  This stuff is applied in the spring -- I must have written about this 10 times in as many days -- to halt seeds as they germinate.  The scientific evidence is extensive and I can give you links to prove it:

http://www.gluten.iastate.edu/
and
http://www.gluten.iastate.edu/pdf/grnhsechr.pdf
(both Iowa State Research)

http://www.gluten.iastate.edu/pdf/nyt.pdf
(The New York Times)

http://www.pesticide.org/pubs/alts/cgm/cornglutenmeal.html
(Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides)

One of my favorite articles is one that appeared in the Kansas State University Coop Extension, "Horticulturist Gives Top Reasons Weeds Invade Kansas Lawns" (http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/News/sty/2000/weedsinvade.htm).  Mowing, watering, stress, insects -- there are 10 reasons on that list, and NONE of them is "Not Enough Weedkiller Applications".  Weeds do not overtake a lawn because there is no Crabgrass Killer.

Does your husband know that lawn grasses and weeds do not like the same kind of soil?

Weeds thrive in Acid soil.  Lawn grass prefers slightly Alkaline soil.  Tilt the scale in the wrong direction and you build weeds.

I'll bet your husband loves to feed your lawn Nitrogen.

Terrific!

Because Nitrogen is actually one of your best weapons for whacking weeds.  University of Illinois studied Tall Fescue fed with different doses of Nitrogen
(www.turf.uiuc.edu/research/summaries/1994/94_3.1.pdf#search='university%20test%20mowing%20height').  The results:

"Annual bluegrass populations were greatest in Tall Fescue maintained at a 1 or 2 inch mowing height."  (Note please that this 'Annual bluegrass' is a weed, not that famous grass from Kentucky.)

Researchers also observed: "Crabgrass populations increased as mowing height decreased..."

It didn't matter how much Nitrogen the grass was fed.  Any Nitrogen at all was better than none when it came to weed suppression.  Putting down ZERO fertilizer had the worst results: "Tall fescue that was not fertilized had significantly higher broadleaf weed populations than turf
fertilized with any Nitrogen."

It just boils down to giving the grass what it likes.  Especially when the weeds dislike it even more.

Researchers in the study above also said: "Even a low annual rate of Nitrogen fertilization can decrease broadleaf weed populations and reduce or eliminate the need for herbicide control."

Let's read that again:

"...REDUCE OR ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR HERBICIDE..."

Music to my ears.

Michelle, pesticide companies are making a killing in this business.  They will not give up easily.  Scotts spends MILLIONS to sell its pesticides and herbicides and fungicides.  They have amazing commercials.  The lawns look beautiful, the people look happy, the whole message is, Here is your American Dream.  And they target your husband.  It's working.

And why not?

When he sees the Scotts ads on TV, nothing ever goes wrong.  It doesn't even rain at those houses on TV.

Know what?

In years to come, this stuff will be totally illegal.  Just like cigarettes, the evidence will be in.  The lawyers will be suing.  And all that damage will be done.

You too will be living with the consequences.  Because you dose yourself every time you walk across your lawn to work.  You breathe it when you mow.  You are surrounded by it when you hang up laundry or turn the steaks on the BBQ.  You can run but you can't hide.  Ask your husband what he thinks about that.

Now there is an unrelated matter concerning your Outsidepride reference that I really must mention because it is, to some people, very important.  And that concerns an episode last year involving Troy Hake, the president of that organic lawn products company -- Outsidepride -- and the CBS Network.

I note that this is totally off topic.  But you mentioned Outsidepride.  So I am raising it since you are familiar with them.

Outsidepride president Troy Hake feels very strongly about the issue of Homosexuality.  Troy Hake felt, last year, that he would have to do something about it.  This was a serious moral question for him.  As it is for many people.

So he took the email addresses of all his Outsidepride customers, and he contacted them.  Normally, Outsidepride emails its customers about specials and related communications.  But this time, Troy Hake sent his customers a message about CBS network programming.  Because CBS is too pro-gay for Troy Hake; if CBS is too pro-gay for his customers, Troy Hake wants them to let CBS know.

Remember, this was a serious moral issue for him.

So that email from Troy Hake, via Outsidepride, has been flying all over the internet for months.  You can read one account (there are many) here:

http://www.pamspaulding.com/weblog/2006/08/gardening-company-prez-get-those-homo...

including the message that he wrote.  He demands that CBS be less gay-friendly in its programming.  He feels that CBS owes this to its viewers and that it is actually promoting homosexuality.

I mention this because some readers would consider this a deal breaker.  They would write off Outsidepride forever.  Others would become instant Organic Converts and buy anything that Outsidepride makes.  And some people just would ignore the issue and go ahead and garden.  You and/or your husband might be one of the first 2 people and if you are, now you know Outsidepride's high profile position on this issue.  Spend your money as you see fit.

And finally, Michelle, if you find any of the movie-length script above to be confusing, if the links don't work, whatever, let me know and I will happy to clarify.  And good luck in your talk with your husband.  It's a beginning.  Start with this:  The Earth Is Round.