Question
I livein Glen Cove on Long Island. We are about to put down a layer of Weed and Feed this week. I have been raeding some of the posts here and some other things and I was thinking of not doing that. I know you would not recommend that but what would you do instead of Weed nad Feed? I don't want a lot of weeds all over the grass. I want a nice lawn.

Answer
Where do I begin?

You are not applying SHAKE AND BAKE here, my Glen Cove friend.

This is not TEA AND SUGAR.  It isn't ORANGE JUICE AND SUNSHINE.  It's the evil, toxic, dreadful wolf in sheep's clothing that a Madison Avenue salesman has sweetly named Weed and Feed.

Start with the Weed part of this name.

You are opening a box of stuff and all over your entire lawn area you are sprinkling a massive dose of a major Herbicide.  There is NO EXCUSE for this.

If you had broadleaf weeds everywhere, even a landscaper would be careful about the careless application of something like this unless you really needed it.  And some people like me maintain there is NEVER NEVER NEVER a reason to put down any herbicide on your lawn.  There are BETTER ways to get rid of unwanted plants.  But no one sells those like Scotts sells its shake-and-bake weed-and-feed.

Ever read that box of Weed and Feed?  There are legally mandated Warning signs.  But people like you treat this stuff like it was fertilizer.  Not a dangerous herbicide.

I refer you to Ronald C. Smith, one of my favorite Horticulturists, who posts this for the North Dakota State University Extension Service and I quote:

"Environmentally, weed and feed applications are a disaster on a small scale. Broadcast applications of herbicides are not needed in most lawn situations, just spot applications where weeds tend to be."

Note please that Mr. Smith is a traditional, old-school plantsman.  NOT an Organic grower.  He clings to old methods.  And even THEY are tsk tsk-ing your plan to Weed and Feed the world while people, plants and pets get sick and die from the effects of toxins you are casually applying to your own grass.

If you need more proof, consider that most of our local Golf Clubs are doing whatever they can to go Organic.  The entire industry is desperately funding Organic research to dream up cost effective ways of creating the perfect lawn.

They are coming up with very cool ways to do that.  There's a lot of science in their new methods.  And they have to do it because if they don't, they will have no alternatives as medical science finds the clear and present links between your Weed'n'Feed and all kinds of weird diseases: Breast and Testicular Cancer. Lymphoma. Birth Defects. Pancreatic Carcinomas.

If that's not enough, try finding someone who puts this stuff on people's lawns for a living. Someone who is regularly dosed for years, splashing it on themselves, breathing it, getting it on their clothes, tracking it into their own houses, their cars, the families.  See what shape they're in. I absolutely, positively guarantee it will not be a pretty site.  And they're probably taking more precautions than you.

If the box was labelled "Cyanide" or "Mustard Gas", you would be careful.  But thanks to those adorable commercials and the soundtracks that go with them, you can't believe they could be THAT bad.

Any cancer on your block?

Check.  Get back to me.  Cancer is environmental.  The biggest cause of death in the US right now.

See the Audobon-based Bluebird trail on this subject (www.bestofbbml.audubon-omaha.org/herbicides.htm) and make sure you scroll down to the Agent Orange postings.  

Alternatives to Pesticides and Herbicides are all over the place, starting with the kitchen.

My favorite pesticide weapon is the local bird population.  Followed by beneficial insects.  Got those at your house?  WHY NOT?

Because you killed them all.

But back to the Herbicides question.

Corn gluten is a scientifically proven anti-fungal pre-emergent that is so safe you can eat it.  I am not kidding.  It is safer than dog food.

But it doesn't go down now.  Wait until autumn.  Then re-apply in the spring.  You can pick it up at Hicks Nursery.  Ask to speak to the resident Organic expert.  I forget his name, but he knows his stuff.  I know because I quizzed him on several problems personally.  He had no idea who he was talking to or why.  I was impressed.

Hicks is on Jericho Turnpike, in Old Westbury.  He will give you some very good advice about your lawn.  They are open as we speak.

Please don't Weed and Feed anything ever again.  You want to see your children grow up, get married, have grandchildren.  You want to play that game of golf.  You want a good long life.  You deserve it.  We all do.  Love they neighbor, all those wonderful ways to live, they are completely opposite from what you will ever do with a product that weeds, feeds and hurts God's green and blue earth.

Thank you so much for writing.  Keep in touch.

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Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.
?Henry James