Question
Hello,

We currently are using a lawn service for fertilizing and weed control that is chemical based, but I want to switch to organic before our next application.  My husband is concerned that organic service will not control weeds.  I've been doing a little research, but decided I'd better just ask someone about it.  How well will weeds be controlled with organic methods?  We live in Wisconsin, if it makes any difference.

Answer
One of the things the pesticides industry has been very effective at is to present Lawn care almost as a regimen of hygiene.

Your husband is actually WORRIED about the weeds. Like cleanliness, Weedlessness is next to Godliness.

Worried.  He along with many millions of other homeowners.  Perhaps even you.

I used to call chemical-free organic plant care 'Intelligent Gardening.'  But these days, that sounds too much like 'Intelligent Design'.  So now I label it 'Scientific Gardening'.  Whatever you call it, it's based on facts.  NOT on great advertising.

Take Scotts-Miracle Gro, which basically owns the pesticides-herbicides-lawn care market and has created some terrific ads for all U.S. markets to make that happen.

One of Scotts's key points with consumers is to push the casual use of these chemicals. Why limit your market to people who need what you're selling?

This is where their 'lawn care hygiene' theme comes in.

Weeds and insects fall in the category of 'filth'.  A Weed-free Lawn is a clean Lawn.

No insects? That's clean, too.

This is ALL insects, including the popular butterfly.

Of course, you KNOW that insects are Bird Food and play an important role in lawn and garden ecology.  It's just that Scott's won't make any profit from these, so they ignore the fact that an insect-free garden has no birds.

But let's get back to your husband's fear of Weeds.

Scotts would love to sell your husband its 3 Step Plan.  Step 1 wipes out all your Crabgrass, with incidental collateral damage including the entire bottom rung of the food chain --all microbes.  When you're done, the weedkiller just keeps on giving with residual Pendimethalin to continue killing and killing through the season.  Thank God for slow release pesticides.

For the record, Cornell University calls Pendimethalin '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 10%) to ecosystems and health.'

Let's read that again.

'...ONE OF THE MOST HAZARDOUS...'

Step 2 uses the latest formula '2,4-D plus Dicamba'.  The EPA succeeded years ago in obtaining a federal law that says Scotts MUST post a prominent Skull and Bones on the package.  This is so you KNOW it's poisonous.  They WANT your husband to worry about Step 2, enough at least to minimize contact w/ the stuff.

Scotts Step 3 is a broad spectrum insecticide, Bifenthrin, which the EPA categorizes as a Class C carcinogen.  It is a little poisonous to birds, very poisonous to fish, and extremely poisonous to bees.  Use this and you will never have to worry about Birds OR Bees ever again.  No insects, no problem.

Optional Step 4 is Scotts's high-Nitrogen 31-3-8 fertilizer.  Sounds benign enough.  Pure fertilizer.  What's not to like?

Actually, there's plenty.  The SALT may not kill you, but it's not good for your Lawn.  It's murder on microbes.  It's an ecological catastrophe for the lawn and garden food chain.

But Scotts Miracle Gro will sell it to you anyway.  Because America trusts Scotts.

What then can you do instead?

There are lots of user-friendly ways to minimize invasions of Weeds.
For starters, there is the height of your Lawn.  Out by you, in the great state of Kansas, the Cooperative Extension Service posted one of my favorite articles about 10 years ago called 'Horticulturist Gives Top Reasons Weeds Invade Kansas Lawns'.  It is posted on the internet:

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'.  Weeds DO NOT overtake a Lawn because there is no Crabgrass killer.

Now, Michelle, a lot depends on what kind of Grass are you growing. Fescue?  Ryegrass?  Kentucky Bluegrass?  A Warm Season Grass?
Because when it comes to Weeds, your mowing height is one of the keys to getting rid of them.  Pick the best height for you and take it seriously.

BEST MOWING HEIGHTS
Kentucky bluegrass 2 to 2 1/2 inches
Perennial ryegrass 2 to 2 1/2 inches
Fine Fescues 2 to 2 1/2 inches
Tall Fescue 2 1/2 to 3 inches

Then there's Weed-seed-eating animals.  Keep them happy, and you vaporize hundreds of Weeds every Summer without lifting a finger.

But of course 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:

www.gluten.iastate.edu/
and
www.gluten.iastate.edu/pdf/grnhsechr.pdf

(both Iowa State Research)

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

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" 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..."

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.

Start with this:  The Earth Is Round.

I won't bore you with the latest geographic details, but some places have banned the "cosmetic" use of chemicals.  Remember, this is cosmetics.  If you found out an eyeshadow was causing some of the health problems that pesticides cause, would you continue to use it, or would you WORRY about NOT using it?

In CANADA, household use of Lawn pesticides and herbicides are restricted or banned in apx. 70 municipalities.  Backers had tried the education approach, reporting data about the risks to pets, children and pregnant women.  But use of those products continued to be strong.  Looking for stronger measures, they started to simply outlaw them.  Weed control is not listed as a permissible use.
The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Massachusetts has gone on record as telling the public, 'These pesticides pose a significant threat to children and pets.  As a doctor, I believe we should minimize our exposure.'

Ladybugs and Praying Mantids are outstanding allies for a gardener to have.  Crickets, too.  A 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.

www.pesticide.org/radiant.html

Keep your lawn mowed at the right height, top dress in autumn with organic matter, and hand dig Dandelions, especially when you see them flowering.  Start to like Clover.  It pours Nitrogen into your Soil right where your Grass needs it: around the roots.  Mow twice a week when the weather is cool and the grass is growing strong -- it needs it more.  Leave the clippings.

Make your house bird-friendly.  Birds devour bugs in the summer.  They need the protein to feed the baby birds.  They'll need a birdbath and access to big, fat, juicy, chemical free earthworms as well as all those bad bugs we don't want.

THIS, Michelle, is the world of GREEN Grass you are thinking about.  It's better this way.  And just as beautiful.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER