The "Environmentally Friendly" Lawn

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 by: News Canada

Organic or conventional fertilizer?

(NC)-A well-maintained lawn acts like a giant air filter,
constantly removing pollutants and carbon dioxide, and replenishing the
oxygen supply.

A lawn is a valuable addition to every home environment,
regardless of its size. Today , most homeowners want to keep their lawn
looking green and healthy so it adds beauty to the house and enjoyment
to the family. (Also, a lush green lawn makes a better air filter than
one that is allowed to run wild.) At the same time, people are
increasingly aware of the environmental aspects of lawn care. For many,
natural or "organic" options seem to be the way to go.

There is a lot of confusion in the lawn and garden
market about exactly what is meant by the terms "Natural" or "Organic".
In fact, some products that are positioned as organic can actually be
more harmful to the environment than "conventional" products

Let's take a look at lawn feeding from the plant's point
of view. All plants require 3 major nutrients - nitrogen (N),
phosphorus (P) and potash (K) - to survive. These 3 elements, often
referred to as "chemical" fertilizers, are actually produced from
elements found in nature...they're refined from minerals mined from the
ground. All fertilizers - conventional or organic - must contain some
form of these three nutrients for healthy plant growth. On a bag of
fertilizer, the percentage of each element is represented by a number.
For example, 24-4-8 lawn fertilizer contains 24% nitrogen, 4%
phosphorus and 8% potash as active ingredients. On the extreme
"organic" side, cattle manure for example contains less than 1% each of
N, P and K and may contain a lot of weed seeds if not composted
properly. It is good for the lawn or garden, but more useful for
building up organic matter in the soil. It is unlikely to be able to
supply enough food for healthy plant growth. Higher quality natural
fertilizers deliver N, P and K in the form of unprocessed or homogenous
ingredients, such as blood or bone meal. They typically have lower N, P
and K numbers than conventional fertilizers, but can provide a balanced
diet to meet plant nutritional requirements. Nitrogen promotes healthy
green foliage, phosphorus develops strong roots and plentiful fruit or
flowers, while potash improves overall plant hardiness and disease
resistance. The plant takes up only as much of these elements as it
needs. Any excess amount can be leached away into the environment -
whether the source is conventional or organic - so it's just as
important not to overfeed as it is to underfeed. This is where "Slow
Release Nitrogen" is important. It was developed to help reduce the
groundwater leaching potential of nitrogen into our environment.

This is where high quality "conventional" fertilizers
can sometimes offer an advantage. In fact, in a high quality fertilizer
the nutrients are designed to be released slowly, giving plants only
the food they need, over an extended period of time. This reduces the
risk of nitrogen leaching into ground-water, and has the added benefit
of reducing the number of applications you need to make over the
growing season. One new fertilizer worth looking at is C-I-L® 77™ Lawn
Fertilizer from Canadian Tire. It has 77% slow-release nitrogen to
reduce leaching and feed evenly for about 2 months.

The key to maintaining a healthy, environmentally
friendly lawn is in feeding it just the right amount of nutrients for
healthy growth, without over-feeding. You can achieve this with either
"all-natural" or "conventional" fertilizers.

About the Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

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