A lush, beautiful, green lawn is important to you. But so is your family’s safety. For that reason, you may have wondered whether you should be exploring options for organic lawn care.
Whether it’s something you’ve just thought about or something you’ve already started researching, you might be feeling as though you have to choose between safety and great results. But the truth is, you can have the best of both worlds. We’ll explain how.
In fact, we’ve asked our Lawn Care and Irrigation Manager, Daniel Garza to take the lead on this article and explain more about organic lawn care. As a graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in Turf Science, Daniel is an expert in this area and quite familiar with the questions that many of our homeowners might have about organic lawn care.
Organic is a word that gets thrown around quite often and can mean different things in different contexts. While there have been some “guiding principles” behind organic lawn care, the lack of a hard definition means that what one company claims to be an “organic program” could be completely different from what another company claims.
For the purposes of this article, we’ll consider organic lawn care to be a program that uses zero chemicals. It’s just important to recognize that many companies who talk about being “organic” are often using more of a hybrid approach.
According to Daniel, the simplest answer is that organic lawn care can work but it’s “not an exact science.”
“It’s going to take a lot more time, money, and effort to achieve results with a completely organic lawn care program,” Daniel says. “It could be years before you start seeing the results that you’re after. Because synthetic lawn care products are made in laboratories by agronomists that understand exactly what a lawn needs, you can expect that the product will work exactly as intended. With organic products, there’s just a lot of uncertainty.”
Daniel says that organic lawn fertilizers work by amending the soil, not providing the plant itself with nutrients. This can work, but it takes a lot of time and patience, he says.
In terms of organic weed control, Daniel says that your best bet to get rid of weeds is to hand-pull them. This is time-consuming and incredibly laborious.
Of course, the main reason why most people are interested in organic lawn care in the first place is safety. While a lot of people automatically associate the word organic with “safe,” the truth is, organic doesn’t automatically mean something is safe. Similarly, a synthetic product isn’t something that you should assume is unsafe, either.
“If you take the time to read the label on an organic lawn care product, you might find that it’s more harmful than a lawn care product being produced in a laboratory under controlled situations,” says Daniel. “With organic lawn products, you just don’t always know what you’re getting. A lot of times these products contain sewage sludge or animal manure. It will stink to high heavens and you don’t really know what’s in there.”
Daniel says that there is an automatic assumption that organic lawn care products are like organic foods. They must be heavily regulated and pass different inspections, but that’s simply not the case. For this reason, he says that the certainty of understanding exactly what you’re getting with scientifically formulated products is just a safer bet all around.
Of course, Daniel adds that he has nothing against organic lawn care, he just doesn’t think that homeowners should embrace these programs until they fully understand what they’re getting. He wants to be sure that homeowners understand that an organic lawn care program almost always means more time and more money, for results that may not be nearly as good.
But a lot of times the term “organic” is used purely as a marketing ploy by companies trying to gain your business. They’re counting on you to assume that organic means safer or better and they’re not expecting you to look beyond those common assumptions.
But you’re an educated consumer and you want to understand what you’re investing in. That’s exactly why you’re taking the time to read this article.
While we believe in synthetic products both for their safety and their effectiveness, that’s not to say that we advocate spraying your yard with more products than necessary. To be honest, that’s just careless, but some lawn care companies will do it simply because it’s faster and easier for their technicians.
Instead, we are always recommending and incorporating cultural practices that will naturally improve your lawn and reduce your need for products over time.
The four practices that will have the biggest impact on limiting your synthetic product usage are:
These four practices will help keep your lawn thick and healthy and that is going to help naturally choke out weed growth. The fuller your lawn is, the less chance you provide for weeds to grow in the first place. In time, that also means less product.
While a lot of people have been conditioned to believe that organic is the only way to be safe and responsible when it comes to lawn care, that’s simply not true.
At Grassperson, we use EPA-approved products that are not harmful to the environment and remain safe for your family and pets. We also don’t just go in and spray excessively or when it’s not needed and we’ll always make recommendations that will help your lawn to perform better, even without products.
That means that you can have the best of both worlds. You can have the great lawn results that you’re after without having to feel as though you’re compromising your family’s safety in any way. Thanks to your being an educated consumer, you have found a way to have it all and to avoid falling for marketing gimmicks that will leave you feeling dissatisfied with your results.
Ready to get the results that you desire for your North Texas lawn without any compromises? Get a Free Quote, then you can enjoy the best lawn on the block!
