Is your lawn getting too much nitrogen?

Nutrient pollution of water happens when runoff of fertilizer (or nutrient-rich sewage) gets into streams, ponds, rivers and oceans. The fertilizer feeds plant algae in the water, stimulating large scale blooms. These thick blooms can clog waterways and can have an awful smell. The algae also depletes oxygen from the water and causes numerous problems for aquatic and other wildlife. It can even affect drinking water.

The primary pollutants are Phosphorus and Nitrogen. Over the past decade, many states have either banned or limited phosphorus in fertilizers. But Nitrogen, the nutrient most associated with greening of lawns, is not regulated, and is still being applied at levels that are beyond what grasses need. The potential for runoff is enormous.

For over 40 years we have been telling our customers that lawns growing in a healthy, well-aerated, and bio-active soil, where clippings are left to decompose, will need much less fertilizer than a “dead soil” that depends on fertilizer for all of its nutrition. Many of our products are designed to improve aeration and beneficial soil life. With new research into soils, bio-life, and the soil-food web, we are now understanding exactly how this is possible. We won’t attempt to explain it all here, but it has a lot to do with keeping the microbial and fungal life in the soil alive and not trying to bypass or degrade them with excess nitrogen or soil toxins.

The average 4-step lawn care program you find in the big box stores will have you putting on approximately .8 pounds of nitrogen per 1000 sf of lawn area. That equates to 3.2 pounds per season. With our Biologically Enhanced LAWN FORCE 5 you would have to put on 8 applications to get the same amount of nitrogen you are getting with just one of those 4-step fertilizer applications. In different terms, it would take 32 applications of LAWN FORCE 5 to give you 3.2 pounds of nitrogen.

Our LAWN FORCE 5 customers rave about the color and health of their lawns, and probably have no idea that they are using so much less nitrogen. The reason it works so well is that it contains soil conditioners, humates, trace elements, and beneficial root fungi. Additionally, while creating an ideal soil environment, LAWN FORCE 5 contains our Biological Dethatcher which breaks down thatch and grass clippings and turns them into compost.

As always, if you have any questions about your lawn or our products, please email us at [email protected]. We’re always happy to help!