The very best way to reduce impact on the environment is to not buy "bags" of OM of any kind, and instead make use of what ever is nearby and free. Including, quite obviously and logically, one's own effluent. How does packaging and shipping heavy stuff around make sense, when OM grows all around in most climates in NA? What can be missing is certain minerals, and those are much more effectively moved in concentrated form rather than in compost. Compost should be made on-site.

There is an organic lawn care forum on Gardenweb. It's been around for years. Nobody asked for it, but when iVillage took over this website, they created it. But back in the day there had been some serious fire fights over organics. I'm sure that led to the separation and the new organic lawn forum. I have never been thrilled with the organic lawn forum here. Interestingly I have been asked to be the moderator for three other lawn care forum websites. Still most of my participation recently has been here. On one of those other websites, morph became the guy who answered anyone's question about organics. I learned a lot from him, so he's a very good resource for any website, in my opinion. The organic lawn care forum here is 100% dedicated to organic solutions to lawn care issues. On that forum if you suggest using RoundUp to quickly cure a problem that might otherwise linger for years, you will incur the wrath and ridicule of the regulars. Sometimes staunch adherence to an organic solution for everything can make organics seem like it doesn't work. You have picked up on my preference for organic solutions when and where they are possible and most practical. But I am flexible enough to allow for some use of chemicals when they are expedient to the issue at hand. My preference is always for an organic solution. I stopped fertilizing with chemicals in 2002. Do I still use chemicals for other things? Seldom but it has happened. If you have a snail problem in your yard, there is nothing safer or faster than ammonium sulfate. It is a fertilizer that looks and acts like rock salt. The snails cannot move across it without killing themselves. It literally works overnight to wipe out any sized population of snails or slugs. It also acidifies the soil to an extent, fertilizes to an extent, and acts as a chemical fungicide to an extent. It also stinks up the garage until you get rid of it. You can buy a lifetime supply for under $10, so if I had snails, I'd pull that chemical in for a one-time use. I have St Augustine grass which can become thin for many reasons. When it does, there are opportunistic plants like bermuda grass and horse herb which will move in quickly. The typical broadleaf weed control, Weed-B-Gone, will also kill St Augustine. The only weed killer that works on St Aug is atrazine, a powerful and persistent, pre and post emergent weed killer and a known health risk for fetuses. I tried it a few years ago spot spraying only the spots with weeds. You're only allowed to use it once per year, but it flat wipes out everything but the St Augustine. If you apply it in April that gives you a full season to get the St Aug back to a dense turf which resists weeds. With the repeated and prolonged application of chemical fertilizers, your soil microbiology can become disrupted. Normally the soil has 100,000 or so interrelated species of bacteria, fungi, microarthropods, yeast, protozoa, and one other class I can never remember. If you apply an insecticide, you disrupt the balance of microarthropods. If you apply a fungicide, you disrupt the balance of beneficial fungi. If you apply something with antibacterial properties (alcohol, dish washing soap, bleach, etc.), then you disrupt the population of bacteria and fungi. When you disrupt an entire class of creatures from a food chain, then no good things happen. When you apply chemicals for a long time with no periodic application of organics, you can get into what we have called a see-saw effect. The grass can look great but quickly deplete the chemical ferts in the soil. Then it crashes and looks horrible even though you just applied fertilizer. If you apply a stronger dose of chemical fertilizer, sometimes it will recover and look better than before and sometimes that kills the entire lawn. If you had a healthy soil microbiology, those critters would pull up the slack and help out. But if something is wrong and the the microbes are not all well fed, then there is no cavalry coming to the rescue. For that reason, if you are on a full chemical program, for example the Bermuda Bible program, I always ask people to apply something organic at least once a year. I'm not going to insist - what would be the point of that? But I do try to explain why you might want to use one app of organics. As for the cost of organics, the cost went waaaaaay down when I wrote the Organic Lawn Care FAQ. Prior to the 1990s the only organic materials were compost and manure. Animal dung manure was the historical garden and farm fertilizer. Rodale changed that to composted manure in the 1930s. Supply and demand drove the cost of compost through the roof. Manure stunk badly and was "hot" with immediately available nitrogen. Many people killed their lawns with hot manure. And it stinks, so there's that, too. Compost is just plain expensive. And most people could not figure out the amount to apply. The amount to apply based on the NPK is about 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet or 700 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Most people misjudged that horribly and applied as much as 4 or 5 cubic yards (2,400 to 3,500 pounds) per 1,000 square feet. They completely smothered their lawns. They killed it with kindness. I still see lawns smothered in my neighborhood. Then in 2002 I had read Dr Elaine Ingham's article on soil biology on the USDA website. I visited my local feed store and started reading labels. I noticed that the ingredients in organic fertilizer were the same ingredients as in dry dog and cat food with very few exceptions. I checked the prices for those raw ingredients and noticed I could save about 80% off the cost of commercially bagged organic fertilizer if I bought the raw ingredients in plain brown bags. So before I even spent any money on a bag of corn meal I went home and scattered some dog food on the lawn. Three weeks later the test area was greening up and becoming more dense. After that I started buying 3-dollar bags of corn meal (50 pounds for $3 seems crazy today). It worked but not as well as I had hoped. But based on Dr Ingham's work and what I found at the feed store, and the results I got, then I wrote the Organic Lawn Care FAQ. As it turns out I was simply not using enough corn meal to make it work. I've learned that since. The Organic Lawn Care FAQ changed everything. No longer did you have to endure stinky manure. No longer did you have to spend an arm and a leg for compost. No longer were you likely to smother the lawn under those two materials. And no longer did you have to spend an arm or a leg to buy commercially bagged organic fertilizer. I posted the Organic Lawn Care FAQ on the three forums I moderated and posted it here in the Organic Gardening forum. It has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times (according to download counters). I have learned a lot since writing it so it should be revised, but it serves as a good place to get oriented and a head start with organic lawn care. Sometimes the organic solution to a problem works better than a chemical solution. Caterpillars, for example, can be stopped from feeding instantly by one drop of bacillus thuringiensis (BT for short). It is a bacterial disease that only affects caterpillars. It causes immediate lockjaw in them, and they stop feeding. After about 3 days of not moving or feeding, they are dead if they have not been picked over by the birds. But if you use a chemical solutions to caterpillars, those affect all the insects in the soil and above resulting in a recovery period which can take months. Two other organic materials, spinosad and beneficial nematodes, also introduce paralyzing diseases to insects, but those are not as targeted as BT. They work on contact, so the insect does not have to eat anything. As for fungal disease problems in lawns, corn meal is the organic solution. It works better for some than for others, but it has worked year after year for me since 2002. The major problem with disease is that it happens in the summer. When you look at the label of the chemical fungicides it tells you not to apply if the temp is going to be 90 degrees F. Well, they really mean 85 degrees F, because if you use it above 85 degrees, you will kill the grass. All grasses. But if you use corn meal, you can use that at any temperature. Corn meal is obviously an organic solution which requires a healthy population of soil microbes. As the corn meal decomposes, a predator fungus becomes attached to it. That predatory fungus will feed on the disease fungus and wipe it out. So your only choice for killing disease in the summer is corn meal. If you live in the south, it's still above 85 every day down here. The window for using chemical fungicides in the south is very small. But having said alllll that, from reading three lawn care forums for 12 years, the primary cause of lawn issues is improper watering. Second is mowing. Fertilizer and all these chemicals are a distant 3rd place. Morph might argue persuasively that getting your soil chemically balanced for micronutrients should come in there at a high level, because that sets up a proper home for all this biology I've been talking about. Watering, mowing, and micronutrient balancing are independent of which kind of fertilizer you use. You have to water and mow anyway, so you may as well do it correctly. Most people who take advice on those topics from their lawn mower salesman or the sprinkler installer get bad information. Watering should be done deeply and infrequently. Mowing should almost always be high (with the exception of bermuda, centipede, and creeping bentgrass (and the further exception of Marathon II and III dwarf fescues)).

thanks

How do I prepare the soil for an organic turf program? The key to a successful organic lawn program is the soil. It must be alive with wide variety of beneficial microorganisms and bugs. Beneficial microbes both feed and protect the plants from disease-causing microbes. All the organic gardener does is feed the beneficial microbes and let them do their work. Beneficial microorganisms include bacteria and fungi found in finished compost. There are two ways to get the microbial benefit from compost. The best way to get a complete dose of beneficial microbes is by including finished compost in the soil preparation before laying seed or sod. Preparing the ground right beforehand is preferred to applying after the grass is established. Plans for a new lawn should specify that compost be mixed with the top 4 inches of topsoil, half-and half, when the land is renovated for grass seed or sod planting. This ensures that the microbes will be in the root zone as the grass seed germinates. However, if your lawn is already established and you want to go organic, you can add compost to the lawn as a top dressing. This means physically dropping compost on top of the turf and then sweeping it off the grass plants and onto the soil where the microbes will be washed into the soil. A careful watering of the lawn after the application of compost will hasten this process. Care must be taken to avoid topping with too much compost. See the FAQ below about this technique and recommendations to avoid smothering the existing lawn. Many other issues are important to the success of an organic lawn. Watering, fertilizing, and weeding programs are all vital and the reader is encouraged to study this FAQ regarding each of these topics. Success is also closely related to the choice of grass selected for the lawn. Choice of grass is outside the scope of this FAQ. For more information about soil microbes go to and read everything you can find or search the Internet for "The Soil Biology Primer." How Do I Apply Compost To My Lawn? Spread it around in piles on the lawn with a wheelbarrow. Sling it from the piles onto the grass with a shovel. Then use a push broom to sweep it off the grass blades and down into the turf. Water it in to activate the compost microbes and wash them onto your soil. Apply compost to grass at a rate of no more than 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. This results in a thin layer about 1/3 inch deep when spread out uniformly. How do I fertilize organically? Commercial organic dry fertilizers, such as Ringers, Espoma, Greensense, and Texas Tee, are protein based and must be digested by soil microbes before the nitrogen becomes available to the roots. The ingredients of these commercial fertilizers include ground corn, alfalfa, cottonseed, corn gluten meal, soy, other grains, as well as blood meal and feather meal. Any ground seed or bean is good as an organic fertilizer including used coffee grounds. You can often find these same ingredients in bulk form at farm or feed stores. A good application rate for these grain based fertilizers is 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Organic fertilizer may be applied any day, any time of day, and at any amount without fear of hurting the turf. Give it 3 weeks for the microbes to process the protein before the benefit is seen in the grass. After 200 years of an NPK mentality toward fertility, university researchers are just now returning to study soil microbes and protein based microbe food. Not much has been published. Try Brown University. Otherwise industry and consumers are leading the way on protein fertilizers. Check out and attra.org (search for alternative soil amendments). Where do I get protein fertilizers? Commercial brands can be found at organic garden supply stores and at some farm and feed stores. The commercial brands might go as high as $30 for a 30-pound bag. A typical retail price for 50 pounds of bulk alfalfa pellets or corn meal is $3-$7 at a farm/feed store. Call around, as prices will vary depending on the availability in your area. Wont the use of all this protein feed encourage vermin and insect pests? Logically you would think so, but it doesnt seem to. Will chemical fertilizers kill the soil microbes? It is possible but it shouldnt unless it is overused. Although it is a salt, it has no sodium in it. Sodium is the culprit in almost all "salt" problems. Then what is wrong with chemical fertilizers? Chemical fertilizers provide an "empty" type of food directly to the plants. This is like the empty calories we get from eating pure refined sugar. Microbes provide full service to the plants. They decompose dead plant and animal residues to humus; combine nitrogen and carbon to prevent nutrient loss; suppress disease; produce plant growth regulators; develop soil structure, tilth, and water penetration/retention; clean up chemical residues; shift soil pH toward neutral; retrieve nutrients from distant parts of the soil; decompose thatch; and control nitrogen supply to the plants according to need. Besides that, if a chemical fertilizer contains NPK of 10-10-10, nobody knows what the 70% of unlisted stuff is in the chemical bag that is not fertilizer. How should I water? Watering should be done in the mornings. Deep but infrequent watering encourages roots to penetrate deeper into the soil. Watering in the evening encourages pathogenic fungus disease so try not to let the grass blades have water on them after dark. Water for one to two hours at a time when you do water. When should I add manure? Never use fresh manure directly on your turf. You may use composted manure, but compost that has many other ingredients makes better compost. How often should I use compost on grass? Many people use compost every year. A highly respected compost manufacturer has only applied it to his own grass twice in 30 years. The answer probably lies somewhere in between. If you have had a flood or a turf disease, you should reapply. How do I get started in an organic program? Getting started is as easy as stopping the use of chemicals. You can easily replenish the microbes with a thin layer of compost. The next thing to do is start using protein-based fertilizers like corn meal, alfalfa meal, coffee grounds, soy meal, cottonseed meal, sorghum meal, or what ever you can get inexpensively at your local feed supply store. What is the annual plan? Spring: Any time before your grass starts to turn lush in the spring, apply a protein-based fertilizer at 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Water it in when you want to. Summer: Leave it alone. Water in the morning once per week with enough water to get one inch per week in most zones. Fall: About 3 weeks before your grass stops growing, apply a protein-based fertilizer at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. +++ Possible Problem areas +++ How often do I aerate and soften compacted soil? You shouldnt have to do any mechanical aerating if you follow an organic program. Soil microbes will till and aerate your soil for you. As your soil develops natural tilth from the microbes digging for you, the soil will become softer and retain more water from each watering. How do I get rid of thatch? Thatch is not a problem in organic lawns. Beneficial soil microbes eat thatch. There is no need to collect grass clippings with the lawn mower and fall leaves can be mulched right back into the turf. My lawn is dead. What can I do? First make sure it is not just dormant. If it is not dormant and you have been watering regularly, you likely have a turf disease or an insect problem. Many lawn diseases are fungus related. If you suspect you have a fungus, the organic solution is to fight the pathogenic fungus with beneficial fungus. The Trichoderma (try-ko-DER-ma) fungus eats the pathogenic fungi. Trichoderma grows especially well on whole ground corn meal. Apply corn meal at 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. A thin layer of compost will help replenish the beneficial microbes which may have been killed off by the disease microbes. The other possibility is you have insect damage. Grubs or grub worms are the larvae of various beetles including the June bug. When you see beetles flying around your lights at night, its time to spray beneficial nematodes on the turf. Beneficial nematodes are parasites for insect larvae. See more later in this FAQ. Two good references for further information can be found at the Texas A&M University at Stephenville (search for Peanut Disease and Nematode Control Recommendations) and look for the T-22 Seed Treatment at . University of Florida has info on beneficial nematodes. Is this the same corn meal I can get at the grocery store? Yes it is. You can get it much cheaper at a farm/feed store in 50-pound bags. My grass is alive but turns yellow in the middle of summer. Do I need to add nitrogen or iron? Some grasses need nitrogen more often than others. If you used protein in the spring, you might need a second or third dose of organic fertilizer. If that doesnt help, you might need iron. Glauconite, packaged as greensand, will likely turn your lawn green again. When applied at 40 pounds per 1,000 square feet, it seems to keep grass green when other lawns turn yellow. The iron from greensand is not immediately available to plants, so once again you have to wait for the microbes to process it. This takes a week or two. How do I get rid of grubs (ants, fire ants, chiggers, fleas, ticks)? Beneficial nematodes are parasites for the all the pests listed. They come on a sponge which is wrung out into a bucket of water. The water is then sprayed on the lawn. For more info on beneficial nematodes, look at the University of Connecticut, University of Florida, Washington State University, Oklahoma State University, Cornell University, Texas A&M University, and many other university websites and search for beneficial nematodes. Should I have my soil tested first? You can certainly have your soil tested. Ask them to check for organic materials and microbe species counts. Most soil tests focus on pH and the amount of chemical fertilizer residue there is immediately available for the plants. My soil is too alkaline (acid). What should I do? If you are using an organic program, in many cases nothing needs to be done. No matter which side of neutral your soil is on, soil microbial action tends to move the pH to neutral near 7.0. How do I control weeds? Mow as high as your grass will allow you at maximum density to shade out weeds and weed seeds. Water deeply and infrequently to encourage deeper rooted grasses. Mow weeds off or hand pick. Never let weeds go to seed. For spot treatment or for small areas of pure weeds, many people have reported great success with 20% vinegar sprayed as a foliar spray, not a soil drench. Vinegar can be found at organic garden shops and feed stores. To a gallon of vinegar, mix a tablespoon of liquid dish soap and two tablespoons of molasses as wetting agents. Apply full strength from a hand sprayer. Be careful not to get any spray on you or in your eyes or inhale it. The smell will go away in 15 minutes. 20% vinegar will be the most hazardous thing you use in organic gardening. You can find more info about vinegar as an herbicide at usda.gov and search for vinegar. Is there an organic preemergent? There is an organic fertilizer that acts like a preemergent seed controller. That product is corn gluten meal (CGM). This is not the same as corn meal - different products work different ways. Do not use CGM if you are reseeding or trying to grow grass from seed. The only problem with CGM is the cost in most parts of the country. Prices range from $3 - $40 for a 50-pound sack depending on where you live. Apply at 10-40 pounds per 1,000 square feet. For more info go to and search for corn gluten meal. I wont go organic because compost piles (or bags of compost) stink. Compost piles never smell bad if they are properly managed. For more on compost, read the FAQ under the Soils and Compost Forum on GardenWeb. Does organic fertilizer stink? No it doesnt. Fresh manure stinks, but manure is not supposed to be used directly on anything. Anything that stinks should be composted for several months or until it stops stinking. Does compost carry disease? No. Aerobic composting with a good heat cycle kills off the disease causing microbes in the compost. If compost smells sour, rotten, rancid, or bad in any way, it is not finished cooking. Fluff it up to let more air in and let it sit for another few weeks. Read more about disease suppression at . Ive used compost every year for years but my neighbors lawn is always greener. Whats wrong? Compost is not a very good fertilizer. Compost is a soil amendment used primarily to bring beneficial soil microbes to your soil. If you want a thick, green turf grass, you need to add protein to feed the soil microbes. The microbes, in turn, will feed the grass. How much does organic gardening cost? Ive heard it is very expensive. Following a full organic program should cost less than a chemical program. The first application of compost can be expensive, but it is important to look at the big picture. Protein fertilizer costs about the same per square foot as chemical fertilizer. The reason the organic program is less expensive is the fact that you wont need expensive herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides. Can I put too much compost on? It is possible and happens to people who get bad advice about applying compost and manure. Unfortunately you can easily smother many grasses by putting too much compost on. That is why the recommended rate is 1 cubic yard of compost for every 1,000 square feet. This will result in application of 1/3 inch of compost if spread out uniformly - a very thin layer. Can I put too much organic fertilizer on? This cannot happen unless you use enough to smother the grass. The soil microbes must eat protein fertilizer before the grass gets any benefit. With an organic program, nothing goes to waste and nothing is washed away. Is there an organic weed and feed? Not really and we are thankful for that. Chemical weed and feed products are not very well designed. Refer back to the question about the preemergent for information about corn gluten meal. (This FAQ was written by one of our GardenWeb members: David Hall from San Antonio, TX aka Dchall_San_Antonio)