Organic Lawn Care Basics For Homeowners
Now that temperatures are finally warming up across the Northern half of the US and Canada, it is time for organic lawn care lovers to get out and get started for the season. We’ve all had to wait just a little longer than our friends who like to use quick releasing synthetic products, but it is well worth it in the long run!
Naturally fertilized lawns do develop and show results slower. But that’s just fine by me! The reason is because organic fertilizers release their nutrients when temps are hotter, whereas synthetic fertilizers release nitrogen into the soil from water. The good news is that organics feed the lawn slowly over time, thus giving it long term strength.
Don’t worry though, because anyone who is in the lawn care business knows that organically treated lawns look much better in the long haul. This is because the slow release of nutrients helps the lawn to recover and build slowly, over time, which makes it stronger. Synthetically treated lawns, however, tend to green up fast and fade even faster. It’s like a sugar rush that only lasts for a short time and fades in a crash!
With that in mind, here are some of the best natural fertilizers you should consider for your organically treated lawn care program.
Organic Milorganite: This natural fertilizer turns many people off, but does deliver the very best results. Milorganite is reclaimed sewerage from Milwaukee. But don’t let that stop you because it is really a good fertilizer and does NOT smell bad at all. In fact, Milorgaite also contains slow releasing chelated iron that will turn your lawn a nice blue color, giving you the best lawn on the block. This is the best of the organics in my opinion.
Corn Gluten Meal: Once touted as the perfect lawn fertilizer for organically minded consumers, corn gluten offers many benefits. First off, it delivers the nitrogen we want to turn the lawn greener, slowly. In addition, build up of the gluten in the soil will work as a natural insect deterrent too. That is a nice bonus in areas of the country that have problems with grub worms. Corn gluten can be used all year long when temps are above 60 degrees.
Worm Castings: for those of you who are 100% against the use of any animal (mammal) products in your organic lawn care regimen, then worm castings are for you. Earth worms excrete an extremely clean and mineral rich slurry which is collected, dried and packed for lawn and garden fertilizer. It is very expensive, but works well for those of you who are on the Earth friendly extreme.
The final step is to make sure you follow proper cultural lawn care practices such as irrigation and mowing. If you do those things and use good, quality organic fertilizers, your lawn will respond well and look good all year long.
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