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.
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