"A Safe Alternative"

Last week I received an email from an old friend who had read my article on spring clean ups. I ended the piece recommending the application of a pre-emergent herbicide, a common practice of professional landscapers and something that I have become comfortable with in commercial landscape applications. This is just the way it’s done, or is it? As my friend Matt Powers, owner of Easton Landscaping so eloquently pointed out; “As landscape professionals I feel we have an ability to influence customers in a number of ways including environmentally responsible approaches to pest management”. This is something that we have been doing at our company, using organic, low salt fertilizers, and avoiding the application of phosphorous around watershed, but I should have offered a safe alternative to chemicals, and I am grateful to Matt for bring this to my attention. Matt went on to say; “We all need to understand that what we put on the ground in our own yard does not stay there, it travels great distances in air and water. When we apply chemicals to our yards we all need to understand that there are consequences…” Consequences like the “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, an oxygen depleted area of water equivalent to the total volume of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes.
With this on my mind, I took a stroll down the isle of a large home and garden retailer Sunday afternoon and found myself in the garden chemical isle. I was amazed by the number of products and began reading the labels, and warnings. …Pretty serious stuff about eyes, and children and pets, and then it hit me… We are caught up in an almost ritualistic habit of dumping chemicals on our lawns and gardens in a quest for the perfect patch of green, all without thinking of the effects downstream. Synthetic pre-emergents like Preen,TR-10, Treflan and a host of others, have been proven to be deadly to fish and in higher concentrations to earthworms.” Powers continued, “What ever happened to pulling the weeds?”
OK, here is the good news! There is a safe alternative to chemicals – Corn Gluten meal. Available in several forms, one from Preen under the name “Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer”. It is Organic and safe to use. However, DO NOT Confuse it with”Preen Garden Weed Preventer “which has a warning for children on the front of the container. Although this Organic product is readily available in smaller packaging on store shelves, the price per pound is significantly less if purchased from one of the local coops or feed stores. Corn Gluten is available in 50 lb bags priced around twenty dollars … A much better deal. Applying Corn Gluten is safe and easy. Spread an even layer (not too thick) over the area to be treated. This will reduce your weed germination by as much as 80% while adding nitrogen to your soil. This is a win- win scenario for a healthier environment.
For a links to more information on Corn Gluten and the Gulf of Mexico Dead zone, visit our website – www.livingcolorlandscapes.net
James Merritt - Partner and Creative DirectorLiving Color Landscapes
www.livingcolorlandscapes.net