Organic Lawn Care FAQ

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 organic lawn care store.

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. Another option to consider would be a natural amendment to loosen and aerate poor clay soils, as well as also improving moisture retention in sandy soils such as expanded shale.

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 to avoid smothering the existing 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? Many people use compost every year. A highly respected compost manufacturer has only applied it to his 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.

If you starting with an existing turf, and have a compacted soil it will need to be remedied by aeration. This can be accomplished with either a manual aeration tool or with a mechanized aerator. Both the manual and mechanical process should aerate and soften the compacted soils by penetrating and plugging plugs out of the soil. This allows the amendments and water to reach deeper in to the soil as well as loosening up the root zone for the turf roots to expand. After aeration is a good time to add your compost, fertilizers and amendments. You shouldn’t 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 fertilize organically?

As in any program, chemical or organic, be sure to have a soil test prior to applying fertilizers to ensure you are adding the amendments that are lacking. 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. Commercial organic dry fertilizers 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 bone meal, blood meal, feather meal, and kelp 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.

What is the annual plan?

Although there is no one plan that fits everyone in an organic program, the plan below is a simple example.

winter

While the season is still winter and the turf is dormant, apply Corn Gluten Meal at 15-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Corn gluten meal is a natural weed and feed fertilizer. It should be broadcast prior to weed seed germination to prevent grassburs, crabgrass, and other annual weeds that germinate from seed. It also serves as a powerful organic fertilizer having about 9-10 percent nitrogen. Do not use prior to planting summer grasses. Corn gluten meal replaces the need for other fertilization for that period.

For an existing lawn turf, add compost as a top dressing. 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.

For existing weeds, it is possible to eliminate by pulling the weeds or by applying an organic weed control product. Vinegar contains some of the same weed kill characteristics as commercially bought non-selective chemical weed killing products. You can spot spray vinegar on the active weeds to rid your turf of weeds prior to spring green up.

spring

Dry Molasses can be used as a soil amendment to feed and stimulate microorganisms. Dry Molasses provides food for microorganisms and is a source of carbon, sulfur, and potash. It is a good, quick source of energy for the soil life and microbes in a compost pile, and will chase fire ants away. It is a carbon source and feeds beneficial microbes creating greater nature fertility.

After receiving your soil test results, it may be required to add different amendments to address issues that came out as a result of the test. It may be necessary to add some paramagnetic minerals, rock minerals, phosphates, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, boron, cobalt, humate or may need to add sulfur to correct alkaline problems. To address any of these deficiencies add the appropriate amendment.

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.

Foliar feeding an organic based fertilizer should be a staple of any organic program. It will encourage microbial action and attracts helpful earthworms in the soil. If you have enough organic matter in your soil so the soil bacteria and earthworms are already active there is no need for this foliar feeding. An example of a popular foliar fertilizer is a mix of compost tea, molasses, vinegar and seaweed. Use it to spray all plants, ornamentals and food crops, at least once a month although every 2 to 3 weeks is even better. This is also an excellent liquid fertilizer in the soil. Try it in potted plants and you’ll see for yourself. Apply early in the morning or in the evening -- avoid the hotter part of the day.

To 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 contains some of the same weed kill characteristics as commercially bought non-selective chemical weed killing products.

summer

For the most part leave it alone. Water in the morning once per week with enough water to get one inch per week in most zones. If your yard is yellow instead of green, 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 doesn’t 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. Greensand might be the appropriate addition. Greensand is a marine deposit called glauconite which is iron potassium silicate and an excellent source of trace minerals. Texas greensand contains 19-20% iron.

Continue the foliar feeding at least once a month although every 2 to 3 weeks is even better. This is also an excellent liquid fertilizer in the soil. Apply early in the morning or in the evening -- avoid the hotter part of the day.

Watch for harmful insects (grubs, ants, fire ants, chiggers, fleas, ticks)? If you discover insects that are deemed harmful in an organic program they can be controlled with beneficial nematodes or with a plant wash spray. Beneficial nematodes come on a sponge which is wrung out into a bucket of water. The water is then sprayed on the lawn. Plant wash sprays contain organic or natural ingredients that “wash” the insect off of the plant leaves.

fall

About 3 weeks before your grass stops growing, apply Corn Gluten Meal at 15-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet for the control of henbit, dandelions, annual bluegrass and other winter weeds. It also serves as a powerful organic fertilizer having about 9-10 percent nitrogen. Corn gluten meal can be used when over seeding ryegrass or other cool season crops but only with care. You must wait until the grass, vetch, or clover has germinated and started to grow before putting the corn gluten meal down or the seed germination will be hurt.