Turf Love, But Nontoxic
By Rebecca R. Kahlenberg

More than ever, homeowners are turning to lawn services to maintain their turf. But not necessarily with toxic pesticides.

Susan Morris, a mother of two in Chevy Chase, switched to a lawn company that uses organic controls to fight pests and diseases. At $55 a treatment, the approach isn't any cheaper than a conventional lawn care program. And though her grass is thick and green, she still has some clover and dandelions in the lawn. It's a price she says she can live with.

She made the switch at the urging of her 17-year-old daughter Haley, but she didn't need too much persuading. "I had concern for the environment, the watershed, but I was concerned for the safety of the children and the dog and actually the wildlife," she said.

Morris is not alone. Her lawn company, Natural Lawns Inc., based in Merrifield, reports a tenfold increase in business over the past 14 years from customers like Morris, many of whom are also concerned about health risks of pesticide sprays -- from short-term effects such as eye, skin and nasal irritations to long-term effects.

Various scientific studies have found links between pesticides and human health problems. The EPA, on its Web site, notes that "all pesticides are toxic to some degree. This means they can pose some risk to you, to your children and pets, and to any wildlife that venture on to your lawn -- especially if these chemicals are overused or carelessly applied." Toxics also can kill beneficial organisms in the garden such as earthworms.

A longstanding argument by the lawn service industry is that its employees are licensed and trained to apply EPA-registered chemicals at correct rates, something that homeowners left to their own devices cannot be relied on to do. In addition, organic care tends to cost more because you need more applications to do the same job, and they are not always effective in producing thick lawns that are free of pests and disease.

Traditional chemical applications remain popular, but over the past five years the organic market -- both in direct sales to consumers and through lawn and landscape maintenance companies -- has doubled to about 10 percent of the market for fertilizers and pesticides, according to Bruce Butterfield, research director of the Vermont-based nonprofit National Gardening Association. "It's not the Birkenstock crowd anymore. Baby boomers who are at the prime age for doing yard care are well-educated and not convinced that they will have better living through the use of chemicals," he said.

It helps that the arsenal of organic controls is much greater and more mainstream than it used to be. Some of the all-natural products that are gaining in popularity include: corn gluten as a weed killer; LeafGro, an organic soil amendment made from composted leaves; FertileGro, an organic fertilizer made from chicken manure that is used with grass seed; kelp booster, a soil conditioner derived from seaweed; milky spore, a biological powder that kills Japanese beetle grubs; nontoxic insecticidal soap for general control of plants and ornamentals; beneficial nematodes, wormlike animals that kill pests; and a number of natural oils for shrubbery that serve as insecticides and fungicides.

Bern Bonifant, co-owner of Natural Lawns Inc, said a typical spring and fall feeding would consist of nutrients made from blood, feathers, bones or potash, along with a product named Milorganite, made from composted sewage sludge. The company uses horticultural oil on shrubbery to fight pests.

In addition, many lawn companies, including traditional ones, are reducing synthetic chemicals by using a concept called IPM, or integrated pest management. IPM involves careful monitoring, inspection and evaluation of a lawn. This means that companies no longer arrive on schedule to spray, but inspect and then spray only if pests are present in damaging numbers.

The underlying belief is that organic products help build the soil, filling it with beneficial microbes that go to work for the plants, while synthetic fertilizers provide short-term props for plants. "You hear the argument that plants don't recognize the difference between synthetic and natural products," said John DeNoma, a regional manager for NaturaLawn of America Inc., based in Frederick. "But soil does recognize the difference; it's like living a healthy life and exercising versus using steroids."

According to John Buechner, director of technical services for the Holmdel, N.J.-based Lawn Doctor Inc., the nation's largest franchised traditional lawn care service, about 4 percent its customers use the all-natural program.

Healthy turf, essential for reducing applications of pesticides and fertilizers, remains a responsibility too of the homeowner. Good cultural practices include aerating in high traffic areas, mowing properly, (with a sharp blade and a cutting height of 2½ to 31/2 inches), watering efficiently (deeply, infrequently and in the morning) and leaving grass clippings on the lawn.

For homeowners who want to do their own lawn maintenance, the products are available through mail-order specialists and at local garden centers. "Everybody in the field is looking at this," says Craig Harmer, product manager for Gardens Alive!, an Indiana-based company that sells earth-friendly pesticides and fertilizers.

Locally, American Plant Food Co., with two garden centers in Bethesda, has eliminated 98 percent of chemical lawn products from its shelves over the past four years. Mitch Baker, the vice president, says the higher price of organic products is offset by the benefits of having healthier soil and plants.

Some products considered alternative in the 1980s are among the only or best choices today for particular garden woes, said Harmer. There "may be a day," said Charlie Nardozzi, a horticulturist at the National Gardening Association, "when we don't even talk about organic alternatives -- that will just be the way things are done."

For more information

• National Gardening Association: 800-538-7476; www.garden.org.

• Beyond Pesticides: 202-543-5450; www.beyondpesticides.org.

• Children's Health and Environmental Coalition: 609-252-1915; www.checnet.org.

• Professional Lawn Care Association of America: 800-458-3466; www.plcaa.org.

• Gardens Alive!: 513-354-1483; www.gardensalive.com.

• American Plant Food, 301-469-7690; www.americanplantfood.com.

• Natural Lawns Inc.: 703-204-9000; www.natlawns.com.

• NaturaLawn of America Inc.: 800-989-5444; www.nl-amer.com.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company