Helpful Hints Before you Fertilize this Fall
Did you know a recent study by NASA estimates lawns are the largest “crop” in the country, covering up to three times as many acres as corn? It’s an amazing fact with implications that have changed our understanding of the impacts of individual lawn care.
What we do to our yard affects
our local rivers and lakes
as well as the nation.
Environment Missouri found that 12.7 million pounds of chemicals, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, flow into the Mississippi River annually, putting the River on the Weather Channel’s list of the World’s Most Polluted Rivers. Since 40% of the water that falls on the U.S. ends up in the Mississippi River, the excess chemicals eventually cause the largest dead zone in the country in the Gulf of Mexico. In case you missed it, 1 Mississippi sent out a press release on the Dead Zone and its links to the Farm Bill.
While industrial size agriculture is one of the largest obstacles to improving water quality, each of us has our own responsibility to care for our lawns.
Individual actions do make a difference. For example in 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, required homeowners to only use phosphorous-free fertilizer. Within two years, the level of phosphorus in their streams and rivers dropped 28%. In the last 10 years, 11 states have banned the use or sale of phosphorus fertilizer.
Over-fertilization is bad for the water, but it can also damage your lawn and lead to:
- Greater vulnerability to lawn diseases
- Greater insect damage
- Burning of roots or foliage
- Lower drought resistance
Test your soil!
Knowledge is power and appropriate fertilization requires information. Test your soil first to see if fertilizer is necessary; it will save you time and money. The 1 Mississippi campaign wanted to learn more about soil testing and recently tested the testing process. Read more about our experience in this month’s blog, “Testing, Testing – One, Two, Three.”
Testing soil prevents excess fertilizer from running off your property and entering local waterways. Reducing fertilizer pollution will help keep your favorite lakes swimmable and fishable, reduce the cost of filtering drinking water and decrease the stress of the dead zone on our neighbors along the Gulf Coast. We all live downstream from someone (except maybe the folks at the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Lake Itasca). Let’s be sure the water we pass on is as clean as the water sent our way.
Annette Gomberg, 1 Mississippi Outreach Coordinator
Trivia Question:
How much of soil is just air and water?
a.10%
b.25%
c. 50%
d. 75%
Answer in this month’s blog on soil testing, “Testing, Testing – One, Two, Three”.