Lawn Talk with Harold Enger - Podcast Transcription
Episode: Organic-Based Fertilizer Programs
Tim Kauffold: Welcome to Lawn Talk, I'm your host Tim Kauffold.
Lawn Talk is a series of conversations with Spring-Green lawn care professionals.
Joining me is Harold Enger. Harold has worked in the Green Industry for nearly 30 years and is a Certified Turfgrass and Ornamental Landscape professional.
In this episode of Lawn Talk, we will be speaking with Harold about organic alternatives. Harold, Spring Green has a program called organic alternatives. Can you tell me a little bit about this?
Harold Enger: Well, this is a program that we put into practice the last couple of years and it’s a hybrid—it's a combination of standard fertilization products and organic-based materials, meaning that we are using some organic materials, which for the most part is processed poultry waste along with synthetic fertilizers because we want to make sure that our homeowners are going to be able to see some greening.
Most of your organic materials take a long time to become available to the plant, so that you can see any results. So we want to give it a little bit of a kick from these synthetic materials in order to get that green that our homeowners want, but yet they want the benefit of the organic material.
Tim: Can these organic materials control weeds, insects and diseases like the other programs?
Harold: No, we do use standard weed control products, but we don't necessarily spray the entire lawn. We will spot treat individual areas.
A big problem weed we have is crabgrass. There are some organic products that have been labeled for it, but because of the amount that's needed they become cost prohibitive, so again we use standard crab crass control materials that we put down in the spring, because we want to make sure our homeowners aren't bothered with that problem later on in the year. And for the most part, most of the organic insect control products or disease control products have not produced the type of results that people want to see. And they are again very expensive to use, so we will use standard insect, disease and weed control products to control those pest problems.
Tim: But you mentioned that it's more of a spot control than just a broad spray.
Harold: Exactly. Well, with the weed control, you see a weed, we'll spray it. We don't necessarily spray the entire lawn. We are trying to reduce, and we have over the years, reduced the amount of pesticide control products that we have used over the years. Trying to keep that down to be more environmentally friendly, but with the addition of the organic materials what we are trying to do is provide food for the soil, so that the soil can produce more of the nutrients and make these nutrients available faster and easier to the plant and that is what some of this organic material will do. It feeds some of the microorganisms in the soil, which will then release their byproducts, releasing nutrients to the plant making it easier and faster for the plant to develop.
Tim: Are there other benefits that I am going to see as a homeowner with the organic-based program?
Harold: Well, I think the biggest is the improvement of the soil structure—that's what our goal is there. With your standard fertilizers you are feeding the plant. With the organic materials you are helping to feed the soil and to try to develop more of a sustainable lawn care program that will help in giving you a plant that will be able to handle some of the environmental stresses, such as heat and drought. It takes longer for our organic based program to work than it does our standard program.
Tim: If you would like to know more about services available from your local Spring-Green lawn care professional, visit the Spring-Green web site, at Spring-Green.com. There you will find more detailed information, including how to contact a Spring-Green lawn care professional in your area.
This has been Lawn Talk, an on-going series for homeowners looking to protect and enjoy their outdoor investment, brought to you by Spring-Green Lawn Care and its many local lawn care professionals nationwide.
Find more episodes at Spring-Green.com or on iTunes under Lawn Talk.
Thanks and have a green day!