Beautiful Lawns Don't Ever Need to Gorge on Nutrients

Winning the battle of ‘hearts and minds’ is never easy. One of the best examples of trying to change the mind of folks set in their ways was given to me by one of my professors at the University of Maryland years ago. Extension agents all over the country spent a goodly amount of the 20th century trying to convince farmers to decrease their row spacing from the traditional 36” when planting corn. Backed by research dating from the 1930’s showing increased yields, fewer weeds and lower irrigation requirements, tighter row spacing seemed, on the surface, to be an easy sell. With self propelled tractors being the norm, most farmers had forgotten that the origin of 36” row spacing was the width of a plow horse backside. That being said, it still took decades before the majority of farmers decreased the row spacing of corn.

I have gone through a similar experience regarding fertilizer requirements for turfgrass. When my company, Bio Green, first began servicing lawns in 1987, our program applied 7 lbs/1000 square feet of nitrogen and 1 ½ lbs/1000 square feet of phosphorus annually. This was thought to be what a cool season grass needed to look its best.

As awareness of nutrient enrichment problems in the Chesapeake Bay increased, the science of fertilization needs expanded. Research began to show that high quality turf could be maintained at much lower fertilizer rates, but it was still hard to make that leap. Change could risk our entire business if it didn’t work.

Well, Bio Green was one of the first lawn care companies to lower our fertilizer rates. We haven't looked back since. The current Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (revised July, 2014) recommended rates (which Bio Green follows) are for 3 ½ lbs/1000 square feet of nitrogen annually and only applying phosphorus when soil testing shows a need. Not only do our lawns still look excellent, we save a great deal on material costs which have enabled us to keep our prices in check.

Image source: Corn Field in Colorado, wikimedia commons at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corn_field_in_Colorado.jpg
Author: Dave Schrader, the NOVA Lawn Guru

Soil Sampling Has To Be Done Right

This past spring, I wrote about why soil testing is important (see my Bio Green blog entry for more info). One overlooked point of that blog post was the importance of how the soil sample is taken, which is not complex but does take thought and effort. The most likely roadblock to getting accurate soil test results is poor sampling technique. The soil test labs themselves (we use VA Tech) make so few mistakes, it's safe to assume that any potential errors are not their fault. That little 6 ounce box 'o dirt you send them needs to represent about 500,000 pounds of soil for the average sized quarter acre lawn. You can easily see if the sample is not taken properly, the results won't help you much. I won't get into the step by step of how to pull a good soil sample (visit VA Tech's web site for instructions),but rest assured, leaning out of your truck to pull a few plugs right where you parked is not the preferred method.

Photo Credit: Joseph R. Hunnings, Extension Specialist, Virginia Tech; Stephen J. Donohue, Extension Specialist, Virginia Tech; Steve Heckendorn, Laboratory Manager, Virginia Tech Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, and Virginia State University

Author: Dave Schrader, the NOVA Lawn Guru