I'm trying to go organic on my lawn- help!

15 years ago

I have recently decided to fire my lawn service and go organic. For a multitude of reasons.

First, we have the crappiest grass ever. Our builder totally did a number on us and gave us Bermuda that was heavily overseeded with winter rye. So much that it nearly choked out the Bermuda underneath. Anyway, after 3 years of being in this house and 3 years of getting lawn treatments it doesn't look much better than in the beginning, AND we are inundated with poke salad! There are hundreds of sprigs of it popping up everywhere. I spent all morning pulling poke salad and other assorted weeds from my lawn and flower beds. You'd think after having a lawn service come out we wouldn't have to deal with this!

Secondly everytime he comes out he sprays his chemicals all over my dog! The dog loves the hose pipe and tries to bite the water every time we spray him down. So when the yard guy comes, Gus thinks it's a fun game to attack his sprayer like he does the hose pipe. I have told the guy to not spray our backyard, just do granules, but NO. Gus looks like a neon yellow highlighter after the guy leaves. I don't want to pay for Gus's chemo treatments later in life when he gets cancer from all the lawn chemicals that have been sprayed all down his throat. :o)

Thirdly, I watched this scary documentary about Monsanto and Roundup Ready corn and crops and I got all freaked out about our food and chemicals, etc etc etc. Dr. Oz even had the lady on his radio show the other day, so it's a legitimate documentary I guess. After much black helicopter conspiracy theory thoughts, I decided that it's just way too much for me to worry about all the corn in the world, so why not deal with what I actually CAN control--my yard.

So... I'm going to try to DIY it, and go organic. My plan of attack is to use Bill's Perfect Lawn Fertilizer from Spray-n-grow.com and either the AllDown or Burnout organic weed and grass killer to edge my flower beds and try to keep the bermuda from creeping in, along with spot-spraying the poke salad and other weeds. I'll also keep pulling them. :)

Do you think this is a good plan? Any other good advice on going organic?

Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bills Perfect Fertilizer from Spray n Grow

Comments (4)

john_trussville
15 years ago
OMG, what lawn service do you use? No REPUTABLE service company would treat a lawn area when & where there is a pet present, much less allow the pet to actually be sprayed during the treatment. If they're that irresponsible there's no way I could have any trust in them that they're doing the job in an effective manner for the lawn. And sorry but I must add, no RESPONSIBLE pet owner would allow this to happen to an animal. And to let it happen repeatedly is just plain cruel.
bcb77
Original Author
15 years ago
Wow.

Well, I wasn't exactly expecting to get flamed for posting that.

I'm not going to get into whether or not you consider me to be a RESPONSIBLE pet owner because I leave my two 80 lb labradors outside in my fenced in back yard while we are at work. This is a gardening forum, not a pet owner forum. Like I said, we've asked the guy to use granules and he apparently didn't get the message (or just didn't care). We even told him to NOT spray our backyard at all, but he never got that message either. So... bye bye lawn service.

The lawn company was Shelby Turf and Shrub.

Anyway, anyone else able to give me advice on the organic stuff?
Thanks
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john_trussville
15 years ago
I don't get it. Now you seem to be claiming that you shouldn't be faulted in any way since this all happened when your dogs were left in the backyard while you were at work. Yet in your first post you described the "fun game" Gus plays attacking the lawn co. sprayer similar to the way he does a hose pipe, as if you witnessed him turning into a "neon yellow highlighter" yourself. Which is it?

Either way, it should have NEVER happened. Shelby Turf & Shrub was at fault for doing it the first time whether you were at home or not...and should be held responsible. But please tell me how you can possibly not feel guilty and not consider yourself at fault for allowing it to continue numerous times ("everytime he comes out")?

I'm sorry if you're feeling "flamed", but whether intentional or not I don't much care for the somewhat whimsical way (with a smiley face, even?) in which you told of your poor dog being repeatedly exposed to potentially harmfull lawn chemicals.
Believe it or not, I'm a pretty easy going guy but I really don't care if this a gardening forum or a pet owner's forum, I can't stand hearing about animal abuse WHEREVER it rears its ugly head. Would you have allowed a child to be sprayed down? Or is it ok as long as it's just a dog that can be put down before you have to incur expensive vet bills? Give me a break!
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
15 years ago
I reacted the very same way that you did, John.

But, anyway, bcb77. Going organic is a great idea, as long as you understand that you have to begin taking care of the SOIL system. Healthy lawns have a vital soil/root system. It's not about substituting one batch of chemicals for another.

Did you know that there is an Organic Lawn Care forum here in the gardenweb? If you spend some time reading past (and present) threads in there, I'll bet that you will come away with alot of great tips and ideas.

Good luck to you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Here....let's visit the Organic Lawn Care forum