What Does "Organic" Lawn Care Really Mean?

Terms such as "natural", "organic", "eco-friendly" and numerous other synonyms get tossed around a lot these days. In the grocery store, it's easy to see what food is certified organic, but when it comes to maintaining turf grass, there are no regulations and thus no definitions available for these terms. As a result, what you actually get from a "natural" or "organic" lawn care program can vary widely and any company can claim to offer one. If you are shopping for a lawn fertilizer program, it's up to you to ask what exactly makes a program natural, organic, or eco-friendly. Does the company only use OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) or National Organic Program's (NOP) certified products? Are their products synthetic, processed, and/or chemical free? It's easy to get confused in our world of intense marketing campaigns. For example, a natural fertilizer product can be both organic (made from plants or animals) and inorganic ( contain mined material like powdered limestone and rock phosphate), while a certified organic fertilizer can be natural or synthetic. Confused? I would be surprised if you weren't. The most important thing to remember is to choose products or programs that best support overall plant and soil health with the least negative impacts to the surrounding environment.  When choosing products for our organic lawn care program, we focus on two things:

1. Using natural fertilizers from plant or animal sources
2. Eliminating all synthetic chemicals

Natural fertilizer sources such as feather and bone meal, corn gluten, kelp, fish emulsions, compost teas, alfalfa meal, and many others can provide great nutrition to plants while also helping to improve overall soil health. When possible, we choose fertilizers that are high in organic matter, which are naturally slow-release sources of nutrition. Eliminating harmful synthetic chemicals such as 2,4-D, Dicamba, Merit, Prodiamine, etc. is a must. These products can harm beneficial bacteria and insects, as well as destroy soil structure and function. Instead, we use natural oils or agricultural byproducts (think corn gluten, neem oil, cedar oil, etc.) to help control weeds and harmful insects.
So don't be afraid to ask questions when looking for an organic or natural lawn service and make sure a company's standards align with yours. 
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