Fall in Love with Organics

If you are thinking of changing your lawn to organic maintenence, autumn is a good time to start. Here's how.

When organically maintaining a lawn, it is important to focus on the health of the plants and the soil. Prevention is more important than cure. Weeds, insects, and turf diseases are symptoms of an underlying problem with the soil.

Fall is an important time to prepare your grass for dormancy in the winter, and your soil for the early growth of spring. The following steps taken in the fall will take your lawn off chemical dependent maintenance, and move you towrds having a healthy, attractive lawn without either toxic pesticides or synthetic fertilizer.

*       Test your soil. Soil test kits and pH meters are available commercially at garden supply stores. However having your soil tested at a professional lab, or by your county's cooperative extention is recomended. The tests are more accurate and more extensive. They will let you know not only about your soil's pH, but also about improtantnutrients and organic matter content.

*       Keep your soil pH as close to 6.5 as possible. Long Island soil is likely to be more acidic. If the pH is less than 6.5, add lime to raise it. Look for pelletized lime, it is more effective and easy to apply. Applying a quarter dose of lime 4 times through the year will prevent swings in your soil's pH.

*       To kill patches of annual weeds, cover them with a mixture of lime and compost, then seed.

*       The best way to keep out weeds is to have thick, healthy turf. Cutting grass higher shades weed seeds and keeps them from growing. However the last mowing of the season should be short to prevent winter damage.

*       The fall is an excellent time to apply compost, however it can be put down any time of the year. When applying compost; spread it 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Compost is especially important if chemicals have been used on the lawn. It will replace important micro-organisms that the pesticides and synthetic fertilizers kill. Compost can be acquired at municipal composting facilities. For example, the Islip Town facility produces good compost. Compost made by the average homeowner is usually not as well balanced, and most homeowners do not produce enough for their lawns. For very light soils, low in nutrients, you may want to perform a core aeration before composting, to get compost down into the soil. Only do core aeration late in the season, because it may bring up weed seeds and they will be less likely to germinate then.

*       Leave autumn leaves around shallow rooted plants such as maples, azaleas, and rhododendrons. Removing the leaves will slowly starve these plants of organic material. It will also keep roots from drying out and prevent winter burn. Leaves on the lawn can be removed, but hose around shallow rooted plants should be left until spring.

*       Rock dust adds trace minerals that are important for plant growth. This can be spread any time of year, even in the winter. The first year, apply 4 bags per acre, the second year only half as much will be needed.

*      The best time for seeding is late August to mid-September. Seed after applying lime, but before fertilizing. Wait at least a week after applying lime. A fescue blend of grass seed is suggested as best for Long Island, as fescue has deep roots and is drought and acid tolerant. It also creates a thick mat which resists weeds. The best way to seed is to use a spreader and apply at half the seed in each of two passes, after the first asjust the spreader, depending on whether it spread too much or too little seed. The second pass should be perpendicular to the first, to spread the seed more evenly.

*       Fertilize around mid-September. If you have applied lime, wait one week before fertilizing. Choose an organic fertilizer with low water soluble nitrogen. The amount of water soluble nitrogen should be listed on the back of the bag (7% or less is good). A good nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium ratio is 18-8-6. Suggested brands are Ringer and Espoma. Rock phosphate (4% water soluble phosphorus, 32% total phosphate.) will add more phosphorus, phosphorus is important for root systems and should be added in the fall.

*       Late fall fertilization is not recommended, as it is highly likely to result in nitrogen leaching into groundwater.

*       Remember weeds, insects, and diseases are indicators of an underlying condition. If you only treat the symptom and not the cause, they will recur. The underlying cause is usually malnutrition of the soil and the plant. Feed the soil!

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Thank you to Steve Restmeyer of Eco-Logical Organic Landscaping (345-6040) and Jeff Frank of the Lyceum (288-2834) for helping with this article.