Organic Lawn Care: Is it for real?

As someone who doesn’t like to expose myself and my family to unnecessary chemicals, I have been hand-plucking weeds, and doing the old-fashioned hoeing in my yard on a steady diet for years. It’s not a fun exercise, but one that feels “right”.

Then one day I ran into a person who was sold on an organic lawn care company.  It sounded good– I must say! The company came and took care of this person’s lawn with a spray here and a sprinkle there, and wallah!  Their weeds disappeared instantly, and amazingly so.  This person swore to me–it’s all organic!

I was amazed, and curious: What type of organic lawn care was this?  

I had tried so many organic solutions over the years, and nothing compared to this!   I tried corn gluten to suppress weeds with no noticeable result except killing my grass seeds!  I tried vinegar and salt, only to permanently kill my grass all together. I’ve come really close to purchasing a torch–let me tell you, but I don’t think that will fix it either.

So when I saw this magical green lawn appear before my eyes that was once ridden with weeds and glowing yellow in spring, I had to check it out.

What did this company sell because man –it was effective!  And I saw the truck.  It indeed said “organic” lawn care.

I got on the phone and I called the company.  Who wouldn’t want that? If I could banish hours of work each year to a few “organic” sprays?  I’d gladly pay for it!

When I got the guy on the phone who sold the product, I asked him what he did, and what he said was shocking.

He said he used a chemical–I don’t remember the name now–but to make it organic he watered it down dramatically so that it was no longer toxic.

I kid you not!! I questioned him again to make sure I heard it right and I did.

I hope your alarm bells are ringing.  

Hello!

I wrote down the chemical name, and did some reading online.  Sure enough, the chemical he claimed to use was in every nasty chemical bag out there — in the cheapest of products. It was not a “non-toxic chemical” by any means. It was on the contrary–very toxic.

I knew right away the guy was selling me the Brooklyn Bridge, if I was so inclined to buy it.  I said thanks, but no thanks!

If we could water down chemicals to this extreme and call them organic, and they would work this magic — everyone would have done this a long time ago and the person who discovered it would be mighty rich, but I’ve never seen or found that guy.  The story was utter rubbish. 

I was shocked and still am in shock this business continues to thrive today, but few people ask their company what they do to accomplish the task–that I am sure of.  I still see the company continually come to lawns near me and spray this “mixture” which is touted as organic.

I’ve also noticed another thing:  There are little signs put into the lawn (as shown above) identifying that there has been a pesticide application applied–when it is supposedly organic.  If someone is selling you organic lawn care, they should never, ever do this.  And I smell a strong chemical smell. All red flags to consider when you think you are hiring an organic lawn care guy.

I called another organic lawn care company and this guy came and offered me a service which did it the old-fashioned way.  He wanted me to sign up for a service where he tested and nourished my soil, hand-plucked weeds weekly,  and applied grass seed regularly.  Yeah, that makes sense.

There is no quick-fix organic cure that I’ve found to date.  Buyer beware.