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Lawn Experts Offer Tips To Go Green

Achieving An Organic Lawn Can Be Simple, Experts Say

Connecticut residents are looking to organic lawn care to keep their grass health-looking and safe for the entire family.

"People are concerned about their pets. You know, their pets are essentially running around in their bare feet, absorbing those chemicals," said matt Carroll of Jessica's Garden in Marlborough. "People with their young kids that want them to feel comfortable running outside and playing."

Scot Reil of Safelawns & Landscapes told Eyewitness News that the first step to getting an organic lawn is simple.

  • Read Q&A With Scot Reil
  • "One of the best things you can do to start going green is to start cutting your lawn higher," he said. "Your roots will stretch further and they'll grab water from more depth."

    Reil has been doing organic landscaping for years. He said the deep roots typically found in an organic lawn mean it won't have to be watered as much either.

    "You'll never need to water it again, other than what Mother Nature supplies," he said.

    He said longer grass can also block weeds from establishing themselves.

    To determine what a lawn needs, Bill Duesing of Northeast Organic Farming Association, said that one must first determine what is and is not in the soil.

    "No matter what you do, it's good to take a soil sample and a test," he said. "Send it to UConn or UMass or the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. They all will do soil tests."

  • Duesing Discusses Lawn Care In Q&A
  • Duesing said that they will test to determine the pH of the soil.

    "Grass likes to grow at a pH of about 6.5," he said.

    He said that applying lime, which is a naturally occurring product, can help get the pH right, but too much Lyme could create problems.

    "We often find high magnesium levels, especially lawns that have been limed up a lot," he said.

    Once the soil is tested, you can determine what is missing or in overabundance and then can determine what to put down on the lawn.

  • Garden Shop Owner Details Products
  • "Then find an organic fertilizer or compost which contains those nutrients," he said.

    He said that there are a number of products that claim to be organic. The most pure have the OMRI symbol.

    "That certifies that hose are acceptable for organic agriculture," Duesing said. "There's some fertilizes that say they're organic, but they contain sewage sludge or biosolids. … Organic fertilizer should be based on all stuff you recognize."

    Duesing said that natural vinegar-based products can eliminate weeds, but that the most organic approach is to learn to live with them.

    "Weeds is a mental concept,' he said. "They're basically all plants made by the creator and many of them are useful to other insects and organisms."

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