"korey99" wrote in
oups.com:

Hi all-

I hope I'm not going to start a big mess, but I had a question. I've
read lots about the opinion of many in this group that the pesticides
used by lawn services and in Weed and Feed products are bad news. I
don't need to be sold on that one; I have a very young son who will be
playing on that grass next year, and whether 2,4D's danger is confirmed
or not, I don't plan to take any chances. Regarding danger, is the
same true for the actual granular fertilizer (without weed/insect
treatments)?

Not really, no.

I've read up on organic gardening as well, and what I've read indicates
that I should build healthy dense turf to choke out weeds (a
no-brainer). They recommend applying 1/4 to 1/2" of compost to the
lawn twice a year as fertilizer. I've got 12,000 sq ft of lawn though,
and by my figuring that's about 20 to 40 cubic yards of compost each
year. I don't want to say that's infeasible, but that's still several
trips by delivery truck (or several more in my pickup) each time, not
to mention the expense. Is the general consensus that chemical
fertilizers themselves are bad, or is it the herbicides and
insecticides that often accompany them?

That's a lot of compost! Certainly, yearly topdressing is a wonderful
thing, but unless you have access to high quality, reasonably priced
compost, that could become pretty expensive. I inherited an atrocious lawn
when I purchased a ca. 1952 home-- the lawn had probably *never* been
dethatched/core aerated and the turf looked like it. That first year I
dethatched/core aerated, used a pre-emergent to at least get a handle on
the weeds, and then used a yearly regimen of overseeding, fertilizing, core
aerating, and spot weeding until now, 5 years later, I have a pretty fine
looking lawn. For a yearly feeding schedule, I use Espoma's excellent
manual available at http://www.espoma.com/content.aspx?type=gp&id=4

Note that you don't have to use Espoma products for the schedule, you can
use comparable organic brands.

With regard to your last question, the general concensus is that the source
of fertilizer is somewhat irelevant-- grass doesn't know if nitrogen is
coming from manure or from 'the blue stuff' you find in Miracle Grow--
however, synthetic nitrogen sources are usually exceedingly 'hot' (as in
the case of Scott's Weed and Feed), so you get a big unhealthy kick of
nutrients that green up your lawn quickly. A more modest approach is better
for longterm health of the turf.


--
David J. Bockman, Fairfax, VA (USDA Hardiness Zone 7)
email:
http://beyondgardening.com/Albums