Organic Alternatives In Landscaping And Lawn Care

The main reason homeowners choose an organic landscaping program is to protect the environment from chemical saturation. But they’re still looking for the "golf course" type lawn that is dark green, weedless and free of insects. What many don’t realize is that the choice for organic alternatives in a landscape may not produce as immediate results as the typical synthetic applications. Most organic alternatives will not rid a lawn of weeds, kill all of the pests in a plant bed or completely suppress fungus or molds in one application like most synthetic products do. The alternatives might not even do that in two applications – or ever. The key, then, to a professional lawn and landscape contractor successfully providing organic services is to educate both himself and the customer about the differences between organic and synthetic care.

ORGANIC LANDSCAPING DEFINED. "The process of organic, or natural, landscaping is working with nature instead of fighting against it," said Dan Eskelson, owner of Clearwater Landscape Design (www.clearwaterlandscapes.com), Priest River, Idaho. It follows similar principles to Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM’s goal is "to use the least toxic control to attain the most pest free condition," according to Eskelson, meaning that IPM does not attempt to eradicate a pest, rather it seeks to control the pest to a manageable level. Organic landscaping attempts to do the same, however, the difference lies in the products that are used to accomplish that goal. IPM generally uses only synthetic or a combination of synthetic and organic products, while an organic program is supposed to be 100 percent organic. However, some organic companies do use synthetic controls on a limited, emergency use basis.

Eskelson has focused on organic gardening and landscaping as a contractor, designer and golf course superintendent. He said that during his first years as a golf course superintendent chemicals were the only products used for pest control. However, he soon discovered that organic methods worked better for the course. "What we found was that by increasing the health of the plants through cultural means, the plants were much more likely to resist insect and disease activity," he said.

As a superintendent, Eskelson tried to be as organic as possible, but he admitted to using chemicals on one fungus disease that threatened the course’s putting greens. If not controlled chemically, the greens would have died off, the course would have closed for the season and Eskelson would have been out of a job. "The alternative is to not have golf courses or to use the pesticide. So I was technically an IPM golf course superintendent," he said.

In Harmony (www.inharmony.com), a lawn, tree and shrub care landscape and design build company in Woodinville, Wash., considers itself to be an organic-based company that sometimes follows IPM. Like Eskelson, the company strives to be 100 percent organic but uses limited selective herbicides as spot applications when absolutely necessary. Chris Hogan, customer service manager for In Harmony, said the difference between organic-based and IPM-based companies is negligible. He said both styles follow the same guidelines as far as minimizing pesticide use at all costs, examining the situation and creating a game plan. He said an organic-based company takes the organic approach first and only goes to a synthetic pesticide when absolutely necessary. IPM companies, however, may start with a synthetic product but will still limit its use. He said the most important key in either program is to identify the problem first. "You have to know what you’re dealing with before you can make it better," he said.

Hogan said organic products are more expensive than synthetic products because of their availability and manufacturing processes. However, the company is not out to gouge people just because they want to be more environmentally conscious. "We try to be competitive with the spray prices that traditional spray companies are offering," he explained. "I think in the long term those prices will go down. But here in the Northwest organics are becoming trendy, so I think the prices are going up as a whole."

Hogan believes it is almost impossible for a company to be 100 percent organic all of the time, at least in the Northwest. "I think a company could if you were dealing the optimal soil conditions," he explained. "If you had prime soil throughout your landscapes, the plants and the soil would sustain the landscape. But some bugs just won’t go away unless they’re hit with a neurotoxin."

Mike Miles, president of Greener Pastures Inc. (www.greenerpastures.net) – a full-service, organic-based lawn care company in St. Paul, Wisc., with the slogan "If you can’t say it, we don’t spray it." – would probably disagree with Hogan’s statement. His company also uses the phrase "organic-based," however, in his case it means 100 percent organic all of the time. Miles said, "Our definition of an organic product is, ‘If it isn’t derived out of a plant or a mineral, we don’t use it.’" That means that the company’s products, which it manufactures itself, do not include any elements of sewage, meat, hooves, horns or other non-natural products. Instead, the company creates products by extracting amino acids from plant tissues.

Greener Pastures’ weed control products include the amino acid glycine betaine along with soybean oil that stimulates plants to grow. Broadleaf and annual plants don’t produce this amino acid, but grass does. Therefore, grass develops a better root structure and becomes thicker and denser. However, a weed is stimulated in its photosynthesis, increasing its metabolic rate to produce more oxygen than the cell can release. That causes a bubble inside the cell, rupturing it and hemorrhaging the plant to death.

ALTERNATIVES TO CHEMICALS. Eskelson, Hogan and Miles have used and are aware of a variety of organic alternatives to chemicals, including the following:

Weed and Disease Controls – Greener Pastures uses its own manufactured products in weed control. The company’s preemergent Nature’s Weed Control 7-0-5 (NWC) product controls crabgrass and broadleaf weeds. This product is derived from feed grade molasses and is exempted from EPA registration as a controlled pesticide. It also acts as a natural fertilizer.

Eskelson said he has had great success with corn gluten meal as a preemergent lawn herbicide. Eskelson uses this product on a commercial client’s lawn and admits it is still expensive but is a good alternative.

In Harmony creates compost tea for its lawn care program. The 100 percent organic tea originates from compost from a local co-op that harvests its own organic produce, grinds up the waste and feeds it to worms for processing. The dried compost is then shipped to In Harmony where it is loaded into 50-gallon drums with 16 jets inside and brewed for 16 to 18 hours. The result is a warm tea with microbes, including protozoa and other microscopic organisms, that gets diluted with dechlorinated water and is used as a fungicide. The tea, which is not labeled as fungicide because it is organic, coats the leaf surfaces and consumes fungal spores. It not only kills fungal spores, but also feeds the plant by adding beneficial microbes to the soil.

Insect Controls – Organic tree and shrub insect control products include insecticidal soap or sprays, which can take care of aphids. These products usually include pyrethrin, an organic insecticide derived from chrysanthemum flowers. Hogan said that on a commercial scale insecticidal soap is not feasible because it requires about one application every four to five days. He said most clients won’t pay for that but suggested letting the customer know he or she can do that application on his or her own.

Eskelson said dormant oil sprays are one of the most effective natural insect-control devices for trees and shrubs. "A good coating of oil will suffocate all of the insect eggs that are overwintering in the little fissures, cracks and holes in the bark," he said. Eskelson also said fish oil is commonly used on trees. Unlike dormant oils, it can be used year round.

Hogan said In Harmony used to use oils more frequently, but the company was unsure how effective those applications were as it is a preventative approach. Instead of following that practice now, the company waits for insects to show up and then injects product systemically into the tree. The injections are made into the cork cambian layer, which is just beneath the bark, and the product is translocated through the plant into its vascular system. "Why spray a product if you don’t necessarily know if there is a problem. I would rather identify the problem first and then address it," he explained.

The root weevil is a common pest in the Northwest that poses problems for In Harmony’s customers. Hogan said the company uses microorganisms, such as beneficial nematodes, to fight this pest. Inoculating the soil with a population of beneficial nematodes decreases the population of undesired insects such as root weevil larvae. The company may do a second application in midsummer on plants that suffer from root weevil infestations using a bascillus thuringensis (bt) product. Hogan explained that the company rotates different bt products from season to season to keep insects from building up a tolerance to any of the products.

Greener Pastures manufactures a product known as Skeeter Beater for a natural control of flying, biting insects, except for biting flies, for a guaranteed 30-day period. The product is sprayed on trees and shrubs in light doses.

MAKING IT WORK. Eskelson said many homeowners are gaining interest in obtaining organic landscaping and lawn care services, causing a potential growth spurt for the industry. "I found that the mood is really accepting for the alternative organics," he said. The challenges, however, arise in educating the customer to how the organic approach works and also in strictly following the proper procedures to developing a program. Using the organic approach takes some careful planning, monitoring, education and patience. "It’s a mindset," he said. "It takes a little more thinking because it’s new to a lot of people. Instead of relying on what your chemical rep says, you sort of have to think for yourself."

Miles said the challenges arise in the customer base as well. "There’s a distinct difference between a chemical lawn care customer converting to organics vs. having a customer that would never hire you because you were chemical," he said. For instance, if an organic company buys a chemical lawn care service, Miles said the organic company would hardly retain any of those customers because they were not in the organic mindset. "However, the customers who have the mindset towards organics don’t mind paying little more," he said.

Miles said Greener Pastures does not charge any more for the same services conventional lawn care companies in his area charge. Instead, his company offers more services above and beyond the basic services. He said those additional services appeal to his customers because they are organic-based. "People aren’t afraid of spending money if you give them a value for the money they’ve spent with you," he said. His technicians typically make about the same amount of revenue per day and per route as a traditional lawn care company, however, he said Greener Pastures achieves those revenues with nearly half as many customers as the competitors.

Miles also said a growing market exists for organic landscaping and lawn care services. His most recent marketing campaign was a door flier that cost about 8 cents per unit – 3 cents for printing and 5 cents for delivery. Overall he spent $40,000 on the campaign, distributed the fliers to 500,000 homes and ended up with more than 2,000 clients spending $380 or more a year. The success of the campaign was so overwhelming, the company was not quite ready for the growth and had to scramble with buying new equipment and hiring more personnel to satisfy the demand. "I think the client base is ready to hear about organics that work," he said.

If done right, organic landscaping can make a property completely self-sustaining following several years of proper care and conditioning. In those instances, Hogan said In Harmony will let its customers know that they don’t necessarily need the company’s services any longer. "We have gotten to the point where we tell people ‘You don’t need us anymore. Give us a call and we’d love to come out and do sporadic applications,’" he explained. "With the education and the products we’re providing, after three or four years, if it’s been done right, they don’t need our services anymore." It may be frightening for a contractor to lose a client just because they’ve created a self-sustaining landscape, but Hogan said that for every customer the company recommends to discontinue the service, it tries to get that customer to provide at least two referrals to replace themselves.