Coalition of Green Environmentalists Chastises Major League Baseball for Partnering With Scotts Miracle-Gro

A lush green lawn

In 2010, Major League baseball partnered with the Scotts Miracle-Gro company. The Scotts Company LLC (Scotts became the official lawn care company of Major League baseball, an endorsement they are permitted to use in marketing their 4 step lawn care. The association between Scotts and lush baseball park green grass has been good for company sales and good for Major League Baseball, and they both agreed to renew and extend the agreement in 2014.

Not everyone was happy with the agreement. A coalition of environmental groups criticized major league baseball for supporting Scotts Miracle -Gro. The gist of their complaint was that the techniques used to maintain healthy green lawns in the ballpark are not appropriate, environmentally, for maintaining lawns on smaller residential properties.  The environmentalists complained that the Scotts grass grow program fosters a heavy reliance on hazardous herbicides, insecticides and synthetic fertilizers. Furthermore, they claimed that the type of turf required for a ballpark that often uses artificial soil and underground irrigation is not appropriate for homeowners. According to the coalition, residences need an approach to lawn maintenance "that address soil health, aeration, mowing height, proper organic fertilization, watering techniques, and appropriate grass varieties (for soil, light, and local climate)."

The coalition's letter to Major Baseball listed harmful effects of pesticides and artificial fertilizer. Pesticides, they noted, harm beneficial insects and earthworms that are essential for healthy soil; pollute local water, and are harmful to all life including children who like to play on grass. Synthetic fertilizers harm microorganisms in the soil, "restrict water and air movement," accelerate turf growth, stimulate thatch build-up, and are prone to run-off that may contaminate above and below ground water sources.

While the coalition made a number of interesting points, none of Scotts Miracle-Gro lawn care techniques are cause for legal restrictions of any kind, and major baseball ignored the environmental coalition complaint.  

For experience lawn care, aeration, mowing, and fertilization in the Yorktown Heights, Putnam County, and Westchester County area, contact the Turf Barbers. 2929 Quinlan Street Yorktown Heights, NY 10598;914 302 2469 ; http://www.theturfbarbers.com

 

Late Summer Lawn Care

Late summer and early fall lawn care complete the active attention your lawn needs throughout the growing season. In planning this late season treatment, it is most important to pay attention to weather conditions, temperature, and humidity rather than dates in determining the type of maintenance you will be providing. As long as the weather is warm and rain scarce, you should continue your summer lawn care protocol. As temperatures begin dipping and moisture from dew returns to the grass and soil you can add early fall lawn care protocols.  Cooler air holds less moisture;  as temperatures dip during the nights of late summer and early fall the dew precipitates on the tender grass leaves. This moist environment is conducive to renewed seeding and fertilizing.

Following are the key points of late summer and early fall lawn care

• Remember to continue summer lawn maintenance until the hot weather ends, usually sometime in September
• Seed or re-sod damaged sectors of the lawn. The start of cooler weather is an ideal time for seeding the grass areas that have suffered damage during the summer due to heat or wear. Brown patches that fail to revive in the cooler weather or areas with scant grass should be over-seeded or re-sodded. The ideal time for grass repair depends on your local climate.
• Keep mowing. Ideally you should cut grass to a height of 2.5 - 3 inches during late summer and most of the fall. This height will permit more leaf tissue to be involved in making food, which will result in stronger more robust root systems that fare better in the winter. For the last two mowings of the year, lower the blade to 2.0" - 2.5"; this will permit sunlight to reach the crown and ensure that less leaf turns brown in the winter.
• Do core aerification. As fall begins aerate your soil to allow air, water, and fertilizer to reach the roots. You can rent a gas powered aerator or have your landscaping company do the job for you. Leave the cores in place as this will facilitate thatch control.
• Do thatch control as needed. Thatch is a brown fibrous mat lying between the earth and the green part of the grass. It is composed of living and dead material including plant roots and other dead and decaying parts of the plant sloughed off by the grass. You can remove thatch with a rented vertical mower or better yet have your landscaper remove it for you.
• Do weed control as needed. As the days become shorter, perennial weeds send the food they have synthesized all summer to their root system for winter storage. This is the ideal time to treat with weed control pesticides as the plant will draw the poison down into the roots along with the food and subsequently die. Plant pesticides work best when the temperature is between 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Fertilize grass in the fall as needed. As the temperatures drop and dew begins forming, the fall growing season commences. This is an ideal time to fertilize your lawn. Before adding fertilizer, check your soil to see which chemicals are missing.
• Rake the leaves. Leaf raking is mostly a late fall project; however, it is a good idea to rake leaves as soon as they begin falling and not let them lie for a while and form matted material that can block the sunlight and foster mold growth. You can combine mowing and leaf collection into one chore with a mower that has a grass and leaf collection bag or  vacuum system.

As  summer ends and turns to fall let consistency and not over-confidence characterize your continuing lawn care strategy. With this in mind, you will finish the season in style and produce grass that easily weathers the winter and comes out strong again next spring.

For the tops in outdoor lawn care and masonry contact the Turf Barbers,  914 302 2469; 2929 Quinlan Street Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 http://www.theturfbarbers.com

Lawn Aeration

Lawn aeration is an important part of lawn care and is best carried out in the early fall. 1-2 inch cores of earth are taking out from the soil at set intervals. Water and nutrients can then more easily reach the grass roots, providing healthy and thick growth the following spring. 

Proper Lawn Care

Maintaining a beautiful well kept lawn is a challenge worth placing in the hands of professionals. With the proper equipment, professional lawn care personal can create a thick beautiful lawn.

During active growing months, the foundation of good lawn care is regular lawn mowing. Mowing is to a lawn what haircuts are to the hair. An even well trimmed lawn begins to look beautiful in and of itself.

Lawn edging, or keeping even borders around a lawn is another important part of lawn maintenance. Professional lawn maintenance companies have special motorized edging tools that provide the most even well kept borders.

As fall comes, an important part of lawn care is leaf pick-up. Large numbers brown leaves blowing across a lawn ruin its look. Not only in the fall, but in the spring, lawns that have not removed all their leaves, fail to present an expansive green appearance, which is so essential to any well kept lawn.

Another fall lawn care task is grass aeration. Lawn care companies use a mechanical device that allows then to punch our 1 to 2 inch cores of earth from the lawn at periodic distances. the punched out cores allow water and minerals to penetrate down to the grass roots. In time this helps to create a thick and healthy growth of grass.

An additional fall project is grass reseeding. Grass tends to lose its vitality after 7 years, so it is important to bolster a thick lawn with occasional reseeding. The best time to reseed is in the fall once lawn aeration is completed. early fall reseeding gives the new grass time to develop roots that will help it survive the winter. In the early spring, the new grass will have time to grow up and blend into the already mature grass, giving the lawn an attractive uniform appearance.

You can see from just these five essential lawn care tasks that a large lawn requires the services of professional lawn care specialists, who possess the training and machinery necessary to properly care for your lawn.