Organic lawn care: how to avoid weeds with liquid lawn fertilizer

Lawn care is about knowing the tips and secrets that help you maintain a healthy lawn all through the year. Healthy lawns require minimal use of fertilizers, while keeping weeds away. National Wildlife Federation reports that use of pesticides kills up to 90% of worms in the soil, yet worms are very important in promoting the health of soil.

Developing a healthy lawn can be achieved by observation of a few healthy habits. Improvement of the soil can be done by testing the acidity of the soil, which should be between 6.5 and 7.0. Above this, the soil is too acidic and sprinkling of lime can reduce acidity. Below this figure, the soil can be sprayed with sulfur.

Planting of a local type of grass goes a long way in reducing the need to use liquid lawn fertilizer. Choose a type of grass that is adaptable to the climate of the area. Watering at wide regular intervals makes the grass develop a deep root network and makes it drought resistant. Mowing should be done in a way that the surface roots and soil do not get exposed to minimize the risk of erosion and dehydration. The higher the mowing, the better the condition of the grass.

If you must get rid of weeds by use of liquid fertilizer, some of the organic fertilizers that could be used are corn gluten meal which is a herbicide that prevents growth of weeds and also contains fertilizer. It suppresses the germination of weed seeds and makes the grass grow faster. Acetic acid in vinegar is a non-selective herbicide, meaning that it kills all plants and should therefore be handled with a lot of care. It is very effective in weed elimination. Herbicidal soaps are another option for liquid fertilizers and are mostly used to control algae and mosses. They are also non-selective. Organic fertilizers are best applied in fall and spring.

Use of herbicides mixed with fertilizers poses some possible problems to the lawn. For example, while the fertilizer is supposed to serve the whole lawn, the herbicide is needed only for problem spots within the lawn. Weeds like dandelions which have large leafs usually occupy less that 10 percent of the lawn. Liquid fertilizers make the lawn take up more herbicides than is actually needed.

Liquid fertilizers are also harmful to the environment because they can be washed off when it rain or when the lawn is watered. The water could find its way to waters stream or to a lake or find its way to the water table that is nearest to the ground. If the fertilizers contain nitrogen, they could form algae blooms that are harmful to aquatic life.

When liquid fertilizers are being sprayed on the lawn, the chemicals could easily find their way indoors. In addition, when children play on the lawns, they are likely to pick components of the fertilizer on their clothing, eventually absorbing them into their bodies. This poses health risks to the immunity and reproductive systems. Use of fertilizers should hence be controlled in terms of frequency and fertilizer composition for best results.