Triple D Grounds – Brevard County Commercial Lawn Care | 321-253-3478

FERTILIZER ORDINANCES AND THE LACK OF SOUND SCIENCE BEHIND THEM!!!

Recently there have been many articles written in the Florida Today and local News stations regarding fertilizer causing algae and phosphorous blooms in our waterways.  Theses articles are saying that runoff into our lagoons from fertilizers are the cause of these issues with no proven studies behind these statements.  This article is to educate the public on these issues.  There have been numerous “fertilizer ordinances ” passed in counties on the West Coast of Florida to prevent fertilization in the sumer months because of the rainy season.  I would like to clearly state that these ordinances are being passed  by city council members and county commissioners with no landscape background and no education.  These ordinances are contrary to all studies done which prove the exact opposite. 

The Concern: Fertilizers applied in the summer months causing phosphorous and algal blooms in our waterways through runoff.

The Facts:

Most lawn fertilizers contain very little or no phosphorous whatsoever.  Phosphorous is very expensive and Triple D Grounds does not use any fertilizers on lawns that contain phosphorous.  When looking at a bag of fertilizer there are three numbers for example 16-0-8.  The first number is the Nitrogen content, the second is Phosphorous, and the third is the Potassium.  The first “N” is for the blades’ growth, the second “P” has no nutritional value to a lawn, and the third “K” is to help with root growth.  The only time it is recommended that phosphorous be applied is to help plants to bloom such as bougainvillea, hibiscus, etc…  With regards to lawn and fertilizers, Best Management Practices suggests no phosphorous be applied because it is a naturally occurring element in Florida soils.  With phosphorous being in the soil already,  the rainy season in the summer causes phosphorous to naturally leach into our waterways.  Timing and application amounts are crucial to prevent runoff and leaching.  As far as Nitrogen leaching and runoff causing algal blooms in the summer months.  We at Triple D Grounds use high quality slow release fertilizers in the spring and summer months to help prevent any negative environmental impacts.  Please read the following studies showing that very little leaching occurs when using proper fertilizers at recommended rates by the University of Florida.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ss496

I have copy and pasted below the important information from this link clearly stating that less than 1% on “N” leaches in the summer and that it is more detrimental to fertilize in the fall and winter months when the grass goes dormant which causes more leaching.

The UF/IFAS Extension fertilizer recommendations for turfgrass, summarized by Sartain (2007), emphasize applications of slow-release (controlled-release) N in the summer. The use of controlled-release fertilizer in the summer helps minimize the losses of N because only very small amounts of N are released from the fertilizer at any one time (typically based on temperature and moisture). These release schedules are in relationship with the plant growth rate. Recent research in Florida shows that leaching was dependent on fertilizer rates and turfgrass type (Trenholm et al., 2011). Leaching was greater from zoysiagrass than from St. Augustinegrass (Trenholm et al., 2011). Similar results for these two species were found in a North Carolina study by Bowman et al. (2002), and leaching was greater just after planting than after the establishment phase. In well-established and maintained St. Augustinegrass turf, inorganic N leaching was lower with concentrations of NH₄-N and NO₃-N in drainage generally less than that reported for rain water in southern Florida. This experiment was conducted over a three-year period encompassing wet and dry season cycles that bracket proposed black-out periods when the turf was fertilized at 1 lb N/1000 sq. ft. bimonthly with a 62%/38% soluble/controlled-release commercially available fertilizer (Erickson et al., 2008).

New research at UF/IFAS (accepted for scientific peer-reviewed publication) has shown that leaching from turfgrass is greater in the spring and fall than in the summer. In a Florida DEP-funded project, Trenholm et al. (2011) found that more fertilizer is lost from fertilizer applications made during the time of year when the turfgrass is not actively growing and that the lowest leaching levels were during the period of active growth (summer) . The following are some results from the multi-year study

In my professional opinion, I feel that regulating fertilizers is an important thing to do but time of year has nothing to do with it.  I feel that leaving fertilization to a licensed professional who will follow University of Florida’s recommendations is the best bet.  It is not the licensed professional  that people need to be concerned about it is unlicensed landscapers, homeowners, etc…In closing I would like to ask all Brevard County residents to call with any questions and if the ordinances come up in county or city meetings please vote against them.  There are hundreds of pest control and landscape professionals that are qualified to make proper applications and these ordinances could significantly impact Brevards economy in a negative way!   Healthy sod actually helps to prevent groundwater from being contaminated (our natural filter).  Sod has many good values in helping our environment aside from just asthetics.