Why Do Organic Fertilizers the Build Soil
While Chemical Fertilizers Deteriorate Them?
What is a Living Soil?
A living soil is an environment rich in humus and filled with organic matter that hosts millions, if not billions, of small organisms. Most of these organisms are microscopic, such as bacteria, amoebae, and protozoa, while some are larger, like earthworms and small insects. Living soils have a diverse population of both large and small organisms, existing in a competitive environment where they constantly consume one another. This “eat or be eaten” dynamic facilitates nutrient exchange, which contributes to good soil structure and provides a steady supply of nutrients available for plant uptake. Earthworms are at the top of this food chain, and if a soil exhibits earthworm activity, it is a strong indication that the soil is alive and healthy.
The key to a living soil is using the best organic fertilizers and weed controls, proper lawn mowing and proper lawn watering. It is literally that simple.
Why is a Living Soil the Key to a Healthy Lawn?
When most people think of the best type of soil, they often consider organic compost. Composts are the healthiest soils because they are teeming with billions of diverse microorganisms, including bacteria, protozoa, amoebae, fungi, and earthworms. These microbes decompose organic matter, such as grass clippings and tree leaves, into nutrient-rich soil. The organisms living in the soil play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy soil ecosystem and supporting healthy plants. As organic materials decompose, they produce humus, making nutrients available to grasses and trees. Healthy soil is typically loamy and dark in color, creating an environment that is loose, airy, and better at absorbing water.
Soil is the most important aspect of organic lawn care. Organo-Lawn’s approach to natural lawn care focuses on creating an environment that stimulates beneficial microbial activity in the soil. We achieve this through a combination of proper lawn watering—using the principles of the 1-2-3-2-1 lawn watering technique —proper lawn mowing (mow the lawn tall), and applying only the best organic fertilizers.
Why is Organic Lawn Care Better than Chemical Lawn Care?
Organo-Lawn’s Philosophy is to Feed the Soil and a Healthy Soil Will Feed the Grass.
Many chemical lawn care companies follow a philosophy of feeding the grass by frequently applying fast-release nitrogen-based fertilizers. Initially, a lawn treated with these chemical fertilizers may appear healthy and green. However, over time, the high-salt chemical fertilizers and pesticides can damage the soil, leading the lawn to become entirely dependent on these chemicals for its health. As a result, the grass may turn yellow and develop necrotic spots without regular applications of chemicals and synthetic fertilizers.
After using a chemical lawn care program for as little as one year, lawns can often develop fungal problems, such as necrotic ring spot. When these symptoms appear, a chemical lawn care company typically recommends applying a fungicide to control the fungus. Ironically, the fungal issues arise because the chemicals being used are harming the beneficial microbes in the soil.
To restore a chemically dependent lawn, the first step is to stop all chemical applications and focus on rebuilding the soil using organic fertilizer, core aeration, and proper lawn watering. Depending on the extent of the damage caused by the chemicals, this process usually takes 1 to 2 years to revitalize the microbial activity in the soil.
How to Stimulate Beneficial Microbial Activity in a Lawn
Why are Deep Digging Grass Roots so Important to Creating a Living Soil?
It Starts with Deep Digging Grass Roots!
It is a common misconception that plant roots only absorb water and nutrients; however, they also release sugars. These sugars attract the initial forms of bacteria to the soil.
Shortly after, a second type of bacteria arrives and feeds on the first. Soon thereafter, protozoa, amoeba, and beneficial fungi appear, feeding on the bacteria and each other. Following them, nematodes and other insects come to feed on the protozoa, fungi, and amoeba. Finally, earthworms arrive to consume everything present in the soil. If a lawn has a significant presence of earthworms, it indicates that the soil is alive and rich with microbes.
To create a living soil, the first step is to foster an environment that promotes deep grass roots. The deeper the grass roots grow, the more microbial populations will develop in the soil. Achieving deep-root growth requires watering the lawn deeply and infrequently using the 1-2-3-2-1 lawn watering technique, as well as mowing the grass to a height of 3 inches or taller.
Learn More About the Importance of Soil
What Causes a Soil to Die?
Soil lacking microbial activity is considered dead, and such dead soils usually do not occur without human intervention. Two common practices that often unknowingly harm the soil in lawns are overwatering and the use of chemical fertilizers. Overwatering can suffocate microbial activity because excess water displaces air in the soil, depriving microbes of the oxygen they need to survive. Additionally, chemical fertilizers, which are essentially concentrated forms of salt, are highly toxic to microbes. When a lawn’s soil is dead and devoid of microbial life, it typically takes about 1 to 3 months to initiate the growth of beneficial microbe populations, and another 3 months to 2 years to foster a thriving community of lawn microbes.
5 Common Lawn Care Mistakes that Will Kill Soils
- Overwatering a lawn: (too much water replaces the air in the soil and without air the microbes can’t breathe)
- Under Watering a lawn: (moisture is important in sustaining beneficial microbial activity, moist but not wet!)
- Compacted Soils (hard clay like soils lack air and without air the microbes can’t breathe)
- Using Pesticides and Fungicides (most chemicals kill beneficial microbes and bacteria)
- Using Chemical Fertilizers (chemical fertilizers don’t have any organic matter and organic matter is what microbes use as food)
Why are Chemical Fertilizers Bad for Soils?
Chemical lawn fertilizers are toxic to soils because most synthetic fertilizers are a concentrated form of salt. Salt is extremely toxic to microbial populations. It is strongly recommended to apply plant-based organic fertilizers to lawns instead of chemical fertilizers. If a lawn’s soil is dead (no microbial activity), it will typically take 1-3 months to get the beneficial microbe populations started and another three months to two years to get the soil in a lawn to be teaming with microbes.
What is a Dead Soil?
Soil that lacks microbial activity is considered dead. Dead soils are rare in nature and typically result from some form of human interference. Two common actions that many people unknowingly take, which can harm their soil, are overwatering their lawns and using synthetic fertilizers for fertilization.
Over watering a lawn kills microbial activity, because water replaces air in the soil with water and without oxygen the microbes die.