Keep lawns green and the water blue

  • Published
  • By Lana Hedlund
  • 341st Civil Engineer Squadron
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Using too much fertilizer and other lawn care products can cause water pollution. The same rain that helps turn a lawn green also washes excess fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants into the nearest waterway.

Fertilizer is a pollutant when it is washed off lawns and gardens into streams, rivers and other bodies of water. Fertilizer consists of plant nutrients that help plants grow and reproduce. In the water, these nutrients feed naturally occurring algae and can lead to massive algae blooms. An algae bloom is an explosion in the algae population that turns the water green, shutting out sunlight needed by bottom-growing plants and leading to oxygen depletion that kills fish and other aquatic creatures.

To help prevent pollution, determine how much fertilizer is really needed. Always use lawn care products as instructed on the product labels.

This season, try applying no more fertilizer than can actually be used by the lawn and the plants being tended to. Here are some practical tips:

· Have soil tested (about $30). Then apply only the kinds and amounts of nutrients that grass and plants need. The Montana State University Extension Service has many valuable references at: http://landresources.montana.edu/soilfertility. Click on "Home Gardening" to get their soil testing guide.
· Once the soil has been tested, follow the instructions that come with commercial fertilizer to make sure to apply no more than is required.
· Avoid leaving fertilizer on hard surfaces such as sidewalks and driveways where they are most likely to be washed into a storm drain. Sweep fertilizer off hard surfaces onto the lawn or into the garden.
· If possible, avoid applying fertilizer just before a rain storm.