New fertilizer ban goes into effect in Alachua County
By AJ Willy
Published: Jul. 2, 2020 at 6:45 PM EDT
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -
Starting July 1, residents in Alachua county are not allowed to use fertilizer on their lawn. In order to keep certain nutrients out of our water, alachua county has decided to place a new ban on fertilizers.
Stacie Greco, water conservation specialist for Alachua County, says, “utrients that get into our waters and thats nitrogen and phosphorous and it comes from various sources. It comes from septic systems, it comes from agriculture, it comes from our treated waste water and it also comes from fertilizers, from people’s lawns or from agriculture.”
The goal of the ban is to keep the phosphorus and nitrogen contained in fertilizer out of our springs, groundwater and surface water. A similar ban has been in effect since 2009 for the winter months.
Greco says this is the first time the summer ban is going in effect, because we typically get those intense rainstorms that can wash the water off or push the fertilizer through the roots.
Greco says the fertilizer that most people use isn’t necessary to keep their lawn healthy and green and they are trying to encourage people not to use it even when it is legal.
She says, “we’re also doing an education campaign where we are trying to get people that even in the months that they can fertilize, to skip the fertilizer this year and see what happens. We did a survey and over 55 percent of our residents dont fertilize year round. So we’re encouraging more people to try that behavior.”
Greco also says the newer lawns built on sandy soil typically are the only ones that would need fertilizer but they are trying to find alternative ways to keep those yards healthy.
Greco says, “there is research going on right now to actually amend those soils using compost, so you kind of give it a little jumpstart. Give it some of that nice, rich, organic matter so that it has those nutrients there and it isnt relying on something like fertilizer.”