Our expansive green lawns are the unsung fertilizer runoff culprit
Updated Apr 17, 2020; Posted Apr 17, 2020
The April 12 article, “Something old, something new, in battle against toxic algae,” cited the increasing concern
of fertilizer runoff from farm fields. But I have yet to see a piece written or concern expressed over one major crop:
turf grass, which refers to grasses with very shallow root systems like fescues and Kentucky bluegrass. There is
more turf grass “farmed” in suburban, urban, and rural front yards than any other “crop.” We dump more fertilizer
and biocides on said crop than any farmer on food crop fields.
Well-meaning folks fall into the 1940s landscape – lawn grass expanse bordered by beds of often nonnative shrubs
and perennials. Many have not heard, at no fault of their own, that turf grass is essentially green concrete. What they
put on their lawns mostly washes into storm sewer, then into local waterways and then into Lake Erie. I saw this
firsthand a few days ago after a rain when fertilizer pellets strewn on neighborhood yards and sidewalks had washed
away into the storm sewers overnight.
Yes, farmers use fertilizer and many are working with local agencies to apply correctly. But let’s not stop there.
Homeowners and municipalities that fertilize turf grass are actually the greater culprits. If we want to stop algal
blooms, ban lawn fertilizers.
Barb Holtz,
Lyndhurst