New Jersey Targets Fertilizer

New Jersey sponsored a bill (A2290) designed to severely restrict the fertilization of lawns. The lawn industry is vigorously resisting the legislature's proposed restrictions. Concerned landscape contractors should let their views be heard by the New Jersey state legislature.

Some homeowners, worried about the impact less-green lawns might have on their real estate values, are also protesting. Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, has for years been experimenting with lawn grasses that flourish with minimal fertilization. University turf breeders have succeeded in developing a number of new strains of fine fescues (species of grasses long used in turf grass mixes) that not only provide green with far less feeding, they also require far less mowing (a once-a-month cut keeps the improved fine fescues looking trim) and no irrigation during the average New Jersey summer. What's more, these grasses are generally available to retail customers from online seed companies. Converting an existing lawn from fertilizer-greedy conventional turfs to these newer, greener grasses can be accomplished at relatively little expense in a matter of weeks, using tools and techniques familiar to every lawn care contractor.