Enviro-Lawn
Purpose
The main goal of this study is to try to determine whether or not acceptable results can be achieved by only using organic and/or synthetic "environmental friendly" products. The study is not to determine whether or not chemical lawn products are safe or harmful to the environment. That subject is left up to all the Eco and Chemist types of the world!. So what would we like to learn from this project?
- How good will the lawn look during and after the growing season compared to the rest of the campus?
- What about weeds?
- How bad does natural fertilizer smell?
- Can the lawn survive without irrigation?
- Will insects take over?
Location
We started looking for an area that fit the following criteria
- Not too high traffic (in case of poor results)
- Part shade and part sun
- Independent control of irrigation system
- Not too large for cost control reasons
We looked at a number of different locations on campus and with the help of Senior Landscape Foreman Ray Madej of Facilities Management, we decided on the area located on the northeast corner of Alumni Library.
OUR TEST SITE
(Cindy's little acre)
STUDY
This study will be a year long trial starting around April 15, 2003. Cindy Adams (committee member) has volunteered to take the lead on the project. Ray has given us a list of everything that he is using on the campus at this time. We are currently trying to cross reference these products with their "environmentally friendly" counter parts. We are also trying to determine just how much if any additional irrigation we will do above the typical rain fall for our region. Cindy took some pictures on April 4 (see below) of the area. She will be taking pictures of the area every couple of weeks and along with her general comments we will be posting them to this site. The general feeling is as of April 2 that the area is in fair shape and not as good as the rest of the campus. (See Cindy's notes below). We had a metal sign made that designates the area as a test site. The rest of the lawn on campus will receive its first treatment sometime during the 2nd week of April. This will be a pre-emergent for weed control. Right away we are faced with a problem of finding a substitute that will control weeds. At this time it looks like we will be looking for volunteers to pull weeds. Also, we are in the process of purchasing fertilizer. It looks like we will be using turkey manure.
Comments 4/1/03
Envro-Lawn Study
Tedges of lawn have very little grass, perhaps from concentrations of sand/salt from snow removal. Grass is now mixture of brown from winter and green from spring. Similar to other areas on campus. Cindy Adams
Comments 4/21/03
Lawn was aerated and over seeded on 4/19/03. It was overcast and rainy all weekend. Eppley Air Field registered 0.50 inches of rain. Turkey manure was ordered and will be applied before this friday. Don P
Comments 4/23/03
Ray just informed me that the turkey manure fertilizer has been applied. Don P
Comments 4/30/03
Yesterday we located and purchased 2 - 20# sacks of corngluten. Earl May on West Center had it in stock. Each bag has a coverage of 1500 sf. We have about 2400 sf. At $24 per bag, it seems to me that that is pretty expensive compared to your everyday weed control product. Hope it works. Ray thinks he can put it down today. It's raining like crazy right now and it is supposed to rain all day. Not sure it can be applied in the rain. Corngluten is an organic product discovered 10 years ago by accident at Iowa State University and is now marketed by 15 distributors. It is supposed to be effective against crabgrass, dandelions, smart weed, redroot pigweed, purslane, lambsquarters, foxtail and barnyard grass.
Comments 5/07/03
The lawn is lookin' gooooood! Ah the power of cheese,................ I mean turkey manure.
Since last week Cindy only noticed (1) new dandelion. We have just had a tremendous amount of rain during the last week. Lawn looks great. John Schwede was preparing to mow the lawn for the first time at 11:00 today. John felt it was the best it's ever looked in the three years he has been working on campus. Thanks to Cindy for the pictures.
DP
It is hard to say if the great results we are having are to be credited to the manure or the good cool and rainy spring we are experiencing. The lawn does appear to be greener and more lush than the rest of the campus. Cindy took the picture below on May 18. Flowers look great!
DP
To learn more about corngluten, see Iowa State's fabulous page.
DP
See the Results here
If you have any knowledge in the area of our study or just have some interest or general questions we would like to hear from you.