Washington DC, US Capitol, Organic lawn care

[ICT Bill]

This photo's was taken by my next door neighbor that does work for the National Park Service.
This work was done by safelawns and landscaping, now remember this photo was taken January 21 2008. Temperatures have probably been below freezing for a while.

NO FERTILIZERS........... only compost and compost tea's

Looks like a summer day to me, great turf. Work began close to October 1 2007

[DUSTYCEDAR]

i have been keeping tabs on this looking good

[CHARLES CUE]

This on the mall between air and space and a art museum they sprayed it with round up i would guess deep riped it than rototiller it and planted seed came in nice but the grass to the left in the trees looks better i like where the park has the mall aerated and plant seed all the little grass spots the grass only grows where the plug was removed thats some hard ground
Charles Cue

[ICT Bill]

Talk about a prime spot

Charles, hard ground......... you have no idea. They had to wear ear protection because of the sound when deep ripping it. compaction is an understatement. It is a 3 year test, we'll see

Sorry, no glyophosphates

There are three plots this is the totally organic one

[treegal1]

we have known about this project since Paul and Todd dreamed it up and our favorite tree guy Pete has helped them out with his "IQ". when we all met in Florida last year the topic was hot. alot of discussions about fert, soy Vs corn base, tea pH and temp. adding clay and what kind of compost and how fine it should be.

there is about 3000 years experience on those 3 lawns, my only hope is that to many chefs.... don't spoil the soup.

and if they stick it and get good grades them we can all say " see I told you the organic thing really works" and point to the mall.

[ICT Bill]

I spoke with Todd Harrington on Friday at the ELA show, he had just come back from DC and said the project is doing great. He had taken soil samples and was trying to get ready for the first seasons application.

We are about three weeks ahead of Conn. as far as the spring season goes so he was a little surprised on how far along everything was here.

Todd is in charge of the project as far as the one organic panel goes but is working in concert with the National Park Service

[treegal1]

Good to hear it has been months since we last spoke,our spring was DEC 27 2007 we are in summer already it seems
most of the LCOS get 43 cuts per year in my area.we usually start feeding in Jan and again in march, we did not get a freeze this year so every thing is out of hand, the pruning schedules for this year are going to be insane

I wish all the northern boys would get down south more often, they are a good lot and fun to hang out with, the rumor mill has them down here in April or early may, I hope they come by my shop.

[Smallaxe]

... we did not get a freeze this year so every thing is out of hand, the pruning schedules for this year are going to be insane

I wish all the northern boys would get down south more often, they are a good lot and fun to hang out with, the rumor mill has them down here in April or early may, I hope they come by my shop.

It looks like 2 or 3 weeks before I can do anything besides make firewood this year. If you need northern boys for help - it is not going to take a lot of armtwisting to get some one to come help :)
Especially this far north. We're chomping at the bit up here.

[ICT Bill]

Treegal
I'll be in Brooksville Fl in a couple weeks, it about 45 minutes north of Tampa, I have no idea where Jensen is I guess I could mapquest it

[treegal1]

jensen beach fl 34957 just east of lake Okeechobee

we would love to see you, whats happening in tampa?

[ICT Bill]

Thats our manufacturing plant, currently we ship 275 gallon IBC's to Baltimore for bottling, but it is made down there

[mrkosar]

anyone know more details about this project? things like type of seed, how much compost, soil was put down. aeration, and how many times a year? what type of fertilization programs they plan to use? who is in charge of mowing and irrigating the property?

[ICT Bill]

anyone know more details about this project? things like type of seed, how much compost, soil was put down. aeration, and how many times a year? what type of fertilization programs they plan to use? who is in charge of mowing and irrigating the property?
mrkosar, On this plot there will be NO FERTILIZER used, as in NONE. No NPK type fertilizer will hit this plot for at least the next 3 years. Only Compost and Compost tea.
This plot was completely renovated last October, The DC area uses a mix of cool weather grasses, KBG is not used around here typically because of the very hot and humid weather in the summer, but fescues and ryes are very typical
The National Park Service maintains the entire Mall area

I do know they were trying to get the Soil Organic Matter readings above 5%

[awdriven]

I think they're seeding Jonathan Green's Drought Tough mix.

* 30% Black Magic Turf-Type Tall Fescue
* 30% Taos Turf Tall Fescue
* 20% Tombstone Turf-Type Tall Fescue
* 10% Darkstar II Perennial Ryegrass
* 10% Deepblue Kentucky Bluegrass

[ICT Bill]

Here it is, dang note to self. drive 45 minutes south and take picture of this site

I hear it is performing nicely

[mrkosar]

any more updates besides part of it was damaged by a graduation or some event when they put down a black tarp under the chairs for 10 days?

Bill do you know how much and how frequent they planned on putting down compost or ct? this project is amazing and i hope it gets more press soon.

any more pics?

[DeepGreenLawn]

what idiot didn't think covering the lawn with black plastic wouldn't have an effect on it? And isn't the idea of having it on the lawn the whole point of the nice green grass? Why cover it with fabric?

[mrkosar]

chemlawn paid them to do it. it's a conspiracy.

[DeepGreenLawn]

lol your right, all the chem guys got together and sabotaged the whole deal.

[mrkosar]

Bill,

figured you got busy and never saw this post so i re-posted it.

any more updates besides part of it was damaged by a graduation or some event when they put down a black tarp under the chairs for 10 days?

Bill do you know how much and how frequent they planned on putting down compost or ct? this project is amazing and i hope it gets more press soon.

any more pics?

[DUSTYCEDAR]

HOW is it going?
ANY MORE INFO?

[phasthound]

HOW is it going?
ANY MORE INFO?

Well, it was a little busy yesterday. :usflag::clapping::usflag::clapping::usflag:

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/mall.satellite/

[DeepGreenLawn]

I think we know where all the big screen tvs were...

[treegal1]

its the inaugural lawn massacre. :usflag:how did they get that one spot of lawn to the east of the sat image green, PAINT????

[DUSTYCEDAR]

Well the lawn got lots of good stuff on it from all the porto pottys that got dumped over from the good people that went to the party.

[phasthound]

Uh oh, now Obama's in trouble for wanting to spend millions to fix the turf.

[Kiril]

Uh oh, now Obama's in trouble for wanting to spend millions to fix the turf.

I say hardscape it. :laugh:

[DUSTYCEDAR]

hey he can send me $$$$$$$ and ill fix it

[treegal1]

how about some good old chain gang labor to whip it into shape. one day of aeration, a few days to pull weeds, they could turn some compost up.........

I would think that a day in the sun would be welcomed by the inmates...............

[DeepGreenLawn]

I don't know... that may be a form of torture...

On top of that they might miss Jerry Springer at the jail. Can't have that happen!

[DeepGreenLawn]

millions to fix the malls... yeah, I wouldn't mind that job...