[ICT Bill]

Many states are moving to integrated pest management practices or IPM, although the background of these services is completely chemical they are embracing some fundamentals that are key

indentify before you apply anything, which to me means your a pretty smart guy to know all of the bugs and fungi that may be affecting my lawn and landscape

reduced inputs, by building soil organics matter fertility increases and the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides is reduced, if you do have to pull a chemical trigger it seems to work much better at the lowest rate

not tied to foreign oil, chemical fertilizers ( and I will go a little over board here) are supporting foreign oil, the cost is increasing all of the time, sustainable practices are local and typically something someone else does not want, corn gluten meal for instance is a byproduct of the corn strach industry, it is their waste

although the initial cost may be more, long term cost will be less than chemicals, core aeration, overseeding and top dressing with compost costs a little extra at first but once we get the soil organic matter up to 5% to 7% we only have to do this every 3 or 4 years

weeds grow where grass isn't, we always carry seed and compost and will fill any void in the lawn that we may see, almost eleminating chemical herbicides, if we have to use them we can spot spray saving everybody time and money and not exposing your children and pets a broadcast spray of chemicals

chemical fertilizers melt into the top inch or 2 of the soil, that is where the roots go to get nutrients, if there is any stress like drought or heat the plants have no way to protect themselves from the stress, organic yards can have roots 18 inches long allowing the yard to handle stress easily

It is shown that yards high in organic matter need less water svaing you time and money in the heat of summer

Overseeding is always a good idea every couple of years as new strains come out that have much better color, use less water, and resist common disease better saving time, money and using much fewer chemicals