The basis of organic lawn care in Bend , or anywhere, is feeding the soil. Soil is a community of living organisms including bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and others. They turn carbon from the air and from organic fertilizers into stable organic matter. A soil rich in organic matter is one that nourishes plant roots by permitting air and water to enter the ground and making plant nutrients available as they are needed.

Conventional lawn fertilizers consist mainly of soluble salts of N, P, and K. The major nutrient needed on lawns is N. Nitrate fertilizers green up the grass quickly, but they also leach through the soil and pollute waterways with runoff. When soils are not enriched with organic matter, they become hard and impermeable to air and water, and typically infested with weeds that do better in such soils than the grass that we want. Inorganic fertilization is like feeding your family only fast food. They’ll think it’s tasty, but in the long run their health will suffer because they’re not getting balanced nutrition.

Clean Air fertilizers contain N bound up in organic compounds, not as soluble salts. These forms of N require processing by soil microorganisms to become available to plants, nourishing the soil community. Because your Clean Air service will also apply carbon to the soil in the form of humates, composts, or other carbon-containing substances, these too are incorporated into soil organic matter along with CO2 from the air.

Your Clean Air Grass Masters will walk your lawn and talk to you about what they see. If it needs help to become lush, green, and healthy, they will explain their plan to address any problems. For example, a lawn starved of organic matter usually benefits from aeration and overseeding along with organic fertilization. If your lawn is already in good shape, they will explain how they plan to keep it that way.