Last Updated on April 19, 2024 by Brian Beck
Cost of ownership is an important factor but most things go overlooked. Your lawn is no different. Unless you happen to be over the age of 125 you would never be aware that there was a system of fertility that existed before the introduction of synthetics. What are synthetics? They are man-made products that use inorganic (never had DNA) chemicals to force feed plants. This system opposes the Biological system that uses organic (had DNA at one time) nutrition that is cycled into the plant by microbial life, mainly bacterial and fungal.
The biggest problem with synthetics is that they sterilize the soil of microbial life. How is this important? The microbes are responsible for providing an immunity to the plants they surround, they add carbon to the soil which helps the soil hold water, they fight off pathogenic microbes that cause stress and disease, they naturally aerate the soil and introduce oxygen, a major catalyst in nutrient uptake and also necessary to ward off pathogenic microbes that like anaerobic (low oxygen) environments. They digest organic material such as grass blades and thatch (NOT the same two things!) and return them into the soil. They pull nutrients out of the air such as nitrogen and carbon and help store them in the soil and help the plant root use them. The list goes on and on. Plants, meaning grass require about 21 elements to remain healthy, synthetics typically have just a few (N.P,K,Fe,S). They break down clay soils and convert sandy soils to organic ones that hold water. To make a long story short using synthetics costs you a LOT of money. So, why do people use them? I don’t know, why do people use drugs? Methamphetamines, Steroids and Heroin have immediate effects but they have side effects as well. Let’s list them.
Soil compaction, water runoff, water leaching, weeds, fungal disease, heat stress, thick thatch, just to name a few. What do these problems require to counter their impact?
Core aeration, more water, herbicides, fungicides, power-raking, just to name a few. (Psst, these cost you money, most of which comes from water).
Most of the things that exist in a synthetic system are not needed in a biologically mature lawn that has thriving amounts of biology, which is measurable with a test as well as observable in the increasing health of a lawn. I have discovered that the average lawn can experience on the very low, conservative end about 20% reduction of energy, inputs and expense, most of which comes in the form of water waste and on the high side 50%, maybe higher. This is why I have abandoned synthetics.
The seductive thing about synthetics is that they work fast but there is a cost, a dark side if you will that is hidden and blended in that gets obscured by the day to day existence.
The true cost of synthetics comes at the end of the thrill ride. The reality of the biological system is that it repairs this damage of the soil caused by synthetics, which must happen before a lawn can ever be truly healthy.
Which system do you want to spend your money on?
