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PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 8:10 am 
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Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2004 7:57 am
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Location: coppell,TEXAS
I am new to the "organic" way of taking care of our lawn and beds....up until this spring we have used a well-known, non-organic, fertilizer company on a regular basis. We have just switched (2nd application) to an organic service but I am sad to say the lawn looks really bad....Does it take awhile for the "organic" stuff to start working. I am getting very discouraged and my husband thinks I'm nutty for going organic anyway....I think he is about to say call the old guys back....PLEASE ADVISE QUICKLY!!!!!

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PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 10:16 am 
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Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2003 12:12 pm
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Location: Garland
Yes, it may take a pretty significant amount of time. You're basically starting from over almost from scratch, soil wise. You will see results, but the chemicals acted kind of like steroids for your lawn, it will take a while to recover.

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PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 11:43 am 
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I am also new to organic lawn care. Last year I used Chemlawn, but I decided to go organic this year, mainly because my dogs are always eating the grass. Chemlawn also has an organic program and I was going to switch to that, but the Chemlawn guy said my weeds would go crazy and he recommended that I use the chemical treatment in the spring and switch to organic in the summer. I was about to go ahead with this (actually had one application) and then I took a class on organic lawn care from a guy that does nothing but organic lawn care. He showed many pictures of lawns he takes care of, they were perfect. He spelled out every detail and I decided that I could do it myself. It has a long way to go, but I think the lawn looks just as good as it did with those stinky chemicals. It's been work, but I'm having lots of fun.

My suggestion is to learn all you can about organic lawn care and decide whether this company is really doing it right. I don't think the people I was dealing with know diddly about proper organic lawn care. If doing it yourself is an option you should try it. Otherwise find a company that does nothing but organic. I'll bet your local organic garden center could refer you to someone.


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PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 7:36 pm 
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Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2004 7:57 am
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Location: coppell,TEXAS
ok...you've both given me encouragement...I think the company I use is supposed to be very good (in fact I just found out they are a sponsor of this) I will try to be patient and hopefully I can persuade the hubby to do the same!

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 Post subject: Converting to organics
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 9:36 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 21, 2003 5:33 pm
Posts: 829
Location: Dallas,TX
Keep in touch with the company and feel free to add treatments yourself, just let them know what you do. I have found that regular applications of molasses speed the process in coming over to organics.

Get liquid molasses and apply it at 2-4 oz. per gallon of water every week for the next 4-6 weeks. You'll like what you see, and it's not expensive. Just spray the yard as if you were giving it a coat of paint. Then water the yard as usual.

So far, Lowe's seems to have the lowest price on a widespread basis for molasses. If there is an independent in your area who has gallons at under $10 I'd buy it there and get busy.

Best wishes, and don't give up! You'll have the prettiest yard with the least effort once you get through the conversion. Once the summer hits and your yard is more resilient and happier, you'll see your hubby smiling and telling you how smart you are!
Kathe :D


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PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2004 11:03 am 
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Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2003 10:35 am
Posts: 94
Location: houston, tx
Terri, we bought a farm with a very large yard and I started the organic program myself close to two years ago. I found that once the yard responded to what I call the "healing" process I was incredibly pleased. It takes time for the beneficial insects to come back into balance and some of the challenges like left-over brown patch had to be taken care of, which was not an overnight success.

Kathe is right -- the molasses is great and ziggy is right--the more you know, the better equipped you will be. This website has an enormous amount of information that is really helpful.

I have just recently branched out to the compost tea arena and that has been very enlightening and exciting to watch too. Don't give up. You will feel so great when you can look out and see the grass blades full and dark green and healthy looking. - Susan

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PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2004 1:38 pm 
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Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2004 7:57 am
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Location: coppell,TEXAS
thank you both... Molasses is on the "to do" list tomorrow. I am really hoping that this will work. So far just learning about it all has been a lot of fun....I'll keep working, reading and hoping@!
Terri

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