Products start getting slung around the Lowcountry
landscapes this time of year. I want to write a little bit about keeping
product out of our storm water drains, marshes, and other bodies of water. With
retention ponds, marshes, rivers, streams, and oceans, we are surrounded by
water in the Lowcountry. It is very
important to preserve the valuable resource that brought or keep us all in the
Lowcountry.
Living in the Lowcountry, water is everywhere! All the water shed ultimately ends up in our
waterways and the ocean. Much of this
water shed comes down from the upstate and ends up in our local waters. As more
development occurs along our water fronts and just more development in general
(roofs, parking lots, roads), there is more runoff water. We definitely do not want to pollute the
resource that we depend upon for water, food, recreation and jobs.
With a few common sense practices you can greatly reduce the
amount of product that goes into our storm water system.
After spreading fertilizer or any control products, be sure
to remove (sweep) it from any hard surfaces like sidewalks, driveways, and pool
decks. Do this right after spreading the
product before you water it in or it rains.
Do not rinse your spreader or sprayer off on your driveway where the
water will then run off into the ditch or into any body of water.
When filling up your spreader, clean up any spilled material
right away. Sweep it up and put it back
into the spreader so it can be applied evenly throughout the lawn.
With all of the natural water and now all the retention
ponds (in neighborhoods and commercial sites), many more people have to deal
with water quality issues either at home or at work. Many spreaders shoot product out 10-15
feet. This means you have to be extra
careful not to put product directly into the water. Keep a safe distance away from the water and
always read the product label for precautions concerning water. You should read, understand and follow the
entire label. With certain ant control
products there are definite restrictions about how close you can get to
water. Of course you don’t want to be
standing in a pile of ants on the riverbank while trying to fish. This is where using ant bait would be a good
alternative. Most ant baits have far
less active ingredient than other ant control products.
If you live on the water, having a low growing natural area
before the water can act as a good filter.
If you have turf growing right up to the water, you increase your
chances of having run off issues. If you
choose low growing natural areas, you will still have a good view of the water,
but will not have the maintenance associated with turf.
If you have a very sandy yard or a rock hard clay yard, you
will want to amend your soil to hold water, nutrients and products. In the case of a clay soil, regular top
dressing with Cotton Burr Compost or SeaHume will help the water penetrate the
ground instead of running off into the street.
You will get much better results from the products you use (saving you
money and saving the environment) if the product is not running off into the
street. For sandy soil, Cotton Burr
Compost and SeaHume will help keep the product in the root zone so the plants
can absorb the nutrients instead of leaching into the ground water. Top dressing is a very easy cultural practice
where you just spread the Cotton Burr Compost or SeaHume over the top of your
lawn and beds (no tilling required!).
Using high quality, slow release nitrogen products or
organic sources of nitrogen will save you money in the long run and nitrates
will be less likely to appear in the water system. Also choose products with a very low to no
middle number (phosphorous) unless your soil test dictates otherwise. This will
lower the amount of algae bloom in the waterways. At Possum’s we have been practicing this
since we opened in 2002.
Only fertilize your yard as indicated by your soil
test. This lessens the overuse of
product greatly and will save you money in the long run.
Always ready, understand and follow product labels.
