Sunday, April 09, 2006

Chemical-free lawn?

I've been wondering whether it is possible to have a healthy, green lawn without the use of pesticides, herbicides and perhaps even inorganic fertilizers.

Well, apparently, it can work for sugarcane.

On going organic, initially the yield of Balbo's fields fell.
"People said to me, 'You are going to ruin the family business,' " Balbo recalled.

But Balbo persuaded his partners and bosses to stick with the Green Cane Project, as the conversion was called, through the 1995-97 transition years. By 2000, Sao Francisco's yields had surpassed the best harvests achieved using conventional methods.

4 comments:

Arun said...

I have no idea. I later read about a failed attempt in Mauritius.

Arun said...

(involving sugarcane)
see http://members.tripod.com/~staicurrentscene/plenary/deville.html

potentilla said...

Does it depend on what you count as a lawn? Mine is healthy and green and organic, but a lot of it is moss. I like moss, in fact I think it is more beautiful then grass, especially mown grass. But does it count as a lawn?

Arun said...

I think moss is fine. I think what I'd call a good lawn, apart from being healthy and green has to do with the "texture". Moss doesn't detract from that texture.