Organic lawns slowly catch on

A market for chemical-free grass grows, but higher costs are a hurdle

Cary resident Maria Greer is proud of her quarter-acre lawn, even though it's now brown from drought and may not thicken up for years.

Fed up with lawn-care companies that pour on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, Greer opted for an organic service that uses treated sludge from municipal sewage plants. When dandelions and chickweed sprout, Greer happily pulls them by hand, because she's not poisoning them with herbicide.

"It's all about putting your health first and your neighbors' health and kids' health," said Greer, who lives in the Devereaux subdivision near N.C. 55. "Most people with carpet-like lawns have lawns on life support. They have to douse them with chemicals, herbicides and irrigate it for it to look like a carpet.

"They don't know if it will cause cancer down the road," said Greer, who signed up with NaturaLawn of America in March.

Nationally, lawn care is starting to go green as concerns rise about the health and environmental effects of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In parts of Canada and in some Northeastern states, homeowners increasingly are turning to natural fertilizers made from manure, processed sewage and bone meal.

But it's a nascent market, especially in the Triangle, because of higher costs, limited options and generally weaker results. Of Fairway Green Lawn Care's 6,000 Triangle customers, about 250 use organic lawn care, said Sam Lang, owner of the Raleigh-based company.

"My best advice for someone that wants to go the organic route and not go to pesticides and standard fertilizers is to lower their expectations," said Fred Yelverton, a professor and turf grass specialist at N.C. State University. "There's a certain segment of the population that very much wants organic products, and they'll pay more for it, but it's not as good."

Still, the number of customers is expected to rise, and more products are being added. Prices of chicken manure fertilizer have dipped slightly in the past few years and are expected to fall further as demand rises. A 2004 survey by the National Gardening Association found that 5 percent of households used only organic practices to fertilize and control weeds and insects. But 9 percent of respondents said they would use organic methods by 2009.

"There is increasing demand," said Bruce Butterfield, the association's research director. "Everything is trending in the direction of trying to be a little more environmentally friendly."

Industry giants are betting on organic lawn care, too. In January, Scott's Miracle-Gro, the nation's largest lawn-care company, introduced its first organic lawn fertilizer. Land O'Lakes Purina Feed this year introduced a competitor, Bradford Organics, and Home Depot, Lowe's and Sears carry organic landscape products.

The increasing interest comes as studies increasingly link pesticide exposure to a variety of illnesses. A Harvard School of Public Health study last year found that people exposed to pesticides had a 70 percent higher incidence of Parkinson's disease. And a University of Iowa study in the mid-1990s found that golf course superintendents across the country died of cancer far more often than the general population.

Not everyone is convinced that organic lawn care will take hold locally.

"We're not hearing about it, and we don't have any requests for it," said Scott Myatt, owner of Myatt Landscaping Concepts in Fuquay-Varina and a former board member of the N.C. Nursery and Landscape Association.

Cost is a big hurdle for anyone considering an organic lawn.

TruGreen Chemlawn charges $69 for a manure program to treat a 3,000-square-foot yard, compared with $39 for a treatment with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Only about 50 of the company's 20,000 local customers choose the organic option, which uses chicken manure fertilizer and no pesticides, said Mike Francisco, the company's regional vice president. All chemicals TruGreen uses must be approved by the government.