Fertilizing may harm the Environment (Part I)

By David Wall
Guest Columnist

There's a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that annually kills fish and marine life due to little or no oxygen in the water.  The area varies, but usually averages about 5,900 square miles, or the size of Connecticut.  The zone is caused by massive amounts of fertilizer nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous from numerous sources that make their way into the water system, get into the Mississippi river, and then flow directly into the Gulf.

With the massive amount of farmland in the central U.S., it's easy to conclude the these nutrients come from farmers fertilizing their crops, which ignores another major aspect; nutrients leaching into the water system from your lawns. With typical lawns so small compared to farmland, how can this be?

Farmers make their living from the land, so they're very careful as to how many nutrients are added to the soil.  First, they do soil testing, which is taking soil samples to be tested by a professional agency.  This gives them numerous updates beginning with soil pH, which is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity in soils.  They also get readings as to the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium the soil needs, as well as any micronutrients the soil may need.  Excess fertilizer costs them money, so they apply only what the soil needs.

Home owners, however, often ignore soil testing, and as a result,  have no idea what nutrients  their yards and gardens need.  The just buy a bag of fertilizer with no knowledge of its contents and apply it to their yards.  They may not provide enough nutrients, but more likely, they'll provide way too much. The excess will contribute to the dead zone.  Your yard may be small, but think how many yards there are in the central U.S.