The state of Hawaii recently passed a law which bans all gasoline-powered leaf blowers and restricts electric leaf blower use in residential areas to between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays and holidays.
In addition to the restrictions, the new regulations also state that noise levels generated by the leaf blowers cannot exceed 70 decibels beyond boundaries of the property being cleaned. Leaf blowing operations are also prohibited from blowing debris onto adjacent property.
The law doesn’t apply to other power equipment, such as string trimmers and lawnmowers. Violators will be fined $50 for first violation and up to $500 for repeat violations.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to end all U.S. uses of the insecticide endosulfan (trade name: Thiodan prior to 2002 and later called Thionex) which has been found to pose reproductive and neurological risks to birds, other wildlife and humans. The manufacturer of endosulfan, Makteshim Agan of North America, is now in discussions with the EPA to plan the voluntary cancellation of all uses of the pesticide.
Endosulfan was first registered for use in the 1950s and is the last of the organochlorine pesticide class to be used in the United States. Other organochlorine pesticides, such as DDT, dieldrin, and chlordane were banned in the 1970s and ‘80s. Endosulfan has been used on cotton, vegetables, fruits, ornamental shrubs, trees, and herbaceous plants in the U.S.
The pesticide has already been banned in 60 countries. Worldwide outcry to ban endosulfan arose from the deaths of 135 people in Kerala, India, following use of the pesticide in cashew orchards.
Ok – everyone enjoys a lush, well kept, perfectly green lawn – at least most everyone….but, did you know that Dandelions are considered a valuable herb with many culinary and medicinal uses?
According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. Its leaves are often used to add flavor to salads, sandwiches, and teas. The roots can be found in some coffee substitutes, and the flowers are used to make certain wines. The article goes on the say that dandelion roots are mainly used today as an appetite stimulant, digestive aid, and for liver and gallbladder function. Dandelion leaves are even used as a diuretic to stimulate the excretion of urine.
Take a few minutes are learn more about the important nutritional value of Dandelions!
Learn more about the medicinal value of Dandelions:
Get a reel mower! I have a Reel Mower! These mowers Reely work! Reel men push mow!
The list is long for these clever and popular puns. Huh? What is a “reel” mower anyway? For many green industry “professionals”, namely landscape contractors, golf course superintendents, turfgrass managers, etc., the term “reel mower” is common. But your average everyday American has absolutely no idea.
Let me explain (in brief):
Reel Mower Concept
Reel mowers have curved blades that produce a cutting action alongside a stationary steel plate (like a can of Pringles chips rolling across a table). The blades form a spiral around the reel axis, and as they spin, the spiral of blades forces grass past the stationary plate. Reel mowers leave behind clean-cut grass, as if the grass had been cut with sharp scissors.
New reel mower technology has advanced since the days of Grandpa’s old clunker. Unlike the cutting action of scissors, it is not necessary for the blades of the spinning reel to contact the stationary plate. A clean cut is possible if the gap between the blades and the plate is less than the thickness of the grass. This modern reel mower technology is referred to as “contact-free”, “non-contact”, “silent-cut”, and many other terms. The benefit is a mower that is easier to push, and a mower that does not require sharpening. What, no sharpening? Nope. Think about it, there is no metal-on-metal contact to cause the reel blades to become dull. The blades only come in contact with grass, wood, and the occasional pebble or two – non of which will cause the blades to lose its edge.
There is a ton to talk about so feel free search around our learning center and read more more about reel mower technology, and how your lawn may benefit by using a reel mower.
We recently read in a SafeLawns.org blog post about the 2010 launch of Firebelly Organics. Tom Kelly of Milford, N.H., a former pesticide applicator has much of New England buzzing over his revolutionary, easy-to-use lawn care program made from 100 percent organic ingredients.
After a few phone and email conversations with both Tom Kelly and his wife Debra (Sales & Marketing), we are impressed and excited to share their company and their story with the ecomowers.com community. Signing up for their monthly lawn care program might just be the perfect complement with your ecomower.
About Firebelly Organics:
Fire Belly Organic Lawn Care honestly believes we can make the world a much better place by simply changing the way we treat our lawns. When we eliminate the overuse of dangerous pesticides and chemical fertilizers we are taking a step towards saving the environment and creating a healthier world for our children, pets and families.
Located in New Hampshire, Fire Belly provides a seasonal, do it yourself, six step organic lawn care program to customers all over The United States and Canada. We are also a leading provider of organic lawn care products to the organic lawn care applicator industry. By simplifying process in which you can treat your lawn organically Fire Belly leads the way in converting turf care programs from a dangerous chemical process to a safe natural approach.
Firebelly Organics
Fire Belly is dedicated to providing effective environmentally responsible products that address soil biology. Our horticultural products feed the soil through the introduction of select beneficial microbial species allowing them to facilitate the natural processes inherent to healthy plant growth. We blend a diverse array of beneficial soil microorganisms with natural plant extracts and organic nutrients to create microbial systems. These natural systems simultaneously feed the soil and the plant, which allows plants to grow to their full genetic potential
We not only want to provide you with the proper products to treat your lawn but we also want to help you with any and all concerns when it comes to the care of turf. When you sign up for the Fire Belly program you are getting many years of agronomic experience that we hope you will put to use by constantly asking questions. When outstanding products come together with outstanding education and information you can have an outstanding lawn…naturally.
Did you overseed your lawn this fall? How does your grass look now? Did you fill all those bare spots your dog Lizzy so nicely caused this summer? If you planned ahead, purchased choice seeds, and followed a rigid planting strategy your grass probably looks fantastic. However, if you bought cheap seed, tossed it on the ground, and watered it a bit you probably have clumpy & patchy results. Researchers at Kansas State report that fall overseeding is a very common practice and that many may or may not succeed.
K-31 is known to be the most common seed on the market which also makes it the least expensive. One of the disadvantages to K-31 is that it grows fast and you’ll need to mow it a few times after planting. Under stress conditions, K-31 becomes clumpy and patchy and results can be poor.
Kansas State recommends planting at a rate of 50% the recommended rate for new establishment. You should measure the area to wish to plant and accurately calculate the amount of seed you need.
A recent article featured in Popular Mechanics discusses various lawn diseases and methods of both treatment and prevention.
The article stresses that harmful grass pathogens are constantly present in every lawn and only awaiting the opportunity to become active. Combine a grass variety susceptible to a pathogen with the wrong weather conditions, and presto! Your lawn may soon blossom with harmful microorganisms.
The authors also point out that there are good fungi and bad fungi, how to spot each and how to foster the right kind. When a bad fungi becomes active, it may be spread by weather, grass clippings and even your lawn mower.
The best preventive measures against lawn diseases are:
1. Choosing the proper grass cultivar for your soil and weather conditions.
2. Maintaining a lawn which is well-aerated, has good drainage, and gets plenty of circulated air.
3. Diligent care in your methods of watering, fertilizing, and mowing.
The use of organic composts can help in the prevention of lawn diseases and the authors explain the best methods.
Spring, Summer, and Fall-specific lawn diseases are covered in great detail and well worth the read, as well as conditions such as Fairy Rings, Stripe Smut, Necrotic Ring Spots, and Dollar Spot.
You may read the entire article at Popular Mechanics, and this page features tips on diagnoses with accompanying photographs.
Have you ever looked closely at a lawn mowed using a rotary mower, especially a day or two after mowing? You will see a brown haze to the surface of the lawn and a closer look will easily show the splintered and shattered tips of each blade of grass that has died back an 1/8 of an inch or so, victim to the brutal bashing from the rotary mower blade.
This is bad for several different reasons. The first and simplest is the appearance, it just doesn’t look as green as it should or could. You will not see this brown haze color on professional high quality grass stands like golf courses or athletic fields. This is because there is no trauma or damage caused by a rotary mower, and we are talking about grass mowed at very short heights. You can achieve the same professional results at home and eliminate the brown shade on the surface by mowing your own lawn with a reel mower.
Secondly, all this damage on the tips of each blade opens up millions of damaged sites for disease to enter the grass plant and affect your entire lawn. It is the equivalent of humans having a compromised immune system and being more susceptible to colds and flu germs…
Conversely, a grass blade scissored off with a reel mower has none of this damage on the tips, just a perfectly clean cut that does not open the door for excessive disease pressure. Grass cut using a reel mower requires less energy from the plant itself to heal the damage, cutting down on fertilizer, water requirements, weed control, and disease control.
You may remember that I stated in HOC discussions that the best defense against weeds is a strong stand of grass. All are good side benefits for the environment, and for your wallet and your time. Take the time you spend dragging the sprinkler around the yard and pushing the spreader back and forth and use it to put an extra reel mower cut on your lawn each week. It will be time well spent and it won’t cost you any money.
Further to the basics of cutting height (you can read more here) and how it influences the quality of your lawn, let’s examine the equally important quality of cut (QOC).
In a separate blog entry I used the roses in the blender analogy to illustrate what happens to tender grass blades when cut using a rotary lawn mower. The key element at work in mowing grass with a rotary mower is SPEED – speed of the blade turning fast enough to tear or flail the tips off of the grass being mowed.
You may be surprised to learn that only the last ¼ to ½ inch of a rotary lawn mower blade ever does any actual cutting, but if you think about it the blade is moving so fast, that as you push the mower forward only that portion of the blade makes contact with the longer grass blade – everything farther down the blade just passes over the already mowed grass.
The sharpness of the blade is another misunderstood concept. Many people believe that a rotary blade should be extremely sharp, this is a misnomer:
Firstly, if you use a rotary you know that a razor sharp blade is impossible to maintain, just a few minutes of cutting will dull rotary blades significantly. The lifting force that many rotary mowers are designed with today also brings all kinds of debris into contact with the blade, dulling it significantly. That is why a rotary mower dealer or mechanic will not even recommend a blade that sharp, because it can’t be kept that way and is more susceptible to damage as you try to make it sharper and the leading edge becomes thinner.
Finally you would need to sharpen the rotary blade after every mowing, which is not only inconvenient; it can be dangerous if you are not careful and know what you are doing. If the blade is not perfectly balanced each time it can put tremendous strain on the mower as an unbalance blade spins irregularly on the drive shaft of the engine.
The bottom line is that the only way a rotary can mow grass is by shear speed and to smash the tips off the blades of grass. No matter what you do, you cannot overcome this mode of mowing action with a rotary lawn mower.
If you want the best looking, most healthy grass – stick to using a reel lawn mower. All the professionals use reel mowers……
Have you ever had the pleasant experience of walking barefoot in the yard and feeling how cool the grass is? Of course, many of our reel mower enthusiasts ecomow in their bare feet. Grass obviously plays an important role in controlling our outdoor climate.
Studies show that grass can cool the air temperature by absorbing the sun’s heat during the day and releasing it slowly in the evening, thus moderating temperature. The grass will absorb some of the solar radiation to fuel the photosynthesis process. Grass areas also have irregular surface area which scatters light and radiation, greatly reducing glare.
Turf grass will cools itself and its surroundings by a process know as evapo-transpiration. Transpiration from the grass blade, and evaporation from the soil. An acre of turf on a summer day will lose roughly 2,400 gallons of water through evapotranspiration to the atmosphere. Roughly 50% of the sun’s heat striking the turf may be eliminated through this transpirational cooling process.
The cooling properties of turf are so effective that temperatures over turfed surfaces on a sunny summer day will be 10 – 14 degrees cooler than over concrete or asphalt. Or to put it another way, consider the fact that on a block of eight average homes, the front lawns have the cooling effect of 70 tons of air conditioning!
Research studies revealed overall temperature of urban areas may be as much as 5 to 7 °C warmer than that of nearby rural areas. Through the cooling process of transpiration, turfgrasses dissipate high levels of radiant heat in urban areas. Maximum daily canopy temperatures of a green, growing Cynodon turf (Bermuda grass) was found to be 21 °C cooler than a brown dormant turf and 39 °C cooler than a synthetic surface (Table 1; Beard and Johns, 1985). The transpirational cooling effect of green turfs and landscapes can save energy by reductions in the energy input required for interior mechanical cooling of adjacent homes and buildings (Johns and Beard, 1985).
Source:
“Environment Temperature Modification,” The Lawn Institute http://www.thelawninstitute.org/environment/?c=185540 [accessed on June 30, 2009].
Rob Anthony, a nationally recognized and respected Horticulturalist and Turfgrass Manager recently joined our team to assist us with content writing! Rob currently serves on the reader advisory board for Turfgrass Trends Magazine, Athletic Turf and Technology Magazine and contributes regularly for the latter as well as the highly respected international publication, Stadia Magazine. His professional experience includes Head Groundskeeper for the Green Bay Packers, and Athletic Turfgrass Development Manager with two nationally ranked Division I Universities.
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