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From: ries@arcturus (Marc Ries)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.environment
Subject: Re: Is Mowing your Lawn bad for the Environment?
Message-ID: <1785@spp2.UUCP>
Date: 1 Jun 89 16:00:39 GMT
References: <24792@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <20388@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
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In article <20388@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> ajw@manatee.cis.ufl.edu (Andy Wilcox) writes:
>In article <24792@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> potency@violet.berkeley.edu (Tom Slone) writes:
>>
>>The net loss to the environment has already happened when the lawn was
>>installed in the first place:

      Last  time  I heard, concrete doesn't provide oxygen
      to the atmosphere.

>There are some important steps you can follow to make things better
>for the environment.  

      There are.  Only lets get them CORRECT!

> * If you mow your lawn, don't use a gasoline powered mower.

      Let's  be  more  specific.   Use  a  push mower.  An
      electric mower requires juice from the  utility  Co.
      which has to be produced somehow (burning coal, gas,
      nuclear, etc.).

> * If possible, blow your grass over your yard, and let it decompose
>   there.  Raw grass contains a sizeable portion of nitrogen that is
>   returned to soil by this method.  Leaving grass on the lawn does
>   not cause thatch, which is most commonly caused by over
>   fertilization. 

      Unfortunately, raw "grass" clippings actually USE UP
      available   soil   nitrogen   in   the   process  of
      decomposition.  It's crops like  CLOVER  (that  turn
      fixed  nitrogen  [nitrogen  in  the  soil that other
      plants can't utilize] into free  nitrogen  [nitrogen
      that   plants   can  utilize])  that  release  their
      accumulated nitrogen in the  decomposition  process.
      RTFM  8-)  You  should actually ADD free nitrogen so
      that the decomposing  grass  does  not  deplete  the
      nitrogen in the soil.

      While  letting grass clipping stay in the grass does
      not guarantee  a  thatch  problem,  it  won't  help.
      Thatch  is  a  layer of dead organic matter, not yet
      decomposed, that hinders the infiltrations  of  air,
      water, and nutrients to the grass roots.  Mechanical
      aeration   or   increased   microbial  activity  (to
      decompose the thatch) will help control "thatch".

> * If you bag your grass, be sure to compost it, and spread it back
>   over your yard in the next season.  Again, your lawn will love the
>   nitrogen boost.

      It  may help the soil by providing organic matter to
      aerate the soil and improve microbial activity,  but
      composted "grass" does NOT give your lawn a nitrogen
      "boost"!

     Marc Ries
           <somewhere>!ries

     "PHOTOVOLTAICS: safe/clean Electricity from the SUN"