Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan (LINAP)- Newsletter

• Five tips for an Eco-friendly lawn
• Take the Nitrogen Pledge
• Grant Insights and Highlights

Five Tips for an Eco-friendly Lawn

It’s almost spring and lawn care is on the minds of many Long Islanders. Fertilizer is often thought of as a key ingredient to a healthy, vibrant lawn but fertilizer use, especially improper application, can be harmful to the environment. Excess nitrogen in fertilizer pollutes our waterways, negatively impacts aquatic life and interferes with fishing, swimming and boating. In fact, fertilizer is the second leading source of nitrogen contamination of Long Island waters; residential wastewater is the primary source.

In this issue of the LINAP newsletter, we review several ways to care for your lawn while protecting coastal waters, as well as our drinking water supply.

Most important, fertilizer should not be applied before April. Grass simply cannot efficiently absorb fertilizer at this time. Furthermore, it is illegal to fertilize your lawn in Nassau and Suffolk counties before April 1.

To be clear, lawns are not a natural landscape feature and usually require high maintenance. If having a lawn is your preferred landscape option, then follow the suggestions below to help decrease the likelihood of overapplying fertilizer and, therefore, reduce the amount of excess nitrogen that enters groundwater and surface water.

1. Don’t start fertilizing! If you’re not currently using fertilizer and you are happy with how your lawn looks, then don’t start fertilizing. Many lawns can be aesthetically pleasing without any added fertilizer.
2. Eliminate or shrink your lawn. Consider reducing the lawn area requiring fertilizer. One of the most effective ways Long Islanders can do their part to protect local water resources, is to replace their lawn or a portion of it with less water-intensive landscaping, also known as “xeriscaping.” Xeriscaping makes use of drought tolerant plant species. Often, native plant species require little to no extra water and fertilizer and help to absorb and filter rainwater. Also, xeriscaping is aesthetically pleasing and can increase property value.
3. Keep those grass clippings on your lawn. Mulching mowers finely chop grass into small pieces which get deposited into the lawn and decompose quickly. It is like adding a little bit of fertilizer every time you mow, and allows you to lessen, or eliminate, chemical fertilizer application. As a general rule, no more than a third of the grass blade should be removed during a single mowing. And it’s also good practice to keep the height at least three inches high, which encourages deeper, healthier roots.
4. Apply less fertilizer to your lawn. If you decide to use fertilizer, especially on a well-established lawn, then apply one-third to one-half the amount recommended on the fertilizer bag. If you are satisfied, then you applied the right amount. Nice work!
5. Timing is everything. If you are going to fertilize, then apply it at the right time – close to Memorial Day and/or Labor Day. Fertilizer shouldn’t be applied before April or after mid-October. Nor should it be applied during the hottest summer months when grass is dormant. Grass simply cannot efficiently absorb fertilizer at this time so don’t bother trying – you’ll just waste fertilizer and money. On Long Island, if you fertilize once a year, it is best to do so around Labor Day.

For more information, please visit the following resources:

NYS DEC Lawn Fertilizer webpage

NYS DEC LINAP’s Turf Grass Fertilization Recommendations

NYS DEC “Leave it on the Lawn” webpage