The 4th Treatment of the Soils Alive Organic Lawn Care will be applied on Monday, July 9, 2018.
In March we began working with Soils Alive, an organic lawn care company, to manage our lawn treatments (not our landscaping, just the lawn treatments).
Soils Alive focuses on replenishing the soil with nutrients and microbiology that conventional treatments have managed to strip from the soil. The majority of their treatments are comprised of liquid compost which is made in house the day before they come out to our property. The liquid compost mixture is 100% organic and the recipe changes throughout the year with each round. One of the main components of the liquid compost is living microbiology-beneficial fungi, protozoa and nematodes. This coupled with bio-inoculants and amendments help provide nutrient density and vitality to the soil. It also helps strengthen the plants’ ability to ward of pathogens.
Our turf, trees, shrubs, and plants will benefit greatly from these applications. Since they try to let Mother Nature take care of most things on her own, they are more reactionary than preventative when it comes to addressing pathogens; so being on their program is not going to be a silver bullet from anything- weeds, diseases, insects. Most preventative treatments like the ones we were getting used fungicides which are unnecessary and harmful chemicals.
Their goal is to amend the soil with all of the beneficial, naturally occurring organisms so the plants have a chance of fighting things off on their own first. Most of their competitors band aid these issues with chemical fungicides and pesticides. Soils Alive addresses the root of the issue- the soil composition and soil food web. By going organic, we are not only benefiting the environment but also our health and the health of our pets. Ingestion of chemical weed control products over time has been attributed to cancer in pets. We know this first hand as many of our pet owners reported their dogs getting sick after the last chemical treatment we had.
All this being said, transitioning from chemical to organic is a process. Most of the time people associate progress with topical results. Their progress starts in the soil, so we may not be able to physically see that it’s working, but IT IS. This means that we may see more weeds than we’re used to seeing around here, but rest assured that it won’t be like that forever. The basic rule of thumb in organics is:
“The first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, and the third year it leaps!”
What this means is that we ask you for your patience, as it will be a few years before we see some major improvements. Just know that it’s working, and we’re all going to be healthier for it.
For those of you who want more information on the treatments they’ll be doing, check out the soil building program page on their website here. Since we started a little late, our first treatment this coming Wednesdaywill be Treatment 2. Treatment 7 will be replaced by the liquid from Treatment 1. Then, next year and all subsequent years, Treatment 7 will be eliminated.
Thank you for your patience,
Copperfield Townhomes HOA Board of Directors
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