Success in Sustainability: Answering Market Demand for Safer Landscape Methods

Seminar Description:
Clients are increasingly looking for landscapers who offer sustainable services. It's time to explore alternative proven methods that involve safer products and focus on soil health to reduce toxic inputs. Improving soil health leads to reduced chemical applications (potentially lowering costs) reduced water use, and reduced runoff.



Healthy soils make healthy plants that are naturally more disease resistant, so that they require fewer inputs over time. Chemically focused programs do the reverse. What is happening under the soil matters. In healthy systems, plant roots grow deeper, and the microbiome improves as disease decreases, while water requirements are reduced by up to 30%. Healthy soils hold more carbon. For example, nitrogen inputs brighten greens temporarily, but then the area needs another hit, because such inputs only feed the plants or grass itself - you see greener colors with your eyes, but the soil microbiome does not benefit. Furthermore, chemical use on farms and in landscaping is detrimental to pollinators and wildlife in the ecosystem. We make things more difficult than they are. Multiple case studies of successfully maintained sustainable landscapes will be presented.

Learning Objectives:
1. Measuring Soil Health.
2. Turf Care.
3. Answers to common challenges converting to sustainable methods.