Nick's Philosophy

"A beautiful yard, naturally"

When God created the earth He created everything in perfect balance. The plants that grew in a particular area were designed for that area. When plants died they would decompose leaving the correct nutrients for other plants in the area.

Man came along and in his "infinite" wisdom has tried to grow plants in an area that does not support that type of plant material. Prior to the end of World War II, man was trying to grow plants in the wrong areas or trying to grow too much in an area without replenishing the naturally occurring nutrients, this was bad enough but then the "chemical revolution" started. Chemical fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides were offering a "quick" fix to the declining crops. Home gardeners found that the application of chemicals would get fast results for them. What we did not know was the chemicals were destroying the delicate balance of the soil and plant life, and also removing the nutrients in our food crops, plants grown back in the 1950 ‘s had a lot more nutrients in them than they do today. Chemical are extremely dangerous (despite what the manufactures say) and they damage the soil. Chemicals for the most part are made of Salt and/or Petroleum products, when these are applied to the soil they damage the ecosystem. These salts build up in the soil and as you know salt robs the plant of their water (which is why the plants "burn" when too much chemical is applied). Another problem with using chemicals is that the plants can only take up the nutrients when the plant needs them. If the plants do not need a particular nutrient at the time the chemical is present then the chemical will leach through the soil and will not be available. Organic treatments on the other hand build up the soil to get back the balance so when the plant needs the nutrients they are in the soil, as they should be and are safe.

Now the question is how do we get the soil back into balance?

• First: Stop using chemicals.
• Second: Observe how nature works in the woods. As leaves, twigs and other organic materials die they fall on to the soil and decompose. The process of decomposition produces the organic matter in the soil that provides nutrients for the plants. The other very important ingredient this decomposing organic matter provides is Carbon Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide is a byproduct of decomposition. All plants need COO to manufacture their food. Without a ready source of CO2 the plants stress trying to get enough. Again we are talking about the balance that God intended for the earth to have.
• Third: Become familiar with the types of soils and the plant materials that are used in your area. Find out what they need to be kept healthy.
• Fourth: Do not try to kill all the insects; there are many more beneficial insects than there are harmful ones. Insects are around so that the unhealthy and sick plant materials will be destroyed. If you have two of the same plants side by side and one is unhealthy the insects will attack that one to remove it. Biodiversity is an important factor in Organic Care.
• Fifth: Return organic matter to the soil and set in motion the system to keep the landscape developing its own balance.
• Sixth: Healthy soil is teaming with microorganisms. These microorganisms are what takes the dead plant materials (leave, grass blades ect) and decompose them. Chemicals will kill the microorganisms.

Nematode Nicks organic landscape care program uses liquid that we apply with a pressure sprayer, to the turf and shrubs. A local organic manufacturing company makes our product for us, but when I was developing the formulation we used the following ingredients.

• Compost Tea…this acts as a mild fertilizer and increases the number of microorganisms in the soil.
• Liquid Molasses…this acts as an energy source for the microbes (just like kids, you give them sugar and they become hyperactive). Molasses adds some trace minerals and will also help the other products stick to the plant.
• Liquid Seaweed…this is really a wonderful product. It strengthens the plants by making the cell walls thicker this also makes them more cold and heat tolerant (thicker walls also go a long way to help prevent the piercing and sucking insects from damaging the plant materials). Liquid seaweed is also a root stimulator.
• Live Microbes…there are live microbes available to help boost the activity.

We apply this liquid every two months starting in at the start of the growing season and continue until early winter.

We suggest that a dry organic fertilizer be applied in the early spring and late fall. We also will identify other problems and offer an organic solution so as to help you the homeowner be proactive with your landscape issues.

We also suggest that the very first treatment be mechanical core aeration with a layer of organic compost applied to the turf, at the rate of one cubic yard per 500 square feet of turf.