Landscape

Below you will find the statement released regarding Roundup. Brummel Lawn does use it in landscape beds and hard surface sprays. All of our applicators follow label rate and label requirement to ensure we are using the product safely. With us being part of the NALP (Nation Association of Landscape Professionals) we continue to educate ourselves and our customers on issues and concerns in our field!  Here is some more information on it, that should help with any concerns.

–   Nick Brummel

NALP Member Bulletin: Statement Regarding Monsanto Roundup Court Case

On Friday, August 10, 2018, a San Francisco jury ruled that Roundup® weed killer, consisting of the active ingredient glyphosate, caused terminal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in a former school groundskeeper. The jury awarded the plaintiff $289 million in damages. Defendant, Bayer unit Monsanto, has signaled that they plan to appeal the decision and defend their product through the California state court appeals process.

NALP is committed to educating the landscape workforce, customers and the general public about the safe use of lawn and landscape products. It is possible that you may have questions or will receive questions from your employees, customers, the general public or the media regarding this recent jury decision and the safety of Roundup® or glyphosate. Please use the following facts as a reference and information to provide to your employees and customers as we continue to closely monitor the ongoing litigation.

Here are some facts about glyphosate:
• Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide in the world and has been used safely for more than 40 years by agricultural and landscape professionals to control broadleaf weeds and grasses. It is used in products such as Roundup®.
• Glyphosate is one of the most widely used and effective tool the landscape industry uses to protect green spaces and to control weeds and other invasive species that can exacerbate allergies, spread diseases and cripple landscapes.
• Researchers have conducted more than 800 scientific studies and reviews validating glyphosate’s safety since it was introduced in the 1970s.
• In May 2018, a study published by the U.S. National Institutes of Health reaffirmed there is not a statistically significant association between glyphosate use and cancer.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is statutorily mandated under the Federal Insecticide and Fungicide Act (FIFRA) to conduct reviews of all approved pesticide and herbicide products. FIFRA provides federal regulation of pesticide distribution, sale and use. Any pesticide registered under FIFRA, including glyphosate, must show that using the product according to specifications will not cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment or to human health.
• In December 2017, after conducting an extensive registration review of glyphosate the EPA released a draft risk assessment, which concluded that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans, and found no other meaningful risks to human health when the product is used safely and properly, according to label instructions.
• The EPA’s recent reevaluation of glyphosate was presented to the FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP). The SAP provides independent scientific advice to the EPA on health and safety issues related to pesticides. The FIFRA SAP is comprised of biologists, statisticians, toxicologists and other experts. The independent SAP agreed with EPA’s risk assessments and conclusions that glyphosate is not likely carcinogenic.
• Roundup® and many other products containing glyphosate are currently registered and approved by the EPA and all 50 states lead pesticide regulatory agencies and remain legal to use when used in a manner consistent with label instructions.
• During the evaluation of glyphosate EPA worked closely with their Canadian counterpart Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) in concluding that glyphosate is unlikely to be carcinogenic or cause unreasonable risks to humans when used in according to label instructions. Other regulatory authorities around the globe in Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia, have also consistently reaffirmed that glyphosate is not carcinogenic.
• In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. However, the IARC is not a regulatory agency and did not conduct independent studies before making this designation. Follow-up investigative reports of this designation found that IARC concealed important scientific data and edited conclusions from key studies of glyphosate.

Ensuring the safety, health and well-being of our members, their employees, the general public and the environment is the top priority of NALP. Our association fully supports documented research conducted by regulatory bodies and the established framework for the regulation of pesticides in the United States through FIFRA, and we continually and closely monitor for regulatory and research developments. The EPA and the 50 state pesticide lead regulatory agencies are our pesticide regulators and the landscape industry will continue to comply with all federal and state law that is supported by their review process, science, evaluation, decision and enforcement pursuant to FIFRA.

NALP understands the important role glyphosate plays in managing landscapes and delivering crops, and we are committed to promoting and ensuring its safe and effective use. NALP members are licensed and certified pesticide applicators that use glyphosate and other products in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.

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Its Fall should I fertilize?

Yes! The Fall is the best time to feed your plants! That includes your turf as well as the plants in your landscapes.  This article will review both landscaping and turf.

Landscape Plants and Trees

Fall fertilizer in the landscape beds will help the plants come out of the winter quicker and be less stressed.

1. The first way to get the fertilizer to the plant the quickest is early Fall with leaves still on the plant, to spray a foliar application. Miracle-Gro is an example of a foliar application, but we would recommend a stronger application. The current application that we have been using on our newly planted plants and seasonal color is Macron and its 16-32-16. This is a well balanced fertilizer with Nitrogen (16%), Phosphorus (32%) which in most cases is lacking in the soil and will help build stronger roots, and Potassium (16%) will help with chlorophyll in the leaves.
3. The second way to get fertilizer to the plants is a granular application that the roots will uptake. We normally will do this the first part of November, so that some will be in the soil in the Spring for the plant to grab and the rest will be taken up by the plant in the Fall and will store it and use it though the winter. This as well will help the plant spring into Spring! The product that we are looking at using in the landscape beds this fall is very similar to the product that we are applying to the lawns right now!

Again going with the theme of the season, with the wet weather and the soil getting leached out with all the rain, now is the time to put some nutrients back in the ground!

Turf

For turf 75% of the Nitrogen should be put down in the Fall.  Again with all the rain you might have noticed that green isn’t as dark green as normal.  Normally, we apply about 25% of your yearly Nitrogen (N) to the yard in the Spring, as we normally have surplus in the ground from the previous Fall.  This year our surplus got used up, so this Fall we are going strong.  Our early Fall application is going to put about 1 pound of N back into the soil/turf! That is about ¼ of a pound more than normal.  But with this application it will be 50% slow release so that grass doesn’t just spring out of the ground,  and will keep feeding, until we do the late Fall which is all mineral and will put 1.25 pounds of N back in, for the quicker green up in the Spring, and a thicker healthier turf. On an average year, cool season turf (Blue Grass and Fescue) should receive 2-2.5 lbs of N per year.  Studies have shown that once you get over 3 lbs. per year you are increasing your chance of fungus!