The Environmental Benefits Of Using A Lawn Care Subscription Service

Like many products on the market today, lawn care products can contain harsh ingredients that wreak havoc on the environment.

From contaminating groundwater to disrupting aquatic ecosystems, lawn care products can be a harsh choice for the environment.

So, what should you do if you’re hoping to choose a more environmentally friendly approach to your home’s lawn care?

While you could spend hours researching eco-friendly solutions, you could also choose to become a customer of a lawn care subscription service. Multiple lawn care subscription services offering their wares are devoted to eco-friendly lawn care, substituting natural ingredients for traditionally harsh chemicals.

Of course, the offerings vary from one provider to the next, but if eco-friendly lawn care is something that interests you, here are a few ways a lawn care subscription service could help.

How Are Lawn Care Subscription Services More Environmentally Friendly?

Lawn care subscription services can be a much more environmentally friendly choice than traditional DIY lawn care approaches, like when you select and apply the products yourself.

Many lawn care subscription services prioritize more natural ingredients, which are inherently more eco-friendly. Of course, not all providers focus on eco-friendly options, so pay attention to each provider’s offerings. Here are a few key ways lawn care subscription services are a more eco-friendly choice:

Eco-Friendly Ingredients

Many commercial-grade lawn care products and those you find at your local home improvement center contain a host of harsh chemicals. While these chemicals are highly effective in doing their jobs, whether it’s pest control, weed control, or something similar, they can be hard on the environment.

With lawn care subscription services, eco-friendly ingredients are more common. Of course, you can find more eco-friendly options at your local home improvement center, but they’re often pricey and tricky to find.

Many subscription providers turn to natural ingredients to take the place of harsh chemicals. The ingredients list varies based on the product and provider, but we noticed several standard components across several providers.

Sea kelp, corn meal, blackstrap molasses, and soy protein are common in the ingredient list of various lawn care products from multiple providers.

They’re a much friendlier alternative than their chemical-packed counterparts, so in many cases, you don’t need to be as cautious after application.

For example, after applying a commercial weed or pest control product, you usually need to remain off the grass until the product does its thing. If you have the application professionally done, they’ll usually leave a sign that warns passers-by to stay off the grass.

The warnings are essential, as these products can contain dangerous ingredients that aren’t safe for people or animals. And while they do their job, keeping your pets and family members from accidentally trekking across the grass can be somewhat of a nuisance.

With multiple products from lawn care subscription services, you don’t need to be as cautious after the application. While it’s still important to let the product work its magic, the more eco-friendly ingredients are less dangerous than their chemical counterparts.

It’s important to note that the ingredients list varies from provider to provider, so be sure to check before purchasing. Some lawn care subscription services offer synthetic lawn care mixtures, while others focus on more natural ingredients to produce the same results.

So, if this is important to you, ensure you check the ingredients label. Most eco-friendly products advertise their ingredients, so it’s usually fairly easy to tell.

Designated Amounts

Overapplications are a common issue with fertilizers and other lawn care products. Sometimes, it can be tricky to calculate how much you need to apply or how much is already applied to your lawn. This can lead to excessive amounts of product on your lawn, eventually running off the yard.

Your lawn can only take on so much, so if you overapply things like fertilizer, the excess can end up in waterways. It can wreak havoc on the environment, so it’s essential to apply only what your lawn needs.

With commercial products, you need to determine how much product to apply using the label and instructions on the packaging. Although it’s doable, there is plenty of room to make mistakes, which could result in you overdoing it (or even skimping on it).

This issue is a thing of the past with a lawn care subscription service. The company sends you products based on the size of your lawn, along with specific instructions for application.

There’s no guesswork or math involved in meticulously determining how much you need to apply. Instead, you simply follow the directions on the packaging to promote the health of your lawn.

Many providers send you products that match the amount of product your lawn needs, so you don’t need to divide the product into different applications. However, if you have a smaller lawn, you might need to split the product into several applications to avoid overdoing it.

Pay attention to the instructions on the packaging, and contact your provider if you have any questions!

Limited Nutrients

Limited nutrition amounts might sound counterintuitive, especially when trying to fertilize your lawn to promote healthy growth. However, it can actually be a good thing, as excess nutrients from too much fertilizer can cause issues within aquatic ecosystems.

As mentioned, excess fertilizer from your lawn can end up in waterways in your area. In most cases, the excess is washed away during heavy rains, ending up in storm drains near your home. From there, the water runs into streams, rivers, and lakes, potentially ending up in the ocean.

In larger-scale operations, like on farms, the excess fertilizer ends up in the water table, eventually moving with the groundwater into streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. However, in the case of a residential lawn, fertilizer usually washes into storm drains and enters bodies of water that way.

While helpful to growing plants, the nutrients in fertilizer can be detrimental to aquatic ecosystems. For example, the nitrates found in many fertilizers can leach into the soil and groundwater, potentially ending up in drinking water.

Consuming high levels of nitrates opens the door to a host of issues, including a very serious disorder called methemoglobinemia, a rare disorder impacting how the red blood cells in your body deliver oxygen.

On top of that, the nutrients from these fertilizers can provide the perfect environment for algal blooms, which can create dead zones in the ocean. Once algal blooms become large enough, they release toxins that can poison the other inhabitants of the ecosystem, leading to mass die-offs.

As if that weren’t bad enough, these excess nutrients also feed and stimulate the growth and reproduction of multiple microorganisms (including algal blooms). While these microorganisms are common in most aquatic ecosystems, large amounts can deplete water oxygen levels, as they require excessive amounts to grow and thrive.

This essentially suffocates other marine species in the same area, creating a dead zone.

The perk of limited nutrition goes hand-in-hand with specific application amounts. Since you’re only applying a certain amount of product, excess nutrients won’t be left unabsorbed. This means that the excess won’t end up in runoff, eventually making its way into rivers, lakes, and oceans.

You only apply as much fertilizer as your lawn needs, ensuring only so much nutrition is available to the grasses. After all, turf grass can only absorb so much before it’s unable to take on more, so it’s crucial to apply just enough instead of too much.

Remember, you can always use more, but you can’t undo it once it’s applied.