Are We Taking Care of Our Environment From the Impact of Chemical Fertilizer?

Fertilizers are to vegetation what supplements are to humans. We need food to stay alive and supplements improve the utilization of these foods, similarly, plants and lawns need nutrients and water to stay alive and fertilizers improve the utilization of these essential nutrients in the plant system. Most lawns need fertilizer application from time to time to grow and develop optimally. Lawn care services in Texas employ fertilizer application as one of their lawn maintenance routines.

As wonderful as the benefit of lawn care Texas is, the negative effects are actually worse to contemplate especially when it has to do with synthetic or inorganic fertilizers. People rarely discuss these side effects until their consequences become very obvious on the environment.

The best fertilizers to use if we must use fertilizers at all are the organic types. They are easily broken down to the barest, insignificant molecules and hardly contaminate water bodies like chemical fertilizers do. It is important that we always review the effect of these fertilizers on the environment and how we can mitigate their negative effects.

Apart from the fact that lawn care services utilize fertilizers to care for customers’ lawns, the increasing population of the world has placed a high demand on a faster food production rate. Agriculturists need to meet this demand and because fertilizers help plants grow and develop quickly, the dependence on it can’t be helped.

Fertilizers affect the environment badly in the following ways:

Contamination of Water Bodies

Most synthetic fertilizers contain harmful inorganic compounds that are hard to break down in the soil. These compounds get filtered down into underground waters where they later run out into other water bodies. Nitrates and phosphates usually make up these fertilizers and are toxic to living organisms when abused. Contamination from them leads to environmental pollution and death of aquatic and non-aquatic plants and animals.

Lawn care services Austin are currently undergoing a campaign to use only organic fertilizers for lawn care maintenance.

Soil Pollution

Excessive application of fertilizers in the soil will lead to the heavily polluted environment. Extreme changes in the soil’s composition and chemistry are bound to occur from these toxic elements.  Beneficial microorganisms in the soil are also affected by the soil environment might become unfriendly for their inhabitation. There are living things that depend on these microorganisms and any imbalance in the ecosystem will affect the food chain negatively. Plants will end up developing poorly because they are contaminated and animals that feed on plants will also be affected.

Climatic Changes like Global warming and Ozone layer depletion

The world has changed from what it used to be and this change is a result of our living activities. Today, the earth has gotten hotter than it was before, the ozone layer has depleted even further, the polar ice caps are melting gradually, tsunamis, earthquakes, and hurricanes are more frequent than before.  All these occurrences are directly or indirectly caused by our human activities.

Many fertilizers used on our lawns and vegetation contain compounds like methane, CO2, Nitrogen, and Ammonia in heavy, unhealthy doses. Emissions from these compounds have increased the greenhouse effect which leads to the incident of global warming becoming more common. CO2, methane, and NO2 are the chief culprits that cause this effect.

The need to cut down on the use of inorganic fertilizers is urgent but unfortunately many people are quite unconcerned or ignorant about it. Moderate use of fertilizers isn’t a bad idea on its own but total avoidance or application of other alternatives will serve the sustainability of the earth better.

Danger of Directly Affecting Human Lives

Research has shown that fertilizers, pesticides and other chemical compounds used on lawns and plants can indirectly lead to health complications like respiratory diseases, blood contamination, cancers and genetic mutations. As stated earlier, underground water bodies get affected over time. These toxic compounds may end up as drinking water on our tables at the end of the day.

On the positive side, the following practices can reduce the negative effects of chemical fertilizers on the environment and in our lives.

-          It is safer to use more of organic fertilizers or none at all. If possible, avoiding the use of fertilizers might be the best option.

-          If fertilizers must be used, they should be moderately applied and organic. Also, ensure they are well mixed into the soil to prevent running off into water bodies.

-          Wash out fruits and plants thoroughly before ingesting them as food.

-          Test your water periodically to check for contamination by toxic compounds; you never can tell what you will find out.

If you need more information on best lawn care practices to follow up on, your local lawn care service in Texas will help you with more ideas to keep your environment safe.