Author: Jamie Dockery
Planning Unit: Fayette County CES
Major Program: Water and Soil Quality and Conservation
Plan of Work: Green and Sustainable Living
Outcome: Initial Outcome
Our community, like much of the world, has become increasingly aware of water quality issues. Recent MS4 regulations have shed more light on these concerns. One of the major pollutants of stormwater is excess nutrients from fertilizer applications. The Fayette County horticulture program offers classes related to low input lawn care approaches that can serve to dramatically lessen fertilizer applications. Research has shown that turf grasses perform better when limited spring and summer applications of fertilizer are applied. We also emphasize soil building and infiltration in many classes related to other gardening topics. In the past year 85 homeowners attended a class related to lower input lawn care to learn best management practices. We work with local government to provide data related to storm water education for their MS4 reporting. We also partnered with the Natural resources Conservation Service who sponsored vouchers for free soil testing. This is important for homeowners but also producers, where over application of expensive nutrients affect water quality as well as profitability. The Fayette County Extension Service provided soil sampling and guidance to 928 citizens to avoid these problems. Efforts such as soil sampling and reducing fertilizer inputs provide many benefits in terms of cost savings and ecology.
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