Whether you have a two legged bundle of joy or a four legged furry friend or both, we love them immensely and want to keep them happy, healthy and safe. We want to give them (and us) a beautiful green lawn to play in, but are often concerned about child and pet safety and the effects from lawn care. With new advances in product development and application methods, lawn care may be safer than you think, when following all of the important safety recommendations.
Fertilizer
Many homeowners call us with concern about granules of fertilizer on their lawn, and ask if their children or pets need to stay off the lawn until those granules have broken down completely. The answer to that is no, regardless of synthetic or organic. The few granules that may be seen may cause a little indigestion if consumed by your K-9, but they would need to eat the entire lawn’s worth and then some in order to cause concern. It was recently found that 90% of illnesses in dogs due to fertilizer ingestion were caused by homeowners that did it themselves and improperly stored the bags of product.
While you may think that organic fertilizer would be safer, because it is organic, think again. Organic does not mean safe, it only means “found in nature”. Consuming enough organic fertilizer has the same illness effects as consuming large amounts of synthetic fertilizer. Unfortunately for organic fertilizers, they usually stink which could attract your pet to them and make them more likely to eat it.
Remember, ingesting too much of anything could make anyone or anything sick and everything contains something that is dangerous in large quantities. If you are still concerned about the visible fertilizer granulars within the lawn, follow the watering recommendations and wait the allotted 24 hours requested and then water the fertilizer into the soil. Also, keep an eye on children and pets until they have gotten used to fertilizer being present within the lawn.
Weed Control
Herbicide (weed control) products are very dangerous in their unmixed state. A licensed lawn technician will mix the herbicide products with water to dilute them down to a safe level. This solution is then applied to your lawn in a liquid form, which could still be harmful to pets and children. This is when recommendations from the technician are important to follow, as he will let you know to stay off the lawn until it has dried. Once dry, usually within 2 hours, the products do not pose any harm to you, your children or your pets.
Pest Control
Pest control products are very similar to weed control products in that they are highly dangerous when in their unmixed state and safely diluted with water before being applied to the lawn. Also, like weed control products, pest control products pose no risk to children or pets once dry.
Pest control services are not only safe for your children and pets, but they are also beneficial for them. Pest control services help to keep insects including fleas, ticks, ants and mosquitoes out of your lawn and out of your house.
Since signing up for our total lawn pest control service, many homeowners have stopped applying monthly flea and tick control products to their pets. Once you think about it, you wouldn’t treat your children with these monthly pest control products, so why treat your pets with them? Treat the area where these insects live, the lawn!
Sum it up
At TurfGator, as a courtesy to our customers, our technicians have been trained to ask if their pet needs to go outside or before the application begins or while the front lawn is being treated. Lawn care is safe when done properly by trained and licensed individuals. Follow the recommendations provided by your lawn care technicians and call the company to ask any questions you may have. It is always a good idea to consult with a lawn care professional and ask any questions you may have. Look around, ask friends or family, and research companies on the Better Business Bureau to find a company that you can trust.
For our pest control blog articles, please visit us at www.pestguys.com a division of TurfGator