Serving Size: 4.82 MB Servings Per Container: 1 In Your Body On Your Body For Your Home For Your Family Seeking Medical Treatment How to Detoxify Your Body Guide to Symptoms A Healthy House Values, Vision & Mission Background & History Staff & Advisors News & Upcoming Events Join Our Mailing List Contact Us Recommended Resources Index of Terms Works Cited This product contains 100% natural ingredients. Easy Pay Pal Donations TNTP Grade A Brain-food More Special Features Home Decor  |  Home Furnishings  |  Household Cleaners  |  Kitchenware  |  Lawn & Garden  |  Plastic Page: 1 | 2 Next This category includes all of the products you use to keep your grass green, your garden free of weeds, and your backyard free of bugs. For a list of suggested businesses to purchase more natural products from, visit our Recommended Resources page. Fertilizers CHEMICALS CONTAINED: Fertilizers are designed to bring nitrogen (nitrates), phosphorous (phosphates) and potassium to plants. All of these are important, natural nutrients in the human diet, but excessive ingestion can lead to health problems. Two of the more common nitrate compounds are ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate. Both of these, and other sources of nitrogen, can increase the presence of nitrates in drinking water. HEALTH CONCERNS: Short-term health effects of ingesting excessive nitrates include a reduced oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. This can lead to symptoms in infants including blueness of the skin and shortness of breath. Long-term health effects include excessive urination and spleen and thyroid damage. The human health impacts of fertilizers are generally less important than the effects of pesticides and herbicides; the environmental impacts of fertilizers, however, are very important to consider, particularly eutrophication of water bodies. TIPS & ALTERNATIVES: People generally want to rid their lawns of insects, weeds, and diseases, while keeping them green. Since all of those problems can be the result of unhealthy soil, the alternatives and tips will be the same for all of the Lawn & Garden sections, other than the one section that's about how to rid yourself of insects while outside. The first step is to test your soil’s pH and ideally it should be between 6.5 and 7.0. If it’s too acidic you want to add lime and if it’s too basic you want to add sulfur. You want to water deeply and infrequently. Thorough watering will strengthen the root systems of the grass and ideally you want to let the grass dry out in between waterings. Don’t cut the lawn short. Ideally you want to keep the grass between 2 ½” and 3 ½” tall. Frequent mowing will weaken the grass and taller blades will shade weed seedlings and prevent their growth. When you mow, leave behind the clippings so they degrade and return nutrients to the soil. Get to know your weeds. Weed growth is an indication of unhealthy soil. Once you learn which weed indicates which nutrient deficiency, you can add that nutrient to your soil and it should rid your lawn of the weed. For example, dandelions grow when the lawns pH is about 7.5, so the emergence of dandelions will tell you that you need to add sulfur. There are now products available made from corn gluten – a nontoxic byproduct of corn processing. Not only will it kill weed saplings, but it will also add nutrients back into your soil. You can also “spot kill” weeds by spraying white vinegar on them. Since vinegar can kill grass and other plants, you only want to use this method on small weed patches or on weeds in pavement cracks. Certain plants produce natural insecticides (like chrysanthemums) and almost all healthy plants can repel or kill insects, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and nematodes. The key is keeping your soil healthy, which produces healthy plants. Chemicals kill the organisms that create healthy soil and plants. You can fertilize with manure, or make compost from leaves and grass clippings and food scraps. Not only will you reduce the amount of trash you produce, but you will also be returning the necessary nutrients to your soil in a natural way. Herbicides CHEMICALS CONTAINED: The most common garden herbicide is glyphosate, which is better known as Roundup®. Herbicides always contain “inert” or “inactive” ingredients that make up the bulk of the product – sometimes almost the entire product. Since these ingredients are not the “active ingredients” – the ones “that can kill, repel, attract, mitigate, or control a pest, or that acts as a plant growth regulator” – companies are protected by the EPA from having to list them on the label, as they are considered “secret trade ingredients.” There are approximately 1200 inerts that are present in about twenty thousand different pesticide formulations. HEALTH CONCERNS: Glyphosate is often though of as a non-toxic herbicide, but it has also been associated with miscarriages, ADD, cancer, and significant damage to the endocrine system. Inert ingredients are often as, if not more, dangerous than active ingredients. Some inerts increase an active ingredient’s persistence in the environment by making it more resistant to break-down. Other inerts may damage the enzymes in the liver that are designed to detoxify the chemicals. TIPS & ALTERNATIVES: People generally want to rid their lawns of insects, weeds, and diseases, while keeping them green. Since all of those problems can be the result of unhealthy soil, the alternatives and tips will be the same for all of the Lawn & Garden sections, other than the one section that's about how to rid yourself of insects while outside. The first step is to test your soil’s pH and ideally it should be between 6.5 and 7.0. If it’s too acidic you want to add lime and if it’s too basic you want to add sulfur. You want to water deeply and infrequently. Thorough watering will strengthen the root systems of the grass and ideally you want to let the grass dry out in between waterings. Don’t cut the lawn short. Ideally you want to keep the grass between 2 ½” and 3 ½” tall. Frequent mowing will weaken the grass and taller blades will shade weed seedlings and prevent their growth. When you mow, leave behind the clippings so they degrade and return nutrients to the soil. Get to know your weeds. Weed growth is an indication of unhealthy soil. Once you learn which weed indicates which nutrient deficiency, you can add that nutrient to your soil and it should rid your lawn of the weed. For example, dandelions grow when the lawns pH is about 7.5, so the emergence of dandelions will tell you that you need to add sulfur. There are now products available made from corn gluten – a nontoxic byproduct of corn processing. Not only will it kill weed saplings, but it will also add nutrients back into your soil. You can also “spot kill” weeds by spraying white vinegar on them. Since vinegar can kill grass and other plants, you only want to use this method on small weed patches or on weeds in pavement cracks. Certain plants produce natural insecticides (like chrysanthemums) and almost all healthy plants can repel or kill insects, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and nematodes. The key is keeping your soil healthy, which produces healthy plants. Chemicals kill the organisms that create healthy soil and plants. You can fertilize with manure, or make compost from leaves and grass clippings and food scraps. Not only will you reduce the amount of trash you produce, but you will also be returning the necessary nutrients to your soil in a natural way. Insect Repellant CHEMICALS CONTAINED: Most insect repellents contain harsh and toxic chemicals to repel bugs. DEET is probably the most common ingredient. Aerosol insect repellents contain aerosol propellants. HEALTH CONCERNS: DEET is made from petrochemicals and can be very irritating to the skin. It can remain in your body for up to 2 months and 56% of it enters your bloodstream after it is applied to your skin While the current general opinion of mainstream medicine is that the possible health risks of DEET exposure is far outweighed by the more serious risks of the insect-born illnesses that it helps to prevent, recent studies at Duke University have shown that frequent and prolonged exposure to DEET by topical application causes serious, diffuse brain cell death and behavioral changes in laboratory rats. The incidence of this increases when the DEET exposures are in conjunction with exposure to other pesticides or chemicals. Aerosol propellants can cause health effects of their own, including heart problems, birth defects, lung cancer, headaches, nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath, skin, eye and throat irritation, liver damage. TIPS & ALTERNATIVES: There are many products on the market today that repel insects using plant-based or derived oils, with no synthetic dyes or fragrances. And they do work! One drawback is that they usually need to be applied more frequently. Some natural insect repellents are vinegar, citronella, peppermint, garlic, and basil. You can rub vinegar on your skin and it evaporates quickly. If you’d rather exude a slightly more pleasing smell, you can add 2 – 3 drops of peppermint essential oil or citronella essential oil to 1 oz of either vegetable oil or vodka and apply to your skin. You can also burn citronella torches or candles outside. Mosquitoes hate the smell of garlic and can be deterred from biting you if you eat a lot of garlicky food. Just make sure that everyone your with is using the same method so you don’t repel them too! If you do use products that contain DEET, you should use caution, especially with children who are more vulnerable to brain deficits that prolonged exposure to DEET can cause. Page: 1 | 2 Next