Leaching, applying products less often and soil microbes

 

Soil spade-

Scotts Australia products are designed and developed to play a positive role in your management and care of gardens and lawns.

Our environment story is strong.

Read how the Scotts products you use work for you and the environment.

 

Gardening side effects - why they matter in the broader environment story

With traditional fertilisers, much of the nutrients is simply washed away during watering or rainfall.

Leaching

It is estimated that 60% of traditional lawn fertiliser is washed down the drain into streams and waterways or into ground water. This overabundance of nutrients can create algal blooms such as blue green algae that can make water unusable, and damage fish and other life.

Using a slow release lawn food such as Lawn Builder™ virtually eliminates leaching and runoff of nutrients when used as directed. The slow release nature of this group of lawn foods means nutrients are released at the same rate that lawn grases require them.

Frequency of application

How often a product needs to be applied affects not only the amount that is being released into the environment, but also how much carbon pollution is created in its manufacture.

A controlled release fertiliser like Osmocote® only releases fertiliser when the plants need nutrients given climate conditions.

And it's simple. If a small quantity does the job perfectly, factories will not need to produce as much volume.

Osmocote is manufactured in an environmentally accredited plant (ISO 14001, as well as ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001) because Scotts takeits carbon-reducing responsibilities very seriously. 

Important soil microbes

Soil microbes have a huge role to play in promoting a healthy environment. A living soil means more productive plants.

Osmocote encourages microbial activity so effectively that it has been used in environmental cleanups such as the Exxon Valdez disaster, where microbes were used to break down the pollutants. Osmocote was utilised to dramatically increase microbe activity in the areas affected by this massive oil spill, one of the worst environmental disasters yet to befall our planet.

Plus All Purpose

Do you know how Osmocote works?

Find out more about the original controlled release fertiliser.

Gardening news and handy tips from Scotts