Michigan Bans Phosphorous Fertilizers

The Michigan legislature has banned lawn fertilizers containing phosphorous, which apparently contributes to algae in our waterways. Can’t disagree with that one. But there’s an exception for golf courses, which I wonder about given the vast number of courses in Michigan, and the large amount of phosphates they must be using (judging from the thick algae in many waterways on and near courses). Surely courses can find something more eco-friendly.

This goes back to the “brown” revolution that the USGA has been pushing of late. The feeling among many now is that there’s no need for most courses to achieve the pristine parklands appearance of Augusta National.

I can attest to that. The public courses I play on are often as not as brown as they are green. And consistently mown weeds play just fine. The only thing I really insist on for my day to day golfing is greens in good condition.

1 thought on “Michigan Bans Phosphorous Fertilizers”

  1. The 15 acre pond we live on controls the algae by plopping in 5 grass carp about every 5 years or so.  Prior to that, when we first moved in, there was an algae bloom that summer that covered about 30% of the pond.  I don’t know if it was caused by the fertilizer or not – but fertilizer is probably not the big contaminator to our pond anyway since it takes runoff from all the storm drains over the entire subdivision.

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