Everyone loves lush, green lawns.
So we do what we need to do to make them beautiful.
We apply toxic pesticides to keep threats at bay.
Chemical fertilizers to awaken growth.
Results come easy - and fast. Better yet, they look great.
Everyone loves lush, green lawns.
So we do what we need to do to make them beautiful.
We apply toxic pesticides to keep threats at bay.
Chemical fertilizers to awaken growth.
Results come easy - and fast. Better yet, they look great.
But results aside, there’s nothing green about your average lawn, field, or golf course.
Toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers are so widely used, it’s easy to forget the toll they take on nature. Chemical fertilizers feed harmful algae blooms and can contaminate our drinking water. Toxic pesticides can be harmful to children and pets.
The only alternatives, we assume, are non-chemical options – which cost twice as much for half the results.
So we keep spraying. Sometimes we wonder what these chemicals are doing to our ecosystem and our health. But few of us realize the real victim of spraying:
Soil. And the other unintended victims: Our planet. All of us.
How Soil Suffers
When we use toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers on lawns, soil’s natural functions decline as science takes over. Over time, soil is depleted, ushering in serious problems:
• Depleted soil is unable to hold water, leading to runoff, flooding, erosion, and droughts
• Depleted soil is unable to hold carbon Soil’s inability to hold carbon is particularly frightening, because the release of carbon from the earth is a key cause of global warming.
A little science: The amount of carbon around us hasn’t changed in the last thousand years. But whereas the majority of carbon used to be in the ground, it’s now in our atmosphere and oceans. By some estimates, the world’s cultivated soil has lost between 50 and 70% of its original carbon stock.
The sobering takeaway: Chemical lawn care creates problems for our planet and for future generations.
The silver lining: The effects of depleted soil can be reversed, simply by changing how we care for our lawns.
Take Back Tomorrow With
Branch Creek Regenerative Turf Systems™
Science says that if we change the way we grow, plants can actually pull carbon from the atmosphere and bring it back into the soil where it came from - and where it belongs.
This can be done through the Branch Creek Regenerative Turf System™.
What is regenerative turf?
Understanding it starts with a closer look at everyday growing. Today’s go-to lawn care practices feed plants but starve soil. Mother Nature intended for plants to put sugars into the soil through photosynthesis. Those sugars sustain soil’s biology. Toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers eliminate this process, ultimately starving soil, displacing carbon, and putting our planet at risk.
So what is a regenerative turf system, and how can it help? The Branch Creek Regenerative Turf System™ focuses on rebuilding soil health. Not without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. With fewer chemicals, and safest-in-class options whenever possible.
This regenerative approach to lawn care lets soil reclaim its natural qualities while still looking great.
Beyond reversing global warming, soil that’s restored also holds more water, requiring less irrigation (ie. saving water). This results in fewer droughts and less runoff, flooding, and erosion.
[1] https://e360.yale.edu/features/soil_as_carbon_storehouse_new_weapon_in_climate_fight
This regenerative approach to lawn care lets soil reclaim its natural qualities while still looking great.
Beyond reversing global warming, soil that’s restored also holds more water, requiring less irrigation (ie. saving water). This results in fewer droughts and less runoff, flooding, and erosion.
Regenerative is poised to be the next big movement in growing, and a critical point in the climate change conversation. Think of regenerative turf the way you think about your body. We all agree that healthy, clean foods make us feel better, and maybe even help us live longer. But that doesn’t mean we eat them exclusively. If you reach for clean, healthy foods most days of the week, you can justify loaded nachos on Friday, and Tuesday night’s beer – because your standard healthy choices outweigh your less healthy choices. You’re still healthy, even if you occasionally “break the rules.”
Bringing it back to soil: We can help the planet in dramatic, important ways without eliminating chemicals entirely.
But how? What kinds of chemicals do we allow? How much?
Allow us to introduce the Branch Creek Soil Health Test.
Branch Creek Helps Your Lawn Help The Planet
Branch Creek is thrilled to introduce a breakthrough test and regenerative turf system, designed to:
1) Determine your soil’s exact condition, needs, and capabilities
2) Give you the tools and guidance you need to restore soil’s healthy functions via a regenerative approach to lawn care
It starts with a test.
The Branch Creek Soil Health Test is a diagnostic tool that offers a window into what soil contains, what it needs, and what it can biologically handle. Soil receives a score between 1 (completely depleted) and 7 (healthy and sustainable, as nature intended).
What happens next?
The goal of the Branch Creek Regenerative Turf System™ is to use safer and fewer pesticides and chemical fertilizers to move lawns closer to a score of 7.
If your turf scores a 1, it’s the equivalent of a 400-pound person who wants to run a marathon. Hard work and fundamental changes are needed before we can focus on that goal. Intervention for turf that scores a 1 includes safest-in-class pesticides and chemical fertilizers that restore its basic health, ensuring its survival.
What constitutes safest-in-class? In scenarios where standard pesticides are necessary, Branch Creek only uses lawn care products with a favorable Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) score. Almost every pesticide on the market has an EIQ score, determined by Cornell University, that lays out its safety for humans, animals, and the planet. When soil requires chemical intervention, we only use these safer pesticides, which include up to 95% fewer synthetic ingredients.
If your turf scores a 5 on the Branch Creek Soil Health Test, it’s the equivalent of a fit man or woman who eats well and exercises regularly. The goal will still require work, but fewer extreme measures, ie. chemical options, are needed. Even more, you’ll spend less because needs are minimal.
A yard that scores a 7 health is at the finish line! Turf is at a point where Mother Nature can be reintroduced as the sole sustainer of healthy, great looking lawns. Chemical inputs are eliminated entirely, and cleaner, life-giving growing options take their place.