Swimming with Sharks

Battle on Big Chico Creek

Public Art:
Dumbed-Down and Decorative

Countdown in Reno

How does our Garden Grow?

Termites, Travel, and Turmoil

A groundskeeper at CSU, Chico, Eric Adams has been interested in gardening for a long time. He grew his first garden at age 12, ran a lawn-mowing business in high school, and dreams of having an organic mini-farm one day. Adams' interest in organic farming led to a two-year experiment in organic techniques to maintain and beautify the CSU, Chico campus.

Joe Covert, manager of Grounds and Building Trades, commented that the experiment's only drawback has been riding around with Adams. "He climbs into your truck and smells as if he wrestled in seaweed with a 500-pound dead salmon," teased Covert. Adams laughed at this gibe. He'd much rather endure the occasional fishy odor of organic fertilizers than the headaches he once experienced spraying chemicals.

When researching organic techniques, Adams found information only on food production. He's applied the same principles in developing an organic approach to grounds maintenance. In a chemically dependent approach to landscaping, problems are controlled through the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides. In an organic approach, the emphasis is on building up the soil through such techniques as aeration and mulching. Soils are built up "so there's plenty of humus and microorganisms viable and alive in your soils," explained Adams. The plants become healthier, thus more resistant to pests and disease.

Adams isn't the only one on campus practicing organic gardening. Louisa Garza, garden specialist for University Housing, uses a similar approach on the lawns and gardens for the residence halls on campus. "I don't have pest problems to the degree that I need an insecticide program," she said. "Instead, I try to go with more aerating of the lawns, putting in organic materials, lots of pruning, and getting rid of diseased leaves." Garza refers to organic material as "Mother Nature's return on her investment. It has to go back to the earth." Her gardening practices have led to richer soils, "loaded with night crawlers and worms."

In July 1997, Adams began converting to an organic approach by clearing out the chemical shed and returning or selling toxic materials. In the first year, the grounds department converted over 85 percent of their chemicals to organic products. Sometimes, the products needed didn't even exist. When Adams couldn't locate a fertilizer mix, he brewed his own. He created fertilizer and fungicide mixtures to meet particular turf needs. So he might "mix a brew" of organic potassium, sea kelp, and iron and put that in with the fungicide. The fungicide subdues the fungus, while the other ingredients build leaf-blade size to increase the plant's ability to defend itself.

If plants develop a pest or disease problem, Adams looks for an organic alternative to chemicals first. If that's not available, he may use a small amount of a chemical pesticide to control rampant populations. Even when a chemical pesticide or herbicide is used, an effort is made to minimize toxicity to humans. For example, using a chemical that acts on an insect's muscular system is less toxic to humans than one that acts on the insect's nervous system. Where once a variety of restricted chemicals were used, now the only restricted material used on university grounds is a gopher mix applied below the soil surface. Adams is optimistic that one day he may find an even safer alternative.

Last year saw a shift to an herbicide that breaks down in twenty-four hours into two beneficial substances that occur naturally in the soil. There are no groundwater effects, and it works better than the previously used weed-killer. Then, early this year, Mark Brubacher, an agriculture student working with Adams, heard about a citrus acid and vinegar herbicide. Adams and Brubacher's first experiments with the formula were encouraging, and they continue to evaluate the effectiveness of this new, fully organic herbicide.

The positive response to this program has included requests for information from an area school district and universities and organizations throughout the state. "It's very, very popular," said Covert. "We're still maintaining the prettiest campus in a chain of campuses, but we're doing it at such a safe level that you don't mind your grandchildren coming down here and playing on the lawn."

by Barbara Alderson University Publications