Let’s get scientific.

 INTRODUCTION

Leveraging an ancient symbiotic relationship.

Human beings are walking ecosystems, home to literally trillions of microscopic species. The majority of these passengers are what we refer to as probiotic bacteria — the helpful ‘bugs’ that assist us with everything from food digestion to disease resiliency. Their presence is so critical to our wellbeing that many people eat things like yogurt, kimchi and kombucha in order to increase their presence in our bodies.

Similarly, soil-dwelling bacteria and fungi enjoy an ancient symbiotic relationship with plant roots: in exchange for root exudates like sugars and simple amino acids, they improve the bioavailability of nutrients essential for plant development.

The earliest research on this topic demonstrated bacteria’s critical role in fixing nitrogen in soil, and improving plants’ access to native phosphorus. More recent research also suggests there are molecular signals sent between roots and surrounding microflora, in effect allowing roots to communicate a plant’s needs to its ecosystem of supporting bacteria.

Fungi are just as important. Although the word probably calls to mind the mushrooms that emerge from your lawn after a healthy rain, the vast majority of fungal life on earth actually lives below ground. Fungi that interact directly with plant roots are called mycorrhizae, and when allowed to fully develop, these species create massive networks that have been found to span entire forests. Recent research suggests that these networks autonomously shuttle nutrients from areas of surplus to areas of deficiency, effortlessly creating plant-boosting equilibrium within the region where they’re active.

Meanwhile, another variety of fungi called trichoderma compete for nutrients at the expense of other fungi which are pathogenic to plants.

ClimateYard™ works by leveraging these natural relationships to keep your yard healthy and vibrant without the use of environmentally toxic nitrogen fertilizers.

THE PROBLEM

Nitrogen-heavy fertilizers are wrecking aquatic habitats.

Scientists have long known that plants need nitrogen to remain healthy, green and vibrant, so it makes sense that the vast majority of fertilizers contain a lot of it. In fact, this critical element composes about 20% of the average lawn fertilizer.

There are a number of problems with this approach to applying nitrogen. The first is that very few of these products are organic, which means they derive nitrogen from the atmosphere via an extremely energy-intensive procedure called the Haber–Bosch process. Since it requires so much energy, this method of nitrogen production relies heavily on fossil fuel consumption, which in turn contributes directly to the climate crisis.

You may think you’re side-stepping environmental hazard by selecting an organic lawn fertilizer, but these products also derive nutrients from another unsustainable source: ground up animal parts. More than 90% of organic fertilizers are made using inedible slaughterhouse waste like bone meal, feather meal, blood meal and fish emulsion. The ecological consequences of this industry are well documented, so we won’t get into them here.

Even if you don’t care about where your lawn fertilizer gets its nitrogen, you probably don’t want more than half of it to leave your yard the first time it rains — but that’s exactly what happens. Due to a combination of poor bioavailability, rampant overapplication and the liquid form of the majority of these products, only about half of the nitrogen applied to your yard is actually absorbed by grass.

The remaining half washes into nearby rivers, lakes and streams, feeding toxic algae blooms and ‘red tides,’ which produce a foul odor along waterways and decrease dissolved oxygen, killing thousands of fish annually. They can even produce toxins that are harmful to mammals and humans.

And so we arrive at the crux of the issue: plants need nitrogen to thrive, but applying it directly to the soil has a host of negative consequences. What is an environmentally conscious homeowner to do?

THE SOLUTION

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria and the plants that love them.

The solution is to treat your lawn like the living ecosystem that it is, and harness the natural behavior of bacteria and fungi to enrich your soil without applying exogenous nitrogen. Our team of agronomists, microbiologists and sustainability experts selected the unique blend of species in ClimateYard™ to do exactly that.

So, without further adieu, let’s introduce the all-star team of microorganisms that gives ClimateYard™ its muscle, and the science that supports their effectiveness.

The Nitrogen Fixers

Keeping your grass green without dumping nitrogen on it every week is no mean feat, which is why we recruited the three species of bacteria in the world that do the best job of extracting it from the atmosphere and sequestering it in the soil. They are Azospirillum brasilense (citation), Azospirillum lipoferum (citation) and Paenibacillus azotofixans (citation).

The Phosphorus Amplifiers

As toxic as nitrogen runoff may be, phosphorous runoff can be just as bad. To make matters worse, Florida soil is already rich in phosphorous, it’s just locked up in a form that isn’t readily available for plant absorption. ClimateYard™ fixes that with the help of Bacillus subtilis (citation), Bacillus megaterium¹, Glomus intraradices and Glomus mosseae (citation) — two bacteria and two fungi universally recognized for making endogenous phosphorous more bioavailable for plants.

The Kitchen Sink

Although the nitrogen fixers and phosphorous amplifiers do most of the heavy lifting, they aren’t the only beneficial microorganisms in ClimateYard™. In fact, there is an entire supporting cast whose role is to boost the health of your yard by protecting it from disease and helping the other microorganisms thrive. These include Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (citation, citation, citation), Brevibacillus laterosporus (citation), Bacillus licheniformis (citation), Glomus etunicatum (citation), Glomus aggregatum (citation), Trichoderma harzianum (citation) and Trichoderma viride (citation).

For good measure, we also threw in some agricultural staples like humic acid and amorphous silica, which are widely known to improve nutrient uptake and resilience to extreme weather, while blocking damage from soil pollutants like heavy metals.

¹ De Vos, P. et al. Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology: Volume 3: The Firmicutes. Springer (2009)

CONCLUSION

You can have a beautiful lawn and a healthy St. Johns.

By leveraging the power of these microorganisms, you can enjoy the same beautiful lawn you’ve come to love while taking meaningful action to improve the health of the St. Johns River. Runoff from nearly every home in Duval, St. Johns and Clay Counties, drains directly into the river, and if even a fraction of these residents switched to ClimateYard™, we could transform the underwater ecosystem immeasurably for the better. Please check back mid 2023 for updates on our service.