Cyanobacteria Alert Issued for Blackey Cove (Moultonborough)

[ApS]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

I think the heavy rainfall washing everything into the lake didn't help.

Wouldn't everybody's lawn be yellow?

[John Mercier]

Rain can wash nitrogen and phosphorus into the lake....
But not chlorophyll out of the plant.

[ishoot308]

When I first bought my island camp, the lot of land was mostly sand and was just washing away into the lake during every rainstorm of high water wake days.

The first thing I did was buy a bag of the cheapest grass seed at Sam’s club and just threw it out over the sand hoping for the best. Well lo and behold if that grass didn’t grow and grow dam well without fertilizer or anything and that was 16 years ago!

To this day that grass or whatever you want you want to call it (it’s green) has held up and held up well and has never seen an ounce of fertilizer or any chemicals whatsoever! I only water it. It has also kept my land from washing away into the lake!

My point is grass does not need to be fertilized to serve its purpose. Yeah mine won’t win any landscape contest but we love it and it has held up amazingly well!

Dan

[tis]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

When I first bought my island camp, the lot of land was mostly sand and was just washing away into the lake during every rainstorm of high water wake days.

The first thing I did was buy a bag of the cheapest grass seed at Sam’s club and just threw it out over the sand hoping for the best. Well lo and behold if that grass didn’t grow and grow dam well without fertilizer or anything and that was 16 years ago!

To this day that grass or whatever you want you want to call it (it’s green) has held up and held up well and has never seen an ounce of fertilizer or any chemicals whatsoever! I only water it. It has also kept my land from washing away into the lake!

My point is grass does not need to be fertilized to serve its purpose. Yeah mine won’t win any landscape contest but we love it and it has held up amazingly well!

Dan

it's true. I think because it 's so wet around the lake the grass does very well without fertilizer, especially if you have a flat lot.

[Descant]

I didn't remember that side of the island as being sandy. Recall, around 1900, there weren't a lot of trees and sheep were grazed on the island. People also used to row out to go berrying on Welch. Shirley Burns had pix from those days--Sandy and Mike probably still have them.
Yes, Contractor's Rye (Ryegrass) will germinate quickly and help hold soil in place when everything is moved around during construction. That's what we put down when the power line came through, mostly to maintain a firebreak. No maintenance or fertilizer, but we cut it every few years to keep brush down under the power line. We also planted some white pines, again to put some roots into the ground and stabilize the soil. Those were the right steps, but I don't think we connected it to improved water quality in those days. Only zero maintenance.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Descant

I didn't remember that side of the island as being sandy.

Chris,

You are correct as most of my neighbors lots have low cut brush or blueberry bushes garnishing their waterfront. Unfortunately for me, some of the owners before me decided to dig out the shoreline and remove dirt and sand and whatever along most of my waterfront to fill in another property they owned nearby. This was not done recently but years ago…..now I have to live with it.

I changed it in a good way with a lawn! So honestly I am sick of hearing how lawns are bad as they are not! …. Fertilizer is bad!

Merry Christmas Chris!

Dan

[John Mercier]

Lawns provide less natural filter than other formats.
It is the same at my house as it would be if I was lakefront.
The water can travel through them at a greater speed, and thus has less absorption in an incline.

Also if you do not fertilize a lawn, or allow it to grow much longer, it loses its mono-culture.
It is that loss of mono-culture that allows the turfgrass to sustain itself without the addition of fertilizer.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

Lawns provide less natural filter than other formats.
It is the same at my house as it would be if I was lakefront.
The water can travel through them at a greater speed, and thus has less absorption in an incline.

Also if you do not fertilize a lawn, or allow it to grow much longer, it loses its mono-culture.
It is that loss of mono-culture that allows the turfgrass to sustain itself without the addition of fertilizer.

Well I can tell you for fact that my grass certainly filters a hell of a lot better than what was there which was basically a river of mud flowing into the lake!

Whatever the hell “mono-culture” is, I’m glad it’s gone if it allows grass to grow without fertilizer!

We should all protest against mono culture!! Mono culture should be a banned substance! Who’s with me??

Dan

[John Mercier]

Mono-culture is when someone is trying to grow only turfgrass.
The application of broadleaf herbicides found in some formats of fertilizer, or applied separately, kills the nitrogen-setting plants leaving only a mono-culture.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

Mono-culture is when someone is trying to grow only turfgrass.
The application of broadleaf herbicides found in some formats of fertilizer, or applied separately, kills the nitrogen-setting plants leaving only a mono-culture.

I bet you’re a blast at parties John!

Dan

[John Mercier]

Parties?
I work six days a week and only take off the Sabbath.

We only close on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

Of course being a farm kid, that sounds like a lot of downtime.

[tis]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

I bet you’re a blast at parties John!

Dan

Well, he no doubt would win every game of jeopardy or trivia.

[Grant]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

Lawns provide less natural filter than other formats.
It is the same at my house as it would be if I was lakefront.
The water can travel through them at a greater speed, and thus has less absorption in an incline.

Also if you do not fertilize a lawn, or allow it to grow much longer, it loses its mono-culture.
It is that loss of mono-culture that allows the turfgrass to sustain itself without the addition of fertilizer.

John is right: "grass" or lawns have much shallower root structures than native shoreline vegetation, are therefore far less efficient filters, and make for more runoff.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

When I first bought my island camp, the lot of land was mostly sand and was just washing away into the lake during every rainstorm of high water wake days.

The first thing I did was buy a bag of the cheapest grass seed at Sam’s club and just threw it out over the sand hoping for the best. Well lo and behold if that grass didn’t grow and grow dam well without fertilizer or anything and that was 16 years ago!

To this day that grass or whatever you want you want to call it (it’s green) has held up and held up well and has never seen an ounce of fertilizer or any chemicals whatsoever! I only water it. It has also kept my land from washing away into the lake!

My point is grass does not need to be fertilized to serve its purpose. Yeah mine won’t win any landscape contest but we love it and it has held up amazingly well!

Dan

Agreed! I cannot take credit for planting our "lawn"--grass, clover, weeds, moss, all cut but never fertilized or otherwise treated--but it definitely reduces erosion compared to bare dirt

[John Mercier]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

Agreed! I cannot take credit for planting our "lawn"--grass, clover, weeds, moss, all cut but never fertilized or otherwise treated--but it definitely reduces erosion compared to bare dirt

Bare dirt is also unnatural.

Laconia primary schools used to be highly dedicated to the basics.
It was understood that most would grow up to work locally in careers that did not require a college education, but required a lot of basic knowledge on agriculture and the trades.

So up until the fifth grade, we did a lot of agriculture which was something most of us were used to... then in middle school to finish off our primary training, they added wood and metal shop, home ec/cooking, and sewing for the full three years.

[Descant]

deleted. Not Germain to Cyanobacteria