Playing field at North Street School in 2006. Photo: File Photo / Greenwich Time File Photo
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Kindergarten to Grade 8 schools across the state can no longer use pesticides and herbicides on their school grounds and athletic fields because of a state law that came into effect Thursday.
That's old news to both the town -- which cares for Greenwich Public Schools grounds -- and private schools in Greenwich.
Joseph Siciliano, parks and recreation director for the town, said the town made the switch in the spring of 2009 because the law was supposed to come into force last year. An extension was granted, he said, to allow some communities time to plan for its introduction.
"It had been the target date of last July 1 and it was postponed because a lot of towns and schools said they were not ready," Siciliano said. In the spring of 2009 the town decided not to apply pesticide and herbicide to its grounds but didn't get money to fund organic lawn care until July 1, 2009, when the budget kicked in for that year. The town set aside $394,000 for organic turf care.
Organic care is more time consuming that using chemicals, Siciliano said.
"This is slightly more labor intensive for us to do. One of the (pesticide) industry standards is that some of them were labor-saving devices," he said.
The park and recreation department cares for the lawns and athletic fields at public schools, parks and other athletic fields and green areas by buildings it owns, Siciliano said.
Scott Thacker, facilities manager, at Greenwich Academy, the private all-girls K-12 school, said the school stopped using pesticides and herbicides two years ago.
"Organic treatments are not as effective so we have to tolerate looking at more weeds than we would have in the past," he said.
Two methods are used to deter weeds. One method, overseeding, aims to crowd out weeds with more grass.
"The idea is that it will choke out the weeds," Thacker said. "It is successful the more you do it. If you do it more regularly it can have an impact."
The second method, aeration, uses a machine to loosen and punch holes into the soil to allow more air in, Thacker said. This allows more water and nutrients to reach grass roots.
Staff Writer Frank MacEachern can be reached at frank.maceachern@scni.com or 203-625-4434.
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