How do you protect the environment?

McFall and Berry is committed to environmentally friendly landscapes and sustainability practices for leaf removal, mowing, mulching, plant selection, pest management, pruning, recycling, turf care and more.

Recycling – We recycle all organic debris and take it to a private recycling facility where it is decomposed and processed to reuse in mulch and topsoil.

Mowing – Recently, we invested in new mowing equipment that reduces carbon emissions, saves fuel and reduces noise. Our mowers are all mulching mowers to allow us to return the nutrients in the grass clippings to the turf.

Plant Selection – We select native plants that thrive in this region whenever possible. And the list goes on.

Leaf Removal – For several years now, our practice has been to mow the leaves into the turf until the accumulation necessitates pick up and removal. This way we can return the valuable nutrients from the leaves back into the turf areas and recycle the leaves onsite. Our mulching mowers are very efficient at doing this so we can avoid pickup and removal from the area. Once the accumulation is too much for the mowers, we remove the excess leaves and recycle them at our three McFall & Berry production locations.

Turf Care – It is our standard practice to use organic-based fertilizers and we’ve done so for over a decade. Currently, we use the lowest recommended rate of fertilizer for a non-irrigated lawn. Organic-based, slow release fertilizers feed lawn and plants evenly over a period of time with less fertilizer runoff into our watersheds. We spot treat weeds with a non-selective herbicide and do not blanket spray entire lawn areas.

Insect and Disease Management – McFall and Berry has always practiced the integrated pest management (IPM) method of pest control. IPM is an effective and environmentally friendly approach to pest management. IPM relies heavily on inspecting the landscape for insects or pests and only treating the plant material that have an unacceptable level of harmful insects. This approach significantly reduces the amount of insecticides introduced into the community and the environment. The majority of our IPM treatments are insecticidal soap or horticultural oils.

Mulching – The proper mulching of a community plays an important role in keeping a community green, keeping the plants healthy as well as minimizing fertilizer and insecticides used.

Pruning – We reduce our plant pruning and clippings by judiciously applying fertilizer only at the right time as well as adjusting our pruning practices to thin and maintain plants. This method reduces the number of clippings for disposal, and then we recycle the clippings, when possible, by mowing them into the turf areas when the clippings are small enough to do so. This method allows us to reuse the nutrients and recycle the plant clippings onsite.