Tampa — City officials are going to great lengths to spread the word about the ban on fertilizing lawns this summer – the length of a city bus, as a matter of fact. Large orange rolling billboards declaring “Choose fun. Not fertilizer.” are now being displayed on the outside of two HART (Hillsborough Area Regional Transit) buses as they make their rounds through the city. Earlier the Tampa City Council renewed its ban on summer fertilizer, which covers sales to homeowners and residential applications by professionals from June 1 to Sept. 30 and coincides with the major part of Florida’s rainy season. Golf courses, theme parks, farms, and community gardens are exempt. City officials are using a $6,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to pay for the bus signs and other advertisements to get the word out to the public about some of the strictest regulations in the state. When it’s allowed to be used, granular nitrogen fertilizer must be no less than 50 percent slow-release, and fertilizer containing phosphorous cannot be applied unless a soil analysis indicates a deficiency. Commercial applicators must complete an approved Green Industries Best Management Practice training program, and their vehicles must display a decal issued by the environmental protection commission of Hillsborough County. But the ban doesn’t mean all fertilizer will vanish from the stores, which still will be able to sell fertilizers built around iron, which keeps lawns green without causing concerns about nutrient runoff into the waterways. Tampa imposed its first fertilizer ban in 2009, just days before a statewide ban on local regulations on fertilizer use took effect.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain