Page 22 - CooperatorNews New Jersey Spring 2022

22 COOPERATORNEWS NEW JERSEY —SPRING 2022 NJ.COOPERATORNEWS.COM can hand-pull weeds, or consider applying a navirus pandemic, which necessitated gath- pre-emergent and/or post-emergent herbi- cide to control grassy and broadleaf weeds. transmission of COVID. Areas of grass that City installs artificial turf for their clients Lawns can always be improved with core were meant to be “ornamental” have taken all the time—one reason being that they are aeration, top dressing with compost, and on different functions. Residents who might predominantly on the roofs, terraces, and overseeding in the fall to increase grass den- sity and to help fill in thin areas where weeds windows now want to use the areas for ev- can grow and take over.” The Pros on the Pros—& Cons Real lawns have real benefits. According also increased homeowner and shareholder and even smelling more like the real thing. to information provided by SavATree, grass demand for outdoor space to accommodate It’s not your grandma’s astroturf anymore. can even improve air quality by absorbing their pets’ needs … and has played a part in carbon dioxide, car exhaust, soot, dust, and destroying plants and grasses. other airborne pollutants. It can also im- prove water quality by slowing stormwater they’ve had an increase in interest from other businesses that provide services and runoff and filtering it into the groundwater HOA clients who want to add or reconfig- supply. Healthy roots help anchor soil to the ground, protecting the beneficial top soil from erosion. A healthy lawn can also be up to 30º cooler than exposed soil, concrete, or asphalt on a hot day. But maintaining a healthy lawn, espe- cially in urban and high-use settings, can be challenging—and expensive. Grass has a lot of factors working against it. Climate is already a consideration, but the extreme temperatures and frequency and severity ure lawn spaces since the pandemic. While of weather events brought about by climate Dulio’s clients are more in the due diligence change wreak even more havoc on a lawn’s phase, “interested in creating new outdoor longevity and care needs. In coastal regions, spaces and amenities for their communities, salt from the air and storm surges burns but concerned about undertaking new proj- grass and interferes with soil pH, say the ex- perts. In colder climes, the compounds used “more people are home and want to enjoy to melt ice on streets, sidewalks, and path- ways adds to the damage. Where lawns fail on their properties.” He points out that “a to thrive, weeds and pests take over, caus- ing even further problems. All of this leads a home’s value by 15 to 18 percent.” to more care and upkeep, which translates to higher water usage, more herbicide and pesticide applications, and increased gas us- age and emissions. Suddenly, a lawn doesn’t pact—are nudging cooperatives and asso- look so environmentally friendly. Kevin Dulio, president of Native Fields cover. “More and more clients are looking Landscaping LLC based in Wharton, con- firms this. He adds that lawns in his area are tional lawns,” says Carnovale. “For lightly particularly susceptible to weed invasions trafficked areas, one alternative is using a and fungi, particularly during the humid low-growing sedum as a lawn space. Se- summers. And then there’s the bugs. White dums are succulent, drought-tolerant plants grubs, chinch bugs, cutworms, and sod web- worms are all common Garden State lawn- ruiners. “Their infestations can be hard to leaves and stems are fragile and break off identify unless you know what you’re look- ing for, and the damage they cause can be heavy foot traffic.” widespread and permanent,” if not taken care of in early stages, warns Dulio. Lawns that are subject to a lot of wear ing desire for usable outdoor space, says and use—which many in residential set- tings are—have even more reason for con- cern. Even light foot traffic on a frozen or this option provides the look of green grass wet lawn can damage root structures and all year round “while offering the benefits compact the soil, say the experts. So just as of being fertilizer- and chemical-free, pet the weather starts to warm and everyone friendly, easy to maintain, and \[a way to\] wants to run outside and play, the lawn is conserve water.” at its most fragile and must be protected if the residents want it to be green and lush free, warns Lindner, so associations looking through summer. As appealing as it is to to “go faux” should factor in the limitations have a grassy expanse for recreation and of non-grass lawns as well. Artificial turf, he relaxation, the more activity on a lawn, the says, “must be irrigated to keep the surface harder it is to maintain. For many communities, this has become must be swept and disinfected on a regular more apparent over the course of the coro- ering and recreating outdoors to reduce have once appreciated the green from their courtyards of city high-rises, where growing erything from aerobics to just zoning out. cases. They say that artificial turf has come The explosion of “pandemic puppies” has a long way in recent years—looking, feeling, Carnovale, Lindner, and Dulio all say landscape companies—as well as scores of ects at this time,” he says, Lindner sees that, their landscapes more, thus spending more well-maintained property can also increase Even Better Than the Real Thing Increasingly, a lawn’s limitations—high maintenance, high cost, environmental im- ciations to consider other types of ground for a low-maintenance alternative to tradi- that grow like weeds and need little care.” The caveat, explains Carnovale, is that “the easily, The allotted space should be void of Although landscapers usually prefer live material wherever possible, given the grow- Carnovale, “we are seeing an increase in interest in artificial turf.” He explains that Synthetic options aren’t maintenance- temperature down when being used, \[and\] basis,” especially when the space is used for high-intensity activity and/or by children. QG Floral & Landscape in New York grass is not ideal or even possible in some Experts at the Expo Come visit Native Fields and other advice to boards, property managers, and residents of co-ops, condos, and HOAs— at our upcoming CooperatorEvents New Jersey Expo at the Meadowlands Exposi- tion Center on Wednesday, June 8, 2022! For more information and to register, visit www.nj-expo.com. n Darcey Gerstein is Associate Editor and a Staff Writer for CooperatorNews. BETTER GRASS... continued from page 21 “We are seeing an increase in interest in artificial turf.” — Nicholas Carnovale sion, perch removal, and behavioral adjust- ment. Exclusion usually takes the form of net- ting, and is often recommended because it prevents birds from accessing potential roosting spaces in the first place. For a resi- dential building or community, the upside is that this solution is relatively inexpensive, permanent, and humane—it doesn’t hurt the birds; it just makes the property less ap- pealing as a nesting or roosting spot. But de- pending on how visible the netting is on the property, it might be an eyesore. Perch removal products, including de- vices such as spikes, traps, or wires, prevent birds from landing on a building or other structural component. This might be a good solution for a limited area like a railing or an awning, but might not be practical in every nook and cranny of a building or property. Behavioral adjustment approaches train birds not to land somewhere using deter- rents like cutouts of fake predators (includ- ing owls or cats) and low-voltage electric shocks. While the idea of shocking birds may sound harsh, “Proper behavioral ad- justment equipment won’t seriously hurt birds,” says Assured Environments, “but it will train them to avoid the area.” This meth- od might not sit well with animal welfare ad- vocates, but the low profile of the equipment makes it attractive for a community focused on design integrity or other aesthetic con- siderations. Ca-CAW! Regarding the aforementioned California crow conundrum, the Guardian mentions that the city of Auburn, New York, in the state’s Finger Lakes region, has experienced such an influx of crows in recent years that the birds “now outnumber human residents two to one.” This is another jurisdiction that has tried—unsuccessfully—to use lasers to abate its corvid population. Lasers have also failed in similar endeavors in Roches- ter, Minnesota, and Indianapolis, Indiana, where the crows simply moved from the in- undated business district to another neigh- borhood where the lasers and recordings of bird warning calls that the city implemented were out of range. Kevin J. McGowan, an ornithologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York who has studied crows for more than 30 years, tells the New York Times that the lasers employed by these cities are meant to simulate the movement of other animals, which has the potential to scare the crows into roosting somewhere else. But, says Mc- Gowan, crows are not so easily moved from a place they’ve already congregated. He sug- gests a less subtle dispersal tactic, like aim- ing firecrackers and bottle rockets amid the interlopers. (Whether such noise and de- tritus would be less of a nuisance than the noise and detritus of the bird themselves is debatable.) Looking at rising crow populations over the last few years in cities across the coun- try, the New York Times article also cites Kaeli Swift, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington who has studied crows. She says, “Roosts move around—we don’t exactly know why,” adding that roosts grow larger in the winter when crows mi- grate from Canada. Their increasing num- bers in cities and suburban areas (rather than the rural environs they used to fre- quent) might have something to do with the steady supply of garbage left for them to descend upon. A Bird in the Hand As previously suggested, one man’s bird nuisance is another man’s bucolic pastime. Take this inquiry from one of our readers: “I have lived in my condo for more than a decade, and every winter, I (and a couple of other owners) have fed the birds with no problems. Watching the birds has been a comfort to me, especially these past two years with so many other activities limited due to the pandemic. However, last month some residents complained that the bird- seed was causing an influx of mice. After the complaints, my condo board announced new rules that prohibit this activity.” In response to whether the board had such authority, particularly without first consulting the owners, attorney Frank Lom- bardi of Lombardi Law Group in Lincoln, Rhode Island, says, “In most instances, \[the\] condominium association’s board has the exclusive authority to operate the com- mon areas, including enacting rules which it reasonably believes will prevent damage to property. This includes what it perceives as a need to avoid the migration or infiltration MULTIFAMILY... continued from page 8 continued on page 24