Making Sense of Landscape Fertilizer Ordinances in Florida

Water quality is a hot topic in Florida. If you follow water media you’ll know that in the wake of 2016’s algal blooms along some of the state’s finest coastlines, putting policy in place to lessen the possibility of future recurrences was a top priority during the Legislative Session. During debates therein everything from Ag, to septic tanks to landscape fertilizer were mentioned as factors contributing to poor water quality. While IFAS research suggests landscape fertilizer does not play as significant a role as its often assigned, the reality is that much of the state has crafted ordinances on when it should/should not be applied (some vigorously contested).

What part of Florida has enacted which landscape fertilizer ordinance? Good question! Enter turfgrass specialist Dr. J. Bryan Unruh. Earlier this year Dr. Unruh tweeted a preview of a mobile website/app he is developing about landscape fertilizer ordinances throughout Florida. IrriGator caught up with Dr. Unruh during the recent Urban Landscape Summit and he was kind enough to answer a few questions about this exciting project (a collaborative effort in conjunction with the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program and IFAS-IT).

New map showing FL fertilizer ordinances. Two months from launching app that will allow you to know what's in place where you are standing! pic.twitter.com/ACC7B9vqqb

— Bryan Unruh (@jbunruh) March 9, 2017

How did the idea for the fertilizer ordinance app come about?

JBU: Working with the landscape industry in Florida – with now over 100 landscape ordinances, there’s a lot of confusion, especially in the larger urban areas (Orlando and Tampa) where you have multiple counties. So the idea was conceived that if you have a GPS-enabled smart phone you can hit a button and it will tell you exactly what ordinance is in place at that particular point. Nobody has really kept a very accurate compilation of all of these ordinances. My masters student, Christopher Ryan, through some of his work had created ArcGIS maps that show where all these ordinances are. So we’re merging this information into a handy app.

A screenshot preview of app interface (via Dr. Unruh)

Who is the intended audience for this product?

JBU: The primary audience would be the landscape industry. There’s an estimated 70,000 fertilizer applicators out there. Extension faculty as well might find it useful. I don’t presume to think an average homeowner would purchase this app, but they might.

Is this a stand-alone app or is it web-based?

JBU: We’re using app and mobile-website interchangeably. A mobile-website links into the database that is housed on a server. Whereas an app, your updates are tied to app stores. If they don’t push down an update as soon as we would like, then we have a problem.

There is a functional component, too. As we’ve compiled these databases, a lot of it is reactive. You’ll hear about an ordinance and then you have to go vet it out. But with 70,000 landscapers out there, this app has functionality in it where an industry person may hear about something happening in their municipality or their county, they can actually upload information into the tool that then comes back to us and then we can vet for accuracy. They won’t be able to change the database or maps, but they can provide us their ears on the ground.

Will this be a free service?

JBU: The app is a for sale product. You pay a fee for access. We have partial funding from Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology, FNGLA, and internal program funds. It may not have thousands and thousands of users, but I think that those users that do have it will find it to be very helpful.

Detailed ordinance info at your fingertips (via Dr. Unruh)

The Florida Fertilizer Ordinances web app is now available for use on mobile devices. Access it here.