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Palmer Ranch has the documentation to prove it. In 2006,the lo,000-acre <br /> subdivision spent $96,00o replacing turf damaged by fungus. <br /> Fungus, as well as chinch bugs, feed on the type of growth spurred by excess <br /> nitrogen. <br /> Since then, Palmer Ranch has developed a sophisticated sampling system to <br /> measure nutrients not only in blades of grass but in the reclaimed water it uses <br /> for irrigation. The results, compiled monthly by a lab,fill binders two feet tall, <br /> says Rick Barth, president of the Master Property Owners Association. <br /> Those samplings, not some generic feeding schedule,determine how and when <br /> Palmer Ranch treats its landscape. <br /> "We let the turf tell us what it needs," Barth says. "We simply have recognized <br /> that overfertilization is one of the worst things you can do." <br /> By this year,turf replacement costs have dropped to practically nothing. <br /> Of course, not everyone can spend $35o a month to have lawn samples analyzed <br /> in a lab. But, the lessons from Palmer Ranch probably pertain elsewhere. If <br /> nothing else,they'd make good reading for any state legislator ready to sack <br /> Sarasota County's fertilizer ordinance. <br /> It's funny. Even if state action makes Sarasota's ordinance meaningless,both <br /> Palmer Ranch and Gardenmasters intend to carry on as if it were in force, <br /> because that's the smart thing to do. <br /> 13 - 5H <br />