MADISON, WI — Fertilizer that contains phosphorus could be banned from Wisconsin lawns, golf courses and other grassy areas by next year.

Phosphorus stimulates plant growth and is one of the three primary nutrients, along with nitrogen and potassium, in most traditional fertilizers used on turfgrass. It's commonly (and correctly) used in starter fertilizers, to get turfgrass seedlings off to a strong start, especially where soil phosphorus levels are low. This can only be determined by testing the soil.

In recent years Minnesota and several regions of Michigan have banned phosphorus fertilizer use on turfgrass.

Wisconsin lawmakers have mulled a phosphorus ban in the past, but the prospects for passage improves this year because Democrats now control both the Senate and the Assembly, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"Measure would ban phosphorus from lawns," by Lee Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan. 9

"Phosphorus fact & fiction," by Wayne Kussow, Ph.D., Landscape Management, Feb. 2003