Bath Ballfields Go Organic, Shun Pesticides

Bath wants its baseball fields to be safer for kids, so it's going organic.

For the third year in a row, the township will treat two of its baseball fields with natural, organic lawn products.

That means no pesticides or herbicides -- only natural ingredients that are safer for people, pets and the environment.

“Like everybody else, we read the news,” said Mike Rorar, Bath Parks Director. “We hear we should be doing more environmentally friendly applications.”

Bath is among a growing number of communities treating their public green spaces with natural products. Chagrin Falls, Beachwood and Solon -- plus Cuyahoga County and University Circle in Cleveland - -are using natural, non-pesticide treatments for their public green spaces.

Bath brought in Good Nature Organic Lawn Care of Cleveland to take care of the baseball fields. Good Nature also serves thousands of residential properties in Northeast Ohio and Columbus.

“They’ve been real thorough,’’ Rorar said.

Good Nature founder and owner Alec McClennan of Chagrin Falls said he started the company 14 years ago.

“Our goal is to grow healthy grass and plants that don’t require pesticides – natural or chemical,” McClennan said. “If problems do occur, you want to eliminate the cause of the problem, not just mask it by using a pesticide.’’