Today, we’d like to talk about a couple of things that are flooding our mailbox and seem to be prone to an absurd amount of disinformation and misunderstanding. Normally, we’d just cover spring startup tips, but we are getting pounded with requests to talk about choosing a lawn service and in a sort of related area, timing for preemergent application on the turf. It’s unusual for us to cover two subjects at a time from this front page, so we’ll split them up and you can begin reading here, then follow the link at the bottom of each section to read the full article. Hopefully, this will lead to a better educated end user (YOU!) and help you reach your turf quality goals this year.
Preemergent…what the heck does it do? How does it work? Is it bad for my plants? My pets? Me? Will it really keep all the weeds out of my yard? When do we have to put it down/is it too late? Can I still aerate if my service already put it down? Will it affect my bulbs? I already see weeds, now what? Do I absolutely need it?
Let’s start with what preemergents are and a simplified explanation of how they work. Preemergents are a class of herbicides that are designed to hold in place on the top layer of soil and kill young seedlings as they emerge. They come in a variety of brand names and active ingredients, but they all basically have the same job, stop tough to control weeds for a period of time to let the desirable, established plants take over the space. You may want to think of it as a chemical weed mat, like the fabric you may buy to put under your mulch in flower beds and gardens. What they don’t do is control already existing weeds*, nor are they meant for control of ALL weeds (which we’ll discuss in greater detail down below) and they do not have an infinite window of effectiveness. …more
Choosing a Lawn ServiceSo you decided against attempting to rule (or ruin!) your lawn yourself this year and have been hoping that the magic lawn service will appear right when you need them, right? Well, there are some things you need to know before you break out that checkbook and sign up for a year of pleasure or pain. A few rules of thumb to help you along the way and even if you’ve already signed up with a service, some ways to forecast what your future may hold this year.
The number one thing you need to know is that there are marketing companies and then there are lawn companies. How do you distinguish them apart? If they are telemarketing fools or sending fresh faced sales staffers around door to door, a red flag should immediately be raised in your mind. Glossy estimates and brochures only mean they have graphic artists working for them, not experienced, dedicated technicians. If I were to choose a service, I would want to talk to the technician who would be servicing my lawn, more so than anyone else. A salesperson will not be the one treating your lawn, it makes absolutely no difference what he or she has to say. If the answer is, “We don’t know who that would be yet . We are still building our routes.” or, worse, “We haven’t hired all of our technicians for the season.”(but they have all their sales staff!) Run away as fast as you can. I want someone with at least a season of experience, not someone who will be getting unsupervised learning on my lawn….more