A Science Based Approach to Lawn Care
I love the science of lawn care, helping people achieve their goals and doing it all with a clear conscience, knowing that every product I use is necessary and safe. I’m not much of a salesman. My work and passion are my advertising.
What is Custom Lawn Care?
It starts with collecting data.
Every customer receives a soil test before services begin. I’ll analyze your soil chemistries following MLSN Guidelines, alongside the 30 yr historical weather data, to calculate your Growth Potential. This allows me to anticipate your lawns annual fertilizer needs and when it needs it.
It’s not just plant nutrition
There are also lots of pests that can wreak havoc in your lawn. By combining soil temperature data with the life cycles of weeds, diseases and insects that are likely affect your lawn, I can calculate the best times to control them, beofore they become a a problem. I call these Preventative Pest Control Windows.
By combining the Average Growth Potential with the Preventative Pest Control Windows, I’ve developed the timing and frequency of the 8 step plan below!
Your Custom Lawn Care Treatment Plan
Early Spring Crabgrass Pre-emergent and Fertilizer
This first visit will help wake up your lawn from the long winter. An application of granular fertilizer coated in the pre-emergent product prodiamine will be applied to the lawn. This will feed the lawn for 5-6 weeks and inhibit the growth of weeds, mainly crabgrass for the following 6 months. A spot application of weeds will be completed as well with a combination of broad-leaf weed control products. The main targets will be clover, onion, henbit and chickweed. This treatment promotes early spring green-up, targets weeds, and prevents crabgrass.
Spring Fertilization and Weed Control
We will apply an organic granular fertilizer to the lawn consisting of nitrogen and potassium. This will slowly feed the lawn for the next 10-12 weeks.
A spot of application of weed control will take care of any weeds present. The main targets are wild strawberry, violets, plantain and dandelion. The result is a thicker, healthier lawn that will naturally be able to defend itself against weeds and problem grasses. Our eco-friendly lawn care products provide beautiful results with fewer nitrates and pesticides than products other lawn care companies use.
May Treatment for Disease and Nutsedge
We will apply a liquid treatment to the lawn for Brown Patch and Dollar Spot Disease. This will stop the growth of brown patch and dollar spot disease in the lawn and keep the lawn looking vibrant and green.
We will also be applying a nutsedge control product called Celero. This is the latest and most effective product for control of nutsedge.
June Treatment for Disease, Insects and Summer Weeds
We will be applying a liquid treatment combining two modes of action for the control of turf diseases in the lawn. This will stop the growth of brown patch and dollar spot disease keeping the lawn vibrant and green.
We will also be applying the latest pollinator safe insect control product Aceleypryn. Aceleypryn is 100% safe for earthworms, bees and butterfly's. It is the only pollinator safe product that controls army-worms and grub-worms for longer than 30 days.
July Treatment for Disease, Fertilization and Summer Weeds.
We will be applying a liquid treatment combining two modes of action for the control of diseases in the lawn. This will stop the growth of brown patch and dollar spot disease keeping the lawn vibrant and green.
We will also be applying the organic liquid fertilizer Depth MFT. This product is a specialty foliar fertilizer with high concentrations of a vegetal derived peptide bio-stimulant, plant available amino acids, and fully chelated micro-nutrients for unsurpassed color. The peptides contained in this product are beneficial during the summer months as they allow the root system to grow during the stressful conditions of the summer. This will relieve stress and bring color back to the lawn for 4 weeks
August Treatment for Disease and Grassy Weeds
We will be applying a liquid treatment combining two modes of action for the control of diseases in the lawn. This will stop the growth of brown patch and dollar spot disease keeping the lawn vibrant and green.
We will be applying the organic liquid fertilizer Depth MFT. This will relieve stress and bring color back to the lawn for 4 weeks
We will be applying a a spot treatment to grassy weeds like johnsongrass, dallisgrass, goosgrass and barnyard grass.
Early Fall Fertilization Pre-emergent and Clean up
During our third visit, we promote your lawn’s healthy growth with an application of organic granular fertilizer. This will feed the lawn for 10-12 weeks. This will also act as your starter fertilizer if you decide to seed with us.
An application of the pre-emergent product mesotrione will inhibit the growth of poa trivialis and poa annua as well other annual weeds that can take over the lawn during the aerating and seeding process. This product does not inhibit germination of fescue, ryegrass or bluegrass. Mesotrione will also suppress bemudagrass, allowing for better germination of seed in sunny areas. Bermudagrass will turn white for a short time. This visit creates a healthier and greener yard and when paired with our aerating and over-seeding service can completely rejuvenate a dead or dying yard.
Winterization and Winter Weed Control
This application will be a granular fertilizer consisting of nitrogen and potassium. Potassium thickens the cell walls of the plant giving new growth more insulation from the freezing temperatures. This is important for our area where we can have have new growth surge during the 65 degree days followed by a string of subfreezing days.
We will be applying special weed control products that will not hurt young seedling that have grown in from the fall. These are Octane and Drive. The main targets will be onion, clover and henbit. By continuing the bio-nutrient supplements treatment, it will help your lawn continue to thrive in the summer heat while improving the root structure in your turf.
There is a 10-15% chance that your soil test will reveal a deficiency that will need to be addressed outside of the normal budgeted treatments. In this rare event, I’ll go over the results of your test and walk you through the options to best handle them at a budget that works for you.
Brown Spots in the Lawn? You Need Mr. Lawn
Disease or Drought?
Disease damage appears as brown desiccated grass. To a laymen’s eyes it would appear to be drought or heat stress. In response, most homeowners will water these areas. Watering these areas more than twice per week kills your lawn even faster. Fungi thrives in warm frequently watered lawn.
The fungi that cause turf diseases such as Brown Patch or Dollar Spot thrive in warm humid conditions. These diseases move quickly and kill 90% of untreated fescue lawns in July and August here in Middle TN.
We Include 4 Preventative Treatments For Disease
At No Additional Cost.
Lawn Disease and Fungi
Brown Patch
By far the most common lawn disease in TN is brown patch. It can be identified by large brown patches or rings with green patches of grass in the center. It can quickly spread throughout the lawn, following the flow of water.
Dollar Spot
The second most common lawn disease in TN is Dollar Spot. This fungus can be identified by the small 1-3 inch brown spots in the lawn or by the lesions that appear on the leaf blade before foliage death.
Pythium Blight
This fungus is rare, only lawns having very poor drainage will have this disease. It can look very similar to brown patch, it has large brown rings, often times with green grass in the center. During the early morning hours you can see the mycelium on the grass blades, as seen in the picture above. Pythium blight moves very fast, kills the plant completely and is by far the worst possible disease you can have in your lawn. If you suspect you have this in your lawn, stop irrigation and call us immediately.
