• The weed absorbs the herbicide through the leaf surface.

• The herbicide will then translocate throout the entire plant and root system.

• You will start to notice the plant leaves shriveling in 48 hours

• The herbicide creates a barrier in the soil about one eighth inch down into the soil, which is where the crabgrass weed seeds are located.

• It is important to water the herbicide into the seed zone of the soil.

• The herbicide does not have any affect on the seed itself, what it does is kill the new sprout from a newly germinated seed when the sprout makes contact with the herbicide in the soil.

• There are thousands of weed seeds that liveup to 7 years in the soil.

• New weed seeds will germinate at any time based upon the temperature of the soil and how much or little moisture we get.

• The droplets from the spray guns are very heavy and do not drift in the wind. Plus our spplicators are very careful around flowers and shrubbery

• Dandelions, clover, thistles and ground ivy.

• Black medic, spurge, woodsorrel

• The pre-emergent barrier can develop holes in the coverage as the soil degrades the effectiveness of the herbicide.

• The herbicide can also lose effectiveness when it volatilizes into the atmosphere before it gets watered into the soil or if it binds to the thatch.

• Because the barrier breaks down with time it is helpful to apply a second pre-emergent three to four weeks later.

• It is always beneficial to water the application into the soil.

• We can also treat the annual weeds post-emergently after they come up in the summer.

• You will always get a better germination rate if you seed in the cooler months of spring and fall.

• If you are going to seed barespots in the spring, wait until you have received the crabgrass application and then seed into a quarter to half inch of new topsoil placed into the bare area. Seeding into new soil will eliminate any problems of seeding into soil with pre-emergent herbicide in it.

• The fall months offers the best time to seed because there is less weed competition and the temperatures are continually getting cooler.

• We would recommend starting a fertilizer program as soon as you have mowed the lawn 3-4 times.

• We would recommend starting a weed control program as soon as weeds start to appear in the lawn.

• Quackgrass us a perennial grass weed abd cabbit ve controlled by selective herbicides that will not harm the grass.

• Anything you can do to maintain a dense turf will discourage new seed growth.

• A denser turf can be achieved with plenty of sunlight, sufficient water, a high mowing cut, adequate fertilizer, core aeration to increase oxygen availability, soil amendments to balance the PH and over seeding to replace dying grass parts.

• Five times - Twice in the spring during April, May and June - a summer treatment in July - and then two more treatment during August, September and October.

• Any time you see weeds active in the lawn between our regularly scheduled visits, simply call us for a free re-spray

• Our applicators are all licensed by the state and undergo an on-going training program.

• Our applicators are all rewarded by quality and not production quotas.

1)    How does the grass plant produce food?    

• The grass plant absorbs sunlight through their leaf blades and manufactures a simple sugar food through a process called photosynthesis

2)    What is in your fertilizers?  

• Nitrogen, potash, iron and an assortment of micronutrients.

3)    Do you have any phosphorous in your fertilizers?    

• We do not have any phosphorous in our fertilizers because the runoff from phosphorous can create algae in the lakes.

4)    What does iron do for the lawn?    

• Iron adds a deeper green color to the lawn

5)    Why do they sulfur coat fertilizers?   

• Fertilizers are sulfur coated to slow the release time down resulting in more nutrients being available for the root system versus rushing into the shoots

6)    How much fertilizer do you apply?  

• We apply one pound of active nitrogen per 1000 square feet.   

• More than one pound per thousand is considered over feeding and less than 1 pound is considered under feeding

7)    When can I fertilize over new sod?     

• You can fertilize over new sod after you have mowed it 3-4 times

8)    What factors affect food production in the grass plant?     

• If the grass is cut too short there will not be enough leaf surface to conduct photosynthesis  

• If there is too much shade there will not be enough sun light for the plant to conduct photosynthesis

9)    What months do we fertilize and why do we fertilize in those months?    

• We feed two times in April and May to replace nutrients lost during the winter months and to replace nutrients lost during the spring growth surge.   

• We feed again in July  to replace nutrients lost in the spring and to aid the plant during the stressful heat of the summer.  

• We feed again in September to replace nutrients lost during the stressful summer months.  

• We feed again in October to develop the root system and prepare the plant for winter survival.

• If you reduce the number of applications you will not be feeding the plant it’s required amount of nitrogen that it needs annually. 

LawnLore  Aeration

1)      Why does a lawn need to be aerated?

• Soils become compacted very readily from rain and foot traffic

• Compacted soils lack the necessary oxygen to facilitate healthy plant growth 

• Damaging  thatch can develop in the root zone which needs to be reduced   

2) Why is it important to have sufficient  oxygen  in the soil?    

• If there is not sufficient amounts of oxygen in the soil the water and nutrients in the soil will not be as readily available to the root system    

• If there is not sufficient oxygen in the soil available for the grass plant, the plant will incur less mobility of water and nutrients throughout the plant.

3)      Will aerating reduce thatch? 

• Aeration will increase oxygen in the soil which will decompose the thatch

• In order for aeration to be affective at reducing thatch you need to double aerate the lawn at right angles and you need to aerate  in both the spring and fall.  

• Over seeding immediately after a core aeration is an excellent time to seed because you will experience a higher germination rate due to the improved seed to soil contact that is created from a core aeration.