How high should I mow?
4 to 5 inches high. Why? The height maximizes your lawn's natural ability to manage drought and heat stress. It also shades the soil giving the lawn armor to protect soil temperature. Lawns that are mowed to short or in excess develop excessively hot surface temperatures. Hot surface temperatures breed thin unhealthy growing conditions, crabgrass, and weeds. If you mow short, ABORT, and raise that deck height.
How often should I sharpen my mower blades?
Sharp blades creates a cleaner cut that allows the plant to self-seal much faster thus losing less moisture and the plant begins its respiration process much sooner. We recommend sharpening your mower blades at a minimum of 3 to 4 times per year. Dull mower blades will rip the tips of the grass stressing the plant and causing a greater loss of moisture & respiration. Stressed lawns become thin, unhealthy and lose their eye pleasing appeal much faster.
Bag or Mulch?
Mulch, mulch, mulch! Mulching your clippings allows you to recycle nutrients that are already in the grass. Grass clippings DO NOT create thatch, rather they are nearly 100% water and nutrients that will create healthy compost and feed the turf and improve the soil health!
Can I mow after an application?
It all depends on whether it needs mowed and the condition of your turf. Lawns with heavy infestation of weeds should wait 24 hours unless instructed otherwise. Lawns with minimum weed pressure and with weeds that exist below the cut height of the turf can mow within hours of our service. We recommend for best results to recycle your grass clippings back into your lawn. Majority of our applications are granular and mowing will not affect the application, but when in doubt call the office.
Do I need my lawn mowed before you arrive?
No. If you believe your lawn needs mowed but cannot get it done before we arrive that is not a problem for us to continue with the application. There are times when its better if the lawn is not mowed before our visit. The fertility portion of our application is granular and feed into the plant through the soil. Mowing right before or after will not affect this mode of action of the application.
How long should I wait until I let my kids and pets on my lawn after application?
That all depends on the type of application applied. Ambient conditions will also play a role. The general rule of thumb is 15 minutes to 2 hours depending on weather conditions and number of weeds needed to be control. If we spot sprayed for weeds it dries much sooner than if we had to blanket spray the entire lawn. Granular only applications can be re-entered immediately. Once weed spray applications dry it will move inside the plant and be rain fast doing the specific job it was meant to do.
Should I bag my leaves in the fall?
We want our customers to work smarter, not harder! Mulching leaves allows a conversion of dead leaf material that will be beneficial to the soil biology and the life cycle in the soil. Gardeners have been composting, covering, and creating healthy garden soil with leaf debris for decades. Raise the mower deck and mow as often as necessary to chop the leaves fine enough for a quick decay. Don’t leave piles or matted leaves on the lawn for long periods of time. Additional soil admendment applications can be applied to help leaf debris decay faster and become healthy food source for the soil biology.
Can I change my program during the season?
Yes. If you would like to increase, decrease or add-on a service, that can be done anytime during the season. All you have to do is contact the office. 717-718-5690.