How Many Lawn Treatments Do I Really Need

Lawn Care Calendar: A Month

In this article, Im going to outline the lawn care calendar that I work by every year.

To help you as best I can, Ive broken down this lawn treatment schedule month by month so you know exactly what to do and when.

However, like everything when it comes to lawn maintenance, theres a caveat to everything

And thats the weather.

This lawn calendar is meant to be a guide only.

Unfortunately, we cant control the weather so youll have to use your best judgement when it comes to the timing of individual tasks.

Some years, if the weather is on our side, we can start certain tasks a little earlier than normal. Sometimes though, you might have to wait a little longer.

So dont stick to this like glue just because its in black and white on a computer screen.

Take a look at what the weather is doing and plan your jobs around that.

Wear Aerator Shoes While Mowing

Sure, its a time saver, but its not doing an effective job of aerating your lawn at all. If you break down the math, youre only going to be able to aerate about .04 percent of your lawn by doing it this way. In reality, your need to aerate at least 5 percent of your soil to effectively reduce compaction of your soil. This type of coverage will be difficult for just one person to do, which is why hiring a service may be your best bet.

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How Often Should You Fertilize Your Lawn

If theres one scent thats most reminiscent of spring, its the smell of fresh grass.

In order to have a lawn that is vibrant, green and ready to sink your bare feet into, however, you must take care of it. A turf maintenance program aims to produce attractive grass that is healthy and able to withstand the rigors of everyday use.

A key element of this program is fertilization. But what does fertilization do and how often does the lawn need it? How often you should fertilize your lawn is based on a number of important factors.

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How Much Should Lawn Care Cost

Residents in Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia are paying approximately $45/hr for the same service. In the Australian Capital Territory, lawn mowing businesses typically charge an average rate of $47.50/hr. New South Wales, on the other hand, has an average cost of $50/hr for lawn mowing services.

How Often Does My Lawn Need Feeding And Treatments For Weeds

• The current condition of the lawn
• The soil beneath it. How deep is it, whats its composition?
• The grass species within the lawn. Robust ryegrasses or shallow rooted fine grasses?
• Sunlight and shade
• Weather
• The microclimate
• How much wear and tear the lawn has and whether its used by pets and children
• Mowing regime very close mown lawns need more treatments than slightly longer grass
• The area beyond the garden could seeds blow in from neighbouring fields? Is there a lot of pollution from traffic? Is it visited by wildlife?

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Is Overseeding Also Necessary

Overseeding is the process of laying grass seed on top of existing grass to promote new growth. Overseeding in the fall directly after aeration is ideal. After all, in the fall, grass grows rapidly. Aeration and seeding are typically done in conjunction with one another.

Why you need to aerate and seed your lawn in the fall:

• Aeration gives your lawn a fresh start.
• Fall aeration will repair summer stress.
• Be sure to follow aeration with overseeding to promote new growth.

So: How Often Should My Lawn Be Fertilized

You may ask: do I really need all of that fertilizer? Regardless of what other issues there may be on your yard, your lawn will always need certain amounts of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium throughout the year to thrive. Depriving your lawn of these nutrients will lead to a slow decline in its health.

People sometimes want to omit fertilizer treatments because they believe the more the lawn is fertilized, the more it will need to be mowed. However, the best way to ensure that you have a thick and healthy lawn is to make sure it has the nutrients it needs available. At Oasis, our slow-release granular fertilizer and other valuable treatments are designed to deliver the required amount of these nutrients, with an emphasis on soil health and sustained root growth, without the quick-grow short-term effects you might experience with other lawn treatments.

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Is Nitrogen Good For Your Grass

Nitrogen promotes healthy leaf growth by encouraging the production of chlorophyll, which is a chemical vital to photosynthesis. Phosphorus helps your lawn develop healthy roots and stems. For your lawn, it is important to find a fertilizer with a high level of nitrogen. You want to promote and encourage growth!

See also -> Is it too late to fertilize your lawn in November?

Don’t Put Your Lawn At Risk With Less Treatments

Of course, with our pricing model, you only pay us when we are providing a service. That means that if you are looking to get by with only six visits in a year, although you may be paying a little less, you could ultimately be hurting yourself and putting your lawn at risk.

We are always upfront and honest with customers about what theyre missing when they specifically request fewer visits.

For one, we do not provide no-cost retreatments for customers who want less than our standard seven visits . That means if you have weed breakthrough, you may end up paying for us to come out anyhow in order to re-treat.

This could have just been prevented by investing in the complete, seven-treatment program. Now, you have a headache to deal with and are still paying extra money.

But even worse, you risk a problem arising in-between visits that we simply cannot be proactive about fixing now that there are such large gaps in protection. This is by far the biggest concern as a costly lawn care problem could easily wipe out any savings you might have seen from dropping one of the visits.

When homeowners hear this, they generally recognize that its just not worth it. After all, its not like we just randomly came up with the plan to include seven visits. Its what we have found truly gives our clients the best possible service and results all around.

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Giving Your Lawn What It Needs To Thrive

As you come to understand what services are important throughout the year, youll probably realize that the questions about how many visits and how many times to fertilize a lawn may be the wrong questions to ask. Instead, you will see that a valuable program focuses on what the lawn needs rather than a certain number of visits or applications. We hope that this timeline gives you a foundation for understanding what services should be performed and when they should be done.

At Oasis Turf & Tree, we believe that these six valuable visits to your property per season allows us to diagnose issues and perform of all the treatments that will address your lawns needs. Its all about a customized approach.

While we are diligent about catching developing problems when were there, we are also aware that issues can arise between our visits. Thats one reason why we value communication from our customers so highly we appreciate when they call us anytime an issue has arisen since our last visit– we would always rather treat a problem early than let it go until our next time on the property. A quick response is better for your lawn, it’s better for your enjoyment of your yard, and it’s better for us as we work to provide you with the best results possible.

If you would like to find out more about our lawn care program options and how they can improve your lawn in Cincinnati, Dayton, OH or Northern Kentucky, call 513-697-9090 or contact us for a free estimate.

How Regularly Should You Fertilize Your Lawn

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There’s no doubt that lawns need fertilizer, but it’s easy to make mistakes, like applying the wrong nutrients or fertilizing at the wrong time. If you fertilize your lawn when it doesn’t need it, you’re essentially throwing money away, so it’s essential to apply fertilizers at the right time, and use no more than necessary.

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Building Services Into Your Lawn Care Plan

Just like different companies offer different numbers of visits, they will also build these mentioned services into their programs in various ways. Youll want to evaluate whats included in each level of a prospective companys lawn care programs.

Of course, a lot of companies appear to just have one lawn care program. However, when you explore further, you might see that it doesnt include much and everything else is an add-on service. Once you start adding up all of the services you want, it can become costly.

This is a tricky way of advertising their services as it often makes them appear to be a lot less expensive than they really are. You might even compare them to another company and assume youre saving a lot.

But when you actually start adding up the cost of all of the add-ons you end up paying for, it could possibly end up costing even more than the company you were weighing them against. This is why you need to be clear at the onset what youre getting for your investment.

A lot of companies can make this information difficult to find. For this reason, it is helpful to find a lawn care company that spells out exactly what they offer and whats included right on their website. Transparency is so important in the lawn care industry, which has gotten a bad reputation as a result of those companies who are sneaky or have a lot of hidden costs.

Cutting Grass Shorter Means Less Mowing

It may be convenient for your time management, but your lawn certainly doesnt like it. By cutting the blades too short, its an easier access to the dirt underneath to be exposed to the hot sun. This will cause browning and can even encourage the growth of weeds, diseases, or even insects when your lawn is drier and hotter.

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How To Find The Right Lawn Treatment

Not much compares to the crisp look of a well-manicured lawn. A beautiful lawn can even help the environment as grass converts carbon dioxide to oxygen to help clean the air. Getting your lawn to grow thick green grass, however, can be a major undertaking. Finding the right lawn treatment plan for your lawn takes research, patience, and possibly some sweat equity.

To grow and maintain a pristine lawn that is the centerpiece of backyard barbecues, consider what lawn treatments your lawn may need. Each lawn is different and requires consideration of location, types of grasses, and timing of treatments. Weve constructed a handy guide to determining what lawn treatments can help you maintain a beautiful lawn year-round.

If lawn care isnt for you, there are professionals who can take the reins. We recommend Americas #1 lawn care company, TruGreen.* Get a free quote or call today.

Professional Lawn Treatments

Core Aeration And Overseeding

Lawn aeration is one of the best ways to thicken up your lawn and improve its overall health. This service involves using a machine called a core aerator to pull small cores of soil throughout your lawn and depositing them back onto the surface. The resulting aeration cores break down over time, recycling nutrients back into the soil.

This service helps to break up compacted soil , allowing more nutrients, water, and oxygen to penetrate deep down to your lawns root zone, where theyre really needed.

When overseeding is performed at the same time, this allows your new grass seed to make their way into the holes, providing better seed-to-soil contact. This gives your new grass the best start. Some lawn care programs include either one or both of these services as part of their offerings.

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Don’t Bother Fertilizing Your Lawn Twice A Year

Fertilizing your yard too oftenor at the wrong timecan do more harm than good

A lush lawn can make your homes landscaping shine . But how do you maintain a beautiful and healthy yard year-round?

The answer is fertilizer.

Fertilizing provides the nitrogen that grass needs to better withstand pests and extreme heat and cold. But how frequently you fertilize your lawn can make the difference between a well-kept yard and one that looks worse for wear.

Overfertilizing can damage roots and cause scorching, leaving grass brown and patchy. Underfertilizing, though, can make grass less pest- and disease-resistant. And rules of thumbsuch as fertilizing twice a yeardont apply to every lawn, since weather conditions and grass cycles can vary depending on where you live.

The right time to apply fertilizer is when the grass is growing more roots than blades. In the Northeast and Northwest, thats usually in the fall. In the South and Southwest, its in the late spring. So in cooler climes, dont even think about it until Labor Day. And if you only fertilize once a year, do it in September using fall fertilizer.

How often you mow is also a factor in whether you have a lush lawn. Generally, you should let grass grow to 4½ inches and then cut it to 3 or 3½. Tall grass helps promote deep roots, making your lawn hardier and more resilient.

Bottom line: Listen to your lawn and apply fertilizer only when the grass calls for it.

Benefits Of Adding Lime To Your Lawn

There are several advantages including:

Improves the quality of the soil to allow plants to grow and flourish. Soil nutrients become more readily available to be better utilized by the plants. Soil microbes and earthworms are more active at breaking down organic matter at a neutral pH level. Plants will be greener, stronger and will develop an improved and stronger root system. Lime is a great source of calcium, another nutrient that improves the growing conditions of lawns and landscapes.

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How Do You Know What Lawn Treatments Your Lawn Needs

Determining the right lawn treatment depends on several factors. Your climate plays a large role in whats needed and when it should be applied. Different types of grass will also require different methods of lawn care.

Location

Your location may be the biggest factor in choosing a lawn treatment for your lawn. You can use a plant hardiness zone map to find out which types of plants grow best in your area. The following location factors may help you choose when to treat your lawn.

Types of grass

Your lawn will either be covered with a cool-season grass or a warm-season grass. This affects which time of year is best to apply lawn treatments. Grass thats in its growing season will have the strongest chance to produce a lush and healthy lawn, but the active season is different for these two grass types:

Giving Your North Texas Lawn What It Needs To Thrive

The bottom line is that we have thoughtfully and strategically structured our lawn care program in a way that it will provide your lawn what it needs. This is not only true from a nutrient standpoint, but also from a weed control point of view. Our program features aptly timed preventative weed control measures that will save you from headaches later on.

In addition, the value of seven visits on your property each season also allows us to diagnose atypical issues and address them before they become serious.

For instance, if early signs of a lawn disease shows up, we can suggest an additional lawn treatment of a disease control product before it gets really bad. Another example is if an unusual weed, like Dallisgrass, emerges that requires a specialty product, you could add that service and treat the weed before the weed has a chance to spread.

These proactive inspections and recommendations for common, but not always prevalent issues are one of the reasons a seven-visit program is recommended.

We recognize that it can be difficult to navigate different advice that is out there. But we honestly believe that anything less than our seven-visit lawn care program is a disservice to you and could easily end up costing you more in the long-run.

Ready for a great-looking lawn at your Flower Mound, Highland Village, or Lewisville, TX home? Get a free quote and get ready to have the best lawn on the block.

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