Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Hindsight is 20/20

 Forget Covid, forget the shutdowns and the physical distancing---yes, we all had to deal, and we still are dealing with it---but the true enemy this year for the Lawn Care Industry was the grass killer known as the month of July.

July was the hottest, driest month in our lifetime and it took no prisoners when it came to your grass. Within a few days lawns began to suffer. 

By the time August was in sight, the grass was reduced to a dormant carpet of straw, littered with weeds and crabgrass, infested with chinch bugs and grub larvae---a perfect storm of chaos in a market with little or no answers to challenge the tsunami of scourges.

Yet, there were lawns escaping the onslaught. They were the ones with adequate shade who followed proper watering and cutting practices, and survived to live another day. 

These truths are what we repeat, to the point of nauseum, with all: Leave your lawn at 3 1/2 inches going into the summer months, and deeply water your lawn once or twice weekly to maintain a strong and healthy root system.

Yes---we will lose customers because of July, but we are already seeing an influx of homeowners leaving other companies and flocking to us in record numbers because of the same month.

The bottom line is, this is a partnership, a team game, and without this arrangement, it doesn't matter what a lawn care provider does to your lawn, it will suffer in the elements we experienced this past July. The recovery will take longer, and the road back to health will be long traveled.


With the homeowner by our side doing their part and timely applications on ours we can limit future damage and not have to rely on Mother Nature as the third leg of our stool. Because as we've too painfully seen, she has no empathy.

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Mother Nature rains on the parade...

 ...but it's a little too late.

After the hottest July in our lifetime and more days over 30 Celcius than in 70 years, it's going to take time for the lawns to recover. Add in crabgrass, and chinch bugs, both thriving in the heat, and a homeowner who has just given up watering, it all provides a recipe for dormancy and disaster.

On a normal year we have, (ballpark) about 16 days moving north of the 30 degree temperature mark. This year we've had 30 plus and counting. Add the no-rain factor, and well....just look at the lawns in your neighbourhood.

That's why it is more important than ever to maintain proper watering and cutting practices from the early spring forward. To attempt corrections now is futile and patience is the only course of action until cooler temperatures prevail.

Most lawn companies I know, have moved their aerations to the fall. With climate change and hotter summers on tap, lawns have never been more in need of reparations come fall. Really it's all a lawn care provider can do when there is no help from the homeowner or the weather.

When a star player gets no support from his teammates, you may still score a few goals but you aren't going to win too many games.

Sunday, July 12, 2020

The Daily Show

With more days in a row over 30 Celsius than we've had in 70 years, it amazes me the number of homeowners I see on a daily basis with their sprinklers on in the middle of the day.


Please don't do this. 

First; a substantial portion of your watering efforts are lost to evaporation. Secondly; you run a greater risk of burning your lawn in these excessive temperatures. And, third; depending on your timing you can promote turf disease.

The recommended time for watering is early morning when the lawn can dry more evenly and the temperatures are more bearable.

Also, if a lawn is emerald green during this stretch of weather, I would bet it is being watered too much.

While it may be more aesthetically pleasing, it is not necessarily beneficial for the overall health of the grass. Watering daily creates a lazy lawn where the root zone is not forced to delve deeper for water sources making it more susceptible to weed and insect infestation.

A similar green can be achieved by watering deeply once, or at excessive times like these, twice a week while leaving the mower height at 3 1/2 inches, which is approximately above your ankle. 

If you still need to have the absolute green, then consider over-seeding with clover. Clover is more drought tolerant, feeds nitrogen into your lawn, does not need to be mowed frequently, and due to its horizontal root system, is avoided by damaging insects, most notably Chinch bugs who love the heat.

If you adopt all these practices, you may still have some heat stress in high-sun areas and places close to heat sources like pavement and patio stones, but in the long run, your lawn will be much healthier in its recovery.

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Always look on the blight side.

For as long as I can remember I have been telling everyone to raise their mower height going into the summer to 3 1/2 inches and water their lawns deeply once or twice a week in extreme conditions.
Really 1 1/2 inches of water is essential to maintaining some health in the root zone. No matter if you have a sprinkler system or some other delivery method, a good benchmark of how long 1 1/2 inches is in time is simple. Place an empty tuna or cat food tin on the area being watered and however long it takes to fill the tin is how long you need to water that zone for.

But as the scorching 30 c days pile up and the natural precipitation disappears to nothing more than a brief passing shower, the lawns suffer no matter what you do.

And if you haven't been watering and cutting properly, it's too late to start mending fences now, that ship has sailed.

With the earlier fluctuations in temperatures in May/June another problem reared its ugly head- most notably- Ascochyta Blight. Although proper cutting and watering may not have prevented this turf disease, it would have gone a long way to lessening the effects. With the ever changing and unpredictable weather these two practices have never been so important than they are now.


So what to do?

Patience is key. Grass is a very resilient organism and will recover with time and TLC.
In severe cases, bagging your clippings when you can eventually cut again is recommended. Kelp-based products have also been known to help in recovery.

Hopefully when it does rebound we don't forget and repeat the same mistakes next year.

Mow and water your lawn properly and we can stop having this discussion.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Spring?

It has been spring for about a week, yet it is the furthest thing from anyone's mind as Covid-19 continues to rampage. With it, many businesses have been affected and in our case, lawn care is not exactly at the top of customer's wish lists, so we have suffered as well.

As for service, we still plan to start on schedule (early April), falling into the category of property maintenance and exempt from mandatory shut down.

As a precaution all our trucks are manned by one or two technicians max, have minimal contact with any customers, perform all applications outside at safe social distances, are supplied with gloves, disinfectant, and masks to help prevent spread.

We also demand frequent and vigorous washing of hands and will monitor daily for changes in health to any of our employees as we continue to treat this pandemic with the
utmost seriousness.

We felt it our duty to clarify our small part in all this.

Stay safe, stay healthy.





Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Ford vs For-Our-Weeds

When last we spoke about the potential amendment to the Ontario Cosmetic Ban, the Ford Provincial Government was considering changing the existing laws and went as far, in an email to me, to promise "fairness and certainty for all."

I took this to mean, I would either be added to the exemption list or have the highly coveted new weed control Civits for the 2020 season.

Well, the amendment has happened and here is the proposed "fairness  and certainty for all":

1) Cemeteries added to the exemption list with golf courses, farmers, sod growers and federally owned land.

2) The Provincial classification system reorganized to mirror Health Canada and the PMRA.

3) OPAC (Ontario Pesticide Approval Committee) will no longer be the middle man, slowing the process for new products.

But let's be clear: no pesticide exemption for licenced professionals in the lawn care industry as I implored. No fast track for the new weed control Civitas used by every other province but Ontario. No policing of illegal products obtained by crossborder and mailorder shopping.

I guess the Ford government likes losing all the tax revenue from out of province purchases and the dwindling growth of a lawn care industry in serious trouble?

There is so much cheating going on with illegal products and there is no equal balance.

Fairness and certainty for all?????

Keep in mind that the information posted above had to come to me from another source and even the Ministry of the Environment is in the dark concerning time tables and implementation. All this means I have no recourse but to go into my season using Fiesta weed control instead of a more effective product and watch as my equipment and trucks rust from the excessive iron.

I also have to order "Class 11" signs although they may be obsolete by the start of the season and I have to contend with customers who are confused as I am about what's going on.

Further attempts to communicate with the Conservatives over these changes have gone unanswered.

Perhaps they have their hands full with the teachers? Perhaps they don't care? Who's to say?

All I know is there are still losers after these changes, not to mention confusion. Any guesses what category I'm in?

In dealing with any government you have to accept there will be broken promises and lies. It's just that, I'm so tired of the same ones over and over and over again.

This Ford is no Shelby Mustang.