The endophyte is near

If you haven't thought about seeding yet, you should. Next to core aeration this is one of the most important practices you can do for your lawn on an annual basis. The more you over-seed, the healthier the lawn and the less likely you'll have to deal with insects and weeds etc.

Now, don't think you can just throw any old dollar-store seed down and get fantastic results. The cheaper the seed the more you are inviting weeds to encroach on your lawn. Cost effective seed usually carries weed seeds in it, so you want to check the bag to make sure it has been tested and is virtually weed-seed free. Most "name brands" will have seed meeting this criteria.

Like-wise be careful if you are using top soil with your seed. Too many times this year I witnessed lawns seeded with bad top soil and there were more weeds than grass popping up. I use compost, or peat moss mainly because there are just too many weed-seed properties in top soil no matter how screened they say it is.

Also whether you are sowing by hand, or using a drop seeder make sure you have good seed to soil contact and the seed is uniform in your application. Too much is a waste and not enough doesn't help either. I could say, about 15 seeds per square inch, but instead, use your best judgement when raking it in.

Grass type is also very important. If you get a lot of sun you need a seed mixture heavier on the perennial rye side. We like CPR- creeping perennial rye. Ryes are the workhorse of the grass world. They germinate quickly and take a pounding from heavy traffic i.e. kids, pets.

If you are dealing with more shade, then a mix with a high concentration of fescue is more appropriate. We use Eco Lawn- a blend of seven different fescues, but you have to be patient as the germination takes longer -approx. 3 weeks. Fescues tend to be less maintenance as they are slow growers and drought tolerant. The more diverse the blend the healthier your lawn will be in the long run. A blend of fescue and rye like Pickseed's Enviro 2000 is a good choice as well.

I also advocate using very little Kentucy Blue Grass, if at all, in your seeding. Yeah it looks great, but you want seed that will delve deep roots and KBG isn't a good choice for that reason alone. You must also consider insect problems somewhere down the line. Whether grubs, or top feeding insects, they all love that grass type. You might as well yell "come and get it" once it has germinated. Ever wonder why all those newly sodded subdivisions have grass that is dead and dying a year or so after installation? You'll be told you didn't water it enough, but the real truth here is sod is 90% Kentucky Blue with it's shallow root system on crap soil that is sending out dinner invites to every insect in the neighbourhood.

If you have a rather large lawn to maintain perhaps you should consider over-seeding with clover- known back-in-the-day as the "rich man's weed." We use Huia Grasslands that doesn't flower the way Dutch White does. It's drought tolerant, is less maintenance, keeps bugs at bay and feeds nitrogen into your lawn. However if you are considering clover, hold off until next April before over-seeding.

You should also concentrate on grass seed that is endophytic. An endophyte is a naturally occurring fungus that keeps insect damage to a minimum and is mainly found in rye and fescue seed. Remember, which ever way you choose to go there's nothing I consider bullet proof and persistence of repeating this ritual every fall is the only golden ticket.

One school year begins as another ends

Last year I did an end of season report on the lawn care class room and the products we use to control each issue.

Now, realize that this is my opinion and you don't have to agree with what I say. I mean, maybe you sell some of these products and you don't want the public knowing the truth? Personally, I embrace it, to the point I've lost a considerable dollar amount suggesting to customers, if they really want something that is absolute they should seek advice from a minimum wage employee in a garden centre south of the border.

Do I suggest breaking the law is the way to go in lawn care...absolutely not, but an exacerbated home owner should be aware of all options open to them. If I can't guarantee results they should know what can.

So here we go.

Mother Nature- C+
At first I was excited to have this student in the class when I saw the long-range Farmer's Almanac prediction of a cooler/wetter summer, but she became a playground bully around mid July and by the end of August Mother Nature had terrorized more than her fair share of lawns with crabgrass, chinch bug and cut worm. Having seen the forecast for next year as "hotter/dryer", the marks for Mother Nature look like they are headed south.

Crabgrass- D-
There is still no effective treatment on the horizon to combat this class clown who repeatedly skips school then shows up magically when the weather turns hot, causing a disruption for all the other students. Some will preach corn gluten is the way to go to tame this beast, but I have found through trial and error you'd get better results from raising your mowing height and keeping you soil temperature as cool as possible because this is one weed that doesn't care how much time it spends in the principal's office.

Chinch Bugs- D-
The sudden heat in July led to a charge of this insect across many a lawn this year. The damage was easier to spot because until late August the lawns never had a chance to go dormant. F.Y.I. no nematode trials have ever shown any effect at controling this insect, although the very same nematodes have been effective at parting you from your money. Every heard of that saying,"there's a sucker born every minute"? Looking forward to getting Met 52 in my class next year and saying goodbye to nematodes, hopefully forever.

Fiesta- B-
This student did a reasonable job this year keeping weeds in check as long as it was applied on a consistant basis, but the wet weather meant many repeated applications. It's no 2-4-D, but right now it's all we have so I give it a passing grade this year. Say, what ever happened to that foreign exchange student, Phoma Macrostoma? Weren't we promised that weed control in 2012?....Bueller....Scotts....anyone?

White Grub- A
Combined with a colder winter, a cooler/wetter spring and a dry August, grubs weren't much of an issue this year unlike the classroom disruption they've been in previous semesters. It made for one happy teacher that didn't have to rely on nematodes in 2013.

The Home Owner- B+
It's taken some time, but people are starting to understand, in order to have a healthier lawn, mowing heights have to be raised and weekly watering is needed. If you want to cut your lawn like a putting green, open a golf course. At least you'd have access to the good stuff...

...and I'm not trying to bring politics into this post. Those dunces were expelled from the classroom some time ago.

Question:

How many Weedman trucks does it take to get one new customer?

 

Answer: Four...apparently.

 

 

What... three to hold you down and one to take your money?

This was the scene on our street last week for the latest "new customer blitz" as students with fluorescent yellow vests and clipboard in hand made their way from house to house. I guess telemarketing isn't working anymore?

I didn't see this much door-to-door campaigning last election. Thankfully they left us alone so I know they were able to read our trucks touting, "lawn care".

Well...keep up the good work boys! I love aggressive marketing like this. It keeps us from having to advertise at all.

Man, just shoot me if it ever becomes all about the numbers instead of customer service.

Know problemo

With the increasing heat and humidity, not to mention excessive downpours we've experienced, it is no wonder we are starting to see problems on the lawns.

Identifying the issue and knowing what to do are the most important elements.

Seeing spots?

Because of this specific weather mixture turf disease has been more prevalent than in recent years, dollar spot, brown patch and leaf spot leading to melting out have all caused lawns to lose uniformity.

Really, fixing these issues are quite easy. A shot of nitrogen from fertilizer and growing the area out is the best way to deal with it. Just be careful to dial back the application otherwise you run the risk of burning the lawn. Also annual aeration is a good preventative measure.

Nymphomania

I am now starting to see damage from Chinch Bug nymphs. There hasn't been a lot of activity but what I've seen thus far has been enough to advise treatment.

Chinch love the heat and as a top feeding insect will procreate in your lawn's thatch layer while sucking the juice out of the grass blade, reducing it to a straw-like appearance. Often this damage is mistaken for drought until it's too late.

The insects are easily spotted in the morning sun by getting on your knees and parting the grass blades on the edges of the infected area. It is here you can see them scurrying about.

Treatment these days, is more preventative than target specific since "Sevin" is no longer available. Annual aeration and over-seeding with endophytic grass like Eco Lawn is key. STAY AWAY FROM KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS! However, soap flushes and products with eucalyptus do help and can convince the insect to pack-up and leave.

Feeling crabby?

Remember when I told you earlier this year to raise your mowing height, but you still wanted that golf course feel and ignored me? Well, you should now be seeing crabgrass germinating on the edges of your lawn and perhaps in the sunniest areas of your turf as well.

Like chinch, crabgrass loves the heat and has exploded seemingly overnight.

The reason I recommend a higher setting for the mower is to keep the grass drought tolerant and the soil temperature cooler so crabgrass germination is less likely.

Perhaps you'd feel better to know that even with my mower on it's highest setting I still have crabgrass on some edges of my lawn near the pavement, but it is minimal and easily pulled.

Some will preach corn gluten as a pre-emergent in May, but I am not one of those people.  Having used this product in various forms, I am here to tell you, it simply isn't effective enough and in my opinion a waste of money.

Your best plan is to either pull it out now, or wait until this annual weed dies in the fall. Then reseed the area with predominately perennial rye grasses. Personally I'm really taking a shine to a product called CPR (creeping perennial rye).

Wow, that's a lot on your plate, but remember we still have August and the next wave of grubs to deal with. Have a great summer.

Ladies and gentlemen....THE BEETLES!

I'm not sure which of these is George, but let's hope this year they are both the quiet one.

Suffice it to say, this is not your parent's Ed Sullivan performance and the only screaming I've heard in recent years is that of the home owner crying to the heavens as their lawn slowly became a grub buffet.

Last year lawns disappeared faster than political approval ratings.

The good news? With the cooler weather this year, insect development is a month behind schedule. However, vigilance is key and you should be on the lookout for excessive night flights by the European Chafer and Japanese Beetle as they prepare to mate and lay eggs...yes, in your lawn.

Now, four grubs per square foot is no big deal and damage will not be evident until you hit the 10 psf threshold. At that point treatment is highly recommended.

Although there are new controls on the horizon, currently your only defense are nematodes and believe me, I'm not happy about it either.

As stated in previous posts, mid August to the end of September is your best window of opportunity to allow second generation nematodes to do their thing and hopefully eradicate up to 70% of the larvae before they can over-winter in your soil.

But you must remember timing isn't everything in this case.  UV, expiration dates, proper storage until use and water, water, water must be taken into strong consideration when applying.

As far as damage is concerned, you should see it come August. Look for circular bled patches of grass that do not respond to watering. In time, these patches will snake outward and the grass will lift quite easily like a carpet.

The best advice I can give you, if you see this damage don't Let it Be, otherwise your turf will have a Long and Winding Road to recovery.

Not my Cullen-ary choice

Finally we have come through the toughest part of our season and I have to say, the weather has been pretty good to the lawn care industry thus far. The mostly cooler temps, timely rainfall and...unlike last year...we haven't had to play catch-up with the weeds.

In all, the lawns we've been servicing for a few years are lush and green with few weeds.

The grass with the help of seeding and aerations have recovered nicely from earlier grub issues. The Guelph Turf Grass Institute doesn't seem to think grubs will be much of a nuisance this year...and definitely not the destruction we saw the past two years for sure.

However, I was troubled when I received an email from a frantic customer a couple of weeks back. She was one of the unlucky ones who lost a good portion of her lawn to grubs last year and booked a nematode treatment for mid August this season.

Why was she panicking now? Because Mark Cullen said the time to apply nematodes was mid June. She even sent me the link so I could see for myself, but the damage was done. Her trust in me was gone because Cullen is her guru, her god, her Gordon Ramsey to my short-order cook.

First of all, Mark Cullen should know better...that's right Cullen...I'm calling you out!
I am surprised you are not more versed in nematode application.

So I sent my customer the link for the Guelph Turf Grass Institute, the one that said unless you were exempt under the bylaw there was nothing you could do until mid August at the earliest when treating grubs.

Even my supplier asked me if I'd like to order my nematodes now for August- not purchase- order.

So who to believe?

I'm not saying Mark Cullen isn't knowledgeable, but he is wrong on this point and could have cost me a customer with the B.S. entrée he's serving.

Since nematodes are currently the only product on the market to combat grubs it is important that the consumer be made aware of proper timing and application. Yet, strange as it may seem, the following information was not present on Cullen's news letter.

You must first understand you are dealing with a living organism with nematodes. They have a shelf-life. So pay attention to expiration dates.
Keep refrigerated until use.
Do not apply in sunlight. UV kills them.
Must, must, must water after the application for 3 to 4 days to flush these microscopic worms into the soil.

The unfortunate casualty in all this, is the misinformed consumer who is being spoon-fed this erroneous gruel as well as being told they need different strains of nematodes for various problems--- grubs, chinch bug, sod webworm, leather jackets.

By the time you've picked up all four products that's about $200.00 out-of-pocket for 3,000 square feet of turf.

And even if you follow application instructions, to the letter, you are still only looking at 30% control, if you're lucky, for a June application.

Tell me, would you drop two C-notes on a hockey game if you knew you'd only see one period?

The best case scenario in all this would be if there was a more effective grub control on the market. One where you don't have to worry about timing, weather, refrigeration etc.

Oh, wait a moment! I forgot to tell you about Met 52!

A new product for insect control which is being fast-forwarded through the approval process. 

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is the Canadian regulatory body responsible for registering pesticides for public use.  Among other things,  they determine to what extent the pesticide may be effective for the Canadian market and whether it provides an additional pesticide option that adds to the products already available.  In this case, the PMRA is quite attentive to the lack of viable insecticides for the landscape and retail market and has sped up the approval process for a new insecticide that is environmentally friendly.

This insecticide is currently called  MET  52 but will probably go to the market under another name.  It is effective against both grubs and chinch bug but needs to be applied separately to control these pests.  Chinch bug is a surface feeder and grubs are root feeders, so the first application would need to be left on the surface and the second would need to be watered in.

Under normal due process, this insecticide would have become available in 2014 or 2015.  However, results to date demonstrate that the insecticide is insect specific and environmentally friendly so there is a very real likelihood this product will be on the market in the next 2-3 months.  Indications are that it will certainly be available as a liquid and there is some chance, but maybe not immediately, that it will also be packaged as a granular. 

So beware manufacturers of nematodes. Your days may be numbered. I for one believe I speak for many in the industry, it can't come soon enough. Remember Sarritor the first great organic weed control that wasn't. That's right....Sarritor who?

So fleece the unsuspecting while you can, soon there will be a new item on the menu. It's about time we had a product that was more palatable.

If it smells like manure...

This week I came across a few startling revelations I would like to share with you.

A young man approached me while I was doing an application and asked if we were hiring.

As I took his information he told me he currently worked for one of the bigger lawn companies and wanted to find employment elsewhere.

There's no need to tell you which one, because some of the things he told me were practiced by my former employers as well and they were much smaller. You are either reputable, or you're far from it if you ask me.

I then asked him what he was looking to make pay-wise and he said he and all his fellow employees worked on commission only.

Commission only!

Ever wonder why your hear of a lawn technician running through the application? Well now you know. The more work the more pay.

In fact he said, "there's a lot of Ghosting going on too."

For those of you who aren't familiar with this term, it's when you find an invoice in your mail box but no application was ever performed.

Does that answer the question about how the technician got over your locked gate to the back yard with a spreader and why your weeds look just as bad?

Come to think of it, the lawn company I used to work for never questioned, not even once, when one of our guys came back to the office daily around 2:00 PM with 40 jobs done.

The young man also informed me on all the products they used- mostly the same as us- yet, the one I found interesting was the spring fertilizer -36-0-5.

WOW! That's a lot of nitrogen to feed the lawn out of the gate, but don't take my word for it.

FERTILIZING: A few of the biggest mistakes made when it comes to using fertilizers is not only using the right mixture, but using the right quantity and applying it at the right time of the year. Often times when spring comes around people feel a need to fertilize their lawns in hopes of seeing a green plush lawn as soon as possible. Too much fertilizer, especially with high levels of soluble nitrogen fertilizer, tends to increase thatch problems and leaves lawns more prone to insect and disease. Or, worse yet, you will literally burn your lawn.

I guess that's when the grub, surface insect and aeration up-sell kicks in?

I asked him with all this going on weren't they worried about their image. I mean there are a ton of sites dedicated to informing potential customers through the reviews of others.

However, when you see several positive reviews followed by some that are not so favourable you have to ask questions. Especially when there are sites like this one:
http://www.ReviewShowcase.com  for Reviews and Reputation Service.

1. Positive reviews increase your business rank by linking important and relevant websites to your website.

2. A constant stream of positive reviews improves your online reputation.

3. Positive reviews drive traffic to your business.

4. Positive reviews restore a tarnished reputation by pushing down negative reviews and links.

5. Helps protect against competitors or anyone else from attempting to run your ranking.

So that's how some companies have been able to improve their reputation in only the past few months on sites like Homestars? They've been paying for it! Some, are getting positive reviews from areas they don't even service.

With the ever changing landscape of the lawn care industry where social media plays an increasing roll in success, or failure, it's no wonder everyone is looking for any trick, or gimmick to gain the upper hand on the competition.

That said, in my opinion, there is no replacement for hard work, honesty and excellent customer service.

Remember it is up to you, the potential customer, to do your homework before choosing a company that fits your needs. Otherwise you might find yourself standing it in the midst of a most unpleasant olfactory sent.