Selecting a Lawn Service
If you are thinking of hiring a professional lawn service, you’re not alone; lawn services are popular and extremely helpful to the busy family. But, how do you decide which company to hire? At Straw Hat Lawn & Landscape, we think it is important to talk with a lawn care service company representative, and ask him or her these questions:
1. Will you make custom applications, based on what my lawn needs and when it needs it? If not, will you treat my lawn the same as all other lawns on the firm’s program? If so, how many treatments will you make and when will you make them? Ideally, the firm should use soil testing to determine the type and amount of fertilizer your lawn needs.
2. What kind of fertilizer will your firm use? What is the fertilizer’s analysis? Analysis is the percent nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in a fertilizer.
3. How many pounds of actual nitrogen will they apply per one thousand square feet of lawn surface area over the course of the entire season?
4. Do you use a slow-release or fast-release fertilizer? Fast-release fertilizers give quick greening and often a flush of growth, but they quickly exhaust their nutrients. Slow-release fertilizers, on the other hand, release their nutrients slowly over a long period of time. They do not, however, provide the quick greening that fast-release fertilizers do. Many good quality fertilizer formulations are actually a mixture of fast and slow-release components.
5. When will you apply the fertilizer? Lawns should not be fertilized during hot, dry weather when fertilizer can actually harm the lawn.
6. What kind of weed killers does your firm use? When and how often will you apply them? Broadleaf lawn weed killers should be applied in mid-spring and early fall, when broadleaf weeds are actively growing. Often your lawn only needs spot treatments for broadleaf weeds, rather than a broadcast treatment over the entire lawn. Broadleaf weed killer applications during hot, dry weather are usually ineffective, as are applications too early in spring or too late in fall. Crabgrass herbicides should be applied in early spring, late April in most of Wisconsin, before crabgrass seeds begin to germinate.
7. Are the firm’s applicators licensed and certified to make commercial pesticide applications? In Wisconsin, by law, all lawn service applicators that apply pesticides, including weed killers, must be licensed and certified.
Professional Lawn Maintenance is a major investment in your home. A thorough interview will insure you receive quality professional Lawn Care.
Straw Hat Lawn & Landscape - Lawn Service
leave a comment