Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Spring Fever

There is only one kind of fever that we should look forward to, and that is spring fever. Our industry will be challenged to keep moving forward once we see an uptick in customers arriving at the garden centers. Consumers spending more time outside in your yard, brings a heightened awareness to extra tasks. With favorable weather across most of the USA, the homeowner is well ahead of clean up chores and chomping at the bit to get their lawns in shape. 

Lawn Care Dilemma

Are we ahead of schedule or not there just yet? If magnolia trees and forsythia are in bloom, it’s time to begin working in the yard. Temperature plays an important measure of timing. This year, the average temperatures have been 8 degrees warmer than normal in many regions.  There are some products that are perfect to use for preventing crabgrass when making a late application to prevent. Dimension is a trademarked chemical that works to prevent and kill crabgrass that germinates up to the second set of leaves. Usually any pre-emergent crabgrass application is applied within two weeks of the forsythia flower drop off. You can bet that post emergent solutions will have more demand due to the late start by many consumers. 

Newer technology offers some unique combination weed control products. These are granular applications that treat for crabgrass AND broadleaf weeds. Lebanon Spring Fertilizer with Weed Control & Crabgrass Preventer 24-0-6 is a complete food that lasts up to 12 weeks without excessive growth. Without the early fertilizer application in the lawn, all types of weeds begin to grow where soil is exposed in your lawn. Jonathan Green and Bonide also offer fantastic premium fertilizers that prevent crabgrass (with Dimension).

If your lawn has been consistently healthy without major weed issues, you may be able to ward off weeds naturally with a slow and steady diet of organic nutrients. There are a few noteworthy products to mention: Milorgonite, Ringer Lawn Restore, and Espoma All Season Lawn Food. Maintaining a healthy lawn is possible with scheduled feedings and spot treating visible weeds. The thicker the grass in your lawn, the less likely weed seeds will have access to sunlight to germinate. Cutting your grass at the correct height is also a must for success. Lowering the mower blade level and scalping grass tops will encourage disease, produce more weeds, heat buildup, and likely excessive watering.

Natural Broadleaf Weed Control

Corn gluten meal has been a proven broadleaf weed preventer that was successfully field tested as far back as 1974 at Iowa State University. One of the most unique products over the past decade, you may offer Espoma Weed Preventer 9-0-0 or Sustane Spring Weed & Feed 9-0-0 as an organic alternative for weed control that is safe for children and pets, too!

Starting Over

A basic knowledge of lawn care can go a long way towards success or failure. If you feel you need to start over, it all starts with a good grass seed that lasts years, not months. There are many perennial types to choose from: perennial, bluegrass, tall fescue, hard fescue, and special use types like poa trivialis, zoysia, and bentgrass. Avoid grass seed that is predominately annual grass seed unless you want quick coverage for a short duration. When you read a package label, it is either a blend (a combination of the same type of grass variety) a mixture (a combination of different type grass varieties) or one specific variety. To make it easier to sell consumers, grass seed packages are generally labelled for what consumers need for their home. Sunny, shady, sun & shade, bluegrass, drought tolerant, quick grow, sod quality, dense shade, might need a place on the shelf for these reasons. Some grass seeds are versatile enough to be used for both sun & shade (the most commonly sold grass seed in stores). The selection process can be difficult without asking your customer some questions about their grass conditions. 

The Final Word

Having the correct pH in your yard is important to ensuring that the fertilizer you put down will perform correctly. If the soil is too acidic, you will need to recommend lime to your customer, preferably a quick acting lime. Once applied at the correct rate, grass seed needs to germinate by contacting seed to the soil along with needed moisture. Your fertilizer choice for starting a new lawn or renovating existing grass, should be a quality starter fertilizer formulated for lawns. These specific fertilizers include needed phosphorous for enhancing root growth when seeding. This is the second number of the fertilizer formula. Espoma, Greenview, and Jonathan Green offer high quality lawn starters. Do not use a crabgrass preventer fertilizer UNLESS it is labeled for new lawn seeding. This specific type of pre-emergent chemical (Tupersan) is safe for seeding while preventing crabgrass. Greenview and Jonathan Green make a terrific crabgrass preventer and starter product for retail sales. It may cost a few dollars more out of pocket in the beginning, but it saves you time and more money in controlling future weeds. 



Great Lawn Care Products


Weed Preventer 9-0-0 25lb
No 80030083

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All Season Lawn Food 9-0-0 14lb
No 80030126

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All Season Lawn Food 9-0-0 28lb
No 80030125

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Crabgrass Preventer and Fertilizer Granuals 5M
No 80100109

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Crabgrass Preventer and Fertilizer Granuals 15M
No 80100110

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Sun and Shade Grass Seed 3lb
No 80100086

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Sun and Shade Grass Seed 7lb
No 80100087

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Spring Fertilizer with Weed Control & Crabgrass Preventer 24-0-6 5M
No 80350003

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spring Fertilizer with Weed Control & Crabgrass Preventer 24-0-6 10M
No 80350004

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Spring Weed & Feed 9-0-0 30lb
No 80950007

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Ringer 0% Phosphate Lawn Restore Fertilizer 25lb
No 80191457

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Green-Up Lawn Food & Crabgrass Preventer 20-0-3 5M
No 81430160

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Green-Up Lawn Food & Crabgrass Preventer 20-0-3 15M
No 81430161

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Black and Beauty Sun and Shade 1lb
No 81430048

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Black and Beauty Sun and Shade 3lb
No 81430014

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Black and Beauty Sun and Shade 7lb
No 81430050

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Black and Beauty Sun and Shade 15lb
No 81430051

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