Lawn Service - treatment - NOT mowing (Mart: neighborhood, allergies)

[oceangaia]

Any recommendations for a good local lawn service. I'm not talking about the weekly mowing, edging, and sweeping. I mean lawn analysis, overseeding, fertilizing, and weed control.

I have heard about Scotts and TruGreen but both (esp. Scotts) have tons of negative reviews on the internet about poor customer service, billing problems, clueless technicians, and lousy performance results. I would prefer a local "little guy" who knows how to identify and correct problems.

[Mom2Feebs]

I would go to Teas or Cornelius Nurseries and ask them who they recommend.

[CanTex]

After battling brown patch last year with expensive self-applied fungicides with no good results (recommended by a nursery), I gave in to trying TruGreen.

A year later, I honestly do have the best looking lawn in the neighborhood. Half of my neighbors didn't stay on top of the cinch bugs during the latest hot spell, and they have large dead areas to show for it. My lawn is thick and green, thatch in control, no diseases, no bugs killling it off. It's not a cheap service (and my lot is close to an acre), but it is worth it to me. The test will be if this rainy weather lasts for an extended period and we start to see the fungal diseases like last year... but TruGreen already applied something during their latest treatment to stay ahead of this.

[Wysiwyg]

I don't believe in diseases killing grass and causing brown patches. its grass. the small brown patches i got this year were caused by not providing enough water - i literally see withered patches come back to life as soon as I water them but when i forgot to check on them during consecutive hot days a small section died. I believe this section of the ground drains faster than the others. One other small brown patch I have is an effect of cutting the grass too short. Basically some lawn clippings collect under the leaves and overtime you'll end up cutting the root system of whatever was growing in that elevated patch.
a few months later theyre all green and alive, no dead patches thanks to cloudiness. even my neighbor with a 100% dead brown yard has some type of grass growing now LOL

[tstone]

''Brown patch'' is caused by fungus that starts multiplying this time of year. When the first 'shrooms of late summer start popping up (or when my dog's allergies flare up) it's time to start applying the anti-fungal granules. Fung-away works fine for me.

In the spring & early summer, the generic Bonus S (29-3-4) from Wal-Mart + a lot of water works great, too.