Lawn Care Applications (Dunn: home, neighborhood, buy)

[Sal_M]

We have been doing our own lawn care including treatment applications. I have always used a spreader for this as it is a granular product. Recently I have been seeing multiple lawn care companies in my neighborhood using liquid applications on my neighbors' lawns. I am curious if any one has a lawn care company and are they using liquid applications? If so, what are the benefits? Thank you.

[wheelsup]

From a lawn mx marketing site:

The case for liquid. Using liquid fertilizers has helped with client perception. When selling a service, you never want to make a client feel that they can do the same job them-selves. When one of our 500 gallon spray trucks arrives at a client’s home and the technician begins spraying, value is truly added.

The client just feels that they can’t do it themselves. I liken it to when you dine out for brick oven pizza. I don’t care how good I can make pizza at home, it does not compare to eating pizza just cooked in a 600-degree brick oven. The service experience is there in spraying rather that applying granular. You wow the client and make them feel that they are receiving value that they could never attain.

Interesting, huh? Emphasis is mine.

[lifeofJenn]

Look at the lawns.

In my neighborhood, the three best lawns belong to homeowners who do all the Lawn Care Applications & maintenance themselves.

I've had various vendors come by soliciting, but I can SEE that the lawns they work on don't look as good as the neighbors mentioned above.

I will say (from what I've learned) a good lawn doesn't happen overnight, so it may not always be a fair comparison- but based on our neighborhood I've realized I CAN do it just as well myself. I've been asking the neighbors with good looking lawns for advice on what they use, how they do it, and when they fertilize/spray for weeds/or add fresh seed =).

My advise is to look at the lawns in your neighborhood- and then ask those residents what they do or what service they use.

[RedZin]

We have a company that does ours. It's not that we cannot do it. It's more that we don't want to do it and don't have time to do much yard work.

Our lawn is pretty much flawless.

[Sal_M]

LifeorJenn and RedZin are either you or the company you are using liquid applications? We will continue to do the lawn maintenance ourselves but I am just trying to gauge if there is any benefit to using a liquid application vs granular. I didn't know if it required less water to absorb and thereby was a preferred method by the town of county to save water, etc...

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by Sal_M

LifeorJenn and RedZin are either you or the company you are using liquid applications? We will continue to do the lawn maintenance ourselves but I am just trying to gauge if there is any benefit to using a liquid application vs granular. I didn't know if it required less water to absorb and thereby was a preferred method by the town of county to save water, etc...

Did you bother to read the link I quoted ? It answers your questions re: dry vs liquid

[luv4horses]

Liquid applications allow for foliar uptake of the fertilizer. That means that the green shoots get access to the fertilizer right away and it remedies any nitrogen deficiencies very quickly. Pelleted applications end up on top of the soil where they need to dissolve before they are washed down into the soil, where they are accessible by the root of the plants. This may take a little longer for the plant to be able to use the fertilizer to build healthy plant components but is particularly good for uptake of the phosphorous and potassium components. Either way a good fertilizer will make the plant healthy. Pellets are more concentrated, though, and should only be applied to dry lawns so they don't dissolve on top of the shoots and 'burn' them in the sunlight.

[local2rtp]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

From a lawn mx marketing site:

Interesting, huh? Emphasis is mine.

+1

I had the same thought. Looks like its already been articulated on the net.

OP - It isn't like the plants are thirsty, waiting for immediate liquid nourishment as these maintenance companies would have us believe. The granules work fine but make sure you buy the non-burn variety. The maintenance companies do not offer much that you can't do yourself (assuming you have the time, inclination, and physical strength).

[RedZin]

Originally Posted by Sal_M

LifeorJenn and RedZin are either you or the company you are using liquid applications? We will continue to do the lawn maintenance ourselves but I am just trying to gauge if there is any benefit to using a liquid application vs granular. I didn't know if it required less water to absorb and thereby was a preferred method by the town of county to save water, etc...

Our company uses liquid. The grass looks great. No clue whether it's any better or worse than if the company uses granular, though. We did want a company that used less harsh products, though. That's how we chose our company. We've had them over a year and really like them. We do have an irrigation system. Dunno if that makes a difference or not as far as what type of treatments we use.

[gal83]

Perhaps using liquid is better for lawn care companies as it equates to less effort / fast application. I just switched to a lawn care company and noticed that they are putting a combination of pre and post emergent with fertilizer in the Spring application. It is easier to mix everything in a tank and just spray the thing.