How to Pick the Best Kansas City Lawn Service.

Whether you're an experienced gardener, or just a home-owner wanting to increase your curb appeal, this article will help you to pick the very best lawn service available to you. Now is the most important time for lawn care. If you're unsure about what type of company to hire, here's some surefire tips to get you going.

Make sure the company you're working with offers free service calls. Most herbicides have got a 2 week residual. If a company is treating 4-7 times a year, there will be lots of opportunities for new weeds to come in. Make sure that your lawn service company covers all different types of weeds. Some companies charge extra for weeds like crabgrass and nutgrass. Make sure your company uses granular fertilizer. Liquid fertilizer is easy to water down. With granular, you can see exactly what they put down.

Make sure your company is private owned. Publicly owned companies have the burden of producing profit for their shareholders, while privately owned companies can focus on their customers. DONT GET RIPPED OFF! A standard 5,000 square foot yard should run somewhere around $50 for each treatment. A good way to determine the quality of service you'll get is to call the company on the phone and see how many buttons you have to press to get a real person on the phone. This doesn't apply to some of the bigger companies as you will never get a real person on the phone.<br>

Make sure your company offers a pre-emergent. Pre-emergent weed control stops grassy weeds from germinating in the spring. Without an effective pre-emergent, you'll be fighting crabgrass all year long. Make sure they're treating for turf pests. Army worms, sod web worm, chinch bugs, and any others that will chew up your grass.

Make sure your company offers seeding. Even with the correct fertilizer and an efficient weed control process, seeding will be needed for some yards to look their best. And that's it! With a little caution, you can have a great lawn service company!

As a side note, you will probably want to go with a local company. Lawns are different from place to place and only a local company can give you the customized results you are looking for. Also, it seems that many of the large corporate companies are unwilling to go the extra mile when a problem does come up.

If you live in the KC area, you may want to check out the page listed below.

Kansas City Lawn Care

Kansas City Lawn Care

Chapter 4: Grub Worms

Grub worms

Beetle larvae that are small (1/2-1
inch  long) and white are commonly known as "white grubs"  The worst pests include the Asiatic, June and Japanese beetles as well as masked chafers. Starting in spring, as newly hatched larvae, they eat the  grass roots of the lawn, decreasing the turf’s tolerance to minor drought, heat  and other stresses. The grubs create wilted and dry patches that can eventually lead to the plants dying off.  

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As grubs can live as far as 6 inches under the soil, a long acting pesticide is needed.  I hate to be repetitive but, slow release granular will do the trick.  Apply at the begining of the summer, and check to see if repitition is needed in the early fall.

If you are getting large circular patches of dead grass that pull up like carpet, you've got grubs!

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This is the correct way to check for grub damage.  If you have more than 6 grubs in 1 square foot, your lawn is in serious danger.

Check often as grubs can do hundreds of dollars worth of damage overnight.

If you are having a grub control issue, feel free to visit Pro Turf Lawn Service at the following links.

Kansas City Lawn CareOmaha Nebraska Lawn CareSt Louis Lawn Care

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Chapter 3: Weed Control

Weed Control

For those of you that recognize the yellow nutsedge to the left, I'm sorry to hear it. You'll soon learn that ANY weed can be taken care of if YOU take care when selecting your products.  In this section,  I'll discuss the main types of herbicides you'll need, tips on how to select them, and proper methods of application.






The basic four types.Broadleaf- selective liquid herbicide 

When properly selected, covers ALL types of annual broadleaf weeds.  Does not include broadleaf perrenials such as wild violet, creeping charlie, and wild strawberry.

Grassy weed- selective liquid herbicide.A pre-emergent should be applied when the soil temperature reaches 51 degrees.  This is because grassy weed seeds (which there are MILLIONS of in every yard) germinate between 51 and 55 degrees.  An effective pre-emegent, when properly timed, will stop about 80 percent of grassy weeds from germinating. Try and find a granular as it will last longer.
Post emergent herbicide should be applied promptly do deal with most types of grassy weeds.
The only exeptions to the rule are nutsedge, bermuda, and zoysia.
Many times repeat applications are necessary. If the lawn is checked weekly, grassy weeds won't be a problem into the summer.

Selective Nutsedge Herbicide.
This one's important. If you have nutsedge, or you've seen it anywhere near your property, you need to have this on hand. Nutsedge is a nasty, quick growing, quick spreading, menace.
It grows 5 times faster than turf grass.
It spreads quicker when you pull the tops.
It goes to seed in four days flat!
Apply generously, repeat, repeat.

Round it Up!
If all else fails, round it up!  Necessary for wild violets and strawberries, bermuda grass, zoysia grass, and creeping charlie.  Destroy a 5 foot perimeter. Wait 6 weeks. Destroy it again if needed.

And that's weed control!

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Chapter 2: Lawn Fertilization

Chapter 2: Lawn Fertilization.

Fertilization Made Easy

Fertilization is a major part of maintaining a healthy lawn.  Without fertilization, we may get a green lawn, but there's no way we can get it as unnaturally thick as we like to see it.

Let's talk types.

In a nutshell, we have three different main types of fertilizer.

Liquid fertilizer- Very effective for restoring a stressed area.  Not effective for the entire lawn or long term results.  You guessed it! It washes away.The benefits last 5-7 days.

Quick release granular-  The package may not say "quick release" but if it doesn't say "slow release", this is what you're looking at.  A rapid release granular fertilizer carries a benefit of 14-20 days.  Not ideal for entire plots as it would need to be applied far too often.  Also, it is VERY easy to burn your lawn with a rapid release.  This is the type we usually see on sale for "a really good price".

Slow release granular-  The ideal fertilizer for plots of turf grass.  Slow release carries a benefit of up to 6 weeks.  Almost no risk of burning your lawn.  John Deere makes a good line.

Five simple applications.

Early Spring-Wake it up!!!  High nitrogen, slow release, granular.  No risk of burning the lawn when it's cold and rainy.  Pour on the nitrogen and start the year with the greenest lawn on the block! Should be applied right when you start to see green.

Late spring-The transition.  Reduce Nitrogen content by half.  Also start iron with this application.  Again, it's rainy and not too hot yet, pour on the nitrogen to boost blade production, and start iron to begin strengthening crowns for the summer heat.  This application should be applied when the soil temp, one inch beneath the surface, reaches 51 degrees. We'll talk about why in  the "weed control" section.

Early summer- 
Balance it out. A balanced granular is needed for early summer to promote taproot growth that happens during the summer heat.  Also continue iron with this application to fully prepare the crowns. This application should go down 6 weeks after the late spring treatment.

Late summer-Don't fertilize.  You will probably burn your yard.

Early fall-Continue with balanced fertilizer. Stop the iron. Cut nitrogen in half again.
A balanced fertilizer is going to continue to strengthen the roots. Cut the iron, as the crowns are as big as they need to be.  With the days getting shorter, some nitrogen is needed for the blades to recover from the heat, but we don't want too much blade production this time of year. Cut it in half again. Generally, I do this application after the first good rain in august.

Late fall-The blades will begin to go dormant.  The crowns will dry out. The feeder roots will freeze.  We ar left with a taproot.  It will continue to grow RAPIDLY, if it is fertilized.  Balanced fert.  Cut Nitrogen in half again (as a small amount is needed for the taproot to grow as quickly as it wants to.)   Apply when the tops start going dormant.  (brown patches)

And that's fertilization!

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Chapter 1: Clay Heavy Soil

Welcome to the Midwest Lawn Care Guide!

Chapter 1:  Clay-heavy soil and the solution.

Hello and welcome. I sincerely appreciate you stopping by!
My name is Vernon. I'm a 4th generation farmer, born and raised in the midwest.  I don't believe there's ANYONE who hates weeds more than me.
You might be here looking for the "trick" to keeping a nice lawn.
There's no trick.

There ARE a few "common sense" rules to maintaining your lawn that I am happy to share with anyone who is interested.





Let's start with our conditions.The midwest is one of the most challenging areas of the country for lawn treatment.
*We have very clay-heavy soil.

*We have three different climate systems meeting right on top of us.

*We are the only region in the country where BOTH cold and hot weather varieties of weeds can  thrive.

*Our weather patterns are IDEAL for the different stages of grubworm development.Are we having fun yet?
Let's discuss the clay first.
Clay heavy soil is only a problem if you let it become one.  There are two "common sense" rules to follow.

On the farm, we use cover-crops to condition the soil.  When alfalfa is planted, the tap roots grow thick, and straight down.  When they die, the roots dry out,  leaving channels of air penetrating deep into the ground, and adding nitrogen to the soil through decomposition.  If I didn't work the soil to break up the clay, my next crop would fail.

The same is true for your lawn.  When clay packs in too tight, feeder roots that grow along the surface  cannot grow.  The tap roots that grow straight down are the plant's source for gaining water.  Large cracks, that appear in clay heavy soil, have the ability to carry water far below the reach of the tap roots.

The Solution?Please sign up for 10 month instructional course below.....  Just kidding!!!

Core Aeration.
Core Aeration pulls 2"-3" plugs of soil out of your lawn, and lays them on top.  This will leave thousands of channels for water, nutrients, and oxygen (needed for the micro-organisms responsible for decomposition).

*As a side note, it WILL look like you own a LOT of cats, until you get a good heavy rain.

Not all Aeration is created equal!
Let's go over some things to avoid.
DONT aerate when the lawn is too dry.  Not looking for mud, but a 15 minute presoak will leave the soil soft enough to pull deeper plugs.

DONT aerate in the spring.  I know that golf courses aerate constantly.  They also put down expensive fungicide with each application. Aerating any time other than fall will open your lawn up to disease.

DONT hire a neighborhood kid.  Chances are, the machine he is using is not the one you need.  Also, aerators are dangerous.  I talked with a lady not long ago that had a neighbor boy puch a hole through his foot.  Guess who was responsible?

DONT use a tine aerator. These basically just force small pins into the ground and rip them out. the ONLY decompression that takes place is when the machine pulls large clods of dirt out of the ground. Terrible for the root system.

DONT use a belt-driven machine.  Belts will slip and blades will stop before cutting a deep enough plug.  Piston-driven is the way to go.

DONT hurt your back. An effective machine can weigh upwards of 300 lbs.  The motion of the pistons will fight you the ENTIRE time. Also, when you hit a rock, the machine will jump off the ground.  If your unsure, play it safe. I know of a few companies that use good machines.  It's costly, but less expensive than a chiropractor.

And that's aeration!
The second major problem for clay-heavy soil is acidity.
For soil that is not heavy with clay, acidity is not as much of an issue. When water can run freely through the soil, acidity is neutralized naturally.  With clay, it's the opposite.  Stay with me; we're gonna get a little scientific.  Clay and sodium hold opposite charges.  The two will cling to one another naturally.  The higher the acidity of the soil, the stronger the bond between the two.  The stronger the bond, the tighter the soil.  As an added issue, too much sodium will kill your grass.

The solution?Lime, consisting of calcium and magnesium, will reduce the acidity of the soil. Most turf grasses do best at a PH between 6.5 and 7. A soil test is needed to determine acidity, however, if there is a distinct purple tinge as you look out over your grass, acidity is almost definitely the problem.  Some lawnmen and old farmers, (not this one) can eyeball the cracks in the soil and determine acidity by how quickly the soil seperates during a dry spell.

And that's Lime!

Please feel free to explore the other pages of my blog for more info on all topics lawn care!




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