[kur1j]

So this was the original video.

https://youtu.be/RzF3aUQlTOk It was back on June 26th. It is documenting my issues and questions.

Today I just did another video with what has changed (not much unfortunately). Still the same perpetual issues.
https://youtu.be/-NBxhbjUY-g - Part 1 (video cut off bc phone died as it was overheating in sun).
https://youtu.be/SZgAYrYwaYw - Part 2

So i guess the most irritating part of my lawn for me is how inconsistent the entire yard is. While in certain areas it might look like i'm scalping the yard part of it seems to me that 3 feet over it's perfectly green (look at side of house in part 1) and then not 3 feet away I cut it no different and it looks brown and splotchy where half the sprigs or grass is mixed in with green grass. It just seem nothing is consistent. Parts are growing other parts aren't. Do i have too much thatch, not watering enough, not enough fertilizer, not aerated, is there stiff under the ground that's restricting growth. It's just I don't know why everything is so wildly different not 3 feet away from each other. The grass doesnt seem like it's thriving and really growing (see the dead spots, a month later not hardly anything different). Strips of dead/void spots where the sod wasn't put together all the way, still hasn't filled in and it's been installed in november, and has all season to grow. What is going on? I know I'm not doing the fertilization but what else am i missing? Could the trugreen be putting growing restriction chemicals to help me in "not needing to mow as often"? Is that a thing? i'm just throwing darts at this point. I feel like in this month no progress at all has been made really and am looking for anything. Any suggestions?

https://imgur.com/a/PjAj0 Here are my results from my soil test. This was before trugreen did their application of fertilizer. I did another soil sample a week after they did their treatment and am waiting in results to come back to see if i'm still low on anything.

I feel there are so many small issues that I don't know where to start to tackle to get this looking nice, consistent and green turf.

Any suggestions on where to start?

 

[jayhawk]

Great videos and nice yard - rather flat and not too big to manage or too small that you can't throw the football around. you're at the right place, plenty of Bermuda owners here.

Grass is rather young as a whole, right? I wonder if trugreen was aware of the maturity of the grass ...if they applied a pre-emergent (wouldn't be advisable if grass was sodded this season)? if they did, root development might be retarded and being younger sod, it may be drying out and the grass may need more water than say a more mature lawn.

the bare strip - that was my thought - did they spill some chemicals. I had a contractor clean his paint supplies in my yard and the grass is sill bare there. I may dig it up and replace with fresh soil. Could also have something buried close to the surface there too.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Good suggestions there jayhawk.

I heard a saying a long time ago that still holds true to a lot of problems that I face, and that is, "The hardest part about anything is finding a starting point." The Six Sigma training that I took to get my green belt was working the "5 Why's", and that helps with Root Cause Analysis (pardon the pun). Here's a brief overview of that methodology.

I tend to be pretty analytical when it comes to figuring out problems, and I find that charting helps me come up with solutions, and a plan of action. I'd suggest doing that. Start out listing the issues that you have, and this is just a start:

1. Why is the grass thin in this particular area?
2. What's underneath the "death strip?
3. Why is the grass green right by the sprinkler, yet 2' away, it's thin and not as green?
4. What is TruGreen actually applying to my lawn?
5. How long do my zones have to run in order to deliver at least 1" of water? (Insert tuna can audit post here)
6. How much sunlight is this portion of the lawn actually getting daily?
7. What is the condition of the portion of the lawn by the sidewalk, and how does that compare to my lawn?

These are just a few points that I could think of off of the top of my head. Now, if I'd have to speculate regarding the overall condition of the yard is that it's struggling to get rooted. There's no telling how long the sod sat on the pallets before they unrolled it and put it on the ground and then got water on it. Did it dry out? A majority of it is alive, and it's trying to establish roots in your soil. The fact that your soil sample indicates that your phosphorous is low might be a telling sign of where it wouldn't hurt to give it some assistance. I'm willing to bet that TruGreen is NOT applying any P to your yard at all. Find out what they're putting down, and amend your lawn accordingly. With Bermuda, you're not going to hurt it at all by throwing down a 16-16-16, as recommended by Unibest.

That being said, I'd encourage you to reach out to your county extension agent, and get a soil sample done by them, and ask the agent to come by your place and present the same questions to him/her. The nice thing is that the samples are usually $6-$8, and not $25 like Soil Savvy. You'd be amazed with the amount of advice that they'll be able to provide, as well as give you prudent information on how to handle your soil at your residence, and if you're lucky, you'll get a soil scientist like I've got in my county! I hope this gives you a starting point; keep us updated with what you think your course of action should/and is going to be.

 

[kur1j]

Great videos and nice yard - rather flat and not too big to manage or too small that you can't throw the football around. you're at the right place, plenty of Bermuda owners here.

Grass is rather young as a whole, right? I wonder if trugreen was aware of the maturity of the grass ...if they applied a pre-emergent (wouldn't be advisable if grass was sodded this season)? if they did, root development might be retarded and being younger sod, it may be drying out and the grass may need more water than say a more mature lawn.

the bare strip - that was my thought - did they spill some chemicals. I had a contractor clean his paint supplies in my yard and the grass is sill bare there. I may dig it up and replace with fresh soil. Could also have something buried close to the surface there too.

Thanks, appreciate it. I do like the size, some things about it are a little annoying of the placement of stuff but, hey got to have a little bit of a challenge right?

Yes this is a brand new construction house. It was completed in November. The entire neighborhood is brand new. They sure as hell know it's brand new because the company (its a local trugreen type company) works closely with the builder and gets notified to come and advertise to us as soon as the house closes as they do the termite bonds. That starts and we get the guy coming to our house advertising their other services. I was getting married in 2 months, moving into a new home, getting other stuff settled in and didn't feel i had the time to properly research how to keep control of the lawn. So I got their lawn care (weed and fertilizer) service for the first year to give me time to learn it all, so here I am. Now that I know more Im not all that impressed. But live and learn.

That was a long way of saying, yes they applied pre emergents, because they just follow the most generic schedule. The guy rides around on his scooter fertilizer spreader and spot treats weeds and then fertilizes all the yards that have service, He misses about half the weeds.

I'm 99% sure something was dropped there. It was all green back in early May, they treated in June and it turned brown. As did around the bottom part of the house like you saw in first video. The "death strip" is still there but the grass next to the house has almost recovered. It's almost like he glyphosated it.

While this isn't a direct image of it you can clearly see it's still green down the side of the house and there is no "death strip"

http://imgur.com/Hpm94

This was back in May. You can also see that first bare spot I show in the update video. Still there haha. Which is part of of my frustration, after 2.5 months figured it would be closed up st this point.

My plan for the "death strip" is to go rip up all the dead grass, strip it to soil, aerate it by hand, throw some sand and topsoil and fertilizer and see what happens.

Thanks CK. I feel that I'm documenting my problems like you suggested, and asking the "why" but unfortunately I don't know enough to feel I can know the answer, just not enough experience yet I feel.

You pretty much covered the majority of the questions in your list and I can answer most of them but not all.

1. I don't know this wish I knew so i could correct it.
2. Plan to rip it up and see (see my explanation above of what I play on doing)
3. Same as #1 possibly related. I am throwing darts and hoping it sticks.
4. No idea but I can call and ask, but at this point they have one application left for the summer and the contract is over, so it won't really matter for much longer.
5. I have already done a water audit and I can get 1" in roughly 30 min of watering in locations that get hit the least.
6. The front, back and left side of house get at least 6-8 hours of sun, the right side (looking from the road) gets decent amount of light except in that one small location (already planning on ripping it up).
7. I assume you are talking about the really nice green looking section I mentioned in the video, if so, I don't know why/how that is different. I unfortunately haven't done anything to the yard myself so I don't know why that is looking good. I hate to go digging up everywhere that looks like crap though to "test" theories. But not sure how else to do it.

Thanks for the suggestion about trugreen, i'll plan to call and see what they use on the yard and supplement it myself.

My other plan is to get the yard aerated. It's imo SUPER compacted. I also believe that there are rocks, cement and other debris in certain locations that's not helping me, unfortunately without ripping up what I do have I don't know how else to do it.

I would love that. How would i find my local extension? Is that common practice, if coming out? Would they come out for a small fee and answer any questions?

Thanks again for all the tips and help. I really appreciate it. I plan on keeping up with updates on my progress (like the videos).

Maybe one day I'll be on the other end of this conversation .

 

[Colonel K0rn]

We're here to help each other, and that's why I love forums where we share the same interests. :thumbup:
I was giving the #'s as an example of questions you could write on a list for you to make, and then start expanding on those, utilizing some common rational thinking, not being particular to any one area, i.e why is the grass thin in this area, and not here? One thing that I've found in the past is to get some surveyors flags that you can pick up at Lowe's/HD and put them in areas that you're wanting to keep an eye on, or to monitor. Establish a control area, then make one change (aerate, water by hand a little more, fertilize, etc) the other areas. Make a map, and document what you're doing to those areas. The more methodical you can be about your changes, the more likely you'll find a solution to that particular problem.

One thing I thought about is that you could go ahead treat the sedge that you visibly see in the yard. Go ahead and pick up some Sedgehammer from www.domyown.com or Amazon. Prime is a wonderful thing! I can almost guarantee TruGreen isn't going to treat that from the information that you've given regarding your dissatisfaction with their service.

Here's the link for Madison County's Cooperative Extension Office. It looks like the person to talk to would be Rhonda Britton. Choose your method of contact, I find email to be very convenient.

One more thing, and I've got to get to sleep. It's been a long day for me. I think these two points might have merit for your situation. LCN had his latest video where he was walking along in his old town with Jake, and he made some good points about (1.) how to look at the sidewalk to see what's going on in a lawn, and (2.) why seeded lawns always look better than sodded lawns. 8:20 for the first point, and 13:27 for the second. Jake kinda creeps me out the way he's looking at the camera over Allyn's shoulder :shock:

 

[kur1j]

We're here to help each other, and that's why I love forums where we share the same interests. :thumbup:
I was giving the #'s as an example of questions you could write on a list for you to make, and then start expanding on those, utilizing some common rational thinking, not being particular to any one area, i.e why is the grass thin in this area, and not here? One thing that I've found in the past is to get some surveyors flags that you can pick up at Lowe's/HD and put them in areas that you're wanting to keep an eye on, or to monitor. Establish a control area, then make one change (aerate, water by hand a little more, fertilize, etc) the other areas. Make a map, and document what you're doing to those areas. The more methodical you can be about your changes, the more likely you'll find a solution to that particular problem.

One thing I thought about is that you could go ahead treat the sedge that you visibly see in the yard. Go ahead and pick up some Sedgehammer from www.domyown.com or Amazon. Prime is a wonderful thing! I can almost guarantee TruGreen isn't going to treat that from the information that you've given regarding your dissatisfaction with their service.

Here's the link for Madison County's Cooperative Extension Office. It looks like the person to talk to would be Rhonda Britton. Choose your method of contact, I find email to be very convenient.

One more thing, and I've got to get to sleep. It's been a long day for me. I think these two points might have merit for your situation. LCN had his latest video where he was walking along in his old town with Jake, and he made some good points about (1.) how to look at the sidewalk to see what's going on in a lawn, and (2.) why seeded lawns always look better than sodded lawns. 8:20 for the first point, and 13:27 for the second. Jake kinda creeps me out the way he's looking at the camera over Allyn's shoulder :shock:

Thanks! Yeah, I understood what you were saying but was just answering those questions directly as some of them I already knew an answer to, the others I feel i'm pretty clueless.

I did go ask Waynes (Trugreen company) and they said they are applying 25-2-10. So you are right, they aren't hardly applying any P to the yard to help stimulate root growth. I did want to go buy all the stuff to lay fertilizer down...but looks like i'll be getting a spreader here to supplement what waynes is doing. Funny enough, the areas that I have hand fertilized, looks really green. I just hope it isn't a mental game I'm seeing. The stuff changes so slow it can really bias you on what is really going on.

Thanks for the links for the extension office. I'll shoot them an email. Also thanks for the link the LCN video. I'll give it a watch. I have watched almost all of his videos except some of his newer ones. As always thanks again.

 

[csbutler]

We're here to help each other, and that's why I love forums where we share the same interests. :thumbup:
I was giving the #'s as an example of questions you could write on a list for you to make, and then start expanding on those, utilizing some common rational thinking, not being particular to any one area, i.e why is the grass thin in this area, and not here? One thing that I've found in the past is to get some surveyors flags that you can pick up at Lowe's/HD and put them in areas that you're wanting to keep an eye on, or to monitor. Establish a control area, then make one change (aerate, water by hand a little more, fertilize, etc) the other areas. Make a map, and document what you're doing to those areas. The more methodical you can be about your changes, the more likely you'll find a solution to that particular problem.

One thing I thought about is that you could go ahead treat the sedge that you visibly see in the yard. Go ahead and pick up some Sedgehammer from www.domyown.com or Amazon. Prime is a wonderful thing! I can almost guarantee TruGreen isn't going to treat that from the information that you've given regarding your dissatisfaction with their service.

Here's the link for Madison County's Cooperative Extension Office. It looks like the person to talk to would be Rhonda Britton. Choose your method of contact, I find email to be very convenient.

One more thing, and I've got to get to sleep. It's been a long day for me. I think these two points might have merit for your situation. LCN had his latest video where he was walking along in his old town with Jake, and he made some good points about (1.) how to look at the sidewalk to see what's going on in a lawn, and (2.) why seeded lawns always look better than sodded lawns. 8:20 for the first point, and 13:27 for the second. Jake kinda creeps me out the way he's looking at the camera over Allyn's shoulder :shock:

Thanks! Yeah, I understood what you were saying but was just answering those questions directly as some of them I already knew an answer to, the others I feel i'm pretty clueless.

I did go ask Waynes (Trugreen company) and they said they are applying 25-2-10. So you are right, they aren't hardly applying any P to the yard to help stimulate root growth. I did want to go buy all the stuff to lay fertilizer down...but looks like i'll be getting a spreader here to supplement what waynes is doing. Funny enough, the areas that I have hand fertilized, looks really green. I just hope it isn't a mental game I'm seeing. The stuff changes so slow it can really bias you on what is really going on.

Thanks for the links for the extension office. I'll shoot them an email. Also thanks for the link the LCN video. I'll give it a watch. I have watched almost all of his videos except some of his newer ones. As always thanks again.

My wife and I purchased our home in February and almost as soon as we moved in Waynes was calling. I didn't think I'd have time to manage the yard this year and I also had crabgrass popping up everywhere so I signed up. I ended up canceling at the first of June because they couldn't kill the crabgrass even though they said they could. Not to mention they would leave clumps or fertilizer in the yard and all over my drive way.



I ordered some drive xlr8 and the crabgrass was dead in about a week. Ever since then I've just been giving it milo and water. I would definitely aerate when you can. I had immediate and amazing results.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

I'd be really upset that the tech didn't clean that mess up before they left. That's really careless, and shows blatant disregard to treat the customer right. That being said, I actually had the same thing happen to me last week, when I had the Scott's spreader I was using hit a hole I haven't filled in the yard, causing it to lurch forward and to the left, dumping about 10# of 12-4-8 on the ground. Thankfully, I had just mowed, so I could see it fairly easily, and I hadn't made multiple passes yet, so I brought my shop vac out to that portion of the lawn. I removed the bag, vacuumed the entire area that the pile was in, and dumped the contents back into the spreader. Upon closer inspection of the spreader, I saw that the carriage bolt that goes in the handle wasn't seated all the way, and what I thought was tight, really wasn't. The fall actually creased one of the handles, and now it's back at the store I bought it from. I'm buying an Earthways spreader.

 

[kur1j]

I'd be really upset that the tech didn't clean that mess up before they left. That's really careless, and shows blatant disregard to treat the customer right. That being said, I actually had the same thing happen to me last week, when I had the Scott's spreader I was using hit a hole I haven't filled in the yard, causing it to lurch forward and to the left, dumping about 10# of 12-4-8 on the ground. Thankfully, I had just mowed, so I could see it fairly easily, and I hadn't made multiple passes yet, so I brought my shop vac out to that portion of the lawn. I removed the bag, vacuumed the entire area that the pile was in, and dumped the contents back into the spreader. Upon closer inspection of the spreader, I saw that the carriage bolt that goes in the handle wasn't seated all the way, and what I thought was tight, really wasn't. The fall actually creased one of the handles, and now it's back at the store I bought it from. I'm buying an Earthways spreader.

I was about to buy an earthway spreader myself. For the size of my lawn do you think the 2250 is big enough? Or do you think i should get the 2170? I think the only difference is that the 70 is slightly bigger in that it can hold 100lbs of fertilizer instead of 70.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

I just bought a 2170 off of zoro.com, and that's the one that a lot of the people here have and recommend. For the price difference, and the fact that you usually take your lawn tools with you when you move, I'd say get the larger one that you can afford; buy it once and be done. Then again, you could always go with the Lesco, but since you just got the powered reel mower, you might be a little strapped haha

BTW, if you do decide to get that one off of zoro.com, be advised that the 20% off coupon is only good for one order.

 

[kur1j]

I just bought a 2170 off of zoro.com, and that's the one that a lot of the people here have and recommend. For the price difference, and the fact that you usually take your lawn tools with you when you move, I'd say get the larger one that you can afford; buy it once and be done. Then again, you could always go with the Lesco, but since you just got the powered reel mower, you might be a little strapped haha

BTW, if you do decide to get that one off of zoro.com, be advised that the 20% off coupon is only good for one order.

Thanks. Yeah, the only major thing I have left to really get IMO is a sprayer. I was planning on getting a cheap 1gallon for spot spraying and a larger one for full yard. The only thing I can think of that I might need to do full yard spray is preemergent. But I think that is in the spring if I remember correctly.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Nothing wrong with that, I also just ordered a 4 gallon sprayer for further torture in the yard It seems like a lot of the other dudes on here are buying the Chapin push sprayer, and trying to work out the kinks on theirs, and modifying them as well.

There's a really good thread about a noob bermuda schedule here. Ware wrote a good reply about application schedules, as well as links to a few university articles about our grass.

 

[Iriasj2009]

Okay I finally had the chance to sit down and listen to all your videos and read your entire post.
I basically think you need a reset on your lawn. And no I don't mean a renovation. I'm not sure how much time you want to put into your Bermuda lawn, but it can be a high input lawn depending on mowing height and overall expectations. Even for a low input Bermuda lawn. Mowing at 1", with a weed free lawn is very achievable with minimal input/time.

You will have to, In No particular order:
A.) mow 2 times a week at minimum. More if you're getting lots of rain.
B.) apply preemergent twice a year.
C.)scalp and detach at the beggining of the season.
D.)use certainty/sedghanmer for sedge and celcius for everything else as needed.
E.)Fertilize every 4-6 weeks with a SLOW RELEASE fertilizer. Fast release is like a shot of fertilizer and then your left with a hungry lawn.
F.)water the lawn.

My suggestions.
1.) FIRE TRUGREEN. They applied things that should've not been applied like premergent and in my opinion herbicides. Your lawn was just too young. Fertilization is probably also deficient with the amount of rain/irrigation you're getting. Also if they are using fast release fertilizer once a month, that's not enough. Anyways, if you need someone to do your fertilization/weed treatment, have them apply only what you specify them to apply. I can explain slow vs fast release fertilizers in depth later.

2.)Have patience. this is not a 1 month or even 2 month fix. It will take some time but we can definitely get there. I think your Bermuda is just stressed out being that it is such a young lawn and was also treated with preeemergent as it was said before, definitely retarded the growth.

3. Stop using any herbicides, for now. let's focus on getting your Bermuda growing strong. Yes you will have some weeds but soon they will be a thing if the past.

4. Mow your lawn as low as possible scalp as we discussed on the other thread), fertilize, and keep up with the mowing. Let see what happens from there. We will deal with any trouble spots later.

Final Thoughts:
The inconsistency has to do with preemergent/herbicide use, possibly fungus with the amount of rain/ lack of fertilizer. Dead spots (like the dead strip) might be something else but let's correct those once the lawn is growing strong. I also doubt you have thatch problems being that it's s young lawn.

What to do next:
scalp the lawn and aerate it if you can find someone to do it but 220 is prob a fair price (they have to make their money) and fertilize . I've paid 70 for rental and saved money on labor since I did it my self.

Again,
You can do all of this once you get your hands on all the right equipment. Reel mower was a big step.
For now that's all I have and I'll answer any questions you may have.

 

[Iriasj2009]

Nothing wrong with that, I also just ordered a 4 gallon sprayer for further torture in the yard It seems like a lot of the other dudes on here are buying the Chapin push sprayer, and trying to work out the kinks on theirs, and modifying them as well.

There's a really good thread about a noob bermuda schedule here. Ware wrote a good reply about application schedules, as well as links to a few university articles about our grass.

Great link!!

 

[kur1j]

Okay I finally had the chance to sit down and listen to all your videos and read your entire post.
I basically think you need a reset on your lawn. And no I don't mean a renovation. I'm not sure how much time you want to put into your Bermuda lawn, but it can be a high input lawn depending on mowing height and overall expectations. Even for a low input Bermuda lawn. Mowing at 1", with a weed free lawn is very achievable with minimal input/time.

You will have to, In No particular order:
A.) mow 2 times a week at minimum. More if you're getting lots of rain.
B.) apply preemergent twice a year.
C.)scalp and detach at the beggining of the season.
D.)use certainty/sedghanmer for sedge and celcius for everything else as needed.
E.)Fertilize every 4-6 weeks with a SLOW RELEASE fertilizer. Fast release is like a shot of fertilizer and then your left with a hungry lawn.
F.)water the lawn.

My suggestions.
1.) FIRE TRUGREEN. They applied things that should've not been applied like premergent and in my opinion herbicides. Your lawn was just too young. Fertilization is probably also deficient with the amount of rain/irrigation you're getting. Also if they are using fast release fertilizer once a month, that's not enough. Anyways, if you need someone to do your fertilization/weed treatment, have them apply only what you specify them to apply. I can explain slow vs fast release fertilizers in depth later.

2.)Have patience. this is not a 1 month or even 2 month fix. It will take some time but we can definitely get there. I think your Bermuda is just stressed out being that it is such a young lawn and was also treated with preeemergent as it was said before, definitely retarded the growth.

3. Stop using any herbicides, for now. let's focus on getting your Bermuda growing strong. Yes you will have some weeds but soon they will be a thing if the past.

4. Mow your lawn as low as possible scalp as we discussed on the other thread), fertilize, and keep up with the mowing. Let see what happens from there. We will deal with any trouble spots later.

Final Thoughts:
The inconsistency has to do with preemergent/herbicide use, possibly fungus with the amount of rain/ lack of fertilizer. Dead spots (like the dead strip) might be something else but let's correct those once the lawn is growing strong. I also doubt you have thatch problems being that it's s young lawn.

What to do next:
scalp the lawn and aerate it if you can find someone to do it but 220 is prob a fair price (they have to make their money) and fertilize . I've paid 70 for rental and saved money on labor since I did it my self.

Again,
You can do all of this once you get your hands on all the right equipment. Reel mower was a big step.
For now that's all I have and I'll answer any questions you may have.

Awesome! Thanks for the information. I have no problems with taking 2, 3, 4 months or however long it needs, but I just like to make progress. I plan on scalping ASAP. I am knocking out one of your items on the list as I am having the yard aerated this Monday. I also plan on talking to Wayne's again to either ask them to only apply what I ask or to stop coming. It is a stupid contract so I will probably forfeit all of that money, unfortunately.

 

[Iriasj2009]

Great! As for your contract, definitely finish off the year, but only ask to fertilize for now. I really think you can tackle fertilization on your own after the contract is over. Can you find out what kind of fertilizer they are applying? I know you said a 25-2-10 but I'm curious to see if he knows how much slow/ fast realease nitrogen it contains.

 

[kur1j]

Great! As for your contract, definitely finish off the year, but only ask to fertilize for now. I really think you can tackle fertilization on your own after the contract is over. Can you find out what kind of fertilizer they are applying? I know you said a 25-2-10 but I'm curious to see if he knows how much slow/ fast realease nitrogen it contains.

I asked for the brand, type (fast/slow), NPK and his rate he was applying it. I got a response of 25-2-10 and that was it. He either doesn't want to tell me, doesn't know, or doesn't want to be bothered with me.

Oh I am definitely wanting to do this on my own. The contract runs out in November (when we moved in). It I didn't know how to do the yard care at the time, we were getting married 2 months later, had a whole bunch of other stuff going on at the time so I did that for a year. Told myself it would buy me time to research and do it properly myself. Here I am .

 

[Iriasj2009]

I asked for the brand, type (fast/slow), NPK and his rate he was applying it. I got a response of 25-2-10 and that was it. He either doesn't want to tell me, doesn't know, or doesn't want to be bothered with me.

Oh I am definitely wanting to do this on my own. The contract runs out in November (when we moved in). It I didn't know how to do the yard care at the time, we were getting married 2 months later, had a whole bunch of other stuff going on at the time so I did that for a year. Told myself it would buy me time to research and do it properly myself. Here I am .

Okay no big deal. As long as he fertilizes once a month, we should be good. Maybe we can push a little bit more fertilizer after you scalp.

There's nothing wrong with paying someone to do something for you. Heck, if I could just pay someone to apply exactly what I want them to apply, I would but I'm too cheap to pay someone. Also depends on the size of your lawn. I think Yours is a great size to do it on your own, without spending all of your time on the lawn. Right now I'm mowing every 3 days and only takes me 15 mins to do so and I edge every Saturday. Fert/and other random treatments are done once every 4-6 weeks. Now I'm spending more time on the garden.

 

[kur1j]

I asked for the brand, type (fast/slow), NPK and his rate he was applying it. I got a response of 25-2-10 and that was it. He either doesn't want to tell me, doesn't know, or doesn't want to be bothered with me.

Oh I am definitely wanting to do this on my own. The contract runs out in November (when we moved in). It I didn't know how to do the yard care at the time, we were getting married 2 months later, had a whole bunch of other stuff going on at the time so I did that for a year. Told myself it would buy me time to research and do it properly myself. Here I am .

Okay no big deal. As long as he fertilizes once a month, we should be good. Maybe we can push a little bit more fertilizer after you scalp.

There's nothing wrong with paying someone to do something for you. Heck, if I could just pay someone to apply exactly what I want them to apply, I would but I'm too cheap to pay someone. Also depends on the size of your lawn. I think Yours is a great size to do it on your own, without spending all of your time on the lawn. Right now I'm mowing every 3 days and only takes me 15 mins to do so and I edge every Saturday. Fert/and other random treatments are done once every 4-6 weeks. Now I'm spending more time on the garden.

Unfortunately they usually only come once every 6-8 weeks. The new application won't be for another 2 weeks or so.

I don't have a problem with paying anyone either but when I have to monitor them and then when i ask them questions and they don't know and want to BS me then that's what i feel i don't need to deal with that and just rather do it myself. Plus at this point I am enjoying mowing and messing with stuff.

I'm having the lawn aerated today. Will see how this turns out.

 

[Iriasj2009]

Makes sense. Take some pics for us.
Also, Buy a bag of starter fertilizer, something 1-1-0 or 1-2-0 ratio and apply it at full rate after they aerate.