Lawn Care Program
The TruGreen program consists of six specifically designed and seasonally scheduled service visits. Your Lawn Care Specialist is trained to recognize and treat a variety of disease, insect and weed problems and recommend proper maintenance practices to help your lawn derive the most benefit from our scheduled lawn care applications. Your six scheduled applications for the year may include the following*:
- Balanced fertilizer to promote new growth and help thicken the turf;
- Herbicide to control broadleaf weeds;
- Pre-emergent to help control germination of crabgrass and other annual grassy weeds;
- Iron and other micronutrients to enhance color.
*Pre-emergence is used in the spring applications only. Fertilizer may be applied in dry granule form depending on temperature at the time of the application. The late fall application (Round 6) does not contain herbicide and is not available in Lead or Deadwood.
Tree & Shrub Care Program
Trees and shrubs are a large part of your landscape investment. Our Tree & Shrub Care Program is designed to protect your landscaped plants from insects and disease and provide nutrients to keep them healthy so they can reach their full potential. The full Tree & Shrub Care Program consists of five applications timed just right for optimum results and may include:
- Balanced fertilizer to promote plant health and vigor (Spring and Fall only);
- Insecticide and fungicide to prevent or control insect and disease infestation;
- Dormant oil (November-March) for control and prevention of damage from overwintering pests.
Insect Control & Prevention
Armed with knowledge of the life cycle and biology of turfgrass insect pests, your lawn care professional is able to forsee problems before they reach damaging stages. Close examination of grass blades and thatch as well as the telltale signs of animals or birds feeding on the lawn are signs of a need for pest control.
Not all insects are bad for your lawn. Some will actually feed on harmful pests and some help in recycling organic material. Each pest has an “action threshold” where the number of pests per square foot is such that pesticide use is needed. This threshold differs even between species of a certain type of insect. This is why proper identification of insects is crucial.
Preventive measures involve the use of pesticides before a problem occurs, which means that treatment may or may not be necessary. Curative measures involve the selective use of pesticides which will contain pest populations at a level where there will be a minimal amount of damage.
Disease Control & Prevention
Environmental conditions, turf condition and disease organisms combine to bring about diseased turf. Symptoms can often be confused with the effects of over-fertilizing, insects, or too much or too little water. Early detection of a disease should be diagnosed by a trained lawn technician that has a thorough knowledge of the signs and symptoms of the disease as well as the environmental conditions which give rise to it.
Preventative application of fungicides is only recommended where the environmental conditions are such that disease development seems imminent. It is better to apply fungicides when disease has become evident and before it spreads.
Three types of fungicides are available:
- Contact fungicides remain on the surface of plants and kill spores that come into contact with it;
- Systemic fungicides move from leaves to roots and have a longer residual period than contact types;
- Penetrants enter the plants like systemic types and act to prevent the growth of pathogens.
Core Aeration
Core aeration is a beneficial service provided by TruGreen to improve the health and vigor of your lawn. Cores of soil, approximately 5/8″ in diameter and 2-4 inches long, are pulled from the soil by a core aeration machine. By allowing the cores to remain on the ground, they will be broken down by rainfall, irrigation or your lawn mower.
Benefits of core aeration include:
- Increases penetration of water, air and nutrients into the soil;
- Encourages root growth by loosening the soil;
- Soil fungi and bacteria are released when soil disintegrates helping to degrade thatch;
- Overseeding can follow core aeration if there is a need to seed an existing lawn.
The result is a lawn that has a better response to our regular lawn care program, with healthier growth above and below the ground. Please note that some lawns may require an aeration twice per year – once in the spring and once in the fall. Click here to reserve your spot on our list of aerations.
