What's springing up?

Spring is here. Birds are chirping. The weather is warming up. And the grass is getting greener — literally.

That means lawn care operators are busy gearing up for another grueling season of combatting common weeds, pests and diseases creeping up in their customers’ turf while also managing those customers’ expectations accordingly.

According to some LCOs and turfgrass specialists, contractors can expect business as usual around the country this spring in terms of spring weeds and pests.

“Usually, crabgrass and other annual grassy weeds are basically what lawn care operators deal with when they go out for round one and are making their fertilizer and herbicide applications,” says David Gardner, professor of turfgrass science at The Ohio State University. “Typically, it’s in April, but sometimes it can be March depending on what part of the country you’re in.”

In Pennsylvania, Tim Sheppard, owner of Soil Shepherds, says his team is ready to hit the ground running. They’re expecting to be dealing with such things as hairy bittercress, red dead nettle, creeping Charlie, common chickweed and common groundsel.

“We’re ready to go,” Sheppard says. “It’s all about the soil temperatures reaching that 40-45 degree mark, which traditionally happens around the first or second week of March.”

Andrew Iverstine, owner of the South Carolina-based Iverstine Outdoors, says the weeds most common for his crews to combat are also crabgrass, nutsedge, poa annua, poa trivialis, dallis grass and doveweed.

And some of these are becoming worse problems each and every year.

“We used to have 10% of yards we treat that had poa annua and poa trivialis,” Iverstine says. “But it’s almost 50% now.”

That’s true out west too, where Dr. Alec Kowalewski, associate professor at Oregon State University, says crabgrass is continuing to be a problem.

“We have a lot more crabgrass in the Pacific Northwest than we’ve had in the past,” he says. “It’s reached a point now where it’s gone from being a new weed to a common spring weed. I think a lot of people are going to be a little surprised by it and have trouble identifying it this season.”

But crabgrass isn’t the only weed prevalent in the Pacific Northwest.

“We always battle with moss coming out of the winter and another common weed for us is false dandelions — it’s probably our most common broadleaf weed,” Kowalewski says.

Gardner adds that across the country, but especially in the Northeast, more mild winters with above average temperatures can also contribute to more weeds come springtime.

“The winters have been more pleasant and not quite as cold or snowy, so it’s also a more hospitable environment for the winter annual broadleaf weeds,” he says. “These are weeds that germinate in the fall, persist vegetatively over the winter and then they grow very fast, flower and set seed in the spring.”

Gardner says this is especially true of weeds like henbit, chickweed and hairy bittercress.

Persistent pests

In terms of pests, Gardner says to expect white grub to be a problem this spring.

“The one insect or pest that people pay the most attention to are white grubs,” he notes. “That application typically doesn’t go down until July. The products we apply, they don’t persist for that long and so if you apply them too early, there’s a chance there won’t be a sufficient amount of it left when the insects is actually a problem.”

Kowalewski says that as pesticide regulations expand up north in Canada, the Pacific Northwest will continue to see more insects traveling their way.

“We are seeing more billbugs in the Pacific Northwest,” he says. “They’re migrating slowly over time. A lot of insects are coming down from British Columbia because you cannot apply pesticides to turf grass in BC anymore. Every year we see a little bit more.”

But when it comes to treating lawns for these creatures, Sheppard and Iverstine are in agreement that the only pest control done is what’s best for the plant.

“That’s not nature — nature has insects,” Iverstine. “We only do pest control if it’s for the purpose of the plant.”

“The main method of building healthy soil is really a quality compost.”

— Tim Sheppard, owner of Soil Shepherds

Sheppard adds that because he offers regenerative landscaping through sustainable practices, most of his clients are calling him because they want more pests, not less.

“In terms of pests, there’s nothing I’m doing in terms of treating chemically,” he says. “It’s funny — my customers actually pay me to have pests come to their property…The common example is milkweed that brings on Monarch butterflies and tons of others. That’s what my customers want.”

Preventative measures

Whether it’s weeds or pests that have your customers calling, Kowalewski says spring is the perfect time to be selling lawn care and pest packages.

“I think it’s a fantastic time,” he says. “In the Northwest, grass starts to grow really hard and people really start to think about their lawns. It’s a great time for preemergent herbicide applications and fertilizer applications. So, it’s a good time to start marketing service.”

He adds those pre-emergent herbicides are great for the crabgrass and moss growing up in the Pacific Northwest.

“A lot of times we will tell people to spray the moss with an iron-based product or a fatty acid soap-based product and then dethatch the moss out,” he says. “When we have thin areas of turf that will get crabgrass in the summer, we will suggest a preemergence herbicide application and fertilization to make the grass dense and prevent the crabgrass from coming in.”

Iverstine agrees that now’s the time to be pounding the pavement in terms of lawn care customers.

“For us, it’s early spring and late summer that we get the most calls,” Iverstine says.

He adds that the biggest influx of customers comes between February 15 and Easter. Iverstine says that customers who call later in the season are troublesome simply just because the treatment takes more time and supplies.

Sheppard says the lawns he treats tend to green up faster in the spring than his competitors.

“My lawns start to green up in March, whereas anybody using the traditional model, their lawn won’t green up until that first treatment is done, which is typically closer to April,” he says.

Sheppard adds this is due in large part to building healthy soil for his customers.

“The main method of building healthy soil is really a quality compost, he says. “I’m fortunate that where I live in Kennett Square, it’s the mushroom capital of the world. So, there’s a place that takes the mushroom soil and add in a lot of greens and they make an organic compost that I can buy in bulk and use that as a top dressing both on lawns and in the landscape.

“It’s about preventing the weed seeds from germinating versus dealing with them post-germination,” Sheppard adds. “A lot of that comes down to promoting healthy soil. It’s not about killing the weed — so if somebody has crabgrass growing, what do you do? You can come in and spray it, but I’m not just trying to kill it. I’ll put down extra compost in those areas, and by balancing the soil, it won’t germinate.”

And while the spring will be a busy time of year for LCOs, Gardner says true weed control should start in the fall.

“The best course of action is to attempt to control them in the fall after they’ve germinated and are still really tiny,” he says. “Fall applications can control those.”

Perception is key

But even with proper care, Iverstine and Sheppard say the true challenge in lawn care comes to effectively educating their client.

“For us, the hardest thing to educate customers on is that in lawn care, you’re solving your problems four months before they happen,” Iverstine says. “That’s how you properly manage lawns. You’re treating them before the problems happen. But your customers, and influx of sales opportunities, show up when the problem is there.”

Iverstine adds that this comes down to being prompt and proactive with communication rather than reactive.

“It’s more about communication than education,” he says. “My customers are much more receptive to those things that are difficult or out of our control if I’m telling them about the problem before they see the problem. It’s harder to educate somebody afterwards when they’re blaming you for their expectations.”

Sheppard says the best way to show off his regenerative approach to lawn care is online, where current and prospective customers can learn more about his method.

He adds that just throwing facts at them in person can be overwhelming and doesn’t really let the value sink in. The Soil Shepherds YouTube Channel alone has over 1,000 followers and 37 informative videos.

“There’s 1 billion living organisms in a teaspoon of soil — it’s such a staggering number that people don’t believe it,” he says. “That’s where I started making the YouTube videos.”

The author is associate editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.