When you sign up for professional lawn care services in the spring, you’re truly setting up your grass to succeed all season long. Your lawn care technician does so much more than you may realize.
Essential Spring Lawn Care Services Your Technician Will Perform
1. Fertilization
Fertilizing our lawns is often something we don’t do often enough. It’s frequently becomes something that only happens when we think to ourselves: “Oh yeah, it’s been a while. I should probably fertilize the grass.” Our turfgrass needs nutrients in the same way people need vitamins. When your lawn is deprived of the essential minerals, it can impede your lawn’s growth rate, color, and overall health.
Your lawn care tech will apply a fertilizer that contains a ratio of the three key elements: nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K). Referred to as “macronutrients” in the lawn care industry, these humble minerals help your grass with different vital functions required for life.
Why Fertilization Is Important
Nitrogen – helps with rapid growth, which is ideal for adding to lawns in spring and kickstart the growing season. It also helps with leaf development, chlorophyll formation, and photosynthesis.
Phosphorous – needed for early root growth, seed formation, and reaching full maturity.
Potassium – helps grass regulate its processes, like root growth and stem formation; makes it more tolerant to stress and drought.
2. Core Aeration And Overseeding
Because we are blessed with mostly good weather here, we can grow several grass types in Georgia. Both warm-season and cool-season varietals will do just fine, but only if the soil is hospitable. If your soil is compacted, your lawn care tech will perform something known as core aeration. This process uses a specialized machine to drill hundreds of tiny holes in your lawn.
Why Aeration Is Important
If your soil is compacted, these holes break it up so water, air, nutrients, and sunlight can penetrate down into the lawn’s root system.
You’ll know your soil is compacted if it’s:
– Hard and a trowel can’t easily dig into it
– Your turfgrass looks thin or has completely bare patches
– There’s excessive thatch build-up
3. Set Your Lawn Up For Long-term Success
Your lawn care technician will know just what your grass needs to keep it green and vibrant all year.
Why The Big Picture Matters In Lawn Care
A fertilizer application is not a one-and-done thing. As the seasons change, so too does the needs of your lawn. An unpredicted weather event, like excessive rain, might wash away nutrients. In this example, your lawn care technician would know how to adjust for this. Papa Turf’s 7-step lawn care program is designed to deliver nutrients and care to your lawn throughout the year!
4. Seasonal Weed Control
Your lawn service technician can use both pre-emergent and post-emergent sprays to target annual and perennial seasonal broadleaf weaves and also out of control grasses.
Common weeds in Georgia include:
• Crabgrass
• Yellow nutsedge
• Clover
• Dandelions
Why Weed Control Is Important
Some weeds spread by dispersing seeds above ground. Everyone is familiar with the white fuzzy dandelion heads that easily blow away in the wind. However, many weeds spread through robust root systems beneath the soil. This means, even if you manually dig it out of your lawn, you may not get to the root of the problem – pun intended. Our team of lawn care techs is trained to identify and treat all manner of weeds before they take over your turfgrass and spot treat later incase some weeds managed to survive.
Pre-emergent herbicide – This will target weeds before they begin to germinate.
Post-emergent herbicide – A spot treatment that kills off adult, germinating weeds.
5. Lime Applications
No, not the citrus fruit. Lime is a mineral that is used to correct imbalances in your soil’s pH level.
Why Lime Applications Are Important
Remember those key nutrients we discussed earlier? If your soil leans to the acidic side of the pH scale, it won’t be able to absorb those minerals. This means you could waste time and money applying fertilizer that your grass won’t be receptive to. A lime application will balance the pH and correct this problem.
Bonus Benefit: One Call Solves It All
When you opt for professional lawn care services, you can sit back and relax.
Why A One-Stop-Shop Approach To Lawn Care Matters
Testing your soil, researching fertilizers, renting and operating an aerator, and everything else that goes into maintaining a healthy lawn costs not only money but also time. And as the old saying goes: time is money. When you leave it to the professionals, you don’t have to spend hours figuring out best practices and implementing them. All you have to do is enjoy a lush, green yard.
How To Schedule Lawn Care Service In Metro Atlanta
If you’re interested in learning more about any of the beneficial services we’ve discussed or ready to sign up for a program, call the pros at Papa Turf. We offer a 7-step lawn care package, as well as core aeration and weed control for Atlanta-area residents. You can reach us at 770-389-0884 or contact us online here.