Remember to Remove the Leaves!

Leaf removal is not only essential from an aesthetic perspective, but also for agronomic reasons. Although turf grass growth slows or ceases during this time of year, the plant will continue to photosynthesize (create nutrients/energy). This energy is stored to be used the following year. When leaves are left on Fescue grass, this reduces the ability to photosynthesize by shading available light. Leaf removal is most important with newly seeded lawns, since the young grass will die without light more quickly than the established turf. Leaves that remain on Fescue seedlings can also increase rot conditions by creating a dark, damp climate that will smother out weaker plants. Leaf removal should be done on a regular basis (every 7 to 10 days) as opposed to waiting until all the leaves have fallen and collecting them all at once. While young grass is still around, you're better off using a blower to remove leaves, since a rake can injure the young grass or remove seedlings from the soil. The collected leaves can be composted to make good organic matter for gardening, or they can be used as a mulch layer in natural areas.

We want to keep our customers up to date on seasonal tips for your lawn and landscape. Continue to visit our website throughout the year to find additional information. And, as always, thank you for being a King GREEN customer. We appreciate your business.

Office Day Out

In August, we closed the office and headed to Helen for a day of fun on the river.  Every year, each department gets a day off to partake in some sort of activity.  This year, the service department went to Atlanta Motor Sports Park to race go carts and we went tubing and out to lunch in Helen.  I always look forward to our outings.  It's nice to be able to relax with your co-workers and not worry about work for the day!

**Disclaimer-Amanda and I took all of these photos...with a waterproof camera.  Waterproof cameras apparently do not produce top quality photos.  I've edited a lot of these so you can see the subject of the photos, making them look like I've applied several instagram filters :).

Amanda found the perfect tube! Tori is in her shadow...

Getting ready to load the bus

The guys having a very important conversation

Bus ride over to the drop-off

The above pictures are from floating down the river and another selfie from Amanda

Group shot of almost everyone at the end of the river

(back row l to r: Megan, Tori, Tom, Bill, Michele)

(front row l to r: Amanda, Tabitha, Ashley, Kriste, Jennifer, and Shannon)

We dried off and went to lunch across the street.  After lunch, some of us walked around Helen to check out the stores.  It was a fun day out of the office; can't wait for next year!

Why Aeration and Seeding is Important for Fescue Turf

Aeration and seeding is immensely important if you have a fescue lawn. Why?, you ask. Well, fescue doesn't self germinate.  Fescue is not going to re-populate barren or brown areas.  Throughout the year, those areas will remain barren.  At least until the weeds take over.  Even if your lawn is treated with weed control, weeds tend to fill in areas that are not populated by turf.  Most simply, a healthy fescue lawn is a lawn that is cared for throughout the year, and aerated and seeded every fall.  We recommend the following steps to keep your fescue lawn looking great. 

• Maintain your lawn throughout the year with pre and post emergent weed control, fertilizer, and lime
• Water appropriately (don't over or under water or water during humid daytime hours)
• Mow your lawn properly 
• If your lawn is prone to brown patch disease, treat with a fungicide 
• Aerate and seed annually 

Occasionally, other factors could affect the health of your lawn; but more often than not, the above listed tips are all you need to know.  For more information about aeration and seeding, click here.

A Day in the Life- Episode 2: Chris Calefate

Next up on my tour de King Green is Chris Calefate.  Chris is a service manager at our Gainesville, GA branch.  He's been with King Green over 10 years.   Chris lives in Gainesville with his girlfriend (yours truly) and our dog, Akela (check her out in the pic below, she's pretty cute!).  He's a huge football fan rooting for both of his hometown teams, the Georgia Bulldogs and the Falcons.  A typical day for Chris varies.  He handles a myriad of managerial duties to include meeting with customers, taking customer calls, assisting in managing the technicians, and assigning routes to the technicians, when needed.  I spent part of the day riding along with him a couple of weeks ago.

Chris Calefate

Akela Coker-Calefate

Our day starts in Cumming, GA.  The Mr. called our office because he has some concerns about his lawn. 

 Issue #1 Fireweed

Fireweed has been a terrible nuisance this spring.  Fireweed grows in the thatch layer, above the soil.  Therefore, it isn't prevented with pre emergent weed control. You can read more about fireweed here.

Issue #2 Winter Damage

This past winter was very tough on warm season lawns (bermuda and zoysia).  This article on our website gives some great detailed information about cold damage to turf. You can see where the turf is brown and hasn't greened up at all in some areas.  Pesky fireweed is in this shot too. 

The customer didn't mention this as an issue, but we noticed this odd discoloration.  This is most likely from the customer using Round-up on their own in their planting beds and not realizing that the sprayer was dripping.  OR, a garden hose could have been left lying in this spot for too long. 

We met with the customer, Chris sprayed all of the weeds and fertilized this monster property (30,000 square feet), and moved on to the next stop. 

We pulled up to a beautiful bermuda lawn (I should have snapped a picture).  The invoice in hand says that Mr. is upset because we spilled fertilizer in his lawn.  Chris knocks on the door and I walk around trying to find the fertilizer as the lawn was treated just two days before.  No sign of spilled fertilizer.  The customer takes us over to a barren spot under a tree to point out where he thinks our technician might have spilled fertilizer.  The area is thin and weak, but there is no fertilizer.  Mr. thought that the turf was thin because of spilled fertilizer, but in fact, the area is very shaded and the soil is compacted.  We suggested limbing the tree up a bit or extending the beds (to reduce turf area in the shaded areas) as well as a core aeration of the entire lawn.  We left the now happy camper and continued on to the next stop. 

The lady we met here is probably one of my favorite King Green customers.  She reminds me of my grandmother; warm, funny, and very energetic.  She has 7 grand kids and is working on making what she called a secret garden, in her backyard for them.  She has installed various plants and created a walkway into the wooded area behind her house.  The customer is preparing for her 4 sisters from Indiana to stay for an extended visit and is concerned about the bare areas of turf to the left of her house.   

Same problem as the guy before, I just didn't get a close up picture.  She has some large trees that have matured and overshadowed the turf on the edge of  her lawn.  The roots are extending out past the currently pine strawed area.  The lawn is competing with the roots for water and nutrients and roots will always win. Chris suggested extending the pine straw areas out into the lawn instead of continuing to encourage turf.  She thought that was a great idea and is going to have her grandson help her.  She was due for her next application (fertilization and weed control), so Chris treated the lawn while I enjoyed the air conditioner in the truck!  

As we were leaving, I thanked the Mrs. for being so kind and told her I enjoyed meeting her today.  She told me "you have a choice, you always have a choice to be nice or not".  Made me like her even more...

I got to bask in the air condition a bit longer as Chris wanted to drive by a house to check up on the fertilizer he applied a couple of weeks ago. The lawn was bright and green, so we kept driving.

The next customer on our docket is new to King Green.  She did not receive the spring pre-emergent applications because of the time she started service with us, and the result is a fairly weedy lawn.  Chris spot sprayed the weeds with some specialty products and talked to Mrs. about what she can expect.  Each application, her lawn will improve and next spring she will not have the same weed problems as they will be prevented with a pre-emergent. This is a great learning experience for me as there are lots of weeds to identify!

Oxalis

Virginia Buttonweed 

Orchardgrass

Sedge

The next customer called to have a manager inspect his lawn because he has thin and bare areas.  He also mentioned a shallow rooted weed popping up in the front lawn (noticing a trend here?).  His lawn was green and healthy and ALMOST weed free. 

Fireweed 

This monster of a tree produces the shade that is causing the problem in this guy's lawn.  Down past the sloped area, the turf looks like this. 

The turf is green and thick until you reach the area right before the walkway.  There is simply too much shade for bermuda grass to thrive.  The customer wasn't home, so Chris treated the fireweed and left some information about the shaded areas. 

The following customer had a beautiful lake view! 

Her concern was the area at the front of the house.  She also has thinning areas of bermuda turf.  The lawn is surrounded by trees and only gets a couple hours of sunlight each day.  The lady intended to just extend the beds and fill the area with mulch, but wanted our advice first. She also wanted her price per application adjusted :).  Chris told her she had the right idea, so we sprayed a few weeds (weeds will populate bare or thin areas even if you treat with a pre-emergent), and made notes not to include this area moving forward. 

Our last destination was yet another customer concerned about thin bermuda.  This customer has a fairly shady landscape, but does receive enough sun to support bermuda in a few areas.  The customer recently took our advice and sanded part of the turf.  The grass is already thickening up, so Chris fertilized the lawn for him to help speed up the process.  We left some notes for the customer and headed back to the shop. 

Chris and I parted ways upon our return.  He went down to our main office and I stayed here at our marketing building.  There he continued with his day by following up over the phone with anyone we didn't meet and checking in the technicians when they arrived.  I really enjoyed getting out of the office and gaining some insight about what our service managers do daily.  Chris pushed a spreader, sprayed weeds, and provided great customer service to our customers! 

Day in the Life- Episode 1:Greg Wagner

I'm going to spend a day with various King Green employees and document it here on the blog.  What does an Agronomist do all day?  Or what about a Service Manager?  Now we'll all find out! :)

Up first is Greg Wagner, our Vice-President.  Greg has been with King Green for over 25 years.  Greg and his wife, Michele, have two teenagers, Nicholas and Carmen, and two labs, Storm and Coda.  Nicholas is an honor student and a two-time all American shooter.  Nicholas has competed both locally and abroad against the nation's top ranked marksmen.  Carmen excels both academically and on the soccer field. In addition to playing for a local soccer league and her school, Carmen was also chosen to train with the Georgia Olympic development pool this past year.

Last week, a few of our staff members were out on vacation.  We didn't have anyone to provide estimates to the mountain region.  So, in their absence, Greg and I headed north.  This isn't a typical day for myself or Greg, but it was the perfect opportunity to begin this blog series. We had only three stops, but it took us a few hours to complete all of the estimates due to their distance.  The views were gorgeous and I enjoyed learning from one of King Green's first employees!

Our first stop was a huge corner lot in Cleveland, Georgia.  The turf was what we call  "country combo".  It wasn't sodded, but it might have been seeded many years ago.  An eclectic mix of weeds and grass are what comprise this lawn now.  If mowed regularly, this "turf type" actually ends up looking OK.  In fact, my last house had a lawn chock full of country combo! Oftentimes, you find this mix in rural areas or in lawns that are not part of a neighborhood type setting.  It's certainly not a bad grass to have, just not exactly turf type quality.  Our options would be to either strictly fertilize and encourage what's already growing or to choose a predominant turf and encourage it.  A lot of the brown coloring in the pictures below are due to infrequent mowing. You never want to mow off more than one third of the grass blade.  Doing so leaves too many clippings on the lawn and impedes root growth.  Regular mowing is the easiest, most beneficial task that you can do on your own to aid in keeping your lawn healthy.

As you can see in the pictures, the lawn really doesn't look bad from a distance. The mowing needs to be a bit more regular, but with some fertilizer this lawn could improve. 

Up close, the lawn is a mix-match of grasses and weeds. In the picture above, you can easily see the clover, but there are also some grassy weeds.

Our second stop was also in Cleveland.  We used to service this property a couple of years ago for the previous owners.  The new owners contacted us about resuming the service.  They have already started Home Pest Control and Termite Control with us.  We went out to assess the landscape for Lawn Care and Tree & Shrub Care. In general, the lawn is in good shape.  There are a few weeds to mention, but nothing unmanageable.

The tree-like weeds scattered across the lawn are fireweed. In the picture above, the fireweed can be noted by its light green color.  Fireweed is an ugly nuisance.  It grows in the thatch layer, above soil level.  Because this weed grows in thatch, it's almost impossible to control. Fireweed has been especially bad this year because of the extremely wet winter. However, it's easy to knock it out once it has germinated.  It's a bit difficult to see in this photo, but this lawn was also plagued with poa annua, dog fennel, and nutsedge.


Our final stop was to evaluate this lawn in Clarkesville.  The potential customer does a great job caring for the lawn and landscape himself.  The landscape and the fescue in back looked great (I didn't even get a picture!).  However, the front lawn was struggling.  The Mr. wasn't home, but we did speak with his wife. Her husband has devoted a lot of time and energy into caring for the lawn, but it just wasn't measuring up. The turf is thin and riddled with weeds.  True to form, the lawn had a lot of fireweed.  In addtion to the fireweed, there was also dallisgrass, oxalis, nutsedge, and dog fennel.

Fireweed in the forefront and dog fennel behind it. 

Oxalis and fireweed are the predominant weeds in this picture. You can tell that the homeowner has applied product to the grassy weeds as they are starting to wilt.

Next time, I will take more pictures!  This guys's back lawn looked great.  It was clear that he took pride in his landscape, he just needs a little help.  We suggested a good core aeration for the front lawn now, a full program for the entire lawn, and an aeration and seeding for the back lawn (fescue) this fall.  Hopefully they will start our program soon!

We ended our day picking Carmen up from her last day of school before summer!  Greg's day is never typical.  His days range from providing estimates to potential customers, meeting with current customers, meeting with commercial clients, traveling between our branches, and so on and so on.  I appreciated his company; he helped me brush up on my weed identification skills :).

Later this week I'm scheduled to go out for the day with our Gainesville Service Manager, Chris Calefate.  Blog post will be up shortly after. 

First Day of Spring!

We might still have a few cold days, but warm, sunny weather is on the horizon!  Unfortunately, the start of spring doesn't just mean we will have more favorable conditions for outdoor living.  The new season will also potentially reveal winter injury.  The frigid winter weather may have left your landscape in its wake.

Greg Wagner, our vice-President, recently took these pictures of a Wax Myrtle.  

If you think some of your plant material may have damage, an easy test is to scratch off a small area of bark. If it's green underneath, it will most likely survive.  If not, the damage may be permanent.  You can prune dead areas if the entire plant isn't damaged.  If you're not familiar with proper pruning protocol, we recommend hiring a skilled landscaper for the task.

Centipede and St. Augustine are the most vulnerable turf types as their roots are shallow.  Common Bermuda will be more likely to suffer as well.  Any turf type can be affected, but these three have the highest risk.  In the coming weeks, warm season turf will begin to progress out of a dormant state, allowing us to gauge the level of injury, if any at all.

The following pictures are examples from 2010.

 Water sat too long and froze on the turf.  The same could happen with snow. 

Edging exposed the roots along the curb allowing them to freeze. 

Enjoy the beautiful weather that is expected for this weekend!  Hopefully the cold is behind us and our plant material won't have to withstand another hard freeze.