picking herbicides, and fertilizers

[lawndreamer]

I'm in Northern Kentucky, near Cincinnatti. I don't know what types of herbicides I should use. I intend to do mostly liquid apps. I need fertilizer and herbicides to mix in tank. What ratio fert should I use in spring summer fall and late fall? I hope to do about 5 - 6 apps. How much fert and herbicide should I order at one time. Is there requirements for storing such things?

[mariner]

I would not do any braodcast sprays in the summer. Your gonna have to put some granular in your program. Lawn sprays of fert are just too diluted to carry the whole program. Granular is cheaper anyway. I use all granular fert in my program and I spray on any weed killers with a spray rig! Spraying is fine but limit it to spring and fall. Use a slow release granular in warmer temps. As far as herbicide, I use Three Way from Lesco. Its 2, 4-D/Dicamba and Mcpp. Its a foliar absorbtion that translocates in the plant. It's not bad but it works faster and better in 70 and 80 degree temps. Cooler temp you want to use an ester formulation. Three way from Lesco also comes in an ester form. Its a little more expensive though. There are a whole bunch of options out there. Are you going to be servisving warm season grasses or cool? I guess it could be either where you are at.

I'm also guessing that you havn't looked into pesticide licensing since these questions could all easily be answered by anyone that is licensed. Check with your local county extension office. They'll tell you everything you need to know.

[lawndreamer]

Thanx Mariner,

My local county extension office could not insist me with anything, they said. Only gave me a packet for licensing. I haven't read it yet. It is study material When is the best time to start a lawn care program? They also told me I have to have Insurance before I get licensed. I want to do that once I have a plan outlined. Which I need to get a program, with the chemicals, down on paper so I know what i"m looking at. Should I read the study material then get a plan?

[mariner]

Study, then get a plan. Most companies do a 4 or 6 step plan. I do a 5 step.

[Seascape]

I say work them both out at the same time. Turf app isnt really rocket science and the exam is really a cake walk if you ask me. Here in ohio its multiple choice and T or F. Youd have to be pretty dumb to fail it. Being new in the app industry id hook up w/ lesco maybe. They have anything youll need and will get you through your first year. Most of theyre associates seem to be pretty educated and can assist you w/ questions you may have. Eventually youll find a distrbuter that fits for you and than you can fine tune your program. I suggest starting w/ a 5 app that would look something like this. Pre m early april,granular fert early may, broadleaf apps will begin in april may on sites you dont have established,so you can run those concurrent sometimes,than another granular fert app around mid summer, and than a fall app of granular. Mariner tells me grub is pretty much standard in programs now so w/ that app you have six. That app is usually charged X 2 your normal app rate or sold and worked into the equation when selling the program i assume. I know the bigger co.s run whatever program is conveniant to them. I dont sugest this. All my sites are pretty much custom apps so i may run fert and broadleaf on the same visit than i wont return until fall sometimes. They are all differant really i play my cards as theyre dealt through out the year. Youll find your residentials especially your high caliber homes appreciate the custom approach and dont mind paying premium rates if you have theyre turf controlled and healthy. Thats where the $$ is at in turf apps.
mike
mike

[Seascape]

Sorry i meant pre m early march.
mike

[Phil Nilsson]

Suggest you ... drop by and spend a little time with your local Lesco Dealer ... they understand the needs and have the products to deal with it.

[bobkessler]

Very sad your local extension office couldn't do better than that!
Anyway Phil is right sending you toward Lesco. Herbicides can do plenty of damage, and it's delayed so you don't realize what damage you're doing until it's way too late.
Liquid herbicides tend to be worse than granules because of drift, and it's much harder to control your rate of application with liquids.
You really need a mentor. Someone local for you to personally call on. Plant and turf disease identification is very difficult without someone to help you.
Good Luck.

[McBillNLex]

Lawn dreamer I'm in Lexington. We do 5 apps
1) Granular Pre M (my choice is Dimension) at a half rate starting
the first of March. If it warms up Early, this may become a liquid
with weed control likean esther 3 way until temp hits 70 and stay there and 1/4 lb of sprayable Urea

2) Liquid Dimension at the other half. Weed control, a so Called Momentum blend. Mine is a .75 oz 3Way & .25 confront.I also melt a 50 lb bag of 46-0-0 sprayable urea into my 200 gallon tank. Since my sprayer is calibrated for 2 gallons per minute, I feed a bout .25lb of nitrogen to every 1k sq ft. Lesco's Momentum is a blend of these 2 chemicals but theirs has less Confront in it. As long as temp is at least 75 degrees it works great on Wild violet, Wild garlic, Dandelions, Henbit, Chickweed, & both Clovers. That other company is going to sell a seperate, up to four applications program to control Wild Violets. This blend will take out 70% of them each time you apply it, at temps above or at least 75 degrees.

3) grass round, hand sprayer mixed with MSMA 6.6 or Acclaim Extra, depending on what stage crabgrass escapes seem to be at. MSMA tends to be a little harsh, so I tend to a Chelated iron. Best MSMA results occur at temps above 80 degrees. This is a spot spray

4) 2lbs of 46-0-0 or some other fert designed to give me about 1 lb total nitrogen per 1k. Designed to begin about Sept 15, this round also has the confront 3 way blend sprayed on. I usually walk the speader & then drag the hose. Weed Apps done during this window reduces the amout of Henbit, Chickweed & Dandelion on your lawns next spring. These three weeds particularly are winter annuals. They germinate between August and the end of September, grow pretty inconspicuosly thru the fall, and sit around all winter, waiting for spring to pop. This is why they are the first thing you see in the spring. Of the 3 Chickweed is the toughest to kill in the spring. Most broadleaf herbicides will kill it if the temp is high enough.

5) Granular only I like a 20 - 30% sulfur coated or poly coated fert for this round. that gives my nitrogen some legs into the spring of next year. I like to begin this round right at the 15th of November, some folks prefer to do it all in December, so that you have checks arriving in the mail to help pay the bills in January.

I also offer, but not push landscape pre emergents (Snapshot 2.5TG) to be applied while I am doing Rounds 1,2,4. This is an expensive product, applied at a heavy Rate (3.5lb/k). You need either Rain or a 1/4 inch of water from your clients within 48 hours or they wasted their money and your time.

Grubs, I use Mach 2 only on lawns that have a past history, or favorable conditions like Irrigation. If I find one with them causing problems that hasn't been treated, I'll use a granular called Dylox 6.2. I understand that Merit, which I believe is available in a liquid works quite well.

Some years ago I joined the Kentucky Turfgrass Council. They have an annual conference in November( this year in Lexington) and a turfgrass short course in Februaury (always in Louisville). Both of these usually have representatives presenting from EKU,Western & UK. Dan Potter is a professor Of Entomology (it bugs me if don't spell that right) And AJ Powell Is the Premier Guy on cool season grasses in Kentucky, David Williams Is the Go To Guy on warm season species, and Paul Vincelli know so much about diseases of turf that it will make you Sick. All four of these gentlemen are available at U of K's College of Ag. They Have a website At *www.ca.uky.edu*. They also are the grass guys behind the county agents in Kentucky. If The CA can't answer it, it is automatically forwarded to UK

Wish you the best of luck

Bill

[greg6775]

i been doing lawncare for 8 years in nky was thinking of starting up me a business have you alreay started?

[McBillNLex]

I have spent the last 4 years running the applications for a lawncare company here in Lexington. Well actually it is 4 different companies, as they seem to get bought out yearly.

Started applications for '03 on March 15 this year, much to my chagrin. If you are wondering when to start a company, then now would be the time to place your yellow page add for next year. It would also be a good time to get started on licensing and liability insurance issues. In Kentucky you need to show proof of 1 million in chemical liability before they will issue a license. Your typical start date will be right after Valentines day, well in your part of the state, perhaps March 1.

As far as advertising, I think if I were starting out, I would place small display adds in the sports section of your daily newspaper to run every day for a month once the first dandelions begin to pop. In lieu of that zipcode inserts in the same newspaper, timed for Saturday mornings might be good.

Don't waste your money on areas that are more than 50% apartments. You can also see if there are neighborhood directories in some of your highline residential areas, we pay 700 a year for a directory back cover, in an area that is responsible for 10% of our 1.6 mill annual revenue as a full service lawn and landscape contractor.

One other thing, If your doing this on your own, plan on doing evenings and Saturdays. Your clients neighbors can approach you more easily and see the quality of your work first hand if you do this in the spring. Also any higher cost specialty services like seeding, dethatching and aeration are going to be "keeping up with the Jones's" items, if you are visible to these possible future clients, during times when they are getting home and walking down to the mailbox. Hang out at home until 10am and plan on working until 6pm during the first 4 weeks after dandelions bloom. I have never seen any research on it but I believe that those pretty little yellow flowers are responsible for 90% of the cold calls you get. Thats where Trugreen spends most of it's intense telemarketing money. Here they start in the middle of February and figure that the season is done by Derby Day. After that companies will trade cancellations, but most of the new work will be sold if it is going to be done this year.

[greg6775]

landdreamer

you looking for any help i been doing lawn spraying for 8 years

[McBillNLex]

Not at this time. While I am the only active full time spray tech licensed as an operator. We also have a licensed operator as a vice president, a landscape foreman about half way thru my training program, and 2 young man who have worked for 2 other companies apiece doing mowing, landscape and spray applications, that we have relicensed.

Right now I don't have the capacity to use them as spray tech's due to lack of equipment support, and client demand, we are spec'ing my new truck to have multi tech support capabilities. We have several large properties that would be ideal for a 2 man spray team.

[lawndreamer]

McBillnLex

you interested in any used equipment like: 700/100 split tank, John Bean Pumps, and Hose reels (electric).

[Lawngodfather]

Originally posted by Phil Nilsson
Suggest you ... drop by and spend a little time with your local Lesco Dealer ... they understand the needs and have the products to deal with it.

Why not start at a local AG extension office. Learn the turf you are going to feed.

Why all liquid? Is liquid better?

Liquid is harder to store, takes bigger trucks to haul.

used trucks for sale