How Can I Reduce My Lawn Maintenance?

If you are an owner or manager of a commercial piece of property, you know all too well the ongoing expenses of keeping the grounds kept up and maintained. Now, think of all the homeowners that have had a long week at work, and it’s cold and windy, or the heat and humidity outside is brutal. And when you arrive home now you get to spend more of your time and money mowing and weed eating just to hopefully get your lawns appearance back to an acceptable level. At some point, all of us have wanted to reduce the maintenance of our lawns. Some of us want to keep it at the bare minimum, while others would pour concrete over their lawn if they could.

So how can we enjoy our lawn or the grounds to maintain and still keep maintenance at a reasonable level? Is it even possible? Well…. Yes

Below are 3 ways to help reduce lawn/grounds maintenance and in some cases, add curb appeal.

1. Kill your weeds. Weeds are identified as an undesirable plant that grows where it is not wanted. Different weeds thrive throughout the entire season which make it impossible for your lawn to ever slow down. You are mowing weeds! A good weed control management strategy can save you hundreds maybe even thousands of dollars in reduced mowing’s. Obviously, this depends on the size of the areas you maintain. Just applying Spring and Fall Pre/Post-Emergent Applications, you can easily reduce 4-6 mowing per season. An average mowing season in our area is 24 mowing per year. Using that math, you can reduce your number of mowing’s by at least 20%! Think of the time spent mowing, weed eating, edging, blowing off driveways and sidewalks for just one mowing. Now figure in the fuel, equipment cost, maintenance, etc… So, I hope you understand. Reduce Maintenance=Save Time & Save Money. Not only will a good weed management strategy reduce your maintenance, but it will also add curb appeal. Especially for commercial properties, this makes a great first impression. It also helps to set the tone for staff, employees, and possible recruits. You can reduce your maintenance and that money will basically pay for your Spring and Fall Pre/Post-Emergent applications. And for homeowners, adding curb appeal makes you feel awesome, looks amazing, and will add value to the property.

1. Apply plant growth regulators. (PGR) Plant growth regulators are becoming more popular for homeowners for more than just one reason. PGR’s obviously reduce top growth of the plant and thus reduces the mowing maintenance required roughly by half for a certain amount of time. While this is certainly true, PGR’s also improve turf quality. By reducing the plants top growth, the PGR is saving energy. The energy stays in the root system as opposed to the upper part, or top growth, of the plant. This ultimately allows the plant to store more energy and therefore, handle stress and disease pressure much better.

1. Choose the correct turf type. Choosing a low maintenance turf type will help keep your maintenance to a minimum. Here in West Tennessee and Southeast Missouri our warm season grasses are the lowest maintenance turf we can choose. Zoysia Grass is a slow growing turf that spreads on its own which makes it our lowest maintenance grass available. Zoysia now offers varieties that are more shade tolerant than those in the past, making it a perfect fit for most lawns. Bermuda Grass comes in a close 2nd as it is easy to maintain as well.

21st century lawn care is changing as rapidly as our technology world is. More research is being done and improvements are being made in the turf industry. Change is tough for all of us but the facts are the facts. Keeping weeds out, applying plant growth regulators, and choosing the best turf type are the future for reducing maintenance. Reduce Maintenance= Save time & Save money. It’s that simple.

If you would like more information on ways we can help you, please let us know by calling our office for a no obligation, free consultation, and estimate.

Have a great week,

Scott Riley

731-264-0088

4evergreenlawnservice.com