It Takes a Team to Tackle Weeds

It Takes a Team to Tackle Weeds
Majestic Lawn Care and Landscape Proudly Serving Rockland County, NY & Bergen County, NJ
Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes teamwork between you (the homeowner) and your lawn care professional. Controlling weeds in your NY lawn is a multi-step process that involves more than just adding herbicides to your lawn. To be honest, no lawn is ever completely weed-free.
Cultural management
When it comes to keeping weeds out of your lawn, it involves cultural management, such as

1. Mowing high – Only taking the top third off the grass blade and setting your mower to 2 ½” – 3”.
2. Infrequent irrigation – In the good old days, folks believed that the key to a healthy lawn was sprinkling it every evening for 20 minutes or so—whether that was through a portable sprinkler or a hose. Yet, the opposite is true. Your lawn will be healthier and able to crowd out weeds better when it’s watered infrequently and deeply—once a week, in the very early morning hours and at about one inch of water. Additionally, you can give your irrigation system a break during those weeks where your lawn gets at least an inch of rain.
3. Make sure all bare spots are covered – Weeds are opportunistic. If you have an area where grass will not grow, weeds will move in. Consider loosening the soil, adding topsoil and seed, then adding mulch or a ground cover to eliminate those bare areas.
4. Hire a lawn care professional – Taking care of your lawn is time-consuming. Consider hiring a lawn service company to maintain your lawn for you.

Professional lawn care management
When you hire a professional lawn company to take care of your lawn—including weed control—make sure you hire a reputable company that will use a multi-level approach to weed control.
Turf science has found that healthy soil equals healthy grass. And healthy grass naturally keeps weeds from getting a foothold in your yard. Your lawn care professional should put the following into practice:

1. He should evaluate your lawn through a soil test and a walk-through evaluation.
2. Once he makes his diagnosis, he’ll develop a lawn care management plan for you. At Majestic Lawn Care and Landscape, we offer both conventional and organic lawn care.
3. He will only fertilize your soil after he takes samples of it and has it tested. If it’s showing a lack of key nutrients or the soil’s pH is not balanced, he will then start a lawn maintenance program to bring it back to the right levels. Healthy soil enables grass to grow and develop a strong root system. And healthy grass naturally crowds out weeds.
4. Conventional or organic weed control methods are used at the right time, in the right amount and in the right place to get the maximum results
5. Your lawn may need to be renovated because you have compacted soil. Certain weeds, like broad plantain, can indicate soil compaction. This renovation may include core aeration, fertilizing and reseeding.
6. Your lawn care professional may need to fix your poorly drained areas so water can properly percolate through the soil and eliminate soggy areas in your yard.
7. Your lawn care professional may notice that your lawn has a lot of thatch. His crews will use power rakes to relieve that excess layer to allow healthy grass to grow thick and strong.

Is it time to take a team approach to your Rockland County, NY or Bergen County, NJ weeds? Then call us at (845) 708-2988 or fill out our contact form.
Sources:
EPA.gov, “Lawn Weed Control.”
NALP (LoveYourLandscape.org), “7 Steps to Say Goodbye to Weeds Forever.”