FAQs
Lawn Care
It might. Look closely at the grass blades and check for small black spots. If you see this, stop any extra watering your doing. Night rains and hot days can make disease unavoidable in some cases.
Never cut your lawn lower than 4 inches.
Services are typically every 6-8 weeks. We always try to time of service with Mother Nature.
Watering Your Lawn
Usually you do not have to water the lawn in the spring or the fall when we typically get enough rain. In the summer months you may need to water when there’s an extended period (more than ten days) without rain.
Probably. Grass goes dormant in heat and drought and it usually doesn’t die. A couple of heavy soakings will bring it back quickly. In the past there have been extended periods of drought in our area that have caused permanent damage to the grass. So don’t take a chance…water.
Insect Control
Japanese Beetles are not native to the United States. Historians have actually traced their introduction back to a nursery in Riverton New Jersey in 1916. They appear to have hitched a ride with a shipment of Iris bulbs from Japan.
White Grubs are the larvae of the Japanese Beetle. The swarms of Beetles that you see hovering above your lawn in the summer are laying eggs that hatch into the little white worms that feed on the roots of our lawns.
Damaged or dead patches of lawn will appear in mid-August through September. Typically, the grass will pull away like a piece of carpet. Once you move the grass away the Grubs will be right there, on the surface. Real damage can occur when there are as little as 5 Grubs per square feet and some spots can have up to 20 Grubs per square feet.
While seeing some Grubs in shrub and flowerbeds in the spring can be alarming, spring is usually not a good time to control Grubs. Preventative treatments work best in the summer so the material is there when the eggs hatch and the Grubs first make their way to the surface preventing them from becoming Japanese Beetles.
Milky spore are a bacteria once used to control Grubs. The disease was painstakingly introduced to the soil one spoonful at a time and was supposed to establish a cycle in the lawn and kill the Grubs. It would generally take years for Milky Spore to take effect but even then it was very hit-or-miss and could not handle a large population of Grubs. The chemical treatments we use today are safe and far more effective.
Cicada Wasps can be a huge nuisance for homeowners. Not only are they big and intimidating looking, they can really damage your lawn. Cicada Killer wasps can dig nesting holes up to 70 inches long. These nests can contain a dozen or more wasp larvae. If not controlled, these wasps multiply, returning to the same location year after year. The only way to eradicate them is to treat directly inside their nesting holes. Getting up close and personal with these giant wasps may seem pretty daring but our fearless team at Greenskeeper is up for the task!! Call today for a free estimate.