What we’re noticing:

  • The buds and the leaves all happened Thursday/Friday! What we mostly notice is the dandelions (on non-ProLawns lawns) have all shown their yellow heads. Very few lawns have needed a mow but that will all change this week so by next weekend it will be very obvious who was caught off guard by the lawn mowing and who doesn’t use ProLawns :)
  • We’ve been asked: “Isn’t it too late for crabgrass preventer?”
    • The short answer is “No”. The slightly longer answer is “It wouldn’t matter if it was because [you]’re awesome”. The long answer is below:

      We track annually on the calendar:
      We compare to past crabgrass germination dates: typically right around Memorial Day. We also compare on the calendar with the scientific information below:

      Where watching scientifically:
      We track both Soil Temperatures and Growing Degree Days for the biological indicators of Crabgrass Germination and compare it with:

      We compare it to what no calendar or scientific spreadsheet can; Experience Gained Guidelines:
      Mother nature has signs; Crabgrass typically geminates right around the time that Lilac bushes bloom. Crabgrass typically germinates right around the time that dandelions turn from yellow to cotton. There are crabgrass havens – south facing corners with sandy soil. It’s the first place crabgrass will ever germinate at least a week before healthy lawns. We know where they are and we monitor them.

      What if it is geminated?:
      Our professional crabgrass preventer actually even controls crabgrass even when it’s as large as “three tillers” which means three stems. This is quite a while after initial gemination.

      We’re watching on hundreds of lawns – once we get anywhere close to “too late” we’ll put our “undesirable crabgrass control” in the tank which eliminates crabgrass. This is in addition to our crabgrass preventer so anything germinated/established is controlled and all other crabgrass is preventer. This costs us much more in product but is part of our guarantee. You win no matter what.

    • A note on GDD – it’s messed up this year! that 88* degree week followed by two weeks of below average and overnight freezes should have called for a “reset” of some sort but it didn’t. So it even has conflicting status’. It currently says crabgrass is germinating AND we’re in ideal pre-emergent timing. These two things aren’t possible together. Best to use many resources.

What we’re doing:

  1. We’re 100 mph on our Early Spring Applications. Even though we guarantee crabgrass control; it’s much more economical for us to prevent it instead of treat it after it germinates. So we’re getting that preventer down NOW!
  2. We’re also starting our Spring Renovations this week. Lawns got hurt by the heat and drought the last couple years so we’re doing what we can do to make them the envy of the neighborhood this summer.

What you can be doing:

  1. Don’t be me! I got my mower out last week when the lawn finally needed it. I changed the oil, filled the tires, greased everything and sharpened the blades. I then did two passes around my yard and FRIED THE BELT! So now I’m waiting for a new one to be delivered and my lawn is past needed a mow. GET YOUR MOWER READY AND TEST IT!