Lesco lawn care schedule

15 years ago

I just got rid of TruGreen (who by the way I would never recommend to anybody, utterly incompetent and a rip-off) and now plan to do the year round lawn care myself.

I have Bermuda which is dormant right now. This year I was hoping to use Lesco products but given the large variety of products they have - I am confused as to what to apply and when? For example I know I need pre-emergent now but not sure which one from Lesco.

Does anyone have a chart/table of what fertilizer/pre-emergents they use for year round lawn care? Didn't find anything on Lesco's website.

Thanks!

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Comments (9)

jimtnc
15 years ago
Where are you located? That's a big part of the application calendar.
nitlsu
Original Author
15 years ago
Dallas, TX
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So here is the post that I was referring to in case anyone is looking for a pretty concise fertilizing schedule. Credit going to garycinchicago for the OP. Thank you gary! Posted by garycinchicago Z5 Chicago IL. (My Page) on Sat, Jun 20, 09 at 1:31 > "The pre-emergent I applied last fall, and which I was planning on applying again this fall, only contains Dimension, no fertilizer. In the spring, the product I put down I think was both a fertilizer and a crabgrass preventer combo (from the HD)." OK, thanks for the fill in. Like i said, I feel you have the right concept, just you need a little fine tuning - a little change of thought. This is what *I* would do on LI and basically what I do in Chicago. Your zone 6, I'm 5a .. you're just a little warmer than me .. earlier and later than me. [Keep in mind the times are generalized, not specific. Adjust accordingly for LI. but I'm close] Spring - April 1. PreM alone, no fertilizer. Watch forsythia. When they bloom yellow, it's time! Allow grass to green up naturally. Every year will be different. Some years spring is earlier, some are later. Some are dry, some are wet. Mother nature knows when the time is right - leave her alone, don't bother her! May 1, when grass is actively growing - when you actually gave it a complete hair cut, cutting every blade of grass ... go ahead and fertilize. Straight fertilizer, no step numbers. You pick which one (I'm cheap - I buy what's on sale like Scotts, Bill's, Joe's, Pete's etc - names, scnames. The main thing is nitrogen.) June 1, 4th of July, go ahead and drop that Milorganite. The lawn will love the iron. End of June - July 4, GrubX. Some will say don't apply unless you are sure you have grubs! I contend, don't drive unless you have insurance. Grab damage is BRUTAL. GrubX is cheap insurance. August's step #16 / Summerguard. Skip this. What's this protect you from, mosquitoes, house flys? It's too hot to fertilize. You end up stressing the lawn forcing it to grow when conditions aren't favorable for growing (notice now how you aren't mowing twice a week like you were in spring?)Your protected from grubs - you're good to go. Maintain irrigation throughout summer. Labor Day - whatcha got laying around. Turf Builder? That's fine - go ahead, temperatures are dropping which means favorable growing conditions again. PreM - now's the time to drop prevention against poa! Poa germinates when soil temps drop below 70 degrees. So like I said - whatcha got? Use it then. Still have preM alone and fertilizer alone, then you make two drops that day. Have Dimension w/fertilizer left over? Then that's what you use on or around Labor Day. Mid October - again, search the garage, use what you have. Did you buy the big bag of turf builder and still have some left? That's fine - USE IT! Don't fall for the marketing hype and names like "Winterizer" because that's a crock! In October, it's perfectly fine to apply a starter fertilizer too, *IF* your soil need the added phosphorous. University studies have proven that turf wants Nitrogen in fall, so it can store it as carbohydrates over winter to be used the following spring, NOT potash, which is what 'Winterizier' is full of. http://www.agry.purdue.edu/turf/tips/2008/09_03fallfert.html Now last thing and if you truly want to walk on the dark side of lawn geektom. Once top growth has stopped, when you make that final, last cut of the year, when you cut up mostly leaves not grass - drop the secret potion, Nitrogen. This needs to be fast release nitrogen, 46-0-0 urea (cheap, $23 for 50Lbs at Lesco) Urea is very strong and can cause nitrogen burn if too warm but not now because we're talking what? Thanksgiving? It's too cool outside for that to happen. The urea will not be used that fall but rather absorbed and then stored in the root system of the turf as carbohydrates until spring, when mother nature says "Wake up - it's time!" as noted above, LOL!!!!
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Sounds like you are watching too many commercials to help you with your gardening. Here are the basics of lawn care: Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. Mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower (special exception for KBG - mow at 3 inches). Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 4 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. When to aerate? Never needed if you follow 1,2 and 3 above. When to overseed? Not needed with KGB. Overseeding is a fescue problem. 20-0-0 is only appropriate if you have bermuda. Any other grass would require a soil test to determine a specific mix of fertilizer. Chances are whatever is on the shelf currently is okay to use. But don't apply after Memorial Day. If you do you are getting into the summer heat. Heat and chemical fertilizer are not good for the grass. The sprayer approach to fertilizing is not a good way to go. Grass needs fertilizer at a rate of pounds per 1,000 square feet. The sprayer can deliver micro-ounces per 1,000 square feet. You'll need a drop spreader or a broadcast spreader and large bags of fertilizer. Trimec is one of any number of 2,4-d type herbicides. Don't mix it with anything else, especially fertilizer. Herbicides work best when they are spot-sprayed on each weed. If you are doing the 1-2-3 above, you likely will never need herbicide. If you apply it, though, you should see the weed die in less than a week. If you don't see that, then it could be the herbicide was not designed for that particular weed. Trimec types of herbicides are used on weeds like dandelions and clover; not crabgrass and other grassy weeds. Relax. It is not hard to do this.
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You can apply Lime any time of the year, but the best time is in the fall after aerating. The reason for this is that Lime moves VERY slowy thru the soil, but when you aerate, the pellets can easely fall in cores. What you are looking for is to increase your Soil Buffer PH to about 6.5 or so. It doens't have to be perfect, and you don't want to apply all the Lime at once. Apply no more than 40 lbs per 1,000 sf of grass per year to be on the safe side. In the Raleigh area, the recommended grass is a combination of Turf Type Tall Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass. You can buy them at your local box store like Lowe's or HD, or even ACE, or you can also buy them directly from a Lesco/John Deere store in you area. The receommended fertilization rate is 3 to 4 lbs of actual nitrogen per 1,000 sf per YEAR. You can do the following: Late summer: Starter Fertilizer (usually Sept. 1st or Labor Day weekend) Halloween will be the second application. You can use any fertilizer you want except Starter and Organics. March, 5-10-17 with Ronstar pre-emergent. You don't want to overfertilized your lawn in the Spring or you will pay dearly in the summer months with drought and disease. In May you can go Organic or nothing. June, July, and August is summer in full swing with the ocational heat wave. water your lawn every 3 days to half inch, but ONLY in the AM hours. Do NOT water at night. The inch of water per week does not work well during the summer in full sun settings, you need to split that i half and possibly add another half inch. Do not apply any weed control during the summer months, leave those for early Spring when cool season grasses are thriving. My recommendations to you is to go with a mixture and blend of Tall Fescue/Bluegrass in full sun to part shade, Fine Fescue/Tall Fescue in medium shade, and Fine Fescue in deep shade. The new Hybrid Bluegrass do very well around here, there are set to displace Tall Fescue in the Transition zone. You can purchase a blend of Hybrid Bluegrasses from Family Home and Garden in Raleigh or the Apex store, or you can order them directly from www.newsomeseed.com I hope this helps. Auteck
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garycinchicago
15 years ago
Use the search feature for this forum and enter bermuda bible by texas-weed
texas_weed
15 years ago
Well you are not going to find a chart or table on Lesco. It is for professionals, so they assume you know what you are doing, and what you want. With that said Lesco could use a website makeover to make it little more user friendly.

OK my advice is go to the Lesco dealer and buy everything need for one season, and here is my list and application schedule

Lesco 069118 or 080384. Dimension pre-emergence 0-0-7 Buy enough for two applications, so that depends on the size of your yard, and which one of the products you choose. If the weather holds it is time to put down an application now, but me thinks it is too early and we will have another cold snap. Apply second application 8 weeks later, but make sure it is in between fertilizer application. Learn what Forsythias are, and watch them once you see them in full bloom and start turning green is the perfect time to apply your first application. That has not happened yet in my area of Texas just north of DFW area.

Lesco 081964, 15-5-10 25% PPSCU 2% FE Buy enough for one application only. All the numbers means is 15-5-10 ratio fertilizer, 25% slow release Poly Plus Sulfur Coated Urea, with 2% iron. Apply it when you see the Bermuda about 50 to 75 % greened up. Just make sure you use it at least 2 weeks or more after you apply the first Dimension application listed above.

Lesco 000777 39-0-0 100% PPSCU. Buy enough for 4 or 5 applications. Apply 4 weeks after you apply the 20-15-10 product and repeat every 30 to 45 days with the last application 1 month before your first frost. Make sure it has been at least 2 weeks after your second application of Dimension.
ronalawn82
15 years ago
nitslu, it has been some years since I worked at a "LESCO" store; in those days there was a calendar, aimed at the professional; but we would work with any customer in his particular situation. My colleague and I made many trips outside of store hours to do an evaluation of a homeowner's lawn. You can probably get a good calendar going if you time your enquiries for when the shop is not busy and if you commit to purchasing from the store. Also, do not believe that "LESCO" branded fertilizer at "Home Depot" or other is the same as that sold at "LESCO" itself.
I really do not know how much has changed since "John Deere" bought them out.
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
What happened with TruGreen? What did they do? I see a lot of them in my neighborhood. What I've observed is that they are very sloppy! I'm afraid one day that when they use weedkiller on very windy day that get blown onto my yard causing damage everywhere. They don't care about quality. Just making as much profit as possible.
denverdude
15 years ago
I don't understand why you would apply a preemergent only and then two weeks later apply just a fertilizer when you can buy a good fertilizer, such as a 19-0-6 that has a preemergent on it as well. 2 birds with one stone. I agree that a high amount of slow release nitrogen during the year is a great idea for bermuda due to its aggressive growth. If you use a product with quickly available nitrogen, you will be mowing much more frequently. The 39-0-0 is a great option. Many of the Lesco guys have 5, 6, or 7 step programs that they hand out as a guide that you can follow for the year as well.
jimtnc
15 years ago
I guess if you wanted to use Lesco solely, go to this site, change the zip and go from there. See below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lesco
User
9 years ago
>>"I don't understand why you would apply a preemergent only and then two weeks later apply just a fertilizer when you can buy a good fertilizer, such as a 19-0-6 that has a preemergent on it as well. 2 birds with one stone."For readers who find this old thread, the answer to this question is found in the BermudaBibleÃ¢ÂÂ¢ here: pre-m with fertilizer " . . . products are not recommended because the fertilizer contained in these products will only stimulate what weeds exist, and the Bermuda cannot use it at this time."

Here is a link that might be useful: BermudaBibleâ¢

Lesco lawn care schedule

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nitlsu
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Lesco lawn care schedule

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nitlsuOriginal Author

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nitlsu
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