Scott's Lawn Service free analysis by satellite??

13 years ago

I sent a message to Scott's Lawn Service asking for their free lawn analysis before signing up. An hour later, a representative called me telling me all these information about my lawn, so I asked him if he's outside my house 'cause I have alot of questions to ask about what's wrong my with my lawn and the services they offer. I was kind of surprise when he said that he's in his office looking at a satellite picture. I can't remember if he said picture or a live feed.

I know google map has a satellite pictures or a hybrid 3-d view of America's streets.

Am I being conned or something or is he really good at analyzing a lawn with just a picture?

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Comments (14)

john_in_sc
13 years ago
It's not magic...

The USDA has an online web soil survey. You can find your property off of a map -- and that map lists your soil type(or types) by USDA classification...

You can then look up those soil classifications in books or in the online USDA Soil Survey .. and they give you a detailed description of the soil properties at various depths...

Combine this with a quick survey of the US Geological Survey Topo maps...

To a knowledgeable person -- those soil surveys can go a *LONG* way to telling folks a whole bunch about your particular growing challenges...

Just to give you an idea... I went over to the USDA office and asked the lady there about my particular soil... She looks up my property on a map and then reads the specific soil description out of an old book...

Says "Hmmm, have you amended the soil at all?" "Nope, well, I bet you can't get anything to grow right can you"... "I bet your soil is deficient in X, Y, and Z... and the PH is around such and such..."

Now... This doesn't substitute for an actual Soil analysis by a reputable lab and soil structure test... but the soil structure test told me exactly what the USDA book said... I have a sandy Loam soil. 5% clay and the balance a 50/50 mix of Silt and Sand... Heavily eroded and leached out... An empty cup so to speak...

The 2nd dumb part of this is that most "Lawn advice" is fairly generic once you are within a small enough locale... Just more or less following your University Ag Extension's culture sheet for your grass as-written and watering when the grass needs it will probably be enough to have one of the best lawns on the whole block.....

Thanks

John
bethdockins
13 years ago
Dear mabus - It's the real deal. I'm the Director of Customer Service for Scotts LawnService and we are using four different types of imaging software depending on the area of the country - and we are able to VERY accurately measure your lawn and in some cases landscape plant material. Technology is so cool, huh? I picked up this note on a google alert tonight and wanted to answer your question right away. Give us a try - if you think our technology is cool - you'll love what we can do for your lawn.
Warm regards,
Beth Dockins

Here is a link that might be useful: Scotts LawnService
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tiemco
13 years ago
Sorry if I make a lot of typing errors, I am too busy laughing at what you were told by that jerk over at Scott's. Yes, you are being conned. Even if he had a satellite picture it would mean nothing, except for where you live. Unfortunately most people know very little about lawncare/grass types/soil chemistry/etc. and just believe whatever they are told. The majority of the lawncare services know this and just apply the same thing for everyone with no regard to grass type, weather, soil condition, time of year, in order to bill you as much as possible. I'm sure there are some good independent companies out there that apply the correct products at the right time, but for the most part you are better off taking care of you own lawn, or learning about lawncare and telling someone what you want them to do to your grass.
tiemco
13 years ago
Wow, Scott's is now scanning the forums so they can recommend themselves in a post. Gotta keep the shareholders happy I guess. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-Scotts, they have some good products, and some not so good, but most of their advice is going to be to the benefit of Scotts.
john_in_sc
13 years ago
X2 what Timeco said...

There was a discussion floating around about a well known chemical lawn application service applying Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer to Cool Season lawns in the heat of summer.... This is well known to cause fungal outbreaks and cause additional stress on the grass which can lead to die offs.... but guess what... You pay for the fertilizer, then you pay next month for Fungicide... then you pay again for other services/products to cure things CAUSED by improper applications and other unnecessary services or poor cultural practices...

Just for grins...
Go check out your State University Ag Extension's website....

Look in the Lawn section... and find your type of grass... then look at the culture advice and the care calendar.... Compare this vs the advice you were given...
tiemco
13 years ago
Here's another example. Scotts Summerguard fertilizer. Here's the description from their website:

How to Use: Apply to a dry lawn, then water-in thoroughly to activate the product. For best results, use a ScottsÂ® spreader.

When to Apply: Apply in summer when bugs present.

Where to Use: Can be used on any grass type.

Coverage Area: 5,000 sq. ft., 15,000 sq. ft. 2.67 pounds per 1,000 sq. ft.

What it Controls: Insects: ants, armyworms, billbugs, chiggers, chinch bugs, crickets, fleas, grasshoppers, mole crickets, mealy bugs, sod webworms (lawn moth larvae), spiders, ticks, weevils.

Benefits: Feeds and strengthens against heat and drought. Kills and protects against bugs. Improves lawns ability to absorb water and nutrients.

Fertilizer Analysis: 28-0-8

So they say put this down anytime in summer, and it is a high N fertilizer, something not advised to do in the heat of summer. Also it lists bugs that are pests, but I have to believe it's not so good for earthworms or harmless bugs that live in your lawn. Way to go Scotts.
ksmith72
13 years ago
..."and it is a high N fertilizer, something not advised to do in the heat of summer"... depending on what type of grass you have...right? Bermuda from my limited knowledge of it needs the nitrogen...

I will say this...I was in the isle of a major home improvement store the other day and a guy was picking up some Scotts weed and feed...the Scotts rep was there and was like...You don't want to use that right now...go with this over here...I also asked him a question and got a straight answer about fertilizer.....

Also...another gimmick it appears has hit the scene...which really in my opinion might be ok...the combination of fertilizer and BUG KILLER....of course...I will most likely NOT buy it as I wouldn't feel the bug killer in there was as high in quality as something SPECIFICALLY labeled for killing bugs...
tiemco
13 years ago
Good point ksmith, you are totally right. I tend to be lawnocentric, and I tend to forget this is a national site and some people grow warm season grasses. I really don't give advice regarding warm season grass since I have no experience with them. Generally posters have their zone or zip code, which helps, but it slipped my mind this post. So where are you located Mabus? Do you know what kind of grass you have?
lazy_gardens
13 years ago
All I need to get a client's base soil quality are the local soil maps and a look at Google. Unless they have been amending the heck out of their plot, or abusing it, there's not much I need to find out.

If you had really RECENT high-resolution satellite pics in infra-red and false color you could tell a lot about the quality and extent of the vegetation on the plot, but it's basically high-tech window dressing.

In the absence of an obvious problem, my recommendation is to start with good mowing and watering practices and see what happens.

Even fertilizer-guzzling Bermuda can do adequately with far less than the fertilizer company's "recommended" amount. It will grow slower and spread less, which is not always a bad thing. It may also tolerate less traffic, but fertilizing the high-traffic areas separately is better than pumping it all up.
jtyrie
13 years ago
Just a warning about Scotts. I have been using their service for three years. Right now my lawn look worse than it has anytime I've lived here. The first year I used them, it looked good. The second year started out good but I started noticing a lot of weeds about mid summer. This year, I think that they have given up on me. I can't believe that they put down any pre-emergent. The yard is full of a wide variety of weeds and the only time it has looked green is when I complained. They came out (about two weeks later) and apparently gave it an extra heavy shot of nitrogen. I am now fertilizing my lawn in the time between their visits and just finished putting two gallons of weed killer on my lawn today. I've contacted them twice this summer about the condition of my lawn and, as I said, it looks terrible. I'm probably calling them tomorrow and kicking them to the curb.
john_in_sc
13 years ago
I am a firm believer that you should vote with your dollars.... You are probably paying more for the knowledge of the Applicator rather than the chemical treatments....

What may have happened is that you lost a knowledgeable applicator who may have been replaced by someone who doesn't know much... Or you may be running into Management that is driven by the constant crushing pressure of cost cutting....

Just think about how you would run a lawn service company if you had to report out financial information each and every month up the chain on "Key BBP Metrics" -- and stuff like "Application Cost Dollars per Sq-ft" was a "Key BBP Metric".....

There certainly are good lawn services out there... I bet the good ones aren't cheap...

Thanks
getfacsw
13 years ago
I feel that I need to comment on this thread.
First off, I don't believe that "Beth Dockins" is a true representative of Scotts, if she was, she would have given you the correct url for the Scott's Lawn Service web site and just not the Scott's web site, also isn't it a coincidence that the ID was just registered the same day she posted?

Now onto other comments, I had them for 3 years and I felt that they did nothing to improve the grass that I had. My grass looks a lot better just from the information from this forum. In reading all the messages, I came to find out that like others said it was for their bottom line, not my lawn that mattered most.
lazy_gardens
13 years ago
Ms. Dockins is indeed who she said she was ...
http://wpcarey.asu.edu/csl/membership/Board-Member-List.cfm

But you don't need Scott's services. they are so cost-driven that they tend to have high turnover and the last thing I want noobs doing is spraying chemicals around my house.
auteck
13 years ago
Scotts, TruGreen, Spring-Green,etc, they are all Transaction-driven companies with one clear goal: to make more green for themselves.

Scott's Lawn Service free analysis by satellite??

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