No you shouldn't need any of this stuff for a summer-dormant lawn.

So your saying having weeds made the whole lawn greener ?? I'm confused in what your trying to say. I have to have some kinda of weed prevent-er in the spring or else I'm screwed for the rest of the summer.

I would never use a lawn care company ever, unless you have a very large piece of property and are rich.

Taking care of weeds, fertilizing, insects, can all be done yourself for a fraction of the price.

From a distance I have a nice looking yard, from close up the nice looking "grass" is a combination of weeds and natural grasses that grow in the area. There are some areas of the yard that are technically all weeds.

I am currently trying another method of getting something like grass to grow in the yard.

Anyone interested in having a nice lush stand of fescue would hate my lawn, but to 90% of people driving by, it looks like a lawn, mostly green. The hodgepodge of miscelaneous lawn plants are much hardier than just fescue, they will be green in harsher conditions, and I won't fertilize, put down herbicide or insecticide, and I won't waste water on it. It is easier, and cheaper this way. Just mow high, leave the clippings on the lawn and call it good.

$300 for 3 months? That's crazy. I pay more than that per month during peak irrigation months.

watering is insanely expensive. i will irrigate up to July 4th or so then only as necessary to keep it alive. watering to keep things looking good is just too expensive and i feel also allows grassy weed like poa annua and triv to survive, encourages weeds in general, and creates a environment for pests including grubs, moles, etc. there is no need for "treatments" if not irrigating and it may actually do harm.

my water bill is about 40 to 50 dollars a month right now.

I don't think much of tru green. my neighbor uses them...or at least still has their sign on the yard....and her yard looks like a roller coaster of different HOC's and colors of green, and leftover cut grass on top from not cutting frequently enough and cutting too much off.

Houzz (gardenweb) is free. Better service and knowledge here any day of the week.

Not sure why I thought houzz Forum was formerly or took over Lawnsite Web Forum. My error. Sorry

Careful champ. Sending people away from this forum and their advertising is a quick way to get yourself banned for a violation of the terms of service. Many of the members of that other forum joined that forum after being banned from here. That statement oversimplifies the situation, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth over all that went down. Even though I helped create that forum, I do not send people there directly from here.

Getting back to the topic...had you been doing your own lawn care your costs by this time of year would have been $4-5 per 1,000 square feet for preemergent herbicide in February, about the same for fertilizer applied in late May, and about the same for a spray on herbicide applied in April. If you had 20,000 square feet of lawn, your cost would be about $300. Note also that only 3 treatments would have been applied. That's all you need. Using insecticide as a preventative for insect problems that 90% of people never have is an environmental issue along with a waste of money.

I think he is referring to this lawn site not lawnsite.com.

Why have lawn if you dont water it?

Different perspectives on the intensity of lawn care people are willing to perform. Kentucky Bluegrass will go dormant and bounce back nicely in the fall. I like not having to mow in the middle of summer when it's 100°/100%; one thing to keep in mind the amount of water that's necessary to apply is not trivial. If you decide to irrigate, you kind of have to be willing to continue throughout the season. Otherwise then what would be the point? To have a green lawn two weeks longer than would otherwise be the case? But, one thing that must be avoided under any circumstance is bringing a lawn in and out of dormancy. That will smoke a lawn dead. As mentioned too, in some areas irrigation is prohibitively expensive.

In my experience the lawn care services are often in the business of "upselling" or providing more treatments than may be necessary or optimal. Not really a dig, just an observation. They have a lot of clients and have to juggle, where the homeowner who does his own applications can tailor to existing conditions. Weedkiller should generally not be applied when turf is under drought stress or high temps above 90°, but lawncare services have a schedule to keep, and by golly the homeowner signed up for 6 applications so... And fertilizers aren't really necessary in the spring. I enjoy moderate applications of N to the lawn in the fall every couple weeks starting in late August right before a thunderstorm, having just mowed with a sharp blade. I can time everything perfect, at a fraction of the cost. Herbicides applied just after irrigation or rainstorm when weeds are actively growing. Also more specialized herbicides for hard to kill weeds are not part of their routine or are stupid expensive as well. Again maybe 1 or 2 fall fertilizer applications might be OK or convenient for certain folks if the price is right, but they want to sign everybody up for 7 apps plus a lime application, grubs and gopher control, core aeration and the rest of it. It's OK for some folks, but I think it's not for everyone.