Hello, Autumn
What’s Next for Your Lawn
What’s Next for Your Lawn
What’s next for your Lawn? Fall has certainly been dragging its feet this year with its late arrival, but we’re hoping that temperatures will be cooling down soon enough to spur good growth from seeding services and hopefully bring some dryer weather with it! As you know, this whole year has had just about every weather extreme we could face, from record breaking rainfalls to extreme heats to hurricanes and tornadoes. At this time last year, trees were already beginning to turn yellow and red, and aeration and seeding services were wrapping up. This year, it still looks and feels like summer outside, so our aeration and seeding services are going later into the season than usual. We expect them to be done by the first week of November, so stay posted on when you service will be scheduled if it hasn’t been already, and check out the aeration and seeding FAQ video linked below to hear your questions answered.
Have you noticed any new weeds since your yard was aerated? This is normal! Core aeration stirs up dormant weed seeds, and all the care being given to your baby grass ends up encouraging less desired plants as well. Please don’t try to treat these weeds on your own, or you may accidentally damage your baby grass! If you’re part of our fertilization program, we’ll keep an eye on the weeds and be back to controlling them by the end of the year.
Mowing Your Baby Grass
Once you’ve been seeded, it’s important not to mow for at least a few weeks to give the baby grass time to grow in. Once your lawn has gotten strong enough to handle being cut, your mow service will return to its usual schedule. It is very important if you mow the lawn yourself to mow at the highest setting with sharp blades and only pass over the lawn once before getting off of it. If we mow for you, you may notice after the first visit that the lawn does not look as picture perfect as it usually does. This is normal! Your baby grass is still much thinner than your lawn’s mature blades, so much of it bends under the mower instead of standing and being cut at the same height as the rest of the lawn. In addition to that, we are mowing on a very high setting right now since the grass has been growing so tall; we don’t want to cut too much and cause any stress that may make the lawn less healthy. Usually, our mow crews mow over at least twice to create our signature striped look and cut up any clippings or missed spots, but for the next couple of visits, we are only mowing over the lawn once in a pattern that involves less turning to reduce damage as much as possible. This means you may not see your usual stripes and there may be a few tall patches or visible clippings left behind. Again, don’t worry! We promise your lawn will be beautiful again soon.For the first few mows after your seed has grown in, our focus is on making sure your seeding investment stays healthy so that when we return to our usual mowing, it will be as beautiful as it can be.If you want to learn more about what we recommend for seeding aftercare, check out our video here
Click HERE to read what some of our customers had to say!
Fungus is Still Among Us
With the heaviest rain the state of Virginia has seen in close to 100 years, we have seen a huge influx of water related issues on client properties. From erosion to rotting lawns, we’ve seen it all, but one of the most prevalent problems has been fungus. By now, most of our fertilizer clients should be well aware of brown patch, the late spring and early summer fungus that attacked so many more yards this year than usual. However, we have seen signs on a couple of properties that we seeded but are fertilized by another company of a rarer fungus called gray leaf spot. This is a disease we haven’t seen in years, but is showing up this year because of the extended moisture and high temperatures we’ve had for the last month. The risk of developing this disease seems to be increased when a heavy dose of fertilizer is applied too soon after seeding, so if we seed for you but you or someone else fertilizes the lawn, we encourage you to wait until the weather has gotten much cooler before doing your next round of fertilizer, which is what PPLM will be doing. Because of the time of year, the fungicides applied this summer are not likely to prevent this disease from developing, so be sure not to overwater and contact us at the first signs of a problem. Once your lawn is seeded, it should get greener, not browner! Our staff is on standby to answer any questions or concerns that might come up regarding late season disease in your lawn.
As you’ve likely heard by now, this September was the third hottest on record, and October is shaping up to be record breaking as well. We are between 5 and 10 degrees above normal temperature averages, which is making this season exceptionally difficult for aeration and seeding. Fescue seed germinates best when air temperatures are between 60 and 75 degrees, and it’s not looking like we’re going to see those temperatures until the second half of October. As a result, aeration and seeding services are being delayed a few weeks to try to accommodate this warm season as much as possible. As a result of higher temperatures, data trends are showing that each year, the first freeze in RVA has occurred later and later in the season. We’re still a month away from the weather getting cold enough to produce frost, so there’s still plenty of time for seeding.
Can’t Beat the Heat
Maximize on Referrals
Don’t forget, PPLM is proud to offer our clients a $50 credit toward your account for every person you send our way that signs up for a Picture Perfect Program. There’s no limit to the quality of service we want to bring to the lawns of our community, so there’s no limit to this credit program! Our highest priority is to provide quality service that you want to rave about. We are always grateful as well for positive reviews online to help spread the word about PPLM!
Help Wanted
Thanks to your support, PPLM is expanding and in need of reliable help! We are currently seeking a full time Team Leader for one of our mow crews. If you know anyone with lawn care experience, leadership skills, and a clean driving record, please have them call our office at (804) 530-2540 or apply with us through our Facebook listing.
lawn with a fresh design that will have your
neighbors turning their heads! We take pride in our services, and as a family owned business, we treat our customers like family.
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