Do I really need my lawn sprayed this early in the year?

We have a lot of people ask us why we start spraying lawns so early in the year. I get it. It doesn’t seem like anything would be growing, but the main thing we are trying to do by spraying this early is to get a pre-emergent down BEFORE any weeds try to grow.

The way our weather is now days. It can go from single digit lows to 60 degrees in the same week. With all that change in the weather, weeds could literally start growing at anytime, and our goal is to PREVENT the weeds from ever growing in your yard. So basically, what we do is split the pre-emergent into two separate applications which gives us a few advantages.

First, by splitting the pre-emergent we don’t have to be perfect in our timing. Trying to predict the weather is impossible, and many times you end up either applying the pre-emergent too early or too late. Its really hard to have perfect timing. If you apply it too early, it won’t last through the summer. If you spray it too late, it won’t do any good because the weeds have already germinated. By splitting the pre-emergent in two separate applications we get it down early enough to prevent early germinating weeds and with the second dose, we are protected throughout the summer and early fall.

Secondly, we can get a longer residual out of the pre-emergent. Meaning we can make the pre-emergent last for a longer time throughout the growing season. It takes a little luck to put all your pre-emergent down at one time and be protected throughout the growing season. Getting some down early in the year lets us put the second application down later in the spring so we can get a full season of control.

The last benefit we get from splitting the pre-emergent application, is that it gives our technicians the opportunity to see what’s going on in your yard early in the year. For instance, this winter has been really mild, and they are seeing some weeds just below the canopy of the grass. If we weren’t out making this application, the next thing you know you’d have a yard full of weeds. Which isn’t good for any of us.