Chemlawn/TruGreen Fert. Program

[bugman]

Not that Chemlawn/TruGreen should be the model fertilizer program...however, does anyone have any idea what they may use in their yearly program? I believe they use Lesco products.

[Norm Al]

chemlawn uses the same products you and I use but they mainly buy direct from the manufacturer,,,,,HUGE savings. I mean there is only about 4 real products for us to use. This is why I laugh when spray techs act like they are so much more superior/educated compared to the rest of the green industry.

also they do not spray bifenthrin over the whole lawn, when they see a spot that may have bugs they pull a secondary trigger and a shot of bug killer comes out for that area. they feel in doing it that way it doesnt create a resistance to the chemicals.

[Runner]

And they also use junk analysis' for fertilizer. It is a all top show and no go for the overalll health of the turf. This is why a tru-brown lawn just grows thinner and thinner as the years go by.

[teeca]

alot of 46-0-0 granulr and liquid.. and like runner statted.. thin and pail in color (then they come back out and hit it w/ more N)

[Norm Al]

or he could use bat poop?

[americanlawn]

In Iowa, tru-bleed relies on "urea" for the bulk of their "nutrient program". Their early spring treatment consists of '1/2 pound of UREA' per 1000 suare feet -- they call it their "spring greenup". (our land grant university says: "Then what's the late fall treatment for???"). It' merely tru-ghost's method of selling yet another app. (they're up to 8 now).

[J Hisch]

1. 46-0-0 with prodiamine

2. 46-0-0 with triplett

3. 46-0-0 with triplett

4. and so on and so on, they may be using uflexx now in some of the hotter markets.

[philly4152]

I'm sorry to say I work for them here in indy, ya ya I run through peoples yards just so I can make ends meat. Hopefully not for long, though. Anyway this is what we put down.
1. barricade 19-3-5
2. liquid 46-0-0, tripplett
3. granular 25-3-8, tripplett
4. granular 25-3-8, or slow release and tripower
5.depending on the weather either the same as 4. or 6.
6.liquid 46-0-0 and tripplett
7. winterizer 46-0-0 granular

Oh by the way, I don't know about florida but up here we do put the insecticide over the whole lawn, usually talstar.

[GreenUtah]

and how many blanket apps of weed control is that vs. label maximums per year? that urea winterizer cracks me up. Ask your branch manager when, exactly, the corporate agronomists will set foot on a lawn in your area. I love these guys!

[Tscape]

I'm sorry to say I work for them here in indy, ya ya I run through peoples yards just so I can make ends meat. Hopefully not for long, though. Anyway this is what we put down.
1. barricade 19-3-5
2. liquid 46-0-0, tripplett
3. granular 25-3-8, tripplett
4. granular 25-3-8, or slow release and tripower
5.depending on the weather either the same as 4. or 6.
6.liquid 46-0-0 and tripplett
7. winterizer 46-0-0 granular

Oh by the way, I don't know about florida but up here we do put the insecticide over the whole lawn, usually talstar.


What amount of N is slow release in that 25-3-8?

[philly4152]

The slow release is a differant number like 28-3-10 or something like that. It's 28 percent nitrogen though. I ment we use 25-3-8 on irrigated lawns or lawns in good condition and the slow release on the lawns that are dry. The brand name is shaw's, we buy it by the semi so it is really cheap. With as cheap as it is you'd think they could pay me more and actually let me care for a lawn.

[Trudeal]

I'm sorry to say I work for them here in indy, ya ya I run through peoples yards just so I can make ends meat. Hopefully not for long, though. Anyway this is what we put down.
1. barricade 19-3-5
2. liquid 46-0-0, tripplett
3. granular 25-3-8, tripplett
4. granular 25-3-8, or slow release and tripower
5.depending on the weather either the same as 4. or 6.
6.liquid 46-0-0 and tripplett
7. winterizer 46-0-0 granular

Oh by the way, I don't know about florida but up here we do put the insecticide over the whole lawn, usually talstar.

Philly,

If you are not happy with TruGreen you need to leave, not bash them or give information on applications you think you know. The fact is you are giving information on application that may or may not be to your region only. Also are you a commercial tech, or residential? I would say you are residential and would not have the fortitude or the basic knowledge to instruct people on this site. Do yourself a favor and quit while you’re ahead...

Yours Truuully

Trudeal

[americanlawn]

Turfscape is right ..... TruChem here is selling 4 apps of BWC (well over what the label allows in one season). Triplet/Tripower. Something's wrong there??? I know, cuz I've seen their quotes w/specs for commercial lawns.

Things have certainly changed since the '70's when I worked for the Duke brothers. ChemLawn was bought out 3 times. No more R & D. TruMoney turned a "pioneer/leader" into a "gimmee your money" outfit.

Too many people now have a bad taste for lawn care professionals, and many even question "quality" companies because of it. Sad. (and I don't mean St Augustine disease).

[hmartin]

I am not trying to start anything but do you think Trudeal joined the forum just to chastise Philly. I see that Trudeal has one post and joined this month.

[teeca]

i bet its around 5% for the price they charge... no where near the 50% i'm using

[DUSTYCEDAR]

its all go go juice for the lawn

[teeca]

i'd let philly ride alittle bit.. lets help him read and understand the lable... lets help him under stand the slow release number, he might want to learn. philly, on the lable 28-3-10 is N P K read farther down on the lable and it will say: contains ___ % slow release. and yes it does have 28%N, this will tell you how much is slow release. say it was sold as 50% slow release, 28-3-10, your slow release % would say: contains 14% slow release N, not 50% because their is only 28%N in the bag..

[Tscape]

i'd let philly ride alittle bit.. lets help him read and understand the lable... lets help him under stand the slow release number, he might want to learn. philly, on the lable 28-3-10 is N P K read farther down on the lable and it will say: contains ___ % slow release. and yes it does have 28%N, this will tell you how much is slow release. say it was sold as 50% slow release, 28-3-10, your slow release % would say: contains 14% slow release N, not 50% because their is only 28%N in the bag..

Exactly the point. Go on teeca, explain how slow release works and why it is beneficial to all lawns, and just less harmful to drought stressed ones.

[teeca]

well.. if you put down to much N thats not slow release, it can burn the lawn in the heat of the summer, cause the turf to grow too fast, causing it to out grow its root system and therefor kill the lawn (burn it) and/or it will open the lawn up for many turf dieases' along with less resistance to insect damage.. applying a 46-0-0 fert year-round regardless of the N, will not produce a healthy lawn, you need a fert w/ micro's and iron, along w/ K.. nature is all about balance.. slow steady feedings of the nutreants. after all you wouldn't go to mcdonalds and say, well... i eat a double cheeseburger and 2 fries everyday 5 day's a week and get it all at once and eat it.. (well i hope not)

[Tscape]

How about not eating McDonald's all the time (going with the metaphor)? Throw in some healthy cooking, maybe a nice chicken breast on a bed of greens (my metaphor for organic N). That would be good right?

[philly4152]

First off, "My Bad" I didn't realize I was sounding like I thought I knew everything. I understand that I don't. I did say here in indy we use, blah blah blah. I totally understand that diferant areas have differant environments, turf types, and soil types, etc. I am a residentual tech and yeah I may not have the experience alot of other people have but come on was it really necessary to jump on me for tryin to help out. Anyway I'll read the label tomarrow and let you know what % is slow release. I did 54 lawns today and at the end of the week I'll bring home half of what I brought them in today in a weeks check, so it's kinda hard not to bash trugreen. Again it's my bad, I didn't mean to ruffle any ones panties. My advice is to chill out, take a few deep breathes and move on.

[trimmasters]

Philly, I for one appreciate you taking the time to share what you know. Thanks! What was your drive time to treat 54 lawns? how about the total square footage treated? I might need to tell my techs to step there game up

[philly4152]

Right on, like I said I know i don't know everything but I'm constantly probing the people around me so that I may be able to have the know how to do this on my own one day. That is the basic reason I joined this site, so I can learn as much as possible. Anyway the 54 lawns yesterday was 340000 sqf. I was in one neighborhood all day so it was more pushin and pullin than drivin. The total price was $1750. I was on my first lawn at 6:45 and I was done by1:30. If I work to much past that my pay starts going down per hour so I gotta hustle, ya know. I checked the label on the slow release and it is 14% N. By the way thanks for the info on the slow release, it makes total since. I kinda understood but you guys explaining it made me get it totally.
thanks.

[DLS1]

Right on, like I said I know i don't know everything but I'm constantly probing the people around me so that I may be able to have the know how to do this on my own one day. That is the basic reason I joined this site, so I can learn as much as possible. Anyway the 54 lawns yesterday was 340000 sqf. I was in one neighborhood all day so it was more pushin and pullin than drivin. The total price was $1750. I was on my first lawn at 6:45 and I was done by1:30. If I work to much past that my pay starts going down per hour so I gotta hustle, ya know. I checked the label on the slow release and it is 14% N. By the way thanks for the info on the slow release, it makes total since. I kinda understood but you guys explaining it made me get it totally.
thanks.

Sounds about right at $5 per 1K. Do you have a minimum for a yard? I have a few 4,000+- sq ft yards and I charge a min. of $38.

[philly4152]

Yeah, that 31.25 is the minimum. That's up to 4k then 4k to 5k is about 35. or supposed to be. In my route everything seems to be 31.25.

[Xterminator]

I have a 15,000 Sq Ft Yard for $75.00 and TGCL left an Est. for $38.00 they work on Quanity not Quality

[philly4152]

I'm sure the tech won't be to happy about that if they got the account.

[DLS1]

Yeah, that 31.25 is the minimum. That's up to 4k then 4k to 5k is about 35. or supposed to be. In my route everything seems to be 31.25.

How are you charging your area for the summer application where you are putting down fertilizer and they ask for grub control. Are you using the combo granular products of fertilizer with grub control in it? If doing it this way are you charging a fee for the fertilizer and an extra fee for the grub control but charging the grub control at a higher fee than the fee for the fertilizer?

[indyturf]

How are you charging your area for the summer application where you are putting down fertilizer and they ask for grub control. Are you using the combo granular products of fertilizer with grub control in it? If doing it this way are you charging a fee for the fertilizer and an extra fee for the grub control but charging the grub control at a higher fee than the fee for the fertilizer?
I do both grub and summer fertilizer in the same application. I charge my regular price for the fertilizer app and regular price plus 50% for the grub treatment. so if my fertilizer price was $40, grub price would be $60 for a total of $100. doing them together saves me 2-3 weeks work so maybe I can squeeze in a weeks vacation in Aug!

[DLS1]

I do both grub and summer fertilizer in the same application. I charge my regular price for the fertilizer app and regular price plus 50% for the grub treatment. so if my fertilizer price was $40, grub price would be $60 for a total of $100. doing them together saves me 2-3 weeks work so maybe I can squeeze in a weeks vacation in Aug!

I charge the same for both and the Mach 2/fertilizer is in one bag. So $90 to fertilize would also be $90 for the Mach 2. I am charging $8 - $10 pr 1k. I would do the same for fertilizer and people who also want bug control (Talstar). I have several that want fertilizer/Mach 2 and Talstar and do these all in one trip but charge it as 3 applications. The summer apps make me a lot of money for one visit.

[philly4152]

Sorry it took so long to get back to ya. We call em double pops usin the all in one granular products. We get 2 invoices, say for a 10000. It's supposed to be $ for the fretilizer then double for the grub control. So for walkin across the 10000 once we rake in $195. I don't think it's that fair, but it gets my day over a lot quicker.

[teeca]

nothing unfair about that, thats the way most companies do it. grub control is very expensive. have you priced a bag of fert w/ merit? ya, it's more then double the cost of a reg bag of fert.

[philly4152]

I guess if most other companies are doing that then it's not really unfair. I'm sure you can still make a good profitcharging 1.5 times the app than double, though.

[DLS1]

Philly got a few more questions about how TG in your area.

1. When do they start sending out yearly renewal notices? (i.e. August, September, October or ?)

2. How much of a discount do they give for prepays? I usually give 10% but I may cut that back to 5% next year.

3. Do they do verticutting and seeding? How do they go about charging it per 1K. I have seen TG estimates from some of my new customers where they do aeration and if I remember it correctly it is was around $13 per 1k.

I would learn as much as possible from TG and their practices (i.e. pricing, discounts, products they use, hiring practices, training methods, marketing and sales methods, etc.). Then you can take the good things you learned and start your own business plus you know who are the TG customers and general prices. Just need a truck, Lesco spray rig, license and insurance and your ready to go.

[Tscape]

nothing unfair about that, thats the way most companies do it. grub control is very expensive. have you priced a bag of fert w/ merit? ya, it's more then double the cost of a reg bag of fert.

I pay 400% more for Merit 24-5-11 than my regular fert products.

[teeca]

I pay 400% more for Merit 24-5-11 than my regular fert products.
rest my case.. charging double the app sounds like a good deal for the customers..

[Norm Al]

why worry about price when your giving awesome service?

[Turfman999]

They use a liquid base mixture fertilizer, not urea. The specialist have many choices available to them to do the job right! Unfortunately, most are in a hurry to get better commissions. Tank mixed weed control would be twice a year at best with spot control or nothing for other times. Most summer dry products are complete fertilizers with 30-50% SCU. Most results are only as good as the care the indivdual specialist takes.

[teeca]

*** Most results are only as good as the care the indivdual specialist takes ***
how true, how true.. a diamond is only as good as the cut..

[Runner]

Our grub control aps are 2x the price of the fert. ap. So, if I spread 24-0-11 w/ Merit, that is 3x the normal ap price.