A few numbers to consider...

[KirbysLawn]

Several have posted about difficulty in obtaining their asking price for aeration/overseeding. Here's something to think about and maybe share with your customers.

If you are overseeding with Lesco transition blend grass and are overseeding at 6 pounds per 1000 sf (not factoring in the normal 83% PLS ratio) the seed would cost the customer $1.60 per pound at Home Depot. That means it would cost them $9.60 per 1000 sf foot just to buy the seed, with that in mind why would you ever consider doing a job for $10-15 per 1000??:confused:

Heck charge $12 per k and retail prices for seed if nothing else, that would still be $21.60 per k. Heck tell them you will aerate for $12 per k and let them buy the seed and charge them $25-30 to apply, if they are good with math they will come to their sences soon.

Any other comments?

[lawrence stone]

Originally posted by KirbysLawn

Any other comments?

Why are you using fescue?

It is a pitiful bunch type grass that has poor color and is hard to establish.

Try using an 80% bluegrass and 20% rye. If the bluegrass is watered to an inch a week it will rock. You might need an inch of water every 4 days in July and August.

BTW the ESTABLISHMENT rate from scratch is 2-3 lbs. per 1K for bluegrass.

If you amend the soil with compost it will work great.

BTW2 what type turf is the sports fields at the colleges in your area?

[awm]

well this is nc . i wish i could put out blue .
very few do it here ,must be a reason.

[Barkleymut]

Because it's a little hotter and a little less rain in the summer AWM. I agree the Kent. Bluegrass looks nice and thick but it is not quite as well adapted to the southern summers.

[Lawn-Scapes]

How would the bluegrass hold up here in Maryland? Most of my lawns average around 1 acre. They are not irrigated and every other summer (the last few years) is brutal.

[Eric ELM]

It was in the high 80's to high 90's for 2 months straight here this summer. How much hotter does it get down there? We went 2 months with very little rain, but as soon as it did rain, the dormant blue is green again.

[Lawn-Scapes]

Eric,

It was about the same here... How about the hard clay soil?

Do I just mix it in with the existing fescue lawns? Will it look okay?

[KirbysLawn]

Originally posted by lawrence stone


Why are you using fescue?

BTW2 what type turf is the sports fields at the colleges in your area?

Because fescue provides the best overall growth and color for our area, properly managed it looks great. I keep saying you guys just don't understand; here, VA, TN, and other areas in the "transition area" have it a little different. We have rock hard clay ground which holds no water! We get 1" of rain here and it hardly absorbs into the ground at all, while other areas an 1" of rain will do wonders. Warm season grasses turn brown in winter due to low temps and cool season grasses turn brown in summer due to high temps. I would love to see you come here a plant Rye and make a living.

I've said this before also, Rye grass will not survive here during the summer. We use it for overseeding warm season grasses in winter for color, come summer it's toast.

Eric, our temps stay in the mid to high 90's, if we had soil that absorbed water good it may be a different story, but as I stated 1" of rain there absorbs much deeper than 1" here, most water just washes down the drain unless we get hours of rain.

Stone, most use bermuda for sports fields.

Boy did this get off topic...:confused:

[AltaLawnCare]

Great post, Kirby...

We can use all the posts like this we can get.

How to sell ourselves to thrifty customers.

[HBFOXJr]

Stone - Guess you've never seen Rutgers turf farm. Lots of turf type tall fescues look great. They have deeper roots than blue, require less fert to stay green and are beautifully colored.

However I still like a mix. Lesco's TeamMates Plus with all fescue, rye and 10% blue by weight or their Classic sunny mostly blue, rye and some fine fescue.

Blue has strong recuperative powers but there is nothing like a 3 way mix in our area.

[cp]

Hey Kirby, help me out with the big numbers..

Try 79,000, and a 166,000 square foot.

I still can't figure how to adjust with a larger tract.

[KirbysLawn]

How much will you cost be per 1000 and how many 1000sf can you do an hour?

[strickdad]

kirby is right about the fescue and the ground cond. of n.c. around these parts its even worse than in his area. (all clay) there is no question about needing lime, the only question is how much. however toward the coast were the ground is sandy, the grass of choice seems to be centipeade

[lakegastonla]

Yes, but centipede will not take the salt spray conditions of the coast, either, so it is St. Augistines you will see toward the coastline. Bluegrass, by the way, is a very high maintenance grass compared to fescue and it takes lots of time and money to get bluegrass to do ANYTHING decent here. You see very little of it here.

[SCAPEASAURUSREX]

talking about seed... I just started using Lesco METRO, which is there high end seed and have awsome results , very fast estaablishment at least compraed to what I was using.. In about a week I had a very good showing....

[ant]

good post ray...
it will open a lot of eyes
ant

[Barkleymut]

Ray- Last year a 50 lb bag of Transition could be had at HD for $65. I haven't checked it this year. If someone is really cheap I tell them I will aerate for XX amount and apply the seed and fert at my cost. How in the world would they know my cost? I just charge a few bucks less than usual and they think they are Suzy Smart Shopper. Everyone is happy.