heat tracks

[americanlawn]

The "clown" called his father-in-law cuz he was mad at us. So the father-in-law (also a customer) called in reporting the same problem...heat tracks. (last treatment was over a month ago). When I got there this morning, I saw "heat tracks" alright, but it was from his 22" mower (not us). Mowing height: 2 1/2 inches. I not only saw wheel marks from his mower, but also "mower burn" from his mower blades. No sign whatsover from any sort of ride-on spreader/sprayer. I tried pushing the soil probe in the ground, but I could not. The soil was like concrete. So I left him a "service call report" of my findings. I also left him an Iowa State University fact sheet regarding "Proper care of lawns during summer months".

Now here's the odd thing....a few hours after I left detailed information on his front door, he called our office & cancelled service. Said he NEVER saw anything on his front door from us. His son-in-law (prison guard) was also a liar, and now I'm seeing the XXX doesn't fall too far from the tree. We heavily rely on land grant university info just for clowns like these guys.

Originally Posted by americanlawn

(service call) "You killed my lawn". It was "heat tracks" caused by a ride-on spreader. No damage in the back (cuz it sloped away from the hot afternoon sun). The only brown tracks were in the front parking and south of the driveway where the afternoon sun bakes it. It is a clay soil lawn about 2 years old with no irrigation, and the guy says he never waters.

When I arrived, I got out my ruler to find out that his cutting height was "2 1/4 inches" instead of the 3 1/2 inch cutting height that ISU recommends. Then he saw me and came outside. When I told him I was measuring his cutting height, he got very upset.

The guy was a total jerk, and he had no intention on listening to me. All he wanted to do is insult my company. He said "what we applied" killed out his lawn. (I guess two brown tracks means killing his entire lawn). I explained that the 50% XCU non-burning slow-release fertilizer had nothing to do with the 2 brown tracks. (no herbicide was applied)
Then the guy said "we should have known better". Then I said, "Known better than what?" He provided no answer, but he sure got even madder after that. Then I explained that nobody can predict which properties will get brown tracks from mowers, spreaders, etc. He didn't buy that. I tried to hand him 3 fact sheets ("mower tracks in lawns" & "proper care of lawns during summer" & "proper mowing during summer"), but he refused to take them. Then he repeated himself over & over & over. Said he had "never seen this before, and nobody else in Altoona, IA has this". (my previous stop was for brown tracks caused by 2 Toro lawn mowers - 60" & a 72" in Altoona, IA) Then he said he wanted a refund on the application, and from now on we needed to call him ahead (no gate, no fence, no dog). I said, "Okay - no prob".

But then he went on another rant......."You should have known better. If you don't refund my $$ and call me ahead from now on, I'll find somebody else". (I had already agreed to this earlier in our conversation).

Here's what broke the camel's back -- He said "anybody could do as good or better than us". Then I turned my back, walked away, got in my truck, and drove away. At that point, he became a D.N.R (DO NOT RENEW)

Guess what??? I got back to the office. Seems this clown called and asked for my "supervisor". Seems he got even madder when I just "walked away".

This was the first customer I removed from our service this year. Hope it's the last. FYI, when you cancel a customer before they cancel you, it REALLY pisses them off.

[Oakleaf landscape]

How do you like these?
This picture was taken at a very nice golf course I played this past weekend. Carolina National down near Oak Island. Had this on a few fairways aswell.

[mikesturf]

Small residential lawn, mowing company.

[DA Quality Lawn & YS]

Originally Posted by mikesturf

Small residential lawn, mowing company.

Dang those are distinct. Leaf blight, or actual mere heat tracks?
The more I read about heat tracks, the more I want to just shut mowing down middays on days that are 90 degrees plus. Just isn't worth it.

[mikesturf]

That picture was from 2 years ago. It looked like that for 4 weeks until we had cooler temps and some good amounts of rain. Home owner would not water.

[Greenery]

Originally Posted by DA Quality Lawn & YS

Dang those are distinct. Leaf blight, or actual mere heat tracks?
The more I read about heat tracks, the more I want to just shut mowing down middays on days that are 90 degrees plus. Just isn't worth it.

In twelve years of doing this I have seen very few disease, fungus or insect damage, a little red thread or green bug damage but that's about it. I would definitely chalk it up to heat damage, walk in the lawn before you service if the grass isn't springing back up where you stepped then do not mowor treat the lawn until it get's some water. As far as recovery if they start watering most should recover within two weeks. If no water than It's probably gonna be awhile.
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