If it's trugreen probably green dye and no herbicide.....

 

Really bizarre question. Are we supposed to start guessing? There are literally hundreds of ways to make grass green.

 

Agreed, you'd have to ask a TG employee or look at the receipt of a TruGreen customer.

With that being said, the best guess I can offer is "quick release high Nitrogen with Urea". Essentially giving the grass a "High"!

https://gardensynthesis.com/which-fertilizer-greens-up-a-lawn-fastest

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So much hate from trugreen, in my area they are decent. Why hate so hard on the main reason your able to do what you do? Trugreen/chemlawn Isa huge reason why the lawn care industry exists....

With that said, they don't use anything special around here.... Spray at 2gal/k and use something like .5lbs/k n for apps.

They're lawns up here look anywhere from great to ****ty, like most companies.

 

So much hate from trugreen, in my area they are decent. Why hate so hard on the main reason your able to do what you do? Trugreen/chemlawn Isa huge reason why the lawn care industry exists....

With that said, they don't use anything special around here.... Spray at 2gal/k and use something like .5lbs/k n for apps.

They're lawns up here look anywhere from great to ****ty, like most companies.

Did Trugreen start up in the Twin Cities as Chem-Lawn? I had job offer in 1987 there but ended up taking a landscaping job where I could start working the next day.

 

Are you talking about trugreen or your competitor? As a business that’s been around for 40 years, what do you use?

you could always ask the homeowner if he has the invoice they gave him, as that would tell what they put on at what rate.

 

Are you talking about trugreen or your competitor? As a business that’s been around for 40 years, what do you use?

you could always ask the homeowner if he has the invoice they gave him, as that would tell what they put on at what rate.

Who puts that stuff on their invoices? TruGreen will put that they're spraying for weeds on an invoice for pre-emergent rounds... I worked for All-Turf in Georgia, they billed out 15 million last year. I've seen many competitiors invoices and VERY RARELY do they even list the herbicide or pesticides that were applied by name, I've NEVER seen a rate listed. I'm a certified applicator and I very rarely list what I put down unless I know the client is interested and knowledgeable. Most techs at the big companies don't even know the rate they're applying product at other than, ex. 2 gallons per 1k or 1 bag per 20k etc lol. I could see a smaller outfit doing that but I feel it's a waste of time. Most customers scan the invoice to make sure they were charged the correct amount and that's it.

 

Here’s one a customer sent me. They switched from TG to me after round 2. I needed to know what they had put down for round 1 and 2. This is supposedly their round 2.

 

Here’s one a customer sent me. They switched from TG to me after round 2. I needed to know what they had put down for round 1 and 2. This is supposedly their round 2.
View attachment 512065

22-0-6. Yep, that's some HI NITRO!

Interesting that they spread down dry fert w/ Pre-M and then went back over and hand sprayed for weeds.

 

3lb/1000...gee wonder why it's so green? TG is an interesting outfit. I've got a buddy in a northern suburb and the majority of the people in his development use TG. He says they've all used the same guy for at least 5 years and everyone's lawns are flawless...couldn't be happier. My daughter moved into a home in a west suburb TG was treating...backyard full of CC and violets. Absolute crap...go figure.

 

I only use measuring apps, I definitely don’t have the time to visit all the new properties before we start. Probably added 100 new customers this year. Our program fixes the vast majority of issues, so I don’t really need to see it. I know what a bad lawn looks like.

 

Not going down the road on why you're asking if you've been in the business since 79... To answer the question, they're probably using something like Peg Power plus some iron. If we handle the maintenance as well we will hit it with a growth regulator. Most companies just hit it with a high nitrogen fert in Spring to force an early green up but that causes a lot of disease issues here in Georgia. It would depend on what type of turf you're dealing with. If you really want to know, call them and ask them what they're applying this round. You could pose as a potential client or just ask them straight up. You could also ask their supplier what they're applying. The guys at your local distributor are (or should be,) a very good source of information. Hope this helps.

 

Also, Findlotsize.com is what I use when something is difficult to measure or I need to show a customer. I don't understand why someone would think satellite imaging would be inaccurate. I eyeball anything under 30k but I'm a special individual lol been doing it a while and I have the eye for it. Go to findlotsize.com and click the pinpoint button and try it out at your house. Make sure to select measure, as distance is it's default.

 

This company would put that we were applying a balanced spring fertilizer and spot spraying for weeds on our April and May applications when really we're applying 35-0-0 in April and 18-24-12 in May and only spot spraying broadleaf, let the Poa Annua die on it's own and save a buck on Tribute Total.

 

We've got fairway here. Not sure if they are one in the same. I've always thought they do a pretty good job. Trugreen pushes N early here. I think when temps get above 32 they start dumping the N LOL. But heck it's what customers want. The "why isn't my lawn as green as my neighbor that uses TG?"

Disease? That's just an upsell app for them. I'll admit I'm pushing urea much much earlier than I used to because of customer feedback. Give them what they want I guess.

 

I dunno. I don’t start fert until round 2. We get a lot of late freezes. A late freeze on a bermuda lawn that was woken up early = black. Watched TG do it last year and every Bermuda lawn went black, bad deal. As far as fescue goes, I don’t think it matters much but I prefer to keep round 1 strictly a weed/pre em round. I do however run lime for the lawns that need it in round 1.

 

In TN we have 48hrs now to give full list of products applied only if asked by customer. That's a new regulation for us. Of course we have to keep our own records for audit of what we actually did apply. We use wording like "proprietary pre emergent blend" etc etc. I've always considered ones mix IMO to be "work product" kinda like coca cola secret formula. I won't like it if we have to list everything we spray.

 

The written information showing the amount used to three decimal places is humorous. In the old days when I worked for big companies--the lawn techs were expected to make a quota or sqft covered per day. This means they were forced to hurry. A lawn that would need 12 minutes of spreading time was probably finished in 8 minutes spreading time. Walking too fast and very wide swaths. Naturally the computer printed out all the information and rates and concentrations, probably before the truck even left the office location.
The same thing happened, openly probably worse, with liquid applications. Seldom were the full liquid gallons per thousand sqft applied. You had to walk really slow to get 4 gallons per thousand sqft.
Worse yet, to make a sale, the salesmen often undermeasured the lawn to reduce the price quoted to the potential customer. 10,000 sqft lawns were being priced and sold as if they were 6000 sqft. The spray tech had to move fast to cover 150,000 sqft per day.

 

That’s rough, everyone gets a goal but to hit it they have to screw over the next guy. No thanks.

 

Yep. The sales guys will undermeasure properties in a heartbeat. Lower price (for smaller area) increases their sales.
But the applicator is held to use x pounds or gallons per "estimated" s/f per day. More walking... more product.... the more pissed the applicator should be. Sales guys - get your lazy a$$es out of the truck and put a wheel on the ground.
Those online apps that give area per property aren't always accurate. How do I know? I've had to reverify areas based on over-usage of product. The wheel don't lie.

 

If you are a high-quality company-- this gives you an opportunity to compete in sales--this by comparing yourself to big companies that force their techs to hurry.
"If your competing company walks faster than 2 miles per hour, you are not getting the full dose that was promised. They do not bother to be sure. The computer prints all those gallons and pounds before the truck leaves their garage."

Measure the distance between the spreader wheel tracks--if it is more than 84 inches--not all the grass was covered.

"If your 6000 sqft lawn is undermeasured, and it is really 10,000 square feet--you may be getting only 60 percent of what was printed on the sheet."

Try to think of ways to prove you are more quality-oriented. Show them your spreader with a speedometer. Explaining how it measures the distance traveled, (and therefore the square feet.)
And show how the pounds are marked on the hopper for each lawn size: 4,6,10, or 12 thousand square feet.
Or show them a picture of your spreaders.