Those types of services tend to create problems so that they can sell services to fix those problems. What you need to care for st.Augustine annually in an average 80x125 lot cost about $50 a year and it only needs to be done at certain times of the year. Maybe you'll agree it's silly to pay $360+ a year for these services to do things that don't need to be done. You might get lucky and find a lawn care company that will offer just the things you need at just the right times.

To say lawn care companies deliberately screw up your yard so they can then in turn sell you a remedy is as ridiculous a statement as it is irresponsible.

If you have a healthy stand of st aug turf then yes you can do it yourself a lot cheaper. assuming good condition all st aug really needs is about 5 lbs of nitrogen a year. (one application of a 20-0-0 fert of 5 lbs per 1000 sq ft will apply one lb of N) a soil test will determine other fertilization needs your specific lawn may require. (if any)

lawn companies are out there to make a living like everyone else and an overzealous salesman will try to upsell you everything under the sun. dont fall for it. if you have a problem with crabgrass then a pre-emergent herbicide treatment may be in order. this time of year broadleaf weeds can be a real issue- those can be dealt with also. pre-emergents in the fall will help prevent most of those. each lawn is different and thusly can have its own problems that can be dealt with accordingly by a qualified lawn tech. you do not have to purchase a ten round program each year from these people. tell them during the sales pitch what you want and they can take it or leave it.

not knowing anything about you or your property i'd say a pre in the fall, a pre in the spring, and two ferts in the summer. too much N on st aug is worse than none at all.

dennis I have to ask. If you have time to mow your lawn yourself (once a week I assume), you mean you don't have another 20-minutes per month to DIY?

The care you get depends entirely on the integrity of the provider. The name on the truck means nothing. I used to work with a guy who had previously been a salesman for a local national franchise. He knows absolutely nothing about grass, weeds, or soil except when he had his training manual in front of him. But he is a born salesman. In our area there are very few exceptions to St Augustine and the soil is either limestone rubble or a lime-based clay. He had worked up a standard speech he would give to all the potential clients. He would walk the lawn, eyeball the measurements (which is easy after doing this for a week or two), shake hands a lot, praise the care they had already done, point out the problems with weeds, and make an estimate based on the size of the yard. After the deal was signed, it was completely up to the truck driver to apply the chemicals properly. They leave the barn in the morning with the standard spray for the day and everyone gets it. That's my understanding.

On these forums we only hear about the problems with these companies. Surely there are thousands of satisfied clients that never find their way here to praise them.

ive been in the LCO business for over 20 yrs now both as an employee of one of the major players in the industry and as a business owner and what dchall says is pretty much true, at least in regards to the big name people. was my experience (frustratingly so) that sales had no clue about turf beyond what they needed to make the sales pitch.

correct also in that the truck's tanks are loaded with the same spray and everyone gets it. this time of year everyone gets pre-emergent, turfgrass type is of no consequence. thats not a bad thing. later on in the summer that will change. smaller outfits like me do not sell dirt cheap programs of 8, 10, or 12 visits a year at a low price just to send the customer a bill. yes they do "do something" at each visit but is it really needed? a smaller LCO can custom tailor a four or five round program much better suited to your particular needs. you CAN get this type of service from the big guys but you need to know what you want and when you want it. as i said before they will try like the dickens to upsell you but stick to your guns and they will sell you exactly what you want.

i would avoid bubba gump with a backpack sprayer in his old sanford and son pickup truck. be sure your LCO is insured and fully licensed for the state you live in. have some very pointed questions prepared to ask them about your lawn you can ask when they are there to give you an estimate. within reason just about anything you could ask about your turf wouldnt require any thought from the tech to answer thoroughly. i dont get asked anything ive not answered 100 times already.

you mentioned youve got st. aug turf and want it looking good. whats wrong with it now? what problems does it have?
how much shade does it get? amount of water? history of brown patch or grey leaf spot? weeds? while hard to answer specifics when not actually standing in your lawn the folks here can at least offer some advice. at least enough to know if the "squirt and fert" guy is full of BS or not.

"ive been in the LCO business for over 20 yrs now"

What does LCO stand for?

LCO, lawn / landscape contractor. its an industry term we use usually amongst ourselves. its most common use is to differentiate a licensed, insured legit business from some bubba gump type with a lawn mower and jug of weed killer in the back of his car.

I'm one of bubba gumps and do it better than LCO in my neighborhood! No chemicals required!

Pictures were taken in early February or late January by one of bubba gumps who carries his lawnmower in the back around and mow somebody's lawn included my mother's...

First one is my mother's that is cared for organically...

{{gwi:80394}}

2nd picture is a lawn straight across the street from my mother's that the neighbor used weed and feed...

{{gwi:80395}}

Another one across the street to the right... Not sure if it has been fertilized or not. I don't see weeds there. Maybe weed and feed...

{{gwi:80396}}

Hi guys. Here's the problem : I began doing my own maintenance a couple years ago. I did simple stuff like applying Scott's Weed and Feed and a couple other products recommended to me at Home Depot. I went to a store that sold "professional" products and bought Talstar to spray on the lawn for Chinch bugs. I thought the lawn looked pretty good. Then, a person a few houses away from me planted St. Augustine and basically did nothing except mow it now and then. It looked pretty bad. In June 2006, I noticed that a good portion of my lawn near the front sidewalk looked like it was browning and dying. Chinchbugs!!! The people who had planted the St. Augustine had an infestation of them and they made there way over to me. They had a Tru Green guy out and he told me it was the worst infestation he had ever seen( on their property).Those suckers even crossed the street to get to my lawn. I don't know why my spraying didn't keep me safe. I know I followed directions. I had to put in some new sod. I also had applied some fertilizer earlier in the year from that "professional" place. I wanted something to prevent future weeds so he had me try another type of fertilizer, and told me to keep my spreader at the same setting. Man , a few days later I had several burned out spots on the lawn. My wife threw a gigantic fit and told me no more. She insisted on resuming a lawn service, so I reinstated my service that I had a couple of years previous with Tru Green. Thats where it stands. I don't think she trusts me yet. She just told me today that we need professional to protect the lawn, as another neighbor recently planted St. Augustine and also seems to be doing nothing for it. I still wonder how I messed up on that Talstar spraying. Any further advice appreciated. Dennis

Duh oh! I give up!

Dennis cinch bug control is best handled by proper lawn maintenance, paticularly thatch control. Thatch is caused by over fertilizing, and too much water. The other key is to grow resistant varieties of SA.

As the joke goes the only people with Cinch bug problems are the ones growing SA.

well dennis its like this, without my actually being on your property and seeing it for myself its really hard for me to daignose anything- much less last years growing season. what i can do is to offer some suggestions in hopes that it may give you some avenues to consider when troubleshooting your turf problems.

with the talstar, its good on chinchbugs but for maximum control you need to hit it three times- each app three weeks apart. insects have multiple life cycle stages. dont be so hard on the neighbors- chinch bugs attack many turfgrass species altho admittedly show a preference for st aug. another thing about chinch bug damage, when you spray them the damage amount in your turf at the time of the spraying isnt as bad as its going to get. you can stop future damage but current damage can take a week or two to show up. you may also have had a grub infestation problem. use a product containing "merit" as a preventative and "dylox" as a curative.

the first signs of chinch bug infestation are that the lawn isnt getting enough water in places. (if you dont pay enough attention youll just notice the eventual dead spots)
first reaction is to water more. this opens the door for a really big problem in st aug turf known as grey leaf spot. roam the internet for information on that. the fertilizers you kept adding would have made a leaf spot problem much worse. nitrogen on leaf spot is like giving it steroids- ditto with brown patch. you should never fert turf suffering from any fungal disease. *there is one exception to this but you dont have that kind of turf*

avoid granular weed and feed products. they are only marginally effective at best and can really stress out turf already suffering from other problems. granular preemergents in the fall are better than nothing but not as good as the liquid applications you are paying to have put down. if you do not have a problem with crabgrass in the summers then avoid preemergent applications in the spring. st aug turf when healthy does a good job of choking out most grassy weeds. if you have problems with dallisgrass and the like best to bite the bullet and spot treat (ONLY spray the actual weed itself) with a glyphosate product (Roundup et.al.) and let the st aug fill back in over the summer. st aug lawns hit with preemergents in the spring can be slower to come out of dormancy than ones not treated with it. its pretty stressful on the turf. simazine in the fall is okay.

i dont know what rounds in your program call for what but most of the big companies put down pre in the fall, pre in the spring, and fert thru the warm months. tell your trugreen guy you want organic fert used on your property instead of the ammonium sulfate they should be using. you only need between 4 and 6 lbs of nitrogen per year on st aug (per 1000 sq. ft.) and the organic rounds will do this just fine. whatever is sprayed during your other apps should be fine too.

talk to your lawn tech. ask some probing questions. like the other poster said its a lot to do with who you get out on your yard. some nitwit that doesnt know jack can really screw up your yard. if not satisfied with him ask the office to send out a field manager to talk to you. the bigger companies do have some very competent qualified staff but the too have some real knuckleheads. ive gotten a good bit of business from the big companies messing up peoples lawns. find out exactly what your program is, whats applied and why, and have them customize it to your specific needs. they will do this if you press them. they want to keep your account on the books.

best of luck to you and your lawn, i hope ive answered a question or two, anymore just ask.

dennisf 2008, you started off by declaring that you wanted to get the 'best looking lawn possible'. You went on to say that you attempted a DIY approach which brought on some unexpected results, culminating in some domestic dissonance.
My first reaction would be to remind myself that "I am only as happy as my wife is". I would then embark on the following program.

1. Restore the lawn to 'green'.
2. Identify and treat insect problems.
3. Obtain an agreement with my wife as to the level of maintenance for the landscape.
4. Work out a program to achieve this by the end of May(this year!)
   At the risk of doing you an injustice, I would suggest knowledgeable help on No.1. My reason for saying so is because I suspect that you applied either the wrong chemical (Atrazine has to be the a.i in the 'weed' component of any weed and feed product for St. Augustine turf.) or else you applied the right chemical at too high a rate. Either way, an assessment has to be made to determine how long it will take for the application to wear off and not pose a problem for the new sod. You want this knowledgeable help to come from someone who does not have an interest in selling you a product or service. My best suggestion is the County Extension Service in your area.
   Secondly, learn as much as possible about 'chinch bugs'- the major insect pest of St. Augustine turf. Then learn about the other insects and weeds and idiosyncrasies of St. Augustine grass.
   As for item 3, let me share this sound bite from a church sermon. "As soon as I caught up with the Jones', they refinanced!". I speak from years of experience when I say that options include division of responsibilities, recognising the difference between the Head and the Management, and involuntary chastity.
   Armed with all this, you will be able to choose a service to provide the desired results. Do not be shy about telling them what your expectations are.
   My final comment is "the best looking lawn possible" is not specific enough.

I use beneficial nematodes to control cinch bugs and hundreds of others and practice organic lawn care. Never had big problems of any kind. Works much better than synthetic chemicals.

Thanks for all the valuable advice. I appreciate it. Dennis