The 2019 Lawncology® Conference is in the books. This year was without a doubt the best so far, there is so much excitement in the industry and the ability to network and share with others has long been missing. One of the most heard comments given to me was, “I have never had the ability to just talk with other business owners and share ideas without hesitation.” I wanted to create an environment where everyone was comfortable being themselves, getting their questions answered, getting inspired to grow and to expand their minds on what they thought was “the norm.” I believe all of this was accomplished and already everyone is marking their calendars for 2020 in Athens, Georgia.

This gets me to this year’s goals and interests that I will be pursuing. I have been teaching so much lately on soil health and weed communication that I believe going a step further is where I am. I will be in my lawn a lot more this year pushing better cultural practices with mowing, irrigating, feeding and more than that, I am going to try some different attempts at weed control. As I am sure many of you know, weeds are not an issue in my lawn. I have had no broadleaf weeds or grassy weeds of any kind. That statement does not hold true for the perimeter of the lawn. There are surrounding exposed natural soil zones that I will be encouraging natural grasses and discouraging weeds throughout the year. I will identify the weeds, the reason they are there, and the control through nutrients I will take to remove them.

Along with that, there are so many things I can do as far as programs so I will split the lawn into 5-6 week apps and weekly apps to show the difference on getting product out at once versus spoon feeding. I think that it is important to show how much planning and strategy goes into building a professional program compared to doing it yourself. I think that this is important because of a conversation that came up at the Lawncology® Event last week.

The closing night after two days of classes was opened up to about 30 DIY’ers. These are people committed to having beautiful lawns and landscapes as well as learning the science behind it. It was an absolute pleasure to meet them and hear their stories. I invited any of the pros to come in and listen to what these folks were up to, what shaped their decisions in products and purchasing behaviors. The question as to why they didn’t hire a service came up and it sparked a great conversation. In the end, it came down to perception and communication.

As a former professional lawn care operator myself, the amount of information given to customers is limited to soundbites and marketing. We don’t really have a platform to educate and quite honestly, people call professionals for results… they often don’t want to hear that their bad habits created the problems that they are currently seeing. We don’t get the opportunity to be on a lawn every day, not even our own, so we are planning a strategy to get that thing whipped into shape as fast as possible so we can continue to feed our families. This often comes with a price, instant gratification over long-term change. We have to create an impact immediately whether that means a dramatic weed kill or a surge growth in the turf, impact is everything. This is why holistic approaches to lawn care have often failed. It takes too long.

I made a joke a few times over during the conference when I was asked, “how long will it take to see results?” I would respond with, “How old is your soil? If it’s new, we can do this fast but I think it’s as old as dirt.” The reality is that soil transformation in the natural world takes eons but proper care can transform soil in a year. This is ultimately why I designed the products the way I did. As an operator, I needed that “POP” for the customer, as someone concerned with creating better soil, I needed to nurture that ecosystem at the same time.

This is the process I take in all things, I have a hard time seeing separation. The ethereal among you would say it’s because I’m a Libra… balance is everything. I hope that my birthday doesn’t dictate my life choices and that I have a little more control than that but who knows? I want to have the ability to transform multiple environments at once. On a macro scale, trying to teach subjects to a room full of people from everywhere that relate to sand and clay, cool and warm season turf, desert climates and swamps, packing in pros and DIYers… and having everyone leave feeling they were spoken to…. this doesn’t happen easily and without great craft.

Building a lawn program that hits the whole system is a craft and takes careful consideration and execution. Getting all the components down at the right time in the right place and with the right result is what we strive for. The amount of companies and homeowners that are taking this approach has increased dramatically in the last year, the shift has happened and I want to take the “everyday approach” and the “pro approach” and highlight the differences on my own landscape this year. So strap in, get ready, this is going to be a fun growing season!

Lawncology® recap, Crabgrass in the lawn , Missing Components

Related Video

“Lawncology recap, Crabgrass in the lawn, Missing Components” … Lawncology® YouTube (13:31)