I'm so angry

[Miss Mary]

Stephanie - just like other generic products, I read once that fertilizer is manufactured by name brands. This entire generic path for me started with diapers! P & G, Huggies, Pampers, all make generic ones too. I started buying Kroger brand disposable diapers, saving $3 to 4 for each box/bag (back then they came in boxes). From there I began noticing other generic products. When we moved into a house with yard to take care of, naturally we looked to generic products. We were told for years we had the greenest lawn on our street (out of 27 homes)! Of course I'm older now and I don't take care of it as I once did but the front looks good each year.

I laugh too when I get those lawn care flyers. They even offer to come and give me a free quote! I once asked a neighbor how much one application cost them - then it was $60. I was fertilizing our lawn for under $20 an application. It's gone up some since then, that was $40 I was saving each time.

I compare this service to changing your car's oil. Most people just don't want to be bothered with fertilizing, so these companies make a good profit, probably the same as an oil change.

Mary

[Category 5]

Find his home lawn and over fertilize it!

Better yet just pour gasoline on it.

Lawn care companies are a joke, they never give you what you ask for.

[Stephanie]

The timing on this story is perfect.

My mother decided to give Sott's lawn service a try this year. She said that she wanted to give herself a break from lugging the bags of fertilizer, etc. around and doing the work herself. The guy came out to do an assessment of the propery and said "you have a lot of moss". My mom's house has a lot of trees around the whole property. She will have a lawn in the spring but by summer it kind of dies down. His recommendation for her yard - "cut down some trees to let in light for the grass to grow".

RIGHT!!!!!!

Hey, they wanted the job, they're going to have to deal with what she has.

[Miss Mary]

Steph - yeah and I can bet they know a tree trimmer to come take down the trees too. They'll all incahoots! It's a racket I tell ya.....a real scam. LOL That's not right, I hope she doesn't take down those trees. Tell her to plant ferns or something that will grow in shade. I would never remove a tree to take care of moss!

[Stephanie]

Steph - yeah and I can bet they know a tree trimmer to come take down the trees too. They'll all incahoots! It's a racket I tell ya.....a real scam. LOL That's not right, I hope she doesn't take down those trees. Tell her to plant ferns or something that will grow in shade. I would never remove a tree to take care of moss!

Oh she won't be cutting anything down. My Mom does have someone that does take trees down and trims them for her so she wouldn't need Scott's suggested company, if they had one.

They're the ones that are the "experts" on lawns and there's all different kinds of lawns for all different types of conditions. They just want her to make their job easier (and less costly for them). Nope, let's see if they're up for the challenge.

[Pburgh]

Well, they sent my check back to me with a statement "paid in full"!!!! LOL

[abajan]

Just out of curiosity, I Googled TruGreen-Chemlawn to see what would show up. There are indeed lots of dissatisfied folk!

On a somewhat different note - Why are we so obsessed with having great looking lawns? Have we considered how much we could save on our grocery bills if we converted just half of that lawn space to vegetable gardens? More importantly, there are numerous health benefits associated with consuming our own freshly picked homegrown food as opposed to over processed, over preserved store bought stuff.

Think about it.

[Category 5]

Just out of curiosity, I Googled TruGreen-Chemlawn to see what would show up. There are indeed lots of dissatisfied folk!

On a somewhat different note - Why are we so obsessed with having great looking lawns? Have we considered how much we could save on our grocery bills if we converted just half of that lawn space to vegetable gardens? More importantly, there are numerous health benefits associated with consuming our own freshly picked homegrown food as opposed to over processed, over preserved store bought stuff.

Think about it.

I have to agree with you completely.

[Stephanie]

That's great news Pburgh!

I agree with you 100% as well abajan. I think a lot of it has to do with the time element, especially here in the states.

[Pburgh]

I've worked very hard for a home of my own and take pride in the way it looks. I don't have the time nor the inclination to grow a veggie garden. I did have a veggie garden when I was younger but now prefer to "putter" around and grow pretty flowers.

I wouldn't say I'm obsessed, I just enjoy it.

[Miss Mary]

Just out of curiosity, I Googled TruGreen-Chemlawn to see what would show up. There are indeed lots of dissatisfied folk!

On a somewhat different note - Why are we so obsessed with having great looking lawns? Have we considered how much we could save on our grocery bills if we converted just half of that lawn space to vegetable gardens? More importantly, there are numerous health benefits associated with consuming our own freshly picked homegrown food as opposed to over processed, over preserved store bought stuff.

Think about it.

Well here in my neighborhood, many of my neighbors seem to be obsessed with their lawns. We get both clover and dandelions. One time my next door neighbor's kid asked my daughter - what's that pretty flower? LOL Then she picked the pretty flower and blew on it. I thought the dad was going to have a coronary on the spot......the seeds went to his lawn. LOL!

We put down weed and feed once a year, in the spring. Then from there I do spray roundup, but on individual dandelions. Not the entire yard. And never within my dog's range - in her area there are weeds. And I'm proud of them - he he. Of course her electronic collar range (instant, plug in type, circular area) is in our backyard only. Just don't walk into my backyard!

I'm the neighbor who used to have the greenest lawn, with natural ingredients (amonia, lemon scent dishsoap, beer) but I haven't done that in so long. We just weed and feed once, putting down feed a few more time a year and hope for the best. If those stray dandelions pop up, there is a rebel streak in me that almost wants to defy my next door neighbor - who gasped outloud when his kid picked one in my yard. LOL

Oh suburbia....some neighborhoods are like you described abajan.

Glad to hear you are NOT this way Karan! That's a relief....

[Pburgh]

Mary, my Mom loves her dandelions!!! She thinks they're the prettiest little flower and her yard looks as though she is cultivating them!!!! I remember when I was little, in the Spring I would pick her bouquets of dandelions and violets. She would put them in a little vase and REALLY enjoy them.

They do have a tendancy to take over a yard and I get rid of them before they start.

Mary, I don't use Roundup as it will kill everything. I use a product by Bayer called All in One Weed Killer. It just kills broadleaf weeds. I think you'll like it.

[Miss Mary]

Thanks for the suggestion. Is it a spray? The reason we like Roundup (I actually use a generic form of Roundup) products is you can spray the root and not the surrounding grass. I aim it very low and take care of individual dandelions. I never spray clover though, I leave that completely alone, since it's green!

I'm careful with Roundup type products though, because of our dog. If you spray it near a pet, they tend to lick their paws a lot, and I have read about dogs getting cancer at young ages, because the owner used Roundup. So I only spray it in my front yard, for the neighbor's benefit and then I wash my hands very carefully when done (I wear plastic gloves too that I throw away). Forget white vinegar - I read one time it takes care of weeds. I've never been able to kill anything with vinegar!

[Pburgh]

It is a spray.

LOL about spraying it in the front yard for your neighbor's benefit!!!

[cag1953]

I remember my grandmother going out into the yard once and picking a bunch of dandelions(stems and leafs also) and took them in and washed them and broke off the flowers and cooked the greens,just like collard or mustard greens. I wouldn't eat them but the older ones liked them. Has anyone else ever done this or seen it done?

[Pburgh]

The new Spring dandelion greens are supposed to be delicious.

[vbhoutex]

I should have listened to my friends!!! I decided to try TruGreen-Chemlawn last year. Their service is "guaranteed". Long story short, my son had a good experience with them(that has changed)so we tried. Used them for a year and finally cancelled this winter. They did all the treatments, etc.(including aeration)and my yard looked like crap all year even though I was watering as instructed. They kept badgering me to re-up. They finally stopped when I told them that my yard looks twice as good as it did last year and I have only put down some fertilizer and week killer(and it wasn't a good application either-need to do it again). Besides that, being unemployed makes it an unneccessary expense to say the least.

Bottom line is-they suck!!

[Category 5]

From the very little experience I have with lawns, I always find that they look better when you maintain them yourself.

[azskyman]

If misery loves company, let me join in...even if about 10 weeks late!

Back in my pre-rock yard years (when we had a lawn back in Illinois), I used Tru Green as well. In fact, on our cul-de-sac, three or four homes were signed on so they came and did the applications in sync with the neighborhood. When one would get the application, so too would the others.

Then they would conveniently hang their thank you and their bill on our door handle before they left.

On one occasion, I was home the day they came into the neighborhood. It was one of those dry fertilizer applications that time.
While he did not know I was home, I watched him work on my neighbor's home, then another neighbor's too.

But he skipped mine and my next door neighbor to the west.

I just figured he was going to return on a different day and make it happen....UNTIL, he left his thank you and bill on all door knobs, including mine!

I subsequently called his supervisor and explained what I had seen. I asked him to come out and visit. Clearly he could see the granules in two of the yards, and they were clearly missing in the mine and another.

I used the opportunity to bale out on the agreement. Sure, my yard looked great because of them, but I had lost trust. The supervisor had no argument.

I suspect the route guy lost his job as well.

[Miss Mary]

Steve - WOW! I've never seen that happen. And I'm a former SAHM! On our street of 27 homes, only a few haven't used professional lawn care services and we're proudly one of them. Each time they'd come and throw down granules or the liquid spray, they'd glare at my house! And I'd smile right back at them. They knew they weren't getting my business (note, we've always been thrifty, long before this recession). Unless of course my dog was outside....I probably posted this info last year but one time they were about to spray my dog with that bright yellow - poison - sigh. Yeah I know it's not poison. But it's not as close to nature as they claim it is either! The smell in our neighborhood after each time they descend upon lawns too.....it's about to make you gag!

But I do believe you, I can clearly see how a company could get away with something like this. Especially if it's about to rain, the "evidence" could easily have been dissolved and the homeowner could never prove the fertilizer was put down to begin with.

Well, for what it's worth, it is fairly easy to maintain your own lawn, it's not rocket science and quite easy to get the hang of. We only had the striped effect happen once - LOL. It's not as cheap as it once was though. Each application I apply is about $30 now. Used to be at least half that at K-mart. Inflation I guess.......

So Karan - how is your lawn coming along this season?