Spraying

[picframer]

I will just throw this out. We are quite a few weeks behind some of you in the grass growing season, it would be at least three to four more weeks before mowing even starts. It seems most of us are in the same boat, there are a lot of start up's out there and are driving the pricing to a level we have to look at other services we can provide. For me it has been mini excavation work, mainly installing drain tile, we are swamped with orders. Anyhow I decided long ago to make our company 100% organic, lots of reasons including local laws, all of our products are sprayed on, I have Gilmore and Fimco sprayers, various sizes from backpack to a 30 gallon tow. We can only spray just before or during a rain, we had 137 contracts for spraying and started yesterday as we haven't had rain since the snow left. Today I personally sprayed to help the guys out, we are having an extreme rain fall so conditions are ideal for the product and we wanted to get the orders done. For what I am charging and getting without an issue, an employee would have to mow 31 average sized lawns (at our rates, not the low ball stuff) in one day to equal the same profit, we all know that no one can mow that many properties in one day. So I throw it out for your consideration, I am using Natures Magic, I did a lot of research and I order it out of Florida, should be a lot cheaper for you folks in the USA and it's an amazing product. This may be another revenue stream for you, it's is working for us, 90% of these 137 orders came from a flyer on my table at the farmers market where we sell woodworking products on Saturday's, I have not yet advertised this service yet as I am still waiting for more staff, so mid next week 3,500 flyers will hit the middle to upper class areas of the city, I use Canada Post and I can almost narrow the drop to the street I want, which I did, I know the city well enough to know which streets are a waste of money. Andy

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Andy, What kind of licenses or permits are required to spray organic (what would you even call that) Organic herbacide? Fertilizer?

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[swstout]

I went to the site (based from Buffalo, NY?). In the FAQsection if found the 1 teaspoon to 1 gallon formula.

For 1,000 sq ft it says use 2.4 oz. so it looks like I would need about 6 gallons oer 1,000 sq ft. Is that correct?

Do you use this in place of fertilizer or as a suppliment?

Does it do anyhing for raising pH? I checked a job yesterday that has a pH of 4.5. Very little grass and a lot of moss. About 9,000 sq dt with 15 pine trees.

What would you charge per 1,000 sq ft?

Steve

[picframer]

Originally Posted by swstout

I went to the site (based from Buffalo, NY?). In the FAQsection if found the 1 teaspoon to 1 gallon formula.

For 1,000 sq ft it says use 2.4 oz. so it looks like I would need about 6 gallons oer 1,000 sq ft. Is that correct?

Do you use this in place of fertilizer or as a suppliment?

Does it do anyhing for raising pH? I checked a job yesterday that has a pH of 4.5. Very little grass and a lot of moss. About 9,000 sq dt with 15 pine trees.

What would you charge per 1,000 sq ft?

Steve

Steve, I use all their products, for a spring spray we are using the Aerify Plus mixed with the lawn fertilizer mized with the dethatch, no core aeration required yet I get the same rate, less work, no mess and much faster.

For the fertilizer I mix 10 OZ to the gallon, every product is different amounts. To adjust the PH I would use a liquid lime spray we have, the moss could be a host of issues, I would lime, use the three products above and overseed, I use Canada Green, customers have a lawn in 10 days, it's a pretty crazy grass, friggin stuff will grow on rocks, well one type does.

To answer your question to spray just fertilizer on 1,000 sq/ft I charge $ 38.50, price goes up for each product added and I educate every client on what we suggest and why and what it will do. If you live out of the way price goes up, min price per spray is $35.00. I did a couple today that were over $300.00 and the client never batted an eye, at least I get a chance to work these lawn tractors I bought, in an out in no time, takes me 30 min to do a 3 acre property, that is from the time I arrive until I am walking away, payment is upon arrival, no exceptions or a credit card must be supplied and is processed the morning of the spray....in short I have no receivables and never will.

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

Andy,

What kind of licenses or permits are required to spray organic (what would you even call that) Organic herbacide? Fertilizer?

Because it's a certified Organic spray no license, at least here is required and they are crazy strict in Halifax which includes an area about 10 miles outside the city limits all the way around, they call it HRM. In the last two days we have been checked twice by by-law officers, as soon as they see you spraying anything they are on you, no issues at all, staff keep on spraying and tell the officer to go read the product information sheet that is in the truck or trailer.

[picframer]

Originally Posted by swstout

I went to the site (based from Buffalo, NY?). In the FAQsection if found the 1 teaspoon to 1 gallon formula.

For 1,000 sq ft it says use 2.4 oz. so it looks like I would need about 6 gallons oer 1,000 sq ft. Is that correct?

Do you use this in place of fertilizer or as a suppliment?

Does it do anyhing for raising pH? I checked a job yesterday that has a pH of 4.5. Very little grass and a lot of moss. About 9,000 sq dt with 15 pine trees.

What would you charge per 1,000 sq ft?

Steve

Steve, there is 128oz in a gallon, so that is 12.8 sprays of 1,000 sq ft using 10oz to the gallon of water, make sure there is no chlorine in the water, I am on a well so everything is filled here and I have a pile of 5 gallon plastic containers we bought for next to nothing at a surplus store.

There is no risk of burning the grass at all with these products.

[Steve]

For those that just no nothing about this. What do these organic sprays do? Are they weed killers? Do they fertilize the lawn?

[swstout]

Originally Posted by picframer

To answer your question to spray just fertilizer on 1,000 sq/ft I charge $ 38.50, price goes up for each product added and I educate every client on what we suggest and why and what it will do. If you live out of the way price goes up, min price per spray is $35.00. I did a couple today that were over $300.00 and the client never batted an eye, at least I get a chance to work these lawn tractors I bought, in an out in no time, takes me 30 min to do a 3 acre property, that is from the time I arrive until I am walking away, payment is upon arrival, no exceptions or a credit card must be supplied and is processed the morning of the spray....in short I have no receivables and never will.

Thank you (I think)! Now I have more to think about! We'll I like research anyway. I saw a used 30 gallon tow behind sprayer today at a rental company that is gowing out of business. Back there tomorrow. Strange that you made this post today! Is a higher power trying to tell me something?

Steve

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

For those that just no nothing about this. What do these organic sprays do? Are they weed killers? Do they fertilize the lawn?

Best to go to their Site, in short I use their fertilizer, the Aerify Plus and the Bio Dethacher. http://www.natureslawn.com/index.html My sole goal with these products is catering to the I have to have a lawn as nice as the guy next door client, which in the city is the majority. In a few days when one of our clients lawns is green and a neighbour or someone down the street is wondering what they did and ask, I know we will be called. I left a few nice post card type flyer as did the staff with every customer.

I let my customers research the product on top of what I tell/told them, they could buy it for the same price as I do but no one has done the math, except for me, I make more from spraying than anything else we do. I knew quite quickly I was onto something when I started quoting and no one yet has said anything about the price, which shocks me.

Their products do it all and they seem to have the best track record based on my research.

The Aerify Plus will break down the clay in the soil and it opens up the ground for the roots to grow, the owner used to core aerate and did it for 20 years, when he started using this product he was blown away. I will know clients reactions in a few days, we only started spraying yesterday and this is supposed to be a nice warm sunny weekend, lawns should take off over night.

[Steve]

That is very interesting!

Is there some kind of schedule you follow with this? Applying one mixture at a certain time of the year and another mixture at another time?

Or do you spray them all at the same time?