Dreaming of a lush, green lawn that turns heads in your Memphis, TN and North Mississippi neighborhood?
Achieving a picture-perfect lawn isn’t just about mowing it and giving it some water now and then. There’s a science behind proper lawn care, especially in a region like the Southeast, where the climate can be humid with long, hot summers, temperate winters and fairly even rainfall throughout the year.
With the right lawn care schedule and attention, you can grow a lawn that’s the envy of the block.
This ultimate guide to lawn care services in Memphis, TN and North Mississippi covers everything you need to know, from understanding DIY vs. professional lawn care to the essential practices that will keep your grass healthy all year.
A great lawn may seem easy to come by. As you drive through your neighborhood, it may seem like achieving that perfect look is simple.
But that appearance doesn’t just happen by chance. It takes a professional lawn care schedule to get that gold-standard-looking grass.
You might not know everything you need to do to get that desirable thick, green lawn. You know you want your lawn to look healthy. You might think you can just stop at the local home improvement store and purchase some DIY lawn care products – maybe a fertilizer and possibly a weed control product – and you’ll be good to go.
Not so fast. While you may not know exactly what your lawn needs, you don’t want to guess at it and risk poor results. You want to feel confident you’re doing the right thing and making the right choices for your lawn.
Let’s look at some of the differences between DIY lawn care vs professional lawn care in Memphis, TN and North Mississippi.
What’s included in professional lawn care? Lawn fertilization, and there are some key reasons why.
Like plants, lawns need water, sunlight, and nutrients to grow. As time goes on, lawns filter nutrients out of the soil through the sunlight and water that comes in. This process leaves your lawn nutrient-deficient.
On top of that, lawns are usually planted on built-up lands or landscapes at new housing developments. This soil has been churned up so much that it lacks the proper nutrients to grow. Unfortunately, lawns that don’t receive regular nutrients become less resistant to weed and disease infestations.
This is why these lawns could use regular fertilizer applications that are done properly, whether they happen through DIY lawn care vs professional lawn care.
However, doing this on your own can be quite tricky. Why? Well, fertilizers include nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, and the amounts of each are listed on the product label. There are different fertilizers with different mixes. So, you must first know which mix might be best for your lawn.
Then, when it comes time to apply a granular lawn fertilization product, you must buy a lawn care spreader that you must calibrate before every fertilizer application. During application, you must use proper techniques, such as consistent and steady walking speed and even passing across the lawn. These steps ensure you don’t overapply products or do so unevenly. With fertilizer, more is never better.
Learning all of these nuances of DIY lawn care is not simple. It takes lawn care technicians years to master the skills and obtain the necessary licensing and certifications.
Comprehending Tennessee and Mississippi state laws when it comes to proper lawn care applications is also crucial to the process. A professional will always be on a proper lawn care schedule for your fertilization and never miss a beat when delivering properly timed and applied nutrients to your lawn.
If you want to control weeds on your lawn, you need to make another application along with lawn fertilization as part of your DIY lawn care.
Weed control can be tricky since it comes in granular or liquid products. And you have to identify the weed you’re fighting first to properly eliminate it with the right tools.
You must also apply weed control products at the right time to ensure control. Some weeds are best battled preemergently – or before they emerge from the ground – and others are ideally controlled postemergently or when you can already see them in the lawn.
These are facts a professional will have immediate knowledge of, as well as the proper commercial-grade products to treat the issue – without you having to lift a finger.
So now that you understand the two basic services and how DIY lawn care vs. professional lawn care differ in a few theories.
Yes, with DIY lawn care, you get outside and enjoy the fresh air. As you walk across your lawn, inspecting it for weeds, bare spots, and other blemishes, you’ll get a good outdoor warm-up, followed by a nice workout during your applications.
Since you’ll be doing this in the Memphis or North Mississippi heat, you may be tempted to wear a t-shirt and shorts, but it’s much more appropriate to wear long sleeves, long pants, and gloves when doing your lawn care.
However, this is outdoor time you could be spending doing other things like playing fetch with your dog, catching up with your children, or even just taking a hike or enjoying the sunshine.
Also, you may think that DIY lawn care is less expensive than professional lawn care. Unfortunately, the costs do add up.
First, you must purchase the proper equipment and products to do the job. Then you have to store them correctly so you don’t waste products you just paid good money for. Then, if you have to reapply products you didn’t put down correctly the first time, you will have to spend more money on fresh products. You must also spend money maintaining your equipment to ensure it operates smoothly each time.
Finally, your time is something you shouldn’t take for granted since it’s a large part of your total costs. What would you pay yourself per hour? Your time performing DIY lawn care might be better spent at work, on a hobby, or enjoying family time.
Now that you understand the advantages and disadvantages of DIY lawn care compared to professional lawn care services, you are primed to make a more confident choice—one that is best for you.
Embracing professional lawn care means you are all in for a proactive approach to caring for your lawn, which gives your home elevated curb appeal. This way, you also avoid any problems or stresses when you have to remember your lawn’s needs in addition to those of your family and your home.
Weeds are not fun.
They have horrible, unappealing shapes, sticking out all over the place like a bad haircut. It makes them obvious in your nice, thick, green lawn. And it can make you look like a neglectful Memphis or North Mississippi homeowner.
It’s just not cool.
Weeds are also very cunning. They sneak in wherever they can, embracing every opportunity to take over.
While most people think of weeds as one big bad guy, there are quite a few common lawn weeds in this area.
Let’s look at the biggest, baddest weeds plaguing lawns in Memphis, TN and North Mississippi, so you can understand their differences and what lawn weed control options work best – whether these weeds are small or mature in size.
This nasty weed begins germinating in the soil during the spring, and then – if not taken care of then – usually really kicks into high gear in June and July.
Crabgrass loves thin lawn areas, and once crabgrass gets thick and strong, it can continue bullying out your lawn. It leaves bare areas in its path that you have to fix later or else they are continually vulnerable to crabgrass.
Because this weed is so strong, the best way to control crabgrass is through properly timed preemergent weed control applications and then post-emergent herbicide applications for any weeds that break through afterward.
This two-pronged lawn treatment attack is the best way to stop this opportunistic weed from strong-arming its way into your lawn.
This warm-season perennial is a clumping grass that comes back every year. This coarse weed is a distinct greenish-gray color that may have some sparse hairs on its upright leaf blades.
Dallisgrass can spread easily with its extensive fibrous root system. Preemergent herbicides applied at the correct time and rate are critical for controlling dallisgrass, as well as post-emergent control and practicing proper lawn care cultural practices to keep your lawn thick and healthy and more defensive against this weed.
As a grass-like weed, nutgrass – or nutsedge – is known to grow faster than your regular grass, meaning it’ll usually stand taller than your lawn.
You may notice this a couple of days after mowing. As a perennial weed with a massive reproduction system, nutsedge will return year after year if you don’t get a handle on it.
Like other weeds, they are naturally persistent and aggressive, stealing water and nutrients from your lawn at any chance. Controlling nutsedge involves a multi-pronged approach, including proper identification, lawn care, and lawn weed control strategies.
As you’re looking through your lawn, you might see weeds with small, white flowers that each have four star-shaped petals.
Its leaves will be slightly thick with slightly rough margins that are green on top and light green underneath. And its stems may look hairy. This is buttonweed, a deep-rooted perennial that spreads by rhizomes, which are underground stems.
This vigorous grower can easily tolerate close mowing. And, if you happen to leave the broken pieces of the weed where they have been cut, they go back into the ground and reroot, continuing to spread.
When left uncontrolled, this weed can smother out your regular grass. Applying preemergent herbicides at the correct time and rate can help battle buttonweed.
Poa annua, or annual bluegrass, is an annual grass that spreads easily and infests lawns and landscapes.
With a lighter, brighter green color, a softer texture, and blades that curl toward their centers, they can make your lawn look patchy.
In Memphis and North Mississippi lawns, this clumping weed can quickly start to look out of place. Unfortunately, it grows just as fast, so by the time you notice it, this grassy weed has developed into a pretty big patch.
A prolific seed producer, annual bluegrass can germinate 12 months of the year with most germination happening in the fall. A preemergent herbicide lawn application in the late summer/early fall can target this weed before it’s too late and it reaches maximum germination.
This weed comprises red and purple dots on dark green circular leaves that branch out from a central point on red, hairy stems.
While spurge germinates in mid-spring, it thrives in summer’s heat. Flowers will bloom on this weed from June through September.
If you have weaker, thinner lawn areas, spurge can take over, forming thick matted areas that can reach 3 feet across. To battle this problematic weed, your lawn care professional will use precisely timed broadleaf weed control when plants are young.
This means early detection of the weed is important.
Lespedeza, also known as Japanese clover, has three smooth oblong leaves similar to clover with small pink to purple flowers.
As this weed matures, its stems harden and become more persistent. Postemergent lawn weed control can help to knock this common weed back. It requires a targeted approach during different points in the growing season.
This seemingly innocent little white-flowered weed will choke out your lawn if given the chance. It also attracts bees, which becomes an additional nuisance.
Thick, properly fertilized lawns can crowd out clover. Clover also likes to grow in lawns with a low soil pH or compacted soils. Correcting soil pH and aeration can improve overall lawn health and reduce the likelihood of clover.
Using pre-emergent weed control can also help prevent this weed from taking over.
As a broadleaf perennial weed, dandelion is well-known for its bright yellow flowers. It likes moist soil and sunlight but can thrive in multiple conditions, making it pretty hardy.
Dandelion seeds travel well on winds to spread far – even miles away. And since it’s a perennial, it can come back even after it dies on the surface.
Using a preemergent herbicide at the right time can help prevent dandelion. Using a selective broadleaf lawn weed control product at the right time can help control the dandelions that break through.
We grow bermudagrass lawns here in Memphis, TN and North Mississippi, but bermudagrass is considered a weed when it appears in zoysia, centipede, St. Augustine or fescue lawns.
This is because bermudagrass stands out as unsightly in these lawns due to the difference in appearance. Bermudagrass has thin, soft grass blades and other grasses like St. Augustine have tall, thick grass blades.
This common weed requires a targeted approach at specific points in the growing season.
Common lawn pests can wreak havoc on your lawn.
Many do their dirty work underground where you can’t see them. Your grass can look fine on the surface, but some pests eat away at the lawn roots. This can make your lawn look bad by cutting off the pathways of water and nutrients it needs to thrive.
Since lawn pests can devastate your lawn in Memphis, TN and North Mississippi, let’s look at two of the worst lawn invaders and some strategies you can use to battle these bugs and get your green lawn back to good health.
You know what white grubs are if you have heard of Japanese beetles, the northern masked chafer, or June bugs. These fat, C-shaped, white common lawn pests are the larvae of these adult beetles.
Seeing Japanese beetles crawling around your plants could be a sign they are laying eggs in your grass nearby. And those eggs turn into the white grubs that feed on your lawn all summer and fall.
As temperatures get cooler before winter, they burrow deeper into your soil. In spring, they awaken and resume their feeding on your lawn until they emerge as adult beetles in late spring.
There are a few things you can look for that can signal you have a grub problem. First, is your lawn underperforming? If it’s not growing strong in May or you see yellow or brown spots or dead patches, this could be a sign you need lawn grub control.
A lawn that is infested with grubs can also feel loose like it’s not connected to the ground. This shows the roots may not be connected to the soil. If you walk on your lawn when it has grubs it may also feel spongy.
The other problem with lawn grubs is that they are juicy protein stacks for animals like birds, raccoons, moles, and skunks. So you might see these animals digging up your lawn to get to these “treats.”
In Memphis, TN and North Mississippi, unfortunately, nearly everyone has some grubs in their lawn and may need lawn grub control. The key to control is to battle them in their early stages or even before they hatch so they don’t have a chance to cause serious damage to your lawn.
This means prevention is your best bet, which is best done with a preventative lawn treatment.
There could be troops invading your Memphis or North Mississippi lawn, but you might not see or hear them. You might notice the damage they cause to your home lawn before you see them.
Armyworms get their name from how they move across your lawn in an army-like fashion – leaving dead grass in their wake. These common lawn pests usually infest lawns in southern and transition zone states, making Memphis and North Mississippi ideal locations for them to attack.
What do fall armyworms look like? Their larvae are 1-inch to 1.5-inch long and dark greenish-brown to black with long, white, orange, and dark brown stripes along the abdomen. The adult moths have 1-inch long bodies with a 1.5-inch wingspan, a tan body and a tiny white spot centered on each of their forewings.
Early feeding damage by fall armyworms appears as drought-stressed grass, but if many of these pests are present, it can quickly progress to complete browning. If you look closely, you might see ragged holes in your grass blades. The grass may even be eaten down to the ground.
If you’re in an area of Memphis or North Mississippi suspected of having armyworms, look for sticky egg masses to appear on buildings, patio sets, decor, plants, and other outdoor surfaces.
That’s when you can get ahead of these pests. But since armyworms can have multiple generations per year, you may need multiple applications per year to keep these pests at bay.
If armyworms have come through and destroyed your lawn, you may wonder how to get your green lawn back. If armyworms feed on the upper portion of your grass blades, they might recover independently with proper lawn care basics.
But if an infestation is severe, reseeding or resodding areas to reestablish the lawn is necessary.
The right conditions can cause common lawn diseases to spread, and many of them resemble patchy or strangely shaped spots.
However, these blemishes could be caused by drought or even where your dog likes to mark its territory, so how are you supposed to know a lawn disease causes them?
While lawn diseases are challenging to identify, a few are common in Memphis, Tennessee and North Mississippi.
Here are some common lawn diseases in the area and some things you can do to help your lawn return to its thick, green self.
Lawn rust starts with yellow and orange spores or fruiting bodies that damage individual grass blades. If your lawn has rust and you walk through it, you might notice bits of these yellow-orange spores coming off on your shoes. And this is how the disease spreads.
Rust prefers more moderate temperatures – anywhere from 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as long evenings – more than 10 hours – of dew, moisture, and humidity. A healthy lawn that receives a balanced lawn fertilization program is your best defense against rust.
Dollar spot is one of the worst common lawn diseases in our area. This fungus appears as small straw-colored circles that are roughly 2 to 6 inches in diameter.
They can be very unsightly, especially as they multiply. Dollar spot usually comes along in late spring and can last through autumn, causing the most damage in June and July. This disease loves under-fertilized grass, as well as lawns impacted by drought and compaction.
Adequate fertilization, annual aeration, and overseeding can keep dollar spot from taking over.
Just like its name implies, brown patch shows up in circular patches that are brownish-yellow in color on some cool-season and warm-season grasses.
This disease likes heat and humidity, particularly when nighttime temperatures remain consistently above 68 degrees Fahrenheit and daytime temperatures are at or above 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
To battle this lawn enemy, remember to properly fertilize your lawn. Overseeding your lawn in the fall can help thicken up thin or bare areas, helping to further protect it.
This common lawn disease crops up early in the year, preferring cool, moist conditions in spring. It may look like it causes ragged grass blades that are dying from the tip down, but it’s the result of fungus growth.
In addition to proper lawn care practices, you may need some extra care for full red thread lawn fungus treatment. A supplemental nitrogen application usually helps fix red thread, but you may also want to inquire about curative fungicide treatment options.
You want to have a great-looking lawn quickly – who doesn’t?
We understand. You want the benefits of a gorgeous lawn and instant curb appeal … and you want it fast. But your lawn isn’t like fast food. A drive-thru doesn’t turn grass from yellow to green overnight.
Let’s look at how long various lawn care programs and treatments take to work, so you can better understand the process and timing.
Fertilizer is an essential lawn treatment throughout the year to get nutrients into the soil, roots, and grass blades.
You may get very excited when you hire a lawn care company to fertilize your lawn. You may even rush outside afterward to see if you can notice any results.
Not so fast. It can take a little time for the plant to absorb the nutrients in the fertilizer. And some factors can impact how well your grass can absorb nutrients.
It can take lawn fertilization a few days or weeks to take effect – not a few hours. Fertilizer must be absorbed into the soil and the plant through its roots. If your soil pH is off or if your soil is compacted, that can limit the uptake of fertilizer.
You’ll know your lawn fertilizer is working if the color of your grass continues improving, looking nice and green versus discolored.
Another factor that will dictate how long it takes for fertilizer to work is the type of product: liquid or granular. Each type of fertilizer has different uses and is optimal for different purposes at different times of the year, which impacts uptake speed.
But, remember, fertilizer isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Using too much fertilizer or the wrong fertilizer or not fertilizing at the right times or regularly can all negatively impact your lawn.
Two main ways to control weeds during a lawn care schedule are preemergent herbicides and post-emergent herbicides.
These weed control products work by interfering with weed growth either by blocking photosynthesis and protein production or by inhibiting root formation.
Pre-emergents, as their name implies, are applied to the soil before weeds emerge, creating a barrier preventing germination. The timing of pre-emergent herbicides is critical in whether or not they are effective. They are particularly helpful on certain weeds, such as crabgrass, that are best controlled with these products.
Since weed breakthroughs can occur if the application timing is incorrect, post-emergent products can be effective afterward to target the leafy areas of actively growing weeds.
With postemergents, there are selective and non-selective herbicides. Non-selective herbicides kill all vegetation they are applied to, while selective herbicides are designed to kill only certain weeds.
Since different weeds require different treatments, you’ll find a combined approach to weed control will be the most effective since you never have only one specific weed in your yard. There are specialty products, too, for targeting hard-to-control weeds like nutsedge.
Regarding lawn care services, some additional ones beyond lawn fertilization, weed control, and insect control can help.
A big one is lawn aeration. What does lawn aeration do? Let’s look at the benefits of lawn aeration so you can better understand what this service can do for your grass.
Core aeration is when you use a special machine called an aerator to pull small soil cores or plugs from your lawn. Those cores are then deposited back across the lawn as the machine works, breaking down over the next week or so to redeposit organic matter back into your lawn’s soil.
This lawn care service offers quite a few benefits.
Everything from rainfall to foot traffic to everyday activity can compact your lawn soil, restricting the flow of oxygen, water, and nutrients to your lawn’s roots. Professional lawn aeration breaks up this compacted soil, allowing those three elements to continue nourishing your lawn roots again. Aeration also creates room for deeper grass root growth.
Aeration also helps alleviate thatch buildup and, paired with overseeding, thicken up thin turf. Thatch is a layer of dead and living plant material that builds up between the soil and grass blades of the lawn. These stems, leaves, and roots don’t decompose properly and can build up when the grass produces organic debris faster than it can break down.
In Memphis, TN and North Mississippi, our warm-season grasses grow most in spring to early summer, from early May to late July.
Lawn aeration in summer opens up areas for weeds to germinate, and lawn aeration in fall disrupts grass as it approaches dormancy. That means the best time to aerate is in spring before weeds germinate. This is usually between early May and late July for warm-season grasses.
We know you don’t have the time or energy to learn a new skill set, but we want you to get the best results for your lawn. A refresher course on some lawn care basics can help.
Prioritizing these elements should help get you there so you can be confident and boast a great-looking lawn in your Memphis and North Mississippi neighborhood.
You might think Mother Nature provides enough moisture for your lawn, but in some years, it doesn’t. Water is essential to your lawn’s overall performance and vigor. Your lawn needs water for optimum thickness and health, making this an essential lawn care basic.
If you see yellow grass blades or an overall loss of vigor, this could result from insufficient water or even drought stress.
To water correctly, add about 2 inches of water weekly. When the weather doesn’t deliver what your lawn needs, you need to add water with an irrigation system or supplemental watering of some kind.
In addition to inadequate water, lawns can also receive too much water. In this case, you’ll see yellowing or spots in your lawn and assume it’s a drought when, in fact, it’s a lawn disease caused by overwatering.
Your watering should be done longer and less frequently to reach your weekly water goal to encourage deep, stronger roots and green, healthy grass. If you water too frequently and shallowly, your lawn’s roots will hang near the surface. Deeper roots will always make stronger grass.
Also, ideally, you want to water early before sunrise. This is because wind and sun can evaporate your water before it can soak into the soil where needed.
This is another lawn care basic to-do that is underestimated since you might think mowing is something you can’t mess up. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
The mowing mistakes you can make can add up. You can mow to the wrong height, mow at the wrong frequency, and use unmaintained mowing equipment with unsharpened mower blades.
The best lawn height is 3 inches. This height optimizes lawn health, growing thick and green and keeping weeds out. Sometimes, you might be tempted to cut your lawn short to look like that of your favorite golf course. But cutting your lawn too short stresses it out and could cause yellowing, browning, or letting weeds in.
Weekly mowing is usually adequate during the growing season. You should only be cutting one-third of the grass blades at any one time.
Sharp mower blades and ensuring you have a level mowing deck can produce a fine and even cut. To help, check your mower tires for proper inflation.
We hope this guide helps you take better care of your beloved lawn.
When caring for your lawn, you should never feel ashamed to hire a professional.
Lawn care can be a lot to take on. We completely understand. Whether you’re at your first home or your third, handling your lawn care alone can take up a lot of time you don’t have.
You might even think you can save money doing it on your own.
But, everything from application timing to weed and insect identification to lawn care knowledge is a lot to take on. And if you miss a beat – whether it’s focusing on your full-time job or taking care of your family – your lawn can suffer.
Lawn care mistakes can be costly. It’s perfectly OK to eliminate the hassles and headaches and hire a trusted professional to care for your lawn.
If you’re looking for a lawn care service provider, let Lawn & Pest Solutions help. We bring years of lawn care service experience and can help you solve your issues quickly and smoothly so you can enjoy your lawn instead of constantly thinking about how to fight weeds or battle disease.
Ready to learn why Lawn & Pest Solutions could be your choice for lawn care services in Memphis, TN and North Mississippi? We’re excited to learn more about you and help you have the best lawn on the block. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we can prepare a customized plan perfect for you and your lawn.