Christmas is less than four months away and with that comes cooler weather, shorter days and a general slowdown for turf and landscape work. There are still opportunities you can take advantage of to keep invoice generation up, however. Here are four to consider:
Overseeding is a great option for keeping revenue up. Current prices are quite a bit lower than last year, making this a more economical choice for some. Ewing offers many options for seed, and below are two that are most common.
Annual ryegrass is typically used for more native and pasture areas, as well as soil erosion areas. EMPRO Ace, EMPRO Birdie and EMPRO Par, 3-way perennial ryegrass blends, take slightly longer to germinate than annual ryegrass, but should have a darker green color and will be more stress-tolerant.
Applying a starter fertilizer during the overseeding process will also encourage more complete germination and better root development. A commonly used starter fertilizer in the area is EMPRO 13-13-13 in the gulf coast region.
Read more about overseeding in our recent article, Turf Repair and Renovation Tech Tips.
For those property owners who do not want the extra work or expense of an overseeded lawn but still want the green color, there are options there as well. EMPRO Green Turf Paint is available and can be sprayed on dormant turf to give it a lasting green color for the winter.
Another opportunity is offering soil testing and irrigation audits. By offering soil testing, you can determine the surpluses and deficiencies of nutrients in the rootzone to recommend ideal products for their particular property which will boost plant performance. You will also be able to determine soil pH, revealing what nutrients are available and that may have potentially become insoluble and unavailable to the plant. Organic matter is another add-on test that can be evaluated. With this data, you can build a soil soil/root development program for optimum plant health.
Irrigation audits are a great way of determining how much water is being delivered over a given period of time. The information obtained will allow you to make better recommendations on the property in terms of irrigation duration and frequency. Water is the No. 1 limiting factor in plant health and only by obtaining audit data can you determine exactly what the needs are. The other bit of information that can be unveiled is effective coverage, skips and missed areas can reduce some fertilizer and pesticide effectiveness and allow turf to struggle.
Speaking of Christmas, holiday lighting is another way to boost the bottom line heading into the end of the year. Ewing is the largest national distributor of professional grade holiday lighting. This space has grown exponentially in recent years with landscape professionals offering installation and removal of holiday lighting on both residential and commercial properties. Some will even offer storage for a fee as well.
Ewing is here to support our T&O pros with whatever you need, from ideas to grow your business, jobsite troubleshooting and answers to questions about turf.
Reach out to your Ewing representative or drop by your local Ewing for a conversation, and as always, contact myself or Pat Gross, Ewing’s Tech Team, with your turfgrass questions. Email me at klewis@ewingos.com or call/text 480-669-8791. Email Pat at pgross@ewingos.com or call/text 714-321-6101.