I was dreading sitting down to send out prepay letters in 2024.
Continuing economic pressures and inflation assuredly meant higher prices again this year, and I really did not want to have to raise prices significantly again in 2024. I had to figure out a way to save our clients some money. Although prices for most products seem to have stabilized a bit this year (due to oil prices), the cost of labor and equipment continue to increase significantly. We want to pay our employees a “livable wage” and things like trucks are now $80K to simply get the product to your homes and businesses. Where is that money supposed to come from?
Past solutions
In the past, I found savings by finding new versions of the products we already use. Basically, what you might call “tweaks” that saved us from having to pay proprietary prices for products that we could find for cheaper using different vendors. If we were talking pharma: it would be like using generics to get the same active ingredients as using name brands". Unfortunately, I had nowhere left to go to find these cheaper prices…and still costs were going up.
What to do?
Fundamentally change the program
There was no denying that keeping things the same, and making tweaks was not going to do it this year. So, we took a “white paper” look at the program…taking nothing off the table for consideration…and this is what we found:
The AH-HA Moment!
Primarily we found opportunity in the world of grub applications.
In the past, we were forced to time grubs perfectly with their life cycle in order to be as environmentally responsible as possible. That is to say, the products we were using dictated that we had to time the grubs perfectly. We had to catch them coming to the top levels of the soil, put down our application, and then HOPE that it rained (typically in mid June) to get the product to the grubs for control…but not to other non-target pests. This is difficult, and it’s why sometime you could get grub damage…even if you had the grub app applied to your lawn. If it didn’t rain and get “watered in” we could miss the grubs before they hatched. It was a tightrope of an application to try to walk.
Each of the applications will be explained below
The Main Difference:
Silver and Silver+ will now have FOUR applications…instead of FIVE
By utilizing these new products, Earthscapes can give you the same or better turf quality for these two levels of service in FOUR APPLICATIONS…INSTEAD OF FIVE… and we can pass that labor cost savings on to you! This is how we cracked the code this year, and we are proud that we did!
Here is what you can expect per application:
App 1 - Granular - Pre-Emergent - (Bronze level) - This is the same fertilizer and pre-emergent crabgrass control we have used in past years.
App 1 -Granular - Pre-Emergent - (Silver, Silver+, Gold level) - This is the new product we found this year that allows us to combine the first application with a longer lasting, but targeted grub application that
App 2 - Liquid - Broadleaf - (Bronze, Silver level) - This is the same, gentle broadleaf control product we have used in past years. It effectively kills dandelions and most other broadleaf weeds, but lets less intrusive plants (like clover) remain. It’s a gentle way to use the least herbicide, without getting into trouble with your neighbors for doing nothing and having turf that is mostly weeds. This application also includes some fertilizer.
App 2 - Liquid - Broadleaf - (Sliver+, Gold level) - We use a product called Q4 for this application. It does a tremendous job on a wide range of broadleaf weeds, including even them most difficult (like ground ivy and wild violet). It also has a boost to the pre-emergent broadleaf control, as well as some fertilizer for exceptional appearance and growth. This app is likely the most “dramatic” we have for changing the health and appearance of your lawn.
App 3 - Liquid - Grub and Nutsedge - (not included in any package level) - this is the application we have eliminated with the early season granular control of Application #1. We will still offer this application as a stand alone service for folks who might have a need for it…but it’s not included in any application package.
App 4 - Granular - High Nitrogen Fertilizer with Iron - (Bronze, Silver, Silver+, Gold level) - This is when our “back loaded” program gives your turf most of it’s nitrogen. We don’t give it much nitrogen in the spring because we feel like that encourages thatch and a host of other problems. So, we put down the nitrogen in Fall…and your lawn will look AMAZING!
App 5 - Granular - Slow release Nitrogen Fertilizer and lime - (Silver, Silver+, Gold level) - Typically applied after a frost or two, and when the lawn has really slowed down it’s growth. We want this application and its lime to slowly leach into the soil to be available to the spring growing grass. This practice encourages deep growing…more draught resistant….grass roots. Putting all the nutrients at the surface encourages shallow roots to compete for those nutrients. Deep nutrients, encourage deep roots.
Why this solution is better
Two reasons really:
Bees and worms - environmentally, this new product allows us to put the grub control down MUCH earlier without hurting non-target (read beneficial) creatures that live in the soil. We don’t want to kill anything but white grubs before they eat your grass roots.
In the past, pre-emergent went down…then broadleaf herbicide…and then we had to wait for anything that flowers in the lawn (like dandelions and clover) to stop blooming, so we didn’t spray the grub application on bees that might be working in your yard. If nothing is blooming…there won’t be any bees on your grass. But this new system, allows us to completely circumvent that situation.
This new product is granular, so everything is put down early with ZERO CHANCE of us spraying any bees…whether there is anything blooming on the yard or not! Much better!
Labor/Equipment Savings - this one is kind of a no-brainer: if we can do the same or better job, in less time and with less equipment…we can pass that savings along. This is how we were able to hold the line on prices this year…and we are super proud that we did!
Please let us know if you have any questions.
We can be reached best at: Earthscapes66@mac.com with your questions or you can use the form below. Thanks again for caring and reading this explanation.