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  Daisy Lacey June 19, 2017 at 8:47am

  Hi Harry,

  Are you including weedkillers and moss control products in your "treatments" or are you talking about feeds only?
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  Harry@VWGS June 19, 2017 at 9:02am

  Hi, yes, including weed killers, moss control and feed, not including scarifying, hollow time, top dressing, over seeding. Thank you Harry
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  Daisy Lacey June 19, 2017 at 9:57am

  You can achieve a meagre lawn that way, it will be far from the perfect but "you get what you pay for". The moss is likely to keep coming back in the winter and if there is a reason that the grass has not taken well until now (e.g. too shady or too compacted) then no amount of feed or weed killer will help.

  Scarification and aeration are really important in long-term care of healthy lawns. I know a lot of people who would ditch them both if they could get the same results without.
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  Progreen Weed Control June 19, 2017 at 10:56am

  I think its certainly possible to bring a weedy, mossy lawn back into better condition with treatments. I would hazard a guess and say most LJN'ers have or have had customers who don't want or cannot afford for the 'full' works and just want to see an improvement in their lawns.
  
  If its been neglected then certainly a weed spray will allow the grass to compete and same for a moss treatment - but if its thick moss then it will be tricky to make a dent without a scarification of some sort - even a scratch with a spring tine rake....you've got to give the grass a reason to grow and providing space will allow it to colonise and out-compete weeds or space for new seeds to grow. Underlying conditions will need to be addressed long-term in order to make the lawn work more in balance with less inputs or 'help'.

  Richard@Progreen
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  Andrew Watts June 19, 2017 at 11:29am

  Weeds are easy to control with modern selectives, but ultimately, you need the grass/roots/soil to be healthy to out-compete the weeds and moss.

  So check for compaction (remedy aeration) and thatch (remedy scarification). As Daisy says, we don't aerate and scarify for fun. Commercially, it's hard work on resources (labour, machinery, waste, scheduling) and profit margins. We do it out of necessity for results. Would love an alternative eg thatch eating fertiliser that worked!
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  Harry@VWGS June 19, 2017 at 11:55am

  That's the thing, most of these lawns I'm being asked to improve are 70% moss, 20% weeds and 10% grass, I don't want their expectations of an immaculate lawn to be put out of context by doing a couple of different chemical based lawn treatments.
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  Andrew Watts June 19, 2017 at 2:30pm

  We're near you...
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    Harry@VWGS > Andrew Watts June 19, 2017 at 2:36pm

    Haha, I had actually thought this morning of passing on your number to them Andrew, I know your local ish to Ascot etc, I have said that it would be more cost efficient to get in a dedicated lawn expert, but most have tried the large franchises and been unhappy with them in the past so this has put them off, I will have another chat with them and see if I can change their minds ...
    • PRO

      Harry@VWGS > Harry@VWGS June 19, 2017 at 2:37pm

      To add, this is not just one prospective new client, they all seem to have had similar experiences and been put off..
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  Busy Bee Garden Services Limited June 19, 2017 at 6:11pm

  It will improve it and does to a degree, we have a number of clients who have the 4 treatments a year but never have the machine work. Their lawns alway look better than not bothering, I.e. Usually have no weeds and the moss is controlled to a degree but comes back faster than if it were scariflied. There is defenitly something about the franchise service against a small operator and a lot of our lawn care work has come from dis-satisfied clients.....