Lawn and lanscape routine
 

We moved into our house yesterday and got a list of lawn and landscape providers that the previous owners used.

Just wondering what you need on a routine basis.

We need regular mowing. I get that. But what else? Pest control probably. Routine fertilization. shrub trimming.

Do you get one firm to do it all or, like the previous owner, 5 different companies?

You can hire one company like Massey or Superior to do it all for hundreds of dollars a year or save a bunch and do it your self. Lawn mowing are separate companies usually and will run about 50-60 a month depending on yard size.

I chose Massey to do it all. Pest, mowing, fertilizing, shrub trimming, and sprinkler maintenance. We’re snowbirds for the time being so I thought having a single supplier would be easier.

I agree with Massey for the pest, fertilizing, and irrigation. But, even the Massey salesman told me that their price for mowing is too expensive. And, I didn't know that Massey will trim shrubs.

Talk to your neighbors, they are a wealth of information.

We have LeeCo for pesticide on the lawn only (I have an herb garden and don't use any pesticides in it). Our grass grows just fine without separate fertilizers so we don't bother with that. We mow our own lawn, we edge our own driveway, I weed my own garden, and we trim our own bushes.

It's $50/month for LeeCo, and if we see any new fire-ant mounds he'll come out and treat them when he's in the area next, even if it's not our "turn" on the rotation.

Whatever you do...ABSOLUTELY do not hire Good Neighbor Landscaping !! Roy Blackburn is a scam-artist and should be in jail,,,Pretty much everyone you ask will back that up!

We are using Massey for pest and irrigaton.

Was using them for weed and fertilizing but decided their price was outrageous and they do nothing with shrubs.

Numerous Massey employees have told me not to use them for mowing. Very unreliable and huge turnover.

Most of the houses around me use Deans. Everyone using the same lawn service cuts down on daily mower noise.
We have full service, which I believe prevents the roaches I read about in TOV.

you need a special license here in Florida to do pest control. Join nextdoor.com for your neighborhood to get recommendations from your neighbors and to ask questions. If you have an oak tree....good luck with that. Pods grow in queen palms that need to be removed if you don't want them to burst. do not hire anyone driving thru your neighborhood looking for yard work. VERY expensive and don't usually do a good job. I use Falcon, much better than Massey or Deans

Pest control is a definite YES. If you don’t have your grass treated on a regular basis you won’t have grass for long. No matter what kind of grass you have there is something here in Central Florida that will destroy it. We have Falcon for that and they fertilize also. Getting the same lawn maintenance/grass cutter that your neighbors have is a good idea if they will take you on.

only need insect stuff once a year, other problems will show there ugly head.We used Deans,never a problem.

Just stay away from Roy Blackburn in general..........the company name changes constantly. The last known name was Central Termite and Pest LLC but who knows what it will be tomorrow.

I use 1 firm to do it all the cost is $129 a month. 4 times a year trims, every 6 weeks fertilize and weed, pest and disease control. Sprays inside for pests upon request and mows weekly. Land Sculpture is the company very nice people.

Look.
 

In fact, look at your neighbor's yards, and ask the ones that look appealing to you.

I use Dean's for pest. Fertigator for fertilizing. Do my own weeding. Use a local guy for lawn.

Massey
 

Not sure if your comment "they do nothing with shrubs" was sarcasm or not, but they have trimmed my shrubs. Since I'm remote, I can't comment on the quality of their work yet, but in my case they have been reliable. Once I move down full time I plan to re-evaluate cost, quality, and whether I'd prefer to do some of the work myself.

We brought TruGreen with us
 

We had great success with TruGreen in Wisconsin and now have them here. Compliments from the neighbors about how green our lawn is now tells me all I need is know.
As far as mowing it’s a mystery. The big mowers tear up the lawn if it’s wet and trying to find an individual who will mow with a push mower has proven taxing.

Been in FL 28 years. Monthly pesticide treatments is overkill. Quarterly is more than sufficient. If the company is putting down what they tell you and not just water (it happens) it is subjecting you to a lot of unnecessary poison.

Massey’s also tries to up sale you. They tried to talk us into treating the inside of our house. They would even take off light switches to spray behind the walls. Decided to listen to our realtor and Deans who said we didn’t need it. Here for over a year and have never seen a bug in the house. Hardly any outside the house for that matter.

We use Massey for mowing and lawn treatments. We have no complaints. They actually reduced the fee for mowing after we put in a pool upon our request. Many in our neighborhood use them and are pleased. We do the trimming and weeding.

The only license you need is a drivers license to get to Home Depot and get a gallon of "Home Defense".
Use inside and out...no bugs.
You would only need a special license if you are doing pest control as a business.
All the materials a professional uses are readily available on-line or in Leesburg.

Most of my neighbors use Massey, I prefer to do it myself.

This is the first time in my life that anyone other than me mowed my lawn. The pros will, cannot afford to do the kind of care you would do. Mow once a week? You are not supposed to cut off more than 1/3 of the lawn length. At times that means mowing twice a week. With their volume, the blades probably need to be sharpened once or twice a week. Cleaning the mower between lawns to prevent spreading weeds, insects, disease-of course not.

Like with any project, if you can get one to do it all, you extinguish the finger pointing of one contractor blaming another for the problem. As one response said, join Nextdoor....in your area, then ask the best performance from your neighbor, then look at that contractor's current clients that they have been doing for several years for grass to find the best one.

Does someone have the contact info for Deans?

Please make sure whoever you hire includes fungicide application nearly every month, eight to ten times a year. If ytou read the label you'll see no mone than 21 to 30 days of protection per application.

Lawn cutting services?
 

Does anybody use a lawn cutting and edging service that also bags the grass clippings? I'm looking for a new company for my lawn.

I should clarify my earlier post.

Massey was fertilizing and putting down a weed killer on our lawn and we noticed an abundance of weeds around our shrubbery.

Asked the guy about this and told me that they only work on your shrubs if you have a contract for mowing your lawn. Asked him again and he said that is their policy.