Brought to you by the
We recently updated our Privacy Policy. By continuing to use this website, you acknowledge that our revised Privacy Policy applies.
Bob Mann is the director of state and local government relations for NALP.
I get to do some very cool things in my job, not the least of which is to represent the landscape industry in organizations dedicated to the stewardship of pesticides. In this case, I am referring to The Pesticide Stewardship Alliance, a group consisting of cooperative extension folks, pesticide safety educators, registrants (a fancy name […]
Back before I joined NALP, I spent quite a bit of my time training new lawn specialists. That includes teaching problem-solving, a proficiency that takes a very long time to master. While it is very true that some of the problems we encounter in caring for turfgrass are pest-related, many times, the problems are due […]
This coming Labor Day will mark the sixth anniversary of my second career of government relations. Before that, I was in lawn care, working for myself and for others over the course of thirty seasons. I use the word ‘season’ instead of ‘years’ because, in the lawn care industry, we mark time in terms of […]
Well, it’s finally May, and the newspapers and online forums are filled to the brim with articles telling you not to mow your lawn this month. For the pollinators, they say. Everyone is busy and no one has the time to look to see if this “No Mow May” thing is legit or not. Except […]
Winter…Not the agronomist’s favorite season, at least in the northern states anyway. If it’s not brown, it’s covered in a blanket of white and in either case, it’s frozen solid. This time of year, I love a trip down to Florida for a few days. Speaking of Florida, I headed down to Orlando in early […]
It’s been a long, hard season, hasn’t it? Every year it’s something: last year, it was armyworms eating half of the lawns in America; this year, for most of us, it simply did not rain. Will it be a plague of locusts next year? Who knows? On the one hand, the challenges we face in […]
I have a stunning admission to make. I love lawn weeds. I know, I know. You don’t need to tell me. Failure to control weeds is the number one reason that lawn care customers cancel their services. And yes, I have battled the dastardly dandelion and the crafty clover in lawns for years. Most of […]
As goes Round 1, so goes the season. Or at least that’s the saying in the lawn care business; the first visit to a customer’s home and the quality of the application sets the tone for the rest of the year. This is not only true for agronomics but also from the perspective of customer […]
Back in 2008 I still owned my own company and part of my portfolio of work was performing bulk applications of fertilizer to golf courses, sports fields, and similar large properties. A fertilizer salesperson would complete a sale and ask if the customer planned on spreading it themselves or if they wanted me to do it. One […]
Hopefully by the time you read this your lawn care season is drawing to a successful conclusion. A well-deserved rest awaits before you begin the planning process for the 2022 season. But before you put things to bed for the year, I suggest you take some time to reflect upon the good, the bad and the ugly of the […]