Dealing with soaring temperatures in the summer isn’t just a challenge for your lawn care crews. It can also result in being unable to use certain products due to label restrictions.
“If applying a pesticide, the label is the law,” Dillon Beardall, head of fertilizer operations with Lawn Buddies, based in Idaho Falls, Idaho. “However, if applications were to be made above the restricted temperature listed on the label, then it can burn the turf, cause discoloration, it can volatilize and shift to other desirable plants and cause damage. There are several risks. So, understanding what products are being applied, and what the restrictions on those products are, is very important.”
Brandon Sheppard, a Weed Man franchisor in the Mid-Atlantic, adds that even if a product doesn’t damage a lawn, it will not work beyond its specified temperatures and clients will have the perception you’re not doing what you promised.
“We know our summers are getting hotter,” Sheppard says. “Our seasons are getting hotter. You know it’s going to get hot and dry in the summer. You have to prepare for it and prepare your team for it. You have to be thinking about what would I do if X happens? What product might I switch to? Maybe I need to look harder at going to slow-release fertilizers for those summer rounds.”
Alternative Products and Application Strategies
While the number of days that hit these high temperatures will vary based on your area, it’s best to have a game plan in place so you can still be productive. Beardall says they typically have a few weeks in July and August where temperatures will be around 90-100+ in the afternoon hours.
Sheppard notes that when it’s exceptionally hot and dry, it’s not a good time to do a lot of their work because the plant has shut down and certain applications lose effectiveness. He says often they’ll switch the applications they’re doing as it might not be a great time to do weed control, but it may still be the correct time to do certain insect controls.
“Your staff, they still have bills to pay whether it’s the middle of the summer or not, so you have to think dynamically about what work you have to get done,” Sheppard says.
Sheppard says sometimes they’ll select a product with a different mode of action as others require a rate of growth in the plant. It’s important to keep timing in mind with this option.
“Some will wait, and things warm up, and then it’ll be active on the plant,” Sheppard says. “Others will just break down before the plant’s active again and just not work.”
Beardall says that during the hotter months, they will limit the amount of herbicide they use and spot treat instead. They also use a higher rate of slow-release fertilizer to avoid burning a lawn.
“We as Weed Man have been long-standing proponents of the use of slow-release fertilizer for a long list of reasons,” Sheppard says. “There’s a very powerful business case for it because the products do what they’re supposed to over the intended lifespan.”
Sheppard says slow-release fertilizer has multiple benefits. It prevents nitrogen from being lost to evaporation, reducing the amount of product needed to be applied and limiting the off-site movement of the nutrients.
“Everything we use is slow release, so that not going to be a problem with burning it out or anything like that,” says Jon Parker, president of Black Bear Lawn Care, based in Bangor, Maine.
Sheppard says depending on the slow-release product, some are driven by temperature, soil moisture or microbial activity in the soil. He says this allows LCOs to apply these products on the hottest, driest day of the year and not hurt the turf because those nutrients are not available to the plant.
“The advantage is when the growing conditions shift, they suddenly are available,” Sheppard says. “When that plant needs nutrients to begin recovery from that heat stress and drought, it’s got the nutrients right there, ready to go for optimal recovery.”
Scheduling and Workload Management
Parker says they can typically get all their treatments done in the morning before temperatures get too high, as there are only four or five days above 90 in their area.
“It just requires a little bit more scheduling and paying attention to the weather and the forecast,” Parker says.
Beardall says they plan ahead and have their trucks ready to go the day before so they don’t waste the valuable cooler temperatures in the morning.
“During this time, we may start a little earlier in the morning if we need to, or if we know we have longer travel time first thing in the morning, then we will start earlier so that we don’t lose time,” Beardall says.
Lawn Buddies primarily treats large square footage properties, so they use ride-on spreaders for their granular fertilizer applications in the summer. He says this helps them get jobs done faster than treating with a hose application.
“We actually gain some time efficiencies because we don’t have to go mix and fill during the middle of the day and each stop takes a little less time to complete than if we are doing a liquid application out of a hose,” Beardall says.
Beardall acknowledges for other operations where liquid applications still make the most sense, it comes down to doing everything you can to be prepared for the next day.
“If that means making sure you have your second tank batch ready to go, do that so that time isn’t wasted mixing another batch of product,” Beardall says. “With liquid applications, there is a lot of flexibility in what can be put in the tank, so find which product best fits your area and your program.”
Sheppard says they also conduct midsummer inspections as part of their summer rounds, which gives technicians an opportunity to review the property in depth while filling out their workload and giving them time to talk to homeowners.
“There are ways that we can increase efficiencies and reduce stress points, we just have to be willing to find them,” Beardall says. “Plan for what you know is coming, be prepared for when it does, and it will prevent some of those unnecessary stresses.”
Customer Communication
A key element to handling lawn care treatments during high heat is to communicate with your customers proactively.
Beardall says if they know it’s going to be a hot day, they will add a note in their pre-service notifications letting customers know they will do their best to reach everyone’s property before they are forced to shut down for the day. They let their clients know if they don’t make it to a property, the customer will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity.
“If clients understand why we may not make it, they are usually a lot more understanding,” Beardall says. “But if we just don’t show up without a warning, then they are typically more upset.”
Parker says depending on their customer’s preferences, they may call, text or email them an update.
“I think that the most important aspect of running a successful business is communication, both with the employees and with your customers,” Parker says. “Just make sure that everybody stays on board and in the loop and knows what’s going on.”
Sheppard says they use passive proactive messaging on their social media and emails about the heat challenges they’re currently experiencing.
For those who are more insistent about having their lawn treated, Beardall says it comes down to having them understand that the label is the law.
“Most people just don’t understand why we are required to stop and why a label says that,” Beardall says. “If they understand that it could cause damage to their property if the temperatures are too high, then there is rarely an issue.”
Communicating with customers also is a time to educate them on best practices and how achieving a lush lawn is a relationship of collaboration and teamwork.
“Our relationship to your lawn is the same as your vet’s relationship to your pets,” Sheppard says. “We get the best results from both sides are working well together. There’s very little that we as professionals can do to fix things if the basic care isn’t being done correctly.”
Some of those basics include the correct mowing height and watering deep and infrequently.
“Just raising the mow deck one more notch can make a huge difference in preventing a hot spot, or fading color, which will lead to less angry phone calls,” Beardall says. “They need to understand that this is a partnership. It takes more than just a few fertilizer and weed control applications throughout the year to make a lawn look good and maintain good health.”
