Early spring brings excitement and joy to many homeowners in the Antioch-Gurnee-Waukegan area as humid warm air and extended sunlight hours bring the lawns and plants out of their winter slumber.  The thoughts of enjoying the outdoors once again brings a lot of anticipation along with a list of things to do.  There are many projects and plans racing through our minds as the warmer days allow for open windows and sunroofs throughout the neighborhoods.  One way to eliminate the uncertainty of lawn tasks and projects is to get develop a plan to have in place once the warmer weather is here to stay. A spring lawn plan should include the following lawn care activities to either "enjoy" doing yourself or make sure you have hired to get done for the season.  A lawn fertilizer application consisting of spring fertilizer with a pre-emergent weed control for annual grassy weeds, mainly crabgrass.  A soil enrichment product such as a soil conditioner or pellet co...

      Here is just one sample of how the Lawn Doctor program can help turn a sparse lawn into a green and thick lawn in just 6 weeks.  The main difference between our lawn care program and that of our competitors is in the products we use.  Our program uses all granular fertilizers which fertilize the entire turf plant from the roots upward.  This means that the turf benefits from root and rhizome growth during the cool and wet spring months.  Liquid fertilizers just green up the leaf blades at the top of the plant and are not beneficial for the entire turf plant.  As seen below our fertilizer program helps bluegrass to promote its root structure and rhizome growth.  This helps the plant grow laterally and fill in the turf area.                     This picture was taken in late April around the time of our first fertilizer application.             ...

Carbohydrates — The Real Plant Food Lawn fertilizers are often marketed as ‘plant food’. Although most people realize that nutrients from fertilizers are required by plants for proper growth and development, they may not realize that fertilizers are not really plant food. Plants make their own food through photosynthesis, a chemical reaction in leaves involving water, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and light energy. The end products, carbohydrates, are used by plants for energy and growth and are the true plant food. Carbohydrates can be stored in stem and crown tissues when they are made faster than they are used. Storage is greatest in fall and is beneficial since the plant needs carbohydrates for recovery from injury when turf is damaged by pests, drought, heat, and mower injury the following year. Depletion of carbohydrates is fastest in spring, especially under low mowing heights and high nitrogen fertility. If depleted too quickly, the turf may go into the summer months in a ...