Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT TO EXPECT WITH
LAWN DOCTOR LAWN DOCTOR OF PLANO-FRISCO-LITTLE ELM:

Thank you for choosing Lawn Doctor and supporting small businesses! It’s with extreme gratitude, appreciation, and respect for the opportunity to take care of you and your lawn that we don’t take lightly! Please take a moment to get to know us.

WHO WE ARE:

We are a group of brothers who started this franchised business over ten years ago. We have an extensive background in customer service and pride ourselves on dependability, trust, and the job we’ll do. More importantly, we have developed a rich understanding of North Texas lawns and how to care for them. Not just with books, but with experience! We’ve serviced thousands of lawns and take pride in bringing the best out of your turf. As well as educating you along the way.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO SEE RESULTS:
  • Weed Control: To truly address your weed population, we need three to four services from the program startup. Remember, there are the weeds you see and those you don’t. Those weed seeds will inevitably germinate and sprout. Over time, with timed servicing and pre-emergent, we will get ahead of it. But it’s a process that cannot be rushed without potential harm to your existing turf.
  • Grass: Overall density, migration, and color depend on many factors. We do our best to facilitate and accommodate each lawn’s unique hurdles, but it’s impossible to predict without time. No two lawns are the same, and we understand that additional factors contribute, such as heavy shade, mowing practices, watering, and overall traffic. However, we do our best to educate and provide feedback to better the intended outcome. Our advice has been developed from observing and servicing lawns for over ten years.

Services cannot be skipped. Skipping one service essentially resets the program back to square one.

PreEmergent must be timed and applied within a window each year. Our PreM services are typically one, two, six, and seven. Skipping or delaying these services is not recommended and will result in uncontrollable breakthroughs.

Weed decline takes fourteen to twenty-one days post-application. Re-sprays and spot treatments will not be considered until this window has expired.

Our goal is to provide the richest and most weed-free lawn possible. As previously stated, this is unique and not always possible given circumstances outside our control. What we can control is timed applications with the highest quality products and expert feedback. We know North Texas lawns and what they need to succeed. Unfortunately, we cannot control Mother Nature, the variable Texas climate, or your watering or mowing practices.

Your role as the homeowner is critical to the program and your lawn’s success. We rely on you to recognize and implement the recommendations that we leave behind. More often, this is mowing or watering related. But, we are evaluating your lawn’s needs at every service and could identify targeted issues that must be addressed immediately.

MOWING: When mowing your lawn, it’s of utmost importance not to cut more than one-third of the grass’s height at any mowing. If you’re using a lawn care provider, communicate this rule. This is critical in building overall density and a robust root system.

Recommend Height:
• Bermuda: 2.5 – 3.0 inches
• Zoysia: 2.0 – 3.0 inches
• San Augustine: 3.0 – 4.5 inches

WATERING: The general rule is 1-2 inches per weekly water cycle. However, this depends on the weather and overall lawn conditions. Regardless, proper watering is the key to your lawn’s success. If you have an irrigation system, monthly checks are recommended. Most watering issues are related to failures in the system and need to be identified and resolved. If you need your system checked, we can help.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: We’re there every six to eight weeks; you’re there every day. We welcome your observation and feedback. We’re partners in this! If you see something that doesn’t look quite right, please snap a photo and send it to us for review. More often than not, we can diagnose the issue and respond as needed from a photo alone.

Here are some common things to look for in North Texas Lawns:

• Heavy weeds after application: It takes 14-21 days for most weeds to respond and entirely perish post-application. Remember, the plant must absorb the product at a surface level and migrate it to its root system before termination begins.

• Mushy or Soft Turf: If you notice that areas of your lawn feel mushy or soft to walk on, this could indicate moles. Moles love to feed on grubs! This needs to be treated immediately. As activity grows, the lawn declines at a rapid pace.

• Grubs: Grubs feed on grass roots and organic soil matter that causes sections of lawn grass to die. Lift a piece of your turf to check if grubs are to blame for your dead patches. If Grubs are the culprit, the dead patch will roll up like a carpet, or you’ll be able to pull up the grass and see that it has no roots. This needs to be treated immediately with a curative application and preventative application.

• Chinch Bugs: Chinch bugs are a common pest of St. Augustine grass and often cause significant damage during the summer months. Although it is a severe pest only on St. Augustine lawns, the chinch bug may feed on other turf grasses when grown near St. Augustine grass. They damage grass by feeding on the plant’s nutrients and injecting a toxin that results in the death of plant tissue. When left untreated, chinch bug damage will result in irregular patches of yellowing turf that may spread outward and eventually result in plant death.

• Brown Patch: Brown Patch is a fungus caused by a single species called Rhizoctonia. It is common during warm and humid weather conditions. This disease starts as dark, circular patches on the lawn that grow outward. It can be fast-moving and highly destructive. This must be treated immediately and effectively. Depending on the outbreak’s severity, two to four applications are often needed to resolve. Stop watering immediately and contact us.

• Army Worms: While scouting for damage is important for all insects, careful inspection is especially important for this pest due to the rapid nature of its destructive feeding. If armyworms are present in turfgrasses in large numbers, it is important to treat them as soon as possible to avoid further injury.

• Pests: There are a number of other pests that impact our lawns. We also offer reduction services for fire ants, mosquitoes, and surface-feeding insects.

AERATIONS:

Core aeration can help make your lawn healthier and reduce its maintenance requirements through these means:
• Improved air exchange between the soil and atmosphere.
• Enhanced soil water uptake.
• Improved fertilizer uptake and use.
• Reduced water runoff and puddling.
• Stronger turfgrass roots.
• Reduced soil compaction.
• Enhanced heat and drought stress tolerance.
• Improved resiliency and cushioning.
• Enhanced thatch breakdown.

Core aeration allows air, water, and fertilizer to reach the root zone better. This stimulates root growth to create healthier, more robust turfgrass plants.
The homeowner is responsible for marking your irrigation system heads and identifying any buried soaker hose. We are not responsible for damage to the system.

Please do not water your lawn the day before. Lawns respond more efficiently to minimal moisture content and pull a more robust plug. As well as minimize tracks in the lawn from the machine.

Timed scheduling is imperative to our program. We do our best to observe your requests, but it’s not always possible and could result in missing an application. Remember, missing an application is like resetting the clock. We recommend adding a combination lock to your gate and providing the information to us for access to all areas that need to be treated on the day of service.

Notifications: Notifications are sent the evening before via phone and email. Please add us to your contacts so you see us. We will always call from our main number: 214-227-9292.

Spot Sprays: Spot sprays are completed at our discretion and convenience.

Locked Gates, etc: We will only service areas that are accessible. We will move on if gates are locked or objects such as cars are blocking our way. A fuel/labor surcharge of $20 will be billed if you request that we return to complete these areas.

Onsite Evaluations: Onsite evaluations are performed on a first-come, first-serve basis and are not escalated due to the severity of the issues or requests. Evaluations are completed on our schedule, and times will be provided. We prefer that you be present during the evaluation, but that isn’t necessary. The evaluation results can and will be communicated and provided to you post-visit. Evaluations are free from January through March. After March, a $50 fee is required to book. If you engage with our services, the fee will be credited to your account and applied to your first service.

Online: Creating an online account is the recommended way to not only pay online but also manage your services, see your service dates, add or subtract services, or send us messages.

Check: Please include your customer number and mail your check to 340 Lake Park Road, Lewisville, TX. 75057.

Call the office: We can always accept phone payments and apply directly to your account.

PO Box: We check that box monthly for our existing PO box clients. It is recommended that you update your bill pay and submit it to the office.

Deposit schedule: We deposit checks every two weeks.