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Steveo wrote:
" wrote:
http://www.lawn-treatment.com/form.jsp

i live in florida. there is a local trugreen chemlawn in my area. they
have a free analysis deal going.
if they give me free analysis, am i gonna receive phone calls and mail
from them asking me to use them to work on my lawn? I want to find out
what's wrong with my lawn first, before i spend money on someone to
work on my lawn.

You'll never escape their sales reps after the "free analysis". Avoid
them
like the plaque.

anyone you can recommend? my local extension office doesn't send
people to diagnose lawns. I'm not sure what heading to look for in
yellow pages.

At your extension service, ask for the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods (FYN)
program assistant. FYN is now present in almost all Florida counties. FYN
will send a yard advisor to your property, specifically to help with best
environmental practices. The yard advisor will be a trained Master Gardener
and should have the expertise to give advice on your turf problems. Even
if, for some reason, there is no FYN program in your county, if you get the
FYN Handbook -- available from either the Extension Service or from the Univ
of FL IFAS website -- you should have enough information so that you can
take care of your lawn yourself, without hiring Chemlawn.

In my experience, chemical lawn services uses a lot of water-soluble high
nitrogen fertilizer sprays, which provide very quick greening but which in
the longer run leach into the water table and also attract insect pests
which attack the weak green growth -- of course, they then can offer
insecticides to kill off the pests their previous treatment has attracted,
further deleterious to the water table.

If you follow the FYN recommendations for fertilizers, mowing, watering,
etc, you should have an attractive lawn at lower cost than if you just use a
lawn service or advice from the local fertilizer / pesticide vendors.
Regards --