February 10, 2022
The 2 Major Problems in Your Commercial Landscaping (and How to Avoid Them)
Commercial landscaping comes with its own unique challenges. The properties are usually bigger than residential situations, which means that commercial landscape companies must be prepared to deal with common problems on an uncommonly large scale. Otherwise, things can get out of control quickly.
Here are 2 problems that commercial property owners in the Dallas/Fort Worth area regularly face.
2 Common Commercial Landscaping Problems (and How to Fix Them)
Weed Control
Weeds are one of the biggest headaches for commercial property owners. When weed seeds get out of control they end up everywhere! They look bad and getting rid of them for good seems impossible.
When we meet with commercial property owners or managers, we always make sure they have a solid weed management plan in place. Since your landscaping is often the first impression people get of your property, you simply can’t afford to let weeds take over and ruin your image!
How to Get Rid of Weeds
Over the years, people have tried all kinds of methods for removing weeds from their landscapes. Some are time-consuming and ineffective; others are just odd.
For example, pulling weeds may work for a small container garden or an individual flowerbed. But there’s no way to do that effectively on a commercial property.
Likewise, we don’t recommend techniques like pouring boiling water on weeds in order to kill them. It can damage grass and other plants around the weeds, and it’s not very safe for people either.
Remove weeds safely and effectively with the right products and techniques.
a. Strategic Planting and Mulching
Planting flowers and shrubs close together is a good way to prevent weeds from starting. When you keep sunlight from reaching the soil, weed seeds don’t have the opportunity to germinate.
Also, make sure you have plenty of mulch in all of the landscaped areas of your property. Beyond looking good and insulating your plants from extreme heat and cold, mulch that is deep enough keeps weed seeds from ever reaching the soil in the first place.
b. Mechanical Control
Pulling weeds and hoeing are the things most people think of in this category of weed control, and they can be time-consuming as we pointed out earlier. However, regularly mowing your grass is also a way of mechanically keeping weeds at bay. By cutting weeds in your lawn before they have the opportunity to release their seeds, you can significantly reduce their impact on your landscape.
c. Chemical Control
If weeds in your sidewalks and garden beds aren’t serious, you can often spot treat them by keeping a spray bottle with an off-the-shelf weed killer handy. Many “weed and feed” products can also keep weeds at bay while fertilizing the plants in your flower beds at the same time.
For more serious weed control (especially in your lawn areas), you’ll need to have a professional lawn care company take care of the problem. Commercial landscape contractors have access to weed control herbicides that require special licensing to use, and they are able to quickly treat large properties using their specialized spray rigs.
When you contract with a weed control professional, they’ll most likely set up a schedule to automatically treat your lawn throughout the year. Not all weeds are the same, and different ones appear during different seasons. You might eliminate weeds in the summer only to have others show up in the winter.
Lawn care companies know when to apply broadleaf weed killer (for weeds that typically have deep tap roots) vs. narrow-leaf weed killer (for the skinny ones with shallow fibrous root systems). So it’s a good idea to go ahead and plan on having them spray at the right times to keep your property looking good year-round.
Brown Spots on Lawn
Lawns with brown spots or patches of dead grass are another big problem in commercial landscaping. A shrub that isn’t looking quite right or flowers that have died can be fixed pretty easily and may not even be noticed by most people.
But when your lawn has areas that have turned brown, it’s almost as if your eye can’t see anything else.
Any number of pests or fungal diseases can cause your turf to turn brown. Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension has put together a great Texas Plant Disease Handbook that gives plenty of detail on turf and lawn diseases in our area.
Unsightly brown spots because of grass fungus or pests in your lawn could be coming from:
- Dollar Spot – Small straw-colored spots roughly the size of a silver dollar form during seasons of high humidity and cool nights when heavy dew forms easily. When grass stays wet too long and there is lots of thatch for moisture to stay in, fungi can easily grow. Watering early in the mornings, aerating soil, and mowing regularly can help prevent dollar spot.
- Fairy Ring – Rings of dark green grass or mushrooms appear in all varieties of grasses because of high amounts of decaying matter in the soil. This could be from heavy thatch leftover from mowing or decomposing roots of a tree stump. Aeration, thatch removal, and good watering practices can keep this from being a problem.
- Nematodes – These microscopic creatures live in the thin layers of water around soil particles and feed on the roots of turfgrasses. They don’t move very well on their own. However, if an area gets watered too heavily or they get attached to lawn equipment as it moves through, they can spread and cause large areas of damage fairly quickly. By irrigating well (enough, but not too much) and regularly cleaning mower blades, nematodes can be kept at bay.
- Brown Patch – Symptoms vary depending on the type of grass and can be difficult to diagnose, but generally this appears as large irregular patches with yellow leaves at the edges (or possibly what looks like a smoke ring). Brown patch shows up mostly in the spring and disappears once temperatures rise above 90 degrees. Aeration, good drainage, and early morning watering help prevent it.
The Best Weed and Lawn Fungus Treatment
To avoid problems on your commercial property related to weeds and lawn fungus, your best bet is to partner with a good landscape management team. Commercial landscaping companies have the experience and knowledge you need to keep these common problems from becoming an unusually big hassle.
At LH Services, we have over 20 years of experience keeping commercial landscaping looking great. We provide professional landscape services in Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas.
Schedule a free estimate to see what we can do for you!