Eco Turf & Tick Control

Lawn Care Programs

Fertilization, insect control, weed control, seeding and more. Grow a healthy, thick green lawn. Natural and synthetic options available.

Lawn Care Program - 5 treatments per year

Our Lawn Care program is a natural based treatment plan with minimal use of chemical pesticides only when needed. This lawn care program will get you faster results up front, and then maintain a healthy, thick lawn with minimal use of chemical herbicides once established.

A thick, healthy lawn with great soil with the correct pH level and microbial activity is very resistant to weeds. By slice seeding in the fall and growing a healthy, thriving lawn, weeds won’t get a chance to grow. That is why consistent maintenance is critical. The weeds that do come up can be controlled with very minimal use of herbicides.

Lawn care applications are done about every 6 weeks from April through October.

Fertilization and Pre-emergent

Your first application will consist of weed and crabgrass pre-emergent, along with fertilizer. Timing is critical for this application, as the pre-emergent will prevent weeds and crabgrass from crowding out your grass and spreading.

Fertilization and Weed Control

Fertilizer application that will help develop a thick, green lawn and healthy root system. Spot spraying any weeds that appear during this time and also your lime application if needed.

Fertilization, Weed Control, Organic Grub Control

Another round of fertilizer and spot spraying for weeds. During this treatment is when we may apply an organic grub control using beneficial nematodes.

Fertilization and Weed Control

Another fertilizer application and weed and crabgrass spot spraying.

Fertilization and Weed Control

Your last fertilization and weed control application of the year.

Core Aeration and Slice Seeding

Autumn is the best time of the year for seeding. Weeds and crabgrass are naturally dying off, so they won’t take root in the newly seeded areas. Overseeding your lawn now is a great way to thicken your lawn for the next season and reduce the use of chemical herbicides even further.

Improving Poor Soils

Traditional lawn care services only treat the grass. They do nothing to improve the soil. Organic treatments are far superior, that they can improve both the soil and the grass, at the same time! Do you desire having a beautiful, green, healthy lawn? A lawn that is safe for your children and pets to play on? And do you really want to help the environment? Then our Organic lawn care services are for you!

Focusing on soil health allows us to greatly reduce the amount of chemical products required to maintain your lawn when compared to a fully synthetic lawn care program.

To achieve a nice healthy lawn, without using toxic chemicals, we must test the soil. We need to know “what’s going on down there?” A soil test will tell us exactly what your soil needs, in order to make it more fertile and productive.

A soil test will help us determine:

1. What type soil you have

2. How fertile your soil is

3. How compacted your soil is

4. How acidic is your soil

5. What your thatch level is

6. Are there any contaminates in your soil

From your soil test report, we will know how compacted and how fertile your soil is (organic matter level). Eco Turf & Tick Control applies a 100% natural liquid microbial fertilizer two times per year. Once in the late spring, the other in the fall. These treatments will permanently change your soil, loosen the compaction, increase organic matter which will result in a more fertile soil, make it alive and productive again, and. . . most importantly increase your soil’s earthworms as they are the true aerators of the soil. These two applications are much more economical than Core aeration!

Lime, which is ground up limestone, contains calcium and magnesium. As it breaks down, it will raise the pH of your soil, making it more alkaline/less acidic. Common weeds thrive in acidic soil, so maintaining a pH level between 5.5-7.5 is important for reducing the level of chemicals needed. Lime is applied during your spring treatment as needed.

Most Homeowners assume when they hire a lawn care service, that they will have to do nothing else. But, if a lawn is not Watered properly, or Mowed properly, it may never become a strong and healthy lawn. It is your responsibilty to ensure that your lawn is properly mowed and hydrated, so it can stay Green & Beautiful! A lawn that is well irrigated and mowed properly not only looks great, but can stay strong and healthy for a long time.

If dethatching is done during the spring months, it will increase your weed and crabgrass germination. The better time to do this is during the fall months when weeds and crabgrass are not a problem.f

Eco Turf & Tick Control can remove and control any further thatch build-up with treatments only. By using our microbial fertilizer applications, it will compost any thatch build-up and return it back into the soil which improves your organic matter. (which is the life blood of any soil).

Slice Seeding or Overseeding

Continuous seeding will thicken up your lawn to a point where weeds won’t have a chance to grow. It’s great for filling in weak areas and reducing the amount of chemicals needed to maintain a weed free lawn.

Slice seeding is a process where we use a machine to cut grooves into your lawn to plant new seed. The seed grows up in rows and fills in over time. This method of seeding is great because it fills in weak areas of your lawn and the seed is naturally protected by the surrounding grass which helps retain moisture.

Topsoil seeding is better for areas with poor or little soil. Most often we use slice seeding for most of a lawn but with topsoil in certain areas that require it. As we’re on your lawn, we’ll plan out the best seeding option for your specific needs.

When you seed in the spring, you can actually set your lawn’s progress backwards!

Why you should not seed in the spring:

Failure rate is high! Soil is too cold for germination. Spring rains wash some of the seed away. With seed down, a pre-emergent crabgrass control cannot be applied as it will stop the seed from germinating. Without a pre-emergent treatment, your lawn will fill up with crabgrass later on. Also, no weed controls can be applied, they will kill the new seedlings, and your lawn will fill up with weeds.

With a spring seeding, the young seedlings will not be established enough before the onslaught of the summer’s heat. 80% may die off from stress and lawn diseases.

The only correct time to seed your lawn with great success is in the fall (8/15-10/15).

When you seed in the fall, the weather is becoming much cooler, with more rainfall. The soil is warmed by the summer’s heat and grass seed will germinate faster. By this time, all lawn weeds or crabgrass will start to die off as they are annual plant, so there is no competition with the young grass. The soil will stay warm right up until December. Your young new grass will be better established to handle the summer’s heat the following year.

Lawn Insect Control

In the northeast where we live, there are two main types of insects that typically destroy your lawn, grubs and chinch bugs. We offer 100% natural treatment options for both. 

Chinch bugs are very small surface insects, that live and produce within your lawn’s thatch. The thicker your lawn’s thatch layer is, the more chinch bugs there are likely to be.

Chinch bugs can start to hatch out as early as May, but more than likely will hatch out anytime during the hot & dry summer months. Chinch bugs love hot weather with dry conditions.

Chinch bug damage is usually mistaken for “drought damage”. This lawn was entirely wiped out by these surface feeders. Chinch bugs can destroy 3,000 square feet in one day! Another indicator of chinch bugs is large flocks of birds constantly feeding on your lawn, especially Starling and Crows.

A traditional lawn care practice is to start applying pesticide applications in June whether there are chinch bugs or not, just to protect the lawn. This practice is unnecessarily toxic as the pesticide can remain active for up to 6 months! This can be very harmful to birds that may feed on the pesticide pellets, mistaking them for food, or accidentally grabbing them while eating.

Any excessive amount remaining goes into our waters, polluting them. Your family and pets will be exposed to these pesticides for a very long time.

How does Eco Turf & Tick control these lawn damaging insects, without having to use any toxic pesticides?

Since chinch bugs feed on your lawn’s surface, they are easy to control. We generally use Neem Oil, which comes from the Neem trees in India and has been used as a natural insecticide since Biblical times. Neem Oil is a 100% natural ingredient, carries no E.P.A. registration number, and requires no warning sign.

Usually 2 applications are needed one in late June the other in late July. This should kill off 90% of these insects.

Other natural methods to control them are to:

  • Reduce the thatch level in the lawn.
  • Keep the lawn mowed high, chinch bugs hate shade.
  • Keep your lawn well watered, chinch bugs hate wet conditions.
  • Apply bird seed. Bird seed will attract birds, birds see and eat the chinch bugs.

Grubs are a sub-surface feeder that feed on and destroy your grass’s roots. They usually will cause no damage to your lawn (in the spring) but will hatch out and destroy large sections of your lawn starting from late August right through Novemeber. Most of the grubs are the Larvae of Japanese beetles. Having a lot of grubs in your lawn, will usually indicate having a lot of Japanese beetles.

Indicators that you have active grubs (besides browned areas) is the grass will pull right up with little effort, and grub areas are torn up from Skunks and Racoons feeding on them.

Look at this picture (right) This is extensive grub damage.

The “traditional” method to control grubs is to apply a pesticide such as Merit in the late spring/early summer months. In the fall, most chemical lawn care services will apply Dylox. Both of these pesticides are toxic.

Eco Turf & Tick Control uses no toxic pesticides to control grubs. We apply nematodes. They are microscopic worms that attack and infect the grubs. They breed inside of the dead grub larvae and continue to spread throughout the lawn.

Nematodes are E.P.A. exempt and is extremely safe around humans, pets and all other living things. Nematodes are only applied in the early fall months.

Thatch

Thatch is a dead layer of dried up runners and rizome stems that build up over time. Once the thatch layer gets over 1/4 inch, the lawn will have constant lawn diseases, insect infestations, uneven color and brown spots.

The traditional method to control thatch is to remove it. A lawn service company would use a dethatching machine. This machine will get rid of the dead grass layer. It is very laborous work, very expensive, and is very stressful to the lawn unless you are seeding.

If dethatching is done during the spring months, it will increase your weed and crabgrass germination. The better time to do this is during the fall months when weeds and crabgrass are not a problem.f

Eco Turf & Tick Control can remove and control any further thatch build-up with treatments only. By using our microbial fertilizer applications, it will compost any thatch build-up and return it back into the soil which improves your organic matter. (which is the life blood of any soil).

Look at this lawn (above) it’s a sod lawn full of thatch, and is suffering from a lawn disease.

Look at the same lawn (Right) that has received a Microbial fertilizer treatment. Look at the improvement. This treatment is very inexpensive, as compared to mechanical de-thatching and can be performed at anytime of the year. Also, by using our organic fertilizers, this will keep any further thatch build-up in check. When thatch is under control, there will be less insects and less diseases attacking the lawn.

Environmentally Focused

Our aim is to provide a beautiful lawn with as little negative impact to the environment as possible. A well maintained lawn with minimal chemical use will not be as eco-friendly as an unmaintained meadow of wildflowers, but it can be just as safe or better when compared to a crabgrass and weed filled yard that you are already mowing and maintaining anyway. 

Healthy turf grass forms a well established root system and doesn’t die off each year like crabgrass and weeds do. This allows for:

  • Much better and consistent erosion control.
  • Filtration of runoff water and pollution. Turf grass is an incredible filter for pollutants that could otherwise make it into ground water and wells.


Other benefits of turf grass over weeds include:

  • Greater oxygen production. Your lawn provides enough oxygen for your entire family while sequestering carbon back into the soil.
  • Better microbial activity with the use of organic microbial fertilizers. This is a better, healthier soil ecosystem.
  • Cooling of the air around your home.


With organic fertilizers and proper soil conditions, we can minimize the use of chemical herbicides.

Grow a thick, green lawn with our turf care services