College Fund Landscaping has a Case of the Blues

At College Fund Landscaping, we’ve had an epiphany, and no, it has nothing to do with music. It’s actually related to pre-emergent treatment. 

Pre-emergents protect your lawn by creating a vapor barrier that destroys crabgrass and weeds by not allowing the seeds to germinate. It is a very effective strategy and gives your lawn a critical head start going into summer. You can read more on our blog Pre-Emergent Treatments: What They Are and How They Can Benefit Your Lawn.

One thing that pre-emergents need to be successful is full coverage. If lawn care providers miss a square foot here and there, that can provide the toehold weeds need to grow and spread all over your yard.

So how does College Fund going to ensure full coverage when we apply pre-emergent treatment in your lawn? We go blue.

Pre-Emergents

Before we take a dive into the color wheel, let us explain what pre-emergents are and why they are important to your lawn. See, a lot of folks believe that pre-emergent treatments are basically just weed killers. Actually, they are more than that. 

For weed killers to be successful, they need a target, i.e. weeds. Weeds need to be allowed to grow, or ‘emerge’ from the ground, so they can be sprayed. This is not our preferred method for two reasons. One, weeds that have emerged are weeds that have been given the chance to spread. Two, it is more efficient to kill weeds BEFORE they grow.

That’s why we at CFL love pre-emergents. Pre-emergents don’t allow weed seeds to germinate, killing them before they emerge. This is a highly effective strategy for preventing weeds and problem grasses from popping up where you don’t want them during the summer months. 

Dye-ing to Get it Right

We’ve added an FDA compliant, water-soluble dye to our pre-emergent mixes that will (temporarily) dye your lawn a lovely hue of blue. The color only lasts a week or two and will wash away naturally. 

Why do we do this? So we can be visually confident that every inch of your lawn is treated. Weeds tend to be resilient growers, but with blue dye in our pre-emergents, we can be absolutely positive where we’ve drawn the line.

Plus (we have to admit it), it actually looks pretty darn cool!

As mentioned earlier, the dye is completely safe. It does not change the chemical makeup of our pre-emergent treatment in the slightest. On its own, the dye is non-toxic, even edible (though we don’t recommend it).

Aside from pre-emergents, this blue mix also contains an application of post-emergent to control broadleaf grasses.

Care Instructions

In order for our pre-emergents to properly penetrate the areas where weeds like to germinate, you will need to water your lawn. We will leave you with instructions and send reminder emails, to make sure you don’t forget.  This is another reason we like the dye.  It is a reminder to water in the treatment.

(Before watering, after watering approx 1 week) 

Before we start humming Eiffel 65 and spraying the day away, we should also mention that during the application process, the dye WILL get on fences, driveways, etc. This is completely normal and will wash off easily (the same as it does on your lawn). Additionally, it can stain puppy paws, so you’ll have to be a bit more careful with Rover, especially if you have light carpet inside.

A Radical Approach

We’re always looking to improve our services. Blue dye is one in a long list of improvements and modifications we are making to better serve our customers and our communities. 

While this idea may seem fun and whimsical (and it is), it also serves a very real purpose. We are committed to giving our customers absolutely beautiful lawns, and pre-and post-emergent treatment is a big part of that.

We live in an exciting time. Science keeps evolving and we’re learning more all the time. We think companies that don’t change it up and try new approaches are missing a trick. With lawn care, there’s no excuse for the same old, same old.

So is dying our pre-emergent treatment blue a little out there? Maybe. But out there is a place we’re willing to go if it improves our services and helps us give out customers the best, most beautiful lawns they’ve ever seen. Because in the end, it’s all about our customers.

If you’re interested in our pre-emergent treatment, give us a call or set up an appointment on our website. We’re always available and we’re happy to answer any questions you might have about this or any other of our services. 

See you soon.