Organic Lawn Care

First and foremost, it is important to understand that organics work, and work very well. Year after year, Greenwise establishes and maintains beautiful, lush lawns without the use of dangerous chemicals.

5-STEP ORGANIC FERTILIZATION

Customize Your Own Lawn Care Program

We realize each lawn is unique. As such, Greenwise will help you customize an organic lawn care program that suits you and your property specifically. We take into consideration your needs, goals and budget to craft a plan that is as sure to satisfy the ecology of your space as it is to satisfy your pocketbook. Although you will certainly enjoy quick results from our organic treatments, it is important to understand that organic lawn care is a process, not a product. Over time, your soil condition is greatly improved, allowing for reduced weed pressure and dense, durable turf. You will enjoy better weed suppression, improved drought tolerance, and increased disease resistance. Organic lawn care only gets better with age!

Pick your service program. Then customize it with add-ons and specialty services to address the specific issues you are having with your lawn. If you would like a free lawn evaluation, please call us and we will send a professional to you!

Depending on the lawn, the 5-Step program can be supplemented with an additional step: “Bolster”: A Late Summer/Early Fall slow-release fertilizer designed to complete your organic program and reinvigorate your lawn from summer stress.

The 5-Step program is the backbone of all our organic programs. Each organic lawn fertilization provides a slow, even feed for a little more than a month. They are designed to prevent weeds, provide a deep green and dense lawn, and improve your soil with minerals, micro-nutrients, and microorganisms.

ALL-NATURAL WEED MANAGEMENT

Our natural, non-toxic Weed Management foliar applications fight weeds by using iron-rich treatment to over-fertilize, causing a weed die-off. Compost tea also delivers premium nutrition, absorbed quickly through the turf’s foliage, for excellent color, density, and foliage development.

This treatment is a natural, liquid foliar spray, rich in micro-nutrients, consisting primarily of iron, organic sugar beet molasses, humates and sea weed. It is non-toxic and organic, safe for humans and pets. We recommend two applications for optimal effectiveness.

SEEDING AND LAWN RESTORATION

We offer a variety of seeding service options in order to most efficiently and effectively promote seed germination to reestablish your turf:

Over Seeding plus Organic Seed Starter

Over seeding involves broadcast spreading of grass seed on an established turf. Even healthy lawns need to be over seeded periodically to ensure a think turf-- dense grass is the best natural defense against weeds.

We begin our over seeding service by using a grass rake to remove all dead grass and twigs – ensuring good contact between the new seed and soil.

We then spread a high-quality grass seed for a more disease-resistant, drought-tolerant, attractive lawn. We use a tall fescue/bluegrass blend. Next, we apply a quality organic seed-starting fertilizer to promote germination and provide the phosphorus needed to establish strong roots. We complete our service by spreading a 1/2-inch layer of peat moss over the seed –– this is important to protect the new seed and help keep it moist.

Slice Seeding Plus Organic Seed Starter

“Slice seeding” a lawn involves using a machine that cuts vertically through the turf and into the soil. At the same time, the machine drops seed which is brushed into those "slices" in the soil. This seed-to-soil contact increases germination of the seed. Slice seeding results in a faster and much higher germination rate than broadcast over seeding. Slice seeding can be done on bare ground or established lawns and will not damage existing turf. Slice seeding is generally more expensive that over seeding due to the machinery and labor involved, however it offers more rapid results and a greater seed germination rate.

General Lawn Repair

Lawn repair involves a variety of lawn seeding services -- from spot seeding bare patches in an otherwise established lawn, to replacing damaged are due to construction or tree removal with patches of sod. Because lawn repair service is specific to an individual property, cost can vary and pricing is usually determined on a time-and-material basis.

Turf Renovation and Sod Installation: Includes turf renovation, Greenwise’s choice sod, and soil preparation for sod installation.

Watering Instructions for Newly Seeded Lawns

Water consistently. Grass seeds will absolutely die if they’re allowed to dry out, so your number one job is to keep them moist for at least 3 weeks. Watering should be shallow — getting the top 1/4 inch wet is enough — but you may have to water twice a day especially if it’s hot. Warning: Allowing new seed to dry out for even a day or two can ruin the grass seed you just spread.

After 3 weeks, you can water less frequently but more deeply. The best-practice rule of thumb for watering an established lawn is to water one inch, once a week. If you don’t have a rain gauge, you can place an empty tuna or water chestnut can in the area you are watering and when it’s full, you’re done! Watering in the morning is better than watering at night but watering anytime is better than not watering. Do not mow until the old grass reaches 3 inches and then go back to the 3″ setting on your mower.

CORE TURF AERATION AND SOIL CARE

Spring Prime Organic Soil Builder: Applying PRIME to your lawn adds trace minerals and key nutrients, conserves water, prevents nutrient leaching, and creates optimal soil conditions for lawns.

Spring/Fall Aeration Plus Prime Soil Builder: Aeration with prime creates pore space in the soil and infuses a mineral blend crafted to balance and support soil fertility. This effectively breaks up clay soil, reduces density and compaction and adds essential minerals to your soil to create the structure for optimal root growth and turf density.

Spring/Fall Aeration: Greenwise core-aerates for several reasons, primarily to amend soil compaction and promote root density. Core aeration opens the soil to provide needed oxygen for root systems to thrive.

Spring/Fall Soil Rehabilitation: Double application of PRIME

ORGANIC MOSQUITO DETERRENT

Greenwise Natural Insect Deterrent is a pet-safe, non-toxic, 100 %-organic cedar oil-based spray that effectively kills mosquitoes as well as their eggs and larvae and deters adult mosquitoes from entering the treated area well after we have serviced it.

Our Natural Insect Deterrent is also effective on all blood-sucking insects, fleas, ticks, mites, mole crickets, grubs, chinch bugs and other pests. It has no negative effects on pollinator insects such as butterflies and bees and will not hurt birds, fish, amphibians or reptiles. We service your entire lot, excluding house and driveway, rather than just your lawn since nuisance insects live all over your property, not just in your grass.

We also offer neighbor and block discount pricing because bugs don’t stop at a property line and we’ve found our treatment to be more effective if we can service an entire neighborhood at the same time.

We offer monthly and weekly Natural Insect Deterrent service because we have found that even within our service area the incidence of biting insects can vary greatly due to differences in rainfall, temperature and other weather conditions as well as foliage and proximity to ravines and streams.

ORGANIC GRUB PREVENTION

White grub are immature scarab beetles. They hatch from eggs laid in the soil, have three larval stages, and also pupate in the soil. The third larval stage is often the most damaging and may be present in the soil the longest. The adults are rarely turf pests, but some may feed on tree leaves or make mounds in the soil. White grub may have one or more generations each year in Illinois.

Our Grub Prevention Package is a two-part service. The first application, in early summer, rids the area of adult beetles in the treated area and deters other beetles, in flight during this time of year, from selecting the treated area as a desirable place to mate and lay their eggs.

The second treatment is applied later in the summer and rids the turf of any grub that may have hatched– before they can feed on your grass roots. Late summer into early fall is the time white grub problems are most likely to show on lawns in our service area. Grub feed on the roots of grasses, so lawns will show wilting and browning of irregular shaped areas after the grub have hatched and become active. You may also notice damage to your lawn caused by animals, such as raccoons and skunks, digging in your lawn to feed on the grub.

Beetles return to their established mating ground, which means if you had grub damage last year, you will likely have grub damage again this year.

Organic Lawn Care