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For lawn care operators (LCOs), picking the right herbicide for the job seems straightforward; just match the product’s targets to the on-site weed. But experienced pros know it’s not that simple.
Every jobsite has many factors that can influence an herbicide’s effectiveness (and, as a result, client satisfaction), including turfgrass type, customer expectations and even the weather.
Balancing these considerations can be tough, but here’s what industry experts say are the most important factors to help LCOs maximize their herbicide success.
Know the job
No two jobs are the same, and understanding the basics of each lawn is the first step to picking the product. Eric Reasor, Ph.D., Southeast research scientist for PBI-Gordon Corp., says knowing the turfgrass type and the targeted weeds are the biggest considerations.
“Most broadleaf herbicides will have some activity on just about every broadleaf weed out there. But there are some species that may require either multiple applications to control or certain other active ingredients that offer just a little bit of extra control,” Reasor says. “(For) grassy weeds, not everything is crabgrass. … Weeds, like dallisgrass and signalgrass, they can look a lot like crabgrass, but they’re not crabgrasses, and those require a completely different set of herbicides.”
Warm- and cool-season grasses also work differently, each requiring separate herbicides to be effective. Reasor says that cool-season grasses have many similarities between species that allow them to react relatively consistently between herbicides, but warm-season grasses are the opposite, often requiring a unique product that targets one or two turf types.
Weather plays a key factor, too, so choosing products best suited for your particular climate and time of year can increase herbicide effectiveness.
“Some herbicides don’t work as well in droughty conditions, and then there’s some formulations of herbicides that work better in cooler weather,” Reasor says. “There are certain herbicide formulations that will work better in those cooler weather swings as opposed to when it’s consistently warm.”
Cost vs. customer
The lawn itself isn’t the only thing dictating the products needed; the clients themselves often have certain expectations that need to be met in order to keep them renewing their service.
“You really do get what you pay for. And I know everybody is looking to be the most cost effective out there, watching budgets … but cheaper is not always better, especially when you have these more difficult to control weeds,” Reasor says. Some herbicide mixtures may have active ingredients that provide faster visual results, and those typically come with a little bit higher price.”
That’s not to say picking the most expensive product is always the right move (Reasor says many customers still understand lawn care can be a game of patience), but comparing price with results is a crucial balancing act that should also be discussed with clients.
One of the ways to reduce costs while still picking up the best products, however, is through special deals like early order programs (EOPs). Dan Turner, for example, owner of Custom Lawns outside Cleveland, Ohio, found success this year after trying out PBI-Gordon’s Green Dividends EOP for the first time.
“We’ve never ordered all of our herbicides (for) the entire year in the winter like we did this year, but it was kind of with that unknown certainty of what was going to happen with the pricing of all the chemicals that we did it with PBI-Gordon’s reward programs,” he says. “It saved us a lot of money doing it that way.”
And with those savings, Turner says he’s started the year strong and has already seen great success with a handful of his new PBI-Gordon products.
Choose the product and the partner
Picking the right herbicide can have impacts well beyond just the product itself, as the manufacturer often has a support system that can provide help, answer questions and boost agronomic programs. Turner, for example, made the full switch to PBI-Gordon this year for their broadleaf herbicides and some other products, and a big reason for that was the helpful interactions with their sales rep.
“We had a PBI-Gordon sales rep come in and actually sit down and go over each one of their products and listen to us and what struggles we have with our herbicides,” Turner says. “After talking to PBI-Gordon, we found the same chemical makeup of some of the other competitors, but with the fact that this PBI-Gordon rep came in, brought some samples. We tested some samples out and had some great results with the samples. We gave them our whole book of business this year.”
And even if two products share the same targeted weeds, that doesn’t mean they’re always the best fit. Differences such as being more water or oil based can impact drying times and sprayer durability, and varying modes of action can impact herbicide resistance.
“At PBI, I feel like we’ve done a really good job of creating those mixtures of multiple modes of action for the end user, so they don’t have to have two or three different jugs of different products and mix them themselves,” Reasor says. “We’ve also really tried to make our products broad spectrum, so no matter what broadleaf weed you have out there — you may have some of the most difficult to control and the easier to control — (the herbicide) will control both of those effectively.”
