Having a nice lawn doesn’t have to be a such a noisy, polluting affair. We now offer a totally green lawn care service for Tyler Texas and the surrounding area, using battery powered equipment, including lightweight push mowers, organic and botanical pest control with an emphasis on pest prevention, and a host of other earth friendly, child friendly, family friendly, and lawn friendly methods!

We are now accepting customers for this service, so to get more information, and get your name on our list, please email james@xringservices.com

The businesses listed here are among the best lawn mowing, lawn and garden equipment suppliers in the area. You can count on them to offer the best in products and services.

Ace Sales
126 NNW. Loop 323
Tyler, TX. 75702
903.593.9403

Athens Equipment Company
1704 Rocky Ridge Rd.
Athens, TX 75751
903.675.8502

Cutters Equipment
4535 Old Jacksonville Hwy
Tyler, TX 75703-o525
903.939.9200

Longview Lawn And Garden Equipment
4507 W Marshal Ave
Longview, TX 75604-4814
903.759.0874

Miller’s Power Equipment
3227 Old Jacksonville Rd
Tyler, TX 75701-7505
903.592.7201

Sadler’s Marine And Sporting Goods
1914 S Jackson St
Jacksonville, TX 75766-5852
903.586.5969

Tyler Equipment Inc.
14630 Highway 155 S
Tyler, TX 75703-6746
903.581.6621

When it comes to dealing with Bahia grass, or Paspalum, (note that paspalums include Bahia, and Dallas grass etc) you have a number of options:

Control options

• You can live with it, and mow it at least once a week during the growing season.

• You can control it by suppressing it’s growth with a number of different agents.

• You can kill it.

• You can prevent it

Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Living with Bahia grass

If you live with the problem, you will need to mow pretty often, since at certain times of the year this invasive grass will grow more than a foot in under a week! Mowing twice each week is what I would recommend. The advantage of this course of action is that it allows for doing nothing, the disadvantage is that you will need to mow more often, or learn to live with the tall grass.

Controlling Bahia grass

It is possible to control the growth rate of Bahia grass using chemicals. There are a number of chemicals which can accomplish this when used in combination with other chemicals, and some that are labeled specifically as preventative growth regulators. These “pgr’s” are expensive to use. There is however one chemical which will do the job with a low dose, and at minimal cost. It is glyphosate. Glyphosates are made under several brand names, many of which are labeled for the suppression of Bahia grass, and do a great job of doing just that. The dosage is generally 2 to 6 ounces of 41% glyphosate per acre. At this rate, damage to other grasses is minimal to non existent. This combination will give seed head suppression for several months. The lower level of treatment will require re treatment after a couple of months, but will give a lower level of  phytotoxicity, or yellowing. The highest rate will give season long control, but will cause a higher level of yellowing. The advantage is, that you get to lower the number of times you mow, and avoid the problems of erosion, and weed invasion that can occur when you kill off the majority of your Bahia grass turf. The disadvantage, is that you do not kill the Bahia grass. This however is offset by the weakening of the Bahia which allows other grasses to catch up, which might later allow you to actually kill the invasive grass without totally destroying your turf.

Killing Bahia grass

Why not kill the Bahia and be done with it? Well, that is an option. If you plan to kill it, there are products available such as the metsulfuron ureas that will do the job selectively. If you plan to do this, I recommend extensive forethought. If you kill the Bahia grass, and do not replace it with another grass, and it is your primary turf, the result will be grass burs. You must take care to use only the proper ratio, over the exact area, or you run the risk of salting out the good grasses. You should plan on seeding, fertilizing, and irrigating as soon as the label directions allow, in order to prevent the growth of grass burs and other weeds. If you do not do this, you will have grass burs in areas that have become bare. It is a fact, grass burs won’t grow where there is competition. You must make the soil able to produce competition for them, to prevent them.

Preventing Bahia grass

The best way to deal with  Bahia grass, or any other weedy grasses The best way to deal with any weeds, or for that matter, any pest is to prevent it from gaining a foothold! If you avoid, or prevent a problem, you don’t have to deal with it. How can you prevent Bahia from taking hold in your yard?

1. The number one means of transporting weeds in lawns is dirty mowers. If you clean your mower before you mow your lawn, you can prevent the majority of seed transfer problems. If you have a Bahia grass right of way, mow your lawn while it is clean, and before you mow your right of way, or wash it between. This simple act will prevent the majority of  transfers. It should be mentioned that you can not legally perform a chemical treatment on a highway right of way without a license in that category.
2. The next thing that you can do, is to develop a healthy lawn. A healthy lawn will prevent a host of problems, and will prevent weeds from getting a foothold. Think of your lawn as an organism. If the organism is healthy, it resists disease and parasites. Weeds are parasites!

Need to buy a place to store tools in the East Texas area?

If you have lawn and garden tools and equipment in East Texas, you need a place to store them indoors. For the sake of organization, for the sake of preservation, and for ease of utilization.

No matter how well painted, sealed, or coated,, no matter how well built, you can bet that the rain and sunshine will take a toll on the life of the tools or equipment.

No matter how good your memory is, you might still forget where you left that hoe, or rake, or those small spades, so getting organized can save you some time and effort, and the cost of new tools.

Knowing that your tools and equipment are locked away safe and sound inside your well organized storage building, safe from the weather, and safe from loss, will assure you that your tools will always be available and in good working condition when you need them. That will help you be a more efficient “do it yourselfer”, and give you peace of mind when the job is done.

For information on the best places to buy storage buildings in East Texas, email james@burnsenvironmental.com

For more ideas on storage and how to find, buy, and utilize storage buildings for your home and garden, see the: Storage Master Information Blog

Storage Buildings For Lawn and Landscape Businesses

Keeping your tools safe and protected from the weather is important for every trade, and particularly for those businesses that use a lot of expensive equipment. If you are involved in lawn care, or landscaping, you know how important it is to keep your mowing, edging, and trimming equipment in good condition and out of the weather. Equipment that is not well stored, loses value more quickly and repair or replacement is costly, both in terms of money spent, and down time. Your equipment keeps your business running, and keeping it running is a high priority!  Proper equipment maintenance is important, and requires a proper place to perform.

Storage for lawn and landscape materials is also important. Having fertilizers, mulch, soil amendments, plants, and seed available at the right time, can boost your sales, and the speed at which you operate. Storage space is very important in the lawn and landscape industry, but how and where do you get it?

We have a suggestion. Your local portable utility building company has buildings in many shapes and sizes, and with a wide variety of amenities and options such as ramps, roll up doors, vents, windows, and insulation which can help you to get exactly what you need for your growing business.

For more information on Storage Buildings see: Storage Building Blog

Is Your Lawn Suffering From BMB?

One of the problems I have seen more frequently over the past few years in lawn care is not a result of bugs, weeds, fungus, foot traffic or any other of the usual suspects. The symptoms are narrow shallow ruts, horizontal rows of compaction, and rows of balding areas in otherwise healthy lawns. These symptoms are often treated with chemicals, fungicides, extra fertilizer, or other common lawn care practices, and never solve the problem.

In most of the cases I have been called out because of these symptoms, I was able to identify the problem as BMB!

What is BMB?

BMB is short for “big mower blight”, a condition that occurs as a result of the use of over sized mowers in areas where they are not appropriate. This disease shows up first in areas such as slopes, edges and corners, especially where turns are made.

Turning shifts the mowers weight to one side, causing one side to be heavier than the other, when this is done on slopes, or in tight areas, the effect is magnified. The effect is skidding, scalping, and compaction.

Big mowers are great for large flat prime lawns, they also work well in rougher areas, but in small areas with short turns, and slopes, the effect can be damaging and counter productive.

Steps to Prevent BMG

To relieve the compaction problems related to the use of large mowers, aerifying is the answer. For prevention, talk to your lawn care professional about using push mowers on your property instead of the larger deck mowers and stand on self propelled mowers. If they agree to do so, the problem is solved, if not, it may be time to change services. Of course, you can always do your own mowing if you have the time.

Bigger is not always better, and this is especially true when it comes to lawn mowers in small sloped lawns. Don’t let BMB destroy your lawn!

More about mower size and big mower blight

The Best Lawn May Be Less Lawn

If the lawn care blues are getting you down, you might consider this idea from the “green” community: To be more green, have less green! By less green, we mean less turf covered area. Turf grasses are pretty efficient at cycling water and nutrients if they are fed and watered properly, and they do a good job of providing clean oxygen, but most of them are not native to our area, no, not even Bermuda grass, and they require more nutrients, and more water than other types of plants in order to maintain that lush green color we all love! They also require an inordinate amount of pesticides compared to trees, shrubs, and ground covers.

Planting native trees and shrubs can be a nice alternative, and offer a little relief for your pocketbook in these tough times. There are even some pest control benefits if you plant the right combination. If birds are attracted to your yard, they will handle a lot of your pest control for you!

A common site in the lawns of East Texas, is the horse shoe shaped mound of soil, the tell tale sign of our most prodigious lawn miner. The gopher! You can find information on putting him out of business yourself, or having someone do it for you on the pages of the site listed bellow.

Trapping and controlling gophers can be a pretty messy business. For that reason, many people do not want to deal with it themselves. The truth of the matter is, that we don’t particularly enjoy it either, but we have done so much of it, that we have gotten pretty efficient at it, and that makes it a little better. If you need someone in the Tyler, East Texas area to help you deal with these destructive little creatures, we can handle it.

Just read Our Gopher Control Service | What You Need To Know, and, Gopher Trapping | Gopher Control Pricing.

• Lawn Care | Lawn Clippings What You Should Know
• Every year your lawn creates about a hundred pounds of nitrogen per acre. That is over two pounds of nitrogen per one thousand square feet, which is about two fertilizer applications per year.
• Mowing The Single Most Effective Tool For Lawncare
• When you start planning out your routine for lawn garden and landscape maintenance, give a little thought to the single most effective thing that you can do to improve your lawn. Increasing mowing frequency will help your lawn in ways you might not have thought about.
• Lawncare Winter Lawn Care
• We are still basking in the remnants of summer in East Texas, but it is never to early to start thinking about the next season. No matter where, you are, or when you read this, these basics will help you get your lawn through winter.
• Lawn Care 3 Reasons Not to Bag Clippings
• There are three good reasons not to bag your lawn clippings listed bellow, so read them, and do yourself, your lawn, and the environment a favor, and put that bagger away!
• Mowing Tips Lawns Lawn mowing Lawn mowing frequency
• What is the first place in the great outdoors to which your children are exposed? Where do your pets play? Well, of course, your lawn! In most cases, this area comprises the largest part of a homeowners property.
  
• Lawncare Pest Control Tips And Advice
• It turns out, that good lawn care, and good pest control go hand in hand. as a matter of fact, if you use proper lawn care techniques, you will have very few pests to have to control by other means!
• Tyler Lawn Help: Cultivation Fertilization Irrigation
• Mowing is the biggest part of, and the primary activity in lawn care, but it is not the only thing. Not by a long shot! There are still plenty of other things that need to be done, so out of the easy chair, and into the sun!

Burns Environmental provides habitat management services.

What is that?

• Forest and aquatic vegetation management for the control of invasive exotic vegetation in forests and lakes.

• Right of way and industrial vegetation control For the control of weeds, brush, and grasses in right of ways, and industrial sites.

• Backyard habitat services for the removal of unwanted exotic species, and the recovery of native habitats, and the encouragement of appropriate wildlife.

• Tree care services. Proper tree pruning, fertilizing, aerifying, soil injection, and tree surgery such as cabling and bolting of split trunks, and cavity repair.

• Predator management to eliminate outdoor rodents and other predators.

• Green pest control through pest prevention and botanical pest control products.

• Pest prevention and habitat information for “do it yourselfers” on such Websites as: TexasLakeSolutions.com, BugsandWeeds.com, and BurnsEnvironmental.com/residential

Protecting biodiversity is one of the most important aspects of environmental protection. Removing undesirable species is the first step in doing this. Native habitats support native wildlife, and bring needed balance. They provide natural insect control, once established.

Burns Environmental