Always learning, Green Lawn Fertilizing visits York, PA training

During the first week of July, Green Lawn sent one of their Service Managers as well as two of their young aspiring members of the Production Department out to York College in York, Pennsylvania for a Summer Turf and ornamentals training. There we were given lessons and experiences from members of The Penn State Extension. There we were also joined by 30+ other guest from areas in Maryland all the way up to New York and between. Ranging from small business owners, managers and employees from other businesses, to even just young entrepreneurs looking to get a business started. This visit consisted of many different aspects in the lawn care industry as well as dealing and handling with different pesticides and herbicides.

Our first class of the morning was a walk through with a gentleman named Tanner who took us around York’s campus, looking for different weeds, diseases, insects and all other problems associated with lawns. After walking for a bit we were able to find some very difficult summer annuals such as nutsedge, spurge, wild violet and YES, even crabgrass! Tanner then gave us the names of different product they use to treat these weeds; from the most effective to the least. Going forward with the walk we ran into some areas that were disease infested due to sitting water i.e. Pythium Blight, which is one of the scariest diseases/fungus out. After being asked what is the best way to treat diseases and overall lawns, and be effective with the product, Tanner replied LT Rich Z-Spray. Here at Green Lawn Fertilizing we provide all of our technicians with a L.T Rich Rider and it was the best decision we made because it is part of the reason we are able to provide our customers with superior customer service!

The second part of our visit was the many different formulations of different products, whether they are liquids, granules, dusts, powders, aerosols, etc. We were then also taught again how to read labels and what to look for on labels. During this course we did an exercise where the instructor placed some household items in the front and asked us to identify them for their type of formulation. For example there were items such as coffee creamer, Windex, apple juice and even hairspray. Our sheet had a list of different formulations and we had to place them in the correct slot. During the final part of this course we then learned about the safety of chemical spills or chemical accidents. We learned proper ways to clean up spills and also the best way to prevent them. We were taught to always have our spill kit and what should be in it in case any accidents occurred on the field to protect everyone around and most importantly ourselves.

In closing, this training was very beneficial and we as a group found out that there is more to lawn care than the average person will ever know. There are so many different weeds, diseases, and insects that are involved and not to mention different factors such as temperature, rain and humidity. We as potential leaders took all this in to then pass this knowledge to our colleagues as well as to distribute better information to our customers to assure them that we are professionals and that Green Lawn Fertilizing will go the extra mile to train their employees and to own up to our mission statement which is “To be a leader in the lawn and pest industry by providing superior customer service”.