LawnMasters Tend to Lawncare for 20 Years
By DAVID JONES
Contributing Editor
PERSONABLE LAWN CARE: Rodger Martin, left, and Ron Pike of LawnMasters strive to offer the best yard services in Tulsa. With summer and warmer temperatures quickly approaching, LawnMasters can help homeowners take care of a variety of maintenance issues.
People have personalities.
So do dogs and cats.
So do lawns.
Ron and Clarice Pike try to make sure your lawn presents a smiling face to the public.
To do that they own LawnMaster Quality Pays, a firm devoted to keep nasty and ubiquitous weeds from overtaking what should be a lush and inviting lawn.
It is, says Pike, a never-ending battle that requires a widespread arsenal of products.
“Some companies try a one-mixture-fits-all kind of approach,” he says. “They come out and simply spray a single solution that’s supposed to take care of everything.
“We take a more meticulous approach. What works well with one weed may not work well with another. The yards of our clients may require several different and specific kinds of products. We are careful to use only what will be effective on the individual patch of grass.”
Weeds, he says, are much like flowers in having characteristics. Some flourish in the spring, others at autumn. Some embrace the summer’s heat while others require shade. Among the 70 or so varieties of weeds that infest the Tulsa landscape there is enough variety to keep even a veteran lawn man hopping.
“If you have a lawn that’s half fescue grass and half Bermuda grass we will treat it differently than if it is all Bermuda.”
LawnMaster is in the weed control business; it doesn’t mow your lawn for you although, if you ask, they can usually recommend a reliable mower. Begun in 1987 as ServiceMaster Lawn Care, Ron and Clarice have built it up through the years until they now have almost 2,000 customers.
“Our main business is weed control and lawn fertilization. We work hard at eradicating weeds. We make laws thick, lush and week-free.”
The primary grass of Tulsa, says Pike, is Bermuda. He estimates that 75 percent of the grass is Bermuda, a grass that is well suited to a Tulsa summer for the way it withstands the heat.
The company usually puts six applications on lawns over the course of a year. Prices begin as low as $30.50 per visit, but if you live on a site the size of New York’s Central Park you can expect to pay considerably more. The Pikes, of course, will be happy to survey your lawn and give you an estimate.
“During the growing season we usually put down applications about every six weeks or so. Of course when ice covers the ground we don’t put down any, and in the slow-growing portion of the year we cut back to what is appropriate.”
Other grasses often found in Tulsa include Zoysia, Fescue and Rye. The latter two wither in the heat and are often found in areas where the sunshine isn’t as frequent or intense. An area where a hill, tree or house blocks the afternoon sun might be an ideal area for these.
Pike is particularly proud of his workforce, most of who have been with the firm for years. “For a new employee to reach the level of expertise my employees have reached would take an entire year of learning Nature’s cycle.
“To the greatest extent possible we try to have the same people service the same lawns so they are already familiar with the peculiarities of a particular lawn.”
How long will it take a lawn to show the results of LawnMaster’s care?
“It all depends on the original condition of the lawn and what is wrong. I’ve seen lawns that were overtaken by crab grass and looked as if it would take months to recover but improved radically in very little time. To really let a recovery program take hold I’d like to have a year to let Nature’s annual cycle take over.
“People sometimes allow a yard to languish because they feel they’ve passed the best time to begin a reclamation project. I always tell them the best time to start is now.
Being a local independent firm LawnMaster has a limited area, which it services, but that area falls within the boundaries served by the papers published by the Greater Tulsa Reporter.
If you think LawnMaster can help your lawn you can call Ron Pike or Wendell Ford at (918) 664-4000. They’ll be glad to assist you.
Updated 05-23-2007
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