Frequently Asked Questions

We take pride in providing services that actually benefit our customers and give back to the communities we live in.  We’ve been in business since 2005 and are very proud of the reputation we have developed in NW Arkansas. We like to develop relationships with our customers and truly want to be there for their needs. If you have questions, our experts are here to help. We do the right thing…ALWAYS.  We’re not beyond mistakes, but you don’t have to worry about us taking care of it when we do.  It might sound silly, but you can trust that what we say is the truth.  We refuse to sell you things you do not need, and the product we deliver is the best in NW Arkansas.

We are confident that you will see results quickly. It often takes 4-7 days to see your weeds start to die after the treatment. Some weeds cannot be selectively killed without also killing your grass. Please remember that what we do is a process, and not all of your lawn’s problems will go away overnight. We will work to enhance the health of your lawn with proper nutrient management. By enhancing the health of the grass, over time we will see fewer problems in the lawn.

There is also no way for us to accurately answer this question.  It depends on rainfall.  It also depends on the microclimate of your lawn (soil, trees, shade, rocks, slope, etc.).  A general rule of thumb is that in the summer months, your lawn is going to need approximately 1 inch of water a week.  If no rainfall occurs, it is best to provide supplemental irrigation 1-3 days out of the week to equal that 1 inch.  It is best to water for longer lengths of time and fewer days.  This is what we would call “deep and infrequent” irrigation.  This help promote proper root grown and overall healthier conditions.

There is no way for us to answer this question for you.  It depends on how frequently you mow and many other factors.  You should never cut off more than 1/3 of the leaf blade when you mow your grass.  So, if you mow your lawn at 2 inches, it should never get over 3 inches before you mow.  When you mow more frequently, your lawn will get thicker and more dense.

Our office is open 7:30-5:00, Monday through Friday.

For new customers, we offer a 25% discount on the very first service, OR a prepay discount of 6%. The prepay discount is offered at the beginning of every year to all customers from January 1 through February 15. We also offer a $15 referral credit! (**discounts are only available when enrolling in a full-service program**)

We won’t turn down any form of payment! Seriously, we try to make payments as easy for the customer as possible.  We offer a discount for customers that want to prepay for the season.  We have an online payment system that can be found at the “My Account” link on our website. You can set up auto payments from the website, pay individual bills, or prepay for a season’s worth of service.  Our customers get payment reminder emails that link directly to the online payment system.  We are also happy to take check through the mail or credit card payments directly over the phone.  Occasionally, customers will bring cash to our office.  We are welcome to visitors anytime!

Glyphosate (Round-Up) is a non-selective herbicide.  Meaning, it kills all plants that it contacts.  Therefore, we have very few uses for glyphosate.  The only time we use Round-Up is to spray non-dormant grasses such as fescue clumps while Bermuda is completely dormant.  Glyphosate has been in the news a lot the past few years.  The EPA (along with the European Food Safety Authority and Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency) has confirmed over and over again that glyphosate is not harmful for humans and not a carcinogen.  Here is a link to their latest findings as of January 2020: https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/glyphosate

The three main factors for the overall health, color, and density of your lawn are:

1. Mowing
2. Irrigation
3. Fertilization (See above notes on mowing and irrigation).

Weed control is secondary to all the others.  We will provide all the fertilization your lawn needs, but the other main factors are completely outside of our control.  If your lawn doesn’t look like others, more than likely your mowing, watering, or some environmental factors are out of whack.

There are some environments that turfgrass is just not a good option.  Under your trees is one of those areas.  There are some species of grasses that are more shade tolerant than others.  However, none of them like the shade.  Over time, your grass will thin out under your trees.  In addition, the tree roots zap a ton of moisture.  Shallow rooted trees also have a tendency to erode soils.  When you couple the shade with the lack of moisture with an eroded soil, the grass has no chance to survive. Often customers will ask why the grass is thin when it didn’t used to be.  As your trees grow, these problems get worse, not better.

Anytime you have weeds or any issues, please call.  We are happy to answer all your questions and concerns.  Sometimes there is not a fix, but allow us to communicate what the issues are.  There are certain weeds we cannot prevent. For some of these weeds, like nutsedge, dandelion, and fireweed, our services are specifically scheduled to kill these with post-emergent herbicides.

There are some perennial grassy weeds that cannot be covered by our full service. Dallisgrass, for example, is nearly impossible to eradicate. It can be spot treated with Roundup, which will kill the grass around it. In years past, repeat treatments 7-10 days apart for 4-6 weeks, with MSMA was the way we could get rid of it. However, MSMA is now off the market, and we cannot spray it. Because of this, Dallisgrass control cannot be included in our normal service.

Fescue is an example of a winter perennial.  Because it’s a perennial, we cannot prevent it. People often call complaining that they have crabgrass early in the spring.  It’s impossible for it to be crabgrass, and most likely it’s fescue.  The best way of killing fescue clumps is to spray roundup while the Bermuda is dormant.  We are happy to offer this as a free service in the winter if it’s a problem in your lawn.  However, be aware, we can’t prevent it.

Our pest control services are performed every 3 months.  Our lawn care service program is set up on approximately 6-week intervals from February through November.

It does not take long for our technicians to service your lawn.  Several of our routes have ride on sprayers and spreaders.  These machines cover an acre in about 30 minutes.  Our technicians that are on foot should be able to service your lawn in the length of time it takes to walk the lawn back and forth with 5-ft passes.  If your lawn is 5000 square feet, this may take less than 10 minutes.  Each technician is trained to be extremely thorough, but also very efficient.

Your lawn service does not cover your landscape beds, but we do offer an additional weed prevention program for these issues. It is not 100% effective but does help prevent a lot of annual weeds.  For more information, refer to our Landscape Weed Prevention program under Landscape Services.

Fescue lawns are best seeded or sodded in the fall.  We highly recommend having hiring Ace of Blades to overseed your fescue lawn every year.  We do our seedings in September and October.  Fescue seeding, and certainly sodding can also be done through the spring.  We prefer the fall, because it allows the grass time to mature before going into the stressful summer months.  We would not recommend sodding fescue during the summer.

Bermuda and zoysia lawns can really be sodded year around. They can be seeded started in about May and going through the summer.  If warm season grasses are sodded while they are dormant, the grass will just sit there until spring time.  However, the sod is likely to be fine even when sodded in the winter.  We do not provide Bermuda seeding.  If you have thin areas in your lawn, the fertilization that we provide will help it fill in quite quickly.  If it’s not helping your lawn improve, then there are other environmental factors (shade, traffic, erosion, poor soil) that is keeping the Bermuda from thriving.  If that is the case, seeding more Bermuda is not going to fix the issue.

Ace of Blades was founded on principles of doing things the right way, both agronomically and ethically.  Most of our soils in NW Arkansas are limestone based.  If we do 100 soil samples, at least 95 will show no pH issues. There is no need for a lime application without a pH issue.  We are happy to provide lime applications when needed, but that is very infrequently.

Nutsedge is a weed that we cannot prevent. It loves wet conditions and is made worse by overwatering or lots of rain. We try to spot spray this weed at each normal service. However, the chemical is expensive and blanket applications for nutsedge are not included in our quoted price. If we need to spray an entire lawn for nutsedge, it is an add on service.

There are some perennial grassy weeds that cannot be covered by our full service. Because these weeds are perennial, they cannot be prevented. They do not come up annually from seed. Since they are grasses, many are similar to Bermudagrass. Therefore, the chemicals that can control these weeds often are detrimental for the Bermuda as well.

For example, Dallisgrass is nearly impossible to eradicate. There are chemicals that are labeled to control Dallisgrass. Unfortunately, the reality is that they are not very effective, take multiple applications, and extremely expensive. It can be spot treated with Roundup, but that will also kill the grass around it. In the past, repeat treatments of MSMA 7-10 days apart for 4-6 weeks would control it. Now, MSMA is off the market and we cannot spray it. These are the reasons that Dallisgrass control cannot be included in our service.

There are other perennial grasses such as Johnsongrass, fescue, and several others that are also not included within our normal services. These however, can be controlled with some additional options. If you are seeing issues with grassy weeds, please call us. Once we identify the specific issue, we’ll be able to communicate what we can or cannot do to help with the specific problem.

Bagworms can be extremely damaging to your landscape plants. If you do not have our Ornamental Program and notice bagworms, please call us ASAP. This program is specifically designed for issues such as Bagworms and will help to keep them under control through the year. If we notice issues that need your attention, we will notify you. However, if you notice the problem first, please call ASAP. Bagworms can destroy plant material very quickly.