Frequently Asked Questions

While every landscape is unique and has it's own set of challenges, there are many common situations. Here are a few common questions that we often encounter. Perhaps they will provide an answer to your question. If not, please call or contact us and we'll try to get an answer for you.

Q: Are your treatments safe for our environment?

A: Our environment is a concern for many these days. Healthy turfgrass is actually very beneficial for our environment. Did you know that eight healthy lawns have the same cooling effect as 70 tons of air conditioning, enough for 16 average homes? Turfgrass helps control erosion, filters groundwater, and reduces pollutants from runoff that gets in our waterways. Turfgrass also takes pollutants like carbon dioxide out of the air and converts it to a little thing called oxygen. A 50 x 50 lawn produces enough oxygen for a family of four every day. As you can see, healthy turfgrass is a very important part of having a good environment. How you go about having a healthy lawn is what’s important. The debate should not be about having a healthy lawn or not, it should be what is the best way to have a nice lawn. Royal Greens starts with a complete soil analysis to determine what the soil needs or doesn’t need. We believe that the foundation of a healthy lawn is a sound fertility program. That is why we only use organic-based slow- release fertilizers which allow for a continuous feeding and help enrich your soil. Not all fertilizers are equal. You can use cheaper synthetic water soluble fertilizers with high salt indexes that may work for a short while having no favorable impact on your soil. We choose not to!

Pesticide is another word most people don’t like to use these days. Yes, we do use pesticides. The hard fact is that it’s very difficult to have a healthy lawn without the use of pesticides. Here are the key issues: Are the pesticides being used responsibly? Are they being applied by professionals? What types of pesticides are being used? We only use pesticides when and if needed, they are applied by professionals and we don’t use any pesticides that are not available to homeowners. All our technicians are trained in the proper handling and application of pesticides. They are registered with the Maryland Department of Agriculture. After any pesticide is applied to your lawn by our professionals, you will be left an information sheet telling you what was applied and any follow up instructions that are necessary.

Although we don’t use natural or organic in our name, we are very environmentally conscientious. Don’t just assume that if these words a used in a name that everything is organic and/or natural - ask questions like: How do they control weeds? If they use natural or organics to control insects, how effective are they? You may be surprised.

Q: My lawn is full of weeds. I am afraid that if you kill my weeds I won’t have anything left.

A: We hear this frequently. Every lawn is different, but more often than not once the weeds are killed people are amazed at how much grass they actually do have left after the weed competition is eliminated. More than likely, if the lawn had that many weeds in it, a fall over seeding will be recommended. Keep in mind that taking your lawn from less than desirable to beautiful involves doing so in steps and ridding the lawn of weeds is usually the first step.

Q: I have a shady back yard that is mostly bare dirt. What can I do about it?

A: Excessive shade is a major problem when it comes to growing turfgrass. A general rule of thumb is that turfgrass needs 4 hours of direct sunlight a day. Does that mean that if I only have 3 hours of sunlight, I won’t have any grass? Not really. It means 4 hours is a minimum for good growing conditions. It means if you have less than 4 hours of light you are growing grass in less than ideal conditions. Here are a few things that can be done to help. Remove or thin out trees/ branches that are causing the shade problem. Remove all low hanging branches. This is only helps if the removal is going to allow more sunlight to hit the ground. So many times I have people tell me “I just spent $$$ to have my trees pruned” Yes they did and the pruning was done properly. However, it wasn’t done with the major objective being to allow more light for the grass. Over seeding regularly is very important. Because grass growing in shady areas has a weak root system, it is susceptible to just about everything and will thin out and die over time. Using a shade mix grass seed helps but even it needs some sunlight. Sometimes the area is just too shady to support turfgrass. Then an alternative ground cover should be used. We will be able to evaluate your lawn and let you know.

Q: There are many companies that provide the same services as Royal Greens. How do I choose one?

A: We know that every lawn care company advertises a beautiful weed free lawn and that their program is the best program. Our recommendation is to set up an appointment to meet with the companies you are interested in using. Before you meet with a representative, start by thinking about what you want in a lawn care company. Is service important to you? Is price important? Do you want a big company? Do you want a local company? Is a guarantee important? Here are so questions you should think about asking: Do they belong to any trade organizations? How long have they been in the lawn care business? Ask for their Maryland Department of Agriculture Business License Number. You need to be comfortable and feel good about your decision.

Serving Central Maryland

We provide quality lawn care and ornamental tree and shrub services for the following Central Maryland areas: Adamstown, Bethesda, Boyds, Braddock Heights, Brookeville, Buckeystown, Burtonsville, Centreville, Clarksburg, Cookeville, Damascus, Darnestown, Derwood, Dickerson, Ellicott City, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Ijamsville, Jefferson, Keymar, Knoxville, Laytonsville, Lewistown, Libertytown, Middletown, Monrovia, Montgomery Village, Mount Airy, Myersville, New Market, New Windsor, Olney, Poolesville, Potomac, Rockville, Rosemont, Silver Spring, Sykesville, Thurmont, Tuscarora, Union Bridge, Urbana, Walkersville, Westminster, Woodbine, and Woodsboro. We also serve the following counties in central Maryland: Frederick, Montgomery, Howard, and Carroll.