LCaaS – Lawn Care As A Service?
As often happens while engaged in a mundane task, my mind wandered while I was mowing my small suburban plot of Green this weekend. "Why, in 2017, am I still mowing the lawn?" In a lot of ways we're living in the future — we walk around with fantastically powerful computers in our pockets, some of us have semi-autonomous cars, and almost anything can be purchased at the touch of a finger and delivered the next day or sooner. We even have robots that can vacuum the floor, so why not a robot lawnmower?
It turns out we do have robotic lawnmowers, but unfortunately, they kind of suck:
Bearing in mind that the video was produced by Husqvarna, it should come as no surprise that their entry in the robotic lawn care field was the top performer, and that other variables that would likely have challenged all the mowers equally, like tall, wet Grass, were not tested at all. What I saw in the video was a bunch of mowers that all suffer from a couple of basic problems that answer my question of why we don't see robotic lawn mowers in every suburban yard.
More Power!You might think my main beef is the universal need for wires to define borders for the robots. It would be nice to see a fully autonomous robot that could locate the flower beds just using GPS and image analysis, but wire boundaries seems like a reasonable means to the precision needed to keep the bots contained. Wire boundaries are akin to "invisible fencing" for dogs, and the one-time cost of installing the wire would be amortized over years of having a robot handle one of my weekly chores. That's a different article — [Will Sweatman] already did a great job covering automonous robot location tracking tech.
The real problem I see is a lack of power. Each of these robots is
There's a reason your average walk-behind lawn mower uses a fire-breathing internal combustion engine: nothing beats it for concentrated, portable power. The blade spinning beneath the deck of the mower has an incredible amount of energy behind it, enough to cut the grass, mulch it into tiny bits or blow it into a bag, and still have enough left over to move the machine around so you don't have to. As noisy and environmentally unfriendly as it may be, the internal combustion engine is king of the greens, and even though battery and motor technology has come a long way, it's hard to see that they'll be able to match a gas engine's power to weight ratio anytime soon.
SafetyTo me, then, the essential question is: how do you leverage the concentrated power of internal combustion for safe, effective, automatic lawn care? I doubt we'll ever see consumer-grade lawn bots with gas engines, primarily because automatic refueling is so much more complicated with liquid fuel than with electricity. The inconvenience of needing manual fueling coupled with the costs of making the machine tough enough to stand up to regular use in a dynamic environment with vibration, heat, oil and fuel spills, dust, and moisture pretty much make a consumer-grade gasoline lawn bot a non-starter.
If you want one for your house you'll need to hack it yourself. We featured [Kurt's] RC lawnmower a few years back. It's begging for the guidance system from an electric mower robot.But what about a pro-grade autonomous machine? Landscapers already pay a lot of money for big, powerful machines that cut grass quickly and efficiently. Adding autonomous control to such a machine would increase the cost, but it may be a value proposition for a pro. Imagine being able to roll into a neighborhood with two or three self-driving mowers on a trailer. After fueling manually, the operator could set each mower on a different yard, monitoring each from the cab of his truck. Onboard cameras and sensors would let him see any obstructions and kill the engine in an emergency. When the bots are done, they mount back up on the trailer to move on down to the next group of customers. A landscaper could double or triple the number of lawns cut in a day and really rake in the profits.
There would be a ton of problems to solve before "Lawn Care as a Service" ever becomes a reality, not least of which is assuring homeowners that a fleet of powerful robots swarming through their neighborhoods with spinning blades of death is a good idea. But there seem to be powerful economic forces at work that could prompt a sufficiently forward-looking lawn equipment manufacturer to start working on a "big boy" machine for the professional market rather than turning out any more puny lawn-Roombas that are destined to fail.
What To Know About Preparing Your Lawn For Winter
With the arrival of fall and the excitement of the coming holiday season, you're probably not thinking about your summer lawn — but you should be.
Autumn is make-or-break time if you want a lush green yard come spring, and these are the most important things you need to do now to prepare your lawn for winter.
"First and foremost at the beginning of fall, you should be thinking about aeration and seeding," said Will McEwen, Technical Quality Adviser for Virginia Green, the top lawn care service in Virginia. "This is the most important way to fill in thinning grass and brown spots so you'll have a thick, green lawn next year."
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Over the summer, soil becomes compacted, which prevents water, nutrients and oxygen from reaching the roots. Aeration creates small holes in the lawn to correct this, and seeding the holes at the same time will fill in any bald spots and allow your grass to thrive again. This should be done by Thanksgiving at the latest.
It's important to have aeration and seeding done professionally — hand tools and rented machines won't give you the best results. Virginia Green uses complex, state-of-the-art equipment with experienced operators who have been specially trained to use these tools to achieve the best results.
"The second thing you want to do is make sure you fertilize," said McEwen. "You'll need a starter fertilizer within 30 days of seeding, followed about 30 days later by a wintering fertilizer, which has more nitrogen and really helps build strength in your grass so it can handle the winter cold."
Fertilizing should also be done before the end of November and by a professional. If you do it yourself and miss a spot, it will be lighter green than the rest of your lawn — and if you apply too much or use the wrong type of fertilizer, it can injure the grass.
The spreaders Virginia Green uses are in a different league from anything you can rent at a big box store. They're much larger, sit higher off the ground and spread over a wider range, giving you much more consistent results. Equally important are the people who perform this service — they've all undergone extensive training and received certification as fertilizer applicators.
"When water freezes inside your irrigation system, it expands and can crack the pipes," said McEwen. "So by early November, before the ground is completely frozen, it's important to winterize it."
There are two ways to do this. You can cut off water to the outside areas, drain your pipes and hoses, and store the hoses indoors. For more thorough protection, water can be blown out of the system with an air compressor, a job that should be done only by a trained irrigation contractor.
Remove leaves and other debris
Throughout fall and winter, be sure to remove leaves, pine needles and cones, sticks and other debris at least once a week. If you don't, they'll block the sun that grass needs and trap water, which can cause rot and disease. The method you use to remove them is key — be sure to use an air blower, which won't mulch debris into the lawn and damage it the way a rake or mower can.
And here's another tip: If the ground is frozen, stay off the lawn. That's when the grass is most fragile and can be easily crushed.
Click here to learn more about Virginia Green's lawn care services.
This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact [email protected].Don't Over-fertilize Your Lawn
Fall is the ideal time to fertilize cool-season grass lawns — with October and November being the best.
Plants need nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, among other nutrients, for growth and development. The most common fertilizer blends for homeowners are marketed as "complete fertilizers" because they contain nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). These blends are often available in a formula like 10-10-10 or 19-19-19, (N-P-K), but they probably contain more phosphorus and potassium than your lawn needs because most Kentucky lawns have plenty of phosphorus and potassium.
In fact, many are so naturally rich in phosphorus, adding more increases the risk of polluting our waterways.
Too much of a good thing
Excess or improperly applied fertilizer is carried by stormwater runoff to creeks, streams, lakes and rivers and contributes to nutrient pollution.
Excess phosphorus promotes rapid and over abundant algae growth in freshwater. Too much algae disrupts ecosystems, harms wildlife, negatively impacts water recreation and may contain toxins that sicken people and pets.
Timing is everything
Fertilizing in the fall and early winter is the best time for cool season turfgrass.
It should occur before the soil is frozen. In the absence of a soil test, apply only nitrogen. A comparison of plant response to nitrogen application shows that for most homeowners two applications of nitrogen at a rate of 1 lb/1000 sq. Ft annually (2lbs/1000 sq. Ft total) is optimum for turfgrass.
Split nitrogen applications six weeks apart will encourage greener turf in winter, less spring mowing, less heat stress, and fewer weeds and disease.
Remember, don't over-fertilize!
Improperly applied fertilizer (too much, wrong type, wrong timing) wastes time, money, and harms the environment.
Do your part:
Conduct a soil test to determine what nutrients your lawn requires.
Apply only what you need. Excess fertilizer will not make your lawn healthier.
Carefully apply fertilizer. Keep it off paved surfaces and away from drains and water sources.
Fertilize cool-season grasses, such as bluegrass and tall fescue, only in the fall.
Madison County Agricultural Development Council Meeting
The Madison County Agricultural Development Council will meet at 7 p.M. Today, at the Madison County Extension Office, 230 Duncannon Lane Richmond. This meeting is open to the public.
