Frequently Asked Questions So why is Gentry Lawn Care my best choice for Cedar Creek Lake, Richland Chambers Lake, Corsicana, Forney and Athens, Texas areas lawn care? We simply put our customers first and treat their lawns as if it's our own. We don't charge for anything thing that you don't need and we have years of experience to know what your lawn needs to turn it into your dream. We are prompt, professional and affordable. Are there any contracts to sign with Gentry Lawn Care? No! We are a continuous service, meaning that we continue to come out every year until you tell us to stop. There are no binding 1-year contracts. If at any time to need to skip a treatment or stop service, just call us and we’ll do so. Gentry Lawn Care is a continuous process, so most of our customers just want us to come out without being re-sold every year. Do I need to be home at time of application? No. We’ll just leave you invoice along with watering instructions on your door. If you have a locked gate, dog, or just want to be notified by phone the day before your treatment we will get that information during your account setup. If we don’t set something up or miss some information during the setup of your account, you can always contact us and we’ll be happy to assist you. Do I need to water in your treatment? Yes, if we do not receive any rainfall within a few days of our treatment. All fertilizers and pre-emergent products need to be watered into the soil to be effective. If you want your lawn to look it’s best, you need to be watering your lawn every week or so anyway. See our section on watering your lawn for more information. How do I pay for my services? Check? Credit Card? We try to make paying for your lawn service as easy as possible. You can pay your bill online with a credit or debit card, send in a check, or sign up for automatic payments through a credit card. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us and we’d be happy to assist you. Lawn Care If it rains after one of my treatments, is that okay? Easily this is the most common question we hear, because it rains within 3 – 4 days of many of your treatments! Rain after a treatment is usually a good thing because all our treatments consist of a pre- emergent herbicide, fertilizer, or both. These products need to be watered in within a few days for best the best results. Research and experience have shown that even a hard rain will carry these products down into the soil and they will more effectively stay there to do their job. Liquid post-emergent products applied on existing weeds can be affected in a negative way with rainfall too soon after treatment. Our invoices will usually state to delay watering for anywhere between 2-12 hours, depending upon the season. So if a heavy rain comes in before that, enough of the product may not have been absorbed to be totally effective. We do use special “sticker” products on days when rain is forecast to help increase the effectiveness of weed- control products if it does rain. When the temperatures are warm (over 70 degrees), we have experienced good weed control even if we’ve had 30 minutes for the product to dry and be absorbed by the weeds. We cannot assume that any amount of rainfall after a treatment will totally negate our treatment, because it will not. We ask that if it does rain too soon after a treatment of post-emergent weed-control, wait 7–14 days to see if your weeds completely die. If they don’t, call us then and we will be out promptly to spray post- emergent again on any persisting weeds for no charge. Are any of your treatments harmful to pets or children? Homeowners should be aware that the use of pesticides does pose some risk and their use cannot be made completely safe. The level of risk posed by a chemical depends on its toxicity and level of exposure. The simplest way to minimize risk is to limit your exposure to pesticides. The best way to do that is to use a professional, such as Gentry Lawn Care, who will use only the proper products with people who are trained to use pesticides properly. By using a professional, you’ll have no need to store the concentrated pesticide in your garage, thereby eliminating the risk posed by that. The pesticides used by our lawn care professionals are usually the same as “general use” products available to the homeowner at your local garden center. The products used by Gentry Lawn Care are packaged in larger and more concentrated quantities, but they are diluted to the same strength as the ready-to-use products sold directly to the homeowner. When diluted and applied according to label instructions, the products we use pose no unreasonable risk to you, your pets, or our technicians. If anybody should be concerned, it is us, the people who are using the products every day! We have the full confidence in the effectiveness and minimal risk factors when using our products. When we do a blanket liquid treatment, usually early spring and late fall, we do ask that the pets be off the lawn until the product has had a chance to dry. This is usually about an hour. After that, pets and people can re-enter the lawn according to label instructions. With dry fertilizer applications and spot-treatment of weeds, as long as your dogs are nice and won’t eat up our technicians, they can stay out on the lawn if you don’t want to keep them inside.