# Lawn Care Planner Tool



## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Hi Guys

I'm working on a lawn care planner tool. The idea will be to pull your local weather data and put together general times to do certain steps. Then you can mark off which steps you've completed as the year progresses.

I'd love it if anyone would give me feedback. Basically when you login you can put your address in. Within a few minutes it'll figure out what the closest weather station is to you and download it's historical data and figure out timings.

https://www.grassdaddy.net/plan

What I'm looking for specifically is if your plan is "close enough" or "way off". This is meant for the newbie who just doesn't know about pre-emergent, etc. The idea will be to start them out on the easy method and then teach them the better way to make their own custom plan out based on their soil test, etc.

Let me know what you think ;-)


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## vanwyklhf (Sep 17, 2018)

Sounds like an awesome Idea. Would like to participate but.. you know we like to be difficult on the other side of the world, measurements and all.. I know I have 2 feet but to measure them in meters is a different story. 
Would like to have the same thing but in the metric system. Otherwise awesome idea


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Thanks for the awesome videos! I'd be happy to repay the favor by trying it out 

Here's my dashboard.



If next steps are populated algorithmically now...

For my cool season grass:
-Milo seems fairly accurate, as it's time to push fall nitrogen. However, since it's mostly an indirect nitrogen source, it would have been better to get a jump on the fall so that it was active by the time cooler temps hit. Maybe the end of August or beginning of September would be better to start fall nitrogen with Milo.
-Fungicide seems inaccurate. Temps will be low enough by the beginning of October that there will be little disease pressure. For summer + fall, based on temperate and humidity, it should probably be applied August + September here.
- Tenacity seems incorrect as well. The time for prodiamine here would have been 2-3 weeks ago. Poa A started showing up a week or so ago.

For my warm season grass:
- Milo would probably be a bad idea. I put down my last slow release app at the beginning of September (~6 weeks before average first frost).
- Fungicide and Tenacity, same as above.


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

I'm a complete newbie to lawn care and never used a fungicide or tenacity. I really don't even know too much about both of those. But 9 days ago I overseeded and threw down milo.

Here's my dashboard:



Here's my front lawn (most recently):


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## ryeguy (Sep 28, 2017)

Agreed with the above. Someone who would use a lawn care schedule wouldn't know what Tenacity is, and probably shouldn't be using it. It would require a calibrated sprayer, usage of surfactants, and to be willing to purchase a $60 bottle. It's not in the same league as milo or pre-emergent. Maybe hide this behind some kind of "advanced" user option.

Tenacity isn't even labelled for poa annua control. I know some people have had success with it but it can be finicky.


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Woops, sorry guys.. After you login you need to click this link again:

www.grassdaddy.net/plan

That page there is a "dummy" page lol I gotta make it so when you login it redirects where you were originally going =P


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Should have something like this (in boring format):

Array ( [stationid] => USW00054796 ) Array ( [stationid] => USW00054796 )
Mar 21st	Wahoo! Time to rake and clean up the yard.
Apr 13th	Spring Pre-Emergent. Apply enough to last until Sep 2nd
May 31st	Spring Fertilizer
Jul 15th	Kill as many weeds as you can
Jul 18th	Remember - Most weed killers shouldn't be applied over 80 degrees. Use caution
Sep 2nd	Time for fall fertilizer. If you are seeding bare spots, aerate and overseed. Otherwise apply fall pre-emergent
Nov 25th	Apply a winterizer one week after the lawn stops growing.


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## Khy (Jul 27, 2018)

GrassDaddy said:


> Should have something like this (in boring format):
> 
> Array ( [stationid] => USW00054796 ) Array ( [stationid] => USW00054796 )
> Mar 21st	Wahoo! Time to rake and clean up the yard.
> ...


So I did it, about 5 minutes ago for some reason it's giving me all times of Dec 31st though

Array ( [stationid] => USC00288816 ) Array ( [stationid] => USC00288816 )
Dec 31st	Wahoo! Time to rake and clean up the yard.
Dec 31st	Spring Pre-Emergent. Apply enough to last until Dec 31st
Dec 31st	Spring Fertilizer
Dec 31st	Kill as many weeds as you can
Dec 31st	Remember - Most weed killers shouldn't be applied over 80 degrees. Use caution
Dec 31st	Time for fall fertilizer. If you are seeding bare spots, aerate and overseed. Otherwise apply fall pre-emergent
Dec 31st	Apply a winterizer one week after the lawn stops growing.

EDIT: Scratch that, 2 minutes later it seemed to have updated, guessing it just didn't populate with the station data yet

Array ( [stationid] => USC00288816 ) Array ( [stationid] => USC00288816 )
Mar 8th	Wahoo! Time to rake and clean up the yard.
Apr 1st	Spring Pre-Emergent. Apply enough to last until Sep 2nd
May 17th	Spring Fertilizer
Jun 18th	Kill as many weeds as you can
Jul 20th	Remember - Most weed killers shouldn't be applied over 80 degrees. Use caution
Sep 2nd	Time for fall fertilizer. If you are seeding bare spots, aerate and overseed. Otherwise apply fall pre-emergent
Dec 3rd	Apply a winterizer one week after the lawn stops growing.

I'll add in some details here too, I'd say personally, April 1st is a bit late for my area on the coast of NJ. I usually have crabgrass breaking through by then. This coming year I'm going to try splitting my app up for the first time. Do half my yearly app in the 1st week of March and then the other have around the 1st week of May and see how that works out for me.

The overseeding date looks on point.

The winterizer date is actually illegal. In NJ you're not allowed to apply any NPK from November 15th ---> March 1st. So that may be something you want to look into in terms of legality of blackout dates in certain states.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

I had same initial bug as @Khy but a refresh brought me much better recommendations:



> *Mar 20th* Wahoo! Time to rake and clean up the yard.
> *Apr 5th* Spring Pre-Emergent. Apply enough to last until Sep 2nd
> *May 16th* Spring Fertilizer
> *Jun 17th* Kill as many weeds as you can
> ...


This year was weird and I think everything got pushed just a little earlier but this looks pretty spot on!


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## N LA Hacker (Aug 17, 2018)

> Array ( [stationid] => USC00168444 ) Array ( [stationid] => USC00168444 )
> Jan 1st Wahoo! Time to rake and clean up the yard.
> Jan 1st Spring Pre-Emergent. Apply enough to last until Sep 6th
> Apr 1st Spring Fertilizer
> ...


This has me a bit off. If doing a split app of pre-em, from Jan 1 to Sept 6 is 8+ months. I know our weather is weird and warms up at goofy times, but that doesn't seem to jive. The Aug 13th reminder for weed killers over 80* is way too late in the year. we are probably past those temps in end of May to early June. I'm assuming December 31st is supposed to be average 1st frost. That seems just a tad late. Probably closer to mid November.


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Thanks! I've got data to play with. The areas that are warm nearly year round are going to be the ones I'll have to figure out better.


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## Grass Clippins (Apr 30, 2018)

GrassDaddy said:


> Thanks! I've got data to play with. The areas that are warm nearly year round are going to be the ones I'll have to figure out better.


...and the only way to truly understand those warm areas would be to live there. Sounds like a good pitch to load the family up and head south.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

I logged in and looking forward to getting an email when site is ready...thanks!


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## MMoore (Aug 8, 2018)

i registered in Clayton NY because i couldn't register from Canada.

its populating the data for my area.


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## Z0rkNY (Jul 6, 2018)

Just registered for Rockville, MD :thumbup: . The app said it could take 24 hours for personalized lawn care info to populate. Thankfully (not :roll: ), its raining all week :lol: :lol: so I know I do not have much to do in the meantime.


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## MMoore (Aug 8, 2018)

i refreshed after a few minutes and it worked. @z0rkny


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Is this all I am suppose to see?

Array ( [stationid] => USW00053909 ) Array ( [stationid] => USW00053909 )
Jan 1st	Wahoo! Time to rake and clean up the yard.
Jan 11th	Spring Pre-Emergent. Apply enough to last until Sep 7th
Mar 29th	Spring Fertilizer
May 8th	Kill as many weeds as you can
Jul 31st	Remember - Most weed killers shouldn't be applied over 80 degrees. Use caution
Sep 7th	Time for fall fertilizer. If you are seeding bare spots, aerate and overseed. Otherwise apply fall pre-emergent
Dec 31st	Apply a winterizer one week after the lawn stops growing.


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

@GrassDaddy I'm not sure if you've seen it but I just downloaded Scott's My Lawn app from the App Store on my phone. I heard about it when I bought some DiseaseEx today. It does all the weather calculating and recommendations like you're talking about. Here's a screenshot:


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## Khy (Jul 27, 2018)

LawnNeighborSam said:


> @GrassDaddy I'm not sure if you've seen it but I just downloaded Scott's My Lawn app from the App Store on my phone. I heard about it when I bought some DiseaseEx today. It does all the weather calculating and recommendations like you're talking about. Here's a screenshot:


In my experience, this app is absolutely terrible at it's weather calculations. It'd tell me I got 0.5" of rain when it had been sunny all day. Or tell me I got no rain when it'd been pouring all day.

On top of that, they only offer Scotts recommendations. And they're extremely generic. I use my own rain gauge for rainfall as I don't trust anything else but I do supplement w/ Rachio + WeatherUnderground (where Rachio gets it's weather info from).


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

@Khy yeah I agree - it's pretty hard to give everyone their own customized information. Not saying it can't get done. Technology keeps getting better. But for now I think these types of apps would most likely always end up giving some blanket generic recommendations, but even more so to push their own products


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

@Khy I downloaded the Scott's My Lawn app for the lawn measuring tool but I can't seem to find it. It was in their advertisement where you can get your sq ft by looking at an aerial shot of your land right from the app and picking points


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Yeah I saw they had that, but like @Khy mentioned it's only their products. What I eventually want to do is make it so you can check off which products you want to use. IE are you on the Scott's plan, Milorganite plan, N-Ext plan, etc and then it goes from there.

The goal isn't to be perfect in timing but to help people remember. Each "step" will have the more detailed apply when it's this temperature etc. I know for me I forget stuff all the time. Like this year bug control!! And as newbies they generally don't know that could even be a step let alone when to do it.


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

GrassDaddy said:


> Yeah I saw they had that, but like @Khy mentioned it's only their products. What I eventually want to do is make it so you can check off which products you want to use. IE are you on the Scott's plan, Milorganite plan, N-Ext plan, etc and then it goes from there.
> 
> The goal isn't to be perfect in timing but to help people remember. Each "step" will have the more detailed apply when it's this temperature etc. I know for me I forget stuff all the time. Like this year bug control!! And as newbies they generally don't know that could even be a step let alone when to do it.


niiiice, very cool innovation man


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## Khy (Jul 27, 2018)

GrassDaddy said:


> Yeah I saw they had that, but like @Khy mentioned it's only their products. What I eventually want to do is make it so you can check off which products you want to use. IE are you on the Scott's plan, Milorganite plan, N-Ext plan, etc and then it goes from there.
> 
> The goal isn't to be perfect in timing but to help people remember. Each "step" will have the more detailed apply when it's this temperature etc. I know for me I forget stuff all the time. Like this year bug control!! And as newbies they generally don't know that could even be a step let alone when to do it.


Small suggestion, but what about instead of even having to include all sorts of different ferts... could you develop it so that people could "Create your Own"? So like have the defaults on there built in, your Milo 6-4-0, Lesco 18-24-12 starter, 46-0-0, 0-0-50, maybe a few Scotts too. But then have a create your own option that has blanks and you can place your own N-P-K, Fe, S, etc. so that you can properly track how many pounds on the ground you're getting yearly etc. It'd save you some time on having to populate a massive database of various ferts as well as give more usability for the more advanced user.

I think that'd be extremely useful, like for me, I use OceanGro which is a local NJ milo but it's a 5-5-0 Biosolid not a 6-4-0. So my rates are slightly different than just milo. Having that type of function alone would make me drawn to the app. Just as a way to track how much product I've put down cause sometimes weeks feel like months and you have to go back through your journal and add up how much N you've thrown out this year lol


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Yup! The ultimate plan would be to have it so you can enter in soil test results and build from there. I also want to track weed killer apps etc. Then before you apply something you can see if it conflicts with something else you recently applied - whether it's too much N or overdosing on tenacity.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Toss in a visual history with progress pictures and you've built the lawn forum! :lol:

In all seriousness, though. This sounds extremely useful. I've been using greenkeeper app for tracking PGR and a few other things, but it is not homeowner designed, nor is the ux friendly.

This fits right in the middle of greenkeeper and Scott's "weed n feed in the heat" app.

I'm a software consultant and I've been thinking about building myself a better "historical record" type app, but that idea assumes I already know _what_ to do. You app will be key in that decision for many people.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

@GrassDaddy I wonder whether you could find a way to base recommendations for things like PreM off soil-temp data. Predictions from historical data, or forecasts if they are available.

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=108591#p108595


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## Belgianbillie (Apr 3, 2018)

It asks me to log in with my gmail or youtube.

Thats pretty sketchy man. Instant turnoff for this type of website.


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## ryeguy (Sep 28, 2017)

Belgianbillie said:


> It asks me to log in with my gmail or youtube.
> 
> Thats pretty sketchy man. Instant turnoff for this type of website.


That's not sketchy, it's pretty common to use external logins to authenticate with sites for convenience so you don't have to register another account. If you click the link, look in your address bar. You're sent to google.com, the lawn care planner site doesn't see the login process.


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## Shadow4478 (Aug 22, 2018)

Can you include Canada ?


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

I can't include Canada for the planner yet, but the goal is to sometime do it. I would use soil temps but all I can get access to right now is air temp. So basically I picked the average air temps of my area when the soil temp is on average and am working with that as a guide.

As for google login, yep I'm using them. For two reasons: 1) I don't want to have to build a login function / store passwords / etc, it's more secure - it's a temporary authorization so even if the site gets hacked nobody has anything useful to steal and 2) I can match people on the site to subscribers in comments. So when someone says hey I need help XYZ I can say upload the photo on the site and see who is who. Otherwise it's a random username trying to match up to YouTube name.


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## Shadow4478 (Aug 22, 2018)

Nice!


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## N LA Hacker (Aug 17, 2018)

Thanks for the sticker @GrassDaddy


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## Lawnguyland (Apr 25, 2018)

Got my sticker too! Thanks @GrassDaddy! Now I just have to figure out where to stick it!


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## Khy (Jul 27, 2018)

Belgianbillie said:


> It asks me to log in with my gmail or youtube.
> 
> Thats pretty sketchy man. Instant turnoff for this type of website.


I mean, that's really the opposite of sketchy. As He already said, it's actually more secure on both your end and his end. Google offers Youtube/Gmail authentication to developers as a way of not having to deal with securing your own logins. 99% of apps and sites these days have Google/Youtube/Facebook types of authentication for sign ups because it's just easier and more secure for both the user and the site admin.


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

I understand the argument from the developer/host point of view but in today's day and age it's simply one more data stream that the user is "freely sacrificing" to google. I typically won't join any forum/site/tool/... that require me to use a google or facebook or other monolithic data collector. I made an exception for yours 

I think your portal has merit and I hope you're successful. I can see advertising ops with local suppliers and service providers. Perhaps even tie ins with internet controlled irrigation systems.

I would suggest you reconsider the "forced link" to google or any other of these dominant "snoops"!!!!



Khy said:


> Belgianbillie said:
> 
> 
> > It asks me to log in with my gmail or youtube.
> ...


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## N LA Hacker (Aug 17, 2018)

I don't have Instagram to post a picture though...


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

You can upload it on the photos page if you want =P it works similar to Reddit voting. After a week the photo isn't shown but still exists I just need to add pagination lol


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