A New York State of Mind

The lawn care industry presents a number of challenges these days, and nowhere is that more obvious than in New York, an environmental and legislative hotbed. Dick Weldgen, managing partner for Weed Man, Rochester, N.Y., knows about these obstacles first hand, and he has seen them evolve since he partnered with Weed Man on its first U.S.-based operation back in 1983.

“Our work is more tedious now than it has ever been,” Weldgen lamented. “Now you have to worry about all of this paperwork that never ends and is constantly changing in terms of what we have to do. And the politicians aren’t really worried about those problems we have.”

The relatively new prenotification law that requires pesticide applicators to alert people on all neighboring properties 48 hours before any application is just the latest hassle. “Prenotification is a big pain in the neck,” Weldgen confirmed. “It’s a lot of extra work for nothing, as far as I’m concerned. The forms we fill out just end up in the waste basket, and we even get flack from our customers about this because they don’t like the law.

“I only had two customers who thought this was a good idea,” he continued. “Customers don’t even want us to put stakes in the lawn, and that has become a moot point because so many lawns in this area get applications. You really have to wonder why we’re doing all of this, especially when the homeowner can do whatever he wants and doesn’t have to worry about it at all.”

Still, Weldgen is optimistic that sales will finish up for this year for his two-employee lawn care firm. “We’re starting to see a little slowdown this fall,” he related. “We’re still getting a lot of requests for quotes, but then they just hem and haw. They want to do things, but they’re holding back.”

Since entering the lawn care business, Weldgen has essentially stopped doing landscape work aside from lighting, but he’s excited about winning the Little Wonder walk-behind blower in the August Sweepstakes at Lawn & Landscape Online. “The blower will be good for leaf cleanup and for blowing pellets off driveways.”

And this won’t be the first piece of Little Wonder equipment in his fleet. “I’ve got a real old Little Wonder edger – it’s probably 30 years old,” he related. “That thing still runs like a champ, so I’m really looking forward to using this blower.

Husqvarna is sponsoring the September Sweepstakes. Click here to enter to win a 165BT backpack blower.