Caleb Coffey- Taking Care of Your Lawn

Caleb is a loving husband, girl dad, turf management specialist, musician, man of faith and one mean basketball player. *swish*

Anything "turf" is Caleb's area of expertise.  Grass, weeds, lawn pest control, watering, fertilizing, and more!

Emerald Traditions was founded around their knowledge of turf management including; fertilizer, pest management, and weed control. We make sure each member of our team understands best practices and treats any property they're servicing like they would their own yard. Emerald Traditions prides themselves on responding quickly and communicating clearly.

Emerald Traditions

Friendswood, Texas, USA

281-694-4667

www.emeraldtraditions.com

Your hosts: Colton Cockerell & Trisha Stetzel
Click for more about your hosts:
Colton Cockerell
Trisha Stetzel

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Transcript

Colton Cockerell: 0:05

Hello and welcome to another exciting

episode of Bridge the Gap: 0:07

Connecting Business Perspectives with your hosts myself, Colton Cockerell and Trisha Stetzel. Our goal is to bridge the generational, gender, and life experience gap in business through our unique styles of gathering information from our guests. now let's get it started. All right, Hello everyone. My name is Colton Cockerell. It's a beautiful Wednesday of course, and I'm here with my beautiful co host, Miss Trisha Stetzel but before she takes it away, let me first introduce myself. My name is Colton Cockerell was share McKellar group. I am a Certified Financial Fiduciary and independent financial planner, and we have a great guest today but again, before we get to him, let's go ahead and welcome the lovely woman of the hour Mrs. Trisha Stetzel. Trisha take it away.

Trisha Stetzel: 0:52

Colton, I thought I was gonna have to come find you. Although you might be far away today. I don't know where you are. Hey, everybody, Trisha, Stetzel here Results Xtreme Business Solutions, and I am super excited about our topic today. But even more excited to meet someone new Caleb Coffey with Emerald Traditions LLC is a loving husband, a girl dad, which is awesome. A turf management specialist, musician, man of faith, and one mean basketball player Swish, Caleb , welcome to the show.

Unknown: 1:33

Hi, how are you Trish?

Trisha Stetzel: 1:35

Great. We're so excited for you to be here. And Colton, you missed all of the chit chat before we started the show.

Colton Cockerell: 1:41

I'm sure it was great. I don't know if that last one that basketball player one. I don't know if that really holds water. So I'm just kidding. Anyway, well, let's go ahead and jump on in here. We don't have a lot of time with Caleb today, and he's an expert. And we're gonna be talking about grass and weeds. And before you think Hang on, what kind of podcast is this now when we're talking about landscaping, so we're gonna have a good time. So I guess really the main question that comes to my brain as a young individual, Caleb is, why the heck should I care about my lawn, and whenever it's got to be super hot, it's gonna die anyway. And there's the plane flying over my head. And when you got a big freeze coming in and kills your plants, like I feel like every anything I do, I can't win. So like, give me some give me some tips here. How does my lawn in this crazy climate called Texas?

Caleb Coffey: 2:27

Right? Well, Colton? That's a great question. The good news is that a lot of the grass and a lot of the foliage that we have here in Texas and coastal hot, humid, Texas is designed to survive. And actually in the summer, if your grass is dying, you've got a problem because it should be thriving. I actually have a lot of customers who was going to do resod jobs. But as I fertilized and treated their lawn, their their grass grew back and they didn't need that service. So they got to save some some money. So yeah, how do you keep it alive? Water it that's on a on a consistent basis. It's different for everyone, but you definitely want to water it. As far as the freeze goes. You know what? I don't think we'll have to worry about that for another 100 years. At least I only know that. That is absolutely. That is absolutely a possibility that's happened many, many times and it over the course of the world's beginning. But here in Texas, it's maybe happened five times in the past 100 years, so thankful for that. Not sure what to tell you about what to do. When that happens, the best you can do is make sure that you turn off your water. close everything up, cover your pipes and with your grass, pray to God and hope it survives. Otherwise, you're coming back in and you're resodding.

Colton Cockerell: 3:54

Now, you know I think it was maybe the water thing that gets me I guess I'm supposed to water my lawn.

Caleb Coffey: 3:59

Yeah, yeah, that Yep, you are by no crazy. Alright.

Trisha Stetzel: 4:03

I'm about to bridge this gap. I'm gonna bridge it right here, Colton for you because I'm old enough to care about my lawn, Caleb, and I were having this discussion. I actually had something to do with the freeze. And so Caleb talked to me about weeds. That was what we were talking about before we started recording the show today. And when we have a winter like we had this year and our grass does die, then we end up with a really bad weed problem. Yeah,

Caleb Coffey: 4:29

yeah. Yep, absolutely. So that can happen. What we found a lot with with lawns here is that after the freeze when the grass either died off or was already dormant or disappeared, is that the weeds started germinating and coming back in and they didn't have the grass to give it any competition. So they had a hay day. And the problem is that after the freeze and the grass goes from being doormen and we get into the spring and summer months, the grass tries to go back and grow back in But now you've got an abundance of weeds. And so let's say you have St. Augustine grass, it's trying its hardest to choke out the weeds and grow back in. But now you've got, you know, maybe half and half weeds and grass. So those can definitely be a pest. We many weeds are resilient, and they will continue to grow even in harsher weather conditions. And as soon as the harsh weather conditions that die off, and the weeds are able to flourish, they will. So that's definitely an issue.

Colton Cockerell: 5:33

That's, that's really interesting. And so let me I love it. We're talking about grass. I mean, it's important though, cuz I mean, a lot of people are like, man, my yard is just dead. So let's talk about fertilizer. Does that really do anything? Do I need to fertilize my, my yard?

Caleb Coffey: 5:47

You do? Yeah, absolutely. fertilizing is is giving your grass, your lawn the nutrients that it needs to grow. You want, you know potassium, nitrogen, other other natural ingredients to feed your lawns to feed your grasses root system to feed the soil and give it what it needs so that it can grow and stay healthy. And if you're using let's say a granular fertilizer as opposed to illiquid one, then you also want to water that in Colton. So, again, another another reason why watering is so important. I'm glad you asked that question because a lot of people don't actually think that they have to water their lawn. It's not a joke, people actually think that they can just leave it alone. And there's enough rain here in Texas, that it won't matter. But there is not always enough rain here in Texas. So.

Trisha Stetzel: 6:34

So when we talk about watering, Caleb, are we talking a few times a week? Does it depend on the heat? Is it good to water in the middle of the day? What should I be doing?

Caleb Coffey: 6:45

Right? That's a great question. So you definitely want to water earlier in the day, I would say a good time here in in, well, what are we in? We're past spring, spring forward, right. So the days are a little bit longer. So you want to water it after the sun comes up. But not too long after the

sun comes up, I would say 7: 7:04

30 is maybe a good time to water it. Because what you want is if you have an irrigation system, or if you're just going out there and watering, you want the grass the the sun to evaporate that water and not let your water sit in your grass for too long. Because what can happen is you can get a fungus in your yard. If water sits, it will it will it will create the conditions for a fungus to be able to grow. So you definitely want to water in the morning and allow the sun to do its job on your lawn throughout the day. So that by the evening, it's it's fed, its happy. And there's not a whole lot of standing water or, or moisture towards the end of the day. And then, as far as how often you're absolutely right, you do need to discern what time of the year it is. In the summer. I tell people here in coastal Texas, it's a good idea to start with four days a week. But But and there's a lot of different varying opinions on that. But I tell people start with four days a week, and then see how your yard is that first week. If it's slushy and muddy and yucky, then cut back. If you find that it still looks dry and barren or that your your soil is is really crunchy and gross, then then bump it up to five a day. It really just depends on the home on the on the lawn, there's so many different factors. Every one is different. So you really have to as the homeowner decide what's going to be best for your lawn. And of course you have one professional like me who can help you with that.

Colton Cockerell: 8:37

And so let me because we talked about something you've touched on this previously here, you talked about sunlight. So what do you say to these people who were like all about having these massive oaks in their yard and literally their yard gets no sunlight, it's just constant shade. Is that is that bad for your yard?

Caleb Coffey: 8:53

Well, the nice thing about having big oak trees in shade is that it's shade so it's nice to stand under and enjoy. But the bad thing for your lawn is that most grasses do not grow well in the shade. The general rule is you want four hours of direct sunlight if you want grass to continue to grow and flourish and stay healthy. If you drive around in your neighborhood, you'll probably see folks who have oak trees and underneath the oak tree they may have grass that is struggling to to grow or grass or a lack of grass and spots as it shaded all day long. And then you can take a couple steps six feet away and find perfectly green beautiful grass, not hidden under the shade. So keeping your trees trimmed I'd say once a year and more if you need to, is a very important part of your lawn care and your your grass health. You definitely want to make sure you're doing that. So So yeah, definitely and the bigger the trees, the more work that is the more time it takes but it's important for the for the health of your lawn. Alright, so

Trisha Stetzel: 9:58

I want to dig further into This grass subject Who knew? Right? All right, Caleb, I'm a Texas girl. And I know that there are two kinds of grass in Texas. There's Bermuda, and there, St. Augustine, but I understand that there may be some other kind of grass out there. Can we talk about that?

Colton Cockerell: 10:17

Well, hang on. We absolutely can. Not one of those shows Trisha. Conversation offline.

Trisha Stetzel: 10:25

Okay, my bad. No, seriously, I heard there's another kind of grass that will grow in Texas. There is.

Caleb Coffey: 10:33

And you heard correctly, there is grass called zoiysa. And I'll spell that it's ZOIYS. A, some people call it soy shows or Lisa. To me what what is important about it is it's beautiful grass, it's usually a thin blade of grass, it's very soft and velvety, you can actually lay out on your grass and take a nap or have a picnic without a blanket if you really want to on that grass. It's beautiful. It's soft, it's fluffy. I don't know what else to say about it. But that is definitely a grass that's becoming more and more popular here in Texas. It's it's kind of like a premium grass. Whereas your St. Augustine grass is almost like a weed grass that grows really fast. It's resilient, it's hearty. But if you're looking for more of a golf green, or a really fancy grass, you're definitely gonna want to go with Bermuda or soy sauce. And soy says definitely, in my opinion, the top of the line so everyone has their opinion of course, but as zoiysa is beautiful. And we just actually did a job a big job of his voice and resorted an entire yard in and it looks awesome. So

Colton Cockerell: 11:39

So I guess what you're saying is whenever I want to install my putting green in my backyard, I need to make sure I get some little extra back.

Caleb Coffey: 11:45

Maybe you might for for golfing, maybe just go ahead and stick with the burmuda for me to actually but I can make your lawn look as good as golfing green with voice and it actually be softer and and more fluffy and more fun to walk on. S

Colton Cockerell: 12:02

ounds like I need to give your card to a lot of the golf courses in the area.

Caleb Coffey: 12:07

I think you do. I would absolutely appreciate that.

Trisha Stetzel: 12:13

Oh my gosh, who knew that grass was such a really cool subject. Right? I think it's amazing. So there is a differentiation. Okay love between what you do and what a landscaper does. So can you talk about the relationship that you might have with a landscaper?

Caleb Coffey: 12:30

Right, yeah. So I kind of like to use this as an example, right? There's a company out here everybody knows a pretty well it's called Discount Tire. And if you go there, and you try to get, let's say an alignment, done a wheel alignment, or get your brakes reinstalled or fixed, they're not gonna be able to do it for you because they what what has made them so successful is they're really good at the few things that they do. They they install tires, they sell them, they repair them, they balance them, and that's kind of their cup of tea. Most landscapers that I know out in this area, they want to be a catch all they want to do everything they want to do hardscape installation, they want to do flowerbeds, they want to do custom custom designs such as that they'll do tree trimming, they'll do all of that. Whereas I am really focused on making sure that your turf is beautiful as well kept as well fed as well as deeper through your trees and do insecticide different things like that. All of my all of my products are built around keeping your lawn healthy and pretty. And that's my that is where I hone in at so it actually makes it really easy for me to partner with tree trimmers and lawns, landscaping companies, because I'm not generally their direct competition. I'm someone who can come in and do something above and beyond what they're doing. So we definitely are able to partner with them.

Colton Cockerell: 13:54

I like that that's that's a really good Well, let me let me ask you this Trisha, I'm gonna go ahead and bring out the crazy off the wall Caleb had no idea it was kind of question. So Caleb, hey, I

Trisha Stetzel: 14:05

forgot to tell Caleb about that.

Colton Cockerell: 14:07

I forgot. Oh, you find grass aside. If you had if you had to eat one thing every single day for the rest of your life. Just one time a day. What would it be?

Caleb Coffey: 14:21

Pizza. Here's why he eats every single day at least once every single day. Here's why I already eat bread every single day in some form or the other. So I'm not. I'm not. Obviously I can handle that. And pizza is so versatile. I could eat chocolate chip chocolate peanut butter pizza for dessert. I could have I don't know a Korean pizza. If I was feeling some Asian food. I could have traditional pizza. I could have Mexican pizza, whatever you want. So that's that's a little bit too easy of a question Colton. I wish you would have found a somewhat harder one for me.

Colton Cockerell: 14:58

I'm kind of blown away. Hey, Trisha, doyou have something because that was way too easy. Apparently, I thought it was gonna be a difficult one.

Trisha Stetzel: 15:05

It just cracks me up Colton, when we get to this question and people are like, but let me tell you why. Like, like you've been thinking about it this whole time, Caleb you knew exactly what Colton was gonna ask you. Alright, so Caleb, I'm gonna ask you, if you could, if you had to keep and you couldn't sell it, and he couldn't give it away? either an elephant or an ostrich in your yard? Which would you pick?

Caleb Coffey: 15:30

in my yard? Wow. Yeah. Okay, now that Okay, see Trisha, you got me on that one. I'm not prepared for that one. Because, as I can tell you both of those would be harmful to my lawn. I don't like ostriches, if that's the correct plural use of their name. I'm not an Ostri person. But I would probably for the sake of keeping them my yard, I would probably choose that one because if I kept an elephant in my yard, it would be stumping around and destroying my grass and my flowerbeds and all of that, probably on a pretty consistent basis. And then I'd have to put all sorts of water or build a pond out there so that it could clean itself and drink and all of that. So I would probably have to pick ostrich in that situation. Well, apparently,

Colton Cockerell: 16:17

water is not a big deal because you're watering your yard five times a day or five times a week, so there's should be plenty of water out there.

Caleb Coffey: 16:23

Yeah, but the elephant's not putting its nose right up to the water. I mean, I guess I could

Trisha Stetzel: 16:31

do that. Well, and this is probably too much information, but you could actually recycle the elephant's poo and make paper. I'm just Oh, wow. Yeah,

Colton Cockerell: 16:40

I don't fertilize for the mulch direction not

Trisha Stetzel: 16:45

directly in Sri Lanka.

Caleb Coffey: 16:49

Direct fertilization. I liked it.

Trisha Stetzel: 16:51

Oh, oh my goodness, too much fun. Okay. So Caleb, people can't see you because we're just audio here. But I would love to ask you, what generation Are you a part of?

Caleb Coffey: 17:04

I am a millennial. I know, millennial. That's the generation I'm in.

Trisha Stetzel: 17:09

Yeah. And Colton's over there celebrating. I see that. So Caleb, do you feel like you identify with your own generation? Or is there another generation that you identify more with?

Caleb Coffey: 17:21

I feel that I do identify with my generation in in a lot of ways, but if I had to I honestly before boomers, what was their? That's the big question. Because whatever the generation that is, I feel I also identify with them. I, I'm kind of a traditional guy. I'm not really big into going out and partying and going out too much. I like to play board games with my wife and my family. I like to sit around the house and spend time with my girls. Um, maybe that's just a homebody and not really identifying with another generation. But, you know, a lot of the things that excite other people in my generation, I guess, I would say, Don't excite me as much. And so maybe that makes me feel like an old soul. But you know, I definitely would say whatever it was before boomers, a lot of the folks that I meet who are in that generation, they have a lot of really awesome wise things to say and a lot of interesting takes on on things in the world that are very, very uncommon these days. So definitely i would i would identify with them a little bit.

Trisha Stetzel: 18:28

And that is why you and Colton like each other because you guys are both old souls right? Like Colton and I get along

Colton Cockerell: 18:37

on too to though let's make that very Yes. Right? Yes, we

Trisha Stetzel: 18:40

do. Absolutely. For sure. All right. So in closing, Caleb, would you tell us again, the name of your business, you're gonna have to spell it out for folks so that they can find you your name and how they might can contact you with follow up questions or even if they're curious about your service.

Caleb Coffey: 18:59

Absolutely. Yeah. So my name is Caleb Coffey C A L E B C O F as in Frank, F E Y. So coffee like the drink only spelled differently. And my company's name is Emerald traditions. E M E R A L D T R A D I T I O N S. And our phone number if you'd like to contact us that way is 281-694-4667. We also have www.emeraldtraditions.com and of course like I said, we're a turf management and landscaping company. So you can absolutely reach out to us there and start an emerald tradition with us today.

Trisha Stetzel: 19:39

I like that What a great tagline. So excited to came on with us today. Who knew that we could talk about grass and weeds for 20 minutes.

Caleb Coffey: 19:51

I could talk about it for a lot longer than that Trisha.

Colton Cockerell: 19:54

So Can people up in Colorado right That was that was I will say it's having somebody on our show talking about weeds and grass specifically, you have to it's a very difficult task. You got to find somebody who's actually energetic and who's fun to listen to. So you did a great job. So thank you for being a part of the podcast today.

Caleb Coffey: 20:15

Thank you. Yeah, was absolutely fun. And I'll anytime anytime

Trisha Stetzel: 20:22

I was awesome. Thanks for being on Caleb. And this concludes this week's podcast Tune in next week for another exciting episode of Bridge the Gap: Connecting Business Perspectives.

Colton Cockerell: 20:33

Thank you again for tuning in to this week's episode of Bridge the Gap: Connecting Business Perspectives. If there's a certain professional or profession that you want to hear from leave a comment in this week's Facebook posts. Please subscribe and share this podcast. Colton Cockerell with Sharer McKinley Group, LLC is located at 820 South Friendswood Drive Suite 207 Friendswood, Texas 77546 phone number to 281-992-5698. Securities and investment advisory services offered through NEXT Financial Group, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC Sharer McKinley Group is not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group, Inc.