Soils Alive Inc

This was a service referral for my ex-wife, who I'm on good terms with. She contacted them, they came out very soon thereafter, consulted with her, explaining everything they would do. They did it, and everything seems to be working very well. She's happy. That's what matters.

It went well. My normally assigned technician broke his hand/arm, so they are allittle short handed as they showed up at 1:30 PM for an 8:00 AM - 12:00 Noon window ..... Understandable and no big deal as I'm retired. Service is a "little pricey" but it is "organic" and supposedly has great track results. FYI, we moved into a new house (July, 2011) with a new bermuda lawn and we wanted to get off to a good start - Hence, the use of a professional contractor versus Harry Homeowner doing the lawn maintence - TIME WILL TELL and I plan on following up on this post in the fall of 2012 after I receive all of my 2012 treatments.

I needed help with bare spots in my St. Augustine and winter weed control in my Bermuda areas. The owner, Michael Bosco, came out to inspect the lawn. He said i had a chronic problem with Take All root rot in my front yard (St. Augustine), and said I could possibly control the problem with Sphagnum peat moss. I got started with the service, even though it was higher than most other companies in my research. They put down 1 or 2 bags of moss and charged me $100.00 just for that small amount of work/materials. I asked Michael if he could help me with some lawn leveling and his response was that his technicians were too accomplished/experienced (well-paid?) to do any labor of this nature. I had to accept his answer and leave it at that. I used this service for one season, but when I received a notice in December announcing a rate hike for the coming year, I dropped the service. They are already one of the most expensive services out there-regardless of the organic aspect. The only thing they offer in the way of price relief are vouchers for customer referrals - I am not interested in doing someone's marketing work for them.

Started with them in Jan 2008. They do excellent work and provide outstanding customer service. They respond quickly to any questions. It takes a year or so for the treatments to start showing results. This is our 4th year with them and our lawn looks fabulous, even after the brutally hot 2011 summer. Can’t praise them enough.

So far, their treatments have helped to improve our yard. They are reliable, and working with them has been incredibly easy. We’re definitely looking to continued progress throughout this next year.

They came out and treated our yard, and did an amazing job. They are very dedicated and do a wonderful job.

Went very well. Michael, the owner, was flexible and reasonable. I wanted to start their year long treatment from a point in between their pre-defined schedule. He made it work in the end. Chad is the chap who does our applications... very punctual and professional.

The company's owner and employees were very professional and punctual. However, my lawn's appearance did not improve -- if anything it got worse. Granted, this may be more a function of the difficulties I face trying to grow and maintain grass in a lawn shaded by two very large oak trees than anything Soils Alive did or did not do. But for anyone with similar problems, hiring a gardener who can give specific advice and attention might be a better option than using a company like Soils Alive that simply sprays fertilizer on the grass.

It's tough to say how this is going. I wish I could say great, but right now it's not terrific. I know it takes longer to see results with organic treatments so I'm hoping that next year my lawn looks lush and green like I was hoping it would by next year. I will stick with it. As far as punctuality and service, it's great. I get a phone call the day before every treatment and a statement of work explaining what was done and anything I need to do, such as to water or not to water.

When another company couldn't figure out what was wrong with my St. Augustine, they threw everything but the kitchen sink at it. But still the yard was declining. I called Soils alive and Michael came out personally because I wanted to be home for the inspection so I could understand what was going on with my yard. Michael spent an hour looking at my yard and explaining things to me. He concluded that I have Take All Root Rot and he showed me where my roots were very shallow or "clubbing." He didn't and wouldn't guarantee that they could make my lawn perfect but he was pretty sure they could help if we worked together as a team to get my yard healthy again. I appreciated his honesty. I've only had the one service so far but feel Soils Alive will be very diligent in getting my St. Augustine healthy again. I'll give them a year and hopefully next summer my yard will be healthy and beautiful.

We moved into a home on 1/2 acre lot that had not had any work done and little or no water for close to 10 years. Soils Alive came out quickly and evaluated the health of the soil, grass, bushes etc. and did a thorough test of all 11 watering stations. These were quickly fixed and set on a schedule. We were put on the quarterly fertilization program with an extra "catch up" to get started. We also found that we had a rampant mosquito problem due to accumulated foliage and cuttings. We are on their summer mosquito program now as well which has helped a lot. They just came back out last week to review the irrigation system again now that the summer heat is upon us and we have planted out some of the beds. Excellent service...a bit pricey.

I started using them this spring based on recommendations from Angie's List. Very professional, although somwhat hard to get a hold of. Had a problem between treatments and they came over the same day. Love the fact that they are all organic, although it is more expensive than the "big boys". Very knowledgeable which the national chains aren't. I'm willing to pay the extra for the organics and the knowledge.

Excellent! They responded to our call promptly and arranged to come at a time that was convenient to our hectic schedules. In fact, since he only needed access to the control panel that is in our garage, he agreed to close it on his way out so we could go onto work. The representative arrived on time, gave an estimate of approximately 3-4 hours for repair, made minor repairs to our other zones, and finished the job in that time frame. He was very courteous. answered all of our questions, and explained the process he was going to take. It was definitely a job well done.

After hearing commercials on the radio for years and reading the glowing reports on Angie's List, I decided that it was time to have Soils Alive examine my lawn as it was getting thinner and sadder looking each year. The owner, Michael Bosco walked the yard with me and was very knowledgable about the cause of the specific problems in my yard. He provided literature and a detailed explanation of the services they could provide and the cost options. I decided on the annual service. Michael applied a slow release fertilizer the same day and advised me on a watering schedule. Soils Alive called and scheduled the liquid application for the following week. I can already tell a difference in the lawn and I look forward to dramatic improvement as more organic fertilization services are provided. Everyone I have been in contact with from the company has been skilled, courteous and helpful and I, and my lawn, am so glad I finally called.

The estimating process went very well. I am familiar with the cost of organic amendments, so for the size of the lot, I felt like the price was fair. Michael is clearly a soil expert. We look forward to a much better looking lawn without having to worry about toxic chemicals being applied.

The application was done to my satisfaction and so far there are no issues.

We had put off dealing with our sick shrubbery until we feared it was too late. And unfortunately, this period coincided with continued efforts to sell our home. Given that we hoped to save our dying landscaping (instead of replacing everything), we appreciated that Michael Bosco had affordable ideas of what we could do at this point. Our shrubs and lawn responded beautifully and I'm glad that this was accomplished using eco-friendly means. I highly recommend this company!

They are still my service provider. My garden does much better with their service. Some of the plants act like there on steroids! The grass is still a problem, but that is more because of my yard is very shaded in some areas and intense sun in others. Soils Alive's comes out immediately if I notice any problems in my yard and gives it an extra treatment and it will perk up. This usually happens in July or August when the yard is very stressed. I highly recommend this company and have referred them to others.

It took a bit from when I first requested to be setup to get a callback. I say that because they said someone would call me back in the next 24 hours, and I had to call them back a couple days later. Once I was on the schedule everything went like clockwork. They were very professional and prompt with the lawn service appointment. After the lawn has sometime under their care I will definitely rate the condition.

I have been using Soils Alive for over a year now and they are simply incredible. This is the first year in my 6 years in the home (I had the home built) where there hasn't been a single weed for me to pull in the Spring. It is simply incredible the difference between my yard and my neighbors'. I used Scott's for years and never had this great a lawn! I am a believer.

We had used their weed service in November 2009 and we will definitely use them again!

Everything about our meeting was fine but the price was high and it was more than I budgeted for. The man that came out was very professional and nice.

They are good. The yard looks great when we use them. We quit using them for about 2 years because we were rebuilding our turf. We will probably use them again. Their charges were not much. It was under $500.00 for several applications. They are really easy to work with and their product seems to work. Their price for what they do is good.

We no longer are replacing the same broken head near the driveway every month. They put the head on a "flex" fitting so if someone runs over it, it just bends and pops back upright. If there is an emergency, they always come out in a timely manner. And I love the new smart control box.

We received some information from Soils Alive about a Smart Controller for our sprinkler system. This is a product that measures a lot of different parameters with the goal of watering more efficiently and decreasing costs. I called and made an appt. for Darren to come by and tell us about the product. He came by with the Smart Controller and clearly explained to us how it worked and what the benefits would be. We asked questions and he patiently explained and gave us answers. Next, he analyzed our lawn and beds to see what the benefit would be specifically for us. After he evaluated our property and the way we were currently watering, he told us that we didn't need the Smart Controller. WOW !! We really appreciated that he told us the truth and didn't try to sell us something that we really didn't need. I really thought the controller was very cool and wanted one, so we could have been a pretty easy sell. While we were talking, I asked about our flower beds and mentioned we had been wondering about a drip system. Darren said they could convert our current sprinkler system to an Inline Drip Irrigation System. Now we had a another set of questions, and Darren answered them all. What we learned is that the drip system would be a more efficient way to water the flowers / plants. The water would go directly to where it needs to be.. We don't lose any to evaporation or wind. With our sprinklers, we had a problem with water sitting on leaves causing black spot and brown spots where the sun was burning the plants. A drip system prevents that. we asked if we could get a written estimate for the work, and he emailed it to us. We made an appointment for the install. Darren and the guys came out and did a great job. They were very friendly. They took time to show me how they were going to lay the tubing and explained why they did it that way. My favorite part is that they ran watering tubes to all of my pots, window box, and baskets on my porch railing - I will love not having to water those by hand!! While they were doing the conversion, they were very conscientious workers. I appreciate it that they were careful about our plants and the wiring for our lighting. Darren showed me how to cut the tubing if I want to add additional pots. He told me about the easy maintenance we needed to do a couple of times a year. I got written instructions about how to set the sprinkler system for best watering with the drip system. That pretty much sums it up. We are very satisfied customers. We are always happy when we find a product / service that we need and the customer service is great !! We think my flowers / plants will be very happy and thrive - We can't wait to watch them come up this spring !!