Editorial Policy

People make real decisions — and buy real chemicals — based on what we publish. This page explains the standards every article on Lawn Health AI must meet.

Where our information comes from

Our guides are grounded in published turfgrass science: land-grant university extension programs (such as the University of Florida IFAS and Texas A&M AgriLife), peer-reviewed agronomy research, USDA data, and official product labels. Regional advice — pre-emergent windows, disease pressure, fertilizer regulations — comes from state-specific agricultural data, not copy-pasted generic content.

Product recommendations

• Products are selected on active ingredients, label data, efficacy research and value — never on commission rates.
• Retailers and manufacturers cannot buy placement in our guides or reviews.
• Affiliate relationships are disclosed on every page that contains affiliate links. See our Affiliate Disclosure.

How the 1–5 score is decided

Every product page carries an editorial score out of 5, so it is only fair to say exactly what that number is — and what it is not.

It is not a test result. We do not buy products, run them on trial plots or measure outcomes, and we will not imply otherwise. The score is a research judgement built from things that can be checked on paper: the registered active ingredient and its concentration, what the label actually permits (rates, sites, temperature and re-entry limits), what extension and peer-reviewed research reports about that active ingredient for the target, formulation and coverage relative to the price, and whether the product is the right tool for a home lawn rather than for a golf course or a farm.

Commission never enters it. Rates differ between retailers and programs, and a higher-paying product does not get a higher number. The clearest evidence for that is at the bottom of the scale: ten of the products we list score below 3.0, and they are there because published research does not support the claim on the box — ultrasonic animal repellers, spike aerators and aerator shoes among them. A catalogue built to maximise commission would not include them, let alone rate them honestly.

Roughly what the bands mean, across the 162 products currently listed:

• 4.6 and above (16 products) — the right active ingredient for the job, a label that supports home use, and research behind it. Few products earn this.
• 4.0 to 4.5 (111) — sound and recommendable, usually with one caveat: price, a narrow label, or a formulation that needs care.
• 3.0 to 3.9 (25) — works, but something real is wrong. Overpriced for the concentration, an awkward label, or better options at the same price.
• Below 3.0 (10) — we list it because people search for it, and the honest answer is that the evidence is against it.

The scores are revisited when prices, formulations or research change, and the visibleUpdated date on a product page is when we last looked. If you think a score is wrong, tell us — corrections are logged below.

Safety first

Herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers are regulated products.The product label is the law — our guides never override it. Where state or county rules restrict applications (like Florida's summer fertilizer blackouts), we say so. When in doubt, we tell you to check your local extension office rather than guess.

Where our images come from

The wide illustrative photograph at the top of each guide is AI-generated. We use those images to set context — a lawn, a season, a general problem — and we are replacing them with original photography as we build our own library.

We do not rely on AI-generated images to teach identification.Diagnostic detail — patch shape, blade lesions, stem cross-sections, growth habit — lives in the text, where it is written against the extension publications cited at the bottom of each guide. If you are trying to confirm what a weed or disease looks like, read the description and compare it with your own lawn, and use your state extension service for a definitive answer.

Product images are supplied by manufacturers and retailers. We never generate or alter an image of a branded product.

Corrections

If we got something wrong, we want to know. Emaillawnhealthai@gmail.com with the article link and the claim in question. Verified errors are corrected in the article itself, and material corrections update the article's "updated" date.

We also publish the corrections rather than only making them. Ourcorrections log lists every product fact we have had to fix, what the label actually said, and how the error was caught — including the cases where a retail listing or a search result contradicted the product's own registered label. Entries are never removed, whether or not the product is still in our catalogue.

A note on the "AI" in our name

Lawn Health AI is building AI-powered lawn diagnosis tools. Our editorial content is human-reviewed before publication: every guide is checked against the sources above, and nothing is published on machine output alone.