Monday, March 18, 2024

Make Life Easy

 

                                                      Makes Life Easy!

Horticulture Hotline 03/18/24

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

I often hear, “Bill, I do not want to fertilize my lawn because I don’t want to mow it.” Or the ever popular, “Bill, no one feeds the trees in the forest, and they do fine.” And “I don’t want to fertilize my shrubs because they will grow and I will have to hedge them.”

 

You would not stop eating just because you got to a certain height. If you have children, you would not stop feeding them. Plants, like people, need certain nutrients to remain healthy. In an urban environment, we need to supply our plants nutrients. Taking a soil test is the best way to determine what nutrients your landscape needs. In a forest where leaves, limbs, trees fall to the forest floor and are recycled into nutrients by microorganisms, trees can fend for themselves; however, in your yard where leaves are raked up, limbs are picked up, there is competition from grass usually, limited root space, root damage from building, and compaction among other things, we must feed our trees.

 

My mom’s landscape design requires a lot of pruning, especially the foundation plants that surround her house. Hollies, ligustrum, pineapple guava, pittosporum, azaleas, cleyera, anise, camellias, and several others, need regular attention. To make her life easier and mine, I use a product called Cutless PGR. I use it right now in the spring and again in the fall. Neither one of us own a pair of hedge trimmers! Cutless is a granular product and very easy to use.

 

Last year I introduced Cutless PGR to a large landscape company. I told him to just try one bag and test it out in the field for himself. He applied it to some plants and did not to others and he saw the difference for himself. Although we talked about many other things throughout the fall and winter, he never mentioned to me about the results he had and I never asked him about it because I did not know if he had time to do his testing. Well, he called me the other day asking when I was going to treat my mother’s house because he had such awesome results using the Cutless. Saving labor, not pruning from ladders, not running hedge trimmers, not picking up clippings, not filling up the landfill with debris, not having to maintain hedge trimmers, and allowing his employees to focus on other things in the landscape is a huge benefit for him and his customers. Depending on how you value your time, give one bag a try and see if you are a believer!

 

If you want to reduce your mowing, consider using a growth regulator. With generic products available, these products have become very affordable. They were very affordable before they went generic with the time, fuel and wear and tear of equipment that was saved. Now there is much less “sticker shock.”

 

I mix up a weed killer, insecticide, fungicide, fertilizer, growth regulator and a few secret ingredients together and stop my St. Augustine from growing for a month during the summer. When it starts to grow, I spray it again. I still fertilize, but no mowing. I have less gray leaf spot disease and my roots grow deeper because there is less energy going to top growth. Very nice!

 

I worked with a football field that has an Elaeagnus hedge that covers the chain-linked fence that surrounds the stadium. The groundskeeper was trimming this hedge monthly during the growing season and hating it. He started using a growth regulator twice a year and barely does any pruning to it at all now. Elaeagnus are infamous for being a pain in the landscape with their wild growth habit. The groundskeeper went from standing on a ladder pruning a 6-to-8-foot hedge, and raking up the debris and disposing of it to just walking by and spraying a product. If he got busy with other projects and did have to prune some, the debris was so little that he could just run over it with a mower and mulch it in place. He was happy, happy, happy.

 

Check out growth regulators for edging a sidewalk, along a fence, for a shrub, or a groundcover, and save some time this year.

 

Always read, understand, and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply. Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA  (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com. 

 

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Dollarweed


 


Horticulture Hotline  03/12/24

  Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

Do you want to control dollarweed and other weeds this winter? Dollarweed seems to be a hot topic recently.

 

If you have the capability to spray, a product called Weed Free Zone really does a number on Dollarweed.  Read and follow product label (pay particular attention to the temperature restrictions on using this product).  Weed Free Zone has revolutionized the control of many tough weeds including Dollarweed, Florida Betony and many other broadleaf weeds.  One of the unique features of this product is that it kills the weed very quickly letting you know exactly where you sprayed and if you missed any weeds.  This is a big advantage when going after Dollarweed because if you miss one lily pad it could recreate a whole network of other Dollarweed plants in a short period of time.  In the past some of the products that controlled Dollarweed worked very slowly, so if you missed spraying a few lily pads, you could have a whole new crop by the time the old crop was dying.

 

Dollarweed has a very waxy cuticle that helped protect it from many of the older products on the market. The control product would bead up and roll off the leaf of the dollarweed (like water a freshly waxed car hood). Weed Free Zone has a spreader sticker (surfactant) included in the formulation of the product that helps it stick to the target weed’s foliage. Dollarweed is also an aquatic weed, so it is often found in wet areas; however, it has adapted to the driest of areas too.

 

Preemergent products, when to fertilize, fungus, moles, mole crickets, fire ants, rats, roaches, when to prune and what to prune, planting, and transplanting are other hot topics.

 

For all products that you use on your lawn or around your house, you should read, understand and follow product labels.  I know reading labels is not as interesting as reading the police blotter; however, they are full of information that can help you safely apply the correct product to your yard.  This applies to all control products whether it is for weeds, fleas, moles, mice or any other pests.  Labels contain important information to help you apply the product correctly and safely for you, your plants, your pets, and the environment. 

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply. Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA  (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com. 

 

Monday, March 4, 2024

Flowers Before Leaves

 

                                           Carolina Jessamine (Jasmine) SC state flower

                                             Dogwood

                                            Saucer Magnolia

                                             Star Magnolia


Horticulture Hotline 03/04/24

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

One of the many favorite things I enjoy in the springtime are the plants that flower before they grow leaves. Saucer Magnolia, Star Magnolia, Forsythia, Spirea, Dogwood, Redbud, Prunus (Cherry, Peach, Plum) Trees, and even the nasty old Bradford Pear (split master). Their flowers really show out against the dormant lawns and winter landscape.

 

Since many of you are new to the Lowcountry, Carolina Jessamine (Jasmine), our state flower, is blooming now. A small yellow flower growing on a native vine in the woods, on fences, and mailboxes.

 

Since many of you will be changing out containers this spring, here is a little information about a top selling potting soil that is perfect for your high value plants, flowers, window boxes, hanging baskets, containers, or vegetables. This soil is used by serious professional growers whose livelihood depends upon a great product.

 

Ocean Forest Potting Soil

Ingredient Breakdown: Composted forest humus holds moisture in the soil. Sphagnum peat moss helps aerate and loosen soil allowing healthy root growth. Pacific Northwest sea-going fish  is an organic fertilizer that provides amino acids, enzymes, and nutrients. Crab meal is an organic fertilizer that suppresses pest nematode activity and also a good source of calcium. Shrimp meal is an organic fertilizer. Earthworm castings provide all the micro-nutrients necessary for plant growth. Sandy loam provides good water retention and drainage. Perlite provides optimum moisture retention for plant growth. Fossilized bat guano  is rich in calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, and zinc. Granite dust has minerals and trace elements that plants need. Norwegian kelp meal  is a source of naturally chelated trace elements. Oyster shell aids in pH adjustment and provides calcium.

Did you apply a preemergent weed control product? Moles? Roaches? Rats? Mice?

Always read, understand, and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply. Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA  (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com.