Horticulture Hotline 01/31/24
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
Wow, what a difference a week makes! I went from admiring my hibiscus, milk weed, cassia, lantana, and bottle brush in mid-January to smelling the very distinctive smell of cold damaged, dead foliage! I went from thinking my hibiscus was going to overwinter and bloom all year like in south Florida to pruning out the dead, mushy plant parts. I am so glad my camellias are still blooming profusely (thank you SeaHume and 17-00-09).
Of course, I’m already being ask what should I do for my lawn, trees, and shrubs after this “event”. Being the soil test geek that I am, I always recommend taking a soil test to figure out what the soil is needing or has too much of. I still have not met anyone, and I hang around some sharp agronomist, that can look at a lawn and say you need 15#/M of dolomitic lime on that lawn. Labs are used to test human’s blood and labs are used to test soils.
SeaHume would help get some minor nutrients in the grass plant (helping to protect the plant from another cold event) and encourage rooting. 00-00-25 would help get some potassium in the plant that would help with cold hardiness and disease resistance. Cotton Burr Compost will help you fill in thin areas and provide housing for beneficial microorganisms.
Winter weeds will be in full force when the weather warms up – treat them now before they begin to flower. Depending on when you preemerged last, you might want to consider preemerging. A good one / two punch is to apply a post-emergent product to kill what weeds are up now and a preemergent product at the same time. Doing this method kills what you see and prevents new weeds from replacing the ones you just killed.
With that recent wind storm, we had (remember schools were closed) trees and shrubs took a beating as well. Soil test would help them too. Right now, organics would be the best thing to get them on their road to recovery. Organics are regulated by the microorganisms in the soil. Microorganisms break down the organic product into a useable form for the plant (like in the forest). If it is cold, microorganisms are slow and do not make nutrients available to the plant. When the soil warms, the microorganisms make the nutrients available to the plant and are ready for the plant as it needs them.
Back to Nature products as a mulch, Corn Gluten, Milorganite, Vermiplex (worm), worm castings, SeaHume, Fish & Seaweed, SUPERthrive, and others will help get the plants going when they are ready. Nature’s Blend and SeaHume granular will give you a lot of bang for your buck. 00-00-25 is a good addition to this 1-2 punch.
With potential cracks (fissures) in the plants from the freezing, Dominion would be a good thing to drench if you have a history borers or insect issues.
Pruning is the other hot topic. If you do not have to prune, then wait. Pruning will open a hole for insects and disease and you will lose the insulation of the dead tissue. Who knows, we may have another super cold event. If you have a plant that is total mush by your front door, go ahead and prune away the dead tissue. In about a month or two depending on the plant, you will see the new buds swell up and you will know where the live tissue is and where you should prune. Lantana are famous for looking totally dead, when they might start to grow from four or five feet up the plant. Damaged tree limbs would be the exception.
While your deciduous (big word that means your tree gets naked in the winter and loses its leaves) trees do not have leaves, is a good time to get a tree care professional to look at the health of your trees.
Tulip (Saucer) Magnolias are blooming, SEWE billboards are up, and the Daytona 500 is being advertised. Are you ready for SPRING?
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.
