Matthew and More

Horticulture Hotline 10/18/16

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

This is a great time of year to work in your yard. First spray your shrubs with Bug Blaster (just connect to your hose and spray) and say cyonara to mosquitoes, so you will enjoy your time outside. EcoVia is an organic option to spray and mosquito beater is an organic option to spread.

If you had salt damage, you have a few options.

For Salt mitigation most people have heard of using gypsum. Gypsum will remove salt but it adds calcium to our soils that are generally high in calcium already. Our soils tend to be very high calcium People tend to use gypsum at high rates not thinking about their magnesium / potassium ratios. It will work but there are better options. If you use gypsum, consider adding promag or magnesium sulfate as well.

Excell - best granular choice. adds magnesium while adding calcium (actually made with gypsum). 10# - 20# /1000 sqft then test soil.

Salt Free - liquid. Easy to use and very effective and economical and no ratios to worry about. Use 1.5 oz/1000 sqft. Mix in 2-4 gallons of water or use hose end sprayer Apply weekly, 2 to 4 weeks in a row. Very easy to use without much burn potential. I have seen it used in very salty situations with great results.

SeaHume - also helps with salt and a good winterizer.  15#/m

Do a 1 & 7 soil test (not just a 7 alone) because you want the base saturation levels.

If you are straitening any trees or shrubs after the storm, use some DieHard Transplant, SeaHume, and SuperThrive to help the tree re-establish its root system.

Disease usually attacks the grass in the fall and spring so now is a great time to apply a systemic fungicide to prevent those attacks. Fame or Cleary’s are a couple of options.

The cooler Fall temperatures are perfect for controlling weeds. Weed Free Zone is great if you like to spray. Dollar Weed Control is a granular that works on some really tough weeds including Florida Betony, Virginia Button Weed and Dollar weed. I wiped out an area of Virginia Button Weed in my yard with one application.

Preemergent herbicides will keep you ahead of the weeds. Broadleaf Weed Control with Gallery will control a wide variety of broadleaf weeds and 00-00-07 Dimension is good for the grassy weeds.

Forever people have used Dormant oil or Horticultural oil on their shrubs and trees in the fall and spring for overwintering insects. Now is a great time for that. I have started to use Neem oil because it is an organic oil that gets some fungi too.

If you are planning on transplanting a tree or shrub this fall, now is the time to root prune.  For root pruning trees, a good rule of thumb is for every inch in diameter of tree, you want twelve inches of root ball.  Sometimes this is not practical because you are usually transplanting an over-crowded tree or a tree located too close to a house or sidewalk.  If this is the case, outline the biggest ball you can possibly move and just dig straight down severing the roots without actually removing the soil. Apply granular SeaHume and SuperThrive to the area for root growth.  Come back in a month and dig away from the area that you severed leaving your tree in a little moat.  Spray the tree with Transfilm (anti-transparent) and remove the tree. When you transplant the plant be sure to plant it at or above existing grade and use DieHard Transplant to help the tree get established in its new home.

Yes, it is time to winterize your turf. Look for a product with a 00 for the first number (nitrogen). A 00-00-25 with sulfate of potash and minors would be great. If you do not need the potash, consider SeaHume a wonderful combination of seaweed and humic acid. The seaweed has over 60 minor nutrients, amino acids, and bio stimulants. The humic acid is also full of bio stimulants that help make nutrients that are in the soil available to the plant, help with soil structure, grow roots, and feed the microorganisms in the soil. Both these products can be used together and will help your yard this winter and next spring.

Beware of the national ad campaigns talking about winterizing fertilizers. These products are usually formulated for cool season grasses (rye, fescue). I saw one over the weekend that was a 22-00-14. Not exactly what we want to put on our yard in mid-October in the Lowcountry.

When buying gas for your lawn mower, generator, or chain saw, be sure to include a gas stabilizer to help prevent your carburetor from getting varnished over the winter. Try to purchase gas from a gas station that has ethanol free gas for your mower as well as your two cycle hand held equipment.

Hold off putting out pine straw or mulching the beds until the leaves in the trees have dropped, so the leaves do not mess up your new straw or mulch. If you recycle the leaves that drop in your yard instead of bagging them and setting them by the curb, you will gain some free nutrients and organic matter.

Watch out for worms munching on your grass.

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

After Hurricane Matthew

Horticulture Hotline 10/10/16

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

The “H” word is being mentioned again and again on the news this week. We have been lucky the past few years. The storms have gone the other way. You never like to wish bad upon your neighbor, but with a hurricane, you kind of have to… Well, Hurricane Matthew seemed to be headed our way from the first “cone” predictions and never really gave us any hope that it was going to veer away.  

In the old days, I would enjoy a hurricane. I can remember in the early 1980’s when Hurricane Bob hit the Lowcountry. At the last minute it was downgraded to a tropical storm; however, it still packed some good winds. I remember hurrying to get out to Wild Dunes before they closed the Ben Sawyer Bridge (back then that was the only bridge to Isle of Palms or Sullivan’s Island). Everyone was trying to leave the beaches; I was trying to get to the beach.

A group of us would enjoy watching the palms bend, the ocean churn, the trees dance in the high winds, transformers blowing up provided fireworks and the feel of the strength of the wind holding us up as we leaned into it.

Between the devastation of Hurricane Hugo in 1989, having 3 stores full of inventory and a house surrounded by pine trees, I have a much different view of hurricanes now.

Now that the hurricane has past there are several things to consider from the landscape and pest control part of your property. Remember most injuries occur during cleanup.

Look for any downed power lines. Electrocution can happen after these storms.

Inspect your trees closely for “widow makers”. Gravity will pull these limbs that are hanging in the trees down to the ground, and hopefully, you or your loved ones are not between the ground and the tree that they are hanging out of. Getting a tree care professional out to your house is always a good idea.

Use local tree people to work on your trees. After Hugo, I saw many safe trees that were removed that could have been left to grow. Some could have been straightened and braced. Trees take a long time to grow, so you do not necessarily have to remove them if they have a little lean. The topping of trees after Hugo was also ridiculous. Again a reputable, local, tree care professional should come inspect your trees for dangerous situations.  

The new ethanol gas really takes its toll on small engines. Use ethanol free gas for your generator (have outside), blowers and chain saw. Safety glasses, gloves and ear protection are also good ideas. Remember more people get injured cleaning up from a hurricane than from the hurricane itself. I have Wolf Garten hand saw that is super sharp that I use for most of my clean up including large limbs (much safer and no chain or engine maintenance).

Usually after a few days of overcast rainy weather associated with hurricanes and tropical storms during this time of year, we see an explosion of sod webworms. The dark overcast days give them a chance to feed without birds or other predators eating them. Sod webworms can devour a yard that you have worked on all summer in a very short period of time.

The heavy rains this time of year and the drop in temperature can also cause an explosion of fungus. It is always best to treat fungus preventively with a good systemic product like Fame, Cleary’s 3336, or Prophesy. Fungus was getting started before the storm and now conditions are even more favorable.

I have to mention the beloved rats, snakes, mosquitoes, and fire ants. Unfortunately, you are probably going to be in the yard a little more this fall (cleaning up, repairing, and inspecting), so it would be a great time to spray Cyonara or EcoVia (organic) or spread Mosquito Beater (organic) or Sevin. The Sevin and the Cyonara will help with fire ants, sod webworms, and mosquitoes. Not a Do It Yourselfer – call a professional. Watch out for the Ol’Possum that might have slipped into your house for higher ground.

With all the rain, a soil test would be a good idea since most of the nutrients were flushed out of the soil profile. Potassium leaches very fast, so a Possum’s 00-00-25 and SeaHume would help your whole landscape (lawn, shrubs, trees) right now. Pull a soil test first and bring it to us while you are picking up the 00-00-25 and the SeaHume.

If you feel like Matthew spared you, calling a tree company to trim trees now is probably good idea. Call and get on their list so the next time we are “in the cone” your trees will be ready and recently inspected. Good luck!

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

Nature Always Amazes ...

Horticulture Hotline 10/03/16

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

Stinkhorn fungi (devil’s backbone) has been smelling up new mulch beds all over the Lowcountry.  The conditions have been perfect for the growth of this fungus this fall.  We have been inundated with phone calls at Possum’s about that orange stinky fungus!  This fungus has an awful nasty odor that smells like rotten flesh.

Some plants in nature attract insects with sweet smelling nectar to spread pollen to other plants.  This fungus; however, exudes a slime over part of its fruiting body (the mushroom) attracting flies that like rotten flesh or feces.  The flies then spread the fungus because spores attach to their bodies.  Nice! You have mushroom that exudes a smell like rotten flesh and feces to attract flies.  I guess this is the opposite approach of a gardenia. 

The way I control stinkhorn is with a plastic bag like picking up dog poop.  Put a bag on your hand, lift up the mushroom pull the plastic bag over the mushroom and try not to drop too many spores.  These mushrooms are the fruiting body of a fungus that is beneath the soil.  The orange fruiting body is attached to hyphae that are underneath the ground decomposing organic matter.  In nature, fungi are good for your soil; however, this can be an unwelcome guest in your home.  Fungi, in general, tend to like acidic soil as do most plants, so I wouldn’t try to control them by adjusting the pH.  Hopefully, the environmental conditions that cause them to pop up all over the place will go away soon. 

There is something that looks like an egg that the mushroom pops out of that some people (mainly in Asia) consider a delicacy.  No thank you, I’m not interested in something that smells like rotten flesh or feces. 

These weather conditions have been perfect for Large Patch fungus to be active in your turf.  Riding through neighborhoods, I’m starting to see a lot of damage from the disease.  Be sure to rake up your leaves, turn off your irrigation system and treat any diseased areas in your yard.  Try to correct any drainage, thatch, compacted areas or standing water issues you have. Fungi like wet yards, so try to keep yours as dry as possible. If you need to treat with a fungicide, Cleary’s 3336 and Fame are two good systemic fungicides.

If you have St. Augustine, beware of the Nasty Rascal, The Chinch Bug. They are out still this year and doing a lot of damage. Often misdiagnosed, this plant juice sucker can do major damage while you are trying to identify what is going on in your yard.

It is October, so I’m sure you have your preemergent herbicide out by now. If not, remember it is never too late, weed seeds germinate all the time here.

Stay away from those national brand winterizer fertilizers that are designed for fescue grass. Possum Minors or 00-00-25 with minors would be much better for your warm season grass. Of course a soil test will provide the best information.

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