Things To Do August 27, 2012

Treat for mosquitoes in your yard! Usually I recommend the organic repellents; however, with the amount of rain we have had, try some Cyonara and kill the mosquito. Scout around your yard for potential breeding sights. It is amazing how many places that collect water and a mosquito can lay an egg. Old tarps, tarps on boats, saucers under flower pots, a dent in a trash can lid, old fountain, bird bath, tires, refrigerators, old cars, and even half - filled rain gauges all provide enough water to help mosquitoes breed. If you do not have time to do scout your yard, hire a professional, and they will help make your yard safe.

Large Patch fungus has raised its ugly head again in the Lowcountry.  The cooler days have been great for those of us who like to work outside; however, it has also been great for Large Patch disease to kick in.  Water only as needed and apply Cleary’s 3336, Disarm, or Dual Action fungicide. 

If you have any bushes or trees that need to be transplanted, you can begin to root prune them.  Ideally if you transplant a tree you would have a ball that is 12 inches for each inch in diameter of the tree (i.e. 3 inch tree would be 18 inches on either side of the tree).  Take a shovel and dig straight down without prying and just sever the roots of the tree.  Depending on the size of the tree, whether it was planted or a volunteer seedling, how long it has been in the ground, and whether it is in a group of other plants, will dictate how big of a root ball you will be able to dig. Add some SeaHume and other rooting biostimulants to the area to encourage new roots.  Root prune now and for the next few months for transplanting in November-January.

It is getting close to the time to switch over from summer annuals to winter annuals.  When amending your annual beds this year try Back to Nature’s Flower Bed Conditioner.  It’s balanced blend of cotton burrs and cattle manure along with feather meal, cotton seed meal, alfalfa meal and sulfur will surely make your winter annuals a hit.  The alfalfa contains Triacantanol, a natural root growth enhancer and may aid in the control and suppression of certain fungal diseases.   Unlike wood and wood by-products, cotton burr and cattle manure do not tie up valuable nutrients in the soil and help neutralize the soils pH.  Cotton seed and feather meal provide added nutrients for the plant. 

If you are planting bulbs for next spring, consider using Back to Nature’s Flower Bed Amendments as well. I know at Possum’s we are already taking orders for fall / winter bulbs.

The change in weather will also bring on the winter annual weeds.  Hopefully by now, you have put out preemergents in your lawn as well as your beds. If you have had Florida Betony in the past, consider using a preemergent that contains Dimension. Many of our customers have noticed a decrease in Florida Betony in lawns that they have used Dimension in late August and again in October. Over ten years ago, I put out some test plots for Dow AgroSciences, and I saw about an 85% reduction in Florida Betony the first year! Dow AgroSciences did not add Florida Betony to the label because of the costs of dealing with the EPA; however, I say, “try it you‘ll like it!”

Watch out for mole crickets and sod web worms in your turf.  Mole crickets have just developed their wings and are beginning their fall flights, which means they will be up near the surface tunneling (damaging) your grass.  Sod web worms can eat a huge amount of grass in a short period of time.  Look for moths as you walk around your lawn in the evening.  These moths will come up from the ground, fly erratically for a few feet, then land almost like a quail.  Treat with Lebanon Insect Control or Cyonara and you will take care of both of these guys as well as fire ants, grubs, ticks and many other insects. 

Large Patch / Brown Patch Treat Now!

With fall rapidly approaching and the sunlight hours getting less, the grass will begin to transition into a dormant state. As the cooler weather comes and the grass growth rate slows down, large patch / brown patch fungus will begin to show up in our lawns. This disease is always present in the lawn, it just manifests itself when the environmental conditions are right and your grass cannot out- grow the damage.

Since this disease is a big problem in the Lowcountry, knowing that it is a soil borne disease can help you with control strategies.  Being a soil borne disease, you know that it will reoccur in the same areas year after year.  If a leaf blade with large patch is moved from one part of the yard to another (lawn mower), this can begin a new infection area (although not very common); however, these are not spores flying through the air.

As a soil borne fungus, if you map the areas that you have the disease, you can concentrate your control efforts (dollars) into a smaller area, putting less control products into the environment.  If your yard is 5,000 sq ft usually you might have a few infected areas which might total approx. 500 ft.  Instead of buying control products to treat 5,000 sq ft, you can concentrate your efforts into the 500 ft (i.e. 10% of your total yard).  If Large Patch was an air borne fungus with spores, you would have to treat the entire yard because air borne fungus spreads a lot quicker than soil borne fungus.

As your grass is going into dormancy and the temperatures begin to cool at night, large patch will be ready to attack your grass.  A good granular one-two punch control strategy is Disarm or Dual Action Disease Killer and Cleary’s 3336 (all systemic fungicides that get into the plant).  Use these products in areas where you have had Large Patch previously at the preventive rates and intervals recommended on the labels. Be sure to use Cleary’s with one of the other two so you are switching chemistry classes and mode of action. Good control early on can help avoid flare ups in the spring also.

Large patch usually likes wet, heavy thatch, improper nutrition, and/or compacted soils.  Culturally you need to manage your irrigation system, raise any low areas, and correct drainage problems.  Reducing thatch (we have a great organic granular product for controlling thatch), maintaining proper fertility levels, and aerating to alleviate compaction, will also help control large patch.

Does the West Nile Virus out-break in Dallas scare you? Kill mosquitoes now with Cyonara. Also look around your yard for any areas that collect water that mosquitoes could breed in. Usually I recommend organic repellents that do not kill mosquitoes just keep them away from you; however, with 10 dead in Dallas it is time to say, “Cyonara!” 

Preemerge and Worms

Now is the time to put out preemerge products in the lawn and beds to prevent those small seeded annual weeds. Henbit, chickweed, Poa annua (annual bluegrass), cudweed and lawn burweed are a few of the winter weeds that would like to occupy your lawn and flower beds. Poa annua (the green grass that is very visible in February and March) and lawn burweed (the prostrate growing weed that develops a sticker) are usually the most hated of the winter weeds. Some people use profanity while describing them at the counter of Possum’s!  

If your yard has thatch, drainage, or compaction issues, now is a great time to aerate your lawn (and beds where possible) before you apply your fall preemerge. Aeration is a great cultural practice, which will among other things help your roots grow throughout the winter giving you a head start for the spring. 

Although we had a mild winter, the cool wet spring made it rough on predators and disease that usually keeps army worms in check, and the results have manifested themselves across the Lowcountry. If you have a Bermuda grass lawn or pasture, you may want to take a look and see if you see any army worms. Although bermuda grass is their preferred dinner, you might want to investigate your own lawn. They will eat other grasses.

A friend of mine that grew hay used to say he could hear army worms munching on the grass as they crossed the fields. Since army worms eat the green leaves off the plant, he would lose big dollars to this worm. Athletic fields, Golf Courses, and home lawns lose the aesthetic value of the green grass, and the worms thin the canopy of the grass where weeds will move in if given a chance.

Since army worms are in direct contact with the ground, they are very easy to control. Bug Blaster, Bifen, Sevin, Cyonara and Acephate will all put a hurting on army worms. Thuricide (Bt) and Spinosad are organic products that will also work well if you get them while the worms are small. Since the population of worms was so high and hit so hard, keep your eye out for a second hatching.

For those of you with St. Augustine and Centipede, keep your eye out for the sod web worm. These rainy overcast days are perfect for them to hatch out and begin to eat your grass. Watch for moths in your yard around dusk. If you begin to see a moth that gets out of the grass, flies for 6-10 feet then lands again (like a bobwhite quail for you bird hunters) you may want to consider using one of the above mentioned products. Usually sod web worms would not come out until September / October; however, with the crazy weather we are having, scouting for them could not hurt.

In my travels this week, I saw brown patch (large patch) fungus in several yards, and the “nasty rascal the chinch bug” is still sucking the life out of many lawns. Thanks to all the rain and high humidity gray leaf spot is still alive and doing well.

Measure The Yard - Very Important

This past Saturday on our radio show (“The Garden Clinic” on WTMA from noon to one on Saturday) Paul and I got a call from a guy that wanted to put out a wetting agent, but had no idea what the square footage of his yard is. We were having a hard time convincing him to measure his landscape, so he would know how much product to apply (whether it is a wetting agent, fertilizer or control product knowing the size of your yard is crucial).

Knowing the square footage of your grass areas and bed areas are key to applying any fertilizer or control product correctly. An old bathroom scale and bucket also aid in the proper application of products. If your yard is 8,000 square feet and you want to apply a product at 4 pounds per thousand square feet, then 8 times 4 is equal to 32 pounds of product. Get a bathroom scale and a five gallon bucket. Pour 32 pounds into the bucket and apply it equally across the yard.

I can remember several times hearing different variations of this same answer to my question while at the counter at Possum’s. “How many square feet is your yard?” Rough answer,” well, last year I put out that bag that covers 5000 square feet and it was perfect for my yard, so I must have 5000 square feet.”  Sorry, wrong answer.

Based on a pound of nitrogen, we sell 50 pound bags that cover as much as 23,000 square feet and as little as 1000 square feet. Unfortunately, the bag does not know the size of our yards or how fast you walk.

In the old days, yards were mostly square or rectangular, and they were easy to measure. Now most yards have curvy bed lines that sweep across the landscape, making them more difficult to measure. If you can break the yard up into little squares or rectangles, and measure the length and the width then you can get your square footage. Length multiplied by width will give you your square footage. Add up all the squares and rectangles that you measured the square feet of, and you will come up with the square footage of your yard.

If this sounds like total “Greek or Geek” to you, ask a landscaper, a realtor,  a landscape architect, someone that works with floors or carpets, an engineer, a construction worker, someone who pours driveways, or anyone else that regularly needs to measure the square footage of something to help you. Your plat map from when you purchased your house might help as well.

Now, there are even websites that you can log onto and they will tell you the square footage of your yard. Of course, I like to do it the old fashion way – length times width.

I know this measuring seems like a pain, but most of us stay in a house for several years or decades. A little pain spread over several years of having very useful information is worth it.

Once you measure the yard, put the measurements in about 5 to 10 locations throughout your house, your car (so you have it with you when you go to buy product) and the garage, so you do not lose them. I have learned over the years that I put information like that in one “special place” so I do not lose the information. I then forget where that “special place” is!