Well, I guess all the rain is helping to flush out the salt
water from all the flooding; however, there is still some flooding of salt
water at high tide because of all the rain. Crazy weather! If I lived in a cave
without a way to see the outdoors and strictly based my predictions of what is
going on outside by what the three Possum Stores were ordering, I would guess
fungus is very prevalent and rats.
This year I tried something new for my winter application of
preemerge. I treated my yard with a onetime heavy rate in late August and I did
a split application at my mother’s house. Well, needless to say, this was not
the year for experimenting with the huge amount of rain we have had. My yard is
getting a few winter annuals and hers is still free of weeds at last check.
Winter annual weed seeds will be germinating for a long time still, so if you haven’t
applied a preemergent for winter weeds, you might consider it.
Moles are doing their fall tunneling, and they are
everywhere! The three step method of control still gets the best results. Kill
the mole. Traps, mole patrol and talprid seem to work best. Manage the moles
food source. Sevin, Aloft, and Grubz Out are very good at killing moles food
supply. The third step is to apply a repellent to keep new moles out of the
yard. Repellex does a very good job. With the repellents, you can create a
barrier around your property, so you use less repellent and save money.
Large Patch / Brown Patch / Zoysia Patch have been in lawns
this fall. The recent rains made it explode in some yards with those all too
familiar circles of disease. In our warm season grasses, these diseases can be
in irregular patterns as well as the circles. Map the areas you see the
disease, since the disease is in the soil it will tend to reappear in the same
areas. Turn off the irrigation. Correct any thatch, compaction or drainage
issues. Apply Cleary’s, Prophesy, Serenade (organic) or Disarm. Add Neptune
Harvest’s Crab Shell (organic) product to the area to add beneficial organisms
to the soil to combat the bad organisms. We have also seen for ourselves and
heard from customers that the use of Cotton Burr Compost and SeaHume really
helps with this disease.
Yes, you can still winterize your turf – it is not too late.
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 should be used together with
all the rain we have had, and 00-00-25 and SeaHume will help your yard this
winter and next spring.
If you have not lowered your mower height to help reduce
winter kill, now is the time.
The lower cutting height will remove the leaf blades that
trap the cold air near the crown of the plant. Most of the winter kill occurs
on Centipede grass that has a lot thatch and is tall (over 1.5 inches). The
lower height of cut will also help dry out the grass, reducing fungus.
Now is the time to collect soil to get on a program for 2016.
If it has been 30 days since you applied a fertilizer, why wait? Beat the
spring rush of soil tests at the lab (and my desk if you use Possum’s). If you
have any amending to do (lime, etc.), you do it over the winter and be ready
for spring. Having a soil test and program is like having a landscape design;
it gives you a roadmap to follow, so you are applying the right products at the
right time for your soil.
Always read, understand and follow product label. The
product label is a Federal Law.
