Horticulture Hotline 01/09/17
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
Are you ready for the 2017 season in your yard?
Here are a few things to do on these nice winter days.
·
Take some soil to Possum’s to get the soil
tested – for everyone that has not already.
·
Kill winter weeds now while they are young and
your grass is dormant. It is easier to kill weeds when they are young and
actively growing. Once they go into their reproductive mode and start to flower
and seed, weeds are much harder to kill. While your grass is dormant is a good
time to control weeds too as opposed to the heat of the summer or when the grass
is coming out of dormancy in the spring.
·
Take mower in to have serviced to beat the
Spring rush. With the new ethanol gas lawn mower engines and other engines have
had issues. No one likes their mechanic to tell them, “pick it up in 4 weeks.”
·
Keep leaves off lawn areas. Keeps moisture from
being trapped and if you or your lawn service are applying products, you will
have a more uniform coverage without the leaves.
·
Move any shrub or tree now before it is too
late. Root prune now, move before they start putting on new growth. Try DieHard
Transplant to help survival.
·
Spray
trees and shrubs with paraffinic oil (ultra-fine, Omni Supreme oil) as opposed
to petroleum oils (Volck) to control over-wintering insects. Watch
temperatures. If you have ongoing issues with scale, aphids, white flies, or
other sucking bugs, try Safari or Dominion for long term control. Neem oil
works on diseases as well as insects.
·
Have you tried Lime / Sulfur spray around the
ground of deciduous plants that get diseased? Roses, hydrangea and blueberries
are good examples of plants that benefit from this sanitation practice.
·
Sharpen pruning tools or purchase new ones.
·
If you haven’t already, get your bulbs in the
ground.
·
Apply SeaHume to turf, trees, flowers, and
shrubs. Adding organics now will help in the spring. Cotton Burr Compost?
·
Re-do bed lines to reflect maturing landscape.
·
Get bird house ready for nesting birds.
·
Have moles, get Mole Patrol or Repellex Mole
Repellent – they really work.
·
Have deer, get Deer Stopper – it really works.
·
Check irrigation or get on professional’s list
to check. Be sure the heads are pointed the right way. Can you eliminate (turn
off) the zone watering the shrubs and trees? Have you tried wetting agents to
lower your water bill (we hear between 30 and 60 percent)? Less water equals
less disease.
·
Prune Crepe Myrtles – don’t butcher them. Remove
crossing (rubbing) limbs, inward growing limbs and diseased limbs to open them
up for better light penetration and air movement. Topping or reducing their
height is not considered proper pruning.
·
Hold off on pruning plants damaged by the cold –
we could still have more freezing temperatures.
·
Test well for salt if you use a well for
watering.
·
Attend meetings of the Rose, Camellia,
Horticultural Societies and other like horticultural societies. Get ready to
preemerge in February. Kill small seeded summer annual weeds before they take
over your landscape.
·
Get out and enjoy our County, State and City
parks as well as our local plantations.
Always read, understand and follow product label. The
product label is a Federal Law.
