Horticulture Hotline 11/20/17
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
Happy Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is usually considered the
most travelled vacation of all holidays. Watch out for bedbugs. You might get
bedbugs where you stay or someone might bring bedbugs with them when they stay
with you. If you notice bedbugs, call a professional immediately or head to
Possum’s – The Bedbug Killing Capital Of The Lowcountry. If you would like a
few tips about dealing with bedbugs, you can reference the 5/1/17 Horticulture
Hotline at possumsupply.com.
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 or Talprid seem to work best. Manage the moles
food source. Sevin, 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
Mole and Vole repellent does a very good job. With the repellents, you can create
a barrier around your property, so you use less repellent and save money
compared to treating the whole yard.
Large Patch / Brown Patch / Zoysia Patch have been in lawns
this fall; however, the lack of rain was keeping it to a minimal. 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 T-Methyl,
Prophesy, Serenade (organic) or Fame. 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 / or 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 can be used together and will
help your yard this winter and next spring.
Now is the time to collect soil to get on a program for 2018.
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. Here is what Greg Lienert said, “I started using
Possum’s recipe for my lawn 3 years ago and I have never had a better lawn in
the 35 years that I have been trying to grow the perfect lawn. Possum’s is
awesome! I have the best lawn in the neighborhood.”
Yes, you still have time to plant bulbs. A little 04-04-04
Bolster, Bio-Tone Starter Plus and / or SeaHume should get them off to a good
start.
Do not forget your Neem oil or Horticultural oil for your
plants. With all the leaf spot diseases this year, I really like the Neem oil,
since it acts as a fungicide as well. If you had any plants that had leaf spot
this year, rake up the leaves as they fall (and destroy them), and spray Lime /
Sulfur on the ground to help kill overwintering spores.
Hopefully, you have applied a preemergent herbicide to your
lawn and beds. If not, why wait? Applying these products now can save you a lot
of time this spring and your lawn and plants will thank you for removing the
weed competition.
Always read, understand and follow product label. The
product label is a Federal Law.
