Horticulture Hotline 07/30/18
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
Rain, rain – I think we have had enough for a minute. Most
people that I know that work in landscaping for a living welcome rain at any
time; however, it is starting to get a little ridiculous. I guess it is the
morning rains that I can’t get used too. The other morning I was all psyched up
and ready to spread some Nature’s Blend (Cotton Burr Compost, Composted Cattle
Manure, Alfalfa Meal, and Humates) in my yard. I was well hydrated, had some
water on standby, had my IPod fully charged and was ready to do some serious
spreading – then the rains hit. I stayed out there a while in the pouring rain
because I only had a small window of time to work outside. With the threat of
my neighbor to call the van with the padded interior and a few lighting strikes
I retreated indoors. Lucky, after a change of clothes, I was able to sneak out
a little later and finish getting one pallet spread.
All this rain has allowed two insects to flourish. The Nasty
Rascal, The Chinch Bug, is usually associated with hot dry areas; however, it
is sucking the life out of some St. Augustine. Chinch bugs even during rainy
weather attack the grass in sunny areas.
07-00-14 Allectus will give you good control and a little
slow release fertilizer to get you to pre-emergent time.
Army worms are also out in big numbers. When it is cloudy
and raining their natural predator, birds, cannot see them as easily. While
writing this article, I got a call from a local school with worms everywhere –
the earth was moving I believe was the description. When you have a bad worm
breakout, it looks like a 1950’s horror movie – worms on top of worms crawling
on top of each other and everywhere. Sevin or 07-00-14 Allectus will give you
good control.
With all the rain, now is a great time to see if you need to
work on drainage for your whole yard, areas of your yard, or just have some
small areas that puddle.
Starting with gutters, do you have them? Do you need them?
Are they clean and functioning properly? If water is running off your roof and
draining under your house (crawl space), you may want to consider gutters.
Moisture underneath a house can led to mold, fungus, moisture damage and
termites.
If you have gutters, are the plants near the downspouts
drowning? Do you need to put a piece of flexible pipe on the end of the
downspout and direct the water to a place in the yard where it is not a
problem? Could you collect this water in a rain barrel and store it for future
use.
A large low area in the yard could be dealt with in many
ways. Find the lowest point and put a drain and run the water elsewhere. If
there are not any tree roots in the area, you could fill in the area with
topsoil. If the area is small enough, consider using bagged topsoil, so you do
not bring a bunch of weeds in the soil to your yard. If the area is real big
you could remove the grass with a sod cutter and re-grade the area.
If you would like to drain an area very effectively and
without having to do a lot of digging, then Turface is the way to go. All you
need to do is aerate the area then apply Turface. We have worked with many
customers using this product in many different situations with great results.
Turface will help drain large areas and small areas. Some areas that are bigger
and wetter you can dig columns and backfill with Turface. You will also save on
the water and fungicide bill with this product.
Since August is approaching, I must mention preemergent time
is rapidly approaching for small seeded winter annual weeds. Remember to do
your bed areas as well as the turf areas.
At Possum’s it seems
that most husbands are in charge of the grass and the wives are in charge of
the beds. The husband comes in and buys the preemergent product for the lawn
and puts it out on the turf. In October the husband waves to his wife that is
pulling weeds in the beds while he is on his way to the golf course, deer stand
or fishing hole. Husbands, if you would let your wife know about preemerge, she
would have more free time too.
Always read and follow product label. It is the law.
