Horticulture Hotline 12/29/20
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
These high humidity days have really kicked in the Large Patch (Brown Patch) fungus disease. Strobe or T-Methyl are 2 good systemic fungicides to apply now.
As the leaves from the trees in your yard fall, be sure to rake them up (consider composting them) or mulch them with a mower.
Look up into your trees and see if any limbs are damaged. Those big, broken but hanging on limbs are called “widow makers” in the industry for a reason! As time passes, the torn wood that is holding the limb on loses more water making the limb more brittle and has a better chance of falling.
If you think you might want to transplant a tree or bush in the spring, now is the time to root prune for an easy move.
Moles have been tunneling looking for food. They must overeat during the holidays also!
Visit Charleston County Park’s Holiday Festival of Lights with friends and family. The Holiday Festival of Lights is one of the best in the Nation and always improving.
Our city, town, county, state and national parks have a lot to offer. The different plantations also provide great landscape interest with the camellias, holly berries, and all the other winter color.
Winter weeds are popping up everywhere. Control them while they are young and they are in their vegetative growth stage. Once the weeds start producing seed and enter their reproductive stage, they are much harder to control.
Now is a great time to test your soil and get on a Possum's Custom Program or buy a gift certificate for someone else to get on a custom program. The time is now to beat the spring rush. Prevention and protection are so important in this area. I don’t know of any part of the world that is harder to maintain a beautiful yard! Our insects and fungi are relentless.
Any bare areas in the lawn should be teased with cotton burr compost, so the grass will fill in. Weeds love to move in on thin turf.
Rats, roaches and mice are moving into homes away from the cold.
Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.
