Monday, December 27, 2021

Top Performers 2021

Horticulture Hotline 12/27/21

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

Here are a few Top Performers:

 

This one I love. It hits you right between the eyes. This is so good I don’t see how it will ever be removed from the top. This article should be located near your product mixing area as a reminder for anytime you want to bypass reading the label.

The tag is added to the neck of the Wet & Forget bottle. This tag is very red and states:

Failure!

This product is only

 effective if you read the

 instructions thoroughly.

Failure to do so will result in

 you moaning and groaning

that the product doesn’t

work and generally being

a pain in the bottom. Make a

positive change in your life

will you, and read the

instructions

This tag makes my, “Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law,” seem pretty tame. Products have to adhere to EPA guidelines. To get the “label” for a product the manufacturer must do extensive research on the formulation and on the efficacy of the product. The manufactures spend millions of dollars to get the product approved by the EPA.

I have been selling control products since 1991and using them for longer than that and I cannot remember the product ever not working when used according to the label (maybe because I’m so old, wet and forgot).

By the way, Wet & Forget is a super product for cleaning houses, sidewalks, driveways and many other things (check the label). Wet & Forget takes the chlorine out of cleaning outside and you do not need a pressure washer – just a pump-up sprayer. As the name implies just wet the surface and a few weeks later it will be clean.

 

In the Lowcountry we have many citrus trees. Citrus Leafminer can be an issue on these trees. An immediate Top Performer, Citrus Leafminer (easy name to remember), has been a pheromone trap that really attracts the leafminers onto a sticky trap. No pesticides, safe for organic use, lasts up to 15 weeks and you get the satisfaction of seeing the dead leafminers on the sticky trap! Good enough for the USDA and the CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture), good enough for me. They work!

 

Mole Patrol by RCO continues to control moles in a very cost-effective manner. New products on the market work well, but for the price, none beat Mole Patrol. After all, a dead mole is a dead mole. If you would rather not kill the mole, Repellex will do a good job of repelling the mole from an area.

 

Soil Test and Custom Programs probably should top the list, but someone with bed bugs in an apartment would not need these services. I was handed this testimonial from Greg Lienert. “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.”  That’s what I’m talking about proactive lawn care!

 

 

Monday, December 13, 2021

Quiet Time Away From The Crowds - Yard Work!

 

Horticulture Hotline 12/13/2021

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

The on and off rain and warm temperatures have really kicked in the Large Patch (Brown Patch) fungus disease. Strobe G or T-Methyl are 2 good systemic fungicides to apply now. This disease usually shows up in the same areas, so map these areas for future treatments and save money on products. Reduce thatch and correct drainage in these areas as well. Cotton burr compost reduces thatch.

 

As the leaves from the trees in your yard fall, be sure to rake them up (consider composting them in your yard) 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. Have you ever given a loved one “tree work” for a present? This year may be a good year to start. Look for limbs rubbing on the house or providing a pathway for rats or squirrels.

 

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 doing their Holiday shopping. Tunnels everywhere.  

 

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 private plantations also provide great landscape interest with the camellias, holly berries, and all the other winter color.

 

I know at Possum's we have gift certificates for that hard to buy for person. I'm sure most other local garden centers would as well. Plenty of parking, buying local, and short lines at the register for the quick in and out would be all the reasons I would need to go that route. 

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 when landscaping in the Lowcountry.

Try some SUPERthrive to help keep your Christmas Tree fresh. One drop in a 4 ounce cup of water mixed in with the other tree stand water every 3 to 4 days is all it needs. SUPERthrive won the World’s Fair Gold Medal in 1940, so it is a good product to have around for many reasons.

 

Any bare areas in the lawn should be teased with cotton burr compost, so the grass will fill in. You might have tried cotton burr compost in the summer, but in the winter it does amazing things. Go light and watch the runners explode. Weeds love to move in on thin turf.

 

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.

 

Monday, December 6, 2021

Crazy December

 

Horticulture Hotline 12/06/21

  Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

The Lowcountry… It is December and there are some crazy pests out there to deal with still. Over the weekend, I saw active mole crickets, aphids, moles, army worms and geese!

 

The aphids were on my Milkweed (AKA Butterfly Weed).  The monarch butterfly lays its eggs on this plant and when the caterpillars come out, they will devour the foliage. Since the aphids were on this plant along with some of the Monarch Butterfly’s caterpillars, the aphids get a pass this time. As late in the season as it is, they won’t even get a blast of water.  Do not spray insecticides, if caterpillars are present on this plant! If aphids are still active on this plant, what other plants are they still active on.

 

The Milkweed foliage will come back quickly and you don’t want to kill the larva of the monarch butterfly.  This plant is not a perennial; however, it reseeds itself.   When it pops up elsewhere in your yard, you can either replant it where you originally had it or leave it where it popped up. You can also collect the seeds and plant them where you originally had them or give them away to friends. Some people think it is neat watching the large caterpillars chow down on the plant and others are afraid of the big caterpillars.  This plant provides an important host plant of the Monarch Butterfly’s life cycle and will guarantee you will get plenty of butterflies and bees as a bonus.

 

Mole crickets overwinter as adults, so whenever it warms up. They are visible tunneling along the surface. Mole crickets do a lot of damage over the winter because the grass is brown and their tunneling goes unnoticed. When they tunnel, they separate the roots of the grass plant from the soil, and the grass plant dries out and dies.

 

In different areas of the Lowcountry, we have had several frosts. I was on James Island, and if I wouldn’t have seen the bite marks out of the leaf blade myself, I wouldn’t have believed army worms are still feeding on turf!

 

I was dropping off some soil test to Possum’s West and there was a group of geese in the parking lot. The nerve! Since they are a protected migratory bird, repellents (Goose Stopper), dogs or a 3D Coyote decoy (be sure to move around) is your best option.

 

Moles, Moles, Moles….

 

Measure your yard for accurate applications and read and follow product label!