Horticulture Hotline 11/14/21
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
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 and Talprid seem to work best. Manage the moles food source. Sevin, Over & Under 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. Mole, Vole, and Gopher repellent and No Moles do a very good job. With the repellents, you can create a barrier around your property, so you use less repellent and save money.
Speaking of small fury animals, I can’t believe how many RATS are in the Lowcountry. I know Charleston has been written up several times for being a great place to live, but I never knew RATS could read.
Large Patch / Brown Patch / Zoysia Patch have been in lawns this fall. 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 or Strobe G to manage the disease. 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 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 2022. 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.
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.
