Horticulture Hotline 02/13/23
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
The Tulip Magnolia (Saucer Magnolia) is blooming in the Lowcountry. The Saucer Magnolia has always been one of my favorites because of the time it blooms (late January / early February) and the fact that it blooms before the leaves emerge. It is time to be sure the winter projects have been completed, and the proactive spring projects in the yard and around the house have been completed.
Healthy trees grow 12 to 24 inches a year. Areas of grass might be shaded and thin that were once high-quality turf. Now, might be a good time to cut new bed lines and let the tree have more room to grow. Check the sides of your house for limbs rubbing the paint off of your house. The paint protects your house like your skin protects you or like bark protects a tree.
Look above your roof line and see if any limbs are growing above your roof that could allow varmints (squirrels, raccoons, or the loveable possum) into your attic. Make sure your source of power to your house is free of limbs. Hire an insured arborist if you need some pruning done.
Any transplanting or planting of new trees or shrubs should be done ASAP. Try to get them in the ground before the plant flushes out new growth or blooms. If you are buying a blooming plant that you want a specific color or to match a color you already have, you may have to wait; otherwise, the sooner you can plant the better. When planting, remember SUPERthrive Solid to help with survival of your new investment. SUPERthrive Solid has all the good stuff to get your plant off to a healthy start.
Remember the old saying when planting, “plant it high and it will not die!”
Intice 10 perimeter bait is a great product to put out around the perimeter of your house for roaches, crickets, sowbugs, earwigs, silverfish, millipedes and certain ants. Intice 10 is a LEED tier 3 product and N.O.P. (National Organics Program) compliant, so it is considered very safe.
Intice 10 should also be broadcasted in the yard for mole crickets. Since Over n Out changed the active ingredient away from Fipronil, mole crickets have become a major turf pest again. Mole crickets come to the surface on these warm days and love to eat this bait!
Judging from the flea products we have been selling at Possum’s, now would be a good time to get ahead of the fleas. Be sure to use a product with a growth regulator. Precor 2000, IG Regulator, Alpine Flea Insecticide with IGR are just a few products that will get you ahead of the curve.
Get out your preemergent, or forever fight weeds!! I usually wait until my bald cypress starts to “needle out” and then I go on an organic binge with SeaHume, Cotton Burr Compost, worm castings and others; however, this year I’m already seeing new growth on some plants so I guess it is time for the organics.
If you have a history with fungus or insects on certain plants, sanitation, lime / sulfur, and your fungicide or insecticide of choice is good to put out now to protect the new growth. With these rainy, cloudy, overcast days brown patch / large patch will be going crazy when the temperatures are right.
Spring in the Lowcountry… Notice the gnats come out whenever we have a nice afternoon?
Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.
