Horticulture Hotline 09/18/23
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
For the new readers of the Horticulture Hotline, my To Do Lists are designed to help you target a few activities in your yard and in your home that will benefit you in the future. These lists are not designed to interfere with high school, college, or professional football games, sunset boating, shrimping, hunting, golfing, eating chicken wings at a local sports bar, oyster roasts, collecting oysters or clams from the local waters, watching NASCAR on the couch with closed eyes, volleyball games, shopping or going to the movies! This is not designed to be a “honey do” list.
Mole crickets are tunneling like crazy, separating the roots of the grass from the soil, drying out the grass plant. The cooler temperatures will make the conditions right for the germination of winter annual weeds – use preemergent products now or forever fight the weeds!! Fungus will explode with the rain and the cooler weather. Mosquitoes are biting to the point that when I’m out taking a walk in the evening, I can not stop and talk with the neighbors without getting attacked. My suspicions of a post hurricane worm attack have been confirmed by several people. Chinch bugs anyone? I can add to my list another place that I was asked about the dreaded mole!
Many of you will be changing out annual color in the next few weeks. While the beds are empty, you have a chance to amend your soil for better flower production and address any drainage problems. If the bed stays wet, this is a good time to raise it with the addition of soil or amendments. You can also crown the bed so it drains off to the sides.
The addition of Turface MVP will help your drainage and overall structure of your soil, adding pores (air space). Vernacompost is a compost derived from worms and worm caastings and adds all the benefits associated worm castings. Back To Natures’ Natures Blend has proven to do a superb job in our Lowcountry soils. The special blend of composted cotton burrs, composted cattle manure, humate, and alfalfa meal has the best of gardeners coming back for more. Alfalfa contains Triacantanol, a natural growth enhancer, and is high in organic Nitrogen to get your plants growing. Nature’s Blend may also help in the suppression and control of certain fungal diseases.
Here is what Dr. Herman Daniell had to say about his experience with the product, “The cotton burrs in Nature’s Blend with amendments has been a superior product for my rose garden. I have had healthier bushes with more blooms since I began using this product.”
Many of you will also be changing out containers, hanging baskets and potted plants. If your plants are in an exposed place requiring daily watering, consider adding soil moist or other water holding gels to your soil. These gels and the use of a wetting agent like Possum’s Wetting Agent with Biostimulants can make your life much easier. If you go away for the weekend, your plants will hardly miss you! Using good quality soil is very important since that is where the plants get their nutrients and water. Mix the “old soil” into a flower bed, or compost it if you think it might harbor a disease and always start with new soil.
