Horticulture Hotline 02/15/24
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
The Tulip Magnolia (Saucer Magnolia) is blooming in the Lowcountry. It is time to be sure the winter projects have been completed, and the proactive spring projects in the yard and around the house are in the works.
Trees grow. Some experts say around 18 to 24 inches at the tips of the branches all around the circumference of a healthy tree. 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 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. Before a tree puts on new leaves, is a great time for an arborist to inspect the health of your trees.
Any transplanting or planting of new trees or shrubs should be done as soon as you can. 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 to see that the bloom on the plant (do not always trust the tags) is the color you want; otherwise, the sooner you can plant the better.
When planting remember the Diehard Transplant or GroTabs, it is like yogurt (full of probiotics). Diehard Transplant adds all the good bacteria, wetting agents, and fungi into the soil that a plant needs to help with survival. 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. Mole crickets come to the surface on these warm days and love to eat this bait!
Get out your preemergent, or forever fight weeds!! Remember to treat you turf and beds, so you do not have to waste time battling the 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 am already seeing new growth on some plants, so I guess it is time for the organics. Of course, anytime is a great time for 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 cloudy, overcast days brown patch / large patch has been flourishing in lawns.
Other things – make sure mower is good to go – air filter is key, check irrigation, treat for fleas (growth regulator is key) and ticks, take soil test, prune roses, work on breeding sights for mosquitoes, kill winter weeds before they make seeds for next year, spray neem oil or horticultural oils for overwintering insects, apply Dominion Drench to perennial insect loving plants…
Spring in the Lowcountry… Work hard, then head to an oyster roast!
Always read, understand, and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.
Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply. Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com.
