I Figure You Have Snow Pictures - Riverdogs Soon!
Horticulture Hotline 01/26/25
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
I was recently asked a question that I have never heard before in my lifetime. “Is it OK to put out a preemergent product over their snow-covered yard?” As far as I can remember, this was the first time we had snow on the ground during preemergent season in the Lowcountry. What a great question! A spreader equipped with snow tires or chains? Since a lot of preemergent products are yellow, this would bring a new paradigm to the whole yellow snow deal. Anyway, according to the label, preemergent products should go out onto healthy, dry grass.
The past week we have really had a chance to observe how snow “works” in nature. Remember when you were a kid walking, then running across a black top asphalt parking lot (maybe coming from the beach or a swimming pool), and stopping on the white lines marking the parking places because they were cooler? The white snow reflects the sunlight like the parking lot stripes. If you want the underlying ice to melt, you should remove the snow and expose the darker surface underneath the snow (road, sidewalk, driveway, grass).
Snow also has many air pockets that make it a great insulator. When I was a young lad, the “goose down jacket” was introduced to the fashion world. Now the same idea is called a “puffer jacket.” I guess the idea of a bunch of plucked geese running around offended someone. The coats have lots of air pockets that protect you from the cold. These air pockets from the snow help to protect the ice underneath the snow from melting as well by keeping the cold air trapped.
After a snow event, the winter weeds really stand out in the grass and should be managed before the go into the reproductive stage of their life cycle when they are harder to kill and they are producing more plants for you to manage the following year. Weed Free Zone (liquid) and Dollar Weed Control (granular) are two great products for now. Dollar Weed Control should not be used on dormant centipede grass; however, if you do not have centipede, it is labelled to kill some hard to control weeds - Controls: Chickweed, Clover (Hop, Red & White), Dandelion, Dollar Weed, English Lawn Daisy, False Dandelion, Florida Betony, Ground Ivy, Lespedeza, Black Medic, Parsley-Piert, Broad leaf Plantain, Buckhorn Plantain, and Virginia Buttonweed. This centipede grass restriction illustrates why you should always read and follow product label. At Possum’s we have many other products to manage your weeds that will work on different types of turf and other products for weeds in your beds.
Get ahead of small-seeded summer annual weeds with a preemergent herbicide in about two weeks.
With “spreader season” beginning make sure your spreader is ready for action before you put product in the hopper because spreaders are known to rust over the winter.
The cold weather has forced many of rodents to seek refuge under and inside many homes in the Lowcountry. To avoid smelling the dead varmint, snap traps and glue boards are the way to go. Baits are very effective; however, you might have to smell a dead animal for a few days if they die in a crawl space or wall void.
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.