Horticulture Hotline 09/01/2025
Bill Lamson-Scribner
I ran into a Horticulture Hotline reader the other day and he mentioned that his wife always put the article where he sits for breakfast to be sure he reads it each week. So, I guess it is time for the Horticulture Hotline disclaimer.
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, giving you more free time. These lists are not designed to interfere with high school, college, or professional football games, soccer, baseball, fishing, shrimping, hunting, golfing, eating chicken wings at a local sports bar, oyster roasts, or watching NASCAR on the couch with closed eyes! This is not designed to be a “honey do” list.
September is here! My camellia buds are swollen! It was 64 degrees this morning!
The day after I wrote the last Horticulture Hotline, I saw a huge fall armyworm outbreak covering a seventeen-acre complex. The ground was so wet from the recent rains, we could not put a piece of equipment on the turf to treat them. We just had to watch them eat for a day or two while the ground dried. We needed a drone for spraying - donation? It was right after that reports from Goose Creek and other areas across the Lowcountry started coming into Possum’s three locations.
Armyworms like to feed under the cover of rainfall, when it is darker and birds are less apt to see them. There has been a lot of spotty attacks this year. If you travel during the fall, you might want to use something preventatively because worms can do a lot of damage quickly. If you see moths in your yard at dusk that fly low for about six feet then land again – similar to a bobwhite quail, you have the adult armyworm. One moth can lay up to 1000 eggs usually in groups of fifty (I wonder what lucky person got to count these eggs). There are usually many moths in a yard. When the eggs hatch, the fall armyworm emerges and is hungry! Look for areas that appeared to have been mowed low and with a dull blade. You can see that the leaf blades have been chewed. Also thatch type debris will be churned up on the surface. You might notice birds and low flying wasps that are predators of armyworms.
Large Patch Fungus (Brown Patch Fungus) is attacking lawns across the Lowcountry. I rode through several neighborhoods this week and saw it everywhere. These cooler nights make conditions right for this disease. Fungi like moisture and it has been raining a lot recently. If you can let your grass dry out between watering, you will have less fungus (I understand this is not easy to do with rainfall). According to several people I talk to, there are organic products that will increase the bio-diversity in the soil and help control Large Patch Fungus. Neptune Harvest Crab shell, SeaHume, and Back to Nature’s Cotton Burr based products – although these are not labeled fungicides so I cannot recommend them as fungicides, customers have reported success by adding these products to their yards – your results may vary. If you have an active fungus outbreak, a combination of Strobe G and T-Methyl are good chemistries to rotate. Large Patch usually attacks the same areas year after year. If you have a history of Large Patch, preventative applications are most effective.
The wet, cooler weather will also run roaches and rodents into your home (when people come into Possum’s it is never their home – always a nasty friend or relative). If you are prone to be attacked by these two pests, be sure to prepare for their arrival.
Moles always get more active in the fall. Manage their food source with Above and Below and use Repellex around the perimeter to keep them out of your yard.
Now is the time to put out your fall fertilizer for your trees, shrubs and turf. Fall fertilization is very important for the health of your plants, trees and lawns.
Have you put out a preemergent product for winter weeds yet? Mosquitoes? Mosquito Pro works and is easy to use (kills armyworms too)– check it out!
If this sounds like too much work, hire a professional.
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 (follow us on Facebook). 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.
