Snow Gone - Weed Control Time!

Weed Free Zone

Horticulture Hotline 02/02/2026

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

The perfect snow in the Lowcountry! Here one day and gone the next!

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), Vexis (granular) and Dollar Weed Control (granular) are three great products for now. Atrazine (granular or liquid) containing products also are available. These products control weeds in lawn areas. Read the label closely before you decide on a product because they are all different and have certain cautions that you would want to be aware of before using.

 

Weed Free Zone is a liquid workhorse, controlling many weeds. Aster (White Heath And White Prairie), Bedstraw, Beggarweed (Creeping), Bindweed, Black Medic, Broadleaf Plantain, Buckhorn Plantain, Bull Thistle, Burclover, Burdock, Common Buttercup, Creeping Carpetweed, Chickweed, Common Chicory, Cinquefoil, Clover, Compassplant, Curly Dock, Dandelion, Dayflower, Deadnettle Dock Dogfennel English Daisy False Dandelion (*Spotted Catsear And Common Catsear) Field Bindweed (*Morningglory And Creeping Jenny) Field Oxeye-daisy (*Creeping Oxeye) Filaree, Whitestem And Redstem Florida Betony Florida Pusley Ground Ivy (*Creeping Charlie) Groundsel Hawkweed Healall Henbit Innocence (Blue-eyed Mary) Lambsquarters Lawn Burweed Lespedeza, Common Mallow, Common Matchweed Mouseear Chickweed Old World Diamond Flower Oxalis (*Yellow Woodsorrel And Creeping Woodsorrel) Parsley-piert Pennsylvania Smartweed Pennywort (*Dollarweed) Pepperweed Pigweed Pineappleweed Plantain Poison Ivy Poison Oak Prostrate Knotweed (*Knotweed) Puncturevine Purple Cudweed Purslane Ragweed Redweed Red Sorrel (*Sheep Sorrel) Shepherdspurse Spotted Spurge Spurge Thistle Veronica (*Corn Speedwell) Virginia Buttonweed White Clover (*Dutch Clover, Honeysuckle Clover, White Trefoil And Purplewort) Wild Carrot Wild Garlic Wild Geranium Wild Lettuce Wild Mustard Wild Onion Wild Strawberry Wild Violet Yarrow Yellow Rocket. Read the label before applying!

 

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 labels.

 

Vexis is a great newer product that controls hard to kill weeds and nutsedges. Vexis has an interesting (to me – maybe not to many others) statement on it’s label. To avoid injury to improved varieties of St. Augustinegrass or Centipedegrass, apply when night-time temperatures are above 50°F for 7 consecutive nights. As you can see, Vexis controls some tuff weeds. Sedges, Kyllinga, and Rushes (including ALS resistant annual sedges): Yellow Nutsedge, Purple Nutsedge, Annual Nutsedge, Green Kyllinga, False Green Kyllinga, Cockscomb Kyllinga, Annual Kyllinga, Path Rush. Broadleaf Weeds: Buckhorn Plantain, Common Chickweed, Dollarweed (Pennywort), False Dandelion, Florida Betony, Ground Ivy (Creeping Charlie), Hairy Bittercress, Henbit, Lawn Burweed, Purple Deadnettle, Rough Fleabane, Virginia Buttonweed, Wild Garlic, Wild Onion.  Reentry Statement: Do not enter or allow people (or pets) to enter the treated area until dust has settled. Nice not to have to water in product before reentry to area. Great product! As always, read and follow the product label.

 

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 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.  

Cold Today / Warm Tomorrow = Charleston

 

                                                      Saucer Magnolia / Tulip Magnolia

                                               Seaweed and Humates - Great for Soil Food Web

                                                      Kill Winter Weeds Now!

                                                       Henbit - Kill it!

                                                        

Horticulture Hotline 01/26/26

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

My neighbor’s Tulip Magnolia (Saucer Magnolia) is in full bloom. When this tree blooms, it usually indicates that spring is rapidly approaching. Are you ready for the 2026 season in your yard?

 

Here are a few things to do on the nice winter days – maybe next week.

 

·         Get soil tested – for everyone that has not already. Custom Programs are best!

·         Kill winter weeds now while they are young and your grass is dormant.

·         Take mower in to have serviced to beat the Spring rush. With the new ethanol gas lawn mower engines and other engines have had issues. No one likes their mechanic to tell them, “pick it up in 6 weeks.”

·         Keep leaves off lawn areas. Keeps moisture from being trapped and if you or your lawn service are applying products, you will have a more uniform coverage without the leaves.

·         Move any shrub or tree now before it is too late. Root prune now, move before they start putting on new growth. Try SUPERthrive Solid to help survival.

·          Spray trees and shrubs with paraffinic oil (ultra-fine, Omni Supreme oil)  to control over-wintering insects. Watch temperatures. If you have ongoing issues with scale, aphids, white flies, or other sucking bugs, try Safari or Dominion for long term control. Neem oil works on diseases as well as insects.

·         Sharpen pruning tools or purchase new ones.

·         If you haven’t already, get your bulbs in the ground.

·         Apply SeaHume to turf, trees, flowers, and shrubs. Adding organics now will help in the spring. Cotton Burr Compost?

·         Re-do bed lines to reflect maturing landscape.

·         Get bird house ready for nesting birds.

·         Have moles, get Mole Patrol – it really works.

·         Have deer, get Deer Stopper – it really works.

·         Check irrigation or get on professional’s list to check. It has been dry this winter. Be sure the heads are pointed the right way. Can you eliminate (turn off) the zone watering the shrubs and trees? Have you tried wetting agents to lower your water bill (we hear between 30 and 60 percent)? Less water equals less disease.

·         Prune Crepe Myrtles – don’t butcher them. Remove crossing (rubbing) limbs, inward growing limbs and diseased limbs. Topping or reducing their height is not considered proper pruning.

·         Hold off on pruning plants damaged by the cold – we could still have freezing temperatures.

·         Test well for salt.

·         Get ready to preemerge in February. Kill small seeded summer annual weeds before they take over your landscape.

 

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is Federal Law.

Moles 2026

 

                                            Mole Tunnel

                                            Main Tunnel

                                            Feeding Area - Tearing Up Turf!

              Notice the 'green' around an area treated with Cotton Burr Compost in December!

                                                      "Just a Shout Away"


                                       

Horticulture Hotline 01/17/26

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

Moles are always a hot topic in the Lowcountry. I try to limit my writing about them to only once a year (or less – it has been 4 years); however, after walking through some neighborhoods and listening to the complaints in the Possum stores, it looks like the time has come. Moles are mating now, so expect babies in late March or April.

 

As with deer, raccoons, and possums, all the development has squeezed the mole to move into your yard. The mole that was happy eating insects and worms in a vacant lot is now moving to your yard as a house, apartment complex or shopping center is being constructed on its old home. I have even noticed some buffer areas between different neighborhoods that were once forest like being cleaned up and landscaped. Again, less habitat for the mole. Moles really don’t have any natural predators to keep their numbers in check, other than some dogs and cats, so their numbers keep increasing.

 

The weekly mowing (noise, vibration, wheels of the mower – run a mower over your yard all winter? – will help with fire ants also) of your yard during the summer and the tight, actively growing grass seems to lower the mole activity some during the summer; however, the moles are out tunneling for food now. Once the grass starts actively growing and weaves itself together, along with regular moving, hopefully, the moles will move.

 

  I still recommend a 3-prong approach when controlling moles for the less adventurous people that do not want to trap and look at a dead mole.  These 3 steps are:

 

1. Kill the mole
2. Manage its food source
3. Repel other moles from your yard

 

Moles tunnel through your yard looking for food.  They usually have several main runs through your yard as well as secondary tunnels.  The secondary tunnels are where they collect their food, and once they have gone down a secondary tunnel, they mark it with a scent, and they will not return to that tunnel.  To kill a mole with bait or a trap, you must be able to locate the main tunnel.

 

A good way to locate the main runs is to take a stick and poke holes in the tunnels in your yard.  Next, mark where you made these holes.  The next morning come and check to see if the holes are plugged. If they are plugged, then you know you have a main tunnel.  The mole will only plug holes in the main tunnel.  That evening, open one of the holes that the mole plugged the night before and place bait (or trap) 5 feet on either side of the hole that you reopened.  When the mole comes back to re-plug the hole it will have to walk right over the bait (or trap).  These baits are very tasty to the mole, so the mole will usually eat the bait and die.

 

The baits that we regularly hear good results about are Mole Patrol and Talpirid.  I prefer Mole Patrol because it is one third the price and has 6 times the amount of bait placement as Talpirid.  Stay away from poison peanuts.  Moles do not eat peanuts. They eat insects and worms.

 

Controlling the food source is the next most important factor in managing moles on your property.  Depending on which doctor (PHD) you believe, the mole eats 85-125% of its body weight every day.  In human terms a 100 lb. person would eat 85-125 lbs of food per day. That is a lot of food! Think of Michael Phelps and all he was reported to eat from swimming in water. A mole is swimming in soil!

 

Using a product like Bug Blaster Above and Below on a regular basis will do a good job in managing the mole’s food source.  Monitor your insect populations with a soap solution to determine how often you need to apply insecticides.  Use two ounces of lemon dish detergent in a five-gallon bucket of water and pour it slowly over your soil in the areas where you think you might have insects and see what comes to the surface. You might be surprised!  Some products get tied up in the thatch to kill surface insects (like ants), so be sure to get a product for sub-surface insects.

 

Castrol products (Repellex’s  Mole, Vole and Gopher Repellent) and other repellents (Mole Stopper) work good as perimeter treatments to keep moles from re-infesting on your property. Be sure there are not any moles on your property before you put out this barrier, or you will trap them inside your landscape.  Make a 10–20-foot band treatment around the perimeter of your property.  Reapply these repellents as the label recommends. 

 

If your yard is free of moles right now, you can skip #1 and just manage their food source and repel them at the perimeter of your property.  Be sure your yard is free of moles before you skip #1 in this process.  If you take away the mole’s food source and he is in your yard already, he will really tear up your yard looking for food!

 

If all this sounds like too much work, try the mole and rodent smoke bombs or hire a professional!

 

Kill winter weeds before they develop seeds. Take soil test – Possum’s Custom Program? Measure your grass and bed areas, so you know how much product to purchase. Get out your preemergent control product for weeds. Poa annua (annual blue grass), and Crepe murder (it’s just a shout away -The Rolling Stones) are becoming hot topics. On a different note, take a glimpse of the beauty of runners filling areas treated with Cotton Burr Compost!

 

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is 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.