Ladies and Gentleman, Start Your Gardening

 

                                            used Preemerge on Right - Not on Left

                                           

                                                     Doveweed - Hated by Most

                                            Derived From Earthworm Castings

                                                       Great For Planting or Transplanting

                                            Serious Organic - Some Call Dinosaur Poop

Horticulture Hotline 02/15/26

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

Daytona 500, SEWE, Valentine’s Day, and the soil temperatures are all lining up to indicate it is time for preemergent products to be applied to your lawn and beds. 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.

 

Different weeds germinate at different soil temperatures. Crabgrass is the first summer annual weed that we are targeting for control. Goosegrass comes later and the ever-hated Doveweed germinates last out of these three. In the Lowcountry our soil is warmer than other parts of the country, so microorganisms in the soil that breakdown the preemergent barrier are more active than in cooler climates. Therefore, it is good to use split applications of preemergent products. Always read, understand, and follow product labels.

 

For the last time, well maybe not, kill those winter weeds now before they seed and add to your ‘seed bank’ (and the Lowcountry’s) for next year! Now is the time! Warmer temperatures and we should get some rain for some soil moisture will aid in the killing of a weed. An actively growing weed is easier to kill than a drought stressed weed.

 

Trees grow. Some experts say it is 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, it 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, it is a great time for an arborist to inspect the health of your trees. An arborist can see cavities, crossing limbs, and other situations easier if the tree does not have leaves (not evergreen).

 

If an arborist needs to do some pruning, it is good to do that before the tree uses the energy to put out new foliage that is going to quickly be removed. Of course, here an arborist can prune any time of year. It is also a good time to fertilize trees with the right fertilizer, so that they have the nutrients to put on new growth for the new season and a strong root system.

 

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!

 

My bald cypress has begun to “needle out” and my fig tree has new buds emerging. Time to go on an organic binge with SeaHume, Cotton Burr Compost, Vermaplex, worm castings, Nature’s Blend and others! 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 the amount of large patch fungus we had this fall, apply products preventatively as the conditions get right, so you can use lower rates.

 

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 (I could not resist), 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 labels. The product label is 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. 

 

2026 Program Time

 

                                            Spring is coming - ready or not

                                                  lichens falling from tree trunks as tree swells

                                                      spurge with milky discharge

                                                goosegrass 

                                              

Horticulture Hotline 02/09/26

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

The Saucer or Tulip Magnolias are blooming, which usually indicates spring is rapidly approaching. Camellias are blooming. My Bottlebrush has survived so far. Hibiscus, lantana, and cassia are not so lucky. The trees are swelling with water as evident by the lichens on the ground. The red maple trees are providing their new growth red color.

 

The time is now to introduce some organics to your landscape. SeaHume, with its high humic acid, seaweed, and carbon content, is a great choice. SeaHume is very concentrated organic material that has been compacted under heat and pressure over time and is mined. Cotton Burr Compost also does a terrific job this time of year. The two products together form a serious synergy in the soil. Food for microbes and a five-star hotel!

 

The soil temperature indicates that it is just about time to apply preemergent products to your beds and turf. Valentine’s Day (rose grower’s do you have your pruners and organics ready?), Southeastern Wildlife Expo, and the running of the Daytona 500 are just around the corner. The time to apply the magical weed preventer is coming up fast.

 

Depending on which Phd doctor you believe, crabgrass germinates when the soil temperature (3 inches deep) stays above 55 degrees (some doctors say 57 degrees), for 3 straight days provided adequate moisture in the soil. Now some doctors say remains 57 degrees or above for 24 hours at a depth of 3 inches with adequate moisture.  The manufacturers of the preemergent products suggest that you apply the product 2 weeks before the temperatures are right, so you must be able to predict the future. Do you have a crystal ball? If you are not into monitoring the soil temperature and do not have ESP (do people, still use the term ESP), Valentine’s Day or the running of the Daytona 500 should work for you.  Spreading a preemergent product now could save hours of spot spraying later.

 

The turf areas as well as the landscape bed areas will greatly benefit from the use of preemerge products. Not only will the yard look better, but your plants will not have to compete with the weeds for sun, nutrients, and water. If you are controlling weeds with pre-emergent products, there are less weeds there for you to spray or pull, saving you time. There is also less stress on you trying to find time to control the weeds in your yard later once the weeds have emerged. Control them now with a preemergent control product!

 

For those new readers of the Horticulture Hotline, preemergent control products kill weeds as they germinate.  The weeds never come up and you never have to worry about them.  Crabgrass, goosegrass, barnyardgrass, crowfootgrass, dallisgrass (seedling), foxtail, annual bluegrass, smutgrass, barley, kikuyugrass, wild oats, bittercress, carpetweed, chickweed, Carolina geranium, henbit, knotweed, lespedeza, marestail, black medic, mustard, oxalis, pineappleweed, pigweed, redroot, parsley-piert, purslane, rocket, shephardspurse, speedwell, spurge, and woodsorrel are examples of weeds controlled by preemergent products.  Small seeded annual weeds are controlled by preemergent products.

 

Read the label of the specific product that you are using to get an exact list of weeds that the manufacturer has tested and shown to control. Preemergent products applied now do not control winter annual weeds that are already up like annual blue grass. To control annual bluegrass, you would have used a preemergent in August and again in October (this could vary with products and rates – follow the label).

 

Clover, Florida Betony, Nutsedge and Dollar weed are not controlled by preemergent control products.  These are perennial weeds. Weed Free Zone is a liquid that will do a good job on controlling many of your broadleaf weeds. The Nutsedge will require a different product and is most likely not visible right now.  It is important to control these weeds that you see now (henbit, chickweed, annual bluegrass) before they go into their reproductive stage (flowering).  A weed in its reproductive stage is harder to control than a weed in its vegetative stage. By controlling the weed now, you avoid having to deal with more weed seeds next year.

 

It is very noticeable when you ride through the Lowcountry which homeowners and which businesses used preemergent products last fall at the correct time. One business or home lawn will be nice and brown and dormant without a spec of green in sight. Right next to it will be brown turf mixed with green weeds. Again, it is very important to control those weeds that are up now before they begin to flower.

 

If you missed your fall application of preemergent, use a post-emerge product along with your preemergent product. Kill what weeds are up and control summer annuals weeds before they come up! Great way to be a lawn hero by killing the weeds and not have to mow for the next two and a half months when you are basically mowing weeds. Killing weeds before they seed reduces your weed population greatly. One annual bluegrass plant produces about 6000 seeds! Some people will say do not worry about controlling winter weeds now because the heat will kill them in May. Do you want to add all the weed seeds to your yard in the meantime and have your grass coming out of dormancy compete with the weeds?

 

If you are trying to control weeds in the lawn that are up and starting to flower or seed, mow – wait 2 days and spray – then wait at least another 3 days before you mow again. The mowing will get the weeds actively growing and weeds that are actively growing are easier to kill. If the product is root absorbed, be careful around desirable plants, and water them properly. If you water in too much, you could move the product past the shallow root zone of the weed you are targeting.

 

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. 

 

 

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.