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
