Large Patch Fungus
Horticulture Hotline 03/22/26
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
The pollen and the gnats are here and so is Spring! Spring
is like St. Patrick’s Day when everyone is Irish for the day. It seems like
everyone is a gardener in the Spring.
Liriope (monkey grass), holly fern, and cast-iron plant will
benefit from cutting back to remove old, discolored foliage this time of year.
Some people use a lawn mower, others hedge shears. I do not know why, but I can convince people
to cut back their Liriope; however, trying to get them to cut back holly fern
and cast-iron plant is not as easy. I see more people pruning individual leaves
than just cutting the whole plant back to the crown. The completely new growth
from the cast iron plant and the holly fern will look as spectacular as the new
growth from the Liriope. Get rid of all that tattered old foliage!
It is very important to manage your winter weeds now.
Burweed (low to the ground with a sticker in April to May – it’s seed), henbit,
chickweed, and the dreaded Poa (annual blue grass) are a few of the more
prevalent, troublesome winter weeds. Although winter weeds will die when the
temperatures warm, they will be producing thousands of seeds for next year’s
crop until they die. These seeds add seeds to the “seed bank”. A manufacturer
of preemergent products once told me that they like a minimum of 85% of control
of weeds with their product before turning it over to the EPA for testing and
labeling. If your seed bank is 100, you would have 15 weeds. If your seed bank
is 100,000, you would have 15,000 weeds! The seed bank is a good bank to have
overdrawn.
Control small seeded annual summer weeds now with a pre-emergent
product. We (Possum people) talk about target dates to put out pre-emergent
products in the lawn and beds; however, different weeds germinate at different
soil temperatures provided they have adequate moisture. Weed seeds germinate
throughout the year here, so be sure to have out your protection. Always follow
the label of the product you are using so you do not overdo it and be sure you are
waiting for the proper intervals between applications.
If mulching, 2 – 3 inches is the latest recommendation. Keep
the mulch off the trunk of the tree. Cotton Burr Compost as a mulch can add a
lot of nutrition and a sip of compost tea (and lord knows we love our tea)
every time it is irrigated.
Soil Test? Bring them to Possum’s for accurate testing and an
easy-to-follow interpretation of the results.
After you have done some ‘Spring Cleaning’, SeaHume and
Cotton Burr Compost with their loaded micronutrients and biostimulants should
help your plants and turf come out of dormancy healthy.
If you have plants like Viburnum (white flies), Camellias
(scale), Gardenias (white flies), Crepe Myrtles (bark scale, aphids), Lantana
(lace bugs), or any other plant that you know regularly turns black from sooty
mold, consider drenching with Dominion Tree and Shrub for season long control
of sucking insects. This systemic product is awesome!
Two more things since I am running out of column inches.
Large patch fungus is active again now that the soil temperatures have warmed.
If you have a history of the disease, use a control product preventatively. If
you have an irrigation system, go through it and make sure everything is
working.
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
