The Lowcountry - Prevention and Protection Works Best

These high humidity days have really kicked in the Large Patch (Brown Patch) fungus disease. Fame or T-Methyl are 2 good systemic fungicides to apply now.

As the leaves from the trees in your yard fall, be sure to rake them up (consider composting them in your yard) or mulch them with a mower.

Moles have been doing their Holiday shopping. Tunnels everywhere. Read last week’s article on moles at possumsupply.com under the Horticulture Hotline tab if you missed it.

Visit Charleston County Park’s Holiday Festival of Lights with friends and family. The Holiday Festival of Lights is one of the best in the Nation and always improving.

Our city, town, county, state and national parks have a lot to offer. The different plantations also provide great landscape interest with the camellias, holly berry’s, and all the other winter color.

I know at Possum's we have gift certificates for that hard to buy for person. I'm sure most other local garden centers would as well. Plenty of parking, buying local, and short lines at the register for the quick in and out would be all the reasons I would need to go that route. 

Now is a great time to test your soil and get on a Possum's Custom Program or buy a gift certificate for someone else to get on a custom program. The time is now to beat the spring rush. Prevention and protection are so important in this area.

Try some SUPERthrive to help keep your Christmas Tree fresh. One drop in a 4 ounce cup of water mixed in with the other tree stand water every 3 to 4 days is all it needs. SUPERthrive won the World’s Fair Gold Medal in 1940, so it is a good product to have around for many reasons.

Any bare areas in the lawn should be teased with cotton burr compost, so the grass will fill in. Weeds love to move in on thin turf.

While cleaning out a file cabinet, I was reminded why I’m a big believer in prevention and protection.

The following is paraphrased from an American Nurseryman article dated 7/1/1989.

An Israeli women’s overzealous attempt to rid her home of a cockroach led to the hospital where her husband was treated for burns, broken ribs and a cracked pelvis.

As told in the National Arborists newsletter, the woman crushed the bug and deposited it in the toilet. However, as cockroaches so often do, this one refused to die, so the woman sprayed an entire can of insecticide in the toilet.

Her husband, unapprised of the situation when he came home, went to the toilet, sat down and lit a cigarette. After finishing it, he flicked the cigarette butt into the toilet, igniting the pesticide. Certain parts of his anatomy were burned in the resulting flames.

As for his broken ribs and pelvis… those occurred when the paramedics were carrying him out. When the paramedics learned how the man burned himself in such an unusual area, they broke into hysterics and lost control of the stretcher, adding injuries to insult.

Prevention and protection – can save your grass…, house, and landscape plants!

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

Moles

Moles are always a hot topic in the Lowcountry. I try to write about them only once a year, and after walking through some neighborhoods, looks like the time has come. Brown patch (Large Patch) has been worse than I was hoping since it has been so dry. The disease is out there where it seems to be every year.

The weekly mowing (noise, vibration, wheels of the mower) 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.

  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 a gone down a secondary tunnel, they will not return to that tunnel.  In order to kill a mole with bait or a trap, you must be able to locate the main tunnel.

The best 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 on the main tunnel.  That evening, open up 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.

Three baits that we regularly hear good results about are Mole Patrol, poison worms 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 eats from swimming in water. A mole is swimming in soil!

Using a product like Sevin 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.  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 (Mole Repellent, Repellex Mole, Vole and Gopher Repellent) and other repellents (Mole Stopper) work good as perimeter treatments to keep moles from re-infesting 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 you 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!

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

Amending the Soil for Fall Planting

Horticulture Hotline 11/21/16

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

Fall is for planting, so here is a recipe for amending the soil for flower beds. You could use the same recipe for trees and shrubs with some slight modification. If possible, test soil first then amend the soil according to the soil test. Next try the amendments listed below. Wait 10 days to plant, if possible.

Amend whole area not just the hole! With trees and shrubs do not till deeper than the root ball of the plants you are planting. Once the amendments settle you do not want your plant planted too deep.  This recipe is based on per 100 sq. ft. of planting area:

·         Mule Mix – 200 lbs. per 100 sqft.  Mule Mix is super-heated calcified clay.  Mule Mix helps improve drainage and reduces compaction.  Mule Mix will last in the soil for over 20 years.  The particle can hold its weight in water and then releases it slowly as the plant needs it.  We have used this product to correct many water issues (too wet and too dry) over the years.

·         Bolster 04-04-04 Sustane – 2.5 lbs. per 100 sqft.  This product will increases fertilizer efficiency and improves soil biology.  It contains mycorrhiza spores increasing the ability for the roots absorb nutrients and water. Also contains biostimulants and iron.

·         SeaHume – 1.5 lbs. per 100 sqft. Humic acid and seaweed. Super product for establishing plants. Stimulates growth of beneficial microorganisms and root growth. Over 60 minor nutrients, amino acids, gibberellins and much, much more.  

·         Cotton Burr Compost – (4) 3 cu.ft. bags per 100 sq.ft. (sandy soil, increase to (6) bags).  Cotton Burr Compost is nature’s perfect soil conditioner.  The cotton boll (burr) is full of nutrients and will not tie up nitrogen like wood and wood-based soil amendments.  It will loosen up clay soils and add water holding capacities to sandy soils.  Cotton Burr is an excellent food source for beneficial soil organisms that help make nutrients available to plants, aerate the soil and helps keep harmful organisms and diseases in check. 

·         Flower Bed Amendment – (5) 1 cu.ft. bags per 100 sqft (in sand, increase to (8) bags).  This product not only contains Cotton Burrs, but also composted cattle manure, feather meal, cotton seed meal and alfalfa meal.  Alfalfa meal is high in nitrogen and contains Triacantanol, a natural root growth enhancer, and may help in the suppression and control of certain fungal diseases.

Mix these products together and till into 6-8 inches of soil.  With clay soil, you should have 1/3 amendments and 2/3 clay.  With sandy soil, it should be ½ amendments and ½ sand. For trees and shrubs adjust depth according to root ball size.

After tilling the bed, top dress with (4) bags of Natures Blend and then (2) bags of Cotton Burr Compost. For annuals cap it off with one pound of 17-00-09. Plant annuals through this area. With this mixture, every time you water your plants are getting a “compost tea” full of nutrients.

Test your soil after 30 days and add any other amendments that your soil test indicates you need.

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