Two Great Natural Pet Products

Horticulture Hotline 07/10/17

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

Dog Rocks and Pet Remedy continue to help pet owners and win awards.

Pet Remedy is a natural de-stress and calming product for mammals and birds. This stuff is amazing! Pet Remedy works by enhancing production of GABA, a natural chemical produced by the brain, transmitted from nerve to nerve as a calming message when the body is stressed.

Animals can be stressed by fireworks, travel, separation, thunder, trips to the vet, surgery, cone on the head, new pet in home, new home, loud noises, loss of companion, … Pet Remedy has become a great substitute for ‘Doggy Downers’ around my house. I’m always afraid he is going to hurt himself on those pills (Ace).

Ol’Boy, my beloved 14 year old pound hound, recently had surgery. He had to wear ‘The Cone’. He was pacing, anxious and panting. I had pills for him, but I decided to try the natural product first. Pet Remedy calmed him down immediately – I also think it affected me too! A few days later it was fireworks – with Pet Remedy no problem. Then early Monday morning the true test came. A huge thunder storm hit the Lowcountry. Ol’Boy was up and digging in the carpet. In the past thunder would have involved the ‘Thunder Jacket’, a lot of petting and ‘good boys’ and possibly the ‘Doggy Downers’. One squirt with Pet Remedy he stopped shaking and digging and was right back to sleep.

Pet Remedy can be used on everything from horses to ferrets. If it didn’t come from the Dog Rocks people, I would have never tried it. I’m glad I did! Pet Remedy works right away. With pills the thunder could have pasted before the pills started to work then you have a drunk dog for hours and the thunder is long gone.

Dog Rocks are these crazy rocks that come from Australia. When put in your dog’s drinking water bowl or bowls, they treat the water with something (not harmful to your pet) that prevents those nasty yellow urine spots in your lawn. Often these yellow spots turn into dead grass.

I was introduced to Dog Rocks by a friend living in London that has 2 spaniels and a very small yard. Dog urine almost killed her whole yard. Dog Rocks worked great for her, so we began carrying them. Dog Rocks have worked great here as well.

Sometimes we move items around in the Possum’s Stores. When people that regularly use Dog Rocks come into the store and we have moved the display of Dog Rocks, the look of horror that comes across the customer’s face tells the story – oh no, not those nasty yellow and dead areas in my lawn again!

The key to success with Dog Rocks is that the dog gets all his water from water that is treated with the rocks. No toilet drinkers here. Dogs that drink out of coolers at the beach or on the boat or eat a lot of ice do not get as good results. Dogs that drink out of bowls with the rocks get great results.

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

Midsummer Cocktail or Sundae

Horticulture Hotline 07/03/17

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

Certain foods or other items just go together. Vanilla ice cream and pecan pie (hot apple pie, hot brownies, hot chocolate chip cookies, a bowl…) and a topping of whipped cream go well together. Wines with certain foods or champagne with dessert are common pairings. Oysters and beer on a cool evening. March Madness Basketball and chicken wings go great together. Hamburgers and hotdogs on the Fourth of July are a National tradition. I’m sure you get the idea. In landscaping and pest control there are some products that do much better when paired with another product or two.

Right now as the lawn, shrubs, and trees are fighting through the dog days of summer, a combination of SeaHume, Cotton Burr Compost (or Flower Amendment) and Black Castings will give your yard a nice organic nutritional boost (unlike a Red Bull, Randy). These products alone will do great things for your grass; however, if you combine them, look out. Some people will use them across their whole yard, others will target weak plants, weak turf, just their front yard or their favorite tree or plant.

SeaHume G is a combination product of its own. Seaweed and humic acid are two great products that go great together. The Seaweed is full of minor nutrients, amino acids, gibberellins, and many other plant nutrients. The Seaweed also feeds the microorganisms in the soil, helps the plant grow deep roots. Deep roots help with compaction, drought tolerance, wear tolerance and they give the plant the ability to gather more nutrients because the roots cover more area. The humic acid in SeaHume G helps create a rich, fertile, soil structure by modifying physical and chemical properties of the soil. Humic acid helps root growth and makes nutrients that are tied up in the soil available to the plant.

Cotton Burr Compost is very high in nutrition (some other composts are good filler but add little nutritional value). Plants and turf love it. Cotton Burr Compost provides a great ‘hotel’ for microorganisms in the soil. One of the biggest benefits of Cotton Burr Compost is that it lasts up to and in many cases over 2 years in the soil. Most other organic amendments are decomposed in 30 days or so depending on the microorganisms in the soil.  

Black Castings are Mother Nature’s purest form of natural organic slow release plant food produced by earthworms. Black Castings are full of beneficial microbial populations and the food to support good soil biology. They enhance plant growth and stress recovery (wear, insect, disease, cold damage). Black Castings will make fertilizer work better and in many cases, you can reduce the amount of fertilizer applied.

Possum’s Wetting Agent is the whip cream, helping water penetrate the ground better, so you use less water and less water runs off into our storm water drains, lakes, rivers, creeks, ditches and other bodies of water. Your water will stay on your property better.

The cherry on top would include SeaHume liquid and its many attributes.

Try this cocktail or sundae, I think you and your plants and your grass will love it!!

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

A Little Old, A Little New

Last week, I quickly mentioned flies. They are gross! With all the outdoor (and sometimes dog friendly) sitting areas to restaurants now days the flies seem to be coming in more contact with humans and humans’ food. Flies spread disease. Flies walk around on some spoiled food in the dumpster, then fly over to some dog poop, land on it, and the next thing you know they are on your food. Gross! Not to mention the nuisance of “shooing” the flies away from your food.

Gray Leaf Spot on St. Augustine grass was something I mentioned last week. If you missed the article and would like to read it, go to possumsupply.com and look under the Horticulture Hotline tab for archived articles. When writing about the cultural practices to minimize Gray Leaf Spot, I failed to mention that you should mow with a sharp mower blade. Some of the mower blades that started the year off sharp are not so sharp anymore. You want a clean cut on the grass blade. Not blunt force trauma.

One more item from last week. Saturday at the radio show John Quincy (producer of “The Garden Clinic”) brought to Paul (Super Garden Hero) Mulkey and my attention that mosquitoes kill over 1,000,000 people a year. The deadliest insect in the world. Protect yourself!  

Indian Hawthorn (AKA Raphs) have long finished blooming and can be pruned as needed. Watch out for the leaf spot disease that attacks these plants. If your plant’s foliage is thinning and it has spots on its leaves, there is a good chance your plant is under attack.  Honor Guard does a good job of keeping this fungus in check; however, this disease will always be out there so regular spraying is a must. Also, when spraying fungicides, it is important to switch chemical classes to avoid resistance. If they do not need pruning, hold off, because pruning encourages new growth and the disease likes new leaves.  

If you are taking a vacation this summer and have St. Augustine grass, be sure to put out an insecticide to protect your lawn from ‘the nasty rascal, the chinch bug’. Chinch bugs can do serious damage in a very short period of time. They love and multiple greatly in hot, dry weather, so this year has been a very bountiful year for them. Bug Blaster, ECO VIA (National Organics Program compliant), or Allectus (a newer product with some long-term control) should help you manage this lawn terrorist.

Azaleas are getting ready to set their flower buds for next year, so it is very important to do any pruning on these plants right away. Even if you pruned them hard right after they bloomed, you can still do any touch up pruning to manage any growth that might have occurred since the last pruning. An application of KeyPlex or Mighty Plant should help them set more blooms for next year. Watch out for lace bugs sucking on your plants.

Any of the repeat blooming azaleas (Encore, Red Slipper) should be pruned right after they flower. If you prune fairly hard, you will likely lose some of the next flush of blooms; however, they should get back in sync fairly quickly, providing you multiple blooms.

A general rule of thumb is to be sure all your spring blooming plants have been pruned. Gardenias (unless they repeat in August), Camellias, Spirea, Forsythia, flowering quince …

If you haven’t fertilized your lawn, shrubs and trees, a midsummer feeding is a good idea. With the heavy rains and all the growing they have been doing, some food would be a great idea. I’m seeing a lot of yellow grass in my travels. A soil test is always the best guide for fertilization.

Snakes, Japanese Beetles, baby mole crickets killing, ants, aphids, chiggers, fleas, roaches and rats are all hot topics at Possum’s.

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