Lawn Care

Did you know grubworms come from June bugs? Many folks are reporting seeing June bugs all over the porch since the first of March. They are making their mating flight to lay eggs, hatch grubs and feed off the roots of your grass. Once you begin seeing them you wait 5-6 weeks before you treat. If you have ever lost your lawn to grubs, you know the devastation they can cause. There are several ways to control grubs.

First, is the watch and monitor. If you notice sections of the lawn are prematurely wilting, or turning brown you can dig down and look for grubs. If you find more than 4 in one square foot area, then it is recommended to treat the affected areas with a granular or liquid insecticide drench.

Second, you can spray out Beneficial Nematodes. These microscopic worms attack white grubs and other soil inhabiting insects. Nematodes must be supplied with adequate moisture to help them move down into the soils where grubs are feeding. At least ¼ inch of water must be applied before and ¼ inch just after, nematodes are sprayed into the lawn. Repeat applications may be necessary to maintain a good colony of them. One container covers 2000 sq. ft.

Third, you can apply Bayer Season Long Grubworm killer which lasts for 3 months to give a chemical kill of the grubs. This product attaches to the roots of your grass and kills them as they feed. This year peak time to treat is the first two weeks of April.

-DeAnna

We planted the Purple Knight Alternanthera, in the Joseph Coat family, under our Texas Sabal Palms out front of our home on Catalina Street. It has proven its worth to me! It takes wind and sun, gives a pretty contrast to green lawn with it’s burgundy foliage, doesn’t have any major insect or fungus challenges, and if planted in the right spot, can grow to it’s maximum height of 24″ or can be pruned shorter! It has been named by the Texas Department Of Agriculture as a Texas Superstar and definitely a superstar in my book!

-Sally

Do plant the tree at the right depth, with the top of the root ball as high or slightly higher than surrounding soil.
Do eliminate competition from lawn by clearing the grass out a minimum of 18″ (more is better) from the trunk and keeping the cleared area mulched.
Don’t “volcano mulch” the trunk of your new tree, 2″ of mulch over the roots and 1″ or less touching the trunk.
Don’t let a string trimmer get close enough to strip off the bark of your new tree.
Don’t use “weed-and-feed” fertilizer near your new tree.
Don’t excessively prune all lower growth off your new tree thinking it will make your tree grow up faster; it will actually slow growth of roots, trunk diameter, and height.
Do check watering frequently through the first summer and water as
needed.

-James

You would think with our cold winter, snow and 2 freezes in the 20’s all the insects would have frozen. But no, there seems to be an explosion of nature’s critters this spring. Hot weather insects have started early. Aphids on anything and everything, spider mites are in abundance on roses, angel trumpets, hibiscus, junipers and more. Chinch bugs are beginning in the lawns, and scale is erupting on cast iron, flax lily and more. Be a good bug scout. Look and observe, and remember a few bugs here and there are not always bad. If you see an insect infestation that won’t be controlled by nature or patience and needs treatment, come and see us to help identify the problem and get you the right solution.

-DeAnna

Watering slow and deep but not too often is the key to a strong and deep root system. By contrast, frequent, short watering encourages roots to stay shallow, in a zone that dries out faster. Texas A&M recommends applying one inch of water once a week or less, on your chosen watering day. You can measure this by setting out a rain gauge or a tuna fish can. If you find water running off into the gutter before you get one inch (likely) then you need to break your watering into two or three applications on the same day (Learn more: Cycle Soak Method of Lawn Irrigation) The second watering and third watering will push the water down deeper into the soil, to help grow a deeper root system. Remember, shallow watering every few days forces the roots to rise to the surface where the moisture is. Shallow roots demand more watering and make for a weaker plant.

Newly planted trees, shrubs and grass will require more frequent watering since they do not have an extensive root system. Annual flowers and vegetables require more also due to their limited root system. So start now, and water slow and deep to maintain that beautiful lawn and landscape for the summer with minimal care.

-DeAnna

Water! It’s a vital part of having a healthy lawn and landscape. Rain is always our best source of water but since summer is here and rain is scarce, I want to show you a little trick I learned.

Personally, I love to hand water with a hose, watering pots and flowerbeds, playing with dogs, cooling myself off in the process. It’s fun and gets the job done! Now watering with a sprinkler, that’s a bit of a hassle. Setting it out, making sure the spray is in my lawn and not on the street, remembering to move it and then turning it off. You get the picture! And a sprinkler can only cover a limited space. Aughhh!

But now I can cover more ground with my new Melnor pulsating sprinklers we have here at Gill’s. You can attach them end to end… doubling the watering area in the same amount of time. WOW! Plus, I added a Melnor mechanical timer to my faucet that can be set to run up to 2 hours and then will automatically turn off. A double WOW! I attached 1 sprinkler to my 100’ hose, unscrewed the other side and attached a 50’ hose, attached the 2nd sprinkler, set the sprinkler tabs to keep the water in my yard, turned the water on, fine-tuned the stops, set the timer, done!

Now my yard, trees, shrubs are much happier and so am I.

Remember, you can water your lawn with a sprinkler from 6pm to 10am, one day of the week. Your choice of day. You can hand water or use a soaker hose, any day, any time, for however long you like.

-Debbie

It is not webworms! Webbing on the bark of trunks and branches is a good thing. Don’t spray!!

Bark lice is natures clean-up crew. These tiny creatures are scouring the bark for plant, animal, or fungus life which they eat, and while they perform this housekeeping chore, they spin this web for protection.

Usually the web will disintegrate in two or three days and will disappear almost a suddenly as it appeared. Leave them alone and let them do their job of cleaning up your trees or shrubs. Thank goodness for good bugs!

Photo: agriflife.org

-DeAnna

What a stark contrast! The owners of these three homes in Denver, one next to the other, each have a very different look.

The home on the bottom has grass, but it is dead due to a faulty irrigation system. The home on top has grass with irrigation. Kind of boring, and getting to be expensive with the cost of water. The owner on the left has chosen plants that require little water along with an assortment of brick, stone and gravel. And no grass! Interesting and very attractive!

If you would like to work towards a lower water requiring landscape that’s pretty but don’t quite know how to accomplish it, give our landscape department a call. We can design and install it for you and give you direction on how to maintain!

-Sally

Lawn Care

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