Lawn Care

This time of year your lawn might not be looking so great. It might be patchy, or pale yellow, or just unhappy. Since St. Augustine grass goes dormant in the winter, fertilizer might not be the best choice. Instead try using Nature’s Blend compost. It’s an alfalfa humate blend that helps your lawn against fungus and feeds the roots. One bag covers 50 square feet of a healthy lawn, or if it’s struggling use one bag per 25sqft. Make sure you spread it to 1/2” or less! Nature’s Blend provides protection against temperature and moisture extremes too, so your lawn has the best chance of surviving the winter and emerging in spring.

-Marta

Pre Spring tips…do now & save time later!

Do

Apply Pre-emergents Amaze or Hi Yield Weed and Grass Preventor with Dimension to prevent spring weeds.
Spray All Seasons Oil to kill and prevent scale insects this spring on flax lily, cast iron plant, irises, pittosporums & hollies.
Treat for lawn fungus as a cure and preventative due to damp weather with F-Stop or Bayer Lawn Fungus Control, organically with Serenade or Natures Blend.
Prepare veggie gardens for spring plantings. Pull up all old vegetables, and rework the soil with Cotton Burr Compost or Natures Blend.

Don’t

Prune indian hawthorns, azaleas, or carolina jasmine since they are an early spring bloomer.
Prune tropicals, ex. hibiscus, bougainvilleas, lantanas, plumbagos, etc..
Spray a weed killer (it is too cold to be effective).

One day you look outside at your lawn and BAM, you notice there are weeds everywhere! Before you start spraying with an herbicide, make sure you read the label. Some weed killers have temperature restrictions and either take longer to work or don’t work at all! A better option for this time of year is to put down a pre-emergent weed prevention like Hi Yield Weed & Grass Stopper With Dimension or Fertilome Broadleaf Weed Control With Gallery to stop the spread of weeds until the weather warms up. It won’t kill the weeds you have now but it sure will slow the weed crop down in the months to come.

–Marta

Beautiful weather; makes us want to get out and do yard work, right? It’s time to prune your hardy shrubs and groundcovers like Lantana, Firebush, Esperanza and more. Wait for indian hawthorne to bloom before pruning in March. Also, hold off a few more weeks on the tender tropicals like Hibiscus and Bougainvilleas. Roses should be pruned this week if you have not already pruned them back. Valentine’s Day can be an easy reminder for your rose pruning. Also remember to spray Bonide’s All Seasons Spray Oil on Irises, Cast Iron, Hollies and Flax lilies to help prevent scale insects this spring. Wait to fertilize the lawn until you are mowing once a week, probably mid March. Fertilizer is taken up with growth and most lawns and plants are still dormant. Do begin watering the lawn and landscape again on average once a week. We have been warming up quickly and yet we’ve had no rainfall to speak of so the ground is dry and ready for water. Water slow and deep, one inch every two weeks. Your lawn and plants will thank you.

-DeAnna

Garden Do’s:

Do prune back plants now 1/3 to 1/2 before the flush of new spring growth.
Do prune back roses, removing all twiggy growth and dead canes.
Do apply Weed & Grass Stopper with Dimension or Amaze granules (pre-emergents) to prevent more weeds from sprouting.
Do spray lawns for broadleaf weeds now with Weed-B-Gon Hose End that is safe for Floratam St. Augustine.

Garden Don’ts:

Don’t prune back Indian Hawthorn, Climbing Roses, Carolina Jessamine or Azaleas until after the Spring bloom.
Don’t use Weed and Feed in your lawn if you have trees and shrubs since they are a broadleaf also.

Have you been working the soil in the flowerbeds or vegetable gardens and found small grubworms? I have seen lots of cases this past week from customers who are finding them in the beds and also in the lawn. If you are seeing dead areas in the lawn, dig down with a shovel width size sample 6 inches deep and count how many grubs you find in that one square foot area. If you find more than 4 in a square foot area, it is recommended to treat. To treat for grubs organically, now is the time to spray out Beneficial nematodes. The soil needs to be kept moist to keep them alive and multiplying. Bayer 24 hour or Triazicide are 2 granular chemical products that can be spread and watered in to kill them. If you find them in the vegetables garden we carry Hi Yield Vegetable and Ornamental Insect granules. Killing the ones you see now will lessen the population soon to emerge, turn into a June bug, mate , lay eggs and start the cycle all over again. Treat now to kill existing grubs, and remember the end of April to the first of May will be time to spread the Bayer Season–long Grub Killer to give you 3 month protection.

-DeAnna

Now is the time to kill any weeds that have popped up in the lawn. The weather needs to be warm and sunny for 3-5 days with no rain or water on the lawn for Weed B Gon to work the best. It comes with a hose-end applicator on the bottle and enough to spray over 2500 sq. ft of lawn area. Do not mow first, but do make sure the lawn is watered well before spraying. And yes, it is safe to use on Floratam St. Augustine. Give it a full 2 weeks to work its magic and by then the grass should be out of winter dormancy and it will be time to fertilize.

–DeAnna

If you have a Hackberry tree or a sago palm you know what I am talking about. Hackberry trees get wooly aphids every June that drip black sooty mold all over everything below the tree. Use Bayer Tree and Shrub Protect & Feed as a soil drench for 9 month insect protection. Since I have been treating my neighbors tree in March or April I have not had to spray to protect my yard, vehicle, or lawn furniture from the soot. If you have sago palms, use it to prevent and kill all the white bugs on the tops and bottoms of the fronds. They are called Asian cycad. This insect has been around since the year before the snow, so be diligent and treat to help rid the city of this pest.

image c/o Auburn.edu

-DeAnna

Lawn Care

Pre Spring tips…do now & save time later!

Do

Don’t

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