July Heat or WHEN WILL IT END…

WHEN WILL IT END…

The simple answer is when God chooses it to end, but that can be said about everything we need to end in our lives. We just need it too rain and cool off and it will. I’m guessing by October 15th someone will be saying…”I wish it would stop raining already”! We all have short memories. It was hotter, drier and more humid this time last August, but few of us recall it.

Things we should continue to do to COOL SEASON lawns, as long as we have been doing so…

*Water the lawn every day as long you finish by 8-9 am. Everyday is extreme, but that is exactly what we are in…an extreme drought. If you haven’t been watering the lawn regularly, don’t start now. Let the lawn go dormant and start watering about August 25^th or so. That is in preparation for aerating and over seeding around September 5-10^th

*Mow your cool season at 3.5 to 4 inches. Mowing any shorter will guarantee a disaster. Even with watering regularly, you should only be mowing every 12-15 days at best. Non irrigated lawns have all but shut down and probably won’t need to be mowed but every 21-25 days.

*Do not apply any spray herbicides, fertilizers or fungicides unless it’s at 5-7 am. It’s too hot for them to do any good and you may burn up what’s left of the good grass! Granular applications are OK, but water them in to activate them. Keep your expectations low!

Cool Season grasses are not supposed to look good in the type of weather we are having, but keep the faith…good looking cool season grass is only about 8-10 weeks away!!!

Warm Season grasses…

*These should be looking very good right now. They need to be watered in the morning too, but maybe for only for 20-30 minutes and 4 days a week. You can water zoysia lawns in the afternoon, but make sure the drift isn’t hurting your ornamentals!

*Mow these at 2 inches and weekly.

*Apply high nitrogen fertilizers (totally opposite of cool season lawns) every 30 days, but not past August 1-5^th.

*Apply insecticides and herbicides as directed on the label or lawn care professional. I have seen a few zoysia lawns with insect (bill bugs to be exact) problems that have been misdiagnosed as “fungus” problems. Get professional advice if you are not sure what is going on!

*It’s not too late to aerate and or power rake zoysia. Just make sure you can water afterwards because both of these practices will cause rapid water sue in the plants.

Stay positive and think September…the fescue lawns will be green before you know it!

June 2012 Handling Turf Stress

WATER, WATER, WATER…the theme for the Summer!

We are experiencing a drought that doesn’t appear to be ending for some time. We caught in a pattern that supposed to hold for 8-10 weeks. The low humidity and relatively cool night time temperatures are the only things weather wise that have helped cool season lawns. If we had been getting 80% humidity at night along with 80 degree temperatures, we would be having Brown Patch disease like crazy. We still do have some disease pressure, but nothing like what we could be having. If are not feeling like all you are doing is watering…you probably are not watering enough. If you are not complaining about your water bill…you are not watering enough. Between the wind, day time temperatures and lack of rain, we are in a drought. Two inch rains that fall in 45 minutes, barely help at all. Keep watering religiously until we get a 6 to 8 hour rain fall that delivers about a 1” of water!

Follow these steps for the next couple of weeks:

Cool Season Lawns:

*Continue to mow at 3 ½ inches MINIMUM! You should only be mowing about every 8-12 days by now? Sharpen the blade after 8-10 hours of mowing too!

*Fertilize with 100% organic fertilizers or don’t fertilize at all (10#/1000 ft. sq of Milorganite ® is what I suggest).

*Spot spray weeds very early in the morning to avoid burning the good grass. READ THE LABEL!

*Apply fungicides as the label recommends. Usually every 25-28 days. Remember, they are like antibiotics…they control from inside of the plant, not in the ground!

*Apply Merit for grubs right now. Be sure to water in any granule application

*Water at lest 4-5 days a week. I’m watering my athletic fields right now 3 days in a row, one day off to mow and watering 3 days in a row again. I still have cracks in the ground in some places,b ut it ahsn’t gone totally dormant yet. And that is all I can ask for under these conditions. I’ll back off on days in a row once we get a slow, penetrating rain.

Warm Season Lawn:

*Totally different then our cool season lawns! TOTALLY!

*Mow at 2” MAXIMUM! For best results

*Fertilize with High Nitrogen fertilizers or Organics now and again in 30 days for best results

*Apply both quick killing and long last insecticides. Most zoysia problems are misdiagnosed as fungus, when they are actually insect problems. http://turfpath.missouri.edu/reports/update06_05_12.htm

Click on the above link for the best information possible related zoysia and the insect problems we are having here!

*Continue watering 3-4 days a week for 20-30 minutes

I feel like a broken record sometimes with this advice, but like any good message…we need to hear it even though we think already know it. Happy belated Fathers Day to those Fathers out there. My definition of success has changed over the years, but it currently is: Success is living long enough to see that my children are contributing members of society. That they respect people, have God in their hearts and can sit have dinner with me without texting!

Good luck to all those parents and budding lawn gurus out there! Stay cool!

May 3rd 2012

Between the hail, allergies and strange horticultural growth…I’ll be glad when summer finally arrives.

Cool season grass things to do in May:

*MOW HIGH! 3” minimum and 3.5 is better!

*Watch for moths flying out of the lawn when walking in or mowing. These are Sod Web Worms and can hurt the lawn. You should apply an insecticide in either spray form (hose ends for small yards) or in granules (large yards). You may have to do this twice about 3 weeks apart.

*Consider applying organic forms of fertilizer towards the end of the month. Milorganite® and other 100% organic fertilizers at 10#/1000 ft. sq is a good way to prepare the lawn for summer.

*Consider starting your preventative fungicide applications. These are expensive and HAVE to be repeated on 25 day cycles so be sure you are doing all of the other cultural practices (mowing, fertilizing and watering) correctly before starting this program. Fungicide products do nothing to kill the fungus in the soil.

*Start watering when we stop getting rain. Usually, one or two days a week in May is sufficient. June will be a whole other story, stay tuned.

* Preventative grub treatments with Acelepryn® can be applied any time this month. I really like this product because it’s the only insecticide that covers all grub species, but doesn’t have an “indicator” word (caution, warning or danger) on its label. It’s also very pet friendly. Read the label as with any pesticide application.

*Continue to spot spray the weeds as needed.

Warm season grass things to do in May:

*Go ahead and schedule a power raking and or aeration if needed. We should be out of the woods as far as anymore frost (I hope).

*Fertilize immediately after doing this or not. If you do some type of aerating or power raking, you will want to fertilize with some crabgrass preventer combination product. You will wake up crabgrass seeds this time of year. You should try to put out a pound of nitrogen per 1000 ft. sq.

*Apply insecticides if you have any dead spots in the lawn. We have seen a lot of damage from surface feeding insects in the last 30 days and expect bugs be very aggressive this year.

*Consider using “plugs” or sod to repair damage as needed in the next 3-4 weeks. I don’t like to have people buy zoysia sod until it’s good and hot. Wait a few weeks for the good zoysia weather to be here permanently.

*You may spot spray weeds as needed, but be sure the zoysia is 100% green before using any spray herbicides!

*Mow at 1-2” for best results

Let me know if you have any questions?

Glennon Kraemer/Owner

GR Robinson Seed & Service Co

314-432-0300

PS How are doing Mary Ann? 

April Do’s & Don’ts:

April Do’s & Don’ts:

*Hold off fertilizing zoysia for another couple of weeks.

*It’s OK to mow zoysia short and rake up clippings, but don’t power rake or aerate for a couple of weeks yet.

*When you do fertilize after power raking or aerating, use the ½ rate of preemergent.

*If you don’t power rake or aerate use a full pound of nitrogen per 1000 ft. sq.

*Read weed control labels completely. Most herbicides can’t be sprayed on warm season lawns until they have greened up 100%. Most only about 80% today.

*Zoysia lawns are having a lot issues with insects, but the damage looks like disease. Get a professional diagnosis before buying treatments.

*The insecticide “Acelepryn” is very safe product that will control surface feeders and grubs when applied in late April/early May. Can be applied to both cool and warm season lawns.

*Be sure you are mowing your cool season lawns at 3 ½”.

*Continue to spot spray your broadleaf weeds as needed in cool season lawns.

Thank you,

Glenn  

Turf Care 2012 Spring Seeding for Cool Season Lawns

Spring Seeding and Cultural Practices for Cool Season Lawns

Spring (Mid March to early May) is a great time to seed cool season lawns. Shady areas especially. Otherwise, September is the next best time to seed cool season lawns.

There are always “bald” spots in our lawns in the spring. Mostly, these are caused by leaves left in the grass over the winter or for many other reasons. You can let them be until fall (which makes crabgrass control easier to deal with) you can “spot” treat them or “blanket” treat them.

Spot treating will require you to “cover” your spots with a sheet or card board so the crabgrass applications don’t interfere with seed germination. Blanket applications will require you to use “Tupersan”. Tupersan is the only pre-emergent that allows you to seed and still control crabgrass. Read the label carefully! It requires two applications (25-30 days apart) and still an application of conventional crabgrass control! You should only use Tupersan in full sun areas. Crabgrass won’t grow in the shade. Follow the “Step-By-Step” instructions and you will be fine. Expect to repeat the over seeding process in the fall as spring seeding jobs are rarely as successful as fall seeding jobs.

Cultural Practices after Seeding Cool Season Lawns

*Mow at 3-3 ½” all summer (Tall mowing height = deeper roots)

*Apply organic fertilizers as desired (I suggest 2 applications)

*Apply pesticides only with a full understanding of their intent

*Water with a purpose and knowledge of your capabilities

March 10th 2012 Spring blooms eternal…

Spring has sprung, but is it here to stay? I wish I could predict the weather (and lottery numbers) and know for sure what will happen in the next 4 weeks, but I can’t. I do know if you take the following steps on your cool season lawns you will be pleased with the lawn. DO NOTHING to warm season or zoysia lawns until April 1^st at the earliest!!!! Warm season (hence the name) lawns like EXTENDED periods of warm weather; we can still get down into the 20’s this month.  It’s too early to do anything to zoysia! Read this blog in 3 weeks for an update on warm season lawns.

 Cool Season Grass Advice:

*Sharpen you lawn mower blade, tune it up, be sure it is ready for the season.

*Mow your cool season lawns at 2 ½ to 3”, but only AFTER blowing or raking the matted leaves. Matted leaves will prevent spring green up and spreading of the turf, but mainly they will make your crabgrass application not as effective!

*If mow after you loosen the leaves, your mower will vacuum or chop them up easier. You should mow at least TWICE before you apply your crabgrass preventer.

*When you do apply crabgrass preventer, wait until March 24 or so. Barricade ®, Team®, Pedimethelin ® , Dimension ® are all fine to use through the month of March. Dimension Or Dthiopyr ® should be used from late March to Mid-May. READ the label and be sure you understand the rate of application. Do not be fooled by advertisements that make coverage claims. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Most claims are price point sales tools that usually only give you half of what you need.

*Spring seeding can be done immediately. Read this article previously published in the Gateway Gardner:

Please email me if you have any questions and remember folks…it’s just grass!

February 10th 2012 LACK OF WINTER MEANS EARLY WORK

The fact that winter has been late in arriving this year, means we have an opportunity to do some early work in our yards.

We can do the following in our yards right now:

*Rake up or blow matted leaves. This will insure that our preemergent application works to its capacity. Matted leaves don’t allow the cool season grasses to spread and will stop the preemergent from controlling crabgrass in those “spots”.

*Spot spray broadleaf weeds (as long as the air temperature is above 40 degrees and will stay there for a couple of hours). Henbit and Chickweed are especially active right now due to the warm weather. We can “spot spray” these and other weeds with “Ester” formulas of herbicides that are available in any good Lawn & Garden store. They work at lower temperatures then conventional 3 Way herbicides. Turflon Ester is a very good product for spraying weeds right now. As with any pesticide application, read the label!

*Spot seed areas that need repair. Be sure that areas really do need spring seeding or sod. If you seeded last fall and the areas aren’t “thick” enough, you may just be impatient. Dormant seeding/sod can be damaged by bad weather, so they are risky to do this time of year. It’s almost better to mow the yard 2-3 times before you decide to do spring seeding or sod work. Spring seeding should be put off (in most cases) until March 1^st or so.

*Prepare the lawn mower and other tools. Lawn mower shops get flooded with work request during the first warm weeks of March. Get your equipment serviced, sharpened, drained…whatever it needs, so you can have it when you need it.

* Mowing. I like to mow my cool season lawns at about 2 ½ to 2 ¾ inches going out the gate. I bag my clippings so my lawn mower acts as a vacuum as well. I usually walk around with my rake or blower before mowing, so I loosen up the matted leaves that are there. This makes their removal more efficiently.

*Fertilizing. I will always suggest mowing the lawn at least 2-3 times before the first application of fertilizer. This will all but guarantee the best case scenario for crabgrass control. We will address this application in future post. Don’t do anything for now.

*Zoysia lawns. Do nothing! You might be tempted, but it’s way too early to do anything but look at zoysia lawns for 6-8 more weeks. They are a “warm season” grass, which means they like extended periods of warm weather, not a few warm days. Hold your horses on these.

Finally, never do any walking or work in the yard when it’s wet. If you see water forming around your foot when you press it down in the lawn…it’s too wet to work in. You may do more harm then good?

Thanks,

Glenn