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March 26, 2003 |
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Spring
Visions, Or Illusions?
It must be spring
(photos). The
calendar says it's spring, the daffodils are in bloom, magnolia
trees all over town have never looked so beautiful and the grass
is as green as green can be. DO
NOT BE FOOLED! A cold front is
supposed to move through on Friday
dropping overnight temperatures into
the teens! In fact the low
Saturday morning is reportedly going to be a very cold 14ºF.
If you have been busy planting
over the last two weeks be prepared to protect what you have
planted. It is unfortunate but if
this cold snap is for real there will be some losses.
Kevin and I are all too familiar
with losing the flowers on our magnolia. In
years past when the spring weather has been unseasonably warm we
have watched the magnolia transform into a beautiful bloomer only
to watch the flowers taken away by an unexpected frost.
If you have
jumped the gun and already removed the winter blanket from your
garden beds make sure you cover anything blooming with some type
of protective material.
If your gardens are well mulched
the crowns of the plants should be fine, you will just want to
worry about anything in bloom. In
the past, Kevin and I have used sheets to cover daffodils and
tulips in bloom as well as large pots placed over perennials for
additional protection. Once the
temperature has risen past the freezing point make sure you then
remove any covered plantings. The
hopes of watching March exit like a
lamb are fading. The roar is
close at hand.
~
Shelly
Better
Spreaders...
Whether it's lawn seed, fertilizer, or weed killer chances
are you're going to use a spreader for the job eventually. But
what kind? Drop or broadcast? Well, there's several things to
keep in mind before you pick one. Generally if both spreaders
are of equal quality, a drop spreader usually will provide better
accuracy. However, a high-quality rotary will be more accurate
than a lower-quality drop spreader. There are these differences
to consider as well:
Drop spreaders
meter out the fertilizer and drop it directly on the lawn. A
drop spreader is best if:
- You have a
small lawn.
- Doing the job
as precisely as possible is most important to you.
- You don’t mind
taking a bit longer to apply products to your lawn.
Rotary
spreaders meter out the fertilizer and throw the granules
in a swath up to several feet wide. A rotary spreader is best
if:
- You have a very
large lawn.
- You like to get
the job done as quickly as possible.
- You do not have
flower beds or gardens in the middle of your lawn.
Source
Rosy Days...
Now that we
are well past mid-March it's time to start thinking about roses.
Actually we can start doing something too! Now is a
good time to plant bare-root roses and give existing roses some
TLC. Got roses? Read getting
Started on the Growing Season in our special Rose
section.
Stopping The
Topping...
Has that tree in the front yard gotten a little too big?
If so you need to resist the urge to
"top it". Topping,
also known as heading or stubbing, is a damaging pruning practice
that seriously damages the long-term health of a tree.
According to the
U.S. National
Arboretum many homeowners top their
trees
because of a misconception that large trees are hazardous and
that storm debris will be reduced with a reduction in size.
In fact, topped trees produce
large quantities of water sprouts -
shoots that are weakly attached and are easily broken off during
storms - to replace the leaves and
branches that were lost, thereby increasing storm debris.
Do Not
Disturb...
Our bulbs are popping up all over. I'll bet yours are too!
Look closely at your bulb beds. Are there weeds popping up as
well? If so remove the weeds by gentle hand pulling. Removal
with a cultivator or other weeding tool may disturb the bulbs
unnecessarily.
Well
Oiled...
Savvygardeners with fruit trees will soon be applying
horticultural oils to fruit trees to reduce certain pests. These
oils are not poisons. Instead, the thin film of oil covers the
target insect or mite and plugs the spiracles or pores through
which it breathes. Pine needle scale, oystershell scale,
euonymus scale, aphids, spider mites and small pine sawfly larvae
are all effectively controlled by this method.
Proper
timing is critical for success when using oils. Dormant oils
should be applied in late March or April before leaves or flowers
show signs of breaking dormancy. A common mistake is to apply
'dormant' oil sprays too early (on the first warm day in February
or March) before insects are actively respiring and susceptible
to the oil's suffocating effects. Wait until as close to bud
break as possible before applying oil sprays. Also make sure
temperatures will be above 40° for at least 24 hours.
What's Hot On The Hotline...
A recent caller to the
Hotline had seen a poster in a local lawn and garden store showing Prairie Star Selections for
2002, and wanted to know what they are. More
details on this terrific program are in this
week's
What's Hot On the Hotline...
Weed
Control for Newly Seeded Lawns...
While early fall is the optimum time to plant
cool-season turfgrasses, many people seeded in late fall last
year because of hot, dry conditions in September. While it is
uncertain what effect our dry winter may have had on these late
seedings, crabgrass control options are more limited for turf
planted in spring. Remember that crabgrass preventers do not
discriminate between turfgrass and crabgrass; we rely on having
plants with roots below the herbicide barrier when we apply these
products in spring.
If you are
in a situation where you seeded late in fall or must seed this
spring, you have two options for crabgrass control. Tupersan is
a product that can be used at the time of seeding. It is
somewhat less effective than other preemergence herbicides but is
safe to the newly seeded grass. Tupersan only provides
short-term control, so an additional application will be
necessary about six weeks after the first. Dimension is a newer
lawn product that has potential for late fall or spring seedings
because it has some postemergence effect on crabgrass. Dimension
cannot be applied at the time of spring seeding but, if spring
seeding is performed before the end of March, use of Dimension in
early May should be safe for your turfgrass and still
effectively control unwanted crabgrass. Dimension also offers
season-long control, so a second application will not be
necessary.
Source
Finally... "Science
has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as
a sunny spring day."
~ W. Earl Hall, Author |