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March 26, 2003

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.

 


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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.

 


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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

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