Sirhornsalot
**The Official Horn Sports Landscaper and Landscap
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2013
- Messages
- 33,348
The Landscape Thread - Spring has arrived!
Spring is indeed arriving, in some places already so. Folks are now turning their attention to their landscapes in hopes of getting their places looking good for the new season. Let's look at a few things you'll face this month.
FERTILIZATION
Now is the time to do it. We've recently completed fertilizations in the Austin area and are about to begin in the DFW area. Again, this year, winter has hung around longer than it needs to so it was a very good move to wait until now to pull the trigger on fertilizing lawns. Monday morning, we were at 31 degrees in north DFW. That could have been bad had we had fertilizer on lawns when that happened. Nitrogen + cool/cold weather = fungus.
Even going forward now is a little risky, but I'm fairly confident that was winter's last blast. Cross your fingers.
Some things to watch if you're going to do your own fertilization:
1. Make sure your setting is correct. Check the back of the bag for setting recommendation. Most popular spreaders and the correct settings are listed.
Putting fertilizer down is not good enough. You must put down the proper ratio. Too little and you get very little response. Too much and you stress your lawn and make it lethargic looking. The right amount will produce a very positive growth response.
Load your spreader over concrete. If you spill the bag on the lawn, that grass will die. Once it's done, it's done. And it will be awhile before you'll be able to grow grass there again without removing the soil tainted by the fertilizer. If you spill your bag over concrete, then all you have to do is sweep up the mess, no harm done.
Blow off the concrete areas AFTER you've applied your fertilizer to the lawn. Nitrogen is a key ingredient in fertilizer and it will stain concrete. Blow the excess back into the lawn and off the concrete areas.
Figure your cast is reaching 3 ft on each side. So while it's like lawn mowing, your mower is 3 ft wider on each side than a mower. Do not allow your cast to send lawn fertilizer into flowerbeds and shrub beds. What is good for the grass can kill a subtle flower or plant.
WEEDS
Man, what a hey day the weeds have had in some lawns. Poa Annua has been in full force this year and has been driving homeowners and landscapers crazy. It's the feathery tipped weed that looks like a small pom pom. It grows during the cool weather of late winter and early spring, but fades away once temperatures are hitting 90 degrees.
There is no real answer, chemically, for Poa Annua. There are more than 150 varieties of this weed and there can be as many as 30-40 different varieties in one lawn.
Most weed-killer chemicals used in weed and feeds are heat-enhanced, meaning, they work best when applied during warm or hot weather. So as we get hotter, the weed/feed you put down (time released) will begin showing more results.
Hotter weather = faster, easier weed kill
colder weather = slower, more sporadic weed kill.
SPRING FLOWERS
Rather than dazzle you with pictures of beautiful spring flower types, I'll let you request specifics later in this thread and instead, address the "preparation of the beds" that should happen before you plant such succulent plants.
Think of spring flowers as delicate females that must be handled with care. The soil they are planted in must also handle them the same way. I was once not a big fan of Spangum Peat Moss but in the case of spring flowers, I feel it's a must. The roots of spring flowers are equally delicate as the top half of the plant. Peat moss provides the soft, easy to penetrate soil that such flowers need. So, take a good planting mix such as a landscape mix or garden soil . . mix 1/4 of a wheelbarrow of that with 3/4 mix of peat moss and use that to plant with. Do not use the soil you dig out of the hole. Finish your planting with a nice layer of mulch of at least two inches thickness.
The peat moss also provides great ventilation for the root zone, allowing oxygen in. Most delicate flowers love to be watered, but do not like to stay wet for long periods of time.
If your flower bed is heavy shade, reduce your mulch to avoid over-moisture and water less often. However, most shade plants do enjoy a higher humidity, so it's good to keep a bed moist by simply spraying the area with a water hose and spray attachment.
TREE TRIMMING
I advise that you NOT trim Oaks from now through end of June due to the risk of Oak Wilt infestation. Most homeowners aren't familiar with this tree disease that strikes primarily Oaks, but many in the Austin area could possibly share a horror story or two with you. So we take precaution and avoid any trimming during the March thru June period. It's really best to wait until fall and after the heat of summer to trim your trees, however.
DON'T LEAVE THE LEAVES!
If your home is in Texas, you are likely being adversely affected by a Live Oak tree right now. This is the time when they are "molting" or shedding their old leaves and growing new ones at the same time. Live Oaks are evergreen, but do shed their leaves. They do this each March/April and it can be quite messy. It happens slowly and most homeowners don't really notice until their turf is completely covered.
The issues caused are a much slower emergence from dormancy by both St Augustine and Bermuda grasses. The more sunlight that can hit the soil surface, the warmer the soil becomes, the faster the turf comes out of dormancy.
I recommend that you mulch-mow these leaves and make several passes as to get them cut up as fine as you can. But leave the cut up leaves in the turf so that minerals and nutrients can be returned to your soil.
I also recommend that you mulch mow your grass instead of bagging the clippings. The blades have valuable nutrients that can be returned to the soil for further use if they are not bagged and taken away. If your mower is leaving clumps behind, use a blower to disperse it more thoroughly.
HAVE A TREE STRUGGLING?
Some clients have reported damage to some of their trees in connection with the early December ice storm that stuck around for 4-5 days and left death in it's wake. We've had to replace double-digit numbers of Pittisporum and Lorapetalum shrubs that were taken out by the ice storm.
This was a highly unusual winter. Ice storms don't typically stick around more than a day or so. This one hung on for a week. Some of our more common landscape plants just can't deal with that. However, I would not hesitate to go right back to those selections. Why? Because we haven't seen an ice storm like that since '78 and likely won't again for some time.
Some trees are being slow to come out for spring as a result of shock or stress from that ice storm. If you have observed this yourself, it may be worth having an arborist come to your place and perhaps apply a root stimulator and mineral/nutrient mix to give them a boost. If you're in the DFW area, I can recommend an excellent arborist here locally who is reasonably priced and very effective.
Let's take some questions now. I may think of something else later that I failed to bring up in this first post but for now, let's see what kinds of things you guys need advice or assistance with.
Fire away!
Spring is indeed arriving, in some places already so. Folks are now turning their attention to their landscapes in hopes of getting their places looking good for the new season. Let's look at a few things you'll face this month.
FERTILIZATION
Now is the time to do it. We've recently completed fertilizations in the Austin area and are about to begin in the DFW area. Again, this year, winter has hung around longer than it needs to so it was a very good move to wait until now to pull the trigger on fertilizing lawns. Monday morning, we were at 31 degrees in north DFW. That could have been bad had we had fertilizer on lawns when that happened. Nitrogen + cool/cold weather = fungus.
Even going forward now is a little risky, but I'm fairly confident that was winter's last blast. Cross your fingers.
Some things to watch if you're going to do your own fertilization:
1. Make sure your setting is correct. Check the back of the bag for setting recommendation. Most popular spreaders and the correct settings are listed.
Putting fertilizer down is not good enough. You must put down the proper ratio. Too little and you get very little response. Too much and you stress your lawn and make it lethargic looking. The right amount will produce a very positive growth response.
Load your spreader over concrete. If you spill the bag on the lawn, that grass will die. Once it's done, it's done. And it will be awhile before you'll be able to grow grass there again without removing the soil tainted by the fertilizer. If you spill your bag over concrete, then all you have to do is sweep up the mess, no harm done.
Blow off the concrete areas AFTER you've applied your fertilizer to the lawn. Nitrogen is a key ingredient in fertilizer and it will stain concrete. Blow the excess back into the lawn and off the concrete areas.
Figure your cast is reaching 3 ft on each side. So while it's like lawn mowing, your mower is 3 ft wider on each side than a mower. Do not allow your cast to send lawn fertilizer into flowerbeds and shrub beds. What is good for the grass can kill a subtle flower or plant.
WEEDS
Man, what a hey day the weeds have had in some lawns. Poa Annua has been in full force this year and has been driving homeowners and landscapers crazy. It's the feathery tipped weed that looks like a small pom pom. It grows during the cool weather of late winter and early spring, but fades away once temperatures are hitting 90 degrees.
There is no real answer, chemically, for Poa Annua. There are more than 150 varieties of this weed and there can be as many as 30-40 different varieties in one lawn.
Most weed-killer chemicals used in weed and feeds are heat-enhanced, meaning, they work best when applied during warm or hot weather. So as we get hotter, the weed/feed you put down (time released) will begin showing more results.
Hotter weather = faster, easier weed kill
colder weather = slower, more sporadic weed kill.
SPRING FLOWERS
Rather than dazzle you with pictures of beautiful spring flower types, I'll let you request specifics later in this thread and instead, address the "preparation of the beds" that should happen before you plant such succulent plants.
Think of spring flowers as delicate females that must be handled with care. The soil they are planted in must also handle them the same way. I was once not a big fan of Spangum Peat Moss but in the case of spring flowers, I feel it's a must. The roots of spring flowers are equally delicate as the top half of the plant. Peat moss provides the soft, easy to penetrate soil that such flowers need. So, take a good planting mix such as a landscape mix or garden soil . . mix 1/4 of a wheelbarrow of that with 3/4 mix of peat moss and use that to plant with. Do not use the soil you dig out of the hole. Finish your planting with a nice layer of mulch of at least two inches thickness.
The peat moss also provides great ventilation for the root zone, allowing oxygen in. Most delicate flowers love to be watered, but do not like to stay wet for long periods of time.
If your flower bed is heavy shade, reduce your mulch to avoid over-moisture and water less often. However, most shade plants do enjoy a higher humidity, so it's good to keep a bed moist by simply spraying the area with a water hose and spray attachment.
TREE TRIMMING
I advise that you NOT trim Oaks from now through end of June due to the risk of Oak Wilt infestation. Most homeowners aren't familiar with this tree disease that strikes primarily Oaks, but many in the Austin area could possibly share a horror story or two with you. So we take precaution and avoid any trimming during the March thru June period. It's really best to wait until fall and after the heat of summer to trim your trees, however.
DON'T LEAVE THE LEAVES!
If your home is in Texas, you are likely being adversely affected by a Live Oak tree right now. This is the time when they are "molting" or shedding their old leaves and growing new ones at the same time. Live Oaks are evergreen, but do shed their leaves. They do this each March/April and it can be quite messy. It happens slowly and most homeowners don't really notice until their turf is completely covered.
The issues caused are a much slower emergence from dormancy by both St Augustine and Bermuda grasses. The more sunlight that can hit the soil surface, the warmer the soil becomes, the faster the turf comes out of dormancy.
I recommend that you mulch-mow these leaves and make several passes as to get them cut up as fine as you can. But leave the cut up leaves in the turf so that minerals and nutrients can be returned to your soil.
I also recommend that you mulch mow your grass instead of bagging the clippings. The blades have valuable nutrients that can be returned to the soil for further use if they are not bagged and taken away. If your mower is leaving clumps behind, use a blower to disperse it more thoroughly.
HAVE A TREE STRUGGLING?
Some clients have reported damage to some of their trees in connection with the early December ice storm that stuck around for 4-5 days and left death in it's wake. We've had to replace double-digit numbers of Pittisporum and Lorapetalum shrubs that were taken out by the ice storm.
This was a highly unusual winter. Ice storms don't typically stick around more than a day or so. This one hung on for a week. Some of our more common landscape plants just can't deal with that. However, I would not hesitate to go right back to those selections. Why? Because we haven't seen an ice storm like that since '78 and likely won't again for some time.
Some trees are being slow to come out for spring as a result of shock or stress from that ice storm. If you have observed this yourself, it may be worth having an arborist come to your place and perhaps apply a root stimulator and mineral/nutrient mix to give them a boost. If you're in the DFW area, I can recommend an excellent arborist here locally who is reasonably priced and very effective.
Let's take some questions now. I may think of something else later that I failed to bring up in this first post but for now, let's see what kinds of things you guys need advice or assistance with.
Fire away!
