It’s time to get firewood for the winter so let’s talk about a few things. The biggest is where to stack it! A big mistake we often see is people stacking their wood against the house or too close. You may have pest control and feel like this does not apply to you but think again. Pest “CONTROL” is just that, control. Stacking wood next to the house is asking for issues. Aside from termites, the dirty wood is a haven for other bugs. The best place is far away from the house and under a cover if you can help it. Also, try and get the wood off of the ground on a rake if possible. Hope this helps!
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Crape Myrtles Are Changing Colors
Crape Myrtles are starting to change colors! Every year about this time you will start to see the leafs turn to a yellow, orange and red color. The seed pods that were once the flowers will start to look dead as well. All of this is perfectly normal and you don’t need to do anything. Some people feel the need to trim them now during their fall time clean ups. While it won’t kill the tree it is not the proper way to treat the tree. For the best benefit of the tree and its overall health, you want to wait until the tree is dormant and all of the foliage has dropped. It is also important to not that you DO NOT have to top the trees out when trimming them. Often times you want to remove the lower limbs, small suckers and then thin out the canopy. Crape Murder is also a common thing to see. Please don’t be that person!
Bag Worms
Bag Worms seem to be everywhere this year! They are typically not seen until late summer in August sometime. While we have seen them on a variety of plants like roses and hawthorns, they really are devastating to Juniper type plants. They are an actual worm that live inside of cocoon shaped bag. They will come out of the bag and feed on the tree and in turn killing it. What makes them hard to kill is getting a quality product to penetrate the bag. For this reason, you need to use a systemic type insecticide that has a long residual. When they come out of their bag and feed on the tree they will ingest the product and then die. They can create a lot of damage very fast so when you see them it is important to act fast. Hope this helps!
Save Money On Water!
Want to save money on your water bill this year? Lord knows the City water isn’t getting any cheaper! Think about the last time you watered your lawn and all of the water that went running down the street. What if you could have saved that water and reduced the waste which leads to money saved? It’s possible in a few ways. One like shown here is by converting your sprinkler heads to MPR nozzles. They are a much slower way of watering the lawn and reduce waste. They also just do a better job to be honest. David makes it look pretty easy but be prepared to get a little wet! The amount of money saved would vary on the size of your lawn but this one simple up grade will pay for itself and save money in the first year. Tomorrow we will talk about controller upgrades!
Crop Circles
Do you have crop circles in your yard? Worried that aliens may have landed?
Well I hate to break it to you but that is actually a fungus and what you need is a fungicide. Brown Patch is its name and damage is its game! It is very common this time of the year when we are getting temperatures swings of 20-30 degrees between the highs and lows. St. Augustine is the most prone of all the grasses by far. It is also very fast moving and needs to be treated pretty quick. In the example here we sprayed it within 2 days of noticing the fungus. Make sure to use a quality fungicide and apply it following the label on the bottle. Also, don’t be surprised if you need more than one application. It is also important to rotate your types of fungicides out so that a resistance does not build up. As soon as we start getting warm temperatures on a regular basis you will be able to let your guard down. Also, if you neighbors lawn get the brown patch, don’t be surprised if you get it as well.
Getting The Right Round Up
Grabbing the right jug could mean the difference between getting results and kill your lawn! In today’s flooded market of products to choose from Language is very important. For years Round Up meant one thing…kill everything. Today they have products that are actually safe to spray on your grass and only kill weeds. The down side to this is we have seen people think they were killing weeds and actually kill the entire lawn. The labels on these different jugs are super important and actually the law. Make sure you know what you are applying, how much you are applying and why you are applying it. Also, don’t fall victim of the old saying that if a little is good a lot is better. Not always the case!
Old Stuck Heads
Have you ever noticed some of your sprinkler heads still sticking out of the grass after it waters your grass? We typically refer to these as “stuck heads”. It a common issue with old sprinkler systems and sometimes with lawns that are very thick. Inside of the sprinkler head there is a large spring. When water enters the head it causes the nozzle to pop up and water the lawn. When it is through watering the spring is suppose to cause the head to retract back into the sprinkler. On older systems this spring will sometimes not be strong enough to pull the head back in and causes the nozzle to still stand up. This can be a real issue when you go to mow the lawn and hit the heads. We have also seen dogs chew on them and kids kick them while playing outside! The simple fix would be to just replace the spring but we actually suggest just replacing the entire head. The cost difference is not enough to pass on up grading the entire head. Don’t be surprised however if you find yourself replacing several of these at the same time. If your feeling super ambitious this would also be a good time to consider upgrading your sprinkler system to new MPR nozzles and saving your self money on water use!
Planting Seasonal Color
Fall is here and you are probably getting ready to add your seasonal color. What you need to be aware of is the weather. It’s still pretty warm and with is being so warm the flowers haven’t hit their full growth.
As you see in the video, we went to a local grower in town and their flowers still aren’t bloomed. There are flowers grow locally. What you need to be aware of is when you walk into a Lowes or Home Depot and you see fully bloomed flowers. That means those flowers have been grown elsewhere and have adapted to that weather. These plants have had the opportunity to root and grow faster. What concerns me is when you take those flowers and plant them in our current weather conditions, you will have some loss. We want to encourage you to keep an eye on the weather. Wait until you see where the weather consistently drops, when it gets ideal for the best chance of survival.
If you have any questions about where to buy, what to buy… just let us know. We’d love to help you out. Have a great day!
January Newsletter
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