Helping Your Plants Survive Winter

Winter drying can be a problem on many evergreens, causing brown leaf edges or brown needles. These browning symptoms may not be noticed until spring or early summer. Watering during the fall or winter will help to counteract winter drying.

Frost damage results in sudden death of foliage, buds and/or flowers. Curling, browning, or blackening of leaves and twigs may be caused by frost. Hardy plants will generally recover.

Freezing injury may result in splitting or loosening of bark on twigs, branches, or trunks. Roots may also be damaged by low temperatures. As a result, plants may be killed totally or partially.

Watering Your Lawn

Proper Watering Techniques

The most neglected area of landscape maintenance is proper watering of trees and shrubs. Many ants are more prone to insect and disease attacks if they are stressed by lack of water. Watering your lawn is no assurance that adequate water is reaching the roots of your trees. Turf roots are shallow and thick, making it difficult for water penetration deep within the soil.

Trickle Irrigation

To water trees and shrubs properly, you need to use the trickle irrigation technique. Place a hose near the base of the tree or shrub and let the water run at a trickle for a few minutes. This method allows water to penetrate the soil more efficiently.

Mowing Your Lawn

Proper Mowing

Proper mowing, along with proper watering, can be the most critical factor in the appearance of a lawn. Good mowing techniques not only enhance the appearance of the lawn, but also increases the turfgrass vigor.

Mowing Height

Turfgrass stressed by mowing too low is more prone to disease, weed invasion, drought and traffic stress. Removal of most of the leaf blade limits food production. Limited food production decreases root, thizome, and stolon growth. Plants with limited food production and a limited root system will not have vigorous growth. A vigorous, dense turfgrass area is one of the best defenses against weed invasion. Weak grass plants with a limited root system are more prone to drought damage. It is particularly important to mow high during dry weather. Mowing height varies for different turfgrass species:

• Many turfgrasses such as Kentucky bluegrass should be cut at 2 1/2 to 3 inches.
• Bentgrass and bermuda grass should be cut at 1 to 1 1/2 inches.
• Determine the type of turfgrass in a lawn before recommending mowing heights.

Mowing Frequency

The second critical factor is mowing the lawn on a frequent basis

• The grass should be mowed so that no more than 1/3 of the leaf blade is removed.
• If the desired height is 3", mow the grass when it has grown to 4".
• Mowing frequency will change throughout the year with different weather patterns.
• Cool season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass may require mowing twice a week in the spring, but only every 7-10 days in the summer.
• Warm season grasses such as Bermuda grass may need more frequent mowing in the summer than in the fall or spring.

Scalping

When a lawn is allowed to grow too high and then mown too low, excess leaf blade tissue is removed. Such "scalping" of the lawn can cause severe visual damage. More importantly, scalping shocks the grass plants and growth slows or stops, limiting the vigor of the turf. A scalped lawn may dry out quickly from drought, or may develop unusual weed and disease problems.

Blade Sharpness

A dull mower blade shreds the tips of the grass blades. The shredding opens the ends of the leaf blades for increased moisture loss and potentially provides a site for disease invasion. Lawns cut with a dull mower blade may have an overall white appearance from the shredded grass blades.

Improved Mowing Practices

Mowing during the heat of the day during hot weather may cause the lawn to brown. It is best to mow during the cooler part of the day. And leave your grass clippings on the grass.

Clippings

When grass is mowed frequently, clippings are small and degrade rapidly. Recycle plant nutrients by returning clippings to the lawn rather than bagging them.

Be Green: Grasscycle Your Lawn

As the world observed Earth Day on April 22, many U.S. homeowners did their part for the environment in their own backyards by grasscycling. Grasscycling or leaving grass clippings on the lawn when you mow, saves time, landfill space and nurtures the soil. The Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA) coined the term and educates the public about it's benefits.

"About 20 percent of all waste that goes into a landfill is landscape debris and about half of that is simply grass clippings," says Michael Gaffney, PLCAA's technical resource specialist. "With yard waste bans in place in many areas of the country, grasscycling offers you an alternative, and at the same time increases the health and beauty of your lawn."

Grass clippings are 85 percent water, decompose rapidly, and return nutrients to the soil with no thatch buildup. They actually return 20 percent of their nitrogen to the soil to feed the lawn's root system. And grasscycling can be practiced year-round with most mowers.

"The key is to follow the one-third rule when you mow-never remove more than one third of the grass leaf blade at any one mowing," says Gaffney. He recommends cutting the grass when dry and keeping the lawn mower blade sharpened properly.

How to Tell You Need to Change Your Mowing Practices

Symptoms that indicate mowing practices require change are:

• Frayed grass blades
• Excess clumps of clippings
• Tall grass mowed short resulting in a yellow color
• Short grass with thin areas and weeds

Well-Groomed Lawns

Your lawn can have an effect on your family's health.

Acting like a gigantic sponge, lawns absorb all types of airborne pollutants such as soot, dust and carbon dioxide, as well as noise. Less weeds mean less weed pollen, a relief of those with allergies.

Lawns help to improve water quality. Water quality gets a boost from a common plant we see everyday-the grass plant. According to experts, a well-managed lawn helps prevent runoff and is a natural water fiber. A healthy turf can help prevent runoff and soil erosion. In fact, turf promotes high populations of microorganisms in the thatch layer and topsoil. These microorganisms break down impurities making turf an excellent water filter.

A healthy lawn has a cooling effect on your whole neighborhood.

The front lawns of a block of eight average houses have the cooling effect of about 70 tons of air conditioning-enough to cool 16 average houses. On a hot summer day, grass can be 10-14 degrees cooler than exposed soil and as much as 30 degrees cooler than concrete or asphalt. And it also provides oxygen. A 50' x 50' well-maintained grass area will create enough oxygen to meet the needs of a family of four every day.

A good lawn increases property value.

A great lawn has more than just health value. Appraisers estimate that a well-landscaped and maintained lawn adds 7% to the value of residential property. A recent Gallup Survey concluded that a 15% increase in selling price can be realized when the home is nicely landscaped.

Shade Grass

Growing Grass in Shade

Growing grass in shady sites can be a challenge because shade weakens grass. All plants require sunlight to make their food. Most grasses will grow under light shade, but in heavy shade, grass may become so weak that it begins to thin out. Thus weakened grass growing in shade is prone to certain diseases, such as powdery mildew.

Keeping Shade Grass Healthy

Root systems of nearby trees compete for water and nutrients. Heavy shade reduces grass tolerance to temperature extremes and foot traffic. Since grass growing in heavy shade is at a disadvantage, here are some things you can do to keep it as healthy as possible.

• Mow at the proper height and frequency for the type of grass.
• Water the grass deeply.
• Prune or thin nearby trees to permit more sunlight to the grass.
• Consider mulch or shade-tolerant ground covers for densely shaded areas.
• If you have heavily shaded areas in your lawn where the grass is thin, consult your lawn care specialist for recommendations on improving the lawn.

All About Fertilizers

Why Fertilize Lawns?

Properly timed fertilizer applications help maintain healthy lawns and landscapes. Many landscapes are growing in poor quality soil because of construction activities during installation of streets and driveways as well as during excavation for the house's foundation walls. Under these growing conditions, fertilizing lawns and trees and shrubs is essential to meet their basic nutrient requirements.

Fertilization rates and application frequency directly influence color, growth rate, and density of a lawn. Lawns fertilized infrequently are thin and are prone to weed invasion. Insect or disease damage will be slow to recover and fill-in. Our experience has taught us that fertilizing lawns during the growing season helps them maintain uniform color and develop a dense carpet-like appearance. This also enables them to withstand stress and invasion by weeds. Frequent fertilization rather than every other month helps maintain a more uniform color without increasing the annual fertilization rate.

Would Organic Fertilizer Be Better For My Lawn?

Plants absorb nutrients in the same way, whether the source be organic or a conventional fertilizer. Turfgrass roots will only absorb dissolved nutrients found in the soil water. Organic fertilizers do not offer any advantages to the care of your lawn. The choice is strictly personal preference.

Complete vs. Balanced Fertilizers

Fertilizer is any material supplying one or more essential plant nutrients. Most common turfgrass fertilizers include nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, but they may also include other essential mineral elements for turfgrass growth.