If your lawn or garden’s beauty is marred by a bright yellow-green grass-like weed, chances are you’re in a battle with nutsedge. Also commonly called yellow nutgrass or water grass, this vigorous plant produces wide triangular stalks in threes from a center point at ground level. Other similar sedges are purple nugsedge and green kylinga, which are very difficult to control.
Nutsedge is a perennial weed that is hard to get rid of because it reproduces itself from tubers or nutlets beneath the soil. These tubers can survive even the coldest winter. Each nutgrass plant can produce thousands of nutlets, which can then sprout more weeds as each season progresses if left un-checked.
Pre-emergent herbicides do not work on nutgrass, so it just needs to be sprayed as it comes up. It grows more rapidly in low, wet soil, and we have sure had our share of wet soil this spring and summer in the mid-section of the country. At LawnAmerica, we use special products specific for nutgrass control, and the cost of these are very high. One key is to be able to spray it several days after mowing, when the weed blades are sticking up taller than the surrounding grass, making it easier to see and more effective in getting enough spray on the weeds for good control.
It is often necessary to treat more than once per season, and you should avoid mowing several days before a treatment, while waiting at least a day after treatment to mow. Your next application date is always provided on each regular invoice, so that you’ll know when we are coming out next and adjust your mowing schedule accordingly if possible.
Nutgrass is one of the most difficult weeds we battle during the summer months. We will never totally eradicate it, but can control it with our efforts and your help and cooperation. Visit our website at www.LawnAmerica.com/weedControl.html for more information on nutgrass.
The rain has pounded many folks in the middle of the country, especially Oklahoma and Texas, for two months now. I’ve been in this business for 22 years, and have never experienced an extended time with so much rain as this. The weather has certainly been a challenge for us, and has definitely affected our schedule and how your lawn and landscape performs. Nobody can control it, though - it’s an act of God, so not much can be accomplished by fretting about it. At least our drought has been broken and the lakes are full again!
Excessive rainfall or irrigation will leach Nitrogen through the topsoil layer faster than otherwise. Nitrogen is the primary nutrient needed by turf to grow and remain green and healthy. Warm-season turf such as bermudagrass and zoysiagrass especially need Nitrogen during spring and summer in order to look nice. Ordinarilly, a fertilizer applied by LawnAmerica will have larger amounts of Nitrogen than other nutrients, such as a 28-3-9 for example. The color response will last about 6-7 weeks on average, depending upon soil type, weather factors, and especially rainfall. With 10-15” of rain over a 6 week period in many areas, you’re just not going to have much Nitrogen left in the rootzone of turf to be absorbed and utilized by the plants.
Therefore, the turf will fade out quicker, and you’ll probably see some turf disease called Dollar Spot in your bermudagrass. This disease can occur from spring through fall, and is most active during moist periods of warm days (70-85 degrees) and cool nights. The disease is spread by water (we’ve had plenty of that), mowers, wind, people, and animals. Low nitrogen levels in the soil will increase the severity of the disease. With excess rain leaching Nitrogen from the root zone, coupled with the turf staying damp for days at a time, and warm temperatures, the condition are perfect for dollar spot to occur.
In most cases Dollar Spot will not kill the turf, but the small brown areas of grass, especially when they are numerous and coalesce together, can really affect the green color and aesthetics of the turf. It’s rare when we would recommend a fungicide to combat Dollar Spot, although they are effective in stopping the disease. More often than not, just applying our next round of fertilizer, along with hopefully drier weather, will cause the turf to recover.
Another disease which will be a problem on into the summer with all the rain we’ve had is Brown Patch. Brown Patch is one of the most common and destructive of all turf diseases. It can sneak up on your lawn and destroy large areas of turf quickly when conditions are right. Brown Patch especially affects Tall Fescue and St Augustine, but all turfgrasses are susceptible to some degree.
Brown Patch is a summer disease that’s caused by a fungi called Rhizoctonia. The disease begins to show growth when temperatures reach 65 degrees, but it’s most active growth occurs at temperatures of 80-85 degrees when humidity levels are very high. Periods of constant rain or high humidity as we have had will especially bring about Brown Patch disease.
Once started, Brown Patch can spread fast. Damage first appears as circular areas of brown and dead grass surrounded by a narrow, dark, and sometimes orange smoke ring. The ring is more likely to appear in the early morning when there’s dew on the turf. These Brown Patch circles can range from a few inches in diameter to several feet, and are often irregular in shape. They can grow together, forming larger dead areas. Upon close inspection of the grass blades, you’ll see irregular tan spots with dark-brown borders.
The best way to prevent Brown Patch in your lawn is by following good lawncare practices. Avoid high rates of nitrogen fertilizer on cool season grasses in summer. Avoid high nitrogen rates on warm season grasses in early to mid fall. At LawnAmerica, we adjust our fertilizer rates at these times, and often switch to an organic-based fertilizer when disease pressure is greatest. Irrigate turf only when needed and to a depth of 4-6 inches. Water early in the morning, so as to not leave the turf damp all night with evening watering. Keep mower blades sharp, mowing at a proper height on a consistent basis. IF disease is present, bag and remove clippings if possible, to help prevent spreading the disease to other areas.
Fungicides can help control Brown Patch if you can treat before the disease becomes active. Treating after symptoms appear will help prevent further spread of the disease. In humid climates, where turf will just about always get Brown Patch at certain times of the season, consider preventative treatments of turf fungicide. We can set customers up on a turf disease program, with several preventative treatments timely applied just before the hot, humid weather arrives. This will help prevent severe damage caused by Brown Patch, and other turf diseases.
What happens after it rains after one of your treatments?
If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times! This is easily the most common question we hear, because it rains within 3 – 4 days of many of your treatments! That's usually a good thing too because all our treatments consist of a pre-emergent herbicide, fertilizer, or both. These products need to be watered in within a few days for best results. Research and our experience have shown that even a hard rain will carry these products down into the soil, and they will stay there to do their job. Now if it's one of those toad-stranglers that's classified as an act of God, we sure can't control that. Sure, you may lose some product in this case, but not enough to justify re-treatment.
Liquid post-emergent products applied on existing weeds can be affected in a negative way with rainfall too soon after treatment. Our invoices will usually state to delay watering for anywhere between 2-12 hours, depending upon the season.
So if a heavy rain comes in before that, enough of the product may not have been absorbed to be totally effective. We do use special "sticker" products on days when rain is forecast to help increase the effectiveness of weed-control products if it does rain. When the temperatures are warm (over 70 degrees), we have experienced good weed control even if we've had 30 minutes for the product to dry and be absorbed by the weeds.
We cannot assume that any amount of rainfall after a treatment will totally negate our treatment, because it will not. We ask that if it does rain too soon after a treatment of post-emergent weed-control, wait 7–14 days to see if your weeds completely die. If they don't, call us then and we will be out promptly to spray post-emergent again on any persisting weeds for no charge.
The Spider Be Gone System is a high quality automatic spray system that rids your home and yard of mosquitos and insects! It begins with a tank or a tankless unit. Then, 1/4” tubing is attached under the eaves of your home and nozzles are placed 8 feet apart. The pump/motor forces the insecticide through the tubing and sprays in a fine mist out of the nozzles. Our experienced installers offer very individualized attention to you and your needs so we will set your timer for you. When used as directed, our insecticide is non-toxic to mammals but fatal to insects.With the Spider Be Gone System you will be able to enjoy your home and outdoors again!
Please call Spider Be Gone Systems at 918-398-8416 for a FREE estimate or visit us online at www.spiderbegone.com.
