The Breaker Series

Mowing-Final Cut of the Year

Hello again my fine friends of the turf and landscape world. Today’s subject as you can see by the title is mowing and how to properly handle the final mowing of the year, or so we think. All you scalpers out there, please stop, just stop right now. I have seen way to many homeowners , even some landscapers, put their mowers on the lowest setting and totally scalp their turf grass and single handedly undo a season’s worth of work for no reason at all. I am being extreme in my words, are you in your mowing ? The answer is yes and yes.

Let’s try to be objective here and start at the beginning. Why do we cut it lower at the end of the season? The main reason is so that the turf grass does not stand too tall, clumpy, and possibly lay over itself and retain moisture from winter’s rain or snow. The reason we would prefer that not happen is that invites snow mold (disease), and other unpleasant things that we do not want to happen to the turf. This can be avoided if done properly.

The proper way to mow at season’s end is this: simply lower the mower settings to a notch or two below what you are currently doing. Your mower should be at the present time, as we are in fall, at approximately 3 inches. So if you drop the mower blade a setting or two you should windup at about two and a half inches or two and a quarter, no lower.

Why do you not want to take it down any lower? Never cut off more than one third of the leaf blade at a time. If you do this then you are stressing out the turf grass plant and the energy you have been feeding it to grow properly (not just up , but the root system growing out and spreading, or for this application storing energy for over winter). That energy will be used to regenerate the blade of grass and won’t be able to help the root system. You have just destroyed your last application and wasted money and time.

We will go into good cultural mowing practices over the course of the winter so that we minimize any mistakes with that. I will say right now though, to be proactive for 2011, when you are done your last mowing there are a few things you should do for yourself and your mower. Take off the blade and get it sharpened, change your spark plug, scrape off the bottom of the mower deck and change the oil. This will give you a good start to the new year.

Hey, did you catch me over at Gelati’s Scoop yesterday? I was the guest post over there. Here is his link so if you did miss it you can go over and say hello: http://www.gelatisscoop.blogspot.com . Thanks a lot and we will see you on Monday for some more lawn and landscape fun and excitement.

 

Tree & Shrub Fertilization Do's and Don'ts

Is this serious stuff? Sure, probably the most important decisions you make besides who you marry, what to name your kids, what kind of dog to get, full size sheets of paper towels or the pick a size……  But seriously folks, there are a few very simple things that you can do to not only enhance the look of your landscape but to insure the quality and health of it. Yes, the right answer would be to fertilize it.

One would only need to do this once a year if done properly and if the plant material in the landscape did not meet with some type of stress during the season ( i.e. insects, disease, root issues, lack of water, lack of color, improper pruning technique). If a plant or plants are stressed out, then another round of fertilization would be beneficial. Now where to get the fertilizer and how is it applied. Very simply you can get it at any home center or right here at this blog on the wheel of goodies you see to the right. I have made an entire wheel of things that could help you this time of year. For the trees and shrubs, pick up some fertilizer spikes, use a hammer, and put those bad boys right along the drip zone of the plant material. The drip zone is the area that the water would fall around the plant from the foliage or canopy of the plant. The roots should extend out from the trunk of base of the plant to that area. Follow the instructions on the container of the spikes as to how far apart they should be placed.

Benefits you will receive from fertilizing the plant material are: A better color and luster to the foliage (It should be a deeper green. Pale yellow or faded green is not the indicator of a healthy plant.), increased ability to handle insect & disease damage, thicker branches, better pop to your buds, able to handle drought like conditions better,  and a stronger thicker root system. What you don’t want to do is over stimulate the plant material by giving them too much of a good thing and fertilizing them too much, like possibly twice a year after the first year. I can buy into a spring/ fall type thing in year one, or fall/ spring combo, but I would only do it once a year after that. The reason being is that you get increased growth from the plant, this makes you maintain it more (pruning hedges or shrubs, trees getting gangly and misshapen, etc.) The idea is not to do that but to protect and maintain a healthy plant.

The best results you can gain is to reach a point where all your plant stock in the landscape looks uniformly green and healthy, the growth habits are under control and held to a minimum, and that doing anymore would be pointless. That would be achieving success and peace of mind. Go through your landscape and look at the leaves of the shrubs and trees (those that aren’t turning colors, there probably aren’t many), and make an assessment of the percentage that is not a deeper green and could use some help. Is it 10%, 20% or is it more. I think you would be surprised. The cost to fertilize them is so small in comparison to the investment you have in the plant material;  it is not even funny. A total no brainer.

Next post is Friday and I will be discussing the theory behind the final cut of the mowing season, so don’t cut the grass this week till you read it. I look forward to the questions that you send me, they are pretty good and right on the mark, keep them coming. Remember  we are the guests over at Gelati’s Scoop. Giovanni Gelati has been nice enough to ask us to pop in a post over there, and I have a little something special for the G-man . See you there : http://www.gelatisscoop.blogspot.com              

What ? Use Weed Control Now?

 

I mentioned using fertilizer last week and some of the options you have. Your lawns have different needs this time of the year. There are many possible scenarios and needs: planting grass, killing weeds, new homeowner just starting out….. Planting grass is a tough one this time of year. A dormant seeding is possible, but at what cost? It is possible the seed doesn’t germinate and in the spring the crabgrass pre-emergent you put down kills the seed you paid for and planted. I am not a big fan of this; I think it is a waste of time and money.

Weeds this time of year are taking in the same nutrients as your desirable turf grass; air, water and space. I say deal with the weeds now so you may not have the same issues or bigger ones in the spring. Did you know that one crabgrass plant drops over 100,000 seeds? Think about that for a minute. How many crabgrass plant skeletons do you have just in your front yard? Multiply that by 100,000. Ouch!! It is always best to treat a pest (a pest in the turf grass is a weed, insect or disease) in more than one way so there is a better chance of success. Let’s face it; weeds grow in the cracks of cement. My suggestion is this: Use any extra herbicide that you have laying around the shed or garage and hit as much of your lawn area as possible, if you can get the whole thing done, excellent. Then in about 10-14 days fertilize the lawn with a mix of winter fertilizer (similar to the one we discussed in the last week’s post) and broadleaf weed killer. Why would I say this?

The liquid herbicide generally has a 14-21 day residual but will give you more a quick contact kill as the broad leaf weed will translocate the herbicide down to the root and hopefully put it to rest. The granular weed control will get into the soil slower and hopefully create a barrier that will last for a little while longer, generally 21-28 days. This will not be a cure all but will give you a leg up for 2011. I am not a big fan of weeds; they are a pain in the- you- know- what.

Wednesday I plan to touch on the need to fertilize your trees and shrubs this fall. Why you should and shouldn’t do it and what is really going on with the plant this time of year. There are many misnomers out there and some basics to follow that will save you a ton of money and time.

 

 

Let’s Go, Fertilize That Lawn NOW!

I made mention of the fact that fertilizing the lawn this time of year is a big thing. Why? Why? WHY? Okay chill out. Here is the deal. The real deal, not what you may hear from a lawn care company looking to make an up sale, or a lawn center trying to move some product. The correct answer and the one that is most important to the turf grass plant itself. Since the plant is trying to absorb as much energy as possible before it goes dormant, fertilizing it with the right formulation, the one I suggested yesterday or a similar equivalent (one that is heavier in the last two numbers), will help you achieve that goal.

The three key elements to a fertilizer formulation are nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, N-P-K. The nitrogen is the key element in making the grass green and helps blade growth. The last two are the key elements in root growth. The root system right now is trying to store up as much energy (sugar and carbohydrates) as possible before the blades of the grass go dormant. The fertilizer will help achieve that goal. During the winter we will have more time to go over fertilizer, what the kind to use, and when, so don’t fret, I will guide you through it, no problem. I’ll make it easy to understand.

Another question homeowners have right now is should I wait until the leaves are all up to do this? Personal choice and philosophy play into this answer. I would say, get the leaves first, as most people have to do this numerous times. Apply the fertilizer and let it sit until the leaves are almost all down. Why not use the leaves to your advantage? The leaves retain moisture like natural mulch, which they are, and that will help the fertilizer break down into the soil for the roots to absorb. Otherwise fertilizing on top of them does not allow all the fertilizer to reach the soil, you lose out and your time and money is not optimized. After all results and maximizing our returns in something we all would like.

Thanks for checking in. I am more than happy to field any and all questions that you have, sincerely. Please remember that I have a digital short for sale on Smashwords titled Signed, Sealed and Delivered. Currently it is riding near top, number six, of the Highest Rated category after only being out for five days. There are more in the series and we will be releasing them soon. Also feel free to follow us on any other of the many websites you can find us.

 

The Soil Holds a Weed Seed for Fifty Years, Give or Take a Year!

Have you read my digital short yet? Okay maybe you haven’t, but you should, it really isn’t that bad. The blog posts here are going to touch on a few different things: lawn care tips, my digital shorts, and then lawn care. Now when I mention the word lawn care it encompasses but is not mutually exclusive to turf grass, weeds, insects, diseases of not just lawns but also trees and shrubs, fertilization techniques, the fertilizer itself, and also my digital shorts( really you should read them, but by now I think that you get the point).

The point raised in the title is true. Weeds attack our lawns in many different ways, we will need to spend a week’s worth of posts on that subject and we will. I will also have placed different herbicides on the wheel to the right for you to purchase to remedy your possible issues. But I digress yet again. Weed seeds are in the soil. Through expansion and contraction of the soil, those weed seeds come to the surface and once receiving some sunlight, POP, the weeds emerge: fun stuff and the bain of many people’s existence.

This reason alone , the expansion and contraction of the soil is one of the reasons , but not the only one, that those of us that have nice thick, lush turf grass get weeds. It is bound to happen; there is nothing anyone can do about it. Besides that the herbicides used in the lawn care industry only have a 30 day window of residual, approximately. Some have a little more, some less. That is why some folks that apply weed control on April one and then don’t do it again till September and wonder why, oh why do they have weeds all summer. There you go.

I hope that you got a little something from that. It is simple to understand but the ramifications of it are huge. Weeds and their growth cycle are greatly misunderstood. I guess that is kind of like me, misunderstood. But I have to say that there is not a single weed, insect or disease that I don’t enjoy killing. Follow the blog; I will explain how to eradicate many things that are a nuisance to you. I look forward to hearing from you, drop me a line; let’s talk turf.