Now’s the time of year to start prepping your outdoor landscape for Spring. Simple tasks like cutting back dead growth on plants, cutting down ornamental grasses, clearing the lawn of leaves and gumballs and applying a layer of mulch will make your property look cleaner and help with curb appeal.
As a green industry professional, I highly recommend regularly performing a Spring cleanup of your property. Using a sharp pair of pruners or hedge trimmers cut back all unwanted growth on ornamental trees, shrubs, and grasses. Also, dead or brown debris from perennials like daylilies can simply be pulled out. You will start seeing green growth coming up from the plant base, which is an indication that Spring is almost here!
Raking the lawn of leaves, gumballs, sticks and other debris is also a simple and beneficial way to prep your lawn for the Spring, as well as protecting the blades on your lawn mower. If leaves are left on the lawn and they are too thick, it could prevent sunlight, air and moisture to get to the turf, resulting in turf damage.
Lastly, apply a 2” layer of bark mulch on all existing mulch beds. If you have been doing this already, year after year, and there is a significant built up, simply cultivate what you have. This will enhance moisture intake into the beds and give the existing mulch a new look. Don’t forget to apply a bed pre-emergent herbicide BEFORE mulching, to help suppress any new weeds from emerging.
Crabgrass is a common weed that infests home lawns in the Midwest. Crabgrass is a summer annual weed that germinates when soil temperatures reach and stay at 55 degrees F for 7-10 consecutive days. It begins flowering and setting seed in July and dyes with the first frost of fall.
Crabgrass has tremendous survival reproductive capabilities. Because of this, it is unrealistic to expect a 100% crabgrass free lawn. You cannot eradicate crabgrass fully unless you either chemically control the weed and/or mechanically pull the weed by hand. Also, by mowing your lawn at the proper height, keeping a dense stand of turf and watering properly will all help with keeping crabgrass out.
Pre-emergence herbicides prevent emergence of crabgrass plants. These products must be applied prior to crabgrass emergence which could occur as early as March 1, pending mother nature’s weather pattern.
Common chemicals used to help control this pesky weed are Benefin, Oxadiazon, Benefin/Trifluralin, Pendimethalin, Dithiopyr, Prodiamine, or Corn Gluten. Almost all of the crabgrass preventer products on the store shelves contain one of these chemicals. Also applying split application of the chemical with 4-8 weeks in between will help the lasting power of the chemical and help keep the crabgrass out. Always read the manufactures specifications and follow the directions on your products bags.
Ever wonder why crabgrass and other weeds seem to emerge more along sidewalks, driveways and house foundations? Well, there are two reasons. One reason is because hard surfaces such as the above described hold in heat from the sun and break down the pre-emergent barrier faster along these areas. Secondly, most people tend to trim or weed-eat very short in these areas, thus offering an area for crabgrass and other weeds to easily emerge and not be choked out by your thicker lawn.
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Tagged Crabgrass
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The team at Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping, Inc. would like to say thank you for this years business. We had originally thought that we were about to have one of the worst years in history but it turned up being one of the best! Congrats to our team members for working hard and making it through this record breaking Summer. Happy Holidays! Adam Linnemann – President
To state the obvious, many of our landscape trees and shrubs really show the signs of excessive heat and extreme drought. Some trees are losing leaves and may be turning color before they drop. Others have turned completely brown while still remaining attached.
Early fall color and/or defoliation is common when plants are under stress and this season has been quite challenging for many trees, shrubs and turf. The intense heat made it difficult for plants to keep up with water and cooling requirements, even in areas where moisture was adequate. Combine extreme heat with drought, and it is a wonder any plants survive.
We can also expect that next year’s foliage and early spring flowers will be impacted by the stressful summer. The buds for next year’s foliage and early spring flower buds have already been formed with likely inadequate carbohydrate reserves.
Deciduous plants (those that lose their leaves each winter) may look brown or defoliated, but may still have viable buds that will leaf out next spring. Cut through a few buds to look for green tissue inside. If buds are brown and crispy, that branch is not likely to survive.
All evergreens shed needles at some time, but healthy plants do not shed all needles at once as deciduous plants do. White pine and arborvitae dramatically drop older needles in late summer or early fall, which might happen earlier this year. However if evergreens are completely brown now, they are not going to leaf out again.
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Tagged Stressed
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Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping, Inc. has announced it’s new porch planter program in late July. Jerry Wittenauer of Diehl’s Florist will be working with the Linnemann team to continue his porch planter program and grow the already 160 satisfied clients in hopes to double the program size with Linnemann. The program allows for the Linnemann team to grow, plant and deliver 4 times a year, (1 per season) a beautiful planter for the clients front porch!
