Seasonal Change at Hand

Since the age of ten, I have worked in the green industry; my father since the sixties. When he saw how big I was, he put me behind a roto tiller and away I went. Then for the summer I was off to my Uncle Jim’s to work the sod fields and produce soil mixes up in Waterdown Ontario.

At age fifteen I worked for a large lawn care company doing in excess of 1 million dollars/year in sales back in 1980. That winter my father asked if I wanted to start a lawn care business with him. Thus, Stangl’s Enviro Lawn Care. That was back in 1981. The beginning of Stangl’s Lawn Care and then a name change to the current. Our focus has always been providing the best.

Let’s back up to when I was ten on the sod fields. I was taught then of seasonal changes(I thought it meant my job from year to year.). We started the prep of the fields in the beginning of August and set our sights for August 21. This is usually our seasonal change in this area.

The nights will get longer and days shorter. The night time temps will lower while the day time stays high. Why is this so important? Time to put the grass seed down for the best establishment. Grass seed loves cool nights and warm days. We are also guaranteed a little moisture from Mother Nature to help us along. So, let’s start to look at getting the seed down now.

You can apply the seed two ways. The first is by spreader. If you opt for this, then you’ll need to aerate prior. This will allow the seed to flush into the holes and germinate out of harm’s way. The core will also break down and act as top dressing. The second and most effective is power slit seeding. This is done by a machine done in two directions (diamond effect) to encourage the best fill in.

With both, you should think of a top dressing material to apply. I use a pelletized composted material that can be applied by spreader. Bulk soil is out for me. I am guaranteed consistency, without the wood chips, rocks or even glass found in some of the bulk soils I have purchased.

By applying the organic top dressing material, you’ll not only get the needed nutrients, but your soil’s ability to hold moisture will go up by 50%. (Results vary due to materials)

So, let’s take advantage of the seasonal change and get your seed on to rejuvenate your lawn’s performance and look.

Magic Wand II

I had a great conversation with a customer about his lawn just yesterday. He is cancelling because of the weeds he has. He also mentioned that our product is not working, but he continues by saying "how great it work last fall" when he came on. He does mention that his "lawn is nice and green."

I asked him "have you watered?" "WATER! I am not paying for the cost of water nor the sewage charge." So, that means you have not watered? "We have had rain, so why should I?" Let me ask you the reader a question, “has it been hot and dry?"

I continue by telling him that the results are dependent upon weather and water. His reply:”if your program is dependent upon weather, then I should be doing the program myself." "I have a product off the shelf that works and I can do it."
I asked if he read the instructions? See, the product is not to be applied in the extreme weather, which he is doing. I had gotten no reply.
I continue to tell him that his lawn would have been far worse without our program. He responds, “you’re kidding me, right?"
With the weather we have had, all lawns do not do well, unless specific varieties of turf grass are seeded in to cope with these issues. From drought, to heat, disease, cutting height, lack of watering to the company cutting the lawn. These and many other variables dictate the outcome of your lawn. Our lawn care programs are the base to a healthy lawn, but at times your lawn may require more.

This is where this homeowner has high expectations with what they have purchased rather than being realistic. With the extreme weather, come extreme measures to keep your lawn healthy and growing.

I certainly want all to be on a budget, but there are times that the budget requirements do not meet the demand at hand. Your expectations need to be equal to the budget outcome. Is this where my techs and I have failed to explain the program? With every application we check and provide adequate info to attain the lawn you are looking for? We do get comments back, "not doing it", "never going to water", "my lawn mower only cuts this high", "my neighbours have a great lawn?", and the comments continue.

What I am getting at, is, that when we do come out, each visit consists of a fertilizer, sugars and other components that obtain that healthy lawn, but other applications are required to keep that lawn up at those high expectations at additional costs. This is not to say that no other further applications are or would be required. Time will tell as well as the weather.

OF NOTE: Going through my customer accounts, I have found that many have not prepared for the number of grubs we will have this fall. Their damage will be evident soon. I have seen action all over from skunks and have found high numbers of grubs. If I can suggest one thing now, get an insect manager booked from your company.

I love doing this job, but there are comments and practises that mentally kill me. We all do our best and I mean all lawn care companies, but at times we do not get the respect or legitimacy we deserve. I will continue as well as my techs, who by the way, are the greatest team I have ever had and that are on the road right now doing their best for you.

Remember, that a healthy lawn produces O2 and reduces CO2. Lets continue the great work we all are doing!

Thank you for being my customer and providing me work for which I love doing.

Thank you.

Turfgrass Management Agriphone for August 13, 2010

I had been talking to customers and they all wonder why they have weeds and there lawns look so? I ask if they have been watering? The reply "No, I do not want to pay the cost for it nor the cost for sewage!" Oh, they also replied: " but it has been raining." Here is an email for us turf managers and others. Some times you need to hear from a higher source, why?

Welcome to the 10th edition of the "Turf Management Report" sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for Aug. 12, 2010.

Past weather and the forecast for the upcoming week


Apart from a few days last week, the weather pattern has been hot and humid now for a long stretch and the forecast is for more of the same through until next Monday Aug. 16th. The temperatures are supposed to go down slightly and so is the humidity so that the humidex is in the low 30’s instead of the high 30’s. There are thundershowers in the forecast for Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. The low humidity it not going to be good for turf that has very few roots left. A few days of low humidity and a stiff breeze will just add further stress.

Turf on golf courses is really just hanging on for dear life at the moment. It has simply been too hot for cool season turfgrasses. Between the high day and night temperatures and the high soil temperatures, turf is just not doing too well. You throw heavy disease pressure into the mix and it is not a good scenario. This is not the time for heroic measures, it is the time to sit tight and wait for cooler weather before you consider any cultural practices or overseeding.

Non irrigated turf is starting to go dormant and there is not significant rainfall in the forecast so the stress on turf will continue.


Disease activity

The new disease of the week is anthracnose foliar blight (Figure 1). It seems to have come on strong over the last week. I expect that is it just an indicator or how stressed the annual bluegrass is and the anthracnose is the straw that broke the camels back. Brown patch symptoms have slowed down, but if we get some thundershowers, they may flair up again. Even though the nights are hot, there has not been a lot of dew over the last few days and that is helping keep the foliar diseases in check. Dollar spot was very active over the past week, but with the really hot night temperatures and no rain, it is probably going to slow down a bit. There is still a lot of summer patch noticeable out there and more symptoms are developing all the time.

Figure 1. Anthracnose foliar blight on GTI Pathology Green

Rust pressure continues to be extreme, especially on perennial ryegrass that has not been fertilized regularly.


Insects

Japanese beetle adult flights are waning. There are only a few stragglers out there now, but people have been reporting much higher than normal Japanese beetle populations and lots of damage to trees and shrubs. We are just out of the window for preventative treatment of grubs on golf courses, so if you do treat now you may not get the control you expect.
For insects, the insect of the week is definitely hairy chinch bug. The hot, dry conditions have been perfect for hairy chinch bugs and there is lots of damage visible now. I have had a few more calls from the field about hairy chinch bug damage. I wish that there was a product to recommend for the treatment of hairy chinch bug under the cosmetic pesticide ban, but there isn’t anything that can be recommended except to irrigate if possible and to overseed damaged areas sometime in the next month.

There has been a bit of black cutworm damage this week (Figure 2). The caterpillars are massive at the moment, so no wonder that we are seeing damage. They aren’t present in high numbers so that is a blessing.

Figure 2. Large black cutworm


I was chatting with a colleague in her office early this morning and noticed a mating pair of crane fly adults. This marks the beginning of the adult crane fly flights. This is early. Usually we start seeing them in the first week of Sept. European chafer grubs are developing and are now in the late first or early second instar. If the weather patterns continue the way they have, then it could turn out to be a banner year for grubs as well as chinch bugs.

Weed control products


I am still recommending not to treat with Fiesta again this week. It is hot, turf is dormant and it is not recommended to apply Fiesta in these conditions. The same applies to Sarritor. We need to wait a couple of weeks until things cool off and get a bit wetter.
Crabgrass is flowering now and even it looks drought stressed. Any areas where the turf had thinned from heat stress are now covered in crabgrass because of the tropic like weather that we had a few weeks ago. At this point, all you can do is make a note of the affected areas and either wait until the first frost and reseed with one of the cool season grass species or apply corn gluten meal next spring.

Magic Wand

Wow, who asked for a hot humid summer? I love this weather, but the lawns are telling me another story. Taking care of lawns comes easy to me. After 30 years, I have loads of tricks up my sleeves to get the lawn you want, but what I don’t have, is a magic wand.

When a lawn care company showed up to apply a liquid herbicide, the majority of consumers thought that one application would do the job at hand; thus the magic wand. On the contrary, the application results could only be as good as what the conditions could provide.

I consider myself a great turf manager. I know what it takes to get what you want, but do you have the budget and/or the patience? I want to ask you four questions, each worth twenty five percent. The closer you are to one hundred, the greater your lawn looks.

1) Do you believe that your lawn care company is providing you the best products, applied and performed correctly?

2) Have you been watering to provide the best outcome for your lawn?

3) Have you been cutting your lawn taller than 3 inches?

4) Has the weather been the best for growing lawns?

If you are my customer, the first question is a yes. Chalk up 25%. I have found that the last three questions have been a failure on majority of lawns. Your lawn is then averaging a 25% efficiency and really not doing that well.

Who has: crabgrass, dandelions, brown lawns, dead patches, streaks of brown throughout, dry conditions, animals digging, moths flying, rust, red thread, increasing water rates, and the list can go on. Most of the problems on your lawn can be cured with the following steps

1) Cut high. A higher cut provides more shade to the soil area which in turns does not allow for weeds seed to germinate, or for quicker soil evaporation. Did you know that evaporation is a cooling process?

2) Water. Dependent upon your soil type, the number of trees, the amount of sun or shade, your turf type and cutting height is all dependent upon how much you water. There is no straight answer here. I do recommend one hour per week and in the event of drought conditions, more.

3) Top dress. Did you know that by applying one percent of organic matter can increase your soils ability to hold moisture by 50%? We use a pelletized composted material to topless. The results are visible for all to see.

4) Aeration. Aerate once if not twice a year. Aeration will reduce compaction as well as total depth of thatch. Water, nutrients and air will be exchange at ease now. A healthier plant/lawn.

5) Power slit seed. Introducing strong varieties of turf will provide a high quality turf, with excellent density, disease resistance and has excellent cool temperature growth; as well as for heat and drought tolerance in the blend.

Each weed ID’s certain conditions lacking in the soil area. Most of our lawns require lime, topdressing, aeration and seeding. You’ll see the weeds dwindle over time due to a healthy more competitive lawn. If you think this is a onetime deal, think again. You need do to these yearly.

What may be required is a different program for you rather than the typical 6 application base program. You may need to start this fall with topdressing, aeration and seeding to get a head start for next year. Come spring, aerate, top dress and liquid lime. Follow this with our liquid weed managers to the fall and start over. Not your typical program that you are used to, but this is what your lawn requires.

This program does not address the cutting and watering habits. Do your best with them to achieve your best results possible. I can install an irrigation system that uses less water than the typical system. It will water more evenly and in the end, be far more efficient than what you are doing now.

All this is great, but what about my budget? Your lawn can work on a budget, but the results require more patience. The magic wand never existed. You can achieve great results, but they are all dependent upon variables that can establish the lawn you are looking for.