Hardy Mums or Garden Chrysanthemums Care and Cultivation

Revive worn out planters and flower beds using colorful fall blooming garden mums. Fresh hardy garden mums in brilliant yellow, oranges, pinks, purples and reds are available. Mums planted now will have the best chance for winter survival.

Planting Instructions:
  • Choose a well-drained location where the mums will receive at least five hours of sun per day.
  • Dig a hole twice as wide and only as deep as the container. Space blooming garden mums in the fall based on plant size.
  • Remove from the plastic container and place the mum into the hole onto undisturbed soil. The top of the root mass should be level with the soil grade.
  • Backfill with a mixture of soil from the hole and Grass Pad’s Max Mix landscapers mix. Pack the soil mixture firmly around the root mass.
  • Cover the planting area and the top of the root mass with mulch of your choice.
  • Fertilize with Uncle’s Root Accelerator, every two weeks until buds crack open. Repeat monthly in the growing seasons.
  • Water thoroughly at planting, amount and frequency will vary by size, weather and soil conditions.
Pinching
Encourage branching and development of a compact plant habit, it is critical to pinch back your garden mums in the following spring season. Soon as new growth is four to six inches tall, use your thumbnail and index finger to remove or pinch off about ½ of the new growth. Do this at the top of each and every shoot.

Repeat this procedure through the summer whenever new shoots are four to six inches long. Stop pinching around the Fourth of July.

Division
Chrysanthemums sometimes become crowded in the garden. The old, center portion of the plant dies back, and new growth occurs around the perimeter of the clump. Renovating chrysanthemum clumps every three or four years will encourage healthy growth, neat plant habit, and continued flowering.

When new shoots appear in the spring, dig the entire clump. Use a sharp spade or knife to cut the clump into wedge-shaped sections, like a pie. Remove and discard the point of the wedge (this is the oldest part of the clump). Plant the new plant (wedges) eighteen to twenty-four inches apart at the depth they were growing.



Beneficial Cover Crops Add Nutrients to Garden Soil

As the bounty of your spring planted garden winds down with the changing leaves and colors of autumn don’t forget your living soil. The living soil requires living plants and roots to maintain the diverse biological populations below the surface. In fact, the adage of “use it or lose it” applies when it comes to soil. Maintaining living roots in the soil for the microbes year round will produce healthier soil, less compaction, and higher water infiltration. Mother Nature is an excellent soil conservationist and when she sees a bare spot she fills it, with weeds. So keep your garden from filling with winter annual weeds like henbit, and chickweed by using a beneficial cover crop.

Cover crops in your garden will increase the available nutrients to your garden. Cover crops will mine or scavenge for nutrients in the soil. Nutrient mining is a concept of up taking nutrients from deep in the soil and depositing them closer to the surface for absorption by shallower rooted crops. Eco-Till, tillage radish, does this in spades with the very deep growing tap root of the radish penetrating the earth like a spear aerating the soil and loosening compacted soils at the same time. Groundhog radishes will pull these nutrients from deep in the soil and use them to grow leaves that cover the ground reducing erosion and preventing weeds. When groundhog radishes die, the leaves are deposited at the surface of the soil returning nutrients to the earth and the radish decomposes into a column of excellent organic material. That vertical column of decomposed organic material is the perfect highway for water to travel through and infiltrate our heavy clay soils.

Other crops are capable of pulling nutrients from the air. Nitrogen fixing is a biological activity that occurs with plants in the legume family. Winter peas and clover are plants capable of this activity. Using winter peas, and clover in your garden as a cover crop will pull nitrogen from the air and put it in the soil for other crops to use. Farmers have known this for years, and that is why they rotate crops between soybeans (a legume) and corn (a high nitrogen user). When it comes time to plant your tomatoes and peppers next Mother’s day just turn under the winter peas or clover with a shovel, and it becomes green manure under the surface of the soil. Anytime you can add organic material to the soil of your garden, increased yields will be your reward.

Don’t leave your garden soil a barren wasteland all winter; feed the living soil with a cover crop. Come on down to the Grass Pad your fall seeding headquarters and we can figure out what kind of cover crop suits your needs the best. By introducing crop rotation and the use of cover crops, you are creating diversity that will support the life beneath the soil. The time to plant is now, the longer the plant has to grow before winter sets in the more roots and foliage it can produce. Healthy soil is dark in color and crumbles in your hand, if your garden is not that way you need the added organic material that a cover crop can provide.


Control Broadleaf Weeds in Fall

As many of you know, there are two types of common weeds we talk about at Grass Pad. The first type is annual grassy weeds, like crabgrass, foxtail and goosegrass. These annual grassy weeds sprout from seed each spring, living only for one season and will die at the first winter freeze. Annual grassy weeds are controlled using PREVENT!, a pre-emergent, applied in early spring. Killing the weed seed as it starts to germinate in the warm soils of spring.

Post emergent control for annual grassy weeds can be done in early summer using Uncle's Q-Bomb. As fall comes around, don't worry so much about controlling an annual grassy weed that will die at first frost. Concentrate more on overseeding and fertilizing your turf following Uncle's Fall Lawn Renovation program.

The second type of weed is the broadleaf weed. These are the wide leaf weeds you will see in thin areas of the lawn blooming with white, yellow or purple flowers in early spring. Weeds like dandelion, clover and chickweed that look like they could be on the salad bar at Price Chopper. Most of these broadleaf weeds are perennial and will live through our winter here in Kansas City.

Broadleaf weed invaders are revitalized with cool weather and fall rains. Growing, spreading and filling thin and open areas in turf created from summer abuse, heavy traffic and weather. As days get shorter, Mother Nature is sending a signal to her plants; the winter is soon to come. Plants begin an energy storage phase in order to survive the long winter. It is the same for trees, bushes, perennial grasses and weeds.

Fall is an ideal time to control perennial broadleaf weeds like dandelions and clover. Perennial weed plants are busy collecting energy to store for winter survival creating a window of opportunity to apply granular Loveland Weed and Feed, liquid Speedzone or Trimec. The herbicide is quickly translocated from the leaf tissue deep into the root for maximum kill. Controlling broadleaf weeds in early fall, will open space for fall overseeding.  Furthermore, broadleaf herbicide applications made in October and November have very little chance of affecting trees and shrubs that are near dormancy. Fall fertilizing with Loveland Renovator or Golf Course Starter stimulates new seed and existing grass plants to quickly spread and fill in. No bare spots, mean no room for weeds.

Uncle's What Ifs:
  • If you have already applied new seed to your lawn, avoid using herbicides until the new seed has germinated, filled in and mature enough to have been mowed at least twice. 
  • If you have already applied any of these herbicide products, wait 14 days after application to broadcast new seed in to those areas. 
  • If you are the procrastinator and suddenly notice it's late fall, your best choice may be to get your seed and fertilizer down first and control broadleaf weeds later.
  • If you have any questions call your nearest Grass Pad or just come on down!

The Green Green Grass of Home



There seems to be something in human nature that attracts us to green grass. Ancient hunter-gatherers were attracted to abundant game on the vast grassy prairies, and the early herdsmen searched out the greenest valleys for their livestock.  Even the 23rd Psalm associates a sense of peace, protection and prosperity with lying down in green pastures.  While most of us no longer hunt or farm, other than for recreation, we are still instinctually drawn to green grass as it cools our environment, filters out pollution, and feels good between our toes.

Keeping a thick, healthy lawn is a great way to have a safer, natural surface for dogs and kids to play on, as well as reducing weeds and increasing curb appeal.  Understanding the basics of when, and how, grass grows, repairs and repopulates itself is critical to keeping your lawn healthy.  If we can mimic nature, we can use the grasses’ natural characteristics to maintain the lawn we desire more easily. 

Heat Wave Turf-Type Fescue
Most Kansas City area grasses naturally reproduce through seed production.  If left uncut, grass plants come out of winter dormancy, using the rainy spring weather, and stored up energy, to quickly push up a seed head.  After this seed head matures in mid-summer, the seeds are then battered by late summer thunderstorms, knocking them to the ground, where they sprout in the warm moist soil.  The young plants focus on growing deep roots and storing up nutrients to help get through the winter, and to be strong enough to survive the heat that will be coming the next summer. Since we mow our lawns, the seeding cycle is interrupted, and we don’t get the advantage of young, vigorous plants, or the genetic diversity of cross-pollination.  That’s why we encourage planting HeatWave™ turf-type fescue blend, or BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend, in the late summer and early fall.  Grasses are genetically predisposed to sprout and establish quickly because of the warm soil, and by supplementing the fall rains. Frequent irrigation cycles and adding Loveland Renovator turf fertilizer your new grass will establish faster now, than any other time of the year. 

Blue Wave Bluegrass
Some grasses also spread with runners called rhizomes.  These runners are sent out by the parent plant when it senses a bare spot nearby.  BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend has these runners and will create the prettiest lawn in Kansas City. The varieties selected for BlueWave™ have a deep blue-green color, and fine texture, which make it very desirable for those seeking a distinctively luxurious lawn. Do not dismiss bluegrass as being too ‘delicate’ in the heat of the summer. Decades of plant breeding and selection  have created varieties that are more vigorous, heat and drought tolerant, disease resistant and visually appealing.   Because of its spreading capability, and the fact that there are about 2 million seeds in every pound (10 times more than a pound of fescue), BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend is one of the most economical grasses to grow in our area. 

Estate Mix Grass Seed
In areas that expect a lot of traffic, like sports fields, and lawns with dogs and kids, we like to mix the BlueWave™ with sports turf ryegrass, creating Estate Mix™.  This mix gives you all the benefits of the runners in BlueWave™, and adds the quick starting, dark green, and fine texture of the same sports turf ryegrasses that are used to repair golf course fairways and athletic fields.

See Related: Uncle's Best - Top Rated Grass Seed


Come on down to the Grass Pad, and ask Uncle about upgrading your lawn with BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend along with his Fall Renovator Program.  It’s not too late! Yesterday was better than today, but today is better than tomorrow!

Fall Armyworm Invasion

Armyworm damage to lawn
The fall armyworm feed on a host of different crops, but they really have a preference for lush green, well-fertilized tall fescue and rye grasses. Armyworms feed on the bottom of a plant first and move up the stem, quickly stripping foliage from the leaves.

In a typical fall season, armyworms are not a big concern for our region, the last major infestation was in 2010. Unusual weather patterns may have played a factor. Cooler than normal summers or the brief heat wave may have confused the armyworm moth's biological GPS. The only thing we know for sure is, they are here now!

Young Armyworm Caterpillar
Armyworm moths lay egg masses reaching 1500 to 2000 individual eggs hatching in just a few days. The larval stage tends to last about 14 days in the heat of summer to almost a month in cooler weather. Ferociously feeding on the best looking fescue lawns. The young are a greenish caterpillars with a black head maturing to a dark brownish body with hair like spines. The face of the mature larva is marked with a white inverted "Y".

After larvae have fully grown, they bury themselves into the soil and form a pupae. The moths will emerge in about 10 to 14 days. Damage can come in waves with multiple generations, monitoring your lawn for the rest of the season is advisable. 

Signs you may have fall armyworm invasion:
  • Brown patches resembling drought damage.
  • Brown patches with all tender green leave removed, leaving only tough stems.
  • Birds digging near those brown areas. 
Armyworm signals in the lawn.


Timing is crucial and early treatment is the most effective. Small fall armyworms are easier to control than the mature. Apply Critter Gitter granules, Cyonara, or Bifen I/T liquid control early or late in the day when armyworms are the most active. Fall armyworms will spend the hot part of the day deep in the soil. When using Critter Gitter granules use plenty of water to allow for good penetration.

Repair any damaged areas following Uncle's Steps to Fall Lawn Renovation and using extra grass seed in damaged areas. If used as directed, the controls for armyworms and fall renovation can be done the same day. Using Critter Gitter, Cyonara, or Bifen I/T will not affect seeding.