Fungus Fighter 5/22/2020

Comment: I’ve noticed over past few days especially after last mow yesterday yellow blades mixed in after finished mowing. I do the idiot proof plan, but was at Lowe’s and saw fungicide on sale and so thought I would be proactive this year. I applied it last Friday but now see signs of fungus that I didn’t notice last Friday. So wonder if it’s made things worse now. It was Scott’s granular with azoxystrobin. I have attached some blade picture. Maybe it hasn’t had time to work yet or maybe it’s made it develop fungus. You have fungus fighter but was too lazy to make the drive. Any thoughts? Didn’t know the chemical of your fungus fighter or if I need to give existing application more time. Just seems odd that now I have fungus when I thought I was being proactive. I don’t water at night too. Have a blue grass fescue blend and appears to be the fescue w issue. Thank you.

 

Response: I agree that what you are seeing is fungus on the fescue.  The Scott’s product is a good product, the question has always been the rate on using the Azoxystrobin.  We feel their rates are on the lower end of the manufactures recommended rates and do not post a curative rate which is double the preventative rate.  What I am saying is we feel the product should cover closer to 4k preventative and only 2K at the curative rate.  That being said it is possible the disease was breaking out last week and now is getting a little more prolific.  We would suggest you treat at the curative rate with our Fungus Fighter now and let it get rained on over this weekend. 

 

Azoxystrobin is good chemistry and it is in the rotation of products we use in Fungus Fighter.  We used it about 3 years ago.  We feel it’s important to rotate fungus controls annually.  This year the active in Fungus Fighter is Fluoxastrobin, trade name Fame.

 

Controlling fungus is a little different than controlling dandelions.  When you spray dandelions you see them wilt and go away.   When you control lawn fungus your goal is to not have it spread any further.  The blemish will only disappear when the grass grows enough to allow the damage leaf tissue to be removed with your lawn mower.

 

I doubt if your watering scheduled is to blame for this but be reluctant to irrigate too soon or too much.  The lawn’s root system will be stronger if the lawn dries out some in May.  Research has shown that roots will grow deeper in search of water if they need to.  If the water is close by they will enjoy the drink and not go looking for it.  In May and June consider watering heavily when you water and let it really dry out in between.  Setting the timer this early is fun but wait until we see frequent 90 degree days and it is sunny until 9 PM before you go into auto program mode.

 

Thank you for the question. 

 

 

Thank you,

 

-Uncle

913-764-4100

913-765-9200 fax

 

Fantastic Five for Fall Foliage

This fall, when planning your landscape designs think of these five Idiot Proof Plants for excellent multi-season color in the garden or landscape. Uncle's Idiot Proof shrubs have proven to be the most reliable, plants to use in your next landscape project. Woody shrubs can bring brilliant color to the fall season.

Burning Bush: Fire Ball a new Proven Winners introduction, has outstanding bright red fall foliage. Hardier than other varieties. Fire Ball is an improved selection of compact burning bush with tighter branching and superior hardiness.

Itea: Short N’ Sweet is a compact sweetspire. This deer-resistant plant is exceptionally hardy for the Midwest region growing to three feet tall and slightly wider. Best grown in full sun to part shade. Fragrant spires of tiny white flowers cover the shrub blooming in late spring to early summer. Oval green leaves turn shades of orange, red and purple in the fall, can be shaped and trimmed for foundations or borders.

Sumac: Tiger Eyes is a beautiful golden-leafed form of cut leaf staghorn sumac. New growth is a lively chartreuse green, quickly changing to yellow with both colors contrasting nicely with the rosy-pink leaf stems. As magnificent as the summer colors are, the dramatic effect of yellow, orange and intense scarlet in autumn are unparalleled.

Gro-Lo Fragrant sumac is excellent for slopes and banks. Reaching only three feet high and six feet wide. Both tolerating poorly drained soils as well as very dry soil.

Viburnum: Uncle's favorite Idiot Proof Plant. Many good varieties, just too many to list. A few of our most popular are the Juddi, Leatherleaf, Double-File, Eastern Snowball and Korean Spice. You can find a viburnum in all shapes and sizes to fit almost any growing conditions. Most varieties will have fragrant spring blooms in white or pink tones.

Dwarf viburnum varieties are available; however, the most common viburnum varieties will average 6'-8' high and wide. Select varieties will have a profusion of berries in fall changing to colors from flaming red, orange and purple.

Hydrangea: Many excellent varieties of hydrangea provide color in the fall. Dark green foliage turning an outstanding brick red. Bold, fragrant flowers of white, pink or blue at the ends of the branches bloom from early to mid-summer.

The spectacular red fall color makes the Oakleaf Hydrangea or Proven Winners Twist N’ Shout perfect choices for a garden or mass planting.

Fall is the perfect season for new shrub and tree installations. Plants suffer less transplant shock when planted in fall. The best plant selections for fall landscapes is available now at Grass Pad nurseries. Truckloads of fresh nursery stock arrive daily. Come on down to the Grass Pad and bring your measurements, our experienced nursery staff can help you find the right plant to fit your landscape.

Watering Heat Stressed Lawns

Lawn Alert

July 2018

Lot’s of folks have been asking if they should continue to water their brown lawns. This is what Uncle recommends.

If your lawn is looking great: You have been watering routinely, continue your normal watering cycles, and you get a gold star for staying ahead of the game. Don’t change a thing.

If your lawn is brown and toasty: You’ve been away on vacation or just couldn't find the time or money to keep ahead of the watering, it is okay to allow your lawn to go dormant in this heat. Dormancy is a good thing, that’s Mother Nature’s way of helping the grass plant to survive. An established yard can survive drought periods for a few weeks, but high heat and wind can really mess things up.

We would encourage you to water 1 to 2 inches every other week to keep the roots alive. We’re not trying to green it up, just helping the roots and crowns to survive the summer furnace blast. Water in the morning hours to help reduce evaporation. If you need to mow, mow high and try to keep foot traffic to a minimum.

Save yourself $500 water bills this month and next. You can use half of it for seed this fall and send the other half to the Royals relief fund.

5 Things You Should be doing for Summer Lawn Survival

Times can get a little hectic in the summer. Lots of things on your mind with summer vacations, holidays and kids out of school. Don't forget about the hard work you put into the lawn this spring, so here are 5 reminders to ensure your lawn's summer survival.

1. Summer weed pressure. Now is the time those ugly summer weeds will move into the lawn. Walk around your lawn and identify your weeds to determine your mode of control. Dandelions, clover, maple and elm sprouts along with other broadleaf weeds can be controlled with spot spraying using Speedzone or a granular application of Loveland Weed and Feed. If your lawn has a mix of broadleaf weeds and crabgrass, Uncle’s Q-bomb will control both weed types in one simple spray solution. Summer time is also the season for nutgrass invasions. Typically showing up in areas with poor drainage, nutgrass or yellow nutsedge can be a little more difficult to control. Uncle’s Nut Buster will control nutgrass. Nutgrass is a little slower to react while Nut Buster is being absorbed deep into the nutlets. Nutgrass tops will start to yellow and fade in 7-10 days.

2. Summer lawn food. If it’s been more than a month since you fed the lawn, it may be time to give it a little summer boost. Uncle's Green Love  the ideal summer lawn fertilizer. Slow release formula containing iron, will not burn plants, and will green up your lawn fast and not make it grow six inches a week. Providing iron will keep grass deep dark green for a long time. Green Love contains organically complex iron and won't discolor concrete.

3. Summer Critter Gitters. Summer is for more family time on the patio and in the yard. Control chiggers, ticks, fleas and ants using liquid Cyanora around the lawn and spraying up onto the house will help to control a broad spectrum of biting insects. If you have butterfly gardens nearby, use granular Critter Gitter on the lawn and water it in. This will help to prevent any overspray into the flower bed because not all bugs are bad. 

July is also the time to apply Long Lasting Grub Control into the lawn. Absorbed by the roots of the grass plant, Long Lasting Grub Control will protect your lawn from damaging white grubs during their hatch this fall. Mama and Papa June bug are making babies now and soon those eggs will hatch into hungry baby grubs. Baby grubs are voracious and feed on yummy grass roots.

4. Summer Turf Fungus. Frequent night time rains and high humidity this summer create ideal situations for brown patch and other turf diseases. Early application of Fungus Fighter is your best defense against disease, but sometimes it gets missed and you will need a curative application. Fungus Fighter will not turn a brown lawn green, but it will keep the disease in check, preventing it from spreading. Remember, you will need to reapply Fungus Fighter about every 21-28 days to maintain control. 

5. Shade Grass. In those established lawns with heavy shade, summer months are the time to deep water those areas. Big trees will use up much-needed water from your soil, leaving less water for your grass. Re-seeding shaded areas with additional Premium Shade Mix will help fight weed pressure.

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Kansas City is in Horticultural Drought

Agricultural droughts that impact the 3.4 billion-dollar Kansas wheat harvest will gain national media coverage globally, but when we have a drought that effects our lawns and landscapes, it can frequently be overlooked until we realize it is impacting our own homes. Right now, in Kansas City, we are on the verge of seeing damage to lawns and recently planted landscapes that have not occurred in decades according to Jerry Moore of the Grass Pad in Olathe Kansas. “I went into this business 40 plus years ago and had never seen lawns this brown in May”. “Grass looks like it normally does in August and it is still May.” According to the latest data from Eric Luebehusen, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture most of Kansas continues to be in moderate to severe drought with extreme drought in southwest Kansas.

When grass turns brown like this, it allows sunlight to get to the soil and dry it out even faster. The sun will cause our weed preventers to fail, and crabgrass and foxtail will appear earlier this year than usual. When lawns have crabgrass and foxtail epidemics that last more than the typical month of August the desirable grasses are crowded out, and the fall frost will leave the yard bare and susceptible to soil erosion over the winter.

Trees and shrubs planted in the last 3 to 5 years are at risk as well. According to the Morton Arboretum during times of drought like this, the young roots of trees and shrubs are killed outright. The soil becomes hard and compact in the top 1 to 2 feet where the roots live. Plants like trees, shrubs, groundcovers and especially evergreens without adequate watering will suffer much. Massive plant loss is likely if it does not begin to rain. Add these conditions to the increased planting Kansas City has seen recently with the current Real Estate boom these losses will add up to millions of dollars in damage and loss.

People should be diligent about watering their lawns and landscapes. The soil should be saturated at least 12 inches deep. Trees that have been planted in the last five years will not have developed a root system extensive enough to withstand a drought that could go on for six months or more.

Insects, as well as weeds, thrive in these conditions. Ants, fleas, and ticks love dry conditions and will reproduce unharmed by typical spring rainstorms that have missed us. Pets and people should be monitored closely as last weeks warm weather will trigger the hatch cycles of most all pests.