Get
Annual Being an annual weed, annual bluegrass or poa annua produces seeds in early spring so that it will be back again next year. Those seeds fall off in the yard and remain nestled in the soil and amongst the nice green centipedegrass, zoysiagrass, and bermudagrass lawns until around August. Yes, I said August because that is when the annual bluegrass seeds start to germinate. In the fall, you cannot see the new sprouts of annual bluegrass because most our lawns are still green and growing up until mid November. By November, it is way too late to do anything. The beast called annual bluegrass has taken root and is ready to become center stage. Knowing that annual bluegrass germinates in August and early September, now is the critical time to take action to control it. Tomorrow will be too late. Before the seeds fully germinate and take root, apply a pre-emergence herbicide to your lawn. Products recommended for controlling crabgrass but will also control annual bluegrass are Scott’s Halts Crabgrass Preventer (pendimethalin), Green Light Crabgrass Preventer (benefin and trifluralin), Sta-green Crab-ex Crabgrass Preventer (dithiopyr), Spectracide Weed Stop Crabgrass Preventer (dithiopyr), Vigoro Crabgrass Preventer (dithiopyr) and Prodiamine. Atrazine is also recommended but note that it cannot be used on bermudagrass lawns while the grass is still green and actively growing. Insects and Mulch Some
things in life are trade-off and usually involve a good side and a bad
side. Take mulch
for
example. Putting mulch in your flower bed can keep moisture in the
soil,
suppress weeds, and help protect shallow-rooted plants. But mulch also
offers
food and moisture to insects, thereby creating a living environment for
insects.
What kind of insects might be living in your mulch? One insect you may not think about is the yellow jacket. Before you start removing old mulch or pulling weeds, be aware that yellow jackets may have nested in the ground under the mulch. You don’t want that kind of surprise. You will also find a conglomeration of ants, spiders, beetles, large cockroaches, crickets, various other insects, and harmless pillbugs in old mulch. The ants living in your mulch are probably Argentine ants, especially if the mulch is pine straw. Even if you are able to clear out a colony of argentine ants, they will move back in. Most of the time Argentine ants are considered beneficial insects because they don’t bite or sting and they sometimes help keep out fire ant colonies. If you
remove old mulch,
come back with a 2 to 3 inch layer of fresh mulch.
A buffer zone of at least 12 inches without
mulch or with landscape gravel will help keep insects and other
arthropods from
establishing close to homes.
Turnips Fall
gardens and turnips
are made for each other. And more than
likely, if you have planted a fall garden already, you have included
turnips. But if you haven’t planted
turnips
or haven’t thought about turnips this year, it isn’t too late. Turnips
have a
long planting season – Aug 1 to Oct. 1.
Turnips have a maturity date of 40 to 60 days. Plant them right on top of the planting furrow. Press seed down for good contact and cover lightly with mulch. Provide adequate moisture to prevent the soil from drying out. Some turnip varieties are grown for their greens while other varieties are grown for their turnips. “Purple Top”, which produces a 5 – 6 inch round turnip root, is grown for both its greens and turnips. “Just Right” is grown more for its root. An Oriental variety you may want to plant is “Shogoin.” Leaves can be harvested
from turnips as they
grow. The plant will continue to grow
new leaves as you snap the older leaves off.
For more information, contact the Tallapoosa County Extension office at 256-825-1050. |