GRO Big Red

Japanese Beetles—They’re Colorful, They’re Hungry and They’re Here

The most important thing to understand about Japanese beetles is their feeding doesn’t kill trees, shrubs and flowers. Granted, it isn’t fun to see the lacy leaves they’ve created, but pesticide management options require thought and planning before you set out for revenge. Systemic insecticides, for instance those containing the active ingredient imidacloprid, are taken…

Tis The Season!

In December, “Tis The Season” is a common phrase, referring to various holidays and the old classic song with the words – “tis the season to be jolly”. In July, “Tis The Season” refers to watering turfgrass. There are many take home messages in the theme of turfgrass irrigation; First, don’t worry about the…

Turf Care Under the Hot Sun, Part 4

Parts 1-3 of this series have dealt with considerations of watering, mowing and fertilization that greatly impact turf performance in hot summer weather. The final segment, part 4, deals with several random strategies that will help lawns and other turf areas grow well. These common sense management practices are as follows: *Designate “hydrozones” in…

Grasshoppers

They are cute. They are little. So what is the big deal if there are lots of grasshoppers? These seemingly innocuous little guys and gals can be quite harmful to our landscape plants and vegetable gardens. As grasshoppers grow, their appetites become larger, making the damage they do even more severe. Floating row covers and…

Battling Bagworms in your Landscape

Bagworms can really damage your trees, how can they be managed?

Turf Care Under the Hot Sun, Part 3

Parts 1 and 2 of this series have encouraged readers to water and fertilize less than in spring and fall, which dovetails nicely with the topic of part 3, which is to mow less often. Reducing mowing frequency is important as the process of mowing creates openings in the ends of grass blades, allowing them…

Herbicide Damage to Vegetable Plants

Twisting, curling, and cupping of leaves are often symptomatic of herbicide damage on vegetable plants. The culprits that most readily cause this type of damage include 2,4-D (used to kill broadleaf weeds in lawns and pastures), dicamba (lawn and crop broadleaf weeds) and picloram (pasture broadleaf weeds). These herbicides are plant growth regulators, killing weeds…

Oakleaf

Hydrangea quercifolia or Oakleaf Hydrangea is a small deciduous shrub reaching about 6′ tall about the same if not more in spread. Growing in full sun to full shade this North America native shrub is a consistent bloomer and easy to care for. What I find appealing to about this plant is the lack of…

Turf Care Under the Hot Sun – Part 2

My GROBigRed post in the first week of June introduced the concept of caring for turf under hot, sunny conditions, and focused on efficient irrigation practices. Here’s an excerpt to set the stage for this week’s post – “In summer, in Nebraska, it’s hot. So hot that caring for turf requires a full set…

Leaf Scorch

Leaf scorch, also called sunscald, is the bronzing of leaf surfaces and crisping of leaf edges. Even plants that are well-adapted to our climate can be scorched. Plants have amazing resiliency, especially when Mother Nature eases them into changing seasons. But taking into consideration a spring like this one—cold and rainy—then an abrupt change to…

Early Summer Stress

What happened to spring? We know that Southeast Nebraska and Southwest Iowa can have some challenging weather to contend with, but this caught us all off guard. We are getting calls asking how this will affect our landscape plants and what can be done to mitigate damage. We experienced record heat over Memorial Day that…