Nebraskans are talking about an invasive worm. They are commonly referred to as “Asian jumping worms”, “jumping worms”, “crazy worms”, or “snake worms”. I like to call them crazy worms because whether they jump or move in a serpentine motion, they certainly behave in an uncharacteristic way for a worm. The short story is that…
Category: Lawns
Weed Musings
In the midst of September, if weed management isn’t on your autumn to-do list, it definitely should be. Fall is the best time to be applying herbicides to perennial weeds. Why is this so? As plants ready for winter, sugars produced in leaves are transported to the roots for storage. With herbicide applications, the plant’s…
It’s Time to Fertilize
Is your lawn a bit lackluster? After a long summer of bugs and fungus, it could be. September is an ideal time to feed turfs, because the cool nights and warm days favor its growth and development. Because bluegrasses naturally send out more rhizomes in fall than in summer, lawn recovery is enhanced with fall…
Lawn Renovation
Have the heat and bugs ravaged your lawn? If so, lawn renovation is in order. It’s a multi-step process and now is the time to get started. In fact, it can be thought of as a set of “cookbook instructions”, however, the risk is that one or two steps will be overlooked. If this happens,…
Lawn Sprinkler Gaps
“So, Rocky, what do you see in my sister?” “Well, Pauley, it’s like this. I got gaps, she got gaps, but together, we got no gaps.” Unfortunately, just like two of the actors in the movie Rocky, all lawn sprinkler systems have gaps; gaps in coverage; aka uneven application patterns. If you ever doubt this,…
Yellow Nutsedge
“What is this grass growing in my flower bed?” is a question I hear quite often now. Rolling the stem between my fingers quickly determines this isn’t grass at all but the infamous yellow nutsedge. Sedges are grass-like perennials that have triangular shaped stems. If they grew at the same rate as turfgrass, many lawn…
Lawn Watering – Good and Bad
July is the traditional start of lawn watering season. July like many horticultural tools and garden practices, there are good and bad “iterations”, as there are with cars, grocery shopping and exercise. For example, cars are generally considered good, as they help us travel conveniently, however, when you put a drunk driver behind the wheel,…
Unwanted Grass
Grass is usually a good thing; in lawns that is. However, if you’ve got grass anywhere else – a veggie garden, a flower bed, in groundcovers – then it’s a weed. Grass can get to the unwanted location through bird transfer, through misapplied seedings or through spreading. The rhizomes pictured here show this undesirable…
You Can’t Plant That Here aka Right Plant, Right Place
I see it every day. Wrong Plant, Wrong Place. Perhaps it’s an occupational hazard. Maybe job security. Maybe just (as the Spanish speakers say) “así es”, or “it is, what it is”. On a recent trip, in a location known for “good horticulture”, I ran across some good, er, bad examples. There were trees…
Managing Weeds in the Garden and Lawn
Weeds may be our least favorite topic but still one of the driving forces behind phone and email questions right now, with “How do I kill…?” leading the discussion. Weed identification may seem immaterial, after all, the consuming focus is to be rid of the pesky plant, but in reality, this should always be the…