One of the most common questions right now at the Nebraska Extension office, is tree and shrub leaf problems resulting from drought stress. If your plant has been developing brown leaf splotches which started to appear in July or August, it’s a good bet you have leaf scorch.
Category: Weather
Bird Feeding Problems
Bird feeding is huge! It’s one of the top 5 outdoor activities and really grew in popularity recently as property owners of all sizes became more in tune with their landscapes during the pandemic.
As my colleague Dave Robson with the University of Illinois indicates, when you try to provide food for songbirds, many other outdoor creatures consider themselves invited to the feast. Following are some suggestions for reducing problems from squirrels, mice, rabbits and other critters.
Seeing Spots? Could be the Lawn…
If you’re seeing spots before your eyes, it could be some sort of dizziness syndrome, or it could be that you’re looking at your lawn, and it’s got a particular fungus disease…which shows up as spots. Actually, there are several lawn maladies that show up as spots, but one in particular, especially at this time of year – Dollar Spot.
Blooming Lilacs in October!
It is not unusual for some plants to blossom out of season. Magnolia, crabapple, lilac, and forsythia are notably spring-blooming plants, but stressful growing conditions can instigate a type of dormancy that pushes flowering to later in the season. Lilacs are a great example this year. To better understand why this happens, it is helpful…
Billbugs – Our #2 Lawn Insect
The lawn looks “splotchy brown”…what could it causing it? As you think through all of the possibilities, you are probably also thinking about what you’ve done and haven’t done this year in terms of yard care – fertilizer applications, keeping the turf roots moist, weed control, 3 inch mowing height, sharpened the mower blade – but what about bugs?