Turf & Ornamental Maintenance

Lawns around Kansas City look much better going into this fall than they have in the last couple seasons.  Many people are looking out on their yards and thinking that they don't need to do anything this fall to the lawn...Truth is that you should look at this as an opportunity.  Moist soil and cooler weather is going to create a great opportunity to improve the overall health of your lawn this fall.  Aeration will be beneficial in getting water and nutrients down to the root zone while also releiving soil compaction that all the mowing and rain has caused.

Aeration should be part of your annual turf maintenance program just as important as weed control and balanced fertilizer program.  Aeration helps to releive compaction but maybe even more important it gets water and nutrients flowing into the root zone which stimilates root growth and creates a stronger, healthier root system.  Please call us today to schedule your lawn aeration.

The watering schedules for Irrigation systems should be adjusted to the proper watering cycle for seed germination.

Twice a day for 3 weeks:
Rotor Zones: 10-15 minutes each cycle
Spray Zones: 5 minutes each cycle

The Watering schedule for manual watering:
Water each area for 20-30 minutes
Water twice per day

Needles turning brown are the older needles on the inside of the tree is natural needle drop no need to be worried

In some years, the natural needle drop will occur in a relatively short period of time, with rapid and noticeable browning of the older needles, which leads to fears the tree is dying. In other years, people don't even notice it happening, because the browning is spread over a long period of time.

Dormant Seeding can be pretty effective.  It is especially nice because there isn't much work involved working the seed into the soil.  Simply make sure that any lawn debris like dead matted grass is raked up and throw the seed down.  The freeze and thaws of the winter months will help soften the top layer of soil allowing the seed to make good soil contact.  The new seed will lay dormant until it is ready to germinate in the spring.  

Preventative fungicides should be applied now to protect against Apple Scab and Cedar apple rust later this spring.  We recommend 3 applications starting before bud break approx. 10-14 days apart.  

Ok...we're starting to see the damages caused by the Winter of 2013-2014.  Turfgrass, Evergreens...we've seen widespread damage across our service area.  Some of the damage is due to Winter Desiccation which is caused by drying during winter weather or drought.  Even though we had some snow this year, we had very little beneficial moisture.  If plant material including turf went into winter months dry and remained that way throughout the winter, there is a strong possibility that winter desiccation is the cause.

For years, Impatiens have been old reliable for shady areas providing the perfect summer color for those tough areas.  However, in the last few years they have been struck by a destructive fungus called Downey Mildew.  By July of last year, all of our Impatiens planted on customers properties had to be removed and disposed of due to the disease.  Therefore, we are recommending against planting them for the near future.  Nursuries are still selling them and have advertised them as Downey free in the greenhouses...but proceed with caution.

Preventative treatments to prevent against needle blight diseases on Austrian and Scotch Pines should be sprayed now.  It is recommended to perform a minimum of 2-3 treatments timed 14-21 days apart.  

With the warmer temperatures and drying winds this week, please make sure you are watering your turf, trees and other plant material.  Trees especially will dry out due to the wind so it is important to give them a deep soaking asap.  Spring droughts can be cery damaging to plants because they are experiencing such rapid growth and therefore need plenty of water to keep the roots viable and funtioning.