Harris County Municipal Utility District No. 106
Through HCMUD No. 106’s website you can easily find links to the following services:
Through HCMUD No. 106’s website you can easily find links to the following services:
It’s irritating pest season- ants, mosquitos, caterpillars that eat tree leaves. PG 2, 2nd bullet point
Fertilize your grass, then get ready to mow
Triple check your irrigation Pg 2, 4th bullet point
Enjoy Summer
May was relatively dry until the end, when we experienced wet conditions for a brief period. Temperatures have been pretty mild, despite my prediction of summer hitting you in the face this past month. If you are an early riser, you may have noticed the mid 70-degree mornings.
If you have a home garden, you should be enjoying the fruits of your labor. You can expect to see tomatoes stop setting fruit later in the month when high temperatures get up around 95 degrees. The heat-loving crops will really take off this month. Melons, okra, peppers, and purple hull peas become the garden staples for the next 75-90 days.
Father’s Day is coming, and if the dad in your life is responsible for mowing the lawn, here are some things that might make it more enjoyable: noise-canceling earbuds, a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun off, and someone else who mows while he sits in the shade and sips lemonade. I am joking about the last one…. unless he doesn’t enjoy mowing.
In seriousness, if you are fertilizing on schedule the recent rains and heat are going to send your lawn into overdrive. Weekly mowings are the bare minimum and cutting every 4-5 days may be even better. The rule of thumb is we don’t want to cut more than 1/3 of the leave off. Again, frequently sharpening the mower blades are good for the health of your grass and the appearance of the lawn.
It’s time to fertilize again. I am a big fan of the silver bag Nitro-Phos Super Turf this time of year. It has a very slow-release nitrogen, so you don’t get excessive growth to mow extremely frequently. It also has extra Iron that helps with a nice dark green color.
Pest problems are likely to show up in the next month. I am seeing lots webworms in trees. We previously referred to these as “fall webworm” but now we are seeing them as early as May. Here is a great pamphlet about webworms and treatment options.
Fire ants will continue to be a problem, especially with the upcoming rains. Last month’s article had the full gamut of fire ant treatment.
Mosquitoes are likely to appear in force after the late May rains, and we are now expecting another rainy week in the second week of June.
Spot treatment of weeds may be needed in the summer, but we tend to see more grassy weed problems, such as crabgrass. If you have followed the pre-emergent plan, the pressure from those should be minimal. However, the big box stores do sell some crabgrass killer products, which are advertised for crabgrass control on the label.
Yes, it rained a lot in late May, and we are expecting a wet week in the second week of June. It isn’t likely that the rain will continue every week of the summer. Ensure that your system is ready to operate effectively, but manage it accordingly during periods of rain.
Early summer rains and green grass,
Hunter Soape
TLDR – “Too long, didn’t read”
April mainly had “chamber of commerce” weather, as expected. We did have a few rainy days, but overall, it was dry enough that we didn’t have persistent soggy conditions.
In our area and for my money, Summer starts this month. I can’t tell you which day, but one morning you will walk out the door in the morning to temps in the mid-80s and 90% plus humidity and the sun will just be coming up and you will know, “it’s summer”.
Gardeners should expect their work to pay off heavily this month. Many of our traditional crops, like tomatoes and squash, produce best this month. True high heat crops like peppers, melons, purple hull peas, and okra, will start to take off as well
Gentle rains and green grass,
Hunter Soape
TLDR – Too long, didn’t read:
The winter and spring were quite soggy, but March brought a change of pace, with some weeks experiencing no rain. If you have applied fertilizer and granular herbicide as recommended, it may have been watered in just recently, but that’s still okay. If your grass is not green and your landscape is not blooming, it’s time to take a close look at what’s going wrong and consider seeking help.
This is likely our last pleasant and mild weather month for a while to work on your lawn, garden, and landscape. Hopefully, rainfall will continue to be moderate and timely.
If you’re a home gardener, this is the month you’re expecting to see some of your first harvest. Furthermore, it is a big month for planting more heat-tolerant plants. If you have drip irrigation systems in place (I highly recommend), you should be checking for problems this month before the May heat kicks in.
Do not forget to feed your roses monthly. If you haven’t fertilized your shrubs and trees yet this spring, now is the time. 1 pound of fertilizer for 1” of trunk diameter.
Spring rains and green grass,
Hunter Soape
TLDR – Too Long Didn’t Read
In the past month, we experienced a wide range of temperatures, but rainfall was consistent on a weekly basis. If you read carefully last month, we discussed February 14th being the average last frost date, but to look at the 10-day forecast before planting any sensitive plants. Well, we had that frost and even freeze, but it was well predicted by the 14th, so hopefully, you heeded the advice in last month’s article.
Our average last frost date has passed, while something unexpected could happen the long-range forecast doesn’t signal any fronts coming. However, for the record the latest spring freeze in Houston was on April 10.
If you are starting a garden, take the risk, and get your tomatoes in the ground as soon as possible to increase yield before the summer heat prevents fruit set. The February article has a planting chart to help you know the best dates to seed or transplant most garden plants. Here is a link to that chart.
If you did not get down a fertilization and/or pre-emergent herbicide in February, there is still time, but hurry. Warm nighttime weather will cause weeds to germinate and begin to emerge; the principle of a pre-emergent is that the seeds do not germinate.
Landscape– If you have not already, get to pruning dead vegetation and pruning back any plants that have become overgrown.
Hunter Soape
hsoape@cdcltd.com
CDC Unlimited, LLC
Just like last year, January once again delivered some extremes regarding moisture and cold. Hopefully, you took the necessary precautions, took care of any cold-sensitive plants, and protected your external pipes. Backflow preventers can be susceptible to cracking even when drained, so check those out in the next month or two and deal with any issues before the heat of summer sets in.
Feb 14 is our “average last frost day” for the greater Houston area, with northern parts of Harris County and Montgomery County et al. seeing that date push back toward the end of the month. If you’re a home gardener, these dates are the jumping-off point for the spring garden. There are plenty of cool-season crops that you can begin working with now, and by the end of the month, you will also be working toward some warm-season plantings. Check out this chart for a handy resource for the best time to plant different crops.
At my house, we will start potatoes any day now. Lettuce will be seeded on a weekly basis for us; it is far superior to what you buy at the store. Tomatoes will go in the ground in the middle of the month if the 10-day forecast keeps us above freezing and there are no “arctic blasts” in the long-range prediction models. Then, March will see us transition toward warm-season crops in full earnest.
Despite 3” snow on the ground Tuesday and persisting in places for a few days. I am seeing green Bermudagrass at ground level already. This month is forecasted to kick off with days in the 70-degree range. The nights will still be cool, limiting the major seasonal shift from winter to spring in our lawns and landscape. However, don’t be surprised to see some color return to your brown dormant lawn this month. With all this said, the steps below will give your turf a strong start to the year.
Barricade or Dimension Pre-emergent is essential now to keep broadleaf and grassy weeds away. This treatment and another in 75-90 days will make a big difference if you have crabgrass.
If you have clover, it probably looked like the freeze knocked it out, but it will rebound quickly. I will have the Clover control plan at the end of this newsletter.
Fast-acting 15-5-10 fertilizer will get your yard greened up and strong early. Nitro Phos Imperial 15-5-10 is widely available and our choice here; they also make an organic alternative called “sweet green,” which is a good choice if you’re looking for that. Skip the “weed and feed.”
If you want to put down a pre-emergent in your landscape beds like “Preen,” now is the time to get it out and dress with fresh hardwood mulch.
Before you refresh that mulch, complete your landscape pruning. We want to prune the roses and crape myrtles in the middle of the month.
Stay Warm and Dry,
Hunter Soape
Identification
Photo credit- Texas AgriLife
We need to use different chemicals depending on what lawn grass you have.
Image Southern Lawn RTS
Broadleaf, large stolons (stems) above ground, in the majority of residential lawns
Spectracide Weedstop for St. Augustine lawns – Purple Label
Bermuda Grass
A fine-textured leaf (1/8” across or less) with a very fine stem/runner has increased in popularity in the past 5-10 years but is a small portion of suburban residential lawns.
Zoysia grass- looks much like Bermuda and falls into the same chemical families to be used.
Treatment—You can use hose-end sprayers (the most straightforward method) or mix in a pump-up sprayer to treat. I have provided links to products at Lowe’s Hardware, but they can be found in many other stores.
Spectracide Weed Stop -Yellow Top
Now is the time to treat your clover. You need a 4-hour window without rain and preferably some sun. Don’t be surprised to see signs of plant stress in under 24 hours after treatment.
Also, treating while your grass is dormant is preferred; it is dormant right now and will be for at least the first few weeks of February. When your turf grass breaks dormancy as the temperatures warm, it is under much stress, and adding a herbicide adds more stress. Zoysia is very susceptible to herbicide stress in that stage. Cleaning up the clover now will improve the uniformity of your lawn in the spring, as the turf grass has less variability of sunlight and soil warming.
Screenshot
December had something for everyone weather wise. If you like it cold there was a few days of that, if you like it warmer there was a lot of that too. We saw some needed rainfall, but nothing extremely heavy or persistent.
2024 was the best year in terms of rainfall and less extreme summer heat and dry spells in at least the last 5 years.
Home gardeners, it is the month to stay warm, and if you start your own tomatoes from seed it is time to start. If you have winter crops in the ground good for you. My indeterminate tomatoes I have talked about every month finally succumbed to a frost on January 6th. Seeing as I planted them about March 1 of 2024 that is a pretty good run. I really do think the fall/winter crop was better than the spring. On Sunday as we were preparing for the incoming weather, we picked gallons of both ripe tomatoes we made sauce with and green tomatoes to be fried up. If I would have had more time, we could have pickled some of those green tomatoes too.
Lawn maintenance should be minimal this month. The frost and cold overnight temps the week of Jan 6th will keep most growth but a few weeds to an absolute minimum.
Ants are showing up nearly everywhere-
December weather was fair, but the early January cold snap has cemented turf grass into dormancy for a while. We are mowing once a month with tractors and twice monthly on shortgrass.
Hunter Soape
November weather returned us to our normally scheduled programming after the extended warm spell. By that I mean many days in the 70s with a few bounces back into the 80s. Also, we saw some sporadic rain which helped us recover from that weird fall dry period.
Home gardeners, you should be starting to benefit from your fall planted cool season crops. My indeterminate tomatoes are producing the most they have all season; we discussed how to do this a few months back. The frost will take them out sometime, maybe tomorrow maybe in January. I am going to grow my homegrown tomatoes until they do, and when frost is eminent, we will make fried green tomatoes with the unripe fruit.
Tired of mowing your lawn? You should get a good break now; our grasses are not dormant since we have not had a frost yet. But they know it is time to shut it down for the season. You may need a cut every 2 weeks to deal with some weeds but the weekly mowings are certainly done for a bit.
November brought a break in the drought and perked up our turf since we had moderately warm temperatures. We are mowing once a month with tractors and twice monthly on shortgrass.
Districts that were treated with a pre-emergent herbicide look clean, those that did not elect for that have noticeably more weed pressure.
Overall, this has been the best year for turf in the past 5 years. No extreme freezes, consistent moisture for most of the year. Only a 45–50-day dry period and it was during 90-degree temps of September and not 100+ temps of July or August.
I am looking forward to another great year in 2025
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Hunter Soape
October or August 3.0 …. I am not sure which month we just turned the page on but it was not our normally pleasant weather for October. Furthermore, after a year of generous rainfall, we fell in to a mini drought. Even though it was only 45 days without rain the heat really burned up the unirrigated turf. The most frustrating part of the past month was that we were all teased by some nice cool fall weather back in September. The cooler nights and then dry weather put a halt to most of the growth of our turf grasses, but it also made the weeds go reproductive. So every time a lawn was mowed you where mostly just knocking down seed heads and very little else, but then the seed heads came back within days.
Last month I said you “you can depend on a reprieve from the heat of our summers” about October and that turned out to be a lie. So, I will just say I hope November is cooler and it’s already starting out wetter than the preceding month.
Home gardeners, again I led you astray about getting fall/winter crops in last month. The good thing is you can try again since most of those plants are directly sown from seed into the garden. If you did get some plants started in October hopefully, they made it through to November
Normally, November would be the month we expect to see mowing frequency reduce. The growing season for our warm season grasses close with this month. Nighttime temps below 65 degrees F will shut down the Bermuda and St. Augustine lawn grass.
Also, this month it is time to switch out your seasonal color in your landscape beds and freshen up the mulch while you are at it. While we are talking about mulch, lets discuss tree volcanos.
Image credit: Texas A&M Forest Service
October was the driest month I we have seen this year, and historically it is the second wettest. Turf conditions have rebounded well this year following 3 high stress years with droughts and hard freezes. The past 2 months have put a strain on turf, but I think this year has been 5 steps forward 1 step back at the worst.
Fall fertilization and herbicide are nearing completion for us.
Mowing schedules for most districts will drop back to monthly service on tractor-maintained areas and from weekly to every other week for shortgrass. However we will keep an eye on this, with a good shot of rain at the beginning of November we could see turf growth take off especially if the weather remains in the 80s during the day and above 65 at night.
Hunter Soape
I am a little late getting this out but I was waiting on September weather to leave and October to arrive. We did have a weird but wonderful week in September of fall weather. Rainfall was in short supply last month; I am pretty sure that is the first time I have said that in 2024.
October is always the month I am looking forward to in the heat of the summer. Weather is pleasant. Rainfall is usually present but not overwhelming. It is the first month you can depend on a reprieve from the heat of our summers.
Home gardeners be thinking about your cool season crops and before the end of the month they need to be in. Most of all for us is being able to have home grown lettuce again. If you haven’t grown your own lettuce for salads, it will make you throw rocks at the stuff in the grocery store. It is extremely easy to grow and quick from germination to harvest.
We are changing gears in our lawns and landscapes as well. The growing season for our warm season grasses close with this month. Nighttime temps below 65 degrees F will shut down the Bermuda and St. Augustine lawn grass.
Also, this month it is time to switch out your seasonal color in your landscape beds and freshen up the mulch while you’re at it.
September was the driest month I think we have seen this year. Turf conditions have rebounded well this year following 3 high stress years with droughts and hard freezes.
We are starting up fall fertilization and herbicide this month. Much like I discussed above. We want drainage turf to be healthy and reduce competition for nutrients and sunlight.
Hunter Soape