TLDR – Too Long Didn’t Read
- Spring has sprung, get started with your lawn and landscape NOW for a beautiful yard. Action items are listed as bullet points below.
- Watch out for Fire ants, and have a plan to control- Page 2, 1st bullet point
- Your landscape would also like to be fed.- Page 2- Landscape section
February in review
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.
March – Action items for your lawn, landscape, and garden
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.
Garden
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.
Lawn
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.
- Mowing – The start of the season is a good time to ensure your blades are sharp. While I advocate for mowing your lawn around 3 inches or more throughout the season, an initial shorter cut can help clean up the brown dormant leaves on top. Some physical removal of the clippings may be required.
- Fertilization – We want to switch to Nitro Phos 19-4-10 Super Turf. This is a slower-release nitrogen fertilizer with extra Iron to get that dark green color. If you put down a February fertilizer as recommended, wait 45 days from that application for this one. If you did not use fertilizer in February, now is the time.
- Herbicide – Barricade or Dimension pre-emergent is my choice, as they help control crabgrass and broadleaf weeds. You probably won’t find it at the big box store, but most nurseries or Tru Value / Ace Hardware will carry it.
- AVOID “WEED AND FEED”!! – The herbicides used in this are not very safe in a granule form. They are very toxic to trees and shrubs.
- Pests – Fire ants will become more active with warmer weather and pop-up new mounds after every coming rain it seems like. There are 2 approaches that are successful.
- Option 1 – Fipronil is a chemical that provides 12 months of protection. It both kills active mounds quickly and remains active for a long time. The downside is a professional licensed applicator must apply it. This also treats for fleas and ticks, so if you have pets, that’s another benefit.
- Option 2 – Apply a DIY granule insecticide like Amdro, Extinguish Plus, or Once and Done. Then, follow up with mound treatment with a dust or liquid. The granule is slow to kill but acts as a great preventative. The mound treatment gives you fast results.
- Irrigation – While we may not need to turn on the irrigation for a month or 2 still, check that everything is working correctly now. We had a couple of hard freezes and back flow preventers are very susceptible to freeze damage.
Landscape– If you have not already, get to pruning dead vegetation and pruning back any plants that have become overgrown.
- Roses – March is the month to start feeding roses. A quality rose fertilizer is all you need, but skip the Miracle Grow and go with Osmocote or Nitro-Phos rose fertilizers.
- Shrubs and Growing Trees – These plants can benefit from a spring fertilizer application; our rule of thumb is 1 pound per 1” of trunk diameter.
- Seasonal color – Now that the risk of freeze is diminishing, you can start changing seasonal colors.
Hunter Soape
hsoape@cdcltd.com
CDC Unlimited, LLC