October Gardening Tips by David Barkley (October 2006)
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My Lawn is going “Nuts” with Nutsedge
It seems we are having quite a bit of Nutsedge problems popping up in our area. Nutsedge grows in response to wet or compacted conditions. Lawns where the irrigation runs every day are more likely to have Nutsedge problems. We definitely have the right conditions in our area and due to our history of always having Nutsedge we will continue to fight a seemingly endless battle.
Yellow, Purple and several other sedges, grow in North Carolina. There are several minor differences between yellow and purple Nutsedge. The easiest way to tell the difference is by taste. Please don't ask me to taste your Nutsedge. I have already about killed myself tasting something which I knew to be edible but didn't know that it was toxic until it was fully ripe. The tubers on yellow Nutsedge taste sweet and starchy while purple Nutsedge tubers taste quite bitter. All sedges are triangular at the base of the plant. That is a good method for identifying the weed.
The products sold for Nutsedge control in home lawns are MSMA, DSMA, MAMA or CMA. You can KILL YOUR CENTIPEDEGRASS AND SAINT AUGUSTINEGRASS with these products.
PLEASE read the label and find the products you can use on the particular grass you are growing. Since most lawns have St. Augustine and Centipede you may wish to look into using Sedgehammer (halosulfuron), Certainty (sulfosulfuron) or Image to control the Nutsedge in your lawn. Basagran is also labeled for Nutsedge although it is normally only available in commercial-size containers. Manage is now called Sedgehammer and is available in local stores. Roundup and equivalents can help control Nutsedge in a fallow situation or as a directed spray. Apply Roundup when nutlets are beginning to form. Apply a second application in two weeks and then cultivate two weeks later.
Gardening Tips for October
- Apply the appropriate pre emergent herbicide(s) to all plant beds and turf areas, to avoid the cool season weeds.
- Check your azaleas for lace bug damage. Look for specks on the underneath sides of the foliage. They will perform better without the lace bugs!
- No foliage! Could be Azalea Redheaded Caterpillars have eaten all the foliage off your azaleas. Find them and shake them off the plant or shoot them down with a stream of water.
- Overseed your bermudagrass lawn with annual rye.
- Take a look at how the trees are growing as you are admiring the fall foliage. The leaves will soon be falling and it is a good time to evaluate the health of the tree. One of the best indicators of a sick tree is tip dieback.
- Prepare beds or natural areas for spring flowering bulbs to be planted later on this fall.
- Buy and store bulbs in a cool dry place. Wait until December to plant them.
- October is a good time to divide and transplant spring-blooming peren-nials. The general rule is to divide spring-blooming perennials in the fall and divide fall-blooming perennials in the spring. Some perennials can be divided anytime.
- It is hard to resist doing a lot of pruning when you are cleaning up in the fall, but now is not the best time to do major pruning. You can remove 10 percent or less of a plant's canopy but resist removing more as we move into fall. Excessive pruning now can reduce winter hardiness on marginal plants. Even if winter injury isn't a problem, the plants will not grow new leaves and shoots until next spring. The best time of the year to do major pruning on overgrown foundation shrubs is in late March.
- Start taking cuttings of your annual plants to bring indoors for the winter.
- Now is a good time to remove any dead plants.
- Several caterpillars appear in the fall. Unless they are creating a problem with their droppings, caterpillars eating deciduous tree leaves do not require action on your part. Losing leaves this time of the year isn't that much of a problem. The leaves are going to fall anyway in another month. If a tree defoliates now, it will come back next spring.
- Caterpillars on lawns can be destructive to the turf. Fall armyworms are hard to notice when small. Once they get large, they can devour a lawn in two or three days. Conserve (spinosad), Proxol/Dylox (trichlorfon), Mach 2 (halofenozide), azidirachtin or any of the lawn chemicals that end in “thrin” will eradicate fall armyworms.
“Fall is for Planting” banners will soon be found flying across the nation at your local nurseries and garden centers letting you know it is time to jump on the bandwagon and plant to enhance the beauty of your home grounds.
Trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs all can be included in this annual campaign to add new plants to your landscape or to replace plants which are not meeting up to expectations.
Whether you are adding a few plants or renovating an entire landscape, fall weather provides a more favorable environment for plants to establish before next summer's heat. With warm days and cooler nights, the plant's roots will continue to grow until soil temperatures dip below 40 degrees thus providing you with a head start for next spring.
SUCCESSFUL GARDENING NOW DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU DO FOR YOUR PLANTS AS WINTER DORMANCY ARRIVES. Water when plants need water, shut down feeding or avoid using fertilizing materials with nitrogen in them, limit pruning to light corrective pruning and plant trees and shrubs with the top of the root ball close to the soil surface. Don't plant them too deep. Follow the plantings with a layer of mulch two to three inches in depth. Make sure you have the right plant for the right location. Select the plants that do well in this region and are adapted to our climatic conditions.
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