by Larry Williams | Jun 22, 2016
MICROIRRIGATION – Image Credit UF/IFAS Extension
When watering to establish a lawn or when renovating (redoing, patching, reestablishing, starting over, etc.) a lawn, we normally call for 2-3 “mists” throughout the day for the first 7-10 days until roots get established. These are just 10 minute bursts. Then back off to once a day for about ½ hour for 7-10 days. Then go to 2-3 times a week for about 7 days. By then your lawn should be established.
If we are experiencing adequate rainfall, you may not need to irrigate. Rain counts. But in the absence of sufficient rain, you’ll need to provide enough water at the correct time to allow your new sod to root – hence, the above directions.
A well designed and correctly installed irrigation system with a controller, operated correctly, helps to achieve uniform establishment. It can be difficult or impossible to uniformly provide sufficient water to establish a lawn with hose-end sprinklers, especially if the lawn is sizeable and during dry weather. Most people are not going to do the necessary job of pulling hoses around on a regular basis to result in a well-established lawn.
Too much water will result in rot, diseased roots and diseased seedlings and failure. Too little water will result in the sod, seedlings, sprigs or plugs drying excessively and failure to establish. The end result at best is a poorly established sparse lawn with weeds. Or complete failure.
There is no substitute or remedy for incorrect irrigation when establishing a brand new lawn or when renovating an entire lawn or areas within a lawn.
It would be wise to not invest the time and money if the new lawn cannot be irrigated correctly. Taking the gamble that adequate (not too much, not too little) rainfall will occur exactly when needed to result in a beautiful, healthy, thick, lush lawn is exactly that – a gamble.
An irrigation system is nothing more than a tool to supplement rainfall. As much as possible, learn to operate the irrigation controller using the “Manual” setting.
The above schedule should help when planting a lawn from seed, sprigs, plugs or sod.
For additional information on establishing and maintaining a Florida lawn, contact your County UF/IFAS Extension Office or visit http://hort.ufl.edu/yourfloridalawn.
by Larry Williams | May 12, 2016
Do you have azaleas or camellias with leaves that are thickened, curled and waxy in appearance? This is fairly common this year and is caused by a fungus.
Camellia leaf gall on Sasanqua Camellia. Note swollen, malformed leaves. Photo credit: Larry Williams
Exobasidium vaccinii is a fungus that causes leaves, and in some cases flower petals, to enlarge abnormally and is commonly referred to as azalea leaf and flower gall.
Infected azalea and camellia leaves become large and distorted. Eventually a white powder covers the galls. The white growth consists of spores, which is how the fungus reproduces. Galls ultimately turn brown and harden. Not every leaf will be infected.
The disease relies on airborne spores produced in the whitish mold on the surface of galls in late spring to early summer to reproduce. Some plant pathologists believe that once the spores are released, they are blown and washed to leaf and flower buds where they cause new infections. Galls then form the following spring. Other plant pathologists think that the spores are produced the following year from the old dried, brown galls that fell to the ground around infected plants the previous year. In spring, the spores blow and splash onto new leaves and petals as they emerge causing infection. One or both lines of thought may be true. But in either case, it’s important to remove and dispose of infected leaves before they turn white with spores.
Once you see evidence of infected leaves, it’s too late for chemical control. Besides, there currently is no effective or practical fungicide to control this disease in home landscapes. But you can reduce the amount of infection the following year by pruning infected leaves and throwing them away before spores develop. After removing infected leaves with galls, never leave them on the ground around the plants.
It’s best to bury, burn or place infected leaves in a plastic bag and throw them away. This disease is more severe during a cool, wet spring, which we experienced this year. It’s advisable to not add to the problem by artificially providing the “wet weather” the spores need by frequently using an overhead sprinkler and keeping the foliage wet in the spring during disease development. This is exactly what this and many other plant diseases need – wet conditions. It’s best to water established landscape plants on an as needed basis.
In the home landscape, the fungus does not cause any long-term problems for the plant. It just makes the plant’s leaves look ugly. Infected leaves will usually fall prematurely.
by Larry Williams | Apr 7, 2016
Watering to establish lawn
When watering to establish a lawn or when renovating (redoing, patching, reestablishing, starting over, etc.) a lawn, we normally call for 2-3 “mists” throughout the day for the first 7-10 days until roots get established. These are just 10 minute bursts. Then back off to once a day for about ½ hour for 7-10 days. Then go to 2-3 times a week for about 7 days. By then your lawn should be established.
Of course, if we are experiencing adequate rainfall, you may not need to irrigate. Rain counts. But in the absence of sufficient rain, you’ll need to provide enough water at the correct time to allow your new sod to root – hence, the above directions.
A well designed and correctly installed irrigation system with a controller, operated correctly, really helps to achieve uniform establishment. It can be very difficult or impossible and inconvenient and time consuming to uniformly provide sufficient water to establish a lawn with hose-end sprinklers, especially if the lawn is sizeable and during dry weather. Most people are not going to do the necessary job of pulling hoses around on a regular basis to result in a well established lawn.
There is no substitute or remedy for incorrect irrigation when establishing a brand new lawn or when renovating an entire lawn or areas within a lawn.
It would be wise to not invest the necessary time and money if the new lawn cannot be irrigated correctly. Taking the gamble that adequate (not too much, not too little) rainfall will occur exactly when needed to result in a beautiful, healthy, thick, lush lawn is exactly that – a gamble.
An irrigation system is nothing more than a tool to supplement rainfall. As much as possible, learn to operate the irrigation controller using the “Manual” setting. It is also wise and is state law to have a rain shutoff device installed and operating correctly. The rain shutoff device overrides the controller when it is raining or when sufficient rainfall has occurred. Rain shutoff devices are relatively inexpensive and easily installed. Also, a good rain gauge can be an inexpensive tool to help you monitor how much rain you’ve received. Rain counts.
Too much water will result in rot, diseased roots and diseased seedlings and failure. Too little water will result in the sod, seedlings, sprigs or plugs drying excessively and failure to establish. The end result at best is a poorly established sparse lawn with weeds. Or complete failure.
For additional information on establishing and maintaining a Florida lawn, contact your County UF/IFAS Extension Office or visit http://hort.ufl.edu/yourfloridalawn.
by Larry Williams | Mar 11, 2016
Topdressing material should be weed and nematode-free. Photo Credit: Bryan Unruh, UF/IFAS Turfgrass Specialist.
Q. I see some folks putting a layer of lawn dressing (usually sand) on their lawns in the spring. What’s the purpose for this and is it a good practice?
A. Routinely applying a layer of soil or sand to a lawn can cause more damage than good. This practice is sometimes referred to as topdressing. You can introduce weed seeds, nematodes and even diseases with some sources of lawn dressing. Basically, the only reasons to apply a layer of soil or sand to a lawn are to fill in low areas or bare areas, as a method of dealing with an identified thatch problem or possibly to cover surface tree roots.
Topdressing your lawn with sand on a regular basis is not a recommended practice.
Topdressing soil should be free of weeds and nematodes (sterilized is ideal) and should be of the same soil type (texture) as that on which the turf is currently growing.
While minor low spots can be corrected this way, you can easily overdo it and smother your lawn. Using topsoil from an unknown source may introduce undesirable plants and weeds into the landscape, creating additional work and expense to correct the problem.
It can be difficult to evenly spread the sand in a timely manner. Homeowners start with the best intentions of spreading the sand consistently and finishing by the end of the day only to find that the job is slow and difficult. The sand pile remains in the same spot for days, or longer, shading out and frequently killing the grass below. Once the initial enthusiasm wanes, just trying to reduce the mountain of sand overcomes the objective of spreading it consistently and evenly over the lawn. The end result is dozens of small mounds of sand all over the lawn.
To fill a low spot, shovel the sand, no more than about an inch or two deep, into the area. It’s best to maintain the lawn normally until the grass has grown on top of the first layer. Repeat until the low spot is filled.
Homeowners are sometimes convinced that topdressing will improve the condition of their lawn by increasing the spread and thickness of their turf.
“Topdressing home lawns has minimal agronomic benefits” according to Dr. Bryan Unruh, University of Florida Extension Turfgrass Specialist. When asked his advice for homeowners on topdressing, his reply was “don’t”.
by Larry Williams | Feb 10, 2016
It
Image courtesy UF / IFAS Florida Friendly Landscaping
It’s too early to fertilize our warm-season lawn grasses now. This includes the use of fertilizers contained in weed-and-feed products.
There are a number of reasons why it’s best to wait to fertilize your lawn.
First, the soil temperature is too cool for grass roots to have access to some of the fertilizer elements. For example, iron and potassium are poorly available until the soil warms up in spring. Some nutrients leach below the grass roots because the lawn can’t use them yet. This results in waste of fertilizer, time and money.
Secondly, fertilizing too soon can induce nutrient deficiencies and off color areas in your lawn. This is one cause for bright yellow areas in lawns during early spring. Nitrogen is readily taken up by the lawn, even under cool soil conditions, and stimulates early green growth. Early lawn growth is dependent on iron also being readily available. However, iron is poorly available under the cool soil conditions of late winter and early spring. Therefore lawns turn yellow in areas due to an iron deficiency caused by an early fertilizer application. Many times, as soil temperatures warm during mid April and May, the iron becomes available and the lawn turns green. So why not avoid this scenario by waiting until mid April to fertilize your lawn?
It takes consistently warm night temperatures to allow the soil to become warm enough for best root growth and optimal uptake of fertilizer.
Thirdly, the young, tender grass roots that are beginning to grow in early spring are easily burned by the fertilizer.
Fourthly, fertilizing too early can stimulate early lawn growth, which is tender and easily injured by a late frost. The average date for our last killing frost is mid March.
Also, be very cautious about using weed-and-feed products that recommend a late winter application. These products are usually high in nitrogen, which will cause your lawn to begin growing too early. If you’re trying to control weeds, it’s best to apply your herbicides separately from fertilizer, anyway.
In North Florida, it’s best to wait until your lawn has completely greened up in spring before applying any fertilizer.
Waiting allows for more efficient use of the fertilizer. You will not injury you lawn by waiting to fertilize but you can certainly injure your lawn by fertilizing too early.
So, have patience, allow your lawn to green up on its own and then fertilize, even if it’s not until mid April or May.
