Garden Coach 8/13/2020

Chalet Garden Coach

August 13, 2020

• The fluctuating weather is still impacting us AND our landscapes – the 10 day “early Fall” temperatures were an absolute saving grace for our plants. The rain from that crazy storm on Monday was so welcomed by all the plants AND ME! (a full ½ inch at my house).

• Keep planting as long as you are committed to watering the root balls of the plants by hand. We have seen many “failures” due to the reliance on sprinkler systems.

• I heard Phil talking about the rainfall in August being one full inch below normal (and this is just the 12^th of the month!) Do not let the storm trick you into complacency.
  1. Even though it feels like we have had a lot of rainfall events this season, the total rainfall is not up to the required amounts for healthy, happy plants. – the roots take 6-8 weeks to move from the “root ball” into the surrounding soil. At least we got a good soaking rainfall on Monday (even if it was really frightening with all the wind and tornado activity).

85. Be sure and water the plants at least once a day when the temperatures are over 85.

• Things to watch out for in your gardens: (All of these have shown up at the Plant Information windows, since we last talked):
  1. Lawns are starting to recover due to the shorter days, the cool break in the weather and early Labor Day/Fall fertilizing. I am still seeing these diseases:
     1. Brown Patch – Rhizoctonia fungus occurs in temps over 85 with high humidity
     2. Summer Patch – Magnaporte fungus

• Pythium – is still “hanging” around in humid and heavy soils

1. Dollar Spot – returned again

1. The grassy weed, Creeping Bent Grass has started to brown out, showing large areas of dead looking grass. Bring a sample or send a photo into the Plant Information Center for a confirmed ID. Be prepared to lightly rake the dead layer off the dormant bluegrass lawn and water and apply the Labor Day fertilizer application 2-3 weeks early. (Product to use – Scott’s Step One for Seeding with Mesotrione)

1. Lots of slugs are leaving holes in Hosta leaves. Use Sluggo at the rate of 1 teaspoon per square feet every 2 weeks for 3 applications.

1. Animals are eating the tomatoes and peppers before the people can harvest them. (Product to use – Bonide Rat Magic granules as barrier treatment around entire garden)

1. Rabbits are eating hostas, heucheras, roses and many other plants in the gardens. They do not have a sense of smell or taste until they are adolescnents, so they eat through most effective repellents. (Product to use – Liquid Fence Dual Action Rabbit Repellent)

1. There are many insects and fungal diseases in the vegetable gardens (Products to use – Bonide Fungonil with chlorothalanil and Bonide Tomato and Vegetable spray RTU or Bonide Orchard spray Ready to Spray Hose End with sulfur and pyrethrin)

1. Japanese beetles have finished their adult life cycles. Only a few are remaining (usually laying around in the middle of roses). Keep an eye your roses, grapes, Lindens, Birches, Japanese Maples, Crabapples, raspberries and Hollyhocks just in case there are late emergers. (Products to use – BioAdvanced 3-in-1 Spray RTU or Ready to Spray hose end.)

1. There are still many of the fungal leaf spot diseases are showing up now – The “star” again this week is the “rusts” on apples, crabapples, hawthorns and roses. Unfortunately, once the spots show up there is nothing to do except keeping the plants out of stress by watering and fertilizing. (Products to use next spring – Immunox concentrate)

1. Apple Scab on all of the rose family of plants. Spraying now reduces the “spore load” in the environment for next year. (Products to use – BioAdvanced 3-in-1 Spray RTU or Ready to Spray hose end.)

1. Now is the time for boxwood Volutella stem canker to spread. I got a great sample showing what happens to the plant as a result. The bark “pops” off the stem. (Products to use – BioAdvanced 3-in-1 Spray RTU or Ready to Spray hose end.)

• What to do –
  1. “Deadhead” flowering plants to encourage repeat bloom.

15. Evaluate perennials in your gardens to determine if dividing is necessary. The best time to do it is between August 15 and September 15. Register for the September 21, at 10AM, virtual Learning Center webinar on Transplanting and Dividing.

1. Now is the time to get rid of as many weeds and possible. Pull them out of flower gardens and apply a pre-emergent control like Preen or Corn Gluten Meal after the beds are all clean and tidy. It will prevent any weed seeds from germinating (biennial and perennial weeds start in the late summer and early fall, coming back in the spring to taunt you.)

1. Get one more fertilizer application under the plants on top of the soil (ideally before August 15^th). It is especially important for plants that flower in the Spring – now is when they are forming the buds – give them the “building blocks” that fertilizer provides and keep watering! (I just applied Milorganite on my lawn AND all of my trees, shrubs and flower beds. An extra benefit is that it repels rabbits and deer for a short period of time.)

1. Spread Sluggo slug bait. This effort will reduce the number that “over-winter” in the leaf litter and come back bigger next year.

1. Protect the plants that the insects want to eat. Use insecticides in an “Earth friendly” manner – using them late in the afternoon or early evening, when the pollinators are back at their hives. The next morning it will be dry and will not kill them.

1. Drench roses, crabapples, grapes and other members of the Rose family with preventative BioAdvanced All-In-One Rose & Flower Care

1. Spray Vegetable garden weekly to control diseases and insects

1. Keep applying animal repellents – weekly for best control.

Tune into Garden Coach every Thursday from 1PM to 2PM for an expanded version of these topics.

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