Thursday, April 07, 2005
Springtime grass advice
John Arbogast
Landscape consultant John Arbogast answers your questions every Thursday. Send questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to:
Dear John
5102 Greenfield St. SW
Roanoke, Va. 24018
Or send an e-mail. Answers will be given only in this column. Please don't send pictures or samples.
Recent columns
Q: I recently saw an advertisement for Canada green grass seed mixture. What is your opinion of this?
A: I don’t have any information on Canada green. However, this time is appropriate to mention the cautious reply I got several years ago from Dave Chalmers, who at that time was extension specialist for turf at Virginia Tech. He warned that consumers should look carefully at the description given for any unfamiliar grass variety. His warning meant that we shouldn’t be taken by anything that sounds too good to be true.
Dr. Chalmers said we must look out for the presence and amount of either perennial or annual rye grass seed in a mix. Rye grass germinates quickly giving us a bed of green, but this is a temporary grass in the Roanoke area due to our summer heat. Also, rye seed is fairly inexpensive, so consider the price of Canada green grass seed if you can’t read a full description.
Q: Each year I have to overseed my back yard because of the traffic on it from my two dogs. I typically have seeded with a combination of mostly turf-type tall fescues with smaller portions of bluegrass and rye grass. The grass struggles over the course of the summer. There is one patch in my yard that has what I call wiregrass. The creeping style of this makes me believe that this is a type of Bermuda grass. Because it seems to be more resilient to the heavy paw traffic and recovers better after the winter than my fescue, I now am strongly considering overseeding my back yard in all Bermuda or Zoysia grass. If so, when is the best time in the spring to overseed and what type of fertilizer should I use with that? I have some Turfbuilder Plus Halts in my garage that is about 2 ½ years old. Can fertilizer go bad after a period of time?
A: If you have any shade in your backyard, Bermuda grass can’t be used there but Zoysia will do OK. However, if overseeding is your plan, Zoysia might not work well from seeding, but common Bermuda grass does well from seeding. Use new, improved common Bermuda grass varieties because these tend to look better than just plain common Bermuda.
Bermuda grass should be seeded in late spring or even early summer. Watering will be required for successful establishment.
A half-strength lawn fertilization helps these warm-season grasses after germination, but don’t use that old Turfbuilder Plus Halts just prior to or shortly after seeding any grass. Fertilizers stored in a dry place should remain OK to use, provided that the product has not become wet or “caked.” The unknown condition of Halts pre-emergent chemical makes that product risky. The precise longevity of any individual pesticide is difficult to predict.
Q: We have two apple trees that bear fruit from June through August. However, we don’t want the apples. Is there any product we can spray on the trees to prevent them from bearing apples? If there is, when should we apply the spray?
A: The only chemical that I know of that will cause some apples to abort that is available to home growers is the insecticide Sevin if applied 14 to 21 days after full bloom. The drawback is that Sevin used on apple trees then will kill bees. Honeybees, whose population has diminished throughout Virginia, are needed as important pollinators. Also, spraying Sevin during the spring will kill beneficial insects that are working as Nature’s predators.
Q: Why don’t you recommend spring fertilization for lawns around here? Many of us like that dark green color that spring feeding causes.
A: It is OK to make a light mid- to late-spring lawn fertilizer application to bluegrasses or fescues in Virginia. Lower the fertilizer spreader setting given on most lawn food bags. This light spring application will strengthen the roots of bluegrasses and fescues. This also helps those grasses to become denser as they enter summer. However, that deep green color you desire means that the grass blades are very lush but that the roots probably won’t be able keep up. Also, bluegrasses and fescues that are fertilized heavily in the spring will have thin cell walls as a result and thus will be more easily invaded by summer disease.
