Well, the calendar says mid-May, but it sure feels like summer in Tulsa.  The weather guys announced yesterday that we’ve had the warmest year-to-date ever for 2012 from January through May.  The weather is so boring for May that they were talking about thunderstorms way up in Canada just to have something exciting to talk about.  And while we did have some nice rains in mid-march, you take away that rain event, and we’ve had a very dry spring.

So here we go again.  We’re trying to grow nice green grass and provide a healthy lawn and landscape and Mother Nature seems to be making it more difficult with this early hot and dry weather.  After such a brutal 2011, I would hope that we’d catch a break and have a more normal summer with some rainfall and more moderate temperatures, but it just may not be so.   If you are able to irrigate consistently, then your lawn should be doing well.  But there is nothing like a good soaking rainstorm to really help plants and turf green-up.  So with the prospect for any decent rains pretty slim, it’s time to get serious about watering your lawn and landsape if you want it to looks it’s best.

Automatic irrigation systems are a great investment and real time saver.  If you have one, set it to come on about 3 days a week, early in the morning, for about 20 minutes per cycle.  Every system is different, so this is a very general rule.  The bottom line is that turf needs about 1.5″ of water per week in order to look and perform well.  Normally in spring, we recieve that and more many weeks in Tulsa.  But it seems that normal weather is a thing of the past or just wishful thinking.  So without rainfall, you’ll need to apply about 1/2″ of water with each watering.   Many systems will take longer than 20 minutes to deliver that amount of water to each zone, so you’ll need to measure you own system to determine how long to water.

It's time to drag the lawn sprinkler out, or turn your system on!

Without an irrigation system, you’ll just have to work a little harder by dragging hose and moving your sprinkler around.  Early watering is ideal, in order to help prevent turf disease on fescue turf especially, so this may be a challenge without a system.  Watering in the evening, when it’s more convenient for you to do, is not as big of an issue on bermudagrass lawns.  They are not as prone to turf disease as fescue or even zoysia lawns.  So if that’s the only time you can water, just go for it.  For larger lawns, buy a rain train or traveling sprinkler, which if you have enough hose to lay out, will slowly travel over you lawn by following the hose.  They work great–just don’t forget you have it on or take a long nap as it will keep on spraying when it gets to the end of the line!

Irrigation is one of the most important cultural practices involved in providing a great-looking turf.  It’s alot more complex than just who you write a check to for your lawncare, or what type of fertilizer is used.  Yes, those are important factors, especially since using LawnAmerica is your best bet for professional help.  But we need your help.  Without water and proper mowing, our efforts will not be nearly as effective compared to a homeowner who does their part in caring for their lawn.

For more detailed information on proper watering, go to our website at http://lawnamerica.com/lawncare-resources/watering-tulsa-lawn/

Yesterday many folks celebrated Earth Day in various ways across our country and the world.  In our little part of the world in Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma, we actually celebrate Earth Day about every day, since we try to act as stewards towards this world that God created in a responsible way.  But wait, some may say…don’t you use those nasty chemicals and fertilizers, polluting the world and wrecking havoc on the planet?

Well, give me a break!  Chemicals are all around us. They are part of our world.  Fertilizers are mainly natural products, mined from the earth or manufactured from organic sources.  And they are like many other products in our world.  If used properly, in judicious amounts, and in the intended use they are designed for, they pose no unreasonable risk to people, pets, and the planet we live on.  Reality is that there are chemicals and products under your kitchen sink, in your medicine cabinet, and in your garage which are far more toxic, and could  cause far more serious consequences when used improperly than the products we apply to your lawn.

If anyone should be concerned about the chemicals we apply it should be us in the lawncare industry, as we work with them and are exposed to them every day!  I’ve been in the industry for over 25 years now, and I’ve personally treated alot of lawns (my bad hips are paying for it also).  My health is great, our kids health is great, as are the tens of thousands of lawncare workers across the country.   In fact, there has never been any responsible scientific studies showing links between using lawncare products and health issues for lawncare workers.  If there were, do you really think I’d be exposing myself and my employees to stuff that was bad for us?

Reality is that by caring for lawns and landscapes in an environmentally responsible way, we are providing many positive benefits to our urban environment, with cleaner air, less soil runoff, noise abatement, oxygen production, and sequestering of harmful carbon dioxide.

We’re proud of what we do at LawnAmerica in caring for thousands of lawns, parks, sports fields, and commercial areas in Tulsa and surrounding areas.  We’re leading the way towards responsible lawncare by investing in propane-powered spray equipment, which helps provide cleaner air with much fewer emissions.  Our last two trucks we’ve purchased even have totally electric driven delivery systems for our spray equipment, with even less emissions than propane.  At LawnAmerica, we’ve always incorporated IPM, or integrated pest management into our programs, with only spot-treating weeds as needed at many times of the season, along with educating homeowners on proper mowing, watering, and other cultural practices which help produce healthy turf.  We always incorporate some organic content into our fertilizers.  And our new Enviro-Care Program lessens the need for granular fertilizer input into the soil with soil amendments, while decreasing mowing requirements by 50%, leading to less pollution put out my lawn mowers.

We love caring for our part of the world at LawnAmerica!

Hey, I’m an environmentalist at heart.  I’ve always loved nature.   I started out at OSU studying forestry, then wildlife ecology, before ending up with a biology degree and teaching science for 7 years.   Two years ago I spent almost 5 months in the thick of nature while thru-hiking the entire Appalachian Trail.  So if anyone tries to tell me that I’m a bad guy for the earth, they are just barking up the wrong tree.  Every day is Earth Day here at LawnAmerica, because that’s what we do–care for our little corner of the earth.  We love what we do, we do love the earth that we care for (but we don’t worship it), but even more–we love the people and the community we all share.

It’s actually the “silken tent” of the Eastern Tent Caterpillar, which annually makes an appearance in certain trees in Oklahoma during mid-Spring.  With the warm spring, this annual event is a few weeks ahead of schedule, as everything else in Tulsa lawns and landscapes have been in 2012.  The insects produce their webbing in the crotch of a branch in certain trees, such as hawthorn, crabapple, cherry, plum, and a few other trees.  The silken tent serves as protection for the caterpillars when they are not out foraging on the tree leaves.  The caterpillars usually are not found in such numbers that they defoliate or harm an entire tree.  They are not usually detrimental to a tree’s health, however control may be desired to prevent the ragged look these insects will produce by their feeding, along with the unsightly webs.

The Eastern Tent Caterpillar is showing up in certain Tulsa trees.

The easiest and cheapest control is simply to take a stick and destroy the web found in the branches, along with the insects, assuming you can reach it.  Insecticides can be applied, but it’s very difficult to penetrate the web.  We usually don’t recommend spraying, since by the time you see the webs, any damage may have been done.  At this point, the larvae are close to going into the pupae stage, and hatch into harmless moths.   So just take a stick and wack them out of the tree and you should be fine.  You may even try a high pressure stream of water from your hose to break up the web and knock the caterpillars out of their web.  If there are just a few webs found in your trees, I would not be that concerned about it, since they will probably not significantly damage the tree.  Just think of it as helping to feed the local neighborhood birds.

We do expect a bad year for insects and their problems this year, due to the very mild winter.  So while the Eastern Tent Caterpillar is not one to get real excited about, their are other insects that will harm your ornamentals.  For information on how to care for trees and shrubs in the landscape, visit our website.

I’ve been a little worried with the unseasonably warm, and even hot weather we’ve had here in Tulsa this winter and spring.  My concern was a late freeze blowing through here in early April and wacking the bermudagrass, but I think we are in the clear on that.  I see nothing indicating a cold snap anytime soon, so…you can go ahead and scalp your bermudagrass, mow it, whatever you want to do now!   If you’ve not serviced your mower and sharpened the blade, now is a good time for that.  A good, sharp mower blade is so important for the health of your turf, and your turf will look much nicer after mowing.

Even though it’s early April, it looks and feels like May.  Things are greening up early, along with bugs coming out early.  I saw June Bugs this week, and we are two months away from June.  Nobody told the bugs, along with Aphids, Bagworms, Lacebugs, and all the other shrub-eating critters in our landscape.  So be prepared to move up your schedule in treating for these pests.  We offer complete plant health care services at LawnAmerica, so contact us with any questions or if you are in need of service.

One good thing about the warm weather is that we expect to see fewer problems with Spring Dead Spot this year.  A harsh winter can lead to increased severity of this troublesome disease.  So we are anxious to see if our warm winter has helped us out in decreasing the number and severity of the dead spots.

April is National Lawncare Month

April is National Lawncare Month, so give your lawn some extra love this month.  Lawns do so much for our urban environment in Tulsa, not only from an aethetic point of view, but also environmentally.  A healthy lawn produces oxygen, while taking out carbon dioxide from the air.  A thick lawn helps reduce noise and prevents soil erosion.  For all the benefits of a healthy lawn, check out our website here.   We’re proud of what we do at LawnAmerica in caring for lawns in Tulsa and Northeast Oklahoma.   And nobody loves lawns more that we do!

Even I Have Been Battling Moles in Our Tulsa Lawn

This mole was no match for Brad Johnson!

Moles obviously are not too smart if they make the decision to invade the lawn of Brad Johnson, owner of LawnAmerica! While moles are not smart, they are persistent, hungry, and seem to reproduce pretty quickly in the Tulsa area.

The best way to rid a Tulsa lawn of moles is to trap them. That’s not always easy to do, as this is the first one I’ve been able to nail. The key is to be persistent in moving the trap around and to set the trap in a main tunnel, where the mole frequently runs. Those main tunnels are often found along a driveway, home foundation, landscape bed, etc. I recommend a scissor-type trap which seems to do better than the harpoon traps.

Our Monthly Lawn Care Program Provides Good Tulsa Mole Control

At LawnAmerica, I’m personally overseeing our new EnviroCare Program, which is our monthly lawn care program. It includes monthly treatments of Liquid Fence Mole Control, along with a bundle of other important products for your lawn. The goal is to rid the lawn of moles, while providing a nicer lawn that is better for the environment. I also set Talpirid Mole Baits during each lawn care treatment if needed, and if the mole bait doesn’t work, traps will be set. Primo turfgrass regulator, which slows down the growth of bermudagrass by 50%, is included with the summer treatments. By applying Primo Maxx, you’ll be mowing your lawn half as much, saving time and helping to decrease carbon emissions. The deadline for switching to our EnviroCare Program is April 15th, so contact our office for more information.

After One of the Warmest Februaries on Record, March Comes in as the 2nd Warmest March in Tulsa.

It looks and feels more like May 1st in Oklahoma, as well as many other areas of the country. As long as we don’t have a hard freeze in the next two weeks, we’ll be fine. This change in our weather means that Oklahoma’s mowing season will be extended, as well as having to move up landscaping chores about 3 weeks earlier than normal. Crabgrass is up and running, nutgrass is popping up, and summer weeds are coming on strong. We are still applying pre-emergent, which will help cut back on weed germination later in summer, but it probably won’t kill any existing crabgrass. Consistent mowing, good fertilization, and patience are all keys in dealing with late spring weeds, along with some help from LawnAmerica!

The Good News is that We’ve Broken the Long-Term Drought

5 inches of rain this week in the Tulsa and Northeast Oklahoma area has helped to fill up our lakes and ponds, re-charged our groundwater, and helped replenish our sub-soil moisture. We’ve really been in a long-term drought pattern for the past year and a half, so the rains have been a blessing. It’s also helping to green up our lawns and landscapes even more, with the unseasonably warm winter and early spring we’ve had. It looks more like mid to late April around here, with the trees in bloom, green bermudagrass, and lots of weeds in Tulsa lawns!

Crabgrass has begun germinating in certain turf areas, if a pre-emergent has not been applied. At LawnAmerica, we’ve switched to Dimension pre-emergent, since it will also control young crabgrass which has already germinated, while preventing future germination. We’ll be continuing until mid-April with this treatment for our new customers. We’ve noticed an influx of winter and spring weeds in many lawns, even on those that are under service and being cared for. I think this is due in part to the lingering effects of the drought from last summer, leading to thin turf in some lawns and areas of lawns. Thin turf leads to more weed invasion. So we’re looking forward to these rains, and hopefully warm weather, to continue to help the bermudagrass especially grow, thicken up, and help choke out weeds.

When the soil stays wet for long periods of time, even the best pre-emergent applications will break down faster and loose some of their effectiveness. That’s one reason we include a booster application of Barricade pre-emergent later in spring with our 7-Step Program. This, along with a product which controls nutgrass and certain broadleaf weeds, provides superior Tulsa weed control into the season for our 7-Step customers.

We Don’t Want the Bermudagrass to Green Up Too Much Too Soon

My big concern with all the green bermudagrass is that if we have a sudden cold snap and a hard freeze, it could damage the turf. Please resist the urge to scalp bermudagrass now, as that will only compound the problem by taking off too much of the insulating value of the turf. You can top it off with your mower, which helps it look good and helps with any weeds present, but don’t mow it down really short as some do. Wait until mid-April, when the likelihood of a hard freeze is gone. I’ve experienced several years of winterkill of bermudagrass during springs when the bermudagrass greened up early, we had a and early April freeze, and zapped the bermudagrass back, even killing some areas. If you are going to apply the first fertilization of bermudagrass, use a slow-release Nitrogen fertilizer, as we do here at LawnAmerica, so that most of the Nitrogen is not utilized by the turf until later in April and May.

Young crabgrass germinating in a thin, bare area of a lawn.

It’s that time of the year for March Madness for all of us college basketball fans. I’m not too excited though this year without any of our Oklahoma teams in the deal this year. For those of us in the world of Tulsa lawn care, however, it’s always March madness for us when it comes to Tulsa weed-control. With the extremely warm winter and now early spring, I expect to see crabgrass germinating any day now in bare or thin sunny areas in lawns, which have not had a pre-emergent herbicide applied yet. Trying to outrun the crabgrass germination, while keeping up with the heavy demand from new customers, has been challenging this year for us at LawnAmerica. Our staff is working extremely hard though, and we’re doing well in serving our customers, while maintaining our sanity during this most busy time of the season for us.

Even with the early germination of crabgrass, for homeowners who have not had a pre-emergent applied, we will still be okay switching to a product named Dimension. It’s about as good as Barricade—the product we use every spring—but has the added advantage of controlling small crabgrass which has already germinated and still in the 1-3 seed leaf stage of growth. But with the warm temperatures, along with the forecast of heavy rains next week, some crabgrass will be well beyond that growth stage by early to mid-April. So, you need to have pre-emergent applied sooner than later in order to achieve the best results for your lawn. A recent article on crabgrass control can be found here in Turf Magazine.

This warm weather is also stimulating the bermudagrass to green up way too early. As a turf manager, I don’t like to see a lot of really green bermudagrass until after the frost date which is around April 15th for the Tulsa area. Don’t scalp your bermudagrass quite yet; rather wait until mid-April if you really want to scalp your turf. You’ll hear more about this in our next e-Newsletter coming out soon.

We’re off to a great spring at LawnAmerica, and for that, we are very grateful. The Tulsa World recently published a nice feature in their business section on LawnAmerica. Even since I was interviewed for that story, we’ve grown even more, as we always do during our Tulsa lawn care March madness. It looks like we are on our way to 11,000 customers in 2012 if present trends continue. So it looks like I won’t be watching too much basketball this March because we’re so busy trying to keep up with servicing our customers…and that’s fine by me!

Expect to see young crabgrass germinating soon in bare areas and in hot spots along streets and concrete.

The landscapes and turf in the Tulsa area are thinking it’s April 1st instead of March 12th. Winter—or whatever you call what we’ve had this year—appears to be long gone, with warm spring-like days bringing Tulsa landscapes to life. The problem is that this is Oklahoma. Don’t be surprised if we have a big change soon with the possibility of a hard freeze occurring in late March or early April. Therefore, I want to provide a word of caution in regards to what this unseasonably warm weather may do.

Crabgrass will be Germinating Very Soon

Water the treatment into the soil soon after application to activate the pre-emergent. As long as the proper rate is applied, one good pre-emergent is all that is needed. There is some benefit to applying a lighter booster rate later in spring, from May through June, in order to extend the control of weeds later into the summer. This is what we do with our 7-Step Showcase Care Program.

We also will switch to a similar product later this week named Dimension. It’s unique in the fact that not only will it act as a good pre-emergent, it also will control young crabgrass seedlings which have already germinated, as long as they are still very young and have no more then three seed leaves. We’ll continue to apply Dimension on new customers until early April.

Don’t Scalp Your Lawn Until Mid-April

Every year, anxious homeowners and mowing companies get out and scalp the bermudagrass down low at the first sign of spring. Don’t do it! It may look nice, but you are only setting yourself up for trouble with the increased possibility of an early spring freeze damaging bermudgrass that has come out of dormancy too early. I don’t want the bermudagrass to green up until mid-April at the earliest, past the freeze date. By scalping, you are removing valuable insulation from the dead leaves and stems, exposing the important crown of the plant at the surface of the soil. If the crown is damaged, the turf will suffer.

So just be patient. It’s okay to mow the top of the turf down, or mow down any persisting and dying weeds. Just don’t scalp the turf until after April 15th.

2012 Seems to be a Banner Year for Weeds in the Tulsa Area

That’s good for business, but it makes our jobs more challenging in trying to get a handle on these spring weeds. There are several reasons for the accelerated generation of weeds this spring.

1. The lingering effects from the 2011′s drought are still evident in many Tulsa lawns. The best defense against weeds is always a thick, healthy, well-fertilized turf, which helps to choke out many undesirable weeds. When the turf is thin due to the lack of nutrition, poor soil, excess shade, turf disease, and lack of proper irrigation, the weeds will be the first to come into those thin areas and try to fill them in. Even with pre-emergent herbicides, if the turf is thin, you are going to have some weeds. Many lawns were wacked last summer, and it was hard to keep up with the watering. In some lawns, because of last summer’s drought, you’ll see “hot spots” along the edges or in areas with poor soil where it was difficult to keep irrigated. As a result, the turf thinned out and did not have time to fully recover in the fall. These are areas—even in well-maintained lawns—weeds may be evident this spring.
2. We’ve just experienced the 4th warmest winter on record in Oklahoma. Trees, grass, shrubs, and even weeds are about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule compared to where they should normally be in early March. This accelerated schedule yields some concern regarding crabgrass germination which normally occurs in late March to early April in the Tulsa area, but not this year. We expect to see some crabgrass germination in about a week in those “hot spots” so we are working as hard as possible to apply pre-emergent weed-control on Tulsa lawns as quickly as possible.
3. The 3rd reason for the generation of weeds is maybe you are not using LawnAmerica! If so, why not? We’re the best Tulsa lawn care company in town, and we care for more happy homeowners than anyone else around. In fact, this past week we celebrated by crossing the 10,000 customer level at LawnAmerica, with more added every day. And if you are a customer, thank you! Don’t forget that lawn service calls are always free for full lawn care program customers if those weeds pop up in between regular treatments, as they often do during spring. So just give us a call, or request a service call, and we’ll be out within a few days to take care of any persisting weeds.

Water in Your Crabgrass Pre-Emergent ASAP

These warm March temperatures may be great for getting outside to play baseball, go hiking, playing, and starting on that summer tan, but it also makes it easier and quicker for crabgrass to germinate. So if you have a pre-emergent applied during March, don’t wait for rainfall to water it in as you usually can.  Water it in within a day, in order to move the product down into the soil where it will do it’s job.

Come Say Hi at the Tulsa Home and Garden Show this Weekend!

Pampus Grass growing beside a telephone pole in my front lawn.

Now is the time to prune back dead vegetation from your perennial ornamental grasses in your landscape.  I’m a big fan of ornamental grasses in the landscape.

Pampus Grass after pruning, allowing it to grow well this season.

They are fairly inexpensive, and will grow well and thrive in our Oklahoma weather challenges.  Some ornamental grasses are annuals, but many are perennials, which continue to grow and come back year after year.  They can be a great addition to landscape borders, and add variety to the landscape.  In my lawn, I have a big telephone pole in my front yard, so I planted Pampas Grass next to it several years ago to help hide the pole.

These grasses go dormant in winter, similar to bermudagrass.  So the brown stems and foliage needs to be cut back at this time of year to help the plant regrow into a nice shape this year.  If you live in the country, and if weather conditions allow it, you can even burn the brown vegetation.  Be careful though, as to not burn your house down or start a grass fire!

OSU extension has a good information sheet on Oklahoma ornamental grasses. Later in Spring is a great time to plant these also, so consider adding these great plants to your landscape.

Look for LawnAmerica at the Tulsa Home and Garden Show later this week.   Stop by and say hello and have your picture taken with “Big Jake”, our 9′ tall LawnAmerica guy!

I’ve never experienced such warm, nice weather as we’ve had since January, which is nice.  However, expect the crabgrass to germinate about 2-3 weeks earlier than normal, if this warm weather continues.  The weather is great for sales and to work in, but as a turf manager, I’m a little concerned.  If the bermudagrass greens up too much too early, it could set the stage for some serious freeze damage with an early April hard freeze.  And in Oklahoma, that’s not out of the question.

I’ll have more later next week on why you or your mower should not be scalping bermudagrass now, as that just adds to the prospect of late winter and early spring turf damage.