TLDR- “Too long, didn’t read
- Enjoy nice weather this month, the heat is coming
- Ants are in full force- PG 2, second bullet point
- Feed your lawn and plants, treat weeds before they get worse
- Mow frequently
March in review
The winter and spring were quite soggy, but March brought a change of pace, with some weeks experiencing no rain. If you have applied fertilizer and granular herbicide as recommended, it may have been watered in just recently, but that’s still okay. If your grass is not green and your landscape is not blooming, it's time to take a close look at what's going wrong and consider seeking help.
April- Action items for your lawn, landscape, and garden
This is likely our last pleasant and mild weather month for a while to work on your lawn, garden, and landscape. Hopefully, rainfall will continue to be moderate and timely.
Garden
If you’re a home gardener, this is the month you're expecting to see some of your first harvest. Furthermore, it is a big month for planting more heat-tolerant plants. If you have drip irrigation systems in place (I highly recommend), you should be checking for problems this month before the May heat kicks in.
Lawn
Mowing - It's time to get back to weekly cuttings. Remember, we don’t want to cut more than one-third of the grass height at a time when we mow. I know I recommended cutting your lawn close on your first mow for the spring, now it’s time to raise that mower deck back up to at least 3 inches. I mow mine even higher where I have St. Augustine. The higher mower setting will allow the grass to naturally suppress weeds by shading them out and help maintain soil moisture.
Fertilization - the question of when to fertilize is based on when you fertilized previously
- “I can't remember the last time I fertilized, or I haven’t fertilized” – then fertilize NOW!
- “The last time I fertilized was in February or March” – we want to fertilize 45-60 following your last application with Nitro Phos 10-4-10 Super Turf. Do not forget to feed your roses monthly. If you haven’t fertilized your shrubs and trees yet this spring, now is the time. 1 pound of fertilizer for 1” of trunk diameter.
Herbicide – If you have applied a pre-emergent herbicide, you should not be experiencing many weeds at this point. However, it will not give you 100% control. I recommend using a spot treatment with a sprayer for any weeds that appear. Here are a few options that come ready to use Spectracide Weed Stop or Bioadvanced All in One. Either of those will treat weeds and crabgrass. Wait 2-3 days after you mow to treat, and don’t mow for 2-3 days after treating.
Pest - Ants are the worst, right? They seem to have multiplied over winter at my house and probably yours too. Fire ants will become more active with warmer weather and pop up new mounds after every coming rain, it seems like. Three approaches have proven successful for me.
- Option 1 - Fipronil is a chemical that provides 12 months of protection. It both kills active mounds quickly and remains active for a long time. The downside is that a professional licensed applicator must apply it. This also treats for fleas and ticks, so if you have pets, there is another benefit.
- Option 2 - Apply a DIY granule insecticide like Amdro, Extinguish Plus, or Once and Done. Then follow up with mound treatment with a dust or liquid. The granule is slow to kill, but it acts as a great preventative. The mound treatment gives you fast results.
- Option 3 - “Tarrow” is a Borax solution you apply to a piece of cardboard, and the workers carry the poison down to the colony. I have observed significantly higher kill rates compared to many of the mound treatments, where you see some dead ants on top of the mound, followed by a new mound 5 feet away. It is cheap as well, and you pick up the cardboard with the chemical on it and discard it a day or two later, and you are not leaving ant poison in your yard. I really like this option if you have children or animals you don’t want to expose to the chemical pesticides used in other treatments.
Spring rains and green grass,
CDC Unlimited