Weeds, Weeds, Weeds

Warmer temperatures in spring brings the bad with the good.  While it's great to have the sunny skies, to be out in the garden, it also brings weeds to your turf and garden beds.  If you don't get a handle on the weeds now, you'll be pulling not only weeds all summer long but your hair out in frustration. 

What's the secret behind having a luscious lawn with no weeds?  Good balance!  The proper sunlight, right amount of water, and correct fertilization that all work to make your lawn healthy and weed free. 

Whether its' St. Augustinegrass, bahiagrass, or zoysiagrass, you need to make sure that best management practices guide your lawn maintenance.  Do you or your lawn maintenance company use the following pracctices:

• Keep all lawn equipment clean and sterile?  Do you blow your lawn mower off after each lawncutting before going on to another yard or being stored?
• Keep your lawn mower blades sharp?  Blades need to be sharpened after every five mowings.
• Bag your clippings if you have a weed problem?  If not, you may be mulching the weed seeds right back into your lawn.
• Keep your mower at its highest level?  Keeping your turf as high as possible will make it healthier and more likely to keep weed seeds out of yard.  No scalping!  St. Augustinegrass and Bahiagrass need to be mowed at 3" to 4" and Zoysiagrass should be around 2.5".
• Watering only when necessary - not just because it's your day to water.  St. Augustinegrass and Zoysiagrass need about 1.5" of water a week, Bahiagrass needs about 1".  Watering more than your turf needs will result in short root systems that will not survive droughts and allow for turf to be more susceptible to weeds and diseases.  An easy way to tell if your turfgrass needs watered?  Walk across your turf.  After 2-3 minutes turn around and see if you can see your footprints where you walked. If you can, you need to water.  If the grass has sprung right back up again, no need to water, there is enough hydration in your grassblades. Other indications that your lawn needs watered:  grass blades that fold or turn greenish-blue.
• Fertilize twice a year with low (0-2%) phosophorus fertilizer and an 1:1 ratio of nitrogen and potassium. 

Control of weeds can be easier if you apply pre-emergent herbicides in the early spring and herbicides in springtime and fall.  Do not apply herbicides in the summertime when the temperatures are over 85 degrees. If you only have a few weeds, then spot-treat. There is no reason to apply an herbicide to your whole lawn. If you have more than 75% of your lawn is weedy, then it might make more sense and dollar-wise to get rid of the entire lawn and replace.  Check your options. 

There are three types of weeds and identification of the weed is your best bet to getting rid of it.  Broadleaf, grasses, and sedges.  and there are different herbicides to get remove them. Make sure you read the label before you purchase so that you understand what the herbicide will kill and how to apply it.  Make sure your turfgrass is listed and the weed is listed on the label.

UF/IFAS has an excellent publication on Weed Management in a Florida Lawn. 

Surface Temperatures of Natural and Synthetic Turfgrass Systems in Gaine...

University of Florida's Jason K. Kruse's summertime temperature comparisons between natural turfgrass and artificial turf.



Even if you have to mow it, real turfgrass is much better for the environment.

South Africa World Cup Turf Not A Level Playing Field

It's winter. There will be high traffic. Short-lived. It's not green enough. It's South African's native grass kikuyu. Not green enough? What is it with people having expectations of turf "green-ness?"

Well, when it's South Africa's World Cup games and literally, millions of people around the world are watching, the grass may not be green enough. Which is not settling well with black South Africans. They are proud of their native grass and reject the notion that it's not good enough for Europe.



Kikuyu is a fast-growing grass that spreads through rhizomes and stolons that was first introduced to the United States in 1915 . It tolerates sun, shade, and warm temperatures. But don't look for it here in the United States. It has the temperment of bermudagrass and is considered a federal noxious weed. The FIFA's solution is a combination of ryegrass and for the first time in World Cup history, artificial turf.

Millions of Africans have been saying it for years: the grass is greener in Europe. Now the world's football bosses have decided that Africa's indigenous grass is not bright enough for international television audiences.

In a major blow to South African pride in hosting next year's World Cup, stadiums used for top matches have been told to scrap their hardy African kikuyu pitches and switch instead to tender European ryegrass.

With warm season grasses, it's going to need more maintenance, more water, more fertilizer on the football (Soccer to us Yanks) stadium field than the kikuyu. Over-seeding with rye isn't catching on with South Africans who are frankly insulted that their field isn't up to European and HD television standards.

Let's hope FIFA gets the aesthetic look they want to achieve. Cape Town has wet winters this time of the year and the ryegrass hopefully will not turn yellow.

Tournament spokesman Rich Mkondo, agrees with the Sports Turf Research Institute in Yorkshire, England. He thinks that eventually South African soccer athletes will get used to the fancy, temporary turf. He reminds the world that as a boy, he played soccer with a tennis ball on gravel.

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Teresa' note: Now those vuvuzelas are another story! A whole month of listening to those might send me looking for the world's largest flyswatter! Those should be banned from the world!

In Your Backyard - "2010 New Year Resolutions"

Happy New Year! My most important New Year's resolution is to keep this blog up to date! That being said there's a few things that I want to become more serious about and a few promises to myself to nurture my gardening soul. These resolutions will not only help you save money, they will help make our world a better place without compromising our freedom.

1. Get a Rain Gauge - Know how much rain your backyard receives. Adjust irrigation system accordingly. Using a rain gauge to water your landscape only when necessary will help save you money but also save you horticulture problems in the coming year. Most of the disease and pest problems your landscape has to endure is not their fault but the fault of the caretaker's compassionate but cruel care. Most people overwater their turf creating a short-root system. A short root system will be more susceptible to insects, more susceptible to diseases, and be less drought-tolerant. St. Augustine turf only needs 1" - 1.5" inches of water a week.






2. I'm going to create a living fence of orchids. Hanging them in clay pots from my shaded fence. Orchids are easy to grow outside under shade in Florida. Right now I have dendrobiums hanging from beautiful dried wood and they bloom for me three times a year with only Mother Nature's help. Here's another good orchid site.





3. I'm going to visit a Lake County Open Preserve that I have never been to or hiked. LCWA provides free canoe and kayak rentals. Great opportunity to see pristine and restored wetlands, scrub habitats, and native plants. I've been to Bourlay Historic Nature Park, Crooked River Preserve, Flat Island Preserve, Hidden Waters Preserve, Sabal Bluff Preserve, and Sawgrass Island Preserve and Wolfbranch Creek Preserve. This leaves Lake Norris Conservation Area to explore. Can't wait for spring to get here!





4. I am resolved to educate more people to remove exotic invasives from their yards! Invaders like Brazilian Pepper and Chinaberry Trees. The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council has a great brochure to download and learn about exotics.


5. Reduce my water use by 10,000 gallons this year. Replace my toilet. Fix a leak Replace clotheswasher. Showerhead. Based on one 10-minute shower a day, an energy-efficient, low-flow showerhead can save up to 10,000 gallons of water a year, representing a $145 energy savings You can also check out The Best Low-Flow Showerhead review.

Other topics on the radio show today:

• Cold hardy palms. Palms that won't freeze in Florida or even South Carolina!



February 2009 - Frozen Queen palms at a nursery in Volusia County (and this winter will be colder.)


• Weather Underground - Check current weather and predictions, weekly, monthly, and annual rainfall.


• Word of the Day: Humectants - A humectant is a substance used primarily in foods and cosmetic products to help retain moisture.

LISTEN TO TODAY's SHOW.