Tag: Homeowner

Patches of tall fescue or perennial ryegrass are currently much greener than Kentucky bluegrass (photos). Patches of these two grasses are prominent right now as the bluegrass is just starting to green up. Give it another week and the bluegrass...

Star of Bethlehem and Spring Beauty are currently emerging and flowering in shaded areas. Both plants have pretty white flowers with the Star of Bethlehem having six petals while Spring Beauty has only five petals . The Star of Bethlehem...

The annual bloom of dandelions is already here in southern Indiana and just around the corner in the rest of the state. Though some find dandelions attractive and some may actually eat them in salads or wine, others consider dandelions...

There are many cool-season turfgrasses suitable and adapted to home-lawns in Indiana. They include; Kentucky bluegrass, turf-type tall fescue, fineleaf fescue and to a certain extent even “perennial” ryegrass. Many new lawns are established using seed because it is much...

For the vast majority of homeowners, resist the urge to fertilize now. Fertilizing now can encourage too much growth and could lead to problems later this summer such as poor root growth and disease. Additionally, since spring rains play havoc...

Now’s the time to get the mower out of the shed, make sure it starts and is ready to go when you need it in the next few weeks. Be sure to sharpen the blade and make sure the mower...

Now is a very good time to spend a little extra effort in controlling those pesky moles. Recent warm, wet weather has returned these nasty little turfgrass destroyers back to the surface of the soil where they are making runs...

Mole activity is becoming more apparent with the recent warm weather. Large piles of soil on the lawn surface are evidence of the moles subterranean mining. Unfortunately control of this pest still depends on trapping or possibly a mole-hunting cat...

Below is a table for the optimum mowing heights for turfgrass species in Indiana. The optimum mowing height is where the particular species will perform best, creating the thickest turf, and requiring the fewest inputs. Mowing above these heights will...

Up until about two weeks ago, autumn 2004 was for the most part a fairly dry season. This means that if you fertilized your cool-season lawn in early September and were unable to regularly irrigate, the nitrogen that was applied...

Wild onion and wild garlic emerging in the southern two-thirds of Indiana and these are difficult-to-control weeds. These weeds look very similar to the garden variety onion except the stems of the wild type are much thinner and do not...

The trees are dropping their leaves and it is important to prevent a heavy layer of leaves from building-up on your turf before winter. Heavy layers of tree leaves that shade the grass can smother and kill grass yet this...

Most of the state has received 0.5 inch of rain or more either this week or last and thus turf areas are starting to green-up again. It is important to take advantage of the few weeks of growing conditions and...

As promised earlier, grub damage is now becoming apparent on lawns that are greening up with the recent rains. Grub damaged turf will not green-up with the rest of the lawn and is likely brown for good (dead) (see accompanying...

It is now too late to seed a turf area to expect a good stand going into winter. Seeding turfgrasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, or tall fescue during early November may still allow time for germination, but the...

Now that the lawn and weeds have greened-up from the recent rains, broadleaf herbicides should be effective yet this fall. Though these herbicides work faster when the plants are actively growing, these herbicides will still work as long as the...

Though areas of Indiana received some rain this week and more is forecasted, most of the state has received precipitation far below normal. Many lawns look as brown now as they normally do in August. This does not bode well...

(Adapted from the Midwest Regional Turf Foundation Factsheet, Oct 1, 2004) After an extremely wet summer, turf drought stress has come out of nowhere almost throughout the state after a dry August and September. Though September and October are prime...

Now that we are entering the fertilization season for lawns, questions sometimes arise about where products go after application to lawns. Research at Purdue and many other universities has shown that fertilizers (including both nitrogen and phosphorus) and pesticides applied...

White grub damage on turfgrass may be more widespread than many expected this year. With ample rain and favorable growing conditions for most host plants during the early and mid growing season, high concentrations of adult Japanese beetles were not...