Our friends from the Buckeye Yard & Garden Newsletter have given us some tips that I'd like to share with you.
Dave Shetlar warns us that the Vanhoutte spiraea is beginning to bloom in central Ohio, so it won't be long before we see it in our area. This is an indicator that the peak egg laying activity of the Black Turfgrass Ataenius (ataenius spretulus) will be happening also. These beetles spend the winter in protected sites, such as under leaves in woods. As the weather warms in the spring, they begin moving into turfgrass areas to lay eggs. So now is the time to put down the control of these grubs. You can do this by applying Merit (imidacloprid) to your lawns now. Merit will also control many other insects, such as white grubs, bill bugs, and chinch bugs.
Now if you had a lot of Japanese beetles around last year, you probably have the Japanese beetle grub in your lawn also. Merit will control these grubs so they will not hatch, but I like to recommend that you apply our Milky Spore to you lawn. We have done this and have had not Japanese beetle issues at our house. Milky Spore is organic and it is a live spore that lives in the ground for 20 years killing these grubs. The only drawback that there is with using Milky spore is that you cannot use it along with other products like Merit or it will not work properly for you. Milky spore only controls the Japanese beetle grub also, and it takes a good nine months for it to be really active in your lawns, but after that it is fantastic.
There was a lot of snow mold damage to lawns this year and the best thing you can do is rake up those areas, clean out the dead material and then reseed those areas. I added some compost and manure to the areas so the grass seed would get a good start.
If you had crabgrass growing last year in your lawn, now is the perfect time to apply the crabgrass preventer plus fertilizer. Do not apply this in areas that you will be reseeding though.
In May, you will want to begin killing those obnoxious broadleaf weeds. It has been too chilly here in April to apply the Weed & Feed product plus not all the broadleaf weeds are actively growing yet. So we recommend that you begin your Weed & Feed application after May 1, when you can get 24 hours without rainfall after you apply this product. It is always better to apply this application in the early morning when the dew is still on your grass.
So, there are some helpful tips for you and as always, I will let you know what Dave Shetlar from the Buckeye Yard & Garden News is warning us about. Let's get out there and mow those beautiful lawns!
