Summer Stress

During warm summers, like 1995 and 1999, turf experience stress from disease. The high night time temperatures, as in both summers, can cause severe turf loss from diseases like Brown Patch, Pythium Blight, and Anthracnose.

Conditions such as this will find the weakness in your watering habits, low mowing height, or lack of aeration. We have covered these extensively in previous issues but it bears repeating; lawn care is more that just proper fertilization:

Water deeply and infrequently
Mow at higher heights (3"+) with a sharper blade
Aerate at least once a season
Fungicide application should not be required if proper care is given, however they may be applied for quicker lawn recovery or if turf loss is possible

Grub Alert

Grubs populations were very large last season. Be on the lookout for grub larva. Warning signs are large numbers of birds pecking into the turf, brown areas, and turf that is loose and comes apart like carpet. The best time to treat is late April/early May or September. Call our office to schedule a grub application and prevent damage to your lawn.

Oak Wilt Concerns

Our valuable population of Oak trees continues to die back from Oak Wilt. The number one advice regarding Oak preservation is to avoid trimming Oaks in the spring.

All Oaks are susceptible to Oak Wilt. Red Oak, the most common Oak in our region, happens to be most prone to the disease. The fungus also spreads by sapwood-feeding bark beetles and borers. These insects carry the disease to weak trees and trees with open wounds.

Control of Oak Wilt is very difficult. Infected trees wilt starting at the tops and drop leaves rapidly during the summer months. To help minimize potential infection, it is important to remove infected trees. Avoid trimming or wounding Oaks between late March through August. Maintain healthy vigorous trees by Deep Root Fertilization in the fall and watering during extended dry periods.

Over recent years, progress has been achieved in battling Oak Wilt and other similar sapwood diseases such as Dutch Elm disease. An injectable fungicide, Alamo, has been successful, primarily as a preventative or used therapeutically with trees in early stages of infection.

Oak Wilt has been identified in Lucas, Futon, wood, and other Northwest Ohio counties. The majority of cases are located in Oak Openings region.

If you suspect Oak Wilt is a problem in your neighborhood, please contact our office and we will have one of our Certified Arborists contact you to schedule an inspection and provide you with more information.

What's New

Our many visits to numerous properties during the season enable us to see trends early that may affect your trees or lawn. Here in our web site there is information which is helpful, or if you observe something in your landscape that concerns you, contact us and we will get you an answer.

Flea and Tick Control

We offer flea and tick applications. These are applied to all turf areas that will help reduce these pests. Our perimeter pest applications are also helpful in limiting pests from entering your home.

Keep Those Spiders Out!

Perimeter pest applications continue to be a popular and economical method of helping to control pests around the perimeter of your home. Fleas, Ants, Spiders, Boxelder bugs and earwigs can be managed by a "bug band" applied unformly in your landscape beds and around the entire foundation.

A one-time application costs $35 or a three-application program appied spring, summer and fall is $99. Call our office to schedule this service.

Crabapple Leaf Drop

Apple Scab Fungus is common on most Crabapple varieties. Brown spots develop on leaves in may and as the disease develops the leaves turn yellow and drop prematurely. This not only detracts from the aesthetic appeal of your property, but also reduces the vigor of the tree.

We have an excellent Crabapple spray program that will prevent this problem in the spring providing beautiful foliage throughout the spring and summer. Please contact us before leaf emergence, as these sprays must be applied before full leaf development.