Published on Thursday, October 29, 2015
![Ask Adam! The Importance of Leaf Cleanup!]()
As the air cools and summer fades, piles of colored leaves start to fall from trees. Your lawn beckons attention before the snow covers it with a blanket of white. Some lawn projects can be simple like raking on a regular basis or mowing with a vacuum bag style tractor system. Raking, or specifically a lack of leaves allows your lawn to capture more sunlight as the deciduous trees lose their green canopy. Increased sunlight can really help shaded and weak areas capture additional energy to...
Published on Tuesday, September 01, 2015
![Ask Adam! Fall is the time for seeding.]()
Fall is the best time to overseed a lawn or repair thin or bare areas. The cool nights and mild, shorter days provide the ideal conditions for seed germination. Seed is better able to retain moisture in these conditions and seedlings will thrive without the extreme heat that occurs in the summer months. When seeding your lawn, the two important items to remember are to make sure and establish a seed-to-soil contact and to water the new seedlings regularly.
Establishing a seed-to-soil contact...
Published on Thursday, July 02, 2015
![Ask Adam! Brown Patch...]()
Brown Patch is a turf type disease that is running rampant in lawns throughout Southern Illinois this year. What appears to be circular, or even irregular shaped, browning spots in your lawn is probably really a fungus that has developed in your turf. It is caused from over-saturation of turf areas and high night-time temperatures and humidity. The 5 days of constant rain from tropical storm “Bill” this mid June, gave lawns the ugly look of these browning spots.
Products such as fungicides...
Published on Monday, May 18, 2015
![Ask Adam! Mosquito Control!]()
There are really only two reasons to control mosquitoes; to avoid nuisance biting, and to preclude the spread of mosquito-borne disease. Everyone recognizes that mosquitoes can be a real nuisance, but most people do not realize the magnitude of the health threat that they represent. Some of the world’s most dreaded diseases are known to be carried and transmitted by mosquitoes. Many countries around the world are ravaged yearly by malaria, yellow fever, and mosquito- borne diseases, but...
Published on Sunday, April 12, 2015
![Ask Adam! Hiring a Lawn Care or Landscape Professional]()
While some of my readers are a do-it-yourself type person, some like to sit back and leave the chore of lawn care, landscape maintenance or gardening to a professional. This month, I’d like to talk about what to look for when hiring a true green industry professional.
First and foremost, hire a lawn care or landscape provider that is properly insured. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 200,000 people are injured each year because of lawn mowers. Operating a lawn mower ...
Published on Sunday, March 22, 2015
![Ask Adam! Spring Cleanup 2015!]()
Now’s the time of year to start prepping your outdoor landscape for Spring. Simple tasks like cutting back dead growth on plants, cutting down ornamental grasses, clearing the lawn of leaves and gumballs and applying a layer of mulch will make your property look cleaner and help with curb appeal.
As a green industry professional, I highly recommend regularly performing a Spring cleanup of your property. Using a sharp pair of pruners or hedge trimmers, cut back all unwanted growth on...
Published on Sunday, March 22, 2015
![Ask Adam! 10 Most Common Lawn Care Myths!]()
Next month is National Lawn Care Month, and the time of year when homeowners turn to the care and upkeep of their lawns with the goal of seeing their yard and landscape flourish. It’s also the time of year when lawn and landscape professionals must address some common misperceptions about when and how to tend to the lawn for maximum success.
My job as a green industry professional is to help advise and emphasize ways to save time and money on lawn care. As a member of the National...
Published on Monday, November 24, 2014
![Ask Adam! Tulip Time!]()
Fall is for planting tulip bulbs, which come in many different colors. Tulips do best in areas with dry summers and cold winters. The brightly colored, upright flowers may be single or doubled stemmed, and vary in shape from simple cups, bowls, and goblets to more complex forms. They are excellent in beds and borders to highlight any landscape. They are perennial, although many gardeners and landscapers treat them as annuals.
A few tips on planting tulip bulbs are as followed.
Plant the ...
Published on Sunday, September 21, 2014
![Ask Adam! Armyworm Damage...]()
Did you have thinned out dead spots in your lawn last month? Did you know it was probably from armyworms? Armyworms are stout-bodied, hairless, striped caterpillars that chew the foliage of grasses. The name army applies very well as they move across the ground like a feeding army in the hundreds of thousands. They seem to appear overnight and can basically chew turf grasses down to the crown.
The life cycle of the armyworm is near over, but now is the time to repair any dead patches in...
Published on Tuesday, August 26, 2014
![Ask Adam! Allow your lawn to breathe!!!]()
Aeration is beneficial and should be performed annually. Heavily used lawns, or those growing on heavy clay or subsoils may need more than one aeration each year. Again, turf responds best when tine spacing is closer and penetration is deeper. Core aeration can help make your lawn healthier and reduce its maintenance requirements through the following means:
Improved air exchange between the soil and atmosphere.
Improved fertilizer uptake and use.
Reduced water runoff and puddling....
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