The Spring-Green blog is your go-to resource for up-to-date, expert content, created and curated by our in-house professionals. Here you can find seasonal tips, myths and misconceptions, and answers to all your common lawn care questions. We also feature queries that come in from our readers, answered by Harold Enger, the Director of Education at Spring-Green.
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It’s summer, which means it’s hot, and in many cases, dry. Lawns are showing the effects of these stress factors. It is critical to the health of the lawn to water properly and to set the mower to cut the lawn at a higher setting. Mowing Your Lawn Properly One of the most common problems that Lawn Care Operators face involve lawns that are mowed too short. Many homeowners are under the impression that if they cut the lawn short, they don’t have to mow as often. To a certain […]
The National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) held their annual Renewal and Remembrance service project at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA on Monday, July 17, 2017. This event has been organized by the National Association of Landscape Professionals for 21 years. Over 500 Green Industry Professionals from across the US joined together to beautify the final resting place of over 400,000 of America’s military veterans and their spouses. Everyone joined together to spread lime and phosphorus, core aerated large sections of the grounds, completed tree trimming and cabling, and […]
You probably wouldn’t be rich, but you might have enough for a decent night out. We’re speaking, of course, about Dollar Spot, the lawn disease that cheapens the look of your lawn. This lawn disease can infect almost all cool-season and warm-season turfgrasses, including Bentgrass, Fescues, Kentucky bluegrass, Perennial Ryegrass, Bermudagrass, Zoysiagrass, Centipedegrass and St. Augustinegrass. Development of Dollar Spot Lawn Disease If conditions are right, the disease can develop on most any lawn, but a well-maintained lawn will recover from the damage faster than a lawn that does not […]
Once summer rolls around, we receive numerous calls from our customers about mushrooms growing in their lawns. In the majority of situations, the mushrooms growing in a lawn are the result from the decay process of a buried organic substance, such as an old tree root or other wood product. Mushroom Rings On Lawn The only time to be worried about mushrooms growing in a lawn is when they are growing in a circle, arc, hair pin shape or other curved or circular area, which may indicate the presence of […]
Depending upon where you live, adding a lawn lime treatment to your lawn is as necessary as adding fertilizer or even mowing it on a regular basis. Unless the pH of the soil is determined by a soil test, the fertilizer you apply may provide little benefit to the lawn. If your soil is too acidic, meaning that the pH is below 6.5, the fertilizer is not properly utilized by the grass plant and the lawn will appear weak and have a dull green to yellow color. The soil in […]
Many parts of the US experienced a very wet spring. Some areas also had to deal with cooler than normal temperatures making it prime conditions for leaf-infecting fungi. The results of the infections caused by these fungi are noticeable now, as leaves begin to fall or the leaves which are still on the trees are showing spots or lesions. These lesions often form along the leaf veins or on the edge or margins of leaves and can range in color from tan to reddish-brown to black. The cause of these […]
While doing some yard work last weekend, I saw the first leaf that had dropped due to an excess of Maple Bladder Galls growing on it. The leaf dropped not because of any direct injury to the leaf by these wart-like structures, but because there were so many of them that formed on the leaf that it could no longer stay attached to the branch. Every year I receive numerous pictures from our Field Service Professionals asking about these weirdly shaped growths or galls form on the leaves of Maples, […]
One of the most common and potentially destructive insect in lawns of all types is white grub. It is also known as grub worms, annual white grubs or just plain old grubs. They damage turf by feeding on the roots of the plant as well as disturbing the soil with their constant search for edible roots. They eat whatever is in front of them, including soil and other organic matter. The digging and feeding of grubs is bad enough, but there are several animals that will feed on grubs when […]
Did you know only the female mosquitoes bite? Female mosquitoes use blood meals for its protein and other components it contains in order to produce their eggs. Males do not feed on blood; they mainly sip on plant nectar. When females bite, they are doing what comes natural to them in order to survive. That does not make their bites any less bothersome, but maybe a little more understandable. There are 175 different species of mosquitoes and they have been around for about 170 million years, so they are not […]
If there is a disease that can develop where you live, the spores of that disease are probably in your lawn already as they will move from lawn to lawn mainly through wind movement. Some diseases are soil borne, meaning that they already exist in the soil. All diseases are waiting for the right environmental conditions to develop to infect the turf. Development of Lawn Disease It is important to understand how a disease develops. The term used to explain how a disease develops is called the Disease Triangle. It […]