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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Large Patch & Take-All Root Rot: Warm Season Grasses Patch Lawn Diseases
Summertime is for baseball games, playing in the park, taking bike rides and enjoying picnics with friends and families. It’s also the time for patch lawn diseases to become more noticeable in yards. The patch diseases that can affect warm season grasses such as Bermuda, St. Augustine, Centipede and Zoysia, and affect much of the South and South East lawns include: Large Patch and Take-all Root Rot. These lawn diseases are present in the United States where weather is hot and humid. Although it may be too late to prevent […]
Leaf Spot Lawn Disease On Cool and Warm Season Grasses
There are many different diseases that turfgrasses can contract, but not all turfgrasses get the same diseases, except for one. That disease is called Leaf Spot. There are several different pathogens that cause leaf spot diseases that includes Helminthosporium, Drechslera and Bipolaris. They all belong to a large family of fungi that share the same descriptive name of leaf spots. The Symptoms and Stages of Leaf Spot For the most part, the infectious stage of leaf spot fungi occurs during the cool, wet and cloudy weather of spring or fall. […]
Lime On Lawn: Does Your Grass Need Lime Treatment?
You may have heard one of your parents or grandparents or the gardener down the street who has the best looking flowers and lawn say, “You got to add lime to sweeten the soil!” In many cases that is true, but not for every lawn or landscape. It’s important to determine the pH of the soil before adding any amendments to the lawn. pH levels that are below a scale of 6.5 are considered acidic while pH levels that are above a scale of 7.0 are considered alkaline. Neutral pH […]
Do It Yourself Lawn Care Worth It? Factors To Keep in Mind For the DIY Landscaper
It’s safe to state that spring has finally arrived through much of the United States. The temperatures are on the rise, lawns are waking up from dormancy, trees and shrubs are leafing out and many of these plants are also producing flowers and the tulips, daffodils and other spring bulbs are blooming. It is also the time of year when advertisements for lawn care fertilizers and other control products are seen in the mail, newspapers and online. If you use a professional lawn care service like Spring-Green to care for […]
Has Spring Finally Sprung? Tips For Your Lawn This Spring Season!
Spring has taken its sweet time to arrive for most of the U.S. So far, this April has been the coldest on record for the Chicagoland area in the last 130 years. If you live in the more northern states like Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan, you may be thinking that spring may never arrive since these areas have received up to two feet of snow in the middle of April. Receiving some snow in April is not uncommon for these folks, but two feet is a little much, even for […]
What Makes A Plant A Weed? Characteristics of Weeds and What They Are
There are approximately 250,000 species of plants throughout the world and it is estimated that about 8,000 or so of these species can be considered a weed. Per the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA), there are about 312 common weeds that can be found in the U.S. Take a look at the common weeds and their weed identification information. It is interesting to look through the list to see what plants are considered weeds, but can also be considered desired plants, such as birch, spruce and yews. What Makes […]
Blog Post Provided From Roland Freund, Spring-Green Franchise Owner of Spring, Texas This past winter will be remembered as an unusually cold one in the South region, and landscapes are now telling the story. Homeowners are busy trying to replace dead plants and repair lawn areas. Since Eastern Redbuds are blooming, there is a very good chance the freezing cold weather is behind us. Lawn Care companies and the Extension Offices have been inundated with phone calls regarding dead areas in lawns. Everyone is quick to blame someone, but the […]
Harold Enger’s Lawn Care Journey That Began 40 Years Ago
On February 20, 1978, I started what has become a journey that has lasted 40 years. It was on that date that I walked into the office of a lawn care company in Wheeling, IL, but I was only there for training. I was going to work in an office that was about 15 minutes from where I worked. Wheeling was about 45 minutes from where I lived, but in 1978, gasoline was $.63 a gallon and I drove a Volkswagen Super Beetle, so it was not that expensive to […]
Life Cycle of Winter Annual Weeds In Your Lawn and Landscape
In the world of weeds, there are three different life cycles – annual, biennial and perennial. Annuals only live for one growing period, biennials live for two years and perennials live for more than two years. Among these life cycles, there is also a distinct as to when the initial germination takes place. The common thought is that all weeds germinate in the spring, but many of them germinate in the fall, such as Dandelions, Henbit and Shepard’s Purse. These life cycles are referred to as winter germinating weeds. Winter […]
How Cooler Temperatures Are Affecting Lawn and Landscape
Is It Spring Yet? As is the case with most years, sometimes it will warm up early, fooling a lot of plants, including turfgrasses, to start the annual spring green-up. Only to be broadsided with an arctic blast and cooler temperatures that pushes plants back into winter dormancy. Cool-season turfgrasses like bluegrass, ryegrass and the fescues are somewhat accustomed to these weather fluctuations, but the warm-season grasses, such as Centipede, St. Augustine and Bermuda grasses can be greatly affected by a cold snap after they have been coaxed into an […]
