Have a question? Ask the expert!
Applying & Removing Christmas Lights from Trees in the Yard
It's that time of year when people are busy putting up their Christmas decorations. I recently received a question from a person asking if it hurt trees to wrap all those lights around its trunk. This is a terrific tree care question - I suppose if the lights are left wrapped around a tree for many years, it could girdle the tree. Most people remove their lights at the end of the holiday season, so this should not be a major concern. The thought could also be that the heat given off by the lights could heat up the trunk, causing the sap to start to flow within the tree. It is an interesting thought, but I really don't think enough heat will be produced by those little bulbs to cause such a thing to happen.
First Detector Forest Pest Training
Earlier this week, I attended the First Detector Forest Pest training program put on by the University of Illinois Extension Service in Springfield, IL. It focused on different invasive species that threaten native plants or have the potential to cause major financial impacts on local economies in an effort to control these pests. The first pest discussed was the Emerald Ash Borer which is causing the death of literally millions of trees in the Midwest and is moving outward from there. Currently, it can be found in 15 states and in Canada and has the potential to make its way across the entire continental U.S. The second forest pest discussed is known as Thousand Cankers Disease,
Fall Yard Clean-Up Work
It is the time of year to put your gardens to bed for the winter, unless you live in the areas of the country that are not affected by frost and freezing temperatures. Almost all of my annuals have died due to some cold nights and heavy frosts. As is the case with Mother Nature, one day it can be 70 degrees and the next it is in the 40's. Being in the Midwest, you sometimes can wake up to a little snow on the ground in the morning.As you can see from this picture, I have cut back most of the perennial plants, including my roses. I have a problem with Black Spot on my roses and I do my best to pick up and dispose of all the infected leaves that have dropped to the ground around the plants. I also like to cut back all the hostas<
From Bad to Great: The Year in the Life of One Lawn
One of our Field Service Professionals, Derek J. Gambro, who works in our Wauconda, IL lawn care office , took it upon himself to document the improvements he was able to achieve with a lawn in his territory over the past year. What is the most amazing aspect of this sequence of pictures is how the lawn improved, even during the drought and heat we experienced this past summer. They also show how well the lawn responded once rain returned during the fall. The sequence is illustrated in the gallery above. Lawn Care Application #1 The first application was made on April 21. You can see the number of weeds throughout the lawn and the thin, weak looking grass.
Fall Lawn Care Tip: Mow, Don't Rake, Those Leaves
To many people, fall is their least favorite time of year because of all the leaves that fall on their lawns. I used to spend hours and hours raking leaves, stuffing them into lawn clean-up bags, and hauling them out to the curb for pick up. In my town, I also have to purchase a sticker for each bag that costs about $2.00 each. I have some very large trees on my property, so it was not unusual to have twenty or thirty bags on the curb filled with just leaves. This does not include the bags that are used for all the annual plants that die each year, the spent garden plants and all the other yard waste that has to be, and should be, recycled. Fall lawn care can be very tedious. A couple of years ago, I started reading articles from several universities advising people not to rake the lea
How to Identify & Repair Fairy Rings
Once we started to get some much needed rain in my area, I noticed that I had some Fairy Ring arcs developing in my lawn. I have had a problem with this lawn disease off and on for the last twenty years and it has not been a problem as of late, but it has definitely showed up in an entirely new spot this year. Fairy rings are dark green circles or arcs in turf caused by numerous soil inhabiting fungi. These circles or arcs can range from as small as a foot in diameter to a large as 100 feet in diameter. In some situations, the fairy ring fungi activity can result in the death of the turf grass in these circles or arcs, such as what you see in this picture. Many times mushrooms are seen growing in the arcs or circles. The rings develop as the fungi grow through the soil and thatch br
Storm Damage to Your Yard & Lawn: How to Clean Up
Regardless of where you may live, at some time your property will be hit by a severe storm. It could be a blizzard, an intense thunderstorm, a wind storm or even a hurricane or tornado. Regardless of the source, these types of storms have the potential to damage your trees and shrubs. The aftermath of the storm may result in property damage, but often the result comes in the form of tree damage , including broken limbs, branches and, in some cases, entire trees ripped out of the ground by high winds. What steps do you need to take to safely clean up after the storm is over? First of all, check to make sure that none of the fallen limbs are resting on power lines. If this is the case, you need to contact your local utility company to have the branches removed. This is not a j
How a Drought Can Affect Trees & Shrubs
How the Drought Can Affect Trees and Shrubs It has been reported that the summer's drought has affected about 75% of the country, leaving damaged trees and lawns in its path. Many lawns looked burned up and dried out at the height of the heat and drought,equally affected were many trees and shrubs. Repairing a lawn can be a relatively inexpensive process but replacing trees and shrubs can turn into many hundreds of dollars. The Effects of Drought The lack of water will severely limit the plant's growth. Even after it begins to rain again, the effects will continue to show up for several years. The main reason for this is that the plant was put into a weakened state. This allowed insects and diseases to cause more damage than they normally would because the trees or shr
Why Do I Need Lawn Care During a Drought?
You hired a lawn care company to help take care of your lawn this year, but are wondering why they continue coming out to put fertilizer down on a brown and dormant lawn. It is a good question to ask, and one that needs answering. First of all, it has been our experience going through previous drought periods that lawns which continued to receive regularly scheduled applications of fertilizer recovered much faster and looked better much sooner than lawns that received nothing. Once it begins raining again, or you water your lawn, it's going to be in need of food to generate new grass blades. Spring-Green generally switches to a granular fertilizer during the summertime. The granular fertilizer will remain on the ground and not be activated until it receives irrigation in some form.
Japanese Beetle Alert!
In case you have not noticed, Japanese Beetles are in full feeding frenzy. If you see leaves of your plants beginning to look like lace doilies, you probably have Japanese Beetles feeding on them. They are easy to identify – bronze wing covers and a row of little tufts of white hair along their back side. If you see them, you may notice that they are often doing what nature intended them to do, procreate. They are voracious feeders and breeders. They love to feed on grape leaves, flowering shrubs, roses, rose flowers, lindens and an assortment of other trees and shrubs. The female will look for a suitable place to burrow into a lawn, lay her eggs and move on. The eggs hatch into grubs, which feed on the root system of the grass. One advantage of the dry weather is that the eggs, once l