22September 3, 2014
It doesn’t seem possible that we turned the calendar to the page marked September. However, there are still things to do in the gardens.
Weeds. More weeds. It would appear that summer was a good growing season for weeds. Its too bad weeds aren’t a cash crop that we could sell or eat! No matter what, weeds will always grow. Many of you will notice that there is some crabgrass growing somewhere in your yard. You may find it in your lawn, but I have seen it growing in the cracks of a sidewalk. There is good news and bad news when it comes to crabgrass. The good news is that the crabgrass plants that are growing in your yard will be killed by the first frost. You will never have to deal with those plants after the first frost. The bad news is that, during the late summer, crabgrass produces 100’s of seeds that will turn into new crabgrass plants in the spring. At this point in the season, there isn’t a need to try and control crabgrass. In the spring, you can control it in your lawn by using a combination fertilizer and crabgrass control as your first feeding in the spring. The crabgrass control kills the seeds as they germinate in the spring. There are many other weeds that you can control at this time of the year. Many of the broadleaf weeds that grow in your lawn can be controlled by an application of a lawn weed control. Hard to control weeds may need a second application to completely control the weed. As always, you should read all of the label directions to make sure that you are applying the product properly.
Poison ivy is in all its glory this early fall. Now is a good time to control poison ivy. There are several good control methods to kill poison ivy. The most effective type of control is known as a brush killer. The brush killer is mixed with water and applied to the leaves of the poison ivy. The weed killer is taken into the leaves, taken down to the roots and kills the roots. You do have to keep in mind that brush killer will kill any plant whose leaves come in contact with the spray. Let’s say that you have poison ivy growing near your rose bushes. If you get the spray on the leaves of your rose bush, it will kill the rose bush too.
Some of the weed controls that control lawn weeds will also kill poison ivy. Again, these weed killers can do damage to other plants. However, if you have poison ivy growing in your lawn, you can control the poison ivy with the lawn weed control. Once the poison ivy is dead, you need to still be cautious working around the dead poison ivy. Even though the leaves are dead, the oil in the leaves that causes the rash is still active enough to give you a bad case of poison ivy. Let the gardener beware! The last of the weeds that you should control in the fall is Japanese bamboo. This plant has big leaves and hollow stalks. At this time of the year, it forms a white tassel like flower at the end of the leaves. The root system of this plant is massive, making it hard to control. In the fall, when the flowers form, the plants are getting ready to take all the food in the leaves and send that food down to the roots. If you apply a weed killer product called Kleen Up in the fall, the Kleen Up will be transported down to the roots and it will effectively kill the roots. It is critical that you apply this product when you see the flower tassels on the Japanese bamboo. Now is the time!
Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.