Minding Your Spring Garden: What to look out for: Lawns White grubs - March begins the cycle of treatment for grub problems in your lawn. The bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Dipel, etc.) does a nice job on Japanese Beetle grubs, but it does take a little time to build up in the soil. Bacillus thuringiensis does not, however, control other types of grubs and takes a while to build up in the soil. Lawn diseases - it's time to begin watching for problems with brown patch and dollar spot in warm season grasses, especially if you had problems with one of them last year. Chinch bugs - watch for chinch bugs in your warm season lawn. Flowers Japanese beetles - these pests will defoliate plants in short order. Keep a sharp lookout for them. If you find an infestation use carbaryl (Sevin, etc.), which is very effective. Observe all label precautions on mixing and use. Do not use dusts due to the problem with application - a spray made using the liquid form of the product will work fine Trees Bag worms - bag worms can kill a tree if it is heavily infested. Inspect your trees periodically - bagworms seem to like juniper, arborvitae, and pines, but they will attack many broadleaf shrubs and trees such as rose, sycamore, maple, elm, and black locust. Hand-picking light infestations works well; applying the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis will also take care of the problem. Qakworms and canker worms may appear in the spring and defoliate oak trees. This will not kill the trees, but it will add some stress to them. The trees will develop more leaves. The chemical carbaryl (Sevin, etc.) will kill the worms, but treatment of a large tree is not practical nor safe and therefore is not recommended. However, if you have a small oak tree (less than 7 feet tall) infested with them that can be safely sprayed, an application of this insecticide will control them. Vegetables Garden insects - keep an eye out for corn earworm, cucumber beetle, and squash vine borer in the garden. Blossom end rot - check your tomatoes for blossom end rot on the fruit as it begins to form. This is usually an indication of a calcium deficiency due to lack of regular watering. Place a handful of gypsum (land plaster) in the soil beside the tomato at planting (or later) to prevent this. Foliar sprays such as blossom end rot spray will also help alleviate the problem. Nothing will "heal" the fruit with rot on it, so remove and discard them. Things to do: Flowers Pruning - March is a nice time to prune your repeat-blooming roses such as floribunda and hybrid tea roses, just as the buds break dormancy. Do not prune your once-flowering roses now, but instead prune them after the bloom. Bulbs - you should be planting your summer- and fall flowering bulbs in April and May, such as dahlias, gladioli, cannas, and lilies. Be sure to plant after the soil temperature reaches 55 degrees F. Lawns Fertilizer - it's time for application of nitrogen for Bermuda grass and zoysiagrass lawns that have been overseeded for the winter. Follow the recommendations on your soil test report for your lawn. DON'T fertilize centipede or St. Augustine yet, nor warm-season lawns that were not over-seeded. Crabgrass and goosegrass - make the initial attack on your war with these weeds this month. You will need an application of a pre-emergent herbicide this month and again in June. Wild garlic and wild onion - March is the time for the second herbicide application for these two problems if you have them in your yard. Henbit - this nice little lawn weed can be a problem. Treat now to prevent its return this summer. Nutsedge or "nutgrass" - nutsedge is very difficult to control. There are two main types in our area - purple and yellow. You must identify which you have before you begin treatment. Herbicides must be applied when the nutsedge is actively growing, which means decent soil moisture and warm conditions. Trampweed - if you saw this fluffy-looking weed last summer and fall, now is the time to treat your yard to prevent its return. This should be your second treatment if you have a cool-season lawn. Treat your warm-season lawn in November and February. Irrigation - now is a good time to inspect your irrigation system for repairs and upgrades. You should also scan your automatic timer's manual to re-familiarize yourself with how to set times Fruits Spray fruit trees - continue spraying your fruit trees with a fungicide (Captan, etc.) every 7 to 10 days to provide the beautiful fruit you look forward to. Do not use any insecticides on the trees until less than 10% of the blooms remain - you certainly do not want to hurt your bee pollinators. The fungicide will have no effect on them. Vegetables Vegetables - Some planting times for more common vegetables Asparagus crowns - early February - late March Cabbage - Feb. 15 - Apr. 1 Carrots - Mar. 1 - 15 Lettuce - Mar. 1 - 15 Irish Potatoes - Mar. 15 - 30 Turnips - Feb. 20 - Apr. 1 Cucumbers - Apr. 15 - May 15 Cantaloupes - Apr. 15 - May 15 Lima beans - May 1 - 15 Melons - Apr. 20 - Jun. 30 Okra - May 1 - 15 Peppers - May 1 - 30 Southern peas - May 1 - June 30 Sweet potato - May 10 - June 10 Squash - Apr. 15 - May 15 Tomato - May 1-30
