In Episode 7 of the Houston Grass Podcast, Michael talks about why fall is a great time to install new grass. This is also the time for an application of Heritage G fungicide to prevent brown patch from killing your grass. We carry the Heritage G you need. Here’s a link to more information on our website.
The Nito-Phos Fall Special Fertilizer applied now will prepare your lawn for a quick green-up in the spring. Here’s why we recommend it.
If you have questions, please give us a call at 281-431-7441.
Summary of Fall Is a Great Time to Plant New Grass & Take Care of Your Lawn
Good morning, everyone. I’m Michael Romine and this is the Houston Grass Podcast. We are in late September here and it’s gotten hot again. We had a pretty moderate couple of weeks and it dried out a little bit. This was after a wet second half of August, which we were thankful for to squash the chinch bug issue a little from the drought over the summer.
But now we’re getting pretty regular rains. It is kind of kind of normal rainfall but there’s talk of us breaking record temperatures in the next couple of days for late September.
And that kind of changes what I would normally recommend this time of year. But, in South Texas or the Gulf Coast, we just kind of roll with the punches as the weather goes.
Everyone at HG was awesome, and I’m very happy with the pallet of Zoysia. Thanks
Mark S.
GatherUp ReviewFall Is a Great Time to Plant Grass
When people ask about the best time of year to plant grass, fall is always my second pick. March, April and May are the three best months. The heat and the dog days of summer are the months that you should stay away from if you can.
But once we get to late September through the end of November, we still have plenty of warm days where you can plant grass. It’ll have time to put down some shallow roots before it goes dormant.
Won’t be as bad on your pocket book with the water bill as it would be over the summer. That’s certainly something to keep in mind.
You’re still going to have to water it a lot for that first couple of weeks up front. It doesn’t change that really. It certainly doesn’t change week one, where we recommend you getting two inches of water on the grass that first day. That takes eight or 10 hours with a hose and a sprinkler. And then get some water on your new grass every day for that first week.
But by that second week, we normally say you can back off a little bit. When those temperatures moderate, you just don’t have to be as crazy with the water and you just kind of do it by feel. You don’t have to just run, run, run, run the water that second week when you’re planting grass in these more moderate temperatures. Fall is a great time to plant grass.
Fall Is Also Time to Fertilize
It is time to fertilize again. The Nitro-Phos Fall Special is what you should be using. September 15th is about the earliest you would want to put it out. But now through about the end of October and maybe even into early November is a good time to put out that Fall Special fertilizer.
Follow the recommended application rates and then get it good and watered in. You’re not looking for a green-up this time of year. When you use Nitro-Phos Fall Special you’re not pouring a bunch of nitrogen on your grass, so you’re not looking for a big green-up.
You’re just trying to get that plant good and healthy before it goes dormant. So it’ll have plenty in its reserves to come out in the spring. So you’re feeding the plant in the roots as opposed to trying to really green up that leaf.
It’s Time to Repair Chinch Bug Damage
I’d say we’re done with the chinch bug calls. The calls that we are getting now are from people who want to fix the damage inflicted by the chinch bugs from the drought. You know, those chinch bugs feed on drought-stressed grass. We had a long dry pattern over this summer and chinch bugs did a lot of damage here in our part of the world. So we are selling a lot of pieces of grass for people to do patchwork to fix those areas of the lawn that the chinch bugs damaged.
Since it is raining more regularly, we are not selling as much of or getting requests for the Cyonara. That’s the liquid pesticide that you screw on into your hose and spray out there to kill the chinch bugs.
Watch for Sod Webworms in Your Grass
I haven’t had any phone calls, but it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities for there to be some sod webworm action. If you wake up one morning and you see that it looks like somebody took a weed eater to some section of your yard overnight, that might be sod webworms. Your grass looks kind of ragged with chewed off tops of the blades. That’s what those sod webworms do.
Or you walk out in that grass in the morning and brown moths fly up out of it. That would be another reason that you would want to use the Cyonara. You would need to use it a couple of times to spray those areas of your grass. But again, I haven’t heard many instances of that yet.
Prevent Brown Patch with Heritage G
We are definitely selling a lot of Heritage right now, the Heritage G granular fungicide, because people are seeing brown patches appearing. And even now that it’s kind of gotten hot and humid again, we’re seeing some gray leaf spot as well.
We are telling everybody — shouting it from the rooftops — that you really need to get the Heritage G out now to prevent brown patch. Those are the ugly yellow circles that show up in the St. Augustine yards this time of year. If you can put Heritage G out preventatively, you can use half the application rate and half the amount of material. The stuff is kind of expensive.
Once you already have brown patch, you’ve got to double that application rate. It requires two treatments. I think it’s two treatments either 14 or 21 days apart.
As I said, the stuff’s kind of expensive. We do sell it in two different size bags. We sell it by the 10 pound bag and by the 30 pound bag. The 10 pound bag is 50 bucks and the 30 pound bag is $110. Depending on whether or not you already have the disease or if you’re trying to prevent the disease, that will determine how many square feet those bags cover.
So something to keep in mind, especially in the low spots of the yard where those yellow spots pop up every year. I would definitely get some of that out. I can’t think of many cases where people don’t need to be thinking about that this time of year.
Those are kind of some of the things that come to mind right now. Getting those spots healed up from the chinch bug damage, getting that fertilizer out for the fall feeding, and also getting that brown patch prevention out there. And if you have a little bit of brown patch going ahead and treating it before those circles expand.
Get the Quality Grass You Need at Houston Grass
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