The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud

Brown Patch "Lurking"

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:13:00 +0000

This cool wet spring has been excellent for cool season root growth. This is the first time in many years timely soaking rains have allowed us to have ZERO need so far for turf irrigation through mid May! However, there is a price to pay for all this water just as soon as the warm days hit! "Brown Patch" and "nutsedge" cometh. The spores are "festering". Therefore, we will begin first round of preventive disease control next Monday.

Irrigation

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:42:00 +0000

It is time to make sure your irrigation is up and running. Please make sure your irrigation company also checks the programming. Remember, deep, infrequent irrigation is the key to reducing Nutsedge problems in the summer.

Soil Temps now 50! Time for grass to green up!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 23:27:00 +0000

Full Map Display

Second Most asked question about 1st app

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:43:00 +0000

If it rains after you apply the treatment , will it still work? Yes, absolutely! Moisture is needed to activate the preemergents, so rain or snow following the 1st app is beneficial, not detrimental. In fact, the longer preemergent remains on soil surface without being activated by moisture, the more it will evaporate into atmosphere. Once activated with moisture, it is no longer susceptible to atmospheric breakdown. Also, the fertilizers we apply also are root absorbed, so moisture helps there as well. The only issue a heavy rain may cause with first app is reduced post emergent weed control. However, we use weed control products that are both leaf and root absorbed and a "sticker" to help hold herbicides on the foliage so the foliar portions can be absorbed. Therefore, the ideal situation is for a rainfall to occur after the treatment has been down for one hour. Thanks for reading this. Hope it helps!

Is it getting too late to pre-emerge?

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:43:00 +0000

This is the most popular question of the week. The answer is not even close to too late. Crabgrass germination is strictly based on soil temps. Period. It has zero to do with blooming forsythia. In sixteen years, I have never seen one peice of crabgrass germinate before April 1st. This year is no exception. Based on current soil temps, crabgrass won't even think about germination until about April 11th. So, rest easy if you haven't gotten your first application yet. All is well!

ARMYWORMS COMETH!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:48:00 +0000

During early September 2012, we had 6 lawns consumed in less than 72 hours by fall armyworms. This was the first time this has occured since the late 1970’s! Therefore, I had never seen this happen before on a home lawn (that was not new sod)Here is what we know:

1. The common factors on lawns hit were they all have irrigation systems, all had some common bermuda in the lawns or in adjacent neighbors lawn.

2. Farmers planting winter wheat in middle TN were also hit hard.

3. The armyworms laid there eggs in irrigated areas only.

4. Traditional grub control products (such as imacloprid) do NOT control armyworms.

5. Bird populations and/or large populations of red wasps were abundant in these areas.

What can be done? This year, we will use a turf insect control product that will control both grubs and armyworms. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ALL my IRRIGATED customers take this application in the summer of 2013.***It will also control ticks.

AREA CODES EFFECTED IN 2012 - 37215,37205,37027,37064. Had no major damage to any lawn in 37069, but this could be your year. Predicting armyworm epidemics is very difficult. Keep an eye on how many red wasps with black wings you notice this spring!

Call me 615-394-6867 or email me with any questions or to make sure you are signed up for armyworm control this summer. Thanks!

Crabgrass Pre-emergent time in TN 2013

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:31:00 +0000

After a mild winter in middle TN, it will soon be time for crabgrass pre-emergent. Pre-emergents have to be applied prior to seed germination to be effective. They are activated by moisture, so rain or snow after this application is beneficial, not detrimental. Soil temps are about 4 degrees warmer right now than this time last year. Crabgrass seed germination is occurs when soil tempatures at 1 inch stay at 50 degrees or above for three consectutive days. Current soil tempatures at 1 inch depth in middle TN about 40 degrees. So its time for us to get busy!

SUMMER WEEDS GO AWAY!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 17:41:00 +0000

The nutsedge and spurge populations during August and September have been the worst I have seen in 16 years! Warm soils combined with unusually wet soil conditions = weed takeover. Spurge, which appears in bare areas, especially along the curbs and driveway edges, is difficult to control and even when killed can germinate another plant in its place which grows very quickly. The problem we have now is that the fall seeding window is open, so herbicides applied now, delay the ability to plant grass seed. It is best at this point to let the frost take out these pesky summer weeds, so fall seeding is not delayed. We are do to get one night this weed in the upper forties, so that will begin the natural decline of these weeds.

HOW MUCH H2o NEEDED IN DROUGHT??

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 20:06:00 +0000

Here is the deal. Its too HOT and DRY to try and keep your fescue lawn green if it gets full sun, period. We are losing water faster than you can apply it with irrigation. There is this term called “ET”, which basically measures how much moisture we lose to the atmosphere on a daily basis, through plant usage and just plain evaporation. As of 6-25-12, we are basically losing about 1/3 of an inch per day in the Nashville area. That's a hair over two inches a week. That is astronomical for June! It is more typical to lose about 2/10 of an inch a day. The hot air temps combined with lower than normal humidity (the hot breeze vs the stagnant steam we usually have) works as follows:

Think of your car engine. If you have antifreeze in your car and the water pump is working, it keeps the car engine cool enough. If the water pump quits working, the fluid will get hot and engine will overheat. If your engines water pump works fine, but theres not enough coolant in the system to circulate, engine overheats. With tall fescue, if you have enough water and the humidity is low, the water will go into the roots, through the plant, and exit out the leaves, keeping the plant cool. If you don’t apply enough water, there's no coolant to keep plant from (overheating)wilting and turning brown, AKA, drought stress. When the humidity climbs, and you try to compensate for the drought stress, the amount of moisture in the atmosphere is too great to allow rapid movement through the plant and into the atmosphere. Which, is like the water pump not working on your car. Even though the soil profile is wet, there is no cooling effect. Overwatering at that point will make hot, wet soil, which will most likely cause pithium root fungus and will grow lots of nutsedge, Virginia button weed, and other undesirable weeds.

So the choice becomes, do I want to spend a boat load of money on water to try and “green up” my burnt fescue, only to encourage pithium, nutsedge, and other weeds??? Trust me, “Brown Patch” disease control won’t do squat when pithium strikes! Game over at that point.

My recommendation is to water enough to keep the grass alive, but not necessarily “green”. Apply a max of 1.5 inches a week, until drought breaks, if possible. This should keep your lawn from becoming a sea of nutsedge and from pithium blight wiping you out.

This is the first time I have ever seen it this dry and hot, this early. Its like late July, August conditions out there. Fescue basically quits functioning once air temps hit 90%, so its on life support at this point anyway. Sustained high temps for more than a week will cause irreversible damage in many full sun areas. It doesn't matter what we apply to your turf if its to dry to live, especially when your trying to grow tall fescue in Sahara Desert! Fescue is a “cool season” plant, NOT A CACTUS!

Nutsedge Time

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:20:00 +0000

Nutsedge arrives! Perennial, can't pre-emerge it in cool season turf. Sulfentrazone=Dismiss Herbicide best control.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4

Sumagreen Turf!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:10:00 +0000

One app Feb. 2012. 1qt sumagreen / 1/8 lb N. Tight!

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4

Eat my words much???

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:27:00 +0000

Soil temps are now 62 in Nashville. Bermuda is greening in March. Crabgrass will germinate with next rain, bet the house on it. Time to switch to Dimension. Dimension will cover your pre and post emergent crabgrass needs, though it will cost much more than Prodiamine. My luck, it will snow next week and ill be wrong again!!

Oxalis is here also. Nutsedge will be next. What a bummer!!

PRE-EMERGENT NONSENSE!!!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:24:00 +0000

Tired of hearing those stupid Scotts commercials about time to pre-emerge for crabgrass? I am! They start about mid January and get people all stressed out about something that in TN I have personally have NOT seen happen before April 1st in the last 16 years! Get your turf pre-emerged by the end of March this year, and you will be just fine. Soil temps are a bit warmer than I have ever seen them, but crabgrass seeds have NOT germinated yet. Perhaps they might germinate in the third week of March, but its still no problem. Keep using Prodiamine for another 10 days, and then switch to Dimension if your still procrastinating into mid April. Dimension pre-emergent will actually control small crabgrass that germinates before you get to apply it. Its a good product for you through mid April.

Organic Fertilizer time in TN!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:57:00 +0000

After 16 years in business, the time has come for “The Turf Doctor” to convert the core of our turfgrass fertilization program to organic based fertilization. The main reasons are as follows:

1. Turfgrass Quality

2. Healthy soils

3. Government Regulation

4.Economically feasible

Turfgrass Quality: We have relied on a core synthetic fertilizers over time because they gave us the desired, predictable results we needed to have consistent, aesthetic turfgrass quality. However, over the years, the synthetic fertilizer amounts had to be increased to get the same results. We only supplemented with organic fertilizers during the summer months because they could safely be applied during hot,dry summer months.

Healthy Soils: Synthetic fertilizers deplete the soil of healthy micro-organisms over time which help convert the fertilizers to useable plant nutrients. Synthetics fertilizers will over time change the ratio of calcium/magnesium in the soil (soil ph). This contributes to the need to apply lime to correct the soil ph. Organics restore the soil balance by providing the beneficial micro-organisms needed over time, reducing the need for nutrients and pesticides needed for quality turfgrass. Healthy soils allow the turfgrass roots to grow longer, which in turn will help reduce irrigation needed to keep turf alive during summer heat.

Government Regulation: Concerns over nitrogen and phosphorus leaching into ground water in some states has led to a ban of/ or severe restriction of phosphorus application in some areas. Many of our states to the north have already enacted legislation to restrict the treatments of lawns for “aesthetic purposes”. Turfgrass benefits to our environment such as cooling, filtering and recreational use, are too important for us not to take a pro-active approach to being good stewards of our environment. I believe by converting the core of our fertilization to organic products, we can reduce the need for stringent legislation in the future.

Economically Feasible: Synthetic fertilizer prices have always been substantially less than organic fertilizer options. However, the cost of fuel is directly related to the manufacturing cost of synthetic fertilizer. Therefore, as fuel prices have climbed over the past few years, so have the prices of synthetic fertilizers! The cost of using organic fertilizer has remained steady and even come down a little as more manufacturers are now supplying organic options. Therefore, now that the synthetics are almost as expensive as the organic options, now is the time to make the switch!

***The plan is to apply organic fertilizer in all 5 rounds of the basic plan in 2012. Converting to this method is a process and the benefits of this method will not be “instant” like synthetics, but will continue to improve the soil and the turf during the course of the applications. Just like there is a cumulative negative effect of applying mostly synthetics, there will be an even bigger positive cumulative effect by continually using organic based fertilizers. As the cumulative effects of restoring the soil balance begin to take place, the turf grasses will require less water and less pesticides to maintain.

Make no mistake, we will continue to control weeds, insects, and turfgrass diseases using safe, EPA registered pest control products as needed. My goal is to provide the customer with the best lawn possible. If there are situations where a synthetic fertilizer is needed for best results, I will not hesitate to use one. My commitment is to rely on organic based fertilizer treatments over the long haul, but not eliminate all use of synthetic fertilizers when they are the best option to correct a large nutrient deficiency.

Watering and Mowing for fall seeding only!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 23:01:00 +0000

Once your lawn has been aerated, overseeded, and fertilized, the goal is to keep the soil surface (seed) damp for about 2 weeks. Seed swells when it get wet and shrinks when it dries. Therefore, keeping the seed damp keeps it swollen and encourages it to germinate. Watering lightly and frequently during the daylight hours is the key! The dew keeps the seed from drying out at night. This is the ONLY time of year that watering during the daylight hours is a good idea. Fall afternoons can be hot and arid, so that is the most likely time for seed to dry out. Since all irrigation systems vary in pressure and amounts delivered, the following is only a guide to point you in the right direction.

Example: Set system to start about 8:00am - 9:00am. Have it put from 10-15 minutes of water down. Repeat the same cycle about 1:00pm in the afternoon. Check the lawn late one afternoon after running the system this way for two days to make sure the soil surface stays damp. Also make sure lawn is not too wet = seed floating in puddles.

Once the seed has germinated, turn water off a few days to let soil surface dry before mowing to prevent mower damage to new grass seedlings. Return to deep, infrequent night time or early am watering until irrigation system is shut down for the winter or until November.

***If you had set more than one start time during seed germination, don’t forget to remove that start time once the seed germinates.

Nutsedge control question

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 04:13:00 +0000

<div id="surveyMonkeyInfo"><div><script src="http://www.surveymonkey.com/jsEmbed.aspx?sm=HYO1NcGx0bsGmGqKEZMTTg_3d_3d"> </script></div>Create your <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/">free online surveys</a> with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.</div>

Soil temps over 90!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:36:00 +0000

The accumulation of heat during the summer has brought our soil temps over the 90 degree mark. What does this mean for your lawn? It means if you do not allow the soil surface to dry between waterings, nutsedge and dallisgrass will take over!! You can get away with hap- hazard irrigation all sumer UNTIL soil temps reach 90. You must adjust your system!! You can’t “set it and forget it” during this heat.

Pithium Blight is also an issue when soil temps climb above 90. It will kill turf in 24 hours. It occurs usually in low spots and always in areas are too wet. “Brown Patch” fungicides will not stop pithium! Cut back on watering during this heat. Don’t attempt to keep the lawn “juicy green” right now. It will recover faster from drought stress than from pithium. Pithium is terminal!!!

Whats with all this Oxalis???????

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Wed, 04 May 2011 04:32:00 +0000

Weed of Spring 2011

Oxalis – AKA Yellow Woodsorrel, is more prolific this spring than I have ever seen it. It germinates in late March or early April and is quite resistant to most weed controls. We have found that Fluroxpyr or Triclopyr are the best herbicides to control it. It has a small yellow flower and is generally considered a summer annual, although, there is a perennial variety. We will control it during 2nd and 3rd apps in 2011.

Grubs,Grubs, and more Grubs.

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:06:00 +0000

We noticed a tremendous amount of grub damage and large grub populations during fall aeration and seeding 2010. I don’t know if the flood contributed to the large population, but is was the most grub activity I have seen in 15 years! The grubs feed on the turfgrass roots leaving an area the appearance of “drought conditions”, even if you have irrigation. The turf would peel back when we tried to aerate and grubs would be near the soil surface. Mature grubs remain at the soil surface until about the first frost. They overwinter deeper in the soil and re-emerge when soil temps warm in spring. Most adult grubs will emerge as June Bugs or Japanese beetles in late spring/early summer. The best time to control grubs is during June and July using a systemic insecticide like Merit. Systemic Insecticides target the grubs that are feeding on the turf and their offspring. They work slowly (about 3-4 weeks to start), but can control grubs for up to one year. This is the first year I will recommend all my irrigated lawns take a grub control this summer. Otherwise, they will continue to multiply and damage the turf. We will leave more information and an estimate for grub control during our 2nd application visit in 2011.

****Although moles do feed on grubs, a grub application is in NO way marketed as “mole control”. Moles also feed heavily on earth worms(which are beneficial to the turf and soil) and Merit will not harm the earthworms!!! Therefore, controlling grubs will reduce a portion of the food supply for moles, but does not determine whether a mole stays or leaves your lawn. I recommend a grub application to stop the damage the grubs due to turfgrass roots and consider reducing a moles food supply as only a side benefit.

If moles are damaging your lawn, call Keith Burgess @615-496-7004. He gets the moles!!!!!!! He also can tell you by the damage if the moles are feeding on grubs and/or earthworms.

Pre-emergent time!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:37:00 +0000

I am glad to put 2010 in the rear view mirror. We are back in our home after the flood and ready to get the lawns “clean and green”. Pre-emergent for crabgrass has begun. The snow should be out of Nashville by Monday! Pre-emergent must be activated by rain (or snow) to complete the barrier. Therefore, it is a good thing if we have precipitation after we apply the first application. Crabgrass does not usually germinate before April first in our area. Therefore, we have until the end of March to complete the first treatment and for it to be activated by moisture. See you soon!

“BROWN PATCH” HITS EARLY!

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:56:00 +0000

The early May flood triggered an early outbreak of fungus. We are seeing everything from melting out fungus to brown patch. If you are on “preventative disease control”, know that we are applying a curative rate of fungicide which will stop any fungus already present and prevent it from returning for 21-28 days. This product can enter through leaves or the roots, so rainfall after a fungicide app will not reduce its effectiveness. It takes about 10 days for turf to grow out of disease symptoms after a fungicide treatment.

Technorati Tags: nashville floods,brown grass,fungicide,fungus

Flood Much???

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Wed, 05 May 2010 03:28:00 +0000

This past weekend, the rain seemed to never stop!!! What will this do to my lawn??? It will probably totally wipe out the pre-emergent’s we applied for crabgrass control. Pre-emergents are very resistant to dilution from rainfall, but over a foot of rain will break down any pre-emergent!!!!!!!It will definitely spawn early fungus and nutsedge outbreaks. It will also germinate weeds we typically don’t see in lawns. We will make every attempt to control these weeds with post-emergent herbicides during round 3 in May and June. However, it will be a battle against weeds and fungus all summer.

Side Note: We live in Cottonwood Subdivision in Franklin. Our house flooded like many others near the Harpeth River. The good news is our family and pets all got out in time! Our office phone will be forwarded to my wifes (Linda) mobile phone while we make repairs. You can continue to use 6157917779, just know in advance it will be forwarded and she will try to answer your calls during working hours. If she is unable to answer her mobile during working hours, we will return your calls in the evening. Please bear with us for a for (hopefully) a few weeks. We have been able to remove all the water and our carpet/hardwood in the past two days. We plan on returning to lawn service by this Thursday. Thanks you for your patience!!!

Freeze Damage on Magnolias

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Wed, 05 May 2010 03:11:00 +0000

Many of our customers Magnolia Trees have suffered severe damage or total kill on SOME of their Magnolias. It was observed in early spring during our first lawn treatment round. In most cases, we saw totally healthy Magnolia trees right next to severely damaged or dead trees. Most of the dead trees are in the 8-14 ft range. We were asked if this could be herbicide damage. We really did not know the answer??? We checked with other lawn care companies, landscapers, and Arborists. They all had seen similar circumstances. The one thing we did know is that some of the trees were in grass areas and some were in landscape beds, many feet away from treated grass areas. This lead us to assume that it was not herbicide injury. We found out that Dr. Alan Windam, plan pathologist from UT extension service, had seen the same issues. It is his belief that these Magnolias suffered FREEZE DAMAGE. They are unsure of the exact circumstances that caused some trees to suffer greatly and some to be uneffected, but assume it is possibly a small genetic difference in the various trees.

Pre-emergent time in TN! 1st Application

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:57:00 +0000

Pre-emergent herbicides are applied to prevent the germination of grassy weeds like crabgrass,goosegrass,and annual bluegrass. They need to be applied prior to the germination of grassy weeds in order to control them. They do not actually stop the seeds from germinating, they prevent weed grasses by killing the root that the newly germinating seed tries to establish. They must receive moisture from rain or snow to activate the “barrier” they create. The longer a pre-emergent sits on soil without being washed in, the more the active ingredient degrades. We begin applying pre-emergent in early February. We also mix fertilizer and broadleaf weed control with this application. This fertilizer app greens up the turf when soil temps warm.

FallSeeding

noreply@blogger.com (The Turf Doctor Robert Stroud) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:56:00 +0000

We normally try to complete all fall seeding by Halloween each year. This year, it has rained so much, that we will not finish until early November. Seed will germinate each year through the entire month of November and into early December. The downside to late seed germination is that the soil temps are colder and the seedlings often do not reach their full growing height until spring. Once the soil temps drop below 50, most top growth will cease(AKA this is why mowing is not needed in the winter). The good news is that the new grass will develop roots over the winter and will be strong and robust next spring. Therefore, your grass will be shorter on top the later it is planted each fall, but gives the same end result in spring, once top growth resumes. Seed germination has required no irrigation this year!

Once new new grass has germinated, please DO NOT ALLOW anyone to mow it unless the ground is dry. We have had several customers already this year who have allowed their mowing companies to resume mowing on wet soil. This crushes the new seedlings and kills them when the mowers slide across the wet ground! It is ok to let leaves remain on grass seed. However, once the seed germinates, leaves should be blown off within one week of seed germination so they seedlings won’t smother. DO NOT rake leaves on new grass. I love rain, but give me a break already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!