Monday, July 30, 2012

There's Nothing Like A Good Plugging

In the lawn care business we deal with a whole bunch of myths. Such as, too much water can grow lawn gnomes, or if you mow too short your turf's spirit might escape, or my personal favorite pink flamingos keep the weeds away. While obviously none of these are true..... to my knowledge, there is one other myth I'd like to dispell, and that's aerating is for spring or fall only.

Aerating is typically done in the spring or fall but it is absolutely valuable any time of year. In fact more than one in a season is a great idea especially if you're in an area where your soil tends to get compacted or if you have a thatch problem. Please don't power rake as it tends to stress the turf more than help. A better solution would be to order an aeration and liquid dethatch.

The benefits of aerating regularly cannot be under sold. It helps establish a strong root system, it gets air circulation to a part of the plant that desperately needs it, it makes your watering more affective, and it recycles plant material back into the turf. All good things. So call 1-800-LAWNCARE or contact us for a good plugging.


Monday, July 23, 2012

I Was Expecting More Dartmouth Green

According to Wikipedia: Varieties of the color green may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation or intensity) or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint being a green or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. 

While Wikipedia is really the expert on, well, nothing. For our purposes their blurb (above) on the different variations in the color green serve our needs today. Because we are in the business of green, green landscapes that is. And while we do profess to be the expert in the different hues around your home, we don't pretend to be magicians. What I mean by that is, there are influences that are going to affect your lawns, trees, and shrubs that we can't control 100%. We can help mitigate these issues but sometimes we can't solve them until the influences change.

Mother nature can be cruel and like most lovely ladies she holds all the cards and she plays them like she's always holding pocket aces even though she probably has a 2/7 off suit. My analogy is quickly breaking down so I'll get to the point. If mother nature wants to win, she wins, period. A thirty degree temperature swing within a week can be seriously damaging to lawns and trees. Especially when those temperatures peak in the high nineties or low one hundreds. Our services, proper watering, and mowing will help but to what degree is going to vary quite a bit.

My hope is that this doesn't sound like a cop out for bad service. I assure you it's not. We take pride in our work, we believe that we're the best at what we do and we don't like it when control is taken away from us. But sometimes it is. She does that.

We've seen quite a few lawns that normally have that deep, rich green color that...well.... aren't nearly as deep, rich, and green as we like them. We hate to say there is nothing we can do about it but on some level there isn't. We can only exercise best practices with your fertilizer and weed control and ask you to do the same with watering and mowing. Our first video tutorial on proper mowing should be posted on the website by the end of the week, and one on proper watering will follow shortly.

In a nut shell here's our advice: water 5-6 days per week for twenty minutes. Most of the time our rains storms don't provide enough water for your lawn. Mow at a height of 3-3.5 inches and keep your blade sharp. The extra height will help against drought stress and the sharp blade will insure you are cutting and not tearing the grass blade which in turn will also protect against drought stress. Do this and it will give us the best chance at minimizing mother nature's musings at least until she's in a better mood. Once the weather turns and the temperature is consistently in the seventies and eighties we should start to see the turf and trees recover as long as your watering and mowing correctly.

Remember, if you have any questions please call us at 1-800-LAWNCARE or contact us at livingwaterspray.com.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Fungi Isn't Fun Guy

The lowest form of humor is a play on words and as you can tell I'm not afraid to pander to the lowest common denominator. Titling blog posts can be a tough task so when I get to pepper in a little humor, no matter how low brow, well let's just say I'll take the liberty. However, fungi, whether on toenails or trees is no laughing matter. While we'll need to refer you to your local podiatrist for the former, the latter is one of our specialties.

While the weather in the great Inland Empire remains schyzophrenic year to year, the tree fungus problem in the area varies only slightly depending on conditions. This year the conditions were perfect. A very long, cool, wet spring and really hot temperatures coming on basically overnight. The problem with this is the trees don't have time to adjust and they take in as much moisture as they can find when it gets this hot to protect themselves from drought. In turn we generally don't keep watering the root system to prevent this, and with excess water in the tree and excess heat outside the conditions end up being perfect for fungus.

Some of the fungi our techs are seeing out there: Shot Hole Fungus in any fruit bearing tree that has pits instead of seeds. But also in ornamental plums that are in many of our customer's landscapes. It starts by looking like a few brown spots in the middle of the leaf and then eventually the spot dries up and falls out. It ends up looking like it was shot with a "BB" gun. One way you can typically identify between Shot Hole and insect damage is that Shot Hole will/can start in the middle of the leaf whereas insects typically start from the outside & work their way in. Powdery Mildew affects many of our hardwood trees such as maple, alder, birch, and hazelnut, but it also causes problems on roses and other ornamental plants. It tends to look like a white powdery substance on the leaf of the plant. Dogwood Anthracnose infection begins in the leaves, causing them to brown and dry up. Over time, infection of twigs and shoots may kill branches, usually beginning with those low on the tree and moving upward. Infected trees can die within one to three years. Treatments in the spring help prevent and control anthracnose infections.  Flowering Apples and Crabapples are susceptible to a fungus disease called Apple Scab. The results of this disease are yellow and brown leaves in the spring, and defoliation by early summer. There are literally dozens of other fungi that could damage your trees. Check out our Turf and Tree Tip page for more info.

One great way to help prevent these diseases is to water your trees and shrubs regularly, and NO, watering them along with the lawn is not enough. Typically a regular hose around the drip line of the tree is your best bet. One hour once a week should really help. However, if you already have what looks to be a fungus be sure to contact us for a fungicide treatment. You can request an estimate online or call us at 1-800-LAWNCARE.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Watering Your Lawn

Well it got hot and it got hot fast. Remember yesterday when you said "I don't mind the heat, I just need some time to adjust." Was I the only one who said that? I doubt it. Well if you didn't say that your lawn certainly did. This sort of 30 degree temperature swing can wreak havoc on grass and landscapes. Proper watering in heat like this is essential. Let me write the same thing with emphasis added....  

PROPER watering in heat like this is essential.

Before we get into what exactly "proper" watering practices are let’s tackle a few myths:

1. A dry patch in my lawn needs excessive water to green up. This is not true and can cause more damage. If you have a dry patch, too much water can actually cause a fungus and make things worse. You might actually already be looking at a fungus that's called Melt Out and is caused by drought and wild swings in the weather. The best thing you can do for this is water regularly and let it grow out. There might be a possibility that your technician could help accelerate the growth with a little extra fertilizer but they would have to take a look at it to determine if that's the case. Call us 1-800-LAWNCARE or you can email as well.

2. Watering at night is the best time. Again not true. While this practice does prevent less water from evaporating it can create an environment where fungi can fester and different lawn diseases can accelerate.

3. Less frequent, deeper watering is the way to go. While this is not a complete myth there are several factors to take into consideration here. Type of soil, air temperature, geographic location, etc. Check out our FAQ page for more information.

Here's the bottom line during the heat of the summer. It's best to get a half inch of water per day on your turf at either early in the am (before it gets hot, 8 am or earlier) or late evening (after it starts to cool down, between 7 and 8 pm) A good rule of thumb is 20 minutes of water will get you that 1/2 inch your looking for. When in doubt put a tuna can in the middle of the yard and wait until it's about half way full.

Here's a warning about not watering properly in this heat. Our office manager has a sprinkler system and generally doesn't have to give it too much thought. However, she had one station break down and didn't realize it for a about a day and a half. By that time the area of her yard that this particular station covered was already several shades of green different than the rest of the lawn. That's just one example of what this kind of heat can do to turf in less than 36 hours.

There is a lot more information on our website watering www.livingwaterspray.com.





Monday, July 2, 2012

Heat Stress and Your Trees

As summer officially kicks off, mild to severe heat will become an issue for your trees in the Great Northwest. Extended periods of heat can tax trees and make them more susceptible to problems such as heat stress. Heat stress can lead to leaves with edges being scorched and eventually early leaf loss , causing die back and a thinner canopy. 

Why is heat a problem for trees?
Soaring temperatures can have a detrimental effect on trees growing in tough sites or those with damaged vascular systems. The way trees cool themselves is through a process called transpiration, where water is released from the leaves as water vapor. This is similar to the way we transpire water to cool our bodies when we sweat. As temperatures rise, water vapor is released through small pores in leaf surfaces. Even though trees have mechanisms to regulate water loss, water can evaporate from the leaves faster than it can be replaced. Even with sufficient soil moisture, trees and shrubs with limited/unhealthy root systems can struggle to move enough water. Lack of available water to trees and shrubs in hot areas often results in scorched, dead or wilted leaves. These leaves then become more likely to attract damaging insects like aphids or leaf roller.

What can I do to help my trees?

Watering your trees is extremely important during the hot months. Watering a tree should be deep so that the water soaks into the ground. A deep watering two to three times per month for established trees and a couple of times per week for newer trees is a good rule of thumb.  In addition to watering, mulching, fertilizing, and soil drenching can help create the optimal growing condition for your trees. If you are already seeing signs of damage call us right away. 1-800-LAWNCARE - www.livingwaterspray.com

Mulching is a way to help trees in general but especially in drought conditions. Consisting of organic materials such as wood chips or composted leaves, mulch helps conserve moisture in the soil and increases the amount of organic material and activity. For more tips on how you can help your trees during the summer, read our FAQ page.

Summer and Fall tree care will be very helpful this year. A great deal of root growth occurs in the in the summer but especially in the fall. Practices that promote root development will go a long way to protecting their long-term health. Help your trees begin to recover as they head into winter. Contact Living Water Lawn Care today to schedule your next appointment.

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Spokane Lawncare, Spokane Tree Care, Spokane Spider Spray, Spokane Aeration