Tag Archive | fertilization
The Importance of Fall Fertilization
If you fertilized your trees, shrubs and perennials in the spring, it should probably be done again now. The best rationale for fall fertilization is explained in the process a plant uses to convert the nutrients it consumes into food. Although you place fertilizer around the base of your plants, you aren’t “feeding” the plants. […]
Dormancy Signals Pruning Time
With their bright hues, tree leaves let us know that they will soon go dormant for the winter. That also tells us it’s a good time to have your deciduous trees and shrubs pruned. The plants have stored all the food they’ll need to sustain them trough the winter. The chlorophyll has disappeared from the […]
Why Fertilize In Fall?
This is a question I get asked quite often. Fertilizing in spring seems logical. After all, plants need energy to flower, leaf out and sustain themselves all through the summer. In the fall, however, they are getting ready for winter dormancy. So, why do they need energy if they’re “going to sleep”? Confusion may have […]
Do You Need To Fertilize This Fall?
The simple answer is yes if you had to fertilize last fall and/or this spring. If you don’t have to fertilize on a regular basis, you probably won’t have to this fall, either. The job of fertilizing is, arguably, one of the most misunderstood aspects of horticulture, and it isn’t helped by those who refer […]
Kill Weeds Before They Go To Seed
Ever notice how certain weeds like dandelions pop up in spring before almost anything else? Nature has equipped these plants with a very simple mechanism for doing that. They produce seeds late in the season, which fall to the ground and lie latent during the winter. They’re all ready to germinate as soon as weather […]
Check Your Lawn For Brown Spots
Now that August is here, our hot, dry summer should soon begin to wane. Rains will return and your lawn should green up. But what can you do if there are brown spots? First of all, don’t panic over a few brown spots. Let the rest of the lawn green up completely. As the lawn […]
The Importance Of Soil
As if the word soil doesn’t have enough of a negative connotation, our slang term is dirt. What could be more negative? Yet, soil is the supporter of all life. It’s the medium in which plants grow. Animals eat the plants and wind up on our dinner table. And, the circle of life goes on […]
Why Hire A Lawn Care Service?
If you’ve never looked into using a lawn care service, this year would be a good time to do so. Even though it’s May, there’s still time to apply the complete program. You may have always applied your own fertilizer, weed control and grub control. Have you ever added up the cost of materials? Then […]
Why Fertilize?
Fertilizer companies advertise their product as plant food. Who would want to starve a plant by withholding food? So, people buy the product. According to the late tree biologist, Dr. Alex Shigo, however, plants make their own food so fertilizer is not plant food. Good soil is full of minerals, beneficial fungi and bacteria, and […]
Preparing Your Lawn For Fall
Good news! Barring any sudden, severe drought at this late point in the summer, preparing your lawn for fall will be a bit easier than it would in a normal year. We’ve had no dry spell this summer. Consequently, the grass didn’t go dormant, brown up, crunch under foot and create good conditions for weeds […]