Months 7-8-9 are the most stressful months your landscape will encounter during the year. All turf damaging insects, nuisance pests, and fungal pathogens are very active during this period.
Hurricane season and tropical storms bring tropical sod webworms, fall armyworms, and other insects into our area…in addition to our normal year around pests. It will be common to see adult webworm moths flying around the lawn over the next few months and you should not be alarmed by adult moths as they themselves do no damage. They hide in your shrubbery during the day, and late at night/early morning, they leave the sheltered areas and deposit their eggs into the lawn . The eggs result in pupae/larvae, or small caterpillars that chew on the leaf blades of the grass giving it a ragged or torn appearance, as if it were scalped or ran thru a paper shredder! There are no controls for the adult moths as they fly in and out, and are brought in with tropipal winds. However, rest assured we are diligently applying insect controls to manage and kill the larvae (caterpillars) that actually cause the temporary turf damage. You should consider our quarterly tree/shrub care program to help eliminate the adult moths from your shrubbery if you are not already on it…no other service in town offers it at the price we do. It includes spraying your landscape plantings for ornamental insects like mites, scale insects, aphids, lacebugs, leafminers, grasshoppers, caterpillars, etc.. It also includes timely nutrient/fertilization formulas for proper nutritional needs depending on the plants, and fungicide applications whenever disease or fungal pathogens may be present. Shrub treatments are performed while we are treating your lawn which saves us time and saves you money. Many of our competitors send out a different technician at a different time from your lawn treatment which results in expensive treatment prices and constant never ending billing for services. Our technicians are trained in both turf and ornamental/shrub/tree care so there is no need for another tech, an extra trip, or additional invoicing in between your regularly scheduled lawn services.
High humidity and extreme heat also creates a lot of pressure on our landscapes (and us!) at this time. Frequent afternoon and evening rains encourage grey leaf spot disease, cercospora, rhizoctonia, and other fungal pathogens and diseases. Be sure to adjust your irrigation systems according to changing weather patterns. If you are experiencing frequent rain showers in your “micro climate” at this time, cut your irrigation system completely off. The rain and dew will provide enough moisture, and it will save you money if you are using a municipal water source for irrigation. Excessive rains plus irrigation will most certainly cause excessive weed problems and/or disease issues, which we want to avoid, so please be especially mindful of proper cultural practices over the next few months. Mowing consistently with a sharp blade at the proper height, and watering only as needed is the best way to avoid weed/insect, and disease problems, which thereby reduces the need for excessive chemical inputs into the landscape and our environment.
We would like to forward a special Thank You to all that have referred friends and neighbors to us this year. Your referrals make all the difference to us and our continued success allows us to provide the highest customer satisfaction ratings, top quality products, and results driven pest and landscape services in the industry.
Let’s “Keep it Growing”–
The Staff@ Green Earth Solutions, Inc.