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Gardening Tips: Plants are doing a happy dance

As much as we can water, nothing beats a steady, all-night soak to perk up the landscape
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Susan Richards

I know that you will be reading this article almost a week after I have written it, but right now all the plants in my garden are doing a happy dance! As much as we can water, nothing beats a steady, all-night soak to perk up the landscape.

I just returned from the first of three buying shows that I will attend to purchase plants and product for the 2017 gardening season.  The area around Toronto Pearson Airport was a brown wasteland.  

The lawns were totally dormant. Trees and shrubs were dying in large stretches of boulevard, as well as around businesses and hotels. Most annual plantings were struggling to survive.

We should be thankful for the little rain we have had because Southern Ontario hasn't even received that! I was talking to one of my growers yesterday and in the 35 years he has been in business, he has never seen such a hot, dry season.

I know we are coming to the last few weeks of summer, but the long-range forecast for the Sault area does show sunny, hot and dry. Don't stop watering the gardens until we do get a steady stretch of fall rain.

As this might be the year that we experience a dry September, be sure your permanent plantings get a deep, thorough soak at least once a week.

It is very important that trees, shrubs and perennials are well watered until plants are dormant. Evergreens need to be watered right up until the ground freezes.

Local lawns have had a hard go of it this season. As I drive around town I can tell where there is an irrigation system or a homeowner faithfully watering. Those are the only green lawns around!

Lawns are pretty tough though. If they were healthy going into a drought period, once cooler fall temperatures and a bit more rain arrives, they do tend to green back up. That is the time to apply a fall fertilizer.

The nitrogen in the fertilizer will help the grass turn a healthy green; the phosphorous will stimulate new root growth; and the potassium will help the lawn toughen up for winter.

Many good quality lawn fertilizers now have little or no phosphorous (the middle number on fertilizer packages). This is because research has shown that phosphorous remains in the soil a long time, staying available to the roots.

Low phosphorus fertilizer ensures that excess phosphates don't end up contaminating ground water.

Although it is a bit early, I have had reports that a hatching of white grubs is underway. When the eggs that were laid at the base of grass plants hatch, the larvae begin to veraciously feed on roots.

Brown patches will appear and expand  in your lawn. The dead grass pulls up easily with no roots.

Check the area carefully for small white grubs that have a cinnamon red head. If you do find them, you can apply beneficial nematodes to kill the grubs.

This microscopic insect is ingested by the grub and quickly reproduces in their gut. The grub stops feeding and dies within a week.

Now is also the time to be on the lookout for craneflies hovering around your lawn. These insects look like giant mosquitoes!

They will soon be laying eggs in the root area of your lawn. The eggs hatch within a few weeks and the larvae (leatherjackets) feed on the roots.

The damage is the same as you see with white grubs but the insect looks very different. Leatherjackets are greyish-brown with a torpedo shape to the body. There is a different nematode available to target this pest.

For the last few years cranefly has been more of a problem than white grub. However, hot dry conditions are what the grubs thrive in. There may be a bigger grub problem this year than last.

Once you have gotten rid of any pest that is damaging your lawn, give dead areas a good hard raking. Spread loam in bare areas and sow grass seed. Water well until seed germinates, then keep new growth constantly  moist until the grass is established.


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