Kenny Sharpe
Punxsutawney Phil is reported to have seen his shadow on Gobblers Knob and has predicted 6 more weeks of winter. I tend to have more confidence in the Cajun Groundhog Pierre Shadeaux, weather predicting nutria in New Iberia, that did not see his shadow and calls for a long spring.
We look like we are already in spring at the first of February with temperatures in the 80’s. Those warm temperatures have flowers blooming and buds swelling.
If you have a special pecan that you would like to graft, collect your grafting wood about Valentine’s Day. This wood is called scion and it should be 2 years old which will normally be about one half of an inch in diameter. Select branches that are straight and have evenly spaced buds which are about 2 to 3 inches apart.
Dip the ends of the scion wood in grafting wax and place them in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel and then place the bag in your refrigerator crisper until needed.
If you have crabgrass in your lawn then Valentine’s Day is also the time to put out your crabgrass preventer. In an early spring we can have crabgrass germinating very early.
Crabgrass is a spring annual grass that comes back from seed every year. It germinates early enough that it is not shaded out by your normal lawn grasses. It can be very hard to remove from other warm season species during the growing season.
Prevention is the first key to crabgrass control. Apply herbicides with the active ingredient dithiopyr such as Hi-Yield Dimension, Greenlight Preventer 2 or Sta-Green Crab Ex.
These products will give you pre-emergence control and will also kill small seedlings that may have already germinated in our warm winter weather. I like these products as you get control even if Mother Nature does not cooperate with the normal timing of crabgrass germination.
Your other options are to use Greenlight’s Crabgrass Preventer or Scott’s Halt. You will need to apply both of these products prior to crabgrass seed germination as they have no post emergent activity. Scott’s Halt also has good activity on goose grass so it would be a good choice if you have both problems, just get it out early.
The other key factor is controlling crabgrass in your lawn is to raise your mowing height. Crabgrass seed can lay dormant in the soil for a number of years and when all of the foliage is removed and direct sunlight hits the ground, crabgrass seed will germinate. If you scalp your lawn or have other lawn damage that removes sod, you will get crabgrass coming back if the seed are present and in most cases they are present.
Maintain your lawn so that you are only cutting off one-third of the blade height when mowing. So cut one-third and leave two-thirds. This way you will always have a green lawn and will not create holes in your yard by scalping down into the soil. Mow your lawn when your lawn grasses reach a height of 3” for St. Augustine grass and 2” for Centipede, Carpet and Zoysia lawns. Your lawn will look nicer and you will have fewer weeds.
Valentine’s Day is all about roses so if you have not pruned your roses, now is the time.
It would also be a good idea to get roses for your sweetheart.
Kenny Sharpe is county agent with the LSU Cooperative Extension Service in Livingston Parish. For more information on these or related topics contact Kenny at 225-686-3020 or visit www.lsuagcenter.com/livingston.
