Heavy heavy lawn thread 2019

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

What a perfect day to continue the multi year landscaping project. Need these types of saturdays to chip away at it. 

[S&P]

Think I’ve mown 8-9 times every 5 days , lilacs and red azaleas in bloom

 

[dendrite]

Holy pollen. Sneeze city this morning. Must be the white pines?

[CoastalWx]

6 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Holy pollen. Sneeze city this morning. Must be the white pines?

I think it’s early for them. I notice that in June. 

[CoastalWx]

But I have it too.  Now it’s windy FTL.

[CoastalWx]

First mow yesterday.

 

[moneypitmike]

3 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

First mow yesterday.

 

 

Looks great,  Scott. 

Despite the crappy day, I might do a little mulching today.....make it appear that I did something useful while my wife was away. 

[mostman]

Patio planters deployed. 

[moneypitmike]

51 minutes ago, mostman said:

Patio planters deployed. 

Looks great!

[Lava Rock]

The best it's gonna look this summer

.

[mostman]

On 5/19/2019 at 3:44 PM, moneypitmike said:

Looks great!

 

Thanks!

Btw - my phlox has just started blooming. Very late this year. 

[Lava Rock]

First cut on the new hydroseed last night. Disregard lower left brown spot as they was plow damage from this winter that was reseeded 3 wks ago. Overall, I'm not that impressed. Lots of thin areas and some without shoots. It's been cold until recent, so maybe it'll start growing faster IDK. A few hot days, and this will probably go to junk. Pretty much have had it with lawn projects that don't succeed very well.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

I’ve never been a fan of hydroseeding but I’m also no expert. Regardless, keep at it man.

[dendrite]

Bring in a foot of fertile soil and plant a garden.

[mostman]

3 hours ago, Lava Rock said:

First cut on the new hydroseed last night. Disregard lower left brown spot as they was plow damage from this winter that was reseeded 3 wks ago. Overall, I'm not that impressed. Lots of thin areas and some without shoots. It's been cold until recent, so maybe it'll start growing faster IDK. A few hot days, and this will probably go to junk. Pretty much have had it with lawn projects that don't succeed very well.

In my experience hydro seed will fill in but it takes some time. It’ll quickly look like what you have but take months to really get going. It’ll also be full of weeds. How much are you watering it?

[Lava Rock]

In my experience hydro seed will fill in but it takes some time. It’ll quickly look like what you have but take months to really get going. It’ll also be full of weeds. How much are you watering it?

Mother nature provided enough rain so far. I hate to have to hook up sprinklers again but will probably have to

.

[Baroclinic Zone]

its been too cold for new laws to grow

[moneypitmike]

What are the thoughts of when to fertilize again (I also need one that has broad-leaf control to take out some clover and such)?

Thanks!

[Damage In Tolland]

12 hours ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

its been too cold for new laws to grow

It’s been above normal the last few months 

[tamarack]

28 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

It’s been above normal the last few months 

Not for much of NNE.  And sun hasn't been all that abundant.

[mostman]

14 hours ago, Lava Rock said:

Mother nature provided enough rain so far. I hate to have to hook up sprinklers again but will probably have to

.
 

I just now realized where you are. The comment about the temperature is right. Give it another month as things warm up. It’ll fill in. When it starts getting weedy, just pull the large ones and wait until next year to apply a pre emergent over the area. 

As for water, you need about an inch and a half a week. Ideally in two long sessions, not 7 little ones. Deep watering will help make the grass more resilient. If you are getting that much rain still, then you are fine. I know in my area we are actually below normal water. My irrigation will be on starting next week. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

1 hour ago, Damage In Tolland said:

It’s been above normal the last few months 

Soil temperatures son.

[CoastalWx]

Maybe Tamarack knows this, but any reason why seemingly healthy oaks have had trouble leafing out completely? When I look at a couple of my oaks..it looks like they have little buds, but no leaves. Indeed I have two trees that look like a third of the tree just did not leaf out. There are no caterpillar issues so curious what is going on. 

 

 

[Damage In Tolland]

24 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Maybe Tamarack knows this, but any reason why seemingly healthy oaks have had trouble leafing out completely? When I look at a couple of my oaks..it looks like they have little buds, but no leaves. Indeed I have two trees that look like a third of the tree just did not leaf out. There are no caterpillar issues so curious what is going on. 

 

 

I have the same issue. It’s specifically the white Oaks. I am chalking it up to gypsy damage from the past few years here, but perhaps it’s something else. Post a picture for him as I am not home . 

[tamarack]

6 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

I have the same issue. It’s specifically the white Oaks. I am chalking it up to gypsy damage from the past few years here, but perhaps it’s something else. Post a picture for him as I am not home . 

When we lived in NNJ, it was easily noted that those caterpillars ate the white oak group first, then the reds, then everything else but ash.  Have not noticed that white-over-red preference in Maine, though the fact that Maine has hundreds of red oaks for every white probably mutes the gypsies' priorities.

Lots of reasons for oaks (or any species) to show that symptom, and weakness due to repeated defoliation/refoliation certainly could be a factor.  If the non-leafed-out branches are in the main crown and receive good sunlight, the cause is likely some outside agent like gypsy moth or some disease.  If the bare branches are within the crown/shade, it could be natural pruning, though white oak doesn't prune itself nearly as efficiently as red.

[Damage In Tolland]

4 minutes ago, tamarack said:

When we lived in NNJ, it was easily noted that those caterpillars ate the white oak group first, then the reds, then everything else but ash.  Have not noticed that white-over-red preference in Maine, though the fact that Maine has hundreds of red oaks for every white probably mutes the gypsies' priorities.

Lots of reasons for oaks (or any species) to show that symptom, and weakness due to repeated defoliation/refoliation certainly could be a factor.  If the non-leafed-out branches are in the main crown and receive good sunlight, the cause is likely some outside agent like gypsy moth or some disease.  If the bare branches are within the crown/shade, it could be natural pruning, though white oak doesn't prune itself nearly as efficiently as red.

I def have some Oaks that are slowly dying from the gypsy damage the last 3 years. They’re eating again this year as the leaves coming down in wind already have holes eaten in them. But there are some white Oaks that have like very sparse leaves. Like no rhyme or reason to how they leafed out. I’ll get a picture this evening for you . I think maybe it has something to do with the wet last year or so 

[dendrite]

The honeylocusts and local huge catalpa downtown seems really slow to leaf out this year. It still looks like stick season on those trees although I did see some signs of buds breaking on them last night.

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, Damage In Tolland said:

I def have some Oaks that are slowly dying from the gypsy damage the last 3 years. They’re eating again this year as the leaves coming down in wind already have holes eaten in them. But there are some white Oaks that have like very sparse leaves. Like no rhyme or reason to how they leafed out. I’ll get a picture this evening for you . I think maybe it has something to do with the wet last year or so 

Not promising much precision in diagnosing specific agents affecting tree health from a photo, but I'm always ready to make a guess whether I know anything or not.

When I was at U. Maine, one of the professors noted that science had not really arrived at a firm reason why trees die.  Not referring to death from disease, insects, wind, fire, but just running out of life.  Maybe it's similar to why there's a cap on human lifespan, cell replication gets sloppy and bad things result (simplification, but not irrelevant.)

[Damage In Tolland]

7 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Not promising much precision in diagnosing specific agents affecting tree health from a photo, but I'm always ready to make a guess whether I know anything or not.

When I was at U. Maine, one of the professors noted that science had not really arrived at a firm reason why trees die.  Not referring to death from disease, insects, wind, fire, but just running out of life.  Maybe it's similar to why there's a cap on human lifespan, cell replication gets sloppy and bad things result (simplification, but not irrelevant.)

Here’s a pic Scooter texted from his yard in South Weymouth today. I have some less leaves than this and will post later.

[IrishRob17]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

Not promising much precision in diagnosing specific agents affecting tree health from a photo, but I'm always ready to make a guess whether I know anything or not.

When I was at U. Maine, one of the professors noted that science had not really arrived at a firm reason why trees die.  Not referring to death from disease, insects, wind, fire, but just running out of life.  Maybe it's similar to why there's a cap on human lifespan, cell replication gets sloppy and bad things result (simplification, but not irrelevant.)

I have a red maple that is around 8 or 9 years old, appeared very healthy last year and the years before.  It has buds but no leaves this year.  There were a number of shoots that shot out from the trunk that I removed but still still nothing on any of the branches.  I'm hoping its not done altogether as in a couple of years it'll would provide some nice shade to part of the yard.  Any thoughts from far away?