Winter Pruning of Ornamental Grasses

     During the growing season your ornamental grasses thrive and can grow quite large. The winter months are a perfect time to prune back ornamental grasses. Pruning ornamental grasses helps keep the plant size under control and keeps the tender foliage from being burned by the cold winter temperatures.

     Typically a pair of sharp hand shears or gas powered hedge trimmers will be adequate. We'd recommend wearing gloves as some of the blades of grass can be quite sharp. Cut the ornamental grass at the crown of the plant. Ornamental grasses are hardy and will do fine being cut back so severe. Once you have completed the cutting, remove and dispose of the resulting debris. For aesthetic purposes, mulch around the base of the plant. (For small grasses like liriope, you can cut them back to the ground and completely cover them with a light coating of mulch or pine needles during the winter months if you want. Then when spring rolls around, simply remove the mulch to let the grass start to grow back.)

     Usually, this is all the pruning that will be required. However if the grass starts to grow larger than you want simply prune it back to the size you desire.

Thanks,
The AA Tex Lawn Team

Winter Weeds in the Turf

Now is the time we start to notice weeds growing in our turf. The seeds have sat since last season waiting on the cooler soil temps to germinate and start showing up in late fall and early winter.


Long term, the most effective way to control weeds in turf is to nurture a healthy, dense lawn by following correct cultural practices. An abundance of lawn weeds in winter or summer is a sign of poor turf health, which could be caused by compacted soil, low nutrition, pH imbalances, or poor drainage. The first line of defense is a soil sample to get a benchmark for where the location is today.  Once we have done that we can recommend the proper solutions to work toward that healthy dense lawn. 


Our second line of defense is to treat weeds with selective herbicides that target certain non desirable weeds and do not harm the fescue.  The best time to spray the winter annual weeds is in December but with our newly seeded lawns from the fall we are unable to spray herbicides until the new grass is mature. This is why we start spraying in February and run through the end of March after the new seed has begun to get a healthy root system.


Our third line of defense is to work to stop new weeds from germinating through the growing season. We typically apply 2 applications of fertilizer and pre-emergent in the spring to form a barrier that will prevent the summer annual weeds from doing so.


The reason for eliminating the winter weeds is to keep the competition down going into spring when we get the rapid growth on our lawns. We typically apply 2 applications of fertilizer and pre-emergent in the spring to form a barrier for the summer annual weeds. The fertilizer and the warmer temps really start the turf out well and if you have an abundance of weeds they seem to take the nutrients and hold back the fescue. This is why we like to get our first herbicide application completed prior to spring fertilization.


With the above steps we are continually working healthily weed free lawns. While the fact remains we are dealing with nature and that can present some challenges, (colder or warmer than normal temperatures, too little or too much rain), consistent  management and timing are the key to success when creating that weed free, healthly, green dense lawn.
 
If you are curious about the weeds you are seeing in the lawn, identifying the weeds you have has never been easier than it is now with the internet. You can access many charts with pictures by doing a simple search for winter or summer weeds in turf and receive many pictures to help figure out what you have. If you know what you have, it's easier to get rid of it.


Thanks,
The AA Tex Lawn Team

A Flurry of Snow Activity

Many Charlotte area residents had an unexpected holiday this week. Snow and ice on roadways made driving treacherous and left many people stranded in their homes. The AA Tex Lawn crews were busy plowing snow and de-icing for the businesses and neighborhoods that have snow contracts with us. Here is a link to a video of one of our trucks in action captured by the WCNC Newschannel 36 cameras…

http://www.wcnc.com/video/featured-videos/Snow-plows-hit-the-road-113354114.html


You may also view this video from our website at http://www.aatexlawn.com/.

In the South, snow and ice always brings warnings to stay off the roads, if possible. If you had to go out, hopefully we were able to make your commute a little safer. Hopefully many of you were able to relax at home and enjoy the beauty that snowfall brings to the landscape. As Mark Washburn of the Charlotte Observer stated, "the snow siesta is just another benefit of living here."

Happy Winter!
The AA Tex Lawn Team

Rejuvenating an Old Shrub

    Even the best shrubs can lose their luster after years of growth. Sometimes they overgrow their space or start to look gangly. Sometimes bad pruning practices are the culprit. What do you do with it? Rip it out by the roots and plant a small, fledgling shrub in its place? Pay more money to put in a more mature shrub so that the size difference is not as great? Don't give up on the shrub yet. Rejuvenate it!

    Rejuvenation pruning is an excellent way to restore a shrub to its former glory. It will not happen overnight, but can work wonders to provide airflow and sunlight to the inner branches of a shrub. The tools needed will be a pair of hand pruners or bypass loppers. Going below the shrub growth, cut into the branch at a 45 degree angle. Be sure to make pruning cuts nice and clean. Hand pruners work best because with gas or electric shears, too many branch cuts will occur and all the new growth will be to the top of the plant, leaving the bottom half bare and sticky looking. Your goal is to get rid of any broken or diseased branches, get rid of any laterals or branches that cross the center line of the shrub, and remove any suckers or sprouts from the main trunk.

Cutting it back to the size you want and giving the air room to circulate may require that you cut off a significant portion of the foliage. That is OK. Generally this won't hurt the health of the shrub. However this type of pruning will require a bit of patience. The shrub will look very bare until new leaves flush out. It may take several growing seasons before this happens. As the new leaves come in, it can work wonders to give new life to an old shrub.

 

Thanks,

The AA Tex Lawn Team