Archive for the Lawn Care Category
Posted on February 10, 2010 with No Comments
Talk about Natural Pest Control…
Beetles are killing various trees that are important to the ecosystem. So how do you prevent them from doing that? How about blasting some “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses, or how about some “Stone Cold Crazy” by Queen, or even just play some Rush Limbaugh clips. Scientists have found that by playing heavy metal music or Rush Limbaugh (Limbaugh was so annoying to the scientists that they played his voice backwards with the same effect), aka the “nastiest, most offensive sounds they could find”, near beetle infested trees effects tunneling, mating and reproduction. This in effects makes it harder for beetles to eat through trees. It is thought that the acoustic stress that comes from these sounds disrupts feeding and even causes beetles to kill each other. “Beetle Mania”, as the project is dubbed, doesn’t use Beatles music, passing on the irony.
While using these sounds works at the start, after a while the beetles begin to ignore it. When this happened, the scientist turned to a new idea. The idea is to play this aggressive call made by males of the “tree-killer” species. They would play the call louder and longer. By doing this, it messed everything up for the beetles. Tunneling, mating, reproducing was effected. They were particularly effective in turning the beetles against each other, which is rare. On one instance, they played the call as a male and female were about to mate. The effect? The male ripped the female apart. There is still a need to expand this testing, to build upon the early returns. However, until then, it is pretty safe to say that the beetles would rather not hear Paradise City any time soon.
Discovery News broke the story.
Picture Source
Posted on January 4, 2010 with 2 Comments
Q. I hear rodent activity spikes this time of the year, how do I protect my house from rodent activity?
Answer: As colder months come up on us, rodents will seek into warmer areas. It is important you examine potential avenues of entry around your house to exclude these commensal creatures. Openings around garage doors, pipe chasings and foundation cracks can provide access. Seal these openings! Establishing bird houses or feeding bread to birds within 25 feet of your home will attract rodent activity. Do not store bird feed, dry dog food or any other type of feed in bags. Transfer the contents of these products into plastic storage bins if kept under your sinks or in basement areas.
As winter nears, your home needs the protection of a full service pest solutions program.
Q. How do I best prepare my plants, arbors and shrubs for the blustery winter months ahead?
Answer: Winter temperatures and weather can wreak havoc on your arbors. Deep root fertilization aerates the soil and constructs a pathway of vitamins and nutrients directly to your arbor’s root system. Your trees and shrubs will retain these essential nutrients in its root system, pulling it from them when required, for early spring growth.
Q .What are the benefits of lime applications to my lawn?
Answer: Weeds grow best in acidic soil while grass benefits from a neutral base. Lime neutralizes the soil ph and mitigates any adverse reactions to organic fertilizer. Making a long story short, healthy soil leads to healthy grass. Healthy grass combats weed development. You cannot get any greener than that!
“There’s no weapon like experience.” JP McHale Pest Management Inc. is a family owned and operated pest management company since 1971, we are one of the top 50 largest pest control companies in the United States. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about the services we offer.
Posted on November 2, 2009 with No Comments
1. Why should I aerate my lawn at this time of the year?
This is the optimum time to set your lawn up for success next spring. Aerating your lawnscape will relieve soil compaction and break down the barrier of thatch resting between soil and new grass seedlings. This exercise will make soil more receptive to water, and essential nutrients, simultaneously expanding root growth.
2. What is the most effective way to prevent wind burn or halt winter damage to my evergreen trees?
Applying an anti-dessicant application to your conifer trees will give the needles a healthy shine, while assisting your arbors in retaining important moisture levels. This environmentally sound, wax based product, seamlessly melts off in spring when your plants are ready to commence the growing season.
3. How do I best prepare my plants, arbors and shrubs for the blistering winter months ahead?
Winter temperatures and weather can wreak havoc on your arbors. Deep root fertilization aerates the soil and constructs a pathway of vitamins and nutrients directly to your arbor’s root system. Your trees and shrubs will retain these essential nutrients, in its root system, pulling from them when required, for early spring growth.
4. Describe the benefits associated with Lime applications to my lawn.
Weeds grow best in acidic soil while grass benefits from a neutral base. Lime neutralizes the soil ph and mitigates any adverse reactions to organic fertilizer applications. Neutral soil optimizes the effects of organic fertilizer. Making a long story short, healthy soil leads to healthy grass. Health grass combats weed development. You cannot get any greener than that!
5. I hear rodent activity spikes this time of the year. How do I protect my house from rodent activity?
As cooler months come upon us rodents will seek entry into warmer areas. It is important you examine potential avenues of entry around your house to exclude these commensal creatures. Openings around garage doors, pipe chasings and foundation cracks can provide access. Seal these openings! Establishing bird houses or feeding bread to birds within 25 feet of your home will attract rodent activity. Do not store bird feed, dry dog food or any other type of feed in bags. Transfer the contents of these products into plastic storage bins if kept under your sink or in basement areas.
Please contact us if you are interested in any of our services. We service New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Tags: aeration, evergreen trees, fall, Lawn Care, lime application, Rodents, winter ahead
Category: Do It Yourself, Gardens, Integrated Pest Management, Lawn Care, Rodent, Tree and Turf, Winter Pests
Posted on August 17, 2009 with No Comments
Everyone loves a thick green lawn. The growing season is about two months away. Once the soil temperature drops below 55 degrees, power seeding and core aeration is highly recommended.
Power seeding will make small slits in the solid and fill them with seeds. This can nearly guarantee germination, and grow grass in the weak areas of your lawn.
Aeration is also a recommended service during the growing season. During the winter and spring, your soil will become compacted, and strain the growth of grass. This will make your grass appear thinner and less healthy. Aeration is done with a machine that removes soil about the size of a cork, every 3-6 inches. This will loosen up the solid and allow “breathing room” for the grass roots.
After all lawn services it is highly recommended that you water your lawn as it is the main backbone in growing a green lawn.
Please contact JP McHale’s Tree & Turf Department so we can schedule you with our lawn and tree inspector to develop a custom plan for your property. Its Free!
Posted on August 14, 2009 with 2 Comments
Aeration can be quite a process because of the machinery required. Aeration is essential to do once a year to break up soil compaction and allow deeper soil to receive water and nutrients.
Aeration is done about once every two weeks on a golf course, and you know how good golf courses look. You don’t need to aerate your lawn that often, once or twice, beginning & end of season is very good for the soil.
Its easy to notice when turf has been aerated because you will notice small cork size plugs around the area with small hole sin the grass.
An aerator is not one of the most practical pieces of equipment to have around your home. JP McHale’s Tree and Turf department has many services in place to get you a healthy green lawn. Ask about Core Aeration and our Estate Program. This department is overseen by our Plant Pathologist, Douglas McHale who is an expert in this field.
Here are some of the other services that he has formulated:
- Organic Turf Care
- Systemic Injections
- Deep Root Feeding
- Mole & Grub Control
- Lime & Gypsum Application
- Anti-Desiccant
Please contact us at (800) 479-2284, email us, twitter us or live chat with us to learn how JP McHale’s Tree and Turf Department can formulate a custom tree and turf program for your yard.
Posted on July 14, 2009 with 2 Comments
Outdoor parties in the summer are just beautiful. Everything from BBQ’s to weddings, we spend a lot of time outside in the summer. If you are planning a party, or some type of outdoor get together, don’t let insects annoy you and your guests.
It’s a pretty popular service that is done by our Tree and Turf Department; it’s called the Party Spray. It is 100% organic, and will keep soft-flying insects away from the party area, primarily mosquitoes, fleas and nats. The spray usually lasts about two days for complete pest coverage, and will continue to work for 2+ weeks after, but not at the level when it was first administered.
Please contact our Tree and Turf department at (800) 479-2284 and ask about our party spray.
Posted on July 2, 2009 with 1 Comment
Nutsedge is a weed commonly found on lawns. Nutsedge is green, with yellow tips that grow faster then grass. Nutsedge grows flower-like, spouting from one central steam. This bottom of the nutsedge, is often called “tubers”, which are also referred to as “Nuts” or “Nutlets” is found underground. If you can eliminate the tuber, the nutsedge can no longer survive.
Lawns will begin to see nutsedge growth because of the massive amount of rain the northeast has seen. There are several control methods you can follow.
There are many different ways to control nutsedge. The first is to remove the weed along with the soil around it. You must then replace the hole with topsoil and grass seed. Dehydration of the weed can also be down, but poses a risk to surrounding grass and plants. You must disable the irrigation zone near the nutsedge and make sure rain doesn’t help feed it. This method is also very hard to carry out because that risk of rain. This method can only be used in early stages of the nutsedge’s lifecycle. If more then 3-5 blades of nutsedge are spotted, more intensive measures must be taken.
Nutsedge is also commonly found in beds of mulch. When mulch is applied, a weed fabrics is typically installed. Many over the counter fabrics cannot protect from nutsedge because the tips of the weed are so thin. The University of California did a test of the most effective weed fabrics. The results showed that Geoscape landscaper fabric and Dupont Typar 307/ 312 are the most effective.
Herbicides can be used to manage the weed, when applied correctly by a pest control operator.
This information is brought to you by the Tree and Turf Department of JP McHale Pest Management.
Picture is from Purdue University
