Spring 2008 yard care thread

I have a couple of sago palms that have some yellow on a few of the leaves. On some, it's just speckled, but on a couple other leaves, the yellow is more dominant and the leaves are "curling." Is there anything I should do? Do I ultimately cut these leaves off?
 
SynTex PM me I would like to see some pictures of the plant. Your discription could be anything from lack of water to fungus and everything in between.

As for the Dillo-Dirt I have never heard of mercury in it.
 
Personally, I'm a fan of Dillo dirt for lawns and ornamental use, but not vegetable gardens, because it's made from human feces and mixed with lawn trimmings, among other things. Yes, I know it's composted, "cured", and that all the pathogens are dead. I agree that it's safe and I'm fine with having it in the lawn, but I'm not going to grow food in it.

You've got to draw the line somewhere, and growing food in my own **** (and that of my friends and relations and ex-girlfriends and so forth) , composted and sold back to me is right there.
 
To be fair, the city recommends against growing food in recycled poop, but the recycled poop does meet EPA regulations if you really really want to do it.
 
No, not all compost hast crap in it.

If you make it in your back yard it should not have any.
If you buy non dillo dirt compost it would probably have composted cow or horse manure, which is much less offensive to me than having carnivore crap in it.
 
TexasEd- I agree. I tilled about 2" of organic, grass fed dairy compost into my veggie bed yesterday. It's beautiful, highly structured, crumbly black stuff and smells like garden soil should.
 
Found some live grub worms when I was edging yesterday. What is the best way to deal with this? I prefer organic methods, but I don't want to lose my lawn.

Thanks
 
Call ABC in advance.

A few years ago, I called them for the aeration/dillo dirt and, although it was about this time of year, the earliest they could work me in was June.
 
how long should I cut my St. Augustine grass? It's supposed to vary during the year. I've tended to let it grow longer (which I know is recommended), but I've seen some neighbors that have some good-looking lawns where they cut it shorter. I've also seen neighbors absolutely hack the hell out of their lawns, and it's no surprise when it looks like crap in the summer and the weeds are rampant.
 
SynTex,
I had some Sago palms that were covered in a white substance that looked like fake snow. Turns out they were Aphids, palms are very susceptible aphids. It was a pain in the *** to get rid of. The guy that helped me said that the Aphids most likely came from the lawn care guy not cleaning his equipment and spreading them to all his customers.
 
ed, interesting, I will keep an eye out for that. Mine just seems to be a yellow leaf issue. It's getting progressively better, I may have underwatered it during the winter.
 
The fastest cure for aphids is getting some ladybugs. I bought some yesterday at Home Depot. Unfortuately half of them appeared to die after I released them (even though I followed the directions). However, I still have seen a bunch of them flying through my backyard today.
 
ttt.

I got a quote from ABC to do the Dillo Dirt 2 weeks ago. I might pull the trigger.

I would say in about 2-3 weeks is time to put down your fertilizer (Lady Bug 8-2-4) for the spring.....
 
I did Scott's weed and feed Bonus S about 2 weeks ago. The lawn actually looks like it has more weeds than before. This is the firist spring in our house. DId I do something wrong? What is the next step in general lawn maintenance. We have some shietty parts of our yard that doesn't grow st aug well but it might bc a lot of light does not get through due to oak trees in front yard.
 
"I did Scott's weed and feed Bonus S about 2 weeks ago. The lawn actually looks like it has more weeds than before. This is the firist spring in our house. DId I do something wrong? What is the next step in general lawn maintenance. We have some shietty parts of our yard that doesn't grow st aug well but it might bc a lot of light does not get through due to oak trees in front yard."

You didn't do anything wrong, but those weed & feed products are crap. You should be putting down a pre-emergent like corn gluten in early February for weed prevention and then fertilizing with a slow release fertilizer in mid April. Weed & feeds will green up your lawns quickly, damage your soil, kill some weeds and damage your trees. The chemicals are running off into the water ways and if the city of Austin could ban their sale, they would.

The best thing you could do right now would be to put a light layer of compost on your lawn and then fertilize it in a few weeks.

If you have deep shade from your oak tree, it will be difficult to get a well established turf grass. I have two large pecan trees in the back. Last year I ordered the most shade tolerant type of St. Augustine, which was developed at the Univ. of Florida and it did not take. Last month I ordered a hybrid called "Shadow Turf" that was developed by Texas Tech. They claim it takes 80-90% shade. I guess we will see. It is doing fine so far, but my pecan trees have not fully leafed out.
 
Just planted a bunch of herbs and veggies in the garden - some in containers and some directly into the ground. Hoping for a nice harvest this year.

4 types of peppers (2 bells, 1 jap and 1 orchid pepper)
4 types of basil (african blue, sweet, bell pepper and red something)
2 types of mint (red-stemmed apple mint, corsican mint)
Oregano
Dill

I used some of the herbs last night while cooking - mmmm... love having the fresh stuff!

Any good tips on success?
 
We put down St. Augustine Amerishade in a part of our yard that gets virtually no sun last year and it took OK, although it's definitely taking longer to 'turn' than the rest of the yard this year...
 
TXHookem-
1) don't overwater
2) the mint can be very invasive it you don't watch it
3) Spray the whole thing with Garrett Juice 1/week
 
Stina always uses a few drops of Ivory dish soap in a spray bottle. Spray this directly on the aphids will dry them out. And since Ivory is biodegradable, it doesn't hurt the environment.
 
I have the mint in containers so I can keep it from going crazy. However, what do y'all think about planting mint in an area of my yard that is out of the way and has been overtaken by weeds? I'd rather mow mint than garbage weeds.
 
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