Monday, December 24, 2007

White Christmas


Looks like we are going to have a White Christmas after all. Beautiful snowfall! Light, fluffy flakes on the tree branches creating a winter wonderland.

Merry Christmas to All!

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)
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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


Thursday, December 13, 2007

New Dandelion Control- Made in Canada

In 1999, we reported “Researchers are working on a fungus that will kill dandelions. Much more research is needed before this product will be on the market. It is hoped that it will be available by 2002.”
Well, now it is 2007, and more testing and work has been done. Much of it has been done at McGill University by Dr. Alan Watson. Now, the product is getting closer to being available, possibly 2009 or 2010.
This new organic herbicide product has been named Sarritor. (Sarritor was a minor Roman god of agriculture, god of hoeing and weeding.) Sarritor has the potential to provide an alternatiive weed control to 2,4-D the most commonly used weed killer used right now for the ubiquitous dandelion.
According the website at sarritor.ca , this product will eliminate dandelions and other broadleaf weeds in 5-7 days. Once the weeds have died, the fungus will also die and there will be no residual. The product does not pose a risk to human health or the environment and is compatible with normal lawn maintenance operations such as mowing, fertilization, and irrigation.
The active ingredient in Sarritor is a strain of Sclerotinia minor, a naturally occurring fungus in Canada that infects susceptible dandelion plants and destroys dandelion plant tissues above ground.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)
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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


Monday, November 19, 2007

Damaged Lawns

Driving through town last week, I am surprised at how many lawns one finds here and there with damage from the summer. Some may be from the hot, dry summer. Some may have been from chinch bug damage. Hard to tell at this point in time.

Can anything be done in the middle of November? Sod may still be available so the lawn could be repaired. I would first suggest checking the lawn for grubs. These 2 lawns pictured don't look like grub problems. But, it is worthwhile checking. If there are grubs and you sod over them, the grubs aren't likely to do too much damage to the sod. Raccoons and skunks, however, may think, "hey these grubs are easy to find, and the grass was really easy to lift up!"

If you're not in the mood to sod right now, I would suggest waiting until spring to do any seeding. It is unlikely that grass seed will do too much at this time of year.

If it makes you feel better, you could purchase a small amount of grass seed and throw it over the bare spots. It may come up next spring and it may not. A little bit of grass seed is relatively inexpensive way to salve your conscience. The only problem is that by the time the ideal time to seed and repair comes around next spring, the grass seed you threw down now won't have come up so you will have to start from scratch.

So I guess the only reason to put some grass seed down now is if you are the type that only has a 50-50 chance of getting around to doing any repairs and seeding at the correct time next spring.


If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)
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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


Thursday, November 15, 2007

Winter Fertilizer


It's that time of year - we've put almost all of our lawns to bed with the "winter" fertilizer. This last fertilizations is one of the most important. Even though the lawns appear to have gone dormant, the plants are still quite active. The root system is busy storing food so that the lawn will be able to green up nicely come spring.
The nutrients applied at this time of year will encourage the lawns roots to go deeper and to get larger and stronger. By increasing the amount of the root system, your lawn will be able to store a greater quantity of food for next year. The better the roots are this fall, the healthier your lawn will be next year.
As the root system increases, the roots will grow deeper. Deeper roots will allow your lawn to be able to tolerate dry conditions. Lawns will shallow roots dry out sooner. They will require more frequent watering and may turn brown sooner. A deeply rooted lawn will need less watering and will keep its green colour longer.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)
If you would like more information, please Contact us
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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Rake, Rake, Rake

Is the autumn season called "fall" because of the leaves? Fall does mean leaves will fall. And leaves fallen on lawn shouldn't leave the lawn in worse shape than they would be if you can see that the leaves aren't left on the lawn. Whew!

Once the leaves end up on the lawn, they should be removed. Large flat leaves like those from maples, can easily lie on the lawn and smother the grass. When you do rake them into leaf piles, don't leave the piles sitting on the lawn too long. I have come to lawns in the spring where you could see the leaf piles in several places in the melting snow. Inevitably the lawn under those leaf piles has died from the lack of light and air.

If the leaf drop is not too severe, you may be lucky enough to run the lawn mower over the leaves and chop them up fine enough to allow them to compost right on the lawn. If that's not an option,
you can use your mower and lawn mower bag to gather the leaves.

If you do need to rake, make sure to use a leaf rake to rake leaves. The tines of leaf rakes are flexible enough that they will not damage the lawn.

Once you have the leaves all gathered together- why not compost them?
Fall leaves are a valuable resource because they keep garden soil productive. This way these nutrients can be recycled back into your garden.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)
If you would like more information, please Contact us
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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


Monday, November 5, 2007

Grub Control Comparison

One of our technicians had some white grubs at the apartments where he lives. We tried an experiment to see how well Sevin stacked up against nematodes.
We also applied Merit- even though we knew it was too late to be effective. This was done mid October.

Here's what we found 2 weeks later:
Merit did nothing- as expected
Neem Oil - did not perform
Sevin - reduced the population by about two-thirds.
Nematodes -Worked better than the Sevin. Almost all the grubs were dead.

Nematodes work best when the soil is saturated. Nematodes need the moisture to move around in the soil to get to the grubs. The lawn was watered well the night before.

see our website at www.hamiltonturfking.ca or call us at 905.318.6677

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Grasses

Although being "The Lawn Experts" means we know a fair amount about grasses. Here are a couple of photos of grasses that we don't find on lawns. This first one is a Miscanthus grass. There are quite a few varieties of Miscanthus that range in height from 3-4 feet all the way up to 8-9 feet tall. This particular one has yellow striping. Not vertically as one might expect but horizontally. The seed heads are at their peak right now.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)
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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Seeding Time

In August, I drove by a sod farm in Mount Hope. I could see that the fields have been prepared for seeding. Fall is the best time to sow grass seed. This is when Mother Nature does her seeding. The days can be warm, even hot in August, but the nights are cooler for sure. Any moisture that we do get is less likely to be lost.


If your lawn need thickening, fall is the best time to overseed.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)
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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


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Thursday, August 2, 2007

Wild Parsnips

A few weeks ago a colleague sent me a new item about a municipality that had a concern about wild parsnips. They can be as bad as poison ivy. Never heard of that before, so I better find out.

Fine, I said, but what do they look like. So you do a Google image search for "wild Parsnip." Fine, yellow flowers and all. Then did a Google search for "wild Parsnip." The top of the list was an article entitled Burned by wild parsnip. These particular weeds can cause "phyto-photo-dermatitis" to those who come in contact with the leaves or stems.

These chemicals in the plants on the skin cause an inflammation of the skin when these areas are exposed to sunlight.

Learned something new today, I said.

Then a week or two later, we were walking through the fields behind a friends property when I saw these yellow flowers. Hey, they look like the wild parsnips. I told Tim, I would check it out and let him know. But to be sure I took a picture for comparison. Sure enough, they were wild parsnips. I sent Tim the information in an email.

Then a few days later, I saw a huge patch of the wild parsnips near the York bridge. And as I drove down the road today, I could see more patches here and there. There are a number of other roadside plants with yellow flowers blooming right now, but the flower head is quite unique. Seems to grow in the areas that the county does not mow because of the slope of the roadside or because of a hydro pole.

So if you are out and about in the countryside, please keep a watch out for this dangerous weed.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)
If you would like more information, please Contact us
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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


Monday, July 9, 2007

Japanese Beetle

Several people have reported the adults eating the leaves of their grapes vines and other home landscape ornamentals. Japanese adult beetle will feed on a wide range of ornamental plants. They skeletonize foliage giving it the characteristic lacy look


Adult beetles can fly. This mobility makes it harder to control them. There are several insecticides registered for the adults. Treatments may need to be repeated to ensure adequate coverage of the plants' foliage.

Japanese beetle traps are one way to eliminate the adults. Rittenhouse says their trap is to attact male beetles, but they suggest not using the trap if you don't have a problem. This trap uses sex
pheromones to attract the male beetle.

Upper Canada and Natural Insect Control have a tr
ap that uses a floral attractant as well as a pheromone that lures both sexes.
We can also use an organic foliar feed/spray containing Neem. Neem oil does not directly kill the beetles but disrupts their feeding and reproduction.
Also the Japanese beetle larvae are the White grubs which can wreak havoc on a lawn. I would recommend considering a Merit application to control the larvae.
Also nematodes are a consideration to control white grubs.


If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)
If you would like more information, please Contact us
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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Rain at Last

Today, we have finally gotten some much needed rain.

Last evening around 6 pm, we were at a picnic. Just as we started to eat, a few rain drops splattered here and there. It can rain all it likes in a couple of hours, I thought. It held off for the benefit of the picnickers.

This morning early, there were a few more drops, just enough to wet the ground everywhere. Then as I got to the office, it has been raining fairly steady all day (at least until mid afternoon).

This slow steady rain will be much more useful than a quick thundershower that pours down buckets in a short time. Much of that type of rain will not soak into the ground- much will end up running off into the storm sewers. An all-day rain will penetrate deeply.

Just in case the summer continues to be hot and dry here are some watering guidelines for your lawn. On the other hand, if giving you these tips help the rain to fall on a regular basis (once a week, preferably at night) then so much the better.

When watering your lawn, it's best to water at least one inch (2.5 cm) per week, preferably all at one time. Deep watering will encourage deep rooting which will help the lawn in dry weather. Frequent shallow watering discourages deep roots.

Watering in the mornings before the sun gets too hot is more efficient than watering during the heat of the day. A lot of water will be lost to evaporation. If you are paying for your water, why waste it.

Too much water can lead to fungus disease problems. Excessive moisture encourages soft succulent leaf blades that are more susceptible to disease infection.

Mow your lawn high. Set the blade so that it cuts the grass at 3 inches (7.5 cm) high . The longer leaf blades will shade the soil and the roots so less water is lost to evaporation. The cooler soil temperatures are also beneficial to the lawn.

Aerate your lawn each year (spring or fall) to improve water penetration. Apply a high-quality grass seed after the aeration to increase the lawn's density.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)

If you would like more information, please Contact us

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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


Thursday, June 14, 2007

First Fertilization for $28.88



Pay only $28.88* for your first fertilizer application
and receive a FREE 14-point lawn analysis when you purchase an annual lawn care program.

Offer valid for new residential customers only. Not valid on previous purchases, existing services or in conjunction with other offers, including prepayment discount. The $28.88 first fertilizer application offer applies to lawns up to 5,000 square feet. For lawns over 5,000 square feet, percent discount will apply to your lawn. Please call Turf King Hamilton @ 905-318-6677 for an estimate. Offer expires 8/31/2016

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)

If you would like more information, please Contact us

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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.

Chinch Bugs

Chinch bugs can be very damaging to a lawn. As seen in the photo, they will eat the grass, but leave the weeds alone.

Chinch bugs are tiny insects about the size of an ant. Chinch bugs have short legs while ants have long legs. (I compare chinch bugs as roadsters and ants as monster trucks)

If you do end up with too many chinch bugs, the lawn will turn yellow. The chinch bugs suck the sap out of the grass plants. The lawn often looks as if it is lacking water, which in a sense it is. Watering the lawn just helps the grass to stay hydrated so that the chinch bugs can continue to feed.

Chinch bugs prefer the sunny areas of the lawn. I inspected a lawn once that was in front of a north facing building. Most of the lawn had been destroyed- except for about 8 feet near the building. The unusual thing was that the edge of the damage was in a nice neat straight line. I realized that the chinch bugs were happy to feed on the lawn in the sun, but stayed away from the lawn shaded by the building. (Now if they ran out of lawn in the sun, would they have gone to the lawn in the shade?)

We have found that an organic insecticide is usually effective in controlling the chinch bug damage.

We have realized that with insects and chinch bugs in particular that stopping the lawn from going brown is possible without necessarily eradicating all the chinch bugs.

More information on chinch bugs in our website library.

To go to our website

or to request a quote online

June 19/07 Jeff, one of our technicians found chinch bugs nymphs on a sunny lawn in Ancaster today. They had caused a patch about 3 feet in diameter to go yellow. Normally we think of July as the month for Chinch bug damage. I believe the warm weather of the past 3 weeks has hastened the maturity of the chinch bugs and also hastened the damage to the lawns.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Gypsy Moth Caterpillars

These destructive pest
Gypsy Moth Caterpillar - these caterpillars are dark and hairy with a double row of 5 pairs of blue and 6 pairs of red spots from head to tail. They feed on many tree species. Favourites include birches, lindens, crabapples, mountain ash, willows, oaks, blue spruce and many other trees. Voracious feeders, these caterpillars have been known to defoliate trees.

Trap caterpillars by tying a band of burlap around tree trunks. Inspect daily and destroy caterpillars.

Use Acecaps to prevent damage or foliar treatments. These must be applied by a professional

Turf King uses either Acecaps for larger trees or an organic insecticide containing Neem oil to control the Gypsy Moth Caterpillar

To contact us www.hamilton.turfking.ca

or to request a quote online

or Phone 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING

See the CBS news report on these pests from YouTube

Monday, June 4, 2007

Footprints in da Dew

On an early morning walk through the golf course, these foot prints were visible in the dew on the fairway. I'm guessing a deer. There were a lot of deer seen along the roadways in the area as well.

We saw other foot prints- one looked like a raccoon with its tail dragging in the dew.

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Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Renovating spots of thick bladed grass, cont'd



When these grasses grow out by the farmer’s field, I don’t worry about them at all. They’re green and they don’t have yellow flowers. Around the patio, I’m a little more particular.
Last year I had a couple of clumps of thick bladed grasses growing near the back patio. In early April, I sprayed some glyphosate (Roundup) on the patch, then simply sprinkled grass seed into the grass. A day later, once that spray had dried, I watered the patch to wash the seed down to the soil level. In about ten days the unwanted grasses, along with the good grass in that spot, had turned yellow and started to die. Maybe it was the right weather, but by the end of 4 to 5 weeks, the new grass had sprouted and the patch slowly turned from a dead yellow patch into a spot of fresh new lawn. My memory is not as good as it was, so I won’t say that I didn’t throw some more grass seed down at a later date.
In your lawn, once the unwanted grass has turned yellow, (it should take 7-10 days), you can repair that area by putting in a piece of sod or by seeding that area with a good grass seed mix.
If you are going to seed and if it is a small area- slit the ground with a spade and drop the seed into the slits. The seed in the slits should be protected from drying out. You can see the slits I have made in the second photo. I'll try to remember to take pictures as the seed sprouts.


If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)

If you would like more information, please Contact us

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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.


Friday, May 18, 2007

Gypsy Moth Caterpillars


There have been a couple of articles in Hamilton Spectator about the Gypsy Moth Caterpillars.

I was at a home in Ancaster today. Found a baby caterpillar on a fruit tree. These little guys can be voracious feeders and given enough time and enough caterpillars a tree can be defoliated by these critters.

Please keep your eyes open for signs of leaves with holes in them. And for sightings of the caterpillars themselves.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:

Turf King Home
Click here to Request a Quote Online -
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)


If you would like more information, please Contact us


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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Crabgrass Phenology

We were in Lincoln Nebraska to attend a graduation. Of course, I am curious to see the lawns in this area. The leafing of the trees is ahead of Southern Ontario. I even found a crabgrass seedling starting to sprout in the middle of the sidewalk. Of course, the sidewalk is warmer than the lawns. Crabgrass likes to grow in warm soil. And sidewalks and driveways warm up and hold the heat sooner and longer than the soil under your lawn. But it was also starting to grow in a open area in a boulevard.

To help reduce crabgrass problems in your lawn- here are 2 suggestions.

1. Keep your lawn thick and healthy. The thicker the lawn, the less likely it will be to allow crabgrass a chance to sprout.
2. Related to the above – is to mow your lawn at 3 inches high. The longer mowing height means there will be more leaf blade to shade the soil. The more shade, the cooler the soil will be. The cooler the soil, the better the lawn grasses will like it. The cooler the soil, the less likely it will be that crabgrass will grow.
A note on phenology. I didn’t see very many of the flowering trees or shrubs in bloom while in Lincoln. I was trying to see how the weather related to what we have here in southern Ontario. On the last day, we were walking down a different street and I came across a Mock Orange in bloom. “Aha”, I said. The mock orange in our garden usually blooms around the July 1st Canada picnic we usually have with our family. And crabgrass is usually just starting at that time of year here in southern Ontario. So, therefore, the crabgrass sprouting in the sidewalks of Lincoln makes perfect phonological sense.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:

Turf King Home
Click here to Request a Quote Online -
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)


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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.

Two Kinds Of Thistles


There are two main of thistles that get into lawns. One is the Scotch thistle and one is the Canada thistle. One is easy to remove and eradicate the other is very difficult. Both can be a pain to the barefoot in the grass folks. They both have sharp thorns. The pain of walking on them is not pleasant but it is worse if the thorn breaks off and ends up as a sliver in one’s skin.
How do you get rid of them?
The Scotch thistle is the easy one. Although if left to flourish it can reach a height of 3 feet, it normally will tolerate being mowed. Its purple flowers are large and interesting. It is dark green in colour and has a wider leaf than the Canada thistle. It grows as a single plant and one could dig it up and remove it. It also is easy to control with the usual lawn weed killers.

The Canada thistle is the toughie. It has a lighter green foliage that is narrow. It can also reach heights of 3 feet and also has purple flowers. Both thistles have seeds like dandelions that can blow in the wind. In the summer, I have been driving along some city roads when the air is full of the seeds blowing in the wind, much like dandelions parachuting their way into new territory. I know they are thistles because the seed heads can be seen along the roadsides where the weeds have not been cut.

Canada thistle spread by underground rhizomes. Rhizomes are underground stems. If you see one Canada thistle, it is likely attached by a rhizome to another plant a little ways away. If you are planning to dig out the Canada thistle, make sure to dig out the rhizome. If you don’t it will regrow, and you will still have thistles. Canada thistle does not respond well to herbicides. The plants will be killed off, but often the rhizomes continue to live and soon it will send up new sprouts from underground. Only continuous attacking of the Canada thistle will suffice to eradicate this pest from your lawn or garden.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:

Turf King Home
Click here to Request a Quote Online -
or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)


If you would like more information, please Contact us


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