Sod webworms are a common nuisance in St. Augustine and Zoysia lawns. Sometimes they're just pesky and can be easily ignored, but often they can destroy a lawn as they multiply. Even minor infestations in poorly managed turfgrass stressed by hot, humid, and rainy weather can cause problems for homeowners and property managers. Because it’s difficult to detect this pest early on, managing sod webworms may present challenges without proactive lawn treatments.

What are sod webworms?
Sod webworms are the larvae of lawn moths. They live in the root level of your lawn and munch up the tops of grass leaves. A large population can kill an entire lawn in a matter of days!

What does sod webworm damage look like?
When the weather turns hot, patches of your grass may start to turn brown a d looked scalped or chewed down. If you see little moths flying above your grass and the scalped patches start to grow, you could have a North Florida lawn pest known as the tropical sod webworm.

Damage caused by sod webworms first appears as small, brown patches of closely clipped grass. These patches may come together to form large irregular dead areas.

An early sign of potential infestation is sod webworm moths zig-zagging over the turf at dusk and morning. If a sod webworm infestation is suspected, closely examine the turf for evidence of insect activity. Small patches of grass will be chewed off at ground level. Fresh clippings and green fecal pellets are also usually present at the soil level.

Why do I have sod webworms?
In general, a proactive lawn fertilization program is your best bet against sod webworms from ever entering your yard. This means regularly watering – but not overwatering them because over watered lawns are enticing to adult moths ready to lay eggs – and reducing any stresses on your yard.

How do I eliminate Sod Webworms in my lawn?
Professional lawn spraying is the best solution for controlling sod webworms. Retail pesticides sold in Home Improvement stores can also be effective solutions for killing sod webworms. Look for products advertising St. Augustine lawn pest control, and that say webworms or show a photo of a worm. Homeowner products do take 3-4 applications to break the webworms life cycle, and you can damage your ecosystem if not used in accordance with the label.

Too long and don't care to read? Or want to see visual webworm damage?
Watch our Video here: How to identify sod webworms and how to control them


If you're tired of fighting the battle for pest control in your North Florida lawn, call our office at (352) 378-LAWN or fill out our online form so we can schedule a meeting to discuss how we can help!

Gainesville, Fla. based The Master’s Lawn Care has announced their new merger with Reddish Pest Control, which is a locally owned and operated pest control company in Gainesville, Florida since 1983.

Reddish Pest Control’s Owner, Bob Reddish, has more than four decades of experience in the pest control industry and is well known in the Gainesville area. He is also well-respected in the pest exterminator industry as well. He started his career off by having an interest in nature and bugs.

The Master’s Lawn Care President Rusty Thompson said, “while Bob is currently working towards retirement, we look forward to working together to get his clients set up for success so we can continue exceeding his client’s expectations.”

Reddish Pest Control offers complete pest control services, including lawn care, weed control, disease control, home perimeter pest control and termite prevention.

“When I started thinking of who I could trust to serve my pest control service clients of over 30 years, The Master’s was at the top of my list,” siad Bob about the merger.

About The Master’s Lawn Care:
Founded in 2004, The Master’s Lawn Care has been providing lawn care services to residential and commercial clients in Gainesville, Alachua, Newberry, St. Augustine, Nocatee, Ponte Vedra and Jacksonville Beach. The Master’s Lawn care is licensed by the Florida Department of Agriculture with Landscape/Ornamental and General Household Pest Control Licenses. They are also Florida Water Star Certificate Holders, Backflow Inspection License Holders, and were selected as a Preferred Contractor by GRU for Irrigation services in Gainesville, Florida.

Doveweed is an aggressive summer annual turfgrass weed. Its long leaves resemble St. Augustine grass in appearance, so this weed can grow unnoticed for some time. But doveweed doesn't just invade St. Augustine grass, it also takes hold in Bermuda, hybrid Bermuda, and zoysia grass.

Not only can doveweed be an annoyance to people who are trying to grow turfgrass, it can also cause serious contact dermatitis for dogs that come in contact with the weed.

How to identify doveweed:
Doveweed can be identified by its thick, grass-like leaves that resemble leaves of St. Augustine grass and centipedegrass. However, it can be distinguished from these turfgrasses by its bright-green color. It produces clusters of small blue to purple flowers that originate from a short stalk near leaf nodes

How to avoid doveweed in your lawn:
This weed prefers wet areas, so drainage issues or over-watering will favor the establishment and growth of this weed. For this reason, ensuring irrigation is not excessive is a key management practice to control this problem. Another cultural practice that plays a major role in doveweed management is mowing. Mowing too short and too frequently will favor doveweed because its leaves will grow horizontally avoiding the mower blades. Choose a mowing height that allows good ground cover, yet only removes a third of the turf leaf blades. If mowing a St. Augustine lawn, we recommend mowing above 4.5" when fighting doveweed.

How to manage dove weed in your lawn:
Once the weeds are established, they grow vigorously. When managing doveweed, use an integrated management approach. As always, a healthy lawn is the best defense. Healthy turfgrass can outcompete weeds. Pre Emergent herbicides can help; be sure to read the label first and closely follow the directions.

If these lawn weeds are caught early enough and you prefer to DIY your lawn weed control program, reducing irrigation and hand-pulling is the most effective way to keep these weeds from spreading. However, they do spread rapidly so it will be a good bit of elbow grease to get it under control.

If it is too far gone for hand weed control, then herbicides rated for use in your specific turfgrass that control doveweed can be used. Please note as the weed is a vigorous grower, it will take repeated treatments (following the label instructions) to get control. The hardest time of year for doveweed control in Gainesville is summer, as the daily rains can render your applications useless - allowing the weed to thrive.

If you are on a lawn program, controlling these weeds takes attention early in the season - because once they get established it will be an ongoing battle.

If you're tired of fighting the battle for weed control in your Gainesville lawn, call our office at (352) 378-LAWN or fill out our online form so we can schedule a meeting to discuss how we can help!

As we have mentioned before, the second basic need for a lawn is water. But what about your plants? Each plant has different watering needs.Some factors to consider include the species and age of the plant, the type of soil in which it is planted, and its exposure to the sun.

The symptoms of drought stress may be similar to the symptoms of over watering or even to some pest and disease problems.  It is important to identify the causes of the problem in order to take corrective steps.

Under drought stress, many plants shut down their specialized leaf tissue openings to minimize the dehydration loss. However continuous drought conditions can lead to internal head load and limit the plant's vital gas and nutrient exchange causing partial or complete collapse of the plant. Drought stressed plants are highly vulnerable to pest (insect and disease) and winter damages.

Here are some tips to help with drought stress on landscape and garden plants:

Trees and Shrubs
1) Give trees a good soaking water once or twice a week. Newly planted trees and shrubs (1-3 years old) need twice a week of watering to about one inch depth (0.6 gallons of water is needed to cover an inch deep per square foot). If trees and shrubs are mulched, place the soaker hose underneath the mulch to ensure the soil root zone gets adequate water. Or use 15-20 gallon Tree gator bags on young trees that drip on the root ball.

2) Control any weeds or turf growing underneath the tree’s drip line area. Weeds and turf compete with trees for water.

3) Spread wood chip mulch to about 3-4 inches deep and keep it 6 inches away from the tree trunk. Avoid volcano mulching around the tree trunk.

4) Don’t fertilize drought-stressed trees and shrubs.

5) Avoid unnecessary pruning or transplanting of trees and shrubs.

Flowering annuals and vegetable crops
1) Mulch your vegetable crops and flowering annuals using clean straw or hay, rice hulls or leaf mold.

2) Before watering, check the soil moisture by poking a finger an inch deep into the soil media. If the soil is dry, give a good soaking water around its root zone area. Shallow containers and 6” deep raised beds may require twice a day watering.

3) Water gently around the base of the plants and avoid splashing on its leaves. Morning hours are good for watering plants.

4) Control weeds by mulching or pulling them.

5) Avoid frequent fertilization of your crops, if needed, use granular products containing some slow-release formulation and water it immediately after application.

Perennials
1) Water the perennials when the soil surface dries out moderately. Place the soaker hose a few inches away from the crown of the plant and water to an inch deep (0.6 gallons of water is needed to cover a one inch depth for one square foot). If using a wand, direct the flow of the water around the base of the plant.

2) Avoid overhead watering to prevent foliar diseases. Water early in the morning to reduce evaporation loss.

3) Mulch helps in conserving soil moisture and smothering annual weeds. Use shredded wood or bark mulch to a depth of 3 inches.
 
If you need help with Central Florida Lawn Irrigation, give our team a call or text at (352) 378-5296. We look forward to working with you!

The armyworm is the most common cause of damaged turfgrass on golf courses, athletic fields, and home landscapes.

The larva of armyworms can cause rapid, significant loss of leaf tissue in turfgrass. They feed primarily on Bermuda and Ryegrasses in our area, but can also move to Zoysia and St. Augustine grass where they swarm.

The name ‘armyworm’ originates from agriculture, where infestations sometimes resemble an army as they move across large agriculture fields. The same behavior can sometimes occur in turf, where areas as large as a football field can be consumed in the course of 2-3 days!

If armyworms are present in turfgrasses in large numbers, it is important to treat them as soon as possible to avoid further injury. There are several active ingredients that are effective in controlling fall armyworms, but many variations exist in formulation, use site, applicator requirements, etc.  As always, be sure to follow the product label for specific instructions on timing, use rate, and application methods. For a complete list of products labeled for fall armyworm control, consult the Florida IFAS website as they are updated regularly.

They're most active at night and hide in plants and under garden debris during the day. In their larva stage, armyworms attack a variety of crops as well as grasses, sometimes moving in masses to new areas in a way as its name suggests, an army on the march.

Identification
Markings on newly hatched caterpillars are usually hard to distinguish, older larvae have distinctive stripes that run the entire length of the body. Fall armyworms are brown with yellow stripes, beet armyworms are green with light stripes. Adults are gray, mottled moths (1-1/2 inch wingspan) with a small white dot in the center of each forewing and dark margins on the hind wings.

How to Control Webworms
Treating early is the best way to control an armyworm infestation. If this happens in your yard, you can control armyworms with an insecticide. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) sprays are a safer alternative and ideal for use in home situations. Bt is most effective when applied to small caterpillars. If you find armyworms in your lawn, they're surface feeders so you should be able to spot them in the turf.

If you suspect armyworms as the cause of your garden/lawn woes, it’s important to identify and treat the problem quickly. Armyworms can lay devastation to a lawn or garden in a matter of days. At the first signs of brown patches and chewed plants, look for the small armyworm larvae, which are identifiable due to their green, yellow, brown, or reddish stripes that span their body length. Then, it’s time to consider treating your yard! We are here to help you get through this!

If you need help with Gainesville lawn pest treatments, give our team a call or text at (352) 378-5296. We're local and have been serving Gainesville for over 15 years. We look forward to working with you!

When hearing the word “scale,” someone might think of scales on reptiles. It is not that far off for comparison. Cycad scales grow under a wax covering resembling reptilian scales.

There are many species of plant-scale insects. Asian cycad is one of the most common scale insects that infect the Sago Palms by feeding on the bottom of the fronds. These insects are flat and oval and are commonly tan, white, or brown. Scale insects are tiny, as tiny as a pinhead.

Over time Cycad scale will cover the entire plant stems, trunks, and foliage.
The eggs hatch under these scales and become larva or crawlers.

How does the scale cause damage?
Scale insects, specifically the crawlers, suck sap from the Sago Palm. As the crawlers feed on the sap of the plant,  it excretes a sticky substance called honeydew.
This honeydew attracts ants, flies, and other insects.
Honeydew also traps fungus spores. The honeydew leads to sooty mold, which looks like black soot and prevents light from getting through to the leaves.

How to identify an infestation?
While scale insect pests are incredibly tiny, the “scales” are easy to see.
Check for white or black dots, or scales, on the tops and bottoms of your Sago Palm. On heavily infested Sago Palms, the leaves will look white.

Natural Ornamental Pest Control Treatments To Get Rid of Scale
Effectively, natural treatments only prolong the life of the Sago, and are not effective in stopping the scale infestation. Pruning- heavily infested fronds can be pruned, placed in a sealed bag, and disposed of away from plants. Prune any sick-looking fronds too.
Scraping- If the scale found is not too much, you can scrape it off with a fingernail, or dull object. Note that the scale infestation will return.

Traditional Pest Control Treatment Strategy:
To reduce insecticide use, our team will use horticultural oils in the cooler months to control this common landscape pest. In the warmer months, the best method is systemic insecticides that are soaked into the plant and kill the scale as they suck the sap. Often living in the soil, these insects are not well controlled by contact insecticides. We work around this by using systemic ornamental pest control treatments that move into the plant tissues these scales feed on.

If you need help with Gainesville lawn pest treatments and fertilizer programs, give our team a call or text at (352) 378-5296. We're local and have been serving Gainesville for over 15 years. We look forward to working with you!

This article was written for our industry association, the National Association of Landscape Professionals

When you take on a new lawn care client, you may think you know what products should be applied based on what you’re seeing in the turf. However, there is a lot more going on than meets the eye and this is where the importance of soil tests come in.

“It’s like going to the doctor,” says Mike Hall, COO of Spectrum Analytic, Inc. based in Washington Court House, Ohio. “They’re going order a battery of tests if you’ve never been to that doctor before to find out what’s going on inside your body. A soil test does the same thing. It finds out what’s going on in the soil so you can amend it properly and not just guess.”

Hall guarantees that if you pulled a soil sample from each house in a cul-de-sac the results would be different for each lawn, so it’s important not to assume the soil is the same as the other properties you care for in the area.

Soil tests can tell you what is deficient and what may be in excess in a lawn.

“That’s an enormously important thing to know because we live in a world where all the inputs that people are using are becoming ever more expensive,” says Bob Mann, director of state and local government relations for NALP and agronomist. “So, if you’re using them improperly to excess or not enough or not charging what you should be charging that comes right off your bottom line. It’s good business sense to know exactly what you’re dealing with on a per lawn basis.” 

When it comes to conducting soil tests it’s critical you gather enough cores. You can’t just pull one sample from a corner of a yard and expect it to tell you anything. Also, be mindful of what you’re sending to the lab.

“You want to get rid of the verdure, the growing portion of what you pull up, get rid of the thatch layer, that intermingled layer of living and dead tissue, and then the first couple of three inches of soil put in the bag,” Mann says. “You want to be specific to where the roots are going to be growing to the exclusion of all that organic matter.”

Majority of the time the sample bag from the laboratory will indicate where to fill it so you know the amount of soil to provide. Hall says if you are planning to treat the front and backyard the same, pull 10 to 12 cores and mix the soil well so you can treat the property based on that one sample. However, if there is a problem area in a yard, it’s best to do a separate soil test for that spot so you can properly diagnose the issue.

“Your results are as only good as the person that takes that sample,” Hall says.

As for when you should conduct soil testing, Mann and Hall agree that after taking an initial soil test for a new client, they should be placed on a three-year rotation. Mann says the best time to conduct soil testing is in the spring before anything has been treated so the soil test does not reflect any recent applications.

When selecting who to send your soil tests off to, Hall advises looking for a soil lab that has quality control methods, competitive prices and agronomists on staff who will help you understand the results. Mann says whether you choose to work with a cooperative extension or a private company’s soil lab, you need to establish a relationship with them first before sending them hundreds of soil tests.

“You want to set up an account first off, so they know who you are,” Mann says. “You want to tell them ahead of time ‘Hey, I’ve got 1,000 customers, and I want to do 333 soil tests every year. Put everybody on a cycle, plus I budget 500 new sales a year.’”

Once you’ve established a relationship with the soil lab of your choice, then comes the matter of deciding what tier of testing you want to go with. Mann says this depends on how detailed you want to get and how much you want to pay.

The most basic level of soil testing looks at the soil pH, which affects how other elements are taken up by the grass. For those who are applying lime no matter what, they can be compounding the problem if the soil pH is already over 7.

“Grasses grow in a wide range of pHs but you want to be in that proper range so the other elements in the soil, the micros and macros, are taken up by the turf,” Hall says.

Another soil test level is looking at the nutrient levels in the soil – both the macro and the micronutrients. The third type of testing level looks at the physical aspect of the soil including the level of organic matter, the texture and the cation exchange capacity.

Mann says it’s important to work with a soil lab so you are not overwhelmed by the results. They are a resource for your company.

Both Mann and Hall advise not absorbing the cost of soil testing. Instead, communicate to the customer why soil testing matters, and provide them a PDF of the soil test results so you can back up why you advise making certain applications.

“I think it’s like anything else, I’ve never found a hospital where they did free blood testing,” Hall says.

Depending on what lab you’re using, you’ll get some basic recommendations back from them, but how you interpret those recommendations is what really matters. Dr. Frank Rossi from Cornell University says don’t let the data lead you astray.

“What he meant by that is don’t just look at the soil test numbers in a vacuum,” Mann says. “You have to be engaged in a constant effort to educate yourself as to what’s going on.”

While soil testing can ensure you have better success with your lawn care practices, it also helps with significant savings, so your company isn’t applying expensive products that are unnecessary for certain properties.

“We want you to be successful,” Mann says. “We want you to be professional. We want you to be a trusted resource when it comes to this and part of that is getting engaged with soil testing.”

The Master's Lawn Care conducts a soil test in partnership with UF-IFAS and their turfgrass department on Hull Road to ensure our programs for lawn health clients are tailored for each lawn's specific needs, related to soil, grass type, cultivar, amount of sun, and other property dynamics. 

The fungal disease known as melting out is seen most commonly in cool-season Zoysia grass, but it can also be a killer in warm-seasons as well.
Symptoms of melting-out resemble leaf spot symptoms and these two diseases are often grouped together. Melting out however is a cool-weather disease where leaf spot is a warm-weather disease. Symptoms first appear as black to purple spots on the leaf blades. Spots eventually move to the leaf sheaths, and the fungus invades the crowns and roots of the grass. The grass will appear yellow or blackish brown from a distance depending on the nitrogen level of the turf during infection.
Melting-out has two stages of disease development; one being in the early spring in cool, wet weather, which brings about spotting on the leaves of the turf. As cool, wet conditions persist, the crown and root rot stage of the disease follows, and infected turfgrass begins to thin and die.

How to manage Melting Out:

• Raising the height of your lawn mower during the cool, wet weather of early spring and fall will help turf to survive an attack of melting-out.
• Proper fertilization during the cool weather of the spring and fall will help to reduce disease severity.
• Managing the irrigation settings to reduce watering should reduce the severity of melting out.
• Finally, systemic and contact fungicides can be used after all of the above measures are taken into account.

If you need help with Gainesville lawn weed treatments and fertilizer programs, give our team a call or text at (352) 378-5296. We're local and have been serving Gainesville for over 15 years. We look forward to working with you!

Chickweeds form low, spreading mats that can take over vast swaths of land in no time at all. Though they thrive in cool, moist areas with shade, they have the capability to spread despite sun exposure. This annual weed creates small, star-like flowers that look pretty but can cover your lawn in no time—so don’t let these beauties fool you!

These and other winter annual weeds germinate from seeds during fall as the soil temperature cools and the day length shortens. The seedlings usually go unnoticed but continue to slowly grow through the colder winter months. 

Timing is critical when it comes to Gainesville lawn weed control. The mistake most homeowners make is to wait too late to treat winter weeds.

There are  two ways to get rid of chickweed:

1. A good ole fashion pulling session. These have pretty shallow roots, so hoeing the ground and pulling up the weeds are fine strategies for this type of nuisance.

2. Treating them with a combination of pre and post emergent lawn weed controls at the right time is the key to your success.

If you have a history of problems with winter weeds in your lawn, attempt control measures before the weeds go to seed. If you intend to use a preemergence herbicide, apply it during October, just before the winter weeds germinate. Then you'll only have to do clean up on a lot less tubular weeds that come back up.

If you need help with Gainesville lawn weed treatments and fertilizer programs, give our team a call or text at (352) 378-5296. We're local and have been serving Gainesville for over 15 years. We look forward to working with you!