Want to talk more about Organic Turf Care?
Come visit us at NE Grows February 1-3 at the Boston Convention Center – Booth #2452!
PJC is a manufacturer and distributor of organic fertilizers and soil amendments. We provide product, consulting and business tools to landscapers, schools, and municipalities that want to transition from a conventional approach to an all natural organic turf care program for the maintenance of their lawns and athletic fields.
PJC will be exhibiting at the New York State Turf & Landscape Show at the Westchester County Center, White Plains, New York on January 11, 2012. PJC will also be discussing building your landscape maintenance business by offering All Natural Organic Lawn Care.
January 9-13, 2012 at Worcester State University, Massachusetts
This 5-day intensive course covers all aspects of designing and managing naturally- beautiful landscapes that protect the health of people, pets, and local ecosystems. Thirty hours of instruction include site analysis and design, organic turf, soil fertility, water conservation, and the control of pests, diseases and invasive species.
For more information, visit www.organiclandcare.net or contact the Program Coordinator, Caro Roszell at (508) 360-0874 or caro@nofamass.org. Registration is $520 if registering by Dec 17 (includes daily locally-sourced lunch). Professional Accreditation is optional. 15% off total registration for groups of three or more.
Mowing: Assuming you allowed turf to grow to 3-3.5”, slowly begin reducing height of cut to prepare for winter. Finish the season at approx. 2 inches high. Grass that is kept long over the winter promotes snow mold in the spring. Read the rest of this entry »
It is fall; so like many you are probably going to apply lime – but do you know why?
The function of limestone is to reduce the acidity of the soil and change the pH (potential Hydrogen). Liming provides three potential benefits important to growing healthy turf; improves soil chemistry, encourages beneficial soil biology, and improves soil structure.
PJC had the pleasure of being a consulting partner to the Arboretum Elementary Healthy Lawn Project in Waunakee, WI along with Chip Osborne of Osborne Organics.
To learn more about the project, a collaboration between a volunteer group of parents and the Waunakee School District please check out their recently launched web site
They are now setting their sights on larger media outreach, with press releases and will also be brainstorming on potential spring collaborations with other local environmental groups, UW-Madison and Dr. Porter, that may include a public showing of A Chemical Reaction and panel discussion with Paul Tukey and others.
No, it’s not too late to seed. While temperatures are starting to drop there is still time to get new seed established. When selecting seed varieties focus on the fescues – tall & fine, and perrenial ryegrass.
Kentucky bluegrass takes up to 28 days to germinate; so if you get it started now there is a real possibility that we could encounter a frost in the Northeast before the plants can get established.
For more specifics on seed click to see an earlier post.
Please remember getting seed established now will just make for thicker, richer lawns next season.
According to the AP, “The complaint alleged that annual approval of methyl bromide use by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation had a disproportionately adverse impact on the health of Latino children because their schools were often close to agricultural fields.”
Methyl bromide is a soil fumigant, injected into the soil to kill pests, weeds, and diseases prior to planting crops. Methyl bromide is scheduled to be phased out by 2015.
The original suit was brought in 1999. The obvious question “Why does it take so Long?”
According to BioCycle the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) sent a letter to DuPont August 11, 2011, ordering the company “to immediately halt the sale, use or distribution of Imprelis®, an herbicide marketed to control weeds that has been reported to be harming a large number of trees.”
As such, DuPont is implementing a “voluntary” suspension of sale of Imprelis® herbicide, and will soon be conducting a product return and refund program for the product.
The New York Times reported on July 14, 2011, that the new Dupont herbicide Imprelis® is suspected in the deaths of thousands of Norway spruces, eastern white pines and other trees on lawns and golf courses across the country.
On May 25, 2011, the U.S. Composting Council (USCC) began warning composters to watch out for grass clippings contaminated with a new herbicide from DuPont – Imprelis®.
Somewhat ironically; Dupont states in their FAQ that when disposing a tree damaged by Imprelis® “do not chip the tree for use in mulch or compost.”
With temperatures hitting near the 100⁰ mark lawns without irrigation will be going into dormancy. But at this time it is also prudent to be on the lookout for evidence of chinch bug damage; since summer drought stress and chinch bug damage can look very much alike at this time of the season.
If you suspect chinch bugs may be damaging an area of turf, especially in a sunny sandy area, the easiest way to check is to cut off both ends of a coffee can, place one end into the ground in the affected area and fill the can with water (a little liquid detergent seems to get them). If they are there the chinch bugs should float to the surface. See Billbugs Chinchbugs for more information.