ANTC™ All Natural Turf Care Clippings

This spring has produced some of the wettest weather on record in the Northeast.  This March was notable for its lack of snow.  Four of the normally snowiest cities in the region: Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, NY and Concord, NH, did not see any measurable snow during March.  While areas like Boston, MA, Providence, RI and Portland, ME saw their wettest month ever.  At the Blue Hills Observatory outside of Boston 18.81 inches of rain were recorded during March.  The previous record was 18.78 in August 1955. Read the rest of this entry »

Now is probably a good time to start scouting for white grubs.  Certainly the weather we’ve received this season has made it difficult to guess the appropriate time to begin scouting.  However, if you’re likely to see grub damage this season they are going to have to start feeding soon.

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Normally we would begin looking for evidence of white grubs in our residential lawns at this time of season.  However given the extremely wet summer we have had in the Northeast this year I think you are probably safe to hold off your scouting activities for a couple of weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

As I drive around town I notice that the recent heat has brought out the crabgrass.  What are you suppose to do especially if you want to have an organic all natural lawn.  First I believe it best to understand a bit more about crabgrass. Read the rest of this entry »

Pretty soon it is going to be time for the athletes to come back to school and begin their dreaded double sessions of the preseason. So now is the time for you to start your preseason. Assuming that you allowed your sports field to grow taller over the summer to increase their root mass and make them heartier for the coming playing season now is the time to begin lowering the mowing heights of the fields so that they will be at playing heights once the student athletes arrive back on campus.
Remember you never want to take off more than 1/3 of the shoot height when you mow. Mow more frequently if you want to get the height of cut down quicker. As an example: To get your field hockey fields down to 1 ½” playing height is going to take you roughly 30 days to get there assuming you start at a height of 3 ½”.

Over the years we have come in contact with a number of landscapers and equipment suppliers that think July is a great time to aerate. The grass generally isn’t growing so why not go out and aerate. After all we need to do something!  WRONG!!

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This season we have been called out on several occasions to consult with facilities and grounds directors that are experiencing poor growth rates with their turf.  Due to the steady rainfall we have been experiencing in the Northeast this season the problem has been inevitably associated with soil compaction. Read the rest of this entry »

Rain, when is it going to end?  It’s July 4^th weekend and in the Northeast we are still waiting for summer to come.  In the meantime the damp, wet conditions have been ideal for red thread, a fungal disease that gets its name from a red thread like structure that grows from the upper portions of the infected grass. Read the rest of this entry »

June 7^th Sunday’s Boston Globe had an article blaming water overuse to lawn watering.  The most egregious offense mentioned in the article was “You can be out in a downpour and the sprinklers are on – it’s frustrating,” .  While I agree that lawns and automatic sprinkler systems can be at the root of the overuse problem it is not for the reasons outlined.

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