Get Ready For Fall Early This Year
Fall is an ideal time to revitalize your garden. It’s the best season to invigorate your lawn, divide perennials and install new landscaping. But if you plan ahead and start a little early, your fall jobs will be a lot easier. If you’re planning on landscaping this fall, begin preparing the soil now, working in ample amounts of organic matter and controlling weeds. August is also a great time to plant cool season vegetables and annuals. For all the possibilities, see the Bayer Advanced regional calendars. And don’t forget to keep up with late summer watering.
Here are some things you can do now to get a jump on an active autumn:
Control grubs. White grubs live in the top few inches of soil and feed on the roots of lawn grasses. White grubs are typically .5" to 1.5" long, milky white with a brown head and almost always are curled into a "C"-shape.
White grubs are the larva or "juvenile" stage of various breeds of scarab beetles including Japanese beetles, chafers, June beetles and May beetles. These "adult" grubs can also cause damage to roses, trees and other plants around your yard.
There also are some simple but effective ways to identify white grubs. Look for the following symptoms:
- A general thinning and weakening of the lawn
- A wilted or dried-out look to your grass, even when soil is moist
- Large, brown, irregular patches of grass
- Large patches of dead turf that can easily be pulled up in one piece, much like a piece of carpet. You'll find the C-shaped grubs underneath
- Moles, birds or raccoons digging in your grass; these animals love to feed on grubs, so frequent visits could be a sign of white grubs
White grub damage is usually most severe in late summer, but problems can begin as early as mid to late spring. To control grubs now and give your lawn a chance to recover this fall, use Bayer Advanced™ 24-Hour Grub Killer Plus Granules with DYLOX®. It will kill grubs overnight and also controls mole crickets, cutworms and sod webworms. Next spring, follow up with Bayer Advanced™ Season-Long Grub Control Plus Turf Revitalizer Granules. One application will control grubs all summer.
Be sure your lawn is healthy and strong by watering, mowing and fertilizing regularly during the spring and summer.
Click here for additional tips on watering, mowing and fertilizing.
Control Lawn Weeds. The upcoming cool fall weather is the prime growing period for cool-season lawns, such as Kentucky bluegrass and fescues and one of the best times to control weeds. If you live in an area that has daytime temperatures not exceeding 85 degrees in August, you are fortunate enough to be able to control lawn weeds without stressing your lawn. Use Bayer Advanced™ All-In-One Lawn Weed & Crabgrass Killer Ready-To-Use to kill 200+ weeds including both broadleaf and grassy weeds. Do NOT use this product if daytime temperatures will be above 85 degrees to avoid stressing your lawn in excessive heat.
Control and Prevent Lawn Diseases. Use Bayer Advanced™ Fungus Control for Lawns Granules to control and prevent lawn diseases such as brown patch, dollar spot and red thread.
Control Brush and Woody Weeds. Get rid of those really tough weeds, like blackberry, poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac, kudzu and over 70 other types of weeds and brush with Bayer Advanced™ Brush Killer Plus Ready-To-Use. It can also be used to kill tree stumps.
Late Summer Rose Care
Fall is one of the best blooming seasons for roses. As the weather cools, the plants get back in “flower machine” mode. Make sure you get the most bang for your buck in a few weeks by giving them a little extra care now. Remove faded flowers, cutting back to at least the first leaf with five leaflets. Roses, such as floribundas and shrubs, which bloom in clusters, can be lightly sheared after blooms fade. Water regularly; at least once a week in most areas but more frequently in the hottest climates. Make sure you water deeply so the water penetrates 12 to 18 inches (you can check water penetration by probing the soil with a stiff wire or screwdriver. The probe should move easily through moist soil and be harder to push in dry soil). Replenish mulches to conserve water and reduce weeds.
Fertilizing and protecting roses from late season insects and diseases is also very important. You can easily feed and protect with Bayer Advanced™ All-In-One Rose & Flower Care Concentrate. No spraying is necessary. Just mix with water and pour around the plant base. One application fertilizes your roses to encourage fall bloom and protects plants from insects and diseases (including powdery mildew, black spot and rust) for up to 6 weeks. To protect against spider mites (and other insect pests), and cure and prevent disease, use Bayer Advanced™ 3-in-1 Insect, Disease & Mite Control Ready-To-Use. If diseases already have a strangle-hold on your roses, bring them under control with Bayer Advanced™ Disease Control for Roses, Flowers & Shrubs Concentrate. It cures and prevents all major fungal diseases including black spot, rusts and powdery mildew.
Last but not least, if you are a container gardener, feed and protect your roses with Bayer Advanced™ 2-in-1 Insect Control plus Fertilizer Plant Spikes. There’s no spraying, no mess. Just push spikes into the soil for up to 8 weeks of feeding and protection from insects.
While you’re preparing your roses for a great late-season bloom, considering sprucing up your flower beds by planting complementary fall-blooming plants. Ideal companion plants for roses include fall-blooming perennials, such as asters, mums, ornamental grasses, penstemons, salvias and cool-season annuals like pansies, violas and alyssum. Foliage plants, such as lamb’s ears, artemesias, and dusty miller, as well as variegated sages and thymes combine spectacularly with roses.
Products Mentioned In This Article
Bayer Advanced