Fall To-Do List Items
Temperatures are getting cooler, especially at night. The days are getting shorter. The kids are back in school. September starts tomorrow. You’ve felt it I’m sure. We are moving from summer into fall. I want to spend our time today talking about some things for your fall to-do list.
Treat Perennial Weeds in the Fall
Fall is the best time to treat perennial weeds in nearly every situation. In the past I’ve done tests comparing spring and fall herbicide treatments on perennial weeds. In every case I got better results, with lower herbicide rates in the fall than I did in the spring.
This is not just true for rangeland and noxious weed control, but it’s also true for perennial lawn weeds like dandelion and clover. Sometime around the first killing frost is the best time to spray. It’s a little early to spray right now, but it’s not too early to start making you plan of attack.
Fall Lawn Care Activities
It is also time to put on your first fall fertilizer application on your lawn. UNL specialists recommend 1 pound of slow release nitrogen per 1000 square feet. Remember that is not 1 pound of fertilizer. It’s 1 pound of actual nitrogen per 1000 square feet. That means if your fertilizer contains 10 percent nitrogen, you’ll need to apply 10 pounds of fertilizer to get 1 pound of nitrogen. You’ll need to give it another 1 1/2 – 2 pounds of Nitrogen, plus some Phosphorous sometime between mid October and mid November.
Fall is also a good time to seed grass. Now is the perfect time to overseed thin Kentucky bluegrass lawns with improved cultivars at ¾ to 1 pound per 1000 square feet.
Inspect Conifer Trees this Fall
Dennis Adams, a forester with the Nebraska Forest Service recommends inspecting your conifer trees this fall. He says you should take the time to carefully examine the evergreen trees, both in your windbreaks and ornamental plantings. An inspection might reveal pest problems that require control treatments. It also helps to plan future improvement projects.
Conifer plantings often are damaged by drying winds and heavy snow. We’ve had a wet summer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll have a wet fall. Dennis recommends that you water evergreens in the fall, if the soil is dry. Adequate soil moisture will lessen the damaging effects of drying winds. You should also prune out any broken branches and completely remove seriously damaged trees.
Inspect conifers for symptoms of insect and disease problems. The browning of needles from conifer diseases, such as Dothistroma needle blight and Sphaeropsis tip blight of pines and Cercospora needle blight of junipers is more evident in the fall. Damage by pine tip moth and Zimmerman pine moth also are easily distinguished during the fall months. Chemical treatment for these pests should be applied in the spring.
