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ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Chester Bach
Pat Brant
Stephanie Harkins
Annie Hicks
Miss Jackson
David Lashley
Tod Wood
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Fall & Winter Quarterly Lawn
Newsletter
Turf Grass
Hello, my name is David Lashley,
Owner/President of Enviro Pest Control, Inc., I have been in
business since 1985. I am a State Certified Operator in Florida
& Georgia in General Household Pest Control, Rodent Control,
Termite’s and other Wood Destroying Organisms and Lawn &
Ornamentals.
This first quarterly issue that
I have been asked to do may be a little lengthy, but I want to
be as specific as possible and to answer all of your questions.
Disclaimer: 1) I do this letter
solely for information to homeowners, I do not expect or solicit
you, the homeowners, or the association for money or kick backs
of any kind! I solely do this for the philosophy that I hope is
adopted by this community which is neighbor helping neighbor. 2)
When you purchase a product, you alone are responsible for
following the label directions. Misuse of that product falls on
you. Read and follow all direction and safety instruction.
FIRST: Write
down these numbers. These are places in the upcoming months and
years I will be referring you to buy product from.
Pro-Way
Chemical 384-5390 { Jax } Lesco, Inc. 928-9933 {St. Bluff
Rd.}
Lesco, Inc.
269-1171 { Orange Park } Lesco, Inc. 262-3888 { Phillips
Hwy.}
It’s also hard
for me to say, well use this or that. When I am asked, “Can I
buy that at Home Depot?” I am not sure, because that is not
where I purchase products. So, I will also describe what the
product does so if you wish to purchase pesticides there you can
match them up.
This part is for
those folks that have a lawn service; it is real simple, if the
lawn looks terrible change service. There is no reason to pay
for a service that you are not satisfied with. If you just hired
that service and your lawn looked terrible to begin with, it
takes time to correct, take it from me, they don’t have a magic
wand in their truck. That’s why my company doesn’t do lawns any
more, our wand broke.
This is for
those do it yourself folks:
All the grass in the
neighborhood is Floratam St. Augustine Turf Grass, so if you are
asked you know. There is one Bermuda Lawn in the neighborhood,
for that person, be careful, the same weed killer in weed and
feed for St. Augustine will kill Bermuda, make sure you or your
service treats it properly.
By this time of
year, you should have put down a weed and feed. If not, you
still can, but it has to be applied no later than the end of
this month (November).
Use Lesco
20-0-20 weed & feed. Now the next question is how much area will
this cover ?
Take the first
number in the blend 20, divide it by 2 = 10, that is how many
sq. ft. it will cover, no more, no less. So 1 bag
= 10,000 sq. feet. Next, is how to determine how many sq. feet
you have?
If you do not know the
square footage or how many pallets were put down, simply measure
each section of your lawn , length x width, add up each section
one by one then add all together for total square feet.
1 pallet = 500
sq.ft. or 20 pallets would be 10,000 sq. ft.
The above calculation will
cover fertilization & weed control until mid February of 2005,
or last frost. At that time, put down same product, same way,
same amount.
Now bugs……….
In Northeast Florida,
believe it or not, there are only a few lawn-destroying insects
that we have to deal with at different times of the year. This
time of the year it’s sod web worms & army worms. If you walk
trough your yard and see a lot of small moths flying out of the
grass, those are the adults. They fly in, lay a small egg, it
hatches and at night a small worm climbs up to the top of the
blade of grass and starts munching away. The damage looks like
you mowed the grass way too short. GREAT NEWS, it will come
right back. Control: Apply an insecticide to kill worms,
2 applications of liquid, 7 days apart or 1 application of
Talstar Granular will take care of it. (See Talstar below)
Another insect
that is a common lawn pest year round is the mole cricket. They
really do more damage by chasing each other and feeding on the
eggs of the female than anything else, but, that’s another
subject.
One quick fact,
you sometimes will see where something has burred around the
edge on the driveway. What is it ? Mole Crickets. As the sun
comes out during the day, the concrete heats up. At night it is
like an electric blanket, so they tunnel where the warm soil is.
Be sure to treat along the edge of the concrete good.
What is Talstar? Talstar is
a no repellant insecticide; meaning that the insects are not
repelled by it but will go through, thus die. Talstar is also
FANTASTIC around the home for common house pests like earwigs
and roaches.
Talstar is a
long lasting product. Remember, liquid insecticide breaks down
with UVL light, and moisture. A liquid application only lasts a
few days. Talstar is the best, longest lasting insecticide I can
recommend for your use. All you do is put it in your fertilizer
spreader and walk around, simple.
Lesco, 20-0-20 $
19.85 plus tax
Talstar 26.85
plus tax covers 8,000 sq. ft.
10,000 sq.
ft. 50 lbs bag 50 lbs bag.
Pro-Way Chemical
25lb bag Talstar 22.00 plus tax
Pint of Image $ 70.50 plus
tax. This is a very forgiving herbicide for those of you with
stubborn weeds, crabgrass or dollar weed. Only 1 oz per gallon
of water, for 1,000 sq. ft., spot spray only.
Watering: Even though it
is Fall and almost Winter, it does not mean that you shut off
the sprinkler system. Just as you water in the summer months you
need to water in the winter as well. Soon the grass will turn
brown and we all will think that it is dormant. On the contrary,
it is alive and well. The root system is very much alive. When
it gets cold, the wind blows, just like your skin would dry out
and crack, the grass will dry out and get winter damage.
Control: Water at least 3
times a week for 30 min per zone. Also, a good shot of potash
during the winter will feed the root system, making it stronger
to withstand a hard winter. All of this done, you will see a
vast improvement in the quality of your grass once spring has
arrived.
I hope you find
this information helpful. If you have any questions or comments
please e-mail me at
david@enviropestinc.com
or just come down and ask me a question. I am at 10598 Grayson
Court. I can also answer questions on Termite’s, and trees &
shrubs.
It has been my
pleasure.
Sincerely,
David Lashley
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