Kyle's
Corner - Your Lawn Right Now
Cold Weather is Here in Central Florida
December 08
Looks like we just might be getting a good cold winter here in Central Florida, and it is very welcome too. Cold fronts have been lined up one after the other since mid October and we have had one good heavy frost that reached all the way down to Polk County.
Frost is what we need the most. While it requires you to cover the softer tropical plants in your landscape and turns your lawn brown it has its benefits too. Crabgrass is killed by frost. So is sedge, and that is a very good thing. As you already know there is no longer a post emergent crabgrass killer available and once it shows up in the lawn there is no chemical method of control, so if frost shows up and kills it for us why that’s just great.
Hopefully we will get several more good heavy frosts so we can start Spring off with a clean pallet.
Several legislative issues have arrived in Central Florida which if passed will affect the way lawns are treated here and even the grasses that are available for planting.
A mandatory “once per week” watering schedule is being considered on a year round basis. This pending requirement reflects the general ignorance of our elected leaders and their tendency to agree with any restrictions labeled as “Green Wise” by the enviro-wacko groups that now rule our society. If this passes you can kiss your St. Augustine grass goodbye.
Another pending legislative issue is the outlawing of any type of fertilizer application from June 1st through September 30th. There are no exemptions for a lawn that needs a nutritional application and certainly no exemption for a lawn that isn’t green enough in the opinion of the YOU the customer.
Both of these limitations are based on emotion and not good science. There was no scientific method used to base any conclusions on and no considerations for the many advantages that turfgrass gives us, NONE.
The government is now in your front lawn, they are soon going to tell you what type of car you can drive, what and how much you can eat or drink, how much healthcare your are “entitled” to, and how much money you can make before you must sacrifice the rest for those who “are not as lucky as you”. I have but one thing to ask them.
WHO IS JOHN GAULT?
UPDATE 1/22/09
Temperatures in the 20’s and very heavy frost and ice over the next two days will damage or kill tropical plants if you have not covered them and provided an additional source of heat. Expect damage to show up over the next week or two. |
