Things to Do in October

Now is the time to plant. The cooler weather will encourage rapid root growth so that the plant will be able to withstand any possible summer heat or drought conditions next year. Do not rush out to buy new plants, walk around your garden looking for plants that have grown to large for a specific spot, plants that get to much or not enough sun, or plants that look out of place, are to thorny or do not bloom as much as you wanted them to. If you find these plants, transplanting may be your first task this fall.

If you want something to do and can not wait until the plant has gone dormant then root prune two opposite sides of the plant now. Using a sharp shooter shovel, start at least 12 inches from the base of perennials and small shrubs that you are going to move and slice the roots 1/4 of the way around two opposite sides of the plant . This will allow the new cropped roots to grow while the undisturbed roots feed the plant. Apply a kelp solution to the severed roots to relive plant stress. Two weeks later complete the transplant process, again drenching the roots with kelp.

Trees

Do not prune trees now but pay close attention to the location of dead and low hanging branches. A good arborist can spot a dead branch from far away, but you may not be able to. Some people will actually draw a diagram of the tree showing the area of the dead branches or spray paint the undesirable branches . If a branch is hanging low now, it may not be as low when the leaves fall and the weight is no longer on the branch, so remember where it is and once we have had a good freeze, partially cut it back or remove it completely.

After you have done these important task come on over to Rohde’s and let us help you discover new plants for your soon to be beautiful garden.

Add Winter Color now that there is a good selection of color and plants such as fall mums, Cabbage, pansies, flowering Kale and other winter flowers

Buy bulbs, tulips, hyacinths, while selection is good. Plant when time is right.

Even though I believe that the task above are the most important chores for October there is still more to be done. Fall is the time to begin getting the garden ready for winter.

Fertilize

After you have finished your new planting fertilize one last time by applying an all purpose fertilizer like Green Sense. If your spring flowering shrubs and trees (azaleas, forsythia, quince, etc.) have not set buds yet, add a mixture of rock phosphate and cottonseed meal to your fertilizing, this will help nourish the plant and encourage bud set. I would continue to do this through November, but no matter what do not fertilize after that, it the plant continues to grow and we get a hard freeze it can severally damage the plant.

Use a kelp solution to spray all shrubs that still have live foliage, this includes your winter flowers on a weekly basis, such as snap dragons, pansies, camellias, etc. The kelp will help plants survive cold winters and set buds with out promoting any excess amount of new growth.

Do not forget to fertilize the lawn fertilizer. If the summer heat has caused a lot of damage to your lawn you might consider using Corn Gluten Meal (CGM) as your fertilizer, this will help prevent germination of seeds that might blow in with the fall winds. If you have a weed problem CGM can also decrease the amount of weeds you will have next spring.

If the lawn is going to be over-seeded with new grass seed, clover, vetch, etc. do not use CGM.

Mulch with a thick layer of leaves that you have gathered from the yard. You do not have to buy mulch if you have large trees, only buy mulch to complete this task. Use the leaves from trees that do not have acorns or nuts for your flower beds. will minimize the amount of sprouting trees for next spring.

If you mulch fallen leaves with your mower before they get to thick on the ground you may not have enough mulch for your beds but the task would be easy and fast.

Composting

I was talking to Howard Garrett a while back about composting, Howard will not let anything carbon be removed from his property unless it is going to be used for something else. He gave us some bamboo so that we could stake some trees, but otherwise grass clippings, vegetable plant, and leaves, were always placed in his compost pile, or spaded into the soil, where they would compost through the winter. Howard does not have an expensive composter, but instead piles everything into a neat mound on his driveway.

Watering

Remember the soaker hoses that you purchased this summer to water your foundation, now spread them around the beds to help watering there. One of the major reasons why some plants do not make it through winter's cold weather is because the soil gets too dry. Watering before a freeze is critical. Use your soaker hose once a week if we do not get rain and make sure to disconnect the hose from the faucet after each use. Do not forget to check abound the foundation. If we get rain and you do not have to water remember that plants under the eaves do not always get wet when it rains and should be checked periodically.

Slugs and Bugs

Remember how many slugs, pillbugs and snails you had last spring? The cooler moist temperatures are going to bring these critters out again. So do what you have to do to control these pest now so next spring you won’t have much of a worry. Coconut oil as a barrier around plants, beer traps, Diatomaceous Earth or any other means of control should be used now.

Taking Care of the Birdies

Do not remove the Humming Bird Feeders until they have gone. If you remove the feeders to soon, the little birds may never get the strength to fly south.

After the Humming Birds have gone put out your Finch feeders. Do not place to much seed in the feeder until you have attracted Finches. Make sure that you change the feed if it gets wet.

Start leaving the seed heads on perennials for the birds to find and eat them.

Put out Suet Feeders towards the end of the month.

Keep Birdbaths clean and full even though it is cooler.

Corn Gluten Meal

Howard Garret fells synthetic chemical pre-emergent herbicides should not be used on your lawn but a wonderful new natural pre-emergent herbicide can and should be used. Discovered by Dr. Nick Christians at Iowa State University.

It’s called corn gluten meal, a common ingredient in pet food and livestock feed. It does a great job of reducing populations of many common weeds such as crabgrass, grass burs and other annual weeds. Put it out at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet (just like a fertilizer application). In fact, it is an excellent organic fertilizer.

Cornmeal

Cornmeal works as a disease fighter in the soil by providing and stimulating existing beneficial microorganisms that feed on the pest microbes such as rhizoctonia, better known as brown patch in St. Augustine. Cornmeal at about two pounds per 100 square feet also works on seedlings to prevent damping off, also on any other soil borne fungal diseases on food and ornamental crops. One application may be all that is needed if organic management is used. It needs moisture to activate. Multiple applications are okay if needed because cornmeal serves as a mild organic fertilizer. Rain won't hurt its efficacy because like most organic products, it is not water soluble.

Alone at Last

I feel like the new House is truly mine now. We have gotten rid of all unwanted guest, so now I am going to do my best to keep all pest including my brothers and in-laws out of my house.

From the time we moved in we started seeing roaches everywhere and could not figure out if we were actually living out a ghoulish nightmare or if this was going to be a new part of our lives. I woke up at night dreaming about these roaches coming into my bed and tickling my face as they ran around at night. After dogs, rats and my wife the next scariest thing to me is roaches.

I started to realize that as we unpacked the moving boxes we started to see fewer roaches. It occurred to me that most of this problem was probably my fault since I moved packed boxes out of the house and into the garage at our old house as soon as they were closed up. Since we started boxing our household items that were not going to use as soon as we got our first contract, some boxes were in the garage for a month or more, and became occupied by who knows how many critters.

We finished unpacking and moved the boxes out of the house immediately. I dusted the entire house with a combination of D.E., Boric acid and Pyrethrum and let it sit for two days, it just so happens that my family was going to my mother in laws and for a few days. I needed an excuse not to go, hey, I have to vacuum up before the family got back. Yea....that’s the ticket.

Question: Why did God put roaches on this planet?
Answer: So that Gregory would not have to go to his in-laws.

While they were gone I worked on debugging the inside of the house, I opened up all the cabinets and using a flashlight looked for any crevices were bugs may scurry into. I puffed the D.E. Boric acid and Pyrethrum into any crevice I could see.

The next morning I woke up early before going to work and vacuumed the entire house, now I know why my wife hires someone to do this. I used muscles that I haven’t used in years and I was sore, but at the end I was proud of my accomplishment. I opened the vacuum sack to count how many dead bugs I got and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of bugs that were dead. The next thing I did which did not make much sense was to have hardwood floors install. I had just finished vacuuming three rooms that took me about an hour of labor when I decided that if there was that much junk in the carpets maybe I did not want the carpet. Some thousands of dollars later I knew that there was not a particle of insecticide on those new floors.

I hired a company to steam clean the remaining rooms telling them that I wanted the process done twice. We had been in the house for less then three weeks when I had to move the recently placed furniture onto our new hardwood floors. Sandra, my wife, had lightning bolts come out of her eyes as she promised me that I great pain would be inflicted on me if I scratched her new floors. Excitedly I looked in the closet for any whips and chains that she may have purchased for this event, but found none and decided that she was serious, so I was very careful to cover up that one itsy bitsy scratch. I am pleased to say that four weeks have passed and she has not seen it. When she does I will not take the blame I’ll suggest that Alfred’s long fingernails may be the culprit.

Any way the carpets were cleaned and looked brand new. Now I just had to clean the window sills. This I did with Arm & Hammer Soap that contains baking soda, I felt that this product would break down any chemical insecticides that had been sprayed by the previous owner.

Three weeks have passed since all this was done and I am pleased to say that I have seen a couple of crickets in the house, but that is about it. I have applied more Nolo Bait to the exterior of the house in hope that next year I will not have to worry about Grass Hoppers.