The heat is here! Get ready for another scorching summer with new challenges for your yard. We’ve come prepared with tips and tricks for you to follow in order to keep a healthy lawn and landscape.

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Lawn

Landscape

Lawn

What We’re Seeing

Lawns, especially St. Augustine, are still recovering from freeze damage in some locations.

There’s been a longer green-up this season due to delayed soil temperatures, specifically in Zoysia lawns. We’re seeing tons of weeds because of the longer growing season.

Chinch bug damage has been up this year, these pests will suck out all the chlorophyll from your grass and regurgitate toxins back into the blades. This causes lawn damage and discoloration.

We’re all too familiar with drought stress here in Central Texas, a result of unhealthy turf in an unfavorable environment. Early signs of drought stress appear even now as winter drought plus a cooler spring result in brittle grassroots. This makes it difficult for your lawn to absorb and retain water.

What We’re Doing

We’ve added leveling to our seasonal mix to smooth out bumps and fill in holes, so your grass retains the essential nutrients and has protection against fungus, disease, and over-saturation. We use USGA-grade sand that’ll improve drainage, accelerate thatch decomposition, and neutralize our acidic soil.

We recommend utilizing our Water Efficiency Treatment, Hydretain, to combat Texas drought. This treatment:

Reduces moisture evaporation from your soil
Uses science to trap humidity from the air and transform it into plant-usable water droplets
Prevents and resolves hydrophobic soil, the water-repellent, waxy coating that the ground develops to retain any remaining moisture

Hydretain helps roots absorb and preserve 50% more water!

Round 5 of our Fertilization & Weed Control Program adds organic matter and a specialized combo of slow-release nutrients to encourage health and color, fighting against the summer heat.

Produce a longer-lasting green (doesn’t burn!) with slow-release liquid nitrogen
Support Bermuda turf density minus excessive growth with potassium
Sustain rich color in Bermuda lawns with a shot of iron
Reduce heat stress with humic and fulvic acid

Landscape

What We’re Seeing

The late freeze in February killed many of the existing buds that were growing. When temps dropped drastically, a lot of tree injuries were not visibly evident this time of year. This is typically the case as low-temp damages take a while to show on plants.

Oak trees were injured by the breakage that the ice storm caused and will need time to recuperate throughout the year and possibly into next season.

Cold Weather Conditions Cause Landscape Issues

Leafhoppers feed on chlorophyll or the leaf tissue itself. While these suckers might not cause any lasting damage to your plants, they can trigger deficiencies and irregular growth.

Tree and Shrub Insect Damage Prevention Service

Bagworms build bag-like webs on the tips of tree branches and feed on leaves. Not to worry, your technician will handle these pests!

Fungus is an issue due to recent rains and the low overnight temperatures that we’ve experienced this past month. There are numerous factors that can lead to leaf spot and black spot fungus:

Humidity levels
Overnight watering
Extreme temperature fluctuations
Moisture build-up in lower points of beds

Tree and Shrub Care Lawn and Landscape Services

What We’re Doing

We are actively on insect and disease patrol, employing our custom treatments to help prevent and control landscape damage:

Four applications every 30-40 days that protect against chewing & sucking insects and fungus
Systemic pesticides that the plant absorbs, working its way through the plant’s tissues and killing diseases and insects.

Eliminate Pests & Disease

Emerald Lawns Lawn Care Technician Helping a Customer

Weeds are both an eyesore and a threat to any healthy plant. We have a new service to combat this issue, bed weed control! Our 3 application program actively prevents and eliminates weeds in your landscape while protecting surrounding plants.

Granular, high-end pre-emergent attacks germinating weed seeds
Spot-treatments kill visible weeds above the surface

Control Weeds!

What You Can Do

Help your oak trees recover from freeze damage by:

Sealing exposed, broken areas with pruning spray
Ensuring proper watering amounts, over watering produces additional stress. You’ll want to keep watering under 1 1/2″ per week
For established trees, turn off the bubbler heads at the base, allowing them to get their watering from surrounding lawn irrigation for better growth and immune strength

Be careful of overwatering! The primary source of nutrient deficiency is due to overwatering and saturation. This can be avoided by watering no more than an inch each week, allowing 2-3 days between watering to build root strength. A good routine to follow is ten to fifteen minutes twice weekly.