2020 Mid-Atlantic Garden, Lawn, Etc. Thread

[mdhokie]

I'm hoping one of you smart lawn folks can help me identify this weed. It has gone crazy in my yard this year. Haven't seen it until this spring, but its everywhere.

 

[nw baltimore wx]

I can’t place it from the leaves. Can you tell what color the flowers are going to be?

 

eta:  Regardless of what it is, a broadleaf weed killer will take care of it quickly.  I generally spot spray for weeds with a 1 or 2 gallon sprayer, but if it's all over the yard, I'd use a bag of granular stuff.  It's also the time of year to put down a pre emergent for crab grass if you haven't done that yet.

[Round Hill WX]

On 4/1/2020 at 5:36 PM, poolz1 said:

Planted a few blueberry bushes today and prepped areas to plant beans and snap peas.  Carrots and onions are sprouting.  By the time I figure out all the tricks and methods through trial and error I'll be dead.  Gardening is kind of like the weather....there is no end to gaining knowledge. 

Anyone ever use neem oil for pest control on veggies/fruit?  Hoping this will keep the slugs away this season.  

I’ve been using neem oil for the last 3-4 years and it seems to do it’s job. Never had much of a fungus or mold issue in the garden, but do get insects if I don’t spray every few weeks. 
The one thing I have found that neem oil doesn’t protect against is caterpillars that bore into the root stem then eat their way up the plant. Those destroy my cucumbers every year late in the season. 

[mappy]

On 2/17/2020 at 6:34 AM, mappy said:

It’s not, last year was first year we had it planted and realized we put it in a bad spot. 

At least we didn’t kill it when we moved it, hydrangea has new green growth on it. Phew. 

[nw baltimore wx]

46 minutes ago, mappy said:

At least we didn’t kill it when we moved it, hydrangea has new green growth on it. Phew. 

They are hardy plants.  It may take a little time to adjust and you may not get as many flowers this year, but keep it from drying out and it will do well.  Who knows, maybe it was so young that it won't be shocked at all by the move.

[mdhokie]

4 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I can’t place it from the leaves. Can you tell what color the flowers are going to be?

 

eta:  Regardless of what it is, a broadleaf weed killer will take care of it quickly.  I generally spot spray for weeds with a 1 or 2 gallon sprayer, but if it's all over the yard, I'd use a bag of granular stuff.  It's also the time of year to put down a pre emergent for crab grass if you haven't done that yet.

Thanks! It has tiny white flowers. Roots are hardy too. Tried to pull it but the roots won't come easy. Digging resulted in too much grass coming up so I stopped. I think it might be this:

https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/common-chickweed

Do you have a favorite weed killer to use for spot treatment? 

I did put down a granular pre-emergent a couple weeks ago. Been having a problem with stilt grass here. Pulled most it by hand last year but trying to keep it from coming back. 

[nw baltimore wx]

I like spectracide broadleaf concentrate with a 1 or 2 gallon sprayer. It’s an inexpensive investment to buy the concentrate and a gallon sprayer, and will save you some money and time if you buy rather than using the pre mixed stuff. I have a small yard (about .22) and it would still be a pain to use the pre mixed spray stuff. Ortho weed b gon is good too, but whatever you end up getting, just be sure that it’s a broadleaf weed killer WITHOUT grass killer. It’ll say on the label, “kills weeds and won’t harm grass.”

[poolz1]

16 hours ago, Round Hill WX said:

I’ve been using neem oil for the last 3-4 years and it seems to do it’s job. Never had much of a fungus or mold issue in the garden, but do get insects if I don’t spray every few weeks. 
The one thing I have found that neem oil doesn’t protect against is caterpillars that bore into the root stem then eat their way up the plant. Those destroy my cucumbers every year late in the season. 

Awesome....reassuring to hear that it does help with pests.  I did read that it will inhibit larvae growth and development if applied when eggs are laid.  These caterpillars (not root boring) and slugs are my main issue.  Cabbage, broccoli and other hearty  leafy greens are their food of choice.

[CAPE]

Carpenter bees are back.

Anyone who has had issues, the traps work. I have been using them for several years now after some bad infestations, and then the woodpecker damage that follows.

I have 8 hanging up around the house and deck. They Protect this (log) house!

[CAPE]

You can buy these online, or make them yourself. There is a perfectly sized hole on each side,

This one always gets the most- it has been a hot spot for drilling over the years. There is a pile of them in there just over the last few days(mostly today). They always return to the previous nesting site. The key is to eradicate the queen, drones , and larvae if you do get an infestation, then plug the hole in the fall. Place a trap there, and the following Spring you will be amazed.

 

eta- the holes are drilled on an upward angle, Once they enter, they go towards the light, which is down the bottom. Once in the bottle/jar they are done for. They struggle to exhaustion/fry in the sun, until death. It's glorious, for those who have seen the damage they can do.

[RDM]

5 hours ago, C.A.P.E. said:

You can buy these online, or make them yourself. There is a perfectly sized hole on each side,

This one always gets the most- it has been a hot spot for drilling over the years. There is a pile of them in there just over the last few days(mostly today). They always return to the previous nesting site. The key is to eradicate the queen, drones , and larvae if you do get an infestation, then plug the hole in the fall. Place a trap there, and the following Spring you will be amazed.

 

eta- the holes are drilled on an upward angle, Once they enter, they go towards the light, which is down the bottom. Once in the bottle/jar they are done for. They struggle to exhaustion/fry in the sun, until death. It's glorious, for those who have seen the damage they can do.

That's a pretty nifty bee trap.  Them bees can indeed do a number on trim.  Any ideas on how to keep the woodpeckers off the cedar trim on our house?  We have a couple pesky woodpeckers who think our house is their daily buffet.  

[CAPE]

13 minutes ago, RDM said:

That's a pretty nifty bee trap.  Them bees can indeed do a number on trim.  Any ideas on how to keep the woodpeckers off the cedar trim on our house?  We have a couple pesky woodpeckers who think our house is their daily buffet.  

Yeah they are after food. Most likely carpenter bee larvae. Have you noticed any evidence of infestation where the woodpeckers are doing their thing? The bees drill in(typically upward) then turn 90 degrees and drill out a channel up to a foot long. Woodpeckers will peck that whole area out in no time. My fascia was damaged several times this way.

[RDM]

On 4/5/2020 at 8:52 PM, C.A.P.E. said:

Yeah they are after food. Most likely carpenter bee larvae. Have you noticed any evidence of infestation where the woodpeckers are doing their thing? The bees drill in(typically upward) then turn 90 degrees and drill out a channel up to a foot long. Woodpeckers will peck that whole area out in no time. My fascia was damaged several times this way.

I've found a couple of spots where the carpenter bees were nesting, but not IVO where the woodpeckers are doing their thing.  The peckers must love cedar, although it is a relatively soft wood and easy to penetrate.  The peckers that visit our place are typically on the small size.  On occasion we have one of the big pileated woodpeckers stop by.  When he shows up everyone in the neighborhood knows it.  He was hammering away in the woods behind our house the last two evenings.  One of his favorite logs is a hollow tree that resonates like a large kettle drum.  You can hear him 300+ yards away.  Quite majestic creatures, but when he hammers on our siding you'd think the house is falling down.  

[CAPE]

7 hours ago, RDM said:

I've found a couple of spots where the carpenter bees were nesting, but not IVO where the woodpeckers are doing their thing.  The peckers must love cedar, although it is a relatively soft wood and easy to penetrate.  The peckers that visit our place are typically on the small size.  On occasion we have one of the big pileated woodpeckers stop by.  When he shows up everyone in the neighborhood knows it.  He was hammering away in the woods behind our house the last two evenings.  One of his favorite logs is a hollow tree that resonates like a large kettle drum.  You can hear him 300+ yards away.  Quite majestic creatures, but when he hammers on our siding you'd think the house is falling down.  

I have plenty of the big ones, and they do make some serious noise. I had one collide with one of the big right triangle windows on my house years ago, and plopped down onto the deck. it was stunned/concussed and stayed there for hours. Got to see it up close. Woody woodpecker. It was impressive. Eventually it recovered and made its way to a nearby tree, then eventually flew off.

[poolz1]

We used to call them red-headed woodpeckers as kids.  I dont know the actual name but they are beautiful birds. Grew up in the woods and they were almost a daily sight.  I remember my dad jumping up, with an ear to air..."those dam woodpeckers are on the back of the house again." LOL.. He obviously could hear the difference between a pine fascia board and an oak tree. 

Speaking of wildlife...I did not see one snake last year.  Actually strange not to see several over a season....yesterday I had to (unfortunately) kill an adult copperhead.  Curled up on a rock near the creek.  I typically dont kill them unless I find that they have made their way from the creek or are in a spot where we may come in contact.  This one was where the kids and dog play in and around the creek and was huge!  Biggest copperhead I have seen around here.

Finished up the new garden area yesterday.  Perfect day to be outside working...and away from the news.

[mappy]

6 minutes ago, poolz1 said:

We used to call them red-headed woodpeckers as kids.  I dont know the actual name but they are beautiful birds. Grew up in the woods and they were almost a daily sight.  I remember my dad jumping up, with an ear to air..."those dam woodpeckers are on the back of the house again." LOL.. He obviously could hear the difference between a pine fascia board and an oak tree. 

Speaking of wildlife...I did not see one snake last year.  Actually strange not to see several over a season....yesterday I had to (unfortunately) kill an adult copperhead.  Curled up on a rock near the creek.  I typically dont kill them unless I find that they have made their way from the creek or are in a spot where we may come in contact.  This one was where the kids and dog play in and around the creek and was huge!  Biggest copperhead I have seen around here.

Finished up the new garden area yesterday.  Perfect day to be outside working...and away from the news.

LOVE that set up! 

[backedgeapproaching]

On 4/4/2020 at 3:32 PM, mdhokie said:

Thanks! It has tiny white flowers. Roots are hardy too. Tried to pull it but the roots won't come easy. Digging resulted in too much grass coming up so I stopped. I think it might be this:

https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/common-chickweed

Do you have a favorite weed killer to use for spot treatment? 

I did put down a granular pre-emergent a couple weeks ago. Been having a problem with stilt grass here. Pulled most it by hand last year but trying to keep it from coming back. 

Sorry to intrude in your forum, but your right, it is chickweed from the looks of it. I dealt with it alot when I lived in SEPA.  You have to use a product with a specific active ingredient to take care of it--triclopyr.  Ortho has this product that contains it that I linked below.  The general Weed B Gon products that you use for dandelions, etc will not take this out, they may stunt them, but not kill them.  Also regarding your granular pre-emegent--- chickweed germinates in late summer/fall and then sits dormant all winter and then explodes in spring--so the pre-emergent wont have any effect on chickweed.  It will be good for all the spring germinating weeds though. You would need to do late summer pre-emergent also if you wanted to target chickweed (and other fall germinating weeds).  Hope that helps a bit.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ortho-Weed-B-Gon-16-oz-Chickweed-Clover-Oxalis-Killer-for-Lawns-Concentrate-0396410/203686814

 

[RDM]

6 hours ago, poolz1 said:

We used to call them red-headed woodpeckers as kids.  I dont know the actual name but they are beautiful birds. Grew up in the woods and they were almost a daily sight.  I remember my dad jumping up, with an ear to air..."those dam woodpeckers are on the back of the house again." LOL.. He obviously could hear the difference between a pine fascia board and an oak tree. 

Speaking of wildlife...I did not see one snake last year.  Actually strange not to see several over a season....yesterday I had to (unfortunately) kill an adult copperhead.  Curled up on a rock near the creek.  I typically dont kill them unless I find that they have made their way from the creek or are in a spot where we may come in contact.  This one was where the kids and dog play in and around the creek and was huge!  Biggest copperhead I have seen around here.

Finished up the new garden area yesterday.  Perfect day to be outside working...and away from the news.

Awesome garden.  Whatever you plant is gone thrive in that setup.  Any issues with the deer?  The fence looks about 4 feet high.  We live less than a mile from Vienna and are infested with deer.  Can't grow hardly anything the vile vermin don't devour at their leisure.  Have had as many as 13 bed down in our front yard.  

 

[Eskimo Joe]

Collards are almost ready for eating, shallots and garlic coming along nicely.  Radishes and beets going in Saturday.  Pepper, beans, squash and tomatoes are all started.

[poolz1]

18 hours ago, RDM said:

Awesome garden.  Whatever you plant is gone thrive in that setup.  Any issues with the deer?  The fence looks about 4 feet high.  We live less than a mile from Vienna and are infested with deer.  Can't grow hardly anything the vile vermin don't devour at their leisure.  Have had as many as 13 bed down in our front yard.  

 

Certainly if a deer wanted, it could hop that fence with ease.  I dont think we will have an issue though....Our dog seems to keep them at bay and they have plenty of forrest to find what they need to eat and to bed down.  It is really meant to keep deer from wandering up for a snack and to keep rabbits, turkey and other critters out.

I have customers in areas of Mont county that the same issue you are describing.  Crazy how they can ravage plantings and gardens...I have seen folks try everything and nothing really seems to be a consistent deterrent. 

[RDM]

4 hours ago, poolz1 said:

Certainly if a deer wanted, it could hop that fence with ease.  I dont think we will have an issue though....Our dog seems to keep them at bay and they have plenty of forrest to find what they need to eat and to bed down.  It is really meant to keep deer from wandering up for a snack and to keep rabbits, turkey and other critters out.

I have customers in areas of Mont county that the same issue you are describing.  Crazy how they can ravage plantings and gardens...I have seen folks try everything and nothing really seems to be a consistent deterrent. 

What few herbs and veggies we grow must grown on our elevated deck.  Otherwise, the deer, possum or groundhogs gobble it up in no time.  

The deer are a real nuisance around here, which is why FFCO routinely sponsors targeted culling.  In our area of FFCO all residences are zoned R-1 with at least 1 acre because there's no public sewer and you need at least 1 acre to have a leach field in FFCO.  That means in general it's low density housing with a lot of wooded areas in between developments, which promotes cover for the deer to flourish.  For the unwary, driving in the area around Lawyers Road and Hunter Mill between Reston, Oakton and Vienna can be dangerous night and day due to the number of deer crossing the roads.  The threat of a bad encounter is year-round.  

 

 

[clskinsfan]

On 4/7/2020 at 2:48 PM, Eskimo Joe said:

Collards are almost ready for eating, shallots and garlic coming along nicely.  Radishes and beets going in Saturday.  Pepper, beans, squash and tomatoes are all started.

Out here it has been so cool that I cant anything to sprout yet. Gonna have to move all of my pots into the house I guess. The remainder of April looks pretty cold as well. 

[snowfan]

Got some Trinidad scorpions started. Hoping for a decent hull this year.

[nw baltimore wx]

1 hour ago, snowfan said:

Got some Trinidad scorpions started. Hoping for a decent hull this year.

Brave man.

[CAPE]

2 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Brave man.

How is your black beauty doing? I am amazed at how well mine has come on so early. I had probably 8 weeks of growth last fall before it went dormant, and it looked pitiful at the end of Feb into early March. I put down some starter fertilizer, and March was nice and wet, and man it looks like a golf course green now lol. I only hope I can keep it looking good for a year. Harsh here in the woods, esp with well drained soil.. and moles.

[nw baltimore wx]

1 hour ago, C.A.P.E. said:

How is your black beauty doing? I am amazed at how well mine has come on so early. I had probably 8 weeks of growth last fall before it went dormant, and it looked pitiful at the end of Feb into early March. I put down some starter fertilizer, and March was nice and wet, and man it looks like a golf course green now lol. I only hope I can keep it looking good for a year. Harsh here in the woods, esp with well drained soil.. and moles.

Let me get a picture before dark. It’s doing great!

i can’t begin to describe how bad my backyard looked last mid-September. We had the mini drought and high heat and I didn’t water, so it went past dormant, and certainly died in areas. It hadn’t looked that bad since I renovated in 2004 and started fresh seed, so I figured I would have to be patient and give it a couple years to fill in.

I did an aeration and seed in either late September or early October when the weather finally broke, Luckily, last October, and even November, were good for the new seedlings, so I did a light fertilizer late November for root growth, and then a normal spring one with crabgrass pre-emergent, and it’s taking off. I’ll never overseed with anything else.

[CAPE]

22 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Let me get a picture before dark. It’s doing great!

i can’t begin to describe how bad my backyard looked last mid-September. We had the mini drought and high heat and I didn’t water, so it went past dormant, and certainly died in areas. It hadn’t looked that bad since I renovated in 2004 and started fresh seed, so I figured I would have to be patient and give it a couple years to fill in.

I did an aeration and seed in either late September or early October when the weather finally broke, Luckily, last October, and even November, were good for the new seedlings, so I did a light fertilizer late November for root growth, and then a normal spring one with crabgrass pre-emergent, and it’s taking off. I’ll never overseed with anything else.

Looks great! Black Beauty is the shiit. Pricey but worth it. I went away from it when it failed during a really dry period several years ago. I never found anything better though, and they have improved the drought tolerance since then.

I just mowed mine for the second time today. Has some weedy stuff mixed in but such is life in the woods. I couldn't put any pre-emergent down because the grass wasn't mature from last fall. I have not had a lawn like this for many years lol.

 

[nw baltimore wx]

1 minute ago, C.A.P.E. said:

Looks great! Black Beauty is the shiit. Pricey but worth it. I went away from it when it failed during a really dry period several years ago. I never found anything better though, and they have improved the drought tolerance since then.

I just mowed mine for the second time today. Has some weedy stuff mixed in but such is life in the woods. I couldn't put any pre-emergent down because the grass wasn't mature from last fall. I have not had a lawn like this for many years lol.

 

That looks amazing! I can already see myself sipping a Dogfish Head by the fire pit when the quarantine is lifted.

By the way, my front yard always looks pretty good in spring, but by mid summer, the street trees shade it so much that it looks thin and only the fine fescue stays active. The black beauty has taken very well there too, so I’ll report back on how it does in the shade, but I have no expectations.

[CAPE]

Just now, nw baltimore wx said:

That looks amazing! I can already see myself sipping a Dogfish Head by the fire pit when the quarantine is lifted.

By the way, my front yard always looks pretty good in spring, but by mid summer, the street trees shade it so much that it looks thin and only the fine fescue stays active. The black beauty has taken very well there too, so I’ll report back on how it does in the shade, but I have no expectations.

It is known to do well in the shade, and I can attest to that. My issues with it in the past was it burning up in the part of the yard that gets many hours of direct sun.

[nw baltimore wx]

4 minutes ago, C.A.P.E. said:

It is known to do well in the shade, and I can attest to that. My issues with it in the past was it burning up in the part of the yard that gets many hours of direct sun.

We have opposing problems. Apparently, there are springs running through our hood so our sump pumps run way more than normal. I made the mistake of underestimating last year’s late heat and lack of rain, but a normal summer of occasional thunderstorms is all I need to keep the yard watered. If anything, I have to watch for fungus rings,