Landscaping Concerns Caused by Recent Summer Rain
So far this summer, we have seen greater than average rainfall in Southeastern Wisconsin. Besides interfering with your outdoor plans, the increased rainfall and humidity have also produced ideal conditions for a variety of landscape concerns.
We are seeing an increase in turf-damaging fungus such as summer patch this year. Summer patch develops when there is too much moisture held in the thatch layer of the lawn (between the soil and the top green layer of grass). For the most part, established lawns are still looking good this summer, but newer lawns and irrigated lawns that haven't had a chance to dry out are experiencing more disease.
In addition to lawn diseases, lawn weeds such as black medic are also flourishing this rainy summer.If you are seeing an abundance of summer patch in your lawn, monitor your irrigation so as not to over-water the grass. Additionally, consider scheduling a core aeration for this fall to relieve that thatch layer and promote healthy growth next spring.
More rainfall also means more standing water, which is leading to an increase in a variety of plant-damaging insects like Japanese beetles and aphids. Regular summer pests such as mosquitoes and ticks are also thriving in the overly-damp conditions.
At Villani Landshapers, we are currently on our third round of spraying client properties for plant-damaging insects. If you continue to have issues with plant damage due to Japanese beetles and aphids, please give us a call, and we can arrange for additional treatment.
We're also continuing our regularly-scheduled tree sprays and mosquito spray programs. However, another side effect of this summer's rain is that it has thrown most of the landscape industry off schedule. Our crews are out spraying when the weather allows and using Saturdays to make up any days that were rained out during the week.
If you have any questions or concerns about plant or turf-damaging insects and diseases that are cropping up this summer (or if you'd like to add a mosquito spray to control a wide variety of pests), please give us a call at (262) 252-4541.