Artillery Fungus

Artillery fungus is a fungi that commonly grows on mulch made from wood rather than bark. It may be related to cup fungi commonly referred to as bird's nest fungi.

It is called artillery fungus because is shoots its spore mass like artillery. The problem is it points the artillery at high light mass such as a shiny car or siding on a house as it shoots. Once the spores land, they "glue" themselves to the surface and are, in many cases, impossible to clean.

Insurance companies may not pay for damage to siding or automobiles because they may consider it mold damage. A friend of mine with the artillery fungus spore problem on her aluminum siding tried everything she could think of to remove the spores. She said that the white eraser on the end of some ink pens was the only thing that effectively removed the spores.

A take home here is be careful in choosing your mulch. Select a mulch with a low wood and high bark content. Artillery fungus does not grow on bark.

The Myth of Lawn Rolling

Spring is here. The ground is moist. Time to get the roller out and flatten the lawn. Not! Lawn rolling is one of the worst things you could do for the health of your turfgrass.

The soil is composed of organic material, mineral material, and pore space. The pore space, when dry, is filled with air (oxygen). After a rain, the pores may be filled with water. Rolling compacts the pore space, creating compaction. Compacted soil hold less oxygen for the plant to exchange, and less water for the plant.

Nutrients are available to the turf plant through the water in the soil. A compacted soil, when dry, may turn rock-hard. Rain will tend to run-off a site that is compacted rather than permeate down into the soil. Root growth is restricted when the soil is hardened by compaction.

Turfgrass growing on compacted soil is not going to be as healthy as that growing on aerated soil. If you want a beautiful lawn, avoid the temptation of rolling.

Lawn Mowing in Times of High Gas Prices

Gasoline prices are approaching $4.00 per gallon. What can you do to cut back on lawn mowing? Buy sheep or goats? Not necessarily! You could cut back on nitrogen fertilization.

Nitrogen, or N, the first letter in the N-P-K fertilizer analysis on a bag of fertilizer, is what causes the growth of the green portion of plants. By cutting back of the amount of N applied, your turfgrass will not grow as fast, thus fewer mowings are necessary.



Another thing, the cost of fertilizer has risen substantially this season. Petroleum and fertilizer costs rise hand-in-hand. Fertilizing with P and K (Phosphorus and Potassium) promotes root and plant health, thus one can still fertilize and not promote as much green tissue growth.





Liming, in the Spring, acts like fertilizer and could promote a flush of green grass growth. It is best to obtain a soil test before adding any lime or fertilizer. If you need help reading your test results, contact your local cooperative extension office for assistance.

Attracting Beneficial Insects to Your Landscape

What are beneficial insects? These are insects that are helping your landscape and not causing harm by feeding on your crop, landscape plants, or turfgrass. Typically, beneficials feed on insects that are causing harm (pests).

Many of the beneficials are related to bees and wasps and serve two-fold: as pollinators and as predators of pest insects. To attract beneficials, plant a diverse landscape. By diverse, I mean a variety of kinds of plants so that you have flowering going on at various times and differences in shading, leafing, plant height, etc.

Since many predator insects are bees and wasps, they derive nutrition from flowers. This helps sustain their population levels when pests are not present. They need a place for shelter also. The worst thing you could do for the beneficials is have a monoculture (one kind of plant). In this situation, pest levels would build to high levels before enough beneficials could be attracted to feed and reduce the population.

Pests levels would build, beneficials levels would build. Pests levels would crash, followed by beneficials levels as their food source is depleted.

Keep Raccoons Out!

Raccoons, though cute, tend to get vicious and mean as they age. They also are a major carrier of rabies. Keep them out of your lawn and garden area. They can cause damage to pets, plants, property, as well as being a health hazard.

Animals become pests when they cause damage, are a danger, or are unwanted. All living things require the basics of water, food, and shelter to survive. By keeping your lawn and garden area free of these basics, you will discourage raccoons from becoming a permanent part of your landscape. If you have outdoor pets, such as cats, becareful that the recoons are not feasting on the cat food or pet water, you get the idea.

A physical barrier, such as wire fencing may keep them away, but this can be expensive. Putting a ring of agricultural lime around your garden not only "sweeten" your soil. Racoons do not like to walk through it and will stay away once they get lime on their paws. Similarly, they do not like the smell of mothballs and will stay away.

I used mothballs to drive a raccoon that was hiding in a crawlspace out(better than smoke that did not work). Raccoons get along with cats but dogs also tend to challenge them and they will be discouraged to stay.

Toxic Mulch Syndrome

Spring is the time for adding mulch to your garden flower beds. If you are using an organic-based mulch, are you familiar with your source? Mulch should not be piled, in the mulch storage yard, so deep that it can not be frequently turned for aeration. If it is piled high and not turned frequently, toxins, in the form of alcohols may build within the pile.

This is the result of fermentation and anaerobic degradation of the organic materials. The result could be death to your annual plants that you have mulched, as well as damage to adjacent turfgrass. The alcohols and toxins "flash burn" these tender plants, and if annuals, kill them. The burn could severely damage perennial plants.

The effect from the toxins usually disappears following a rain or irrigation, or just evaporation of the alcohols from the area. Can you tell ahead of time if the mulch is toxic? Yes, it stinks! Avoid, at all costs, any mulch that has a very strong odor. Do not confuse this with the normal smell from some mulches, i.e. pine, eucalyptis, etc. Toxic mulch oder permeates the air and just does not smell good.

Lawn and Garden Tips for your home

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