Summer Gardening Tips

Summer has arrived in North Florida, and with it comes a change in gardening activities and sometimes a change in gardeners’ attitudes. A normal summer in our area means heat, high humidity and afternoon thundershowers.

Resist the urge to quit gardening for the season. There are many things that can be done in the landscape and garden. Gardeners are however, advised to proceed at a more moderate and organized pace. Try to limit most activities to the cooler times of the day and drink plenty of fluids.

Following are some summer gardening suggestions:

Plant for Color: Enjoy landscape color all season long by establishing heat resistant annuals and perennials. Some to consider include zinnias, pentas, shrimp plant, coleus, plumbago, cuphea, mandevilla and hibiscus.

Deadhead spring planted annuals by pruning off old flowers. Make a light, supplemental application of a complete fertilizer and continue irrigating as needed. Remove weeds by either hoeing or hand pulling.

Remove old, spent flowers from summer flowering perennials such as hibiscus, chaste tree and crapemyrtle. This practice encourages repeated flowering.

Lawn Care: Raise the cutting height by ½ inch as extremely hot weather arrives. This removes some of the stress from the grass and allows for deeper root growth.

Lawns should be watered on an “as needed basis,” rather than on a schedule. Daily watering of established grass is not necessary nor recommended because it wastes water and encourages infection by various fungi.

Two, possibly three irrigations per week might be required in the absence of rainfall. Calibrate the sprinkling system in order to make sure that the right amount of water is being applied. Depending upon soil type, one-half to three fourths of a surface inch will moisten the soil to a depth of 8 inches. Place some pans in the area being irrigated in order to determine the amount of time required.

Pest Watch: Inspect the lawn and landscape weekly in order to detect pests before they begin causing serious problems. Following are the most common summer pest related disorders. Contact your Extension agent, garden center, nursery or landscape maintenance professional for help, if required.

_ Rhizoctonia brown patch on turfgrass.

_ Chinch bug infestation on St. Augustine lawns.

_ Flower thrips feed deep within blooms and cause distorted and/or short flower life. They are most commonly found in flowers of gardenia and rose, but also infest many other flowering annuals and perennials.

_ Spider mites can cause serious damage on shrubs, flowers and perennials – especially if dry weather continues. Mites feed mostly on the underside of leaves, causing the foliage to take on a stippled or gray cast.

_ Lacebugs are also found on the underside of leaves, but are more specific as to the species infested. They are found mostly on azaleas, hawthorn, lantana, pyracantha and sycamore. Heavy feeding causes the leaves to have a white, bleached or gray cast.

Mole Cricket Update: Based upon years of study, the best time to apply control measures for this pest is during late June and early July. Currently recommended products include Diazinon and Orthene.

Watch for a new product that is scheduled to be made available this fall. This is a biological control agent that was developed by scientists at the University of Florida. To be marketed as Nematac S, it contains parasitic nematodes that feed specifically on mole crickets.