What are the black spots on my rose bushes?

Those unsightly and damaging black spots on your rose leaves, commonly called “blackspot”, are caused by a wind borne fungus also known as “Diplocarpon rosae”.   You will notice this fungus when your rose leafs have a black round spot, eventually turning the leaves yellow and causing them to fall off leaving you with an unsightly looking rose bush.  This disease can be devastating to rose bushes and if severe enough will weaken your bush and blooms.  

Blackspot is especially prevalent in climates with a lot of rain or high humidity.  Blackspot cannot be cured but there are methods to control the spread of this damaging disease.

One way is to remove the areas affect by black spot and be sure to pick up any leaves or other parts of the plant that still harbor the fungus or it will possibly spread from the fallen leaves.

Using fungicidal soap or Sulphur in dry weather (as rain will rinse these off) is one solution to help prevent further damage.  Both of these can be obtained at your local nursery.  There are also natural solutions that may help slow blackspot disease.  

According to horticultural professor Jeff Gillman, a spray composed of one part milk and two parts water will help when applied weekly.

The best prevention for black spot disease is to space out your roses when planting to allow air circulation.  It is also best to water your roses using a drip or soaker type hose on a day the sun will dry out any possible moisture on leaves.

Preparing your lawn for spring in St Louis

Preparing your lawn now can help keep your yard healthy and green during the harsh summer months in St Louis.  The early spring is a good time to give your yard the head start it needs with aeration and fertilization.  Lawn aeration allows essential nutrients to reach your yard's root system and reduces soil compaction .  Improving the health of your yard's root system will help ensure your lawn can survive the heat stress of the summer months.  Applying fertilizer after you aerate your lawn, will get "food" immediately into your root system. Choosing the right fertilizer is important.  Usually a slow release product will be a good option for most lawns.

Keeping your yard weed free is also important.  Weeds are opportunistic and invade "weak" lawns so keeping your yard healthy is a good start.  To minimize weed invasion its important to take care of bare areas of your lawn by seeding, proper fertilizing, proper mowing and watering which will help your lawn stay healthy enough to keep weeds at bay. 

Here are some more tips to prepare your lawn for summer in St Louis:

1) Rake and remove excess thatch and debris accumulated, rake up matted areas to allow new growth of grass.

2) Apply a pre-emergent crabgrass control in early spring prior to temperatures reaching 60 degrees.  After it will no longer be effective as seeds will have begun to germinate.

3) Fertilize your lawn to provide nutrients to give your yard strength for the upcoming heat of summer.

4) Core aeration will allow water and nutrients to reach your root zone faster resulting in a stronger root system .

5) Repair damaged areas from salt by re-seeding areas 

6) Mow lawn properly and frequently. Frequent mowing helps strengthen roots and make your yard
 more hardy.

All these lawn techniques will help your yard survive the heat of summer, leaving you with a vibrant, healthy green lawn.

Do you provide commercial lawn care in the St Louis area?

Some people have asked in the past if we service commercial properties or just residential clients.
I`m proud to say that we do offer grounds maintenance to commercial properties around the St. Louis area. We can take the headache away from property managers about grounds maintenance and let your staff get back to their job at hand. A lot of things go into keeping your business grounds looking their best. Rest assured we will provide you with a good program for your commercial properties on keeping that great curb appeal for your business customers.

We can develop a program for each client based on their specific needs of what is required to keep your business looking green and healthy. We offer commercial lawn mowing & landscape maintenance. Meaning we mow the grass and prune the roses while we are there (charges apply for additional services). We can develop a fertilization program for the turf areas along with the gardens to give your plants the vital nutrients they need. A soil test will be conducted to see what is needed to be added or adjusted for your plant’s needs.  A fresh blanket of mulch can bring in that needed touch in your beds as well as help with weed control.

In the fall and winter months we offer leaf clean-ups along with snow removal for walkways and small parking lots.

Feel free to contact us at 314-810-9348 with any commercial needs.
 

Why its important to rake your leaves before snowfall?

Not worrying about the leaves on your lawn now can add to further problems down the road. Some clients have asked me about the importance of cleaning them up so it gave me an idea for a blog. Overwintering leaves can harbor pests and diseases that will appear again in the spring. Removing the leaves from the lawn now helps to avoid this issue. I know a lot of you are thinking that you hate raking up leaves but it can be a good workout.

St. Louis lovely fall colors are nice to look at until the leaves begin to come down from the trees. Then it`s time to perform the annual leaf clean-up we face every year. Even people without trees in there yard always get leaves from the neighbors down the street. It`s as if the leaves are attracted to your lovely yard just to throw things off. It`s like when you wash your car and a flock of birds fly over right after that. You stand there and go "Really?" Yeah it`s that way unfortunately, even if you have tall fences.

Leaves left on the yard can hurt the yard down the road as stated earlier. Pests love a warm place to stay in the winter just like all of us do. In turn they can brown up the yard and cause even more damage by killing off the lawn or plants that the leaves are collected around. Here`s a couple of things to help make leaf clean-up easier. Use a small blower to collect the leaves in one area to make bagging them up easier. Inserts are now available that go into the lawn bags to help them stand up on their own while you fill them. We use them to help bag leaves and they work pretty well. A lot of municipality`s offer curbside leaf pick-ups. I know it`s a little late in the season now to use them, but keep that in mind for next year. When hauling the leaves to the curb, use a tarp to drag the leaves out instead of a trash can. You can get more on a tarp than in the cans sometimes. Just don`t overload it to where it`s too heavy to drag.

Where to find the best pumpkins in St. Louis

Summer in St. Louis is over and fall is approaching bringing us cooler weather and upcoming festivities.  When we think of fall we of course think of Halloween and pumpkins.  If you are looking to pick your own pumpkins in St Louis this year, here is a list of local pumpkin patches in St Louis:

• Rombachs Farm is a favorite among St Louis county locals and is located in Chesterfield, Missouri. You can find pumpkins, fall decorations and various activities for all ages.  Address: 18639 Olive Street Rd, Chesterfield.  Phone: (636) 532-7265.  They open on September 22nd and are open 7 days a week, from 9am - 6pm.  Tips: Also offer Hayrides, pony rides and more.

• Stuckmeyer's Farm Market is located in south St. Louis in Fenton, Missouri.  Address: 249 Schneider Dr, Fenton, Mo.  Phone: (636) 349-1225.  They open on September 27th and are open Monday-Friday, 9am - 6pm, Saturday 9am - 5pm, Sunday 10am - 4pm. Tips: Hayrides on weekends, pony rides, face painting, karaoke, inflatable activities for the kids.

• Sullivan Farms is located  in Florissant, Missouri.  Address: 16704 New Halls Ferry Rd, Florisant, Mo. Phone: (314) 570-6662 They are open on September 27th, Monday - Saturday
  10 am - 9pm, Sunday 10 am - 8 pm. Tips: Free Hayrides, Straw Maze, Bounce house, Cut your own pumpkins, Special area for birthday parties.

• Brookdale Farms is located west of St. Louis in Eureka, Missouri.  Address: 8004 Twin Rivers, Eureka, Mo. Phone: (636) 938-1005 They are open on September 18th Thursday - Sunday 10am - 6pm.  Tips: Has many activities for young and old including inflatables, haunted corn maze, playground, petting zoo , pony rides, pumpkin chucking (slingshot pumpkins) & air cannon pumpkins.

*Please call pumpkin patches regarding hours as they are subject to change in inclement weather.