Dayton "Dirt" - October 10, 2014

The cloudy and windy nights have kept the frost away so far but the usual first frost for northern Ohio is October 10th. While the trees are beginning to color, more vibrant colors will be on display with a hard frost to signal the various pigments in the leaves to get going.

With the long range forecast not looking “too bad”, lawn repairs can still go on except where major renovation of tall fescue lawn grasses are concerned as tender emerging seedlings of tall fescue can be killed by a severe cold snap such as was the case about 10 years ago on a young lawn in Wadsworth that was planted in early October. Temperatures plunged to 14º F with significant wind and no snow cover on Thanksgiving Day. The entire lawn was killed and had to be resown in the spring! So too it goes with winter wheat that must have some snow cover to survive. The winter here of 2010-2011 was not exceptionally cold but quite snowy in February and March. While many folks here complained about the snow, China had very little snow and lost 60% of the winter wheat crops!

In the Akron Beacon journal this past week, the Great Lakes Commission has called for a 40% reduction of phosphorus to the Great lakes especially shallow Lake Erie. With new calls to correct the algae blooms in the lake caused by the Toledo water shut-off, farmers especially in the Maumee River Valley will be “taking the heat” because most of the problem is occurring because of runoff from farms. With Lake Erie as an important water source for millions of people and its reputation as a paradise for fish and other aquatic life, the call for clean up has been greatly accelerated so that hopefully in 10 years or less, toxic algae blooms are a thing of the past.

Lawn fertilizers and failing septic tanks are to blame as well and probably will fall under the scope for clean up once the process for clean water gets under way. According to Dave Shetler of Ohio State Extension, a small job that would help fertilizer runoff from lawns would be to sweep off fertilizer granules from the sidewalk and driveway after an application in order to prevent it from washing into the storm sewers or into the street!

Preparation goes on for winter although reports of a severe winter as last year somehow now are greatly exaggerated in that a new radio report last Wednesday has suggested that some “experts” are predicting a warm winter. In my opinion, several below zero days aren’t bad as long as there is a cover of 6 inches of snow or more. A good idea though is just to prepare for the worst. Do prepare for spring by planting flower bulbs from Holland now and next month in order to come alive in the spring.

As a reminder, remember to spray Liquid Fence on deer susceptible shrubs around Thanksgiving and again during a late December or January thaw. For emerging tulips in spring, a spray of the product over the leaves when they are about 3" high will stop munching deer right in their tracks.

Get planning, planting and going!

Tom