Finish mowing before fertilization
By ROBERT KESSLER Penn State Cooperative Extension Franklin County office

COMING EVENTS

Tuesdays through Nov. 13 - 7 to 9:30 p.m., Principles of Landscape Design Classes, Franklin County Master Gardners, Franklin County Human Service Building, Call 263-9226 for information.

Nov. 8 - 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Holiday Daze, Chambersburg Mennonite Church, Register by Oct. 31.

Nov. 13 - 6 p.m., Commodity Queens Reception; 6:45 p.m., Farm-City Banquet, Kauffman Community Center. Call 263- 9226 for tickets.

Nov. 13 and 14 - 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., Composting Workshops and Frree Backyard Compost Bins, Franklin County Extension, Call 263-9226.

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FALL FERTILIZATION

Late fall is the recommended time to make a fertilizer application to your lawn. While it is dry now, it is hoped that rains will soon come and our lawns will start to re-grow. With our warm soils now, we might expect that it will take awhile before our soil cools down enough to slow the growth of your lawn. Therefore, it is important to remind homeowners of the guideline to follow to time your fall application of fertilizer.

The suggestion is to make your last application of fertilizer, when your grass no longer needs to be mowed, but it is still green. You should apply a fertilizer that

will provide one to one and onehalf pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of lawn. A winterizing fertilizer would be a good choice at this time of year. It has a higher amount of phosphorus and potash. Phosphorus is necessary to enhance root growth and the potash helps with disease resistance. The nitrogen is needed because some of it will help with the final growth of the turf when it is making food and storing it in the roots. What isn't used this fall will be available to help the lawn green up in the spring.

PLANT DISORDERS

When people have problems with a tree or shrub in their yard, they immediately think it must be an insect or a disease and I need to find out what to spray it with. Off they go to buy something at the store. Often they don't have a problem that can be cured with a spray because they have an abiotic disorder.

Abiotic is a fancy way to say that something has happened to the plant to disrupt its normal growth such as a root problem or a reaction to severe weather or damage from an external source. Some examples are planting a tree in a place that gets too wet or plant a tree too deep in the ground. A root that grows around the base of the tree can cause girdling damage resulting in the decline and death of the tree. Blueberries take an acid soil so if you plant a blueberry without making your soil acid the blueberry will do poorly and probably die - not from a disease but from an improper site.

Each spring we see plants that people think have a "disease" problem, but it is usually a problem caused by low temperatures or drying winds or a sudden cold spell. We also can get calls on trees that have cracks in the bark which is caused by the warming of the trunk in the bright winter sun and sudden drop in temperature when the sun goes down. This can cause a thin bark tree to get a crack to develop, but it is not a disease.

Your dog or a neighbor's dog can cause a disease to develop on your lawn. A dog's urine will cause a brown spot to develop because of high salt content. And the list goes on and on of things that are called abiotic plant disorders. It is a problem with an internal system in the plant, but not from any insect or disease organism. Knowing that there are such conditions can help you understand what is going on in your yard. Many of these are preventable if we know more about the potential problems a plant can have.

One very important thing you need to do this year to prevent some abiotic plant disorders next spring due to the drought, is to water your trees and shrubs and perennials as we go through the fall and into the winter. Most of the plants in your yard are probably under some drought stress, so anything you can do to provide a proper watering to them will help them get ready for winter.

HOME INVADERS

Now that it is cooling off, be prepared for all the home invaders. We have mentioned a few of them recently like the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug and the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle. Here is information on a couple of others that are on the move toward your home.

The Boxelder bug is a perennial problem for many homeowners. It will show up right after our first frost, but I have already seen them on the county's barn. Boxelder bugs are black in color with an orange "V" on its back. It spends the growing season on the boxelder tree, maples and ash. They suck juices from the tree, but seldom become a problem for trees. However, they are an insect that overwinters as the adult so they look for places that offer them protection for the winter. There are many natural objects they can hibernate in, but the south side of homes make an excellent place to overwinter. They will congregate on the siding, enjoying the sun and crawl under the siding when it gets cool. In the winter, they are not very active unless there are bright warm days and then you may see them. If they just stayed on the siding, they would not be such a problem but they find their way inside the home and become a pest. As we said before, caulk openings and cracks inside and outside the south side of your home to keep them from getting into your home.

Another pest starting to show up is the millipede. This is a brown slender insect that has numerous legs and when touched it will curl up in a circle. They feed on decaying organic matter in your mulch and in your lawn. When the weather gets cool, they will migrate to find a place to hibernate for the winter. If you have these in large numbers, you can treat a band around your home about ten to fifteen feet wide with cyfluthrin or Sevin. Treat only those areas that are in the area where you are seeing the millipedes. Water the area after you spray.

If insects get inside your home, a good way to remove them is to use the vacuum cleaner. If you take an old pair of panty hose and cut off the legs, take a leg and stuff it in the hose end attachment, toe end first. Fasten the open end of the panty hose to the hose with a rubber band and then go after your bugs. When you are done, remove the panty hose and place it in the trash or take it outside and discard the insects and reuse the panty hose again.