26th YEAR No 129 LATe SUMMER SCOTT/NO' All "Lawn Care" Applications Easily and Accurately Made with a Scotts Spreader 4-XD c7% WEED & FEED . Apply o ne or ™e other to stop broad-leaved weeds — Dandelion, Plantain, Buckhorn, Chickweed. - . If Crabgrass green and thriving, apply SCUTL to check prolific seeding. Delay SCUTL-ing at least until second day after application of 4-XD or Weed & Feed. If soil test indicates lime need, apply at least a week ahead of Turf Builder and soak into ground, or wait until ground frozen. After completion of Weed Control program, give lawn lbs per generous 1 0 00 sq ft. feeding — Use Turf Builder at 10 likely — as in Jap If beetle grubs present or beetle infested sections — apply Scotts Pest Control. Indications of soil insects: birds tearing up sod, invasions of moles or skunks. invasion Most lawns are benefited by some seeding after a tough summer. Good seed is scarce. Don't waste it. Continue summer mowing height but do not mow for day or two after application of weed control. Advisable to keep lawn moist, especially after feeding and seeding. Suspend watering for day or two after weed control applications. is t he o ne LATE SUMMER OR FALL ^ best time to start a new lawn, to renovate a poor one, give a beauty treatment to any lawn. In most climates from the last of August through Sep- tember is ideal for seed germination and seedling growth. In their natural state, grasses bloom in summer but Nature delays the after- ripening and germination of seeds until early fall. The seeds then fall on warm soil at a time when hot days are grow- 129-2 ing shorter, cool nights longer, dews heavier, and soil moisture generally more favorable. Economy in fall seeding. Usually grow- ing conditions in this period give each seed a better chance to produce a mature plant. Weed competition is re- duced and there is less disease, the bane of spring-seeded grass. When the right seed is selected for fall planting, a low rate of seeding will produce out- standing turf. 1) fall planting? what to Sow. What is the right seed for It must be composed of perennial varieties that do not ordinarily winterkill. 2) The seed should be of properly cured and thoroughly recleaned quality, free of bulky chaff and obnoxious weeds. Good seed should be planted spar- ingly. Heavy seeding is wasteful and harmful. The grass comes up too thick. It is just as wrong to crowd grass plants on a given area as to house fifty chil- dren in a small school room. Folks often have the mistaken idea they should sow heavily because "the soil is poor". This is wrong. A given area of soil can support only a limited number of plants and poorer soils fewer than good soils. In the late sum- Prepare for Seeding. mer schedule, weed control followed by feeding is suggested prior to seed- ing. The use of Turf Builder may precede the last application of weed control, or it may be applied a couple of days after the last weed treatment. To be sure that residue from weed controls will not affect grass seeds, a heavy rain or sprinkling should soak the ground before seed is sown. This does not delay the program since abun- dant surface soil moisture is needed to germinate the seeds. If the lawn cannot be watered, let seeding follow the first soaking rain. Seeds need moisture to germinate and the root hairs from the sprouting grass must be able to reach soil mois- ture quickly. Little moisture is avail- able to seeds the ground exposed to sun and wind. Hard crusted soils must be loosened. lying on top of Surface Roughing. If seed is sown into a rather good turf, shade from the grass will protect the seed and sprouts to a degree. But if sowing in thin grass with sizeable bare spots, some help roughening, perforating or loosening of the soil gives the seed a better chance. Tools that can be used, to aid in perforating is needed. Any for better the surface seed reception include the heavy iron garden rake, a spading fork, a spike tamp. If A flat spade, ice hoe, an edging tool, or even an axe may be used to in cut shallow gashes the soil. the seed lodges in such openings, it will be better pro- tected from the sun and more find a moisture supply. If the roughening operation severs grass roots little harm the is done as likely to screened plants will soon heal the injury. Topdressing. A good practice after seeding is a shallow covering of soil that has been through a quarter-inch mesh screen. Some folks are expert at scattering this with a shovel, others broadcast the topdressing by hand or screen the dry soil carefully and apply with a fully open Scotts light covering spreader. Only a is advised, not over a lA inch. Heavier covering may prevent germination. One cubic yard will dress 1,000 to 2,000 sq. ft. To avoid covering seed too deeply, rake or brush topdressing lightly. One effect of topdressing is introduction of weeds. There is no such thing as a weed-free soil but usually the weeds disappear in mowing or are eliminated with chemicals. Seedling Care. If possible, keep newly seeded areas moist using a fine spray. This hastens germination and seedling growth. Once started, a good moisture level must be maintained until the grass is well rooted. If it's not feasible to follow this watering program, do not start it. Sooner or later rainfall will come and when soil moisture is adequate, the grass seed will germinate. for most lawns is cutting at one or 11/2 inches. As new grass starts coming up in an old lawn, cutting at an inch or The standard recommendation . ' V- - r .. 7: much to take off a half crop as a full one those of 1939. Yet their dollar return per acre is less because it costs just as much to take a small crop off the land as a big one. The packer of lawn seed has two possible courses. He may go through the painful procedure of raising his prices—or take the easier way out, change his formulas to reduce Ken- tucky Bluegrass, Bentgrass and Poa Trivialis and substitute cheaper, less desirable grasses. Those who have followed Scotts Lawn Seed over the past thirty-five years will know the decision on that brand. The quality will be maintained. The price is higher but the increase held as low as possible, about 23%. is mechanized but it costs as Seed harvesting The enormous production of wheat may lead many to think the same big yield applies to all growing crops. Not with the quality varieties of grass seed. Take the most important lawn variety—Kentucky Bluegrass. A normal good crop is around 20 million pounds. This year government reports estimate hardly half that. To make it worse, consumption has been outrun- ning production. Usually there is a carryover of close to a year's needs. But after record seedings of last spring, the bins are almost empty. This necessarily adds up to sharp- ly higher prices on the more desirable grass seeds. Growers are expecting and getting prices that are double or triple We're just as sorry as you are! even less to prevent the old grass from smothering the new is advised. Clip- pings and leaves should be carefully removed they mat down and smother young grass. Trampling over the area should be at a minimum. lest • Fall is tiew lawns time! It's the very best season for soil preparation and seeding of a brand new lawn or a major overhaul of an unsatisfactory one. Ear- lier issues of Lawn Care may be helpful and are available for the asking: the Lawn Planning Use of Lime Soil Testing Digest 7, 2, Issue 114 Issue 115 3, 4 Sprayer Complications Earlier in the summer, one of the impor- tant home and garden publications carried a warning about the use of 2,4-D liquids in sprayers that might also be used for apply- ing to garden plants. They pointed out the danger of harm from the residue unless all parts of the sprayer were carefully rinsed with Kerosene, thoroughly washed with soap suds. insecticides or fungicides All this danger and extra work is avoided when you use Scotts dry materials, applied with the spreader. You don't have to wash out the spreader in switching from properly formulated dry weed controls to seed or whatever material you wish to put on. Another advantage of spreader applica- tion is that there is less danger of drift than with pressure spraying. Summer Late SCUTL-ing For a moderately good lawn with not too severe Crabgrass Success invasion: to damp vegetation, as when in evening. to settle Apply dew begins Use Scoffs Spreader at Normal Scale Mark No 7. Repeat at weekly of treatments. intervals four Rate— total for If poor lawn, dry conditions: Foliage should be wet. Double Rate—Scale Mark No 9. Repeat is in one week. truly a "Lawn in many ways. Treatment" Scutl Besides and helps grass it suppresses dam- control of Crabgrass, aging activity of turf diseases as well as Scutl defi- algae causing green scum. nitely tone and color of desirable improves grasses. the Everything alive needs food. Grass does better if it's fed three or four times a year. Clover vs Crabgrass Earlier in the year, the Production and Marketing Administration of the United States Department of Agriculture issued a bulletin concerning misrepresentation of White Clover Seed. The department reported receiving many inquiries regarding seed offered as "wild white clover" supposedly from New Zea- land. According to the department there have been no importations in recent years of Wild White Clover from New Zealand. The bulletin did state that some so- called "Permanent Pasture" clover has come in but larger plants [which would hardly do for lawns, Ed.] As to clover subduing crabgrass the U S D A bulletin had this to say: "Some of the inquiries received by the Department have to do with the effect of white clover on crabgrass. The Bureau of Plant Industry does not recommend planting white clover as a means of controlling crabgrass." this produces that "A Rose is a Rose is o Rose" It's not a geranium, a delphinium or a columbine even though they are all dicoty- ledons in the botanists' classification. All grasses are mono-cotyledons but not all wild or coarse grasses are species of Crabgrass. It's hard for experts to dis- tinguish between grasses but SCUTL does. SCUTL goes right to work on every branch of the genuine and hated family of Crab- grass (Digitaria)—it does not make any difference whether Mr. or Mrs. Crabgrass changes shape from narrow blades to broad, or its coat from hairy to smooth. Other grasses are left alone so where a program of SCUTL seems not to have controlled what was thought Crabgrass, send specimens bf the offending grasses to Scotts for identification. The grass may turn out to be Foxtail, Goose Grass, Witch Grass, Barnyard Grass, Paspalum or Dallis Grass. Occasionally samples of desirable grasses are sent in because unusual weather have caused them to develop into coarse, stemmy growth. Lawn Care, International We have just received your number 128 Lawn Care issue and we must sincerely congratulate you for this really interesting bulletin. As you know, we are specialists here in Belgium in the care and upkeep of lawns and more than once your Lawn Care has been of use to us. You will also be glad to hear that last year we tried your Scutl product to kill Crabgrass and were glad to report that we have had very good results with it. 87 Avenue De La Couronne Brussells, Belgium F L Lenoir Climate Control with Grass House Beautiful magazine has long urged landscape planning to help hold down sum- mer temperatures within the house. Proper use of trees and vines and hedges contribute to climatic control. A good lawn does too. It can be cool, friendly and inviting. The air over a watered lawn will be 20 degrees or more cooler than a pavement. A large green lawn has a noticeable cooling effect around the home, especially as the sun dips in the mid-afternoon. O M SCOTT & SONS CO. MR-776 72853 EVERY PACKAGE OF SCOTTS LAWN CARE PRODUCTS BEARS THIS TRADE - MARK AND IS SEALED FOR YOUR PROTECTION M AR Y S V I L LE - - O H IO