Good Morning,

I hope all of you had a great weekend. Over the past few weeks, we have noticed “POA” in the turf all over the Charlotte Area. “POA” or Annual Bluegrass has been very prolific due to low seed germination from this past year. As always, the weather effects our industry in negative and positive ways all the time. The effects that the high amount of rain’s have had on the seed as it has caused a lot of the seed to “rot” if you will before it has had the chance to germinate. This in turn has made it easier for the POA to flourish. The best weed control hands down is a healthy stand of turf. Healthy turf mowed at the proper height ,shades out weeds from emerging and competes with water absorption (survival of the fittest) against the weeds. I have taken the liberty of attaching an article about what we are seeing industry wide this year in regards to POA.

https://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/2019/04/annual-bluegrass-poa-annua-spring-invasion/

Grass photo in Charlotte, NC.

The good news is that once the temperatures crank up, this grassy weed has a shallow root system and this will die out. There is a pre emergent that we can spray in the Fall following our aeration and seeding practice that will help combat this problem for next spring.

If you would like more information in regards to this please let me know and I can provide pricing.

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Other things that I wanted to mention to you all as we get rolling into summer is Nutsedge and Brown Patch control for your cool season turf:

Brown patch lawn in Charlotte, NC.

With Brown Patch, preventative is always the way to go as any chemical sprayed on infected turf will have a small chance of full recovery. If we go in preventatively, we can suppress a large infestation from happening. With the proactive approach, we would need to start the application process in May. If you have any questions in regards to Brown Patch on your site, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Nutsedge grass in Charlotte, NC.

Lastly, Nutsedge. We’ve all seen the light green color grass that grows almost 1 inch taller than our desired turf overnight. What most people do not know is that Nutsedge is in its own category on the weed specification chart. Nutsedge typically shows up in the middle of summer where there is high humidity and wet areas. That being said, to my knowledge there is nothing to be done about this proactively within the green industry, other than note if we had it last year and make arrangements for a spraying starting in the summer. If you have any questions in regards to our Nutsedge treatment program, please reach out to me.

My goal for the 2019 year is to better inform our clients. Look for these type of informational emails as we go forward throughout the seasons.