September may mean the beginning of fall weather for many, but in the Southeast, the summer heat is still going strong. At this point, you're tired of the heat, you're ready to mow less often and worrying about the weeds is replaced with worrying about your kids new teacher. Hold strong; you're at the last stretch of the summer and relief will come soon! In order to get past the last month of high temperatures and prepare your property for the cooler weather ahead, follow these simple steps.
Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicides to Avoid Winter Weeds
Prepare your turf for the winter by applying pre-emergent herbicides. Pre-emergent herbicides should be applied now before winter weeds even begin to develop. In fact, applying the herbicide once weeds have rooted does not have a controlling effect since herbicides actually prevent weed seeds from germinating. Improperly timing your pre-emergent herbicides also results in polluting our local ground water, rivers, lakes and ocean.
Sod Installation/Replacement
In Florida, there are two prime seasons for replacing sod; in the spring and at the end of the summer while we still have afternoon showers. Though planting sod can be done at other times of the season, September is a great time to replace sod because of the warm weather, long days and afternoon showers. If you wait until the cooler months to replace sod, the turf has a more difficult time establishing and can even go into dormancy, giving it a bad start to healthy growing habits.
Make Sure to Have all Pruning Completed
Make sure to have all pruning completed by the end of September. If you haven't pruned yet, you may even be in luck - late summer pruning can stimulate an additional flush of shoot growth on certain species such as Hibiscus, Oleander and Bougainvillea. But beware, pruning at the beginning of fall or shortly before a first freeze could stunt growth and damage plants. In most cases, it's best to prune far in advance of the first freeze.