West Texas bermudagrass lawn needs help!
erict43
11 years ago
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dchall_san_antonio
11 years agonearandwest
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Is your weather really worse than west Texas?
Comments (58)That's exactly what I have including the sown webbing and grommets except mine is 30% shade. The 30% really isn't much shade. It's hardly noticeable when underneath. I think either would work for most fruit crops. I'd definitely go 47% for berries, maybe apples but probably not pears that like more heat. Either one will exclude larger insects like stickbugs and would probably help on codling moth if well sealed. There is another very similar that has the weave heat set in place. It might do better on excluding insects especially after a few years. Mine does have some holes and areas where insects might get through after 30 years use. I don't know if the heat set polypro would be as durable but would consider it if buying more. PS: The fabric does need protection at points of unusual pressure. So like on the poles supporting my melon screen I've tied cloth around the pole top. Between poles is one wire. No wear on the wire but the pole sticking up an inch or two higher needs the edges softened. I'll post a picture of that if needed. Here is a link that might be useful: heat set polypro shade cloth This post was edited by fruitnut on Wed, May 29, 13 at 12:08...See MoreNew Bermudagrass Lawn Dying!
Comments (23)Assuming you stick to monthly watering between now and April, you have a shot at the lawn recovering without continued fungal issues. Winter's cooler temperatures work some magic in the soil. If you have sprayed fungus killers, I would suggest top dressing with 1/4 inch of compost (1/4 inch = 1 cubic yard per 1,000 cubic feet). You don't have to be too particular about applying it but you do need to be sure you sweep it all down into the surface of the grass. If you can look at it from the angle of the picture above and see any compost when you are done sweeping, then you are not done sweeping. I use a push broom to do that. You can use the back of a rake or anything that is not a stiff rake. Leaf rake is okay. The purpose of the compost is to replace and restore the population of microbes in your soil/sand. The fungicide did a number on your soil and will leave it unbalanced in a biological sense. In this state it is more susceptible to other diseases. Even a little bit of compost fixes that. And if you can find ordinary corn meal, you can apply that at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet as often as you want to or can afford to. That helps to restore the population of organic disease fighting microbes....See MoreSo this happened in West Texas yesterday...
Comments (14)Liz, I lived in Lubbock from May 1970 to July 1972 and remember a couple of awful dust storms, although I don't think anyone called them haboobs at the time. However, they were huge walls of rolling clouds coming in from the northwest (word came through that Littlefield in Lamb County had been hit and that it was headed for Lubbock). I think people -- and animals -- already knew that something was up because they were nervous and antsy, perhaps from the electrical charge in the atmosphere. After the dust storm, I recall having to clean six inches of dirt from the spaces between the window screens and the glass panes of the north and west facing windows, with the inevitable leakage collecting on the inside sills. Then the first time the swamp cooler (evaporative-type air conditioner) was turned on the smell of dust pervaded the house once again. 1970 must have been a particularly awful weather year in Lubbock. I arrived just days after the May 11th tornado that ruined a swath of the north part of the city. My in-laws owned grain elevators on, or just off, 4th Street that were blown to smithereens. They hired college-age and high school boys to help in the clearing. We lived on Avenue X (X being the actual name) in the shadow of downtown and everyone was worried that the Great Plains Life Building that had been twisted by the tornado might collapse. I know it stood for years afterward, though. Maybe it is still standing, I don't know. Is it, Liz? Re growing things in West Texas: I own a farm in Hockley County, near Sundown. My farmer who leases the land has a pecan orchard and during good years he sends me boxes of pecans but in the past few years he has told me it wasn't worth the effort as the pecans have been affected by drought. My late mother-in-law always had lovely gardens (on a double lot) growing such things as watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydews, muskmelons, all sorts of squash, corn (maize), and beans on one lot. The other lot had okra, hills of cucumbers, many varieties of peppers (capsicum), and so many tomatoes that some inevitably rotted. Near the backdoor of the house she had an asparagus bed. She also had three peach trees, an apricot tree, and a mulberry tree. By the garage wall she had a whole row of pomegranate bushes (I guess they are called 'bushes' because they aren't really what I would call 'trees'). I loved the pomegranates and I ate the mulberries until one day I noticed they were loaded with tiny larvae. My mother-in-law, although quite well-to-do, had dreadful memories of the Depression and the Dust Bowl years, so she felt more secure if she could grow and preserve her own fruits and veggies. It was a lot of work for her, with special preparation of the soil, and careful irrigation but some things actually thrived in the arid conditions. I think her cantaloupes rivaled the famous Pecos cantaloupes of Reeves county. Vee, are you referring to the Ogallala aquifer that stretches......See MoreRoyal Empress Tree in West Texas
Comments (8)Arizona Cypress and Italian Cypress along with Afghan Pines are some of the most successful trees planted out there. They should be able to survive on just the normal rainfall after 2-3 yrs. of supplemental watering to establish. Cedar Elm and Bur Oak (big leaves)are two deciduous trees that should do ok there. Of course Mesquite, Arizona Ash, and Hackberry should survive there, but are not normally considered desireable (but you may want to consider) Might look at what others have planted that have done well and perhaps see what the local nurseries are selling for that area....See Moreapundt-tx
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