Green kyllinga is a perennial sedge weed. It will return next year unless you do something about it. Green kyllinga invades by both seed and underground stems known as rhizomes. The weed generally has three long leaves that form on the end of a hard triangular stem. Green kyllinga also makes a spiky green seed head. The seed head will fade to brown if left untreated.

Cultural control is the best long term solution for weed control. Creating an environment where your grass thrives and out competes weeds makes for an easier life. Green kyllinga thrives in poorly drained soil. Proper drainage will greatly improve your lawn. Additionally, proper mowing heights will keep your grass in the best position to edge out weeds. 

We deal with a few grass types around Baton Rouge and New Orleans: St. Augustine, Centipedegrass, Zoysia, and Bermudagrass. Luckily, there are a lot of good options for chemical control in these grass types. Look for products containing any one of the following active ingredients: sulfosulfuron, imazaquin, sulfentrazone, halosulfuron, bentazon). Read and follow the label for application instructions. Some herbicides take multiple applications. 

Ensuring proper drainage and following up with a control product will take care of your weed problem in no time.

Carpetgrass is a desirable grass type in parts of the country. Not so in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Carpetgrass will blend in with centipede grass throughout the year. Then summer comes and the seed heads pop out. Carpetgrass seed heads  make a mess of your well manicured lawn.

Carpetgrass looks sort of like centipede grass. They have grow in a similar manner. The easiest way to identify carpetgrass is to wait until late June and throughout the end of summer. Carpetgrass seed heads shoot out and form a distinctive shape. It is usually described as a Y with one extra offshoot. Checkout the picture above to see it.

Herbicide control products include either Celsius or Finale. Both require licensing in Louisiana. These products work, but may take two applications. Contact us for help.

Carpetgrass does not do well with salt. If you have a salt tolerant grass like certain varieties of St. Augustinegrass, then you may have another option. While we have not attempted this remedy, numerous other sources have found success with it. Attempt at your own risk. The mix is 7 to 10 gallons of water and two cups of table salt. Let it sit in a large bucket for a couple of days to dissolve. Pick a day when there is no expected rain for 3 days out. Using a watering can, lightly water the areas with carpetgrass weeds. You should see the effect in three days.

Lespedeza is an open branched annual weed which is present between late spring and the end of summer in Louisiana. There are other varieties of lespedeza, but common lespedeza is what most people have a problem with in their yards. The stems harden and become woody the longer this weeds stays in your lawn. It grows outward into prostrate mats mixed in with your grass.

Good cultural practices help. The best deterrent to lespedeza is a healthy lawn. Deep and infrequent watering helps to develop strong grass roots. Mowing your lawn at the correct height allows it to photosynthesize enough food. Taller grass provides more shade which denies new weeds sunlight. Cutting your grass too low weakens your lawn while allowing more sunlight to fresh weeds.

Beyond cultural changes, pre-emergent herbicides can prevent lespedeza weeds from appearing in your lawn. The main caveat here is you have to do it before the weed is growing each year. Plan to do before next spring. A few pre-emergent herbicides work well against lespedeza. Products with the active ingredient atrazine, simazine, or dithiopyr work very well at prevention. Read the label to make sure you are applying it correctly.

Once you have a lespedeza weed problem, your go to solution is selective post-emergent herbicides. Luckily, there are a number of post-emergent herbicides available that take care of lespedeza. Products with the active ingredient atrazine, dicambia, metsulfuron, or simazine to name a few. There are plenty more herbicide choices. Read the label before purchasing and be certain it is labeled for your grass type, else you may end up damaging the plants you want to keep.

Why are my crepe myrtles turning black? What are these white specs on my crepe myrtles? If you are asking yourself these questions, you likely have crepe myrtle bark scale on your trees. It was introduced to the United States in the mid-2000s in Texas. Crepe myrtle bark scale made its way over to Louisiana shortly afterwards.

Crepe myrtle bark scale affects crepe myrtles more that are unhealthy. Crepe myrtles that are subjected to poor pruning habits (looking at you crepe myrtle toppers) are more likely to get bad bark problems. Maintain proper pruning methods to keep your trees healthy.

The best time to treat is in during spring, between April and May. A soil drench or deep root treatment using a product containing imidacloprid. You can find this in any hardware store. Follow the mixing instructions and treat the area all around the drip line of the crepe myrtle. Be certain to rake back any mulch before treatment. You can rake the mulch back into place once the treatment has dried. Treat it again the following year to ensure you do not have a resurgence.

During the winter, you can use a dormant oil spray when all the leaves have fallen off the crepe myrtle. This should only be used during the winter and it should be a dormant oil containing paraffin, not some of the lighter oil varieties since they will not kill off the scale.

There have been some success with contact insecticides. Insecticides containing bifenthirin have had limited success. This solution works better on younger scale.

Insect growth regulators as a crawler spray are useful in stopping the crepe myrtle bark scale's life cycle. The solutions will have to be used by a professional since they are restricted use products. Products containing pyriproxyfen or buprofezin have had good success in scale crawler control. Apply when crawlers are active and spray to coat the affected area, this is usually spring.

You've killed off the scale, but the black sooty mold remains. The most affordable, and quickest option is to clean it off. Put a couple of tablespoons of dish soap and warm water in a five gallon bucket. Lightly scrub the affected areas with a soft bristle brush that has been dipped in the soapy solution.

Contact us today to have us get rid of your crepe myrtle bark scale problem.

Can a Green Wall Have a Unique Design?
Yes. These are formed using different plants and maintaining gaps between plants. The simplest way is to get the spacing between plants and dimensions of the wall and to use it to make a color-coded dot diagram. 

How Hard Are Green Walls to Care for?
They are actually quite time consuming. Green walls take a while to acclimate to growing vertically. The plants compete for space and try to grow over one another if not pruned often. An interruption in water could be disastrous for the entire wall. Regular fertilization is required. Unintentional changes in light are often a source of grief. If possible, hiring a professional to maintain your green wall is going to make things much easier.

Interested in Buying a Living Green Wall
If you live in either the Greater Baton Rouge or Greater New Orleans areas and are interested in buying a living green wall, please contact us or give us a call at 225-752-2333.

Proven Benefits of Indoor Plants and Therapeutic Gardens
Countless studies have concluded that indoor plantings bring about positive changes in people.
​Below are a few examples:

• Plants promote a positive mood.
• Simply being around plants reduces stress in people.
• Lowered blood pressure is a proven effect in people around plants.
• Having a plant in view of your work stations increases productivity.
• Indoor plants regulate temperature and humidity.

The temperature is warming up and you look outside at your lawn and wonder, "What happened?" You are not alone. Winter can do things to turn your beautiful lawn into a quite a mess. Let's go over what you can do to get your lawn looking its best again.

How to get rid of broadleaf weeds from my lawn?
Your lawn most likely has a lot of broadleaf weeds, including white clover, thistle, Carolina geranium, dollarweed, dandelion, and more. These should be easy to take care of using weed control products you can find at your local hardware store. Important: Make sure you are aware of your grass type and focus on the temperature restrictions for the product you choose. They can be the difference between dead weeds and a dead lawn.

How to get rid of annua poa from my lawn?
The best way to get rid of annua poa is to use a pre-emergent during the previous late October to November. Since we didn't do that, you can use a weed control product containing atrazine. Be sure to follow the label as there are restrictions based on time of year, grass type, and state.

How do I prevent weeds from growing in my lawn?
Apply pre-emergents now to stop summer weeds before they start. Pre-emergents are usually cheaper than controlling weeds after they grow. Read the label for your pre-emergent to see if it controls the weed you are having trouble with. Common summer weeds are purple nutsedge, spurge, dallisgrass, goosegrass, Virginia buttonweed, and crabgrass (crabgrass pre-emergent should be started in November to December in the prior year).

How to stop fungus from damaging my lawn?
Fungus is active during cool nights and warm days (read as spring and fall). Apply a preventative fungicide just as the the weather is favorable for these conditions. If your lawn already has a active fungus, you will need to use a curative fungicide. Some curative fungicides recommend combining with a preventative. Read the label to be sure. 

Fungi also enjoys a nitrogen rich environment. This means it is a terrible time to add a lot of nitrogen to your lawn. A small amount of nitrogen should be okay if it comes paired with a soil additive, just be cautious since it can turn a small fungal problem into a big fungal problem.

What to do about low spots in my lawn?
Low spots in your lawn hold water which damage the grass roots and lead to weed patches. If you have low spots, top dress them with sand or compost. You can choose to sod over these spots or to let nature do its thing and have the grass slowly grow.

Test irrigation coverage and problems
Setup your irrigation time to operate for spring. Run a full cycle on your irrigation system. Check for obvious leaks (giant geysers) and for full coverage of your lawn. Changing a few tips now will keep your lawn well irrigated when the weather heats up. 

Clear clogged drains
If you have drains that aren't draining, it is time to clean them. Sometimes this requires a call to a professional drain cleaner since it requires special equipment. Older, poorly maintained drainage may require a complete rebuild.

Plants can have a huge impact on keeping the ground clean by reducing, trapping, or removing contaminates from soil and water. It is the simplest way to do it and it is nature based solution. No large machines or experimental mixes necessary. Obvious sites for phytoremediation are at brownfields or landfills. Another location would be large population centers where pollution activity is hard to monitor. Below are some choices for phytoremediation you can choose.

• Willow Trees
• Hybrid Poplar Trees
• Sunflowers
• Indian Grass
• Indian mustard
• Sorghatrum
• Cottonwood
• Ornamental Cabbages

You have a nice, clean walkway around your house and then the rain comes. Suddenly, what seems like every loose bit of soil in your yard finds its way to the walkway. Dirty walkways are not inviting and can be very frustrating as a homeowner. You tend to keep asking the same questions. Why is this happening? Why does it seem like your house is the only house one where this happens? What can you do to keep your walkway from getting dirty when it rains?

Why do some walkways get dirty when it rains and some stay clean?
Your walkway is below the level of the soil. This can be caused by a few things:

1. If it is new construction, one of the walkways was formed too low.
2. If it begins happening on an older walkway, the walkway has started to settle.
3. If you added new landscape beds or sod, they are washing out into your walkway.
4. The entire area semi-floods when it rains.
5. Water from the room washes out landscaping.

How to fix a walkway that is gets dirty after it rains?
Solution #1
The solution is simple, but pricey. Demolish and replace the section of your walkway. If your walkway is lower than the surrounding soil, that is the only solution that will give your guaranteed results.

Solution #2
See solution #1.

Solution #3
This can usually be corrected with landscape border material. There is a thin landscape border made of either rubber or metal that will keep your overflowing landscaping in check. Hardscape edging, like stones or bricks can also dam up your landscaping.

Solution #4
Contemplate and install a drainage solution. A lot of landscape material floats, so you need to get the water moving before it gets too high. French drains, burms, ditches, and grading are all solutions you can explore to correct an excessive water problem.

Solution #5
Setup an area with rocks, pebbles, or a french drain to catch where the water comes off the roof along the drip line of your home. This will keep the water from washing out your landscaping onto the walkways.