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2007 RECAP
The 2007-year has been the craziest year we have ever seen.
Cold weather and the effects on insect control
February was one of the coldest months on record. This alone should have aided in killing off many of the insects and diseases that faced us in 2007. In June & July we had bagworms on evergreens (usually stays South of I 80), unexpected number of grubs in July (more raccoons and skunks visiting yards in Sept and Oct and ripping up the yards), and "What was this Oak itch mite all about".
Crabgrass
The spring temperature started off colder than normal and therefore slowing the warm-up of the soil. Any normally timed application of crabgrass control was wasted. This is the first year I have personally seen as much crabgrass in properties including those properties I have never seen crabgrass in. We spent much effort in August and September applying post crabicide sprays to selectively reduce this annual weed from germinating in spring of 2008.
Droughts
Our normally scheduled droughts that show up in the last half of June running through July and into August showed up in the first two weeks of June catching many of us off guard. It only takes a week or two of lack of moisture and temperatures over 80 degrees to kill off some of the blue grasses in the turf.
Unexpected rainfall
We received close to record amounts of rainfall in July and August saturating the soil, with day time heat indices over 100 degrees and cool humid nights causing diseases to show and in some properties I even saw grass root rot causing the turf to yellow.
Dry autumn
October surely was not a typical month. Tom Skilling of WGN television stated that we had the nineteenth driest autumn since records have been kept since the 1870's. October was unusually warm and we didn't get near the day-to-day rain totals that help newly planted grass grow. Not only for clients that overseeded but all should water well into November both trees, shrubs, and turf to help offset the October rain deficit.
Weeds this year showed up in record numbers. Weeds love to have hot weather and then get soaked to pop up week after week. Our last weed control application took place after October 15th in an attempt to affect their development into 2008. As the temperature drops so does the affect of the weed control spray moving through the plant. Don't expect to see weeds quickly croak.
