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The Benson Letter - September 2022

The Benson Letter - September 2022

The Benson Letter
September 2022

I’m writing this newsletter on the 24th of September and there’s a fall chill in the air. For those of us that have been blessed to make turf management their career, it's grass planting time. Use a good Penn State seed mix from anyone and it's hard not to have excellent results. On the pest side, I’m not sure how or why but there are bagworms at work now, 3 months late, but they are. Your eyes are closer to your blue shrubs than mine so I would love a phone call or text if you have pinecones on your blue shrubs because those are bagworms. Then we get the pleasure of meeting Jack, Paul and Sandy Kokoska’s special kid, who rules Dove Street and will steal your heart as he did mine. That’s the basis of the newsletter so if you have to run, check out the photos of Jack and I’ll see you next month but if you wish to read more, let’s do it.


Now is the Time to Plant

Fall is the time of year to plant grass seed!

One of my wisdoms spends way too much time on seeding (seeding on bare soil) to go over again. If you want to know what seed I choose and why, spend some time reading that wisdom.

If you have a few bare spots, now is the time to do it. Spread the seed by hand. Spreaders sort according to seed size and weight and seeds worth more than gold, you don’t want to waste any. I call it feeding the chickens. Pour the bag into a small bucket and evenly toss it down. If you’re looking at soil, that’s all you need to do as far as seeding. Be sure to water it enough to get the seed wet to initiate the growth cycle.

If not, there is a little tool called a weasel that you can buy to roll over the seed that you put down that pushes it into the soil. If it’s a small area just bounce a round spade first every inch or so in a couple of directions and again add water. Seeding after October 15th is in God’s hands because if winter comes early, you won’t see it until spring.
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Bagworms

With the wonderful ability to search the website, even I can find things thanks to Tim Crowe of eWorc. I found one video I want you to watch. Are bag worms cute or gross. When you watch this video, you know what you are looking for on your shrubs. I personally never saw them this late and in the year. If you have them, I just want to get them killed and recorded so next year we can come up with a plan.

 


 

One thing to mention is that dead bagworms just hang there for years so don’t panic if you see one or two. Carefully squeeze the bag and if it is empty, it's old and already dead. Warning that if you squeeze too hard you will have bag worm guts in your hand which can be disconcerting.

Japanese Stilt Grass

We have been talking about Japanese Stilt grass and I took a short video showing you where we had success in keeping it out of turf this year. I can do more of this if I find a heated garage big enough to park my sprayer in so a recommendation of that location would be a help to all of us. Click the image below to check out the new video.


Jack

Diane’s pet this month belongs to Paul and Sandy Koskoska, two very special friends. Talking to Jack as I do as part of the interviewing process of this feature, I find that he is very happy with his living arrangement and that while he feels their purpose is to make sure he’s comfortable and happy that they could lose a little face if the public knew the truth so being a trooper, we can go with him belonging to them.


Diane always has had a soft spot for Shepard’s and when you look at the collection of photos you will see why. Photogenic, loveable, and always with a toy because one never knows when a game of tug is needed. Jack also has that sexy French look when he has his party hat on and is ready to go out on the town.

 

 

Thank you, Paul and Sandy, for sharing Jack with us this month! I’m looking forward to seeing all of you soon in your lawn and thank you for reading!


There's a corner on the website that features the many pets that are a blessing to Jay's clients. Jay's wife, Diane, loves pets so much that she becomes their dogmother.

Benson's Lawn Systems, Inc.
3360 Collins Ferry Road • Morgantown, WV 26505
(304) 599-6611BensonsLawnSystems.comjay@bensonslawnsystems.com
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For most of our pest treatments we can start any time a crisis comes up, no matter the time of year. In this case, though, the snow covering on the ground makes this a not-great time to address ticks. Let’s look forward to spring instead and get serious about addressing the problem as early as we can.