Question
QUESTION: I live in Chicago, IL and I am extreme new to gardening and lawn care.  I am in the process of trying to care for my Mother's front and back yards.  I fear I will need lots of help.  The first thing is her roses see to have developed these round black spots of various sizes on the leaves.  I have attempted to do online research and think maybe it could be blackspot.  The leaves eventually turn yellow and fall off.  I wanted to know if there is a home remedy to take care of this and if there is how do I apply it and how will I know that it has worked.  Also is there a fertilizer that I can make in my kitchen for the roses, they really do not seem to have many blooms.  Please at any point let me know if I am not on the right track.  In regards to the lawn, I think next year I will dig it all up and start over, but for now it seems to have excessive browning.  I was informed that it had a fungus what kind, I am not sure. The fungus was left over from last year and has reappeared this year. I have read some of the other questions on this forum and I know that you do not prefer to use a fungicide, but unfortunately, it was applied to my Mother's lawn last year and about 2 weeks ago.  Where do I go from here with the browning of the lawn. And lastly, my Mother's neighbor has a huge ugly tree in her front yard and this tree is probably is old as the earth is and now litter versions of this tree is popping up all over my Mother's front yard.  Is there anything that can be done about this. Thanking you in advance for you assistance.

ANSWER: Big job here, Vila.  You have your hands full.  I hope you don't have anything else to do this summer.

Your mother will appreciate it, that's most definitely certain.  Sounds like she is quite the Gardener.

Roses need a substantial amount of nutrients.  It takes a lot of oomph to build a Rose -- full sun oomph, Nitrogen oomph, Phosphorous oomph, trace minerals and who knows what else.  All that OOMPH is not going to be practically assembled in a homemade fertilizer, unless your kitchen is filled with laboratory equipment.  Forget the rumor about diluting household Ammonia to make a nice do it yourself fertilizer -- Ammonia is toxic and it is not going to do you any good to start messing with those chemicals.

The Rose/Blackspot recipe however IS something you can and SHOULD do at home.  Please re-write the question in the Roses forum for me and I will send you the quick and easy recipe plus a few other pointers.  This is the Lawns department and we don't ring up Rose questions in these columns, that way I can give you an even longer answer on your Grass matters.

The huge ugly tree next door is spreading seeds on your side of the property every autumn.  The only solution is to hand pull them or mow them down while still little.  Is this a problem?

On your Lawn, I need to know where you are writing from (zipcode) to give you an intelligent answer.  And what kind of Grass is down there -- any clue?

rsvp!



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I live in the 60621 zip code.  I believe that for the last couple of years she has been overseeding with Scott's Pure Premium Kentucky blue grass mix. Prior to the last maybe 3 years, I am not sure what is there.  As I stated earlier, the lawn had some type of fungus and the Scotts fungicide was applied last year and again this year.  It has not seemed to help the lawn is brown all over.  There is not much growth and there is a lot of dead grass on the surface of the soil.  The lawn was raked out this spring to remove all the winter debris and dead grass and now it looks as if it had never been touched. I do know for the last maybe 3 years or so, she has not put down any weed killer as I had become her weed killer/puller. As far as these little trees popping up, it is not a problem for me to mow them or pull them out; they are covering the entire yard. I have attempted to dig them out with a weed puller and sometimes I get a large root and then other times I am just able to break it off at the surface. Is there anything I can put on these little trees to kill them and their roots.  I also wanted to have a soil test done, any recommendations for my area.
ANSWER: How much Sun is this lawn getting?  I should have asked that first time around.  It sounds to me like it is possible you are not getting a full dawn-to-dusk day of Sun on that so-called Lawn with Brown spots.  This is really important.  If it is getting 'a lot' of Sun but not all-day Sun, you should switch Grass types.  If it is getting full Sun, we can work on your soil to get it healthy again.

Fungus Killer in a box does not kill any Fungus already growing in the Lawn (or the Rose).  It just does not do that.  Why they get away with suggesting that it does, this just is amazing to me.  I don't blame you for going out and buying Fungus Killer when someone told you there was a Fungus problem.  Makes perfect sense.  But as you can see, it does not work.  And if it did work, you would find you had a different Fungus in a few weeks or months.

Shade contributes to Fungus.  Shade contributes to weakened Grass.  It would be so much easier if I was wrong, and you do have a major source of Solar Power over there all day long, baking down on that Grass.

A soil test is a GREAT idea.  Here's a list of soil labs in your region:

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/soiltest/

Find one that looks like you can drive there without any trouble.  If there's nothing very close, you'll have to Express Mail a sample in, and when you do that it gets inconvenient, then people put it off, then it doesn't get done.  Try to -- as we hear so often these days -- stay the course.  That soil test is worth its weight in gold.

But I do need to know the Sun situation when you have a moment.  rsvp

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: My Mother's house faces the west, so I am guessing that maybe the back lawn gets the morning sun from about 8am to 3pm and the front lawn gets the afternoon/evening sun from about 12n to 6pm.  If this is the case, that the lawn is not getting the proper sunlight, what type of grass would you suggest.  My mother favored the kentucky blue grass because of its slender blades and dark color.  Also, any suggestion for those tree roots.  Thanks again for your help.
ANSWER: Kentucky Bluegrass is the most popular cool season grass in the country.  Your mother has plenty of company; everybody loves those slender, velvet green blades of Grass.  There is a new Bluegrass hybrid I think you should know about: 'Supernova'.

Supernova is not sold everywhere.  But if it's not at a store near you, order it from Seedland.com:

http://www.seedland.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=BG-SUPINA

Seedland describes this as 'Supranova Supina' Bluegrass as 'the most shade tolerant, wear resistant, cool season turfgrass on the market in the US and Canada.'  Your Lawn is really quite sunny, but ordinary Kentucky Bluegrass ia  very fussy, very demanding, very spoiled Grass that MUST get a lot of Sun to grow and look its best.

Omitting the Full Sun condition asks for all kinds of problems.  Fungus grows better in Shade.  Weeds grow better in shade.  Most Bluegrass grows better in Sun.  Which is why, if you and your Mother love Bluegrass, Supernova is the Grass for you!

Since all Bluegrass loves a diet high in Nitrogen, a bag of all-American White Clover mixed in with your Supernova seed will incorporate Nitrogen au natural -- less work for you, long term Nitrogen treats for your Supernova.

One more thing: Don't buy into the Scotts Marketing Department's anti-Clover hype; they'll try to get you to think Clover is a Weed, something you have to eradicate like some kind of new cockroach from your homogeneous Bluegrass Lawn.  Clover is not a Weed.  Clover is a healthy, soil-building Legume.  You WANT White Clover in your Lawn.  Your Grass, your Soil, your entire Lawn will be very happy with a little White Clover feature.

Regarding those pesky seeds from the Tree(s) next door, there's not much you can do except yank them out when they sprout or mow right over them.  With regular maintenance mowing this should be easy.  If some have started developing root systems that have made them difficult to remove, and they were clipped instead of pulled, try to go back and pull the whole thing up.  It could save you headaches later -- mushrooms, Nitrogen deficiency, maybe the leftover pieces will sprout more stems.  Remove it properly -- before you seed your fancy new Supernova Grass.  Mom is going to love this.

When you're ready to seed, let me know -- we'll make sure they do it right.  Thanks for writing.  Let me know if you need clarification on any of this.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for all of your help.  I do intend to overhaul the front and back lawns, but I thought I would wait until the fall or early next spring.  I look forward to the challenge and I will post at that time to get step by step instructions from you. I would like to know if there is  anything I can do at this time to get this lawn looking somewhat decent and to get rid of all of the yellowing and browning that is taking it over now?

Answer
On areas where you suspect Fungus -- brown patches -- the quickest, safest antidote would be to get one of those little boxes of Quaker Cornmeal in the supermarket and sprinkle generously on any patches.  If the entire Lawn seems affecteda at this point, try to get a large amount from an agricultural supply station -- you'd have a bit of a drive but it might be worth it.  Reason being, cornmeal is a favorite gourmet dinner for one of the biggest enemies of bad Fungus that grow naturally in your soil.  They grow better without Fungicides, but they are there.  The Cornmeal creates your own little Petri dish of Fungus enemies that fight all the crime down in that Grass.  You may feel strange about this, but this is a sure thing.  And it won't break the bank, which is always nice.

You can also overseed right away with a strong variety of Tall Fescue, a grass that thrives in semishade AND can take all the heat your Chicago summers are dishing out.  See the photo and cheat sheet at the University of California at Davis website:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/TOOLS/TURF/TURFSPECIES/tallfesc.html

Mow your Grass down nice and low, rake, put down some Humus or other quality seed bed, water, sprinkle on the Fescue and cover with a state of the art moisture mulch for Grass (they sell these at Home Depot and other places, little green pellets that absorb H2O and keep the Grass Seed from drying out).  Then water again.

The Grass will Germinate and overtake your diseased, dead, Brown Grass in a few weeks.  You can continue to grow it in the Fall if you like, or overseed with Supernova Bluegrass if you prefer and mow correctly.  It's a good blend.

It is vital not to use any chemicals that will throw off the beneficial microbes in your soil while you do this.  That includes Scotts Turfbuilder and anything else they make that comes in a bag that you don't want to breathe too much of.  Overfertilizing Grass sets it up for disease by producing long, weak blades vulnerable to infection and attack.  It's like sending a kid with a cold outside in the winter without a warm jacket.  You know they're going to catch Pneumonia if you do that.  That's what happens to Grass fed too much high Nitrogen fertilizer.

Besides, those Scotts bags are expensive.  And they don't work anyway.

Include a bag of White Clover when you put down that new Fescue.  It will build up your soil again.  You want to get the brown Grass out of the picture; it has to decompose, and you need microbes for that.

How does this sound to you?  Want some scientific links and quotes to back up the Cornmeal Fungus Killing?

Thanks by the way for taking the time to post your generous ratings.  I saw them and they were great.

rsvp