Skunks are tearing up a lot of lawns in west Michigan right now in search of food. The most likely item they are searching for is grubs. Even if you kill the grubs, skunks will continue to dig for another week or two. Your best option is to trap them and relocate them.
Skunks are actively digging in lawns
September 16th, 2014 by Tuff Turf MolebustersIt is a good time of the year to be grass
September 12th, 2014 by Tuff Turf MolebustersMany people tend to give up on their lawn after summer with the mindset that the season is over and they can start over next year. This is a bad mindset because now we have the best growing conditions of the year with cooler temperatures (or arctic temperatures like today), adequate rain, heavy dew, and days that can still give plenty of sun.
Now is the best time of the year to seed. If you have thin spots or bare spots you have another good week or 2 to seed them. I would not wait too much longer because this is Michigan and we might have 3 feet of snow on the ground next month.
You should be watering once a day for 7-10 minutes per zone with the rotary heads and 3-5 minutes per day with the pop up heads. If we continue to have rain once or twice a week you can turn off your sprinklers. If we go more than 2 days without rain, turn them back on.
2000th Mole Caught!
July 25th, 2014 by Tuff Turf MolebustersThis week we caught our 2000th mole! This is indicative of our technicians hard work. Thanks to everyone for another record breaking year!
Slime Mold
July 11th, 2014 by Tuff Turf MolebustersSlime Mold
The frequent rain has created an explosion of slime mold in the bark beds lately. While it may look like your dog was sick or your crazy uncle drank too much, it is a fungus. It is not toxic. It can be yellow, gray, black, or other colors. You don’t have to spray it with anything. Grab a shovel, dig it up, and throw it away. This is more common in beds that had fresh bark this spring.
Heat Tracks
June 7th, 2014 by Tuff Turf MolebustersLawns turned dry real fast this year. Follow this link from MSU that gives a good description about heat tracks.
Maple Seedlings in the lawn
May 16th, 2014 by Tuff Turf MolebustersMSU has followed my lead and posted about seedlings in the lawn. Click here to read the article.
Maple Tree Seedlings
April 25th, 2014 by Tuff Turf MolebustersMaple tree seedlings started to grow last weekend and are now spreading heavily through lawns. There is no need to worry about these because they will all die when you mow the lawn. It might take one or 2 mowings because the trees have to be tall enough for you to cut off the leaf. If the seedlings are too short the mower will pass right over them. If you want to live in a jungle you can save the trees and try to mow around all of them. If your children have cabin fever send them outside to dig up and transplant the trees (it will occupy them for days!)
Why are there so many this year?
I do not yet know the science behind it, but last fall we had a bumper crop of helicopters. I have a gutter helmet on my roof and I still had to get up there and blow the helicopters off. The helicopters are the seedlings that you see growing in the lawn.
April 18th, 2014 by Tuff Turf Molebusters
Nice article by Kevin Frank from MSU on mole and vole damage along with snow mold. Click here to read the article.
First grub of the year
April 9th, 2014 by Tuff Turf Molebusters
Grubs are already mature and feeding on the grass. The deep snow acted as an insulating blanket to keep the ground from freezing. That means that grubs never went that deep and are already at the surface and feeding.
Lawn Care Myths
March 24th, 2014 by Tuff Turf MolebustersBelow, you can find a link to an article that debunks many myths about lawn care practices. Many of these could help make or break your lawn this season!