Following are some garden activities that may be appropriate in Central North Carolina during the month of
May
Annual & Perennial Flowers
Plant Perennials
Dig and divide perennials that bloom in late summer or fall. Actually you can divide most perennials about anytime. But spring is an
ideal time for those late season bloomers.
Recovery is quicker if plants are well watered before planting. Water after planting to ensure good root-to-soil contact.
Watch as new growth begins, and water on an as-needed basis.
Plant summer annuals.
Your winter annuals may still look fine and could hold up until later this month.
If so fine. If they look like they have seen their best days, pull them out and prepare for summer color.
May is usually optimal for planting most summer bedding plants.
Lawns
Fertilize
Bermudagrass and
Zoysiagrass
After these grasses are completely green is the optimal time for their first fertilizer application.
Apply no more than 1 pound of nitrogen (N) per 1,000 square feet. 1 pound of N is the amount of nitrogen in
3 pounds of 34-0-0 or 10 pounds of 10-10-10.
To determine the fertilizer requirement for other products,
to deliver 1 pound of nitrogen divide 100 by the first number in the analysis on the bag. Example, a 16-4-8 fertilizer product:
100 divided by 16 = 6.25. So 6 and 1/4 pounds of 16-4-8 includes 1 pound of nitrogen. You can round that off to 6 pounds. For now
that's enough for an area 50 by 20 or 25 by 40 or or a circle with an 18-foot diameter or any other combination of 1,000 square feet
Mow all of these grasses at 1". That's probably as low as your mower will go.
Watch for Large Patch in Zoysiagrass
Zoysiagrass sometimes exhibits patches of tan or brown turf 2 to 10 feet in diameter about the time of green-up.
The turf thins and most of the shoots die. Recovery begins as temperatures increase, but it's slow. Do Not use
a nitrogen fertilizer until you see recovery. Control Large Patch by mowing at one inch, mowing when the lawn is
dry, and controlling thatch. A fungicide is not recommended.
Delay fertilizing
Centipedegrass until next month.
Mow centipede at one inch.
Do Not Fertilize
Fescue Lawns
Fertilizing in spring makes fescue lawns more susceptible to disease problems.
Mow fescue at 3 inches or higher to help reduce weed pressure. Routine Chores
Walk around the lawn and gardens
at least weekly to monitor plants for problems during the growing seasons.
Regular monitoring allows you to develop a sense of how plants look. Then if there is a problem, you’re more likely to notice it early.
Early detection allows control before damage is severe and the plant unsightly. Take your favorite beverage in one hand, pruners in the other and unwind.
Mulch can help suppress weeds as well as reducing moisture loss.
Mulch helps reduce cold injury to shallow roots. It allows the soil to cool gradually in the fall, moderates extreme cold temperatures,
allows warming gradually in spring, and moderates extremes of heat in summer.
Conserve water
Water conservation is good for plants. Extension Agents typically see more injury from excessive watering than from infrequent watering.
Recent plantings will need more frequent attention than established plants. But in all cases, hold off on watering until you have confirmed that the plant needs more water.
Soil testing can be done at any time of year.
Boxes and forms are available at your
County Extension Office. This is a busy season for the Agronomic Lab. Check their website for
Estimated Processing Time.
Processing may take a few weeks. Get samples in as soon as possible for timely reports.
For quickest action get them directly to Raleigh yourself rather than leaving them at any local collection point where they may sit for days or weeks.
You can mail them to the address on the form or deliver them to
the lab in Raleigh. From the State Fairgrounds, go north on
Blue Ridge Road. When you see the Art Museum on the right, turn left on Reedy Creek. The lab is about 1/2 mile down
Reedy Creek Rd. on the right.
Things to Watch For
Fire ants
With warmer weather fire ants may be foraging. Watch for mounds that look like they have been renovated with fresh soil. If
they are in areas likely to cause problems of people contact, drop a potato chip or piece of hot dog a foot or two from the mound in the afternoon.
If they are actively foraging, you'll find them feeding on the "bait" in less than an hour. If they are taking the bait, it's a good time to
bait them with an appropriate fire ant bait. If the ants are not lured to an oily potato chip, they probably won't take the more expensive bait
either. Be sure to select bait products suitable for use on the site. Read the directions and follow them
exactly. And be patient. Slow control is most long lasting. The strategy is more important than the product. Use baits on warm afternoons when
the ants are actively foraging. Avoid use under damp conditions. Keep the bait fresh and in an airtight container.
Watch for
Leaf gall of azalea and Camellia.
These galls consist of thick fleshy tissue that is pale compared to normal leaves. It is more alarming than serious. Pruning and removing
infected stems is generally the most effective control strategy. You may find more of it depending on the spring weather. But it's
not a serious threat to the plants.
Watch for
Fire blight
on any members of the rose family but especially on pears, apples, and crabapples. The fire blight bacterium is often introduced by
pollinating insects. Some years it's worse than others, somewhat affected by the weather during pollination. Affected shoots will first
appear water soaked followed by wilting. Eventually the leaves turn brown or black and remain on the stem. The bacterium continues to
grow down the stem if not removed. Prune at least a foot below any sign of injury. Sterilize pruners with a solution of 1 part household
bleach to 9 parts water between cuts. Continue to monitor the plant for further signs of disease and prune as needed. There is no product
that can cure these infected stems, which will get worse if left unattended.
Watch for
Bagworms
on any junipers, arbor-vitae, and especially Leyland cypress. Cocoons left from last year may contain hundreds of eggs that start to hatch
about this month. For that reason, removal of old "bags" is always a good idea. Young bagworms will be about 1/2 to 1 inch long, and they
will be actively feeding. When the hatch is complete, bagworms are relatively easy to control with organic insecticides such as
Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t., BiobitHP, DiPel, Foray). Later in the summer, these products will be less effective.
Watch for
Aphids
These tiny insects (sometimes called plant lice) tend to congregate on the young new growth of plants in spring. The insects may be
white, green, pink, red, brown, or black. They move slowly or not at all, content to sit there sucking juices out of your plants.
Sometimes affected plant cells die causing plant parts to develop a
distorted appearance. Aphids ingest more plant sugars than they can process and their excretions, known as honey dew, serve as a
substrate for
sooty mold. This black coating interferes with photosynthesis but does not harm the plant otherwise. To control sooty mold requires
control of the aphid or other insect providing the substrate. Aphids have many natural enemies. If they are numerous, they can also
be controlled with a wide range of comparitively low hazard insecticides such as insecticidal soaps.
Watch for
Lace bugs
These insects are primarily pests of azalea and Rhododendron but sometimes show up on Pyracantha, Cotoneaster, quince, hawthorne, or
sycamore. Adults may have been present all winter. But they become more active about the time these plants put on new growth, which
is where you may find the insects. If you look for them, you may find adults or juveniles on the lower side of new leaves. If you
wait long enough, the leaves will develop a lacy, washed out look. Then you can look underneath for dark spots about the size of a pinhead.
These dots of excrement placed over eggs inserted in the leaf are sufficient to diagnose lace bugs. Lace bugs can be controlled with a variety of
insecticides applied to the lower surface of the leaf. It usually takes two applications at about two weeks apart to get good control. Then
monitor the plants about once a month for reinfestations. For serious infestations, pruning out the most seriously affected plant parts
actually removes a lot of the insects as well as eggs.
Watch for
Eastern Tent Caterpillar
These catepillars noted by their "tent" in the crotches or branch angles of trees, are more annoying to humans than problems for trees.
But young cherries or sourwoods or plants in poor health may be damaged by annual defoliation. Physical removal is often the easiest
and most effective strategy; and you'll catch most of them in the tent on a rainy day or at dawn or dusk.
Dogwood borers
are difficult to watch for, but monitoring traps are available (Google "dogwood borer trap"). Barriers of pyrethroid insecticides applied to
the lower trunk can be
effective but must be reapplied periodically throughout the summer. Avoid any injury to the trunk, especially with mowers and weed trimmers.
Borers are
good at finding the injury. There are no effective strategies after the borers are present, so prevention is important. Watch for cool season
weeds
We warn folks all winter to manage weeds such as
henbit,
chickweed, and
hairy bittercress.
By this time of year, you won't have to watch for them any more; they may be growing up your legs. And most of them will have
obvious (or not-so-obvious) flowers. There's not a lot of value in controlling them now. However, it is a good idea to make efforts
to control seed dispersal. Most of these weeds can make thousands of seeds for next year. Physically removing them before the seeds fall
is a good control measure. The good news is that you don't need to concern yourself with
pulling the roots of annuals. Just getting the tops will be sufficient.
Be careful not to damage the roots of trees and shrubs with the hoe or the trunks and stems with trimmers. Your next best strategy
for controlling these weeds is to do a good job of growing something else in the space. Competition can work in your favor.
