JT Landscape, Inc.

09/08/2024

Like most San Antonio summers, summer 2024 has been difficult for many lawns and landscape plants. With the recent rain and cooler temperatures, I am seeing recovery of the drought-damaged lawn areas. This recovery should continue until we get a hard frost, stopping lawn growth. I expect full recovery of Bermudagrass and Zoysia lawns.
Most San Augustine in the shade will recover. Some San Augustine in full sun may be lost or overtaken by Bermudagrass. Letting Bermudagrass take over the sunny spots is good, in my opinion. That is because Bermudagrass will survive drought much better than San Augustine and
we have drought every year in San Antonio to some degree.
However, if you want to chemically remove Bermudagrass from St Augustine or Zoysia, we now have a special product that is somewhat effective in suppressing Bermudagrass with minimal harm to St Augustine or Zoysia. Please get in touch with us if you want to remove Bermudagrass from St Augustine or Zoysia. Fall is a good time to start that process.

Time to adjust watering now:
If you kept a lush green lawn throughout summer, you would want to reduce lawn irrigation now to prevent disease on St Augustine and Zoysia grass. If your lawn was stressed in July and August due to deficit watering, keep watering at the same rate, and you should now see some recovery of those stressed areas. With the cool temperatures of September 2024, most lawns need about 1/2 to 1 inch per week to be lush in full sun.

October through February watering:
Well-established lawns will do fine with only 1 inch of water per month in San Antonio in October, November, December, January, and February. In most years, rainfall will provide most, if not all, of the water needed in the months mentioned above. As a reference point, one inch is about what you did per week in the summer if your lawn stayed somewhat green in the heat. If it does not rain for about a month, you should irrigate about one inch and turn the system back off when watering has been completed.
Aerating and applying compost in October could help recover stressed lawn areas. Compost will also help the lawn get through next summer. Compost and aeration could also be done in late winter to early spring. I can provide recommendations if you need one for aeration or compost.
Organic fertilizer applied to stressed plants could help them recover from damage. If you would like to discuss this with us, don't hesitate to contact us.
We hope the comments are helpful and appreciate the opportunity to work on your property. Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments.

Jimmy Thomas, CGCS
JT Landscape, Inc.
Photography by JT
210-632-2564

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05/17/2022

The hot dry weather in May has been hard on most of the lawns we are seeing. For much of May, we have seen temperatures that we normally see in July. If you are not watering with your summer watering program, you will soon be seeing some yellow or brown areas. Please, remember that it can be helpful to add a start time for a morning and evening water cycle on your water day. During the summer, with grass in full sun you need 1 inch to 1.5 inches total per week to stay green in summer weather.

10/27/2021

Some lawn observations from JT Landscape!

We are seeing more Brown Patch this year than previous years. On Sunday we treated 4 lawns. None of those four seemed overwatered. We believe the cool humid weather alone cause the disease on those lawns. This is unusual, because Brown Patch is normally associated with overwatering or too much rainfall. We recommend turning to a winter watering program now. It may not eliminate the possibility of brown patch, but it will help! During the late fall and winter you can water 1-1.5 inches per month. One easy way to do this is to simply apply what you did the summer during one week, but only do that once per month.

10/27/2021

We are seeing more Brown Patch this year than previous years. On Sunday we treated 4 lawns. None of those four seemed overwatered. We believe the cool humid weather alone cause the disease on those lawns. This is unusual, because Brown Patch is normally associated with overwatering or too much rainfall. We recommend turning to a winter watering program now. It may not eliminate the possibility of brown patch, but it will help! During the late fall and winter you can water 1-1.5 inches per month. One easy way to do this is to simply apply what you did the summer during one week, but only do that once per month.

07/16/2021

The army worms have been bad this year in San Antonio. We are treating for them now.

06/26/2021

I have had several calls this week about dying grass and they were all related to not enough irrigation water. One half to 3/4 of an inch of water per week will do a great job conserving water and help keep your water bill reasonable. However, that conservation-minded watering will not create the lush green lawn that most JT customers are looking for. That lawn will have brown spots in the summer.

To have a lush lawn in San Antonio summer heat, about 1 to 2 inches of water must be applied each week in full sun areas. If you have never measured the amount of water your system is putting out, you are just guessing at the proper irrigation run times. It would be a good idea to check it with catch cans. They can be purchased at the big box stores or on Amazon. There are several types but the ones in the photo are cheap and simple to use. Ideally, you would check each zone on the system. At a minimum, you should check a few spray zones and rotor zones, if you have both rotors and spray irrigation heads. This is very important because a full circle rotor head will need to run about double the time to put out the same amount of water as a spray head. You will probably find that all the spray zones need the same time as the other spray zones. Likewise, all the rotor zones will probably need about the same time as the other rotor zones. Also, remember to check for broken heads or sprinkler malfunction. We can recommend a licensed irrigation company should you need help with checking or repairing the system.

06/16/2021

Summer temperatures are here. One day of watering per week will not be enough to keep most lawns looking super green. Grass growing in full sun will need anywhere between one and 1.5 inches of water per week to maintain color in the hot summer months. 

02/24/2021

I have now seen about 20 lawns in the area. I continue to be optimistic that healthy San Antonio lawns have survived the freeze.
Below are a few photos of green grass shoots. We are consistently finding these green shoots hidden under the brown dormant leaves. These samples were all taken from wide-open unprotected areas, where the freeze effects would be more severe. Most of the shoots we are seeing now, appear to be shoots that never turned brown in the freeze.

Some plants and trees are damaged and may be lost. The best thing you can do now is to be patient. Some of the plants that look dead may push out new leaves and survive this spring.

Here is a link from SAWS about the freeze and plants. There's also a video on how to determine if there's a leak, using the flow sensor on your water meter.

https://www.gardenstylesanantonio.com/garden-tips-blog/big-freeze-aftermath-check-your-pipes-and-plants/

02/21/2021

I listened to a Texas Agriculture Extension Agency Zoom call about the extreme weather and our lawns.
There is a consensus that the snowfall was very good insulation against the record low air temperatures. Based on the Zoom call, discussion with industry leaders, and my experience, I continue to be optimistic that healthy San Antonio lawns will be fine. Lawns in other parts of Texas, that did not get any snow may have a higher probability of some turfgrass loss.

Below are a few lawn photos taken today that show surprising amounts of green foliage. The observation of green w**ds and grass now is also a reason for optimism about turfgrass survival.

Landscape plants that are sensitive to cold temperatures may be damaged or even lost.

02/19/2021

The Artic Blast and Your Lawn

We wish all of our customers well as this arctic blast is ending! Our equipment was winterized and we should be resuming service on Monday.

Many may worry about what this historic weather event may have done to the lawn. Tomorrow, I will attend a statewide Zoom call by the Texas Agriculture Extension Agency. I will share with you the information I get, on this page. I am guessing that most healthy home lawns will be fine. The moisture and snow should have helped insulate the grass from the period of below-freezing temperatures. However, most importantly, that rainfall and snow prevented the desiccation that we sometimes get with a severe winter storm. Much of what we may call lawn winter kill in Central Texas is simply desiccation from a cold dry Northwind.

Any of the below-ground pipes in your irrigation system should have survived just fine. It would be very wise to monitor any above-ground piping for leaks as things start to thaw out. It would also be wise to take a look inside main water valve box, as those pipes may be more exposed than buried pipes. If you need a licensed irrigation technician, I can recommend someone for you. 

11/21/2020

October and November have been warmer and dryer than usual. You may need to turn irrigation back on if your lawn is looking dry.

Photo is a mushroom growing in a local lawn. These mushrooms do not harm the lawn.

05/31/2020

I am seeing some St. Augustine lawns with Gray Leaf Spot disease. This disease outbreak is due to recent rains, and warm, humid weather. A few leaf spots on a few leaves are not a concern. However, if an area starts to take on an overall yellow look or if you see numerous spots on the leaves, then a fungicide treatment might be needed. Watering in the morning, instead of at night can help with reduction of the disease.