Bella Vista

I'd say that the watering restrictions will stay in place even after June 30th. Just my opinion but to be sure we'd have to watch the daily evening news. I saw something about this just yesterday but I didn't pay much attention other than the fact that we are now above record levels of rainfall for the month. That's all good. The grass looks the best it ever has and I don't see any chinch bugs, yet.

If you see yellowing you can assume it is the chinch bugs sucking up to your grass. If you stoop down and dig a little in the grass you can see them running around. Look for a black dot on them.

Rich, a neighbor, and I have found that once we spot an affected area we will mix up a bucket of chinch bug killer and dump it full strength on yellowing area and it will take care of the infection. Keep a check on the area though as sometimes if any eggs that are left over hatch you will get a second infection and have to douse them once again. It's an ongoing battle with our St. Augustine grass.

Another thing, are you cutting your grass no less than 3 1/2" tall? It's also important to make sure your blade is kept sharp. If your husband is handy with a file, the blade is easy to keep sharp if he uses a new file and sharpens the blade at least every other cutting. I like to sharpen the blade every time as it takes less time to put an edge on the blade after one cut. A sharp blade makes the cut lawn look so much better with all the leafs cut at one height and they don't have that torn look, it's a clear cut.

We had some dry months that caused some browning in some areas of the lawn. I had to make time to do some hand watering on these area a few times each week. It paid off as it is all green now.

Let us know here how you make out.

Yellowing, might be time to fertilize. Rich and I put down some Scott's Bonus S today, Friday, July 3rd. Every three months is the routine. I've found it works great on our grass, St. Augustine. Since last year when our grass was not very thick and it didn't look too healthy and we weren't taking any time to take care of it, the Bonus-S has brought it back to life. I'm real happy with it now and it was easier than I thought to get it in shape. I have Rich to thank though. He is very keen on knowing when to use the pest control and the weed-and-feed fertilizer. I just follow what he does and it's working. Thanks, Rich.

I keep a bottle of chinch bug chemical handy also. I bought one of those expensive backpack sprayer as I've used the smaller ones and you have to fill those up a lot. The little sprayers only hold  a gallon of fluid whereas the backpack sprayer will hold over four gallons. It works a lot easier too. As you walk along you pump the handle on the left side as you spray with the right. I will usually put a couple of capfuls of chemical into a gallon of water to spray for chinch bugs. Rich has instructed me yesterday to spray once a week for three weeks. I've got a yellowing area on the side where the garbage cans are that I treated last week. So, I've got to do another two weekly treatments to see if this gets things under control. I didn't look for the bugs, I only assumed it was chinch bugs as I've had them there in the same place last year. So, between the spray and the fertilizer, I'm sure the yellowing will be gone in two to three weeks. Now, to plant that rose bush I picked up for $5 at Lowe's yesterday...and then on with the 4th of July festivities tonight.

Sept. 10 - I've noticed a lot of homeowners paying for lawn spraying service lately. Last I heard it was $40 a month. I'm glad you can afford it. I don't want to myself, nor do I trust their watered down solutions being sprayed by their people. I'll be surprised to see any of these yards get any better. It's easy to believe you'll get what you're paying for but in my experience it never happens.

I found that by taking a little time I can correct the problems myself and a lot cheaper. I bought a $80 backpack sprayer which is heavy duty and will last a lot longer than the cheaper little sprayers that hardly hold enough solution to do one application of anything. I can mix up to four gallons of solution to spray the yard for anything. Just read the directions on the chemical bottles and it's easy to mix and spray.

Watering. You have to do some hand watering. Hit the brown spots often to get through the rought times of the year. The sprinklers just don't do enough at the hottest times of the year. I've found this to bring back a troubled lawn when it is water starved. Go shop for a nice spray attachment for your hose and get out there for 15-20 minutes after getting home from work and make your lawn happy.