The explosion of manicured golf courses that spread throughout the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s made the “golf course-like lawn” a goal for many American homeowners.

Spurred by this new-found interest in golf courses and private lawns, the USDA increased its testing of potential lawn and turf grasses throughout the country's land-grant universities. It is around this time that Zoysia grass, which is native to Asia, is introduced into the United States.

Zoysia grasses are suitable for southern climates like ours, they grow in a variety of soil types, and can tolerate cold temperature, shade, and salt.

In recent years, turfgrass breeders have also made improvements to the insect resistance, establishment speed, and overall performance of the grasses but, without proper maintenance, even this hearty breed will not produce the desired results.

These warm-season grasses should be planted in the spring after the threat of frost has passed. Their optimal growth season is the late spring and summer and, although they tend to brown in the winter, they are among the first to return in the spring. Their dense turf makes them resistant to weeds and tolerant to heavy foot traffic, but the dense turf also causes them to develop a thick layer of organic material at the soil level known as a thatch.

Zoysia grasses should be aerated and dethatched in the early spring so they have time to recover before their peak growing season, they typically require 1” of rain or irrigation per week, although sandy soils require more frequent watering, they should be kept at a height of 1 to 1 ½ inches, they have a relatively low nitrogen requirement, and they prefer a soil pH of 5.8 to 7.0.

Soil testing can help you determine the nutrient requirements of your Zoysia lawn but, if you’re aiming for the “golf course-like lawn” that has been the goal of many Americans since the turn of last century, there’s no substitution for the care of a trained professional.

If you are in Siesta Key, Longboat Key, Lido Key, and the surrounding areas of Sarasota County, call Siesta Key Landscape at 941-379-3479.

Have a problem w your palms and not sure what it could be?

Palms are very unique plants and are not like most trees. They require a very specific amount of fertilizer compared to turf grass. They can also be very negatively affected by turf grass fertilizer and should always be treated separately.

Most palm problems are from deficiencies in nutrients, excessive moisture or improper planting. Palms that experience severe nutrient deficiencies for too long can become stressed out and attract boring or chewing insects that could kill the palm.

At SKL we offer the very best palm nutritional program in Sarasota. We use a custom blended 8-2-12 granular fertilizer w slow release minor nutrients.

Not all 8-2-12 fertilizer is created equal and most companies take out the good slow release components for cheaper quick release components.

We apply this 8-2-12 directly to palms three times per year but what we do different is the key! During the black out period of the summer we apply a granular 0-0-16 Potassium based fertilizer w minor nutrients that gives palms the proper amount of potassium to offset any granular they may have received from the turf grass. Potassium deficiencies are one of the leading problems w palm tree decline so if your company is not doing this and using good quality fertilizer then they are doing u more harm than good.

Siesta Key Landscape provides expert landscape design for Sarasota Florida and the surrounding areas.

We specialize in hardscapes and paver design. Here is an example of a Casey Key pool patio we recently finished. We can help you with all aspects of home masonry such as driveway and walkway construction, poolscapes and custom landscaping services.

Our services include: Driveways/walkways, Custom fireplaces, fire pits, and barbeques, Custom design, Poolscapes, Custom landscaping.

Fire pits are a popular addition to backyards.

This is a fire pit we recently completed with pavers around it. Our paver patio fire pits are lined with steel rings to protect the block surround. There are also grill attachments available for most pits that allow the pit to be used as a wood fire grill. We can customize each pit to fit our client’s needs.

Crushed granite with stepping stone pathways. The Pathways are lined with Adonidia palms.

Crushed granite is a granitic rock that has weathered to the point of breaking into very small piece. Crushed granite – also known as decomposed granite is ideal for pathways and rustic patios, and can also be used as a topdressing around arid plants.

Since crushed/decomposed granite is not a solid surface, it provides excellent drainage. Once compacted, a patio or walkway covered with lose crushed granite will be fairly hard.

Many of you may have read about the recent (August 2015) aerial spraying of Naled in Dorchester County, South Carolina.

That spraying unintentionally killed millions of honeybees while attempting to control the disease-carrying mosquito population, but the fact that pesticides are really bad for bees should not come as a surprise to any of us.

Concerns about the effects of pesticides on bees and other pollinators are not new. In fact, the European Union banned the use of multiple neonicotinoids in 2003, although some exemptions have been made for use in the United Kingdom and they are widely used in other parts of the world, including the United States.

Until recently, most of the research on the effects of pesticides on insect populations for which they were not intended have been short-term and conducted on a small-scale in a laboratory setting, but a new study published in the August 2016 issue of the journal Nature Communications provides real evidence that the nicotinoid exposure can have a devastating effect on bee populations in the wild.

Using 18 years of data collected on more than 60 bee species in England, researchers found that the species that foraged on pesticide-treated oilseed rape crops experienced sharper population declines than those that foraged on other crops.

The practice of treating oilseed rape crops with nicotinoids on a large scale began in 2002. Researchers incorporated the data, which was mostly collected by citizen scientists over an 18 year period, into a model that helped them analyze the information. Using this models, researchers were able to compare individual plots of land to determine which species had been observed in which plot and which ones disappeared over time.

It’s important to note that scientists from Bayer Crop Science, as well as others from CropLife America, took issue with some of the study’s findings, but it is hard to ignore the fact that the 18-year study found that extinctions were three times more severe in the bee populations that foraged on oilseed rape plants than in the populations that foraged elsewhere.