Causes of DRY SPOTS and How to Fix Them! Dr. Sprinkler Repair, Reno, NV - (775) 387-0519

Dr. Sprinkler Repair knows that nobody in Reno, NV, wants dry, brown spots on what should be a lush, green lawn. So we’ve compiled a list of the common causes of dry spots and possible remedies so that YOU, our customer, can have a healthy and thriving lawn this summer. When it comes to your sprinkler system, don’t forget to give Dr. Sprinkler Repair a call. We specialize in sprinkler repair, as well as sprinkler installation and maintenance. Call Dr. Sprinkler Repair (Reno, NV) today at (775) 387-0519.

• Animal Urine
  • Dogs are the most common culprit, but large birds and other animals can cause urine spots, too. Urine usually causes your lawn to turn yellow in spots, sometimes with a bright green ring around the edges where the diluted nitrogen in the urine acts as a fertilizer. Cut out the dead spot and fill it with plugs cut from sod. Head to a nursery with a clump from your lawn and find a strip of sod that matches, or wait until the fall and sow fresh seed after clearing the dead grass and loosening the soil.
• Buried Debris
  • Buried debris, such as lumber, rocks, metal, etc., can have an obvious effect on the surface of your lawn. Use a screwdriver to poke around beneath a dry spot to see if anything is underneath the sod. If possible, remove the debris.
• Chemicals
  • Gasoline, fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides can cause dead spots if spilled. If fertilizer is applied unevenly or incorrectly, it can burn the grass. Even insect repellents can burn your lawn when sprayed on the grass blades. Pour chemicals, fuels, and sprays on your driveway, not on your lawn, and follow application directions.
• Compacted Soil
  • Aerate to relieve soil compaction. Add organic matter and reseed.
• Diseases
  • Fungal Diseases
    • Brown patch and other fungal diseases thrive in moist conditions, most often in midsummer (when nights and days are hot and humid) and spring (as snow melts). They may show up as circular or irregular brown spots, or you may notice a spotting or infected pattern on the blades or a generally dying/thinning out. Increase air circulation and sunlight as much as you can, to make your lawn less inviting to fungus. Note the size and shape of the damage as well as the frequency of watering, fertilizer, mowing habits, and sunlight in order to diagnose the disease correctly. Take a sample of the affected grass (blades, roots, and soil) to your local cooperative extension office for analysis.
• Dormancy
  • Cool-season lawns can go dormant during the heat of summer while warm-season lawns go dormant during the winter. If your lawn has a mix of grasses, you’ll have curious brown patches as some areas go dormant while others stay green. Seasonal dormancy is normal, but make sure your lawn is healthy and strong to prevent unnecessary browning.
•  Drought
  • Lawns need one inch of water per week, either from rainfall or irrigation. Dry, compacted spots are more easily drought-damaged. Keep an eye on dry, sunny spots, especially if your soil drains poorly. If you irrigate, make sure your entire lawn is watered evenly.
• Dull Mower
  • Dull mower blades tear your grass, causing damage and gradual death to the grass. Sharpen your blades in fall and spring. After mowing, examine your grass to see if the mower is cutting cleanly.
•  Erosion
  • Water tends to run off slopes, taking grass seeds and young shoots with it, and leaving bare ground or dried out areas behind. Aerate your lawn to increase water absorption. If the slope is steep, consider building terraces or planting groundcover.
• Excessive Pesticide Use
  • Applying too much insecticide or herbicide can "burn" turfgrass and lead to yellow or brown grass. Follow the manufacturer's specifications on amount and frequency of application.
• Foot Traffic
  • Aerate to relieve soil compaction and reseed. Redirect the traffic. If that proves impossible, install a walkway.
• Hot and Cold Temperature Extremes
  • Wait for a change in the weather. Keep your eyes open for early signals of lawn problems.
•  Iron
  • Another reason for discoloration could be lack of iron in your soil. Some of the more common areas of the yard that you might find turning yellow from iron deficiency are those adjacent to things made of concrete. Driveways, sidewalks and concrete planters can be the culprits. The high alkaline content in concrete tends to absorb the iron found in soil, reducing the amount of iron your lawn or garden receives. Iron deficiency appears in patches. Blades may yellow but the veins retain their green color. Iron deficiency may not affect growth. Alkaline soils (such as those in the Midwestern and Western states) are especially susceptible to iron deficiencies. You can add iron as a soil supplement to neutralize alkalinity and help replenish the iron that occurs naturally in the soil. Apply as directed on the package. Remove the product from masonry or concrete surfaces before watering to avoid staining.
•  Nitrogen
  • Lawns that are not getting enough nitrogen (the key component of lawn fertilizer) will begin to change to light green and then yellow. The color change usually begins to show first in the lower leaves. Reduced growth is also a sign of nitrogen deficiency. Normally the entire lawn is affected. Adding nitrogen will help restore the green color if you fertilize properly. Applying too much at the wrong time can do more harm than good. Follow the package instructions carefully. Grass cycling - leaving grass clippings on your lawn after mowing - adds nitrogen naturally to the lawn.
•  Pests
  • Grubs
    • Grubs are a common problem in mid to late summer, and most easily identified when your sod easily pulls back from the ground like a carpet. Pull back a section of sod and inspect for fat, white curved worms. More than ten per square foot can cause lawn damage. Grub control products are available at your garden center.
  • Chinch bugs
    • Chinch bugs are a common summer pest in warm-season lawns, especially in hot sunny patches beside driveways and sidewalks. Inspect your lawn closely, and look at your shoes as you walk through the grass – you should be able to spot the small black and white adults. They’re resistant to many pesticides, but there are products available to target them.
  • Other insects
    • Caterpillars and other pests can live part of their life cycle in lawns. Watch your lawn closely – look for crawling and munching insects and for grass blades that look eaten. Also watch for birds and wasps feeding on these pests in your lawn.
• Poor Soil
  • Soil quality can vary in your lawn, and poor soil can occur in patches, causing brown, bare areas or moss. Take a screwdriver and push it into the soil. If it doesn’t go easily, your soil is likely compacted. Try aerating and top-dressing to incorporate organic matter in the soil. When you aerate, take a look at the plugs, to see how the quality and texture of your lawn varies in different spots. Keep this in mind as you amend and improve your soil.
•  Roots
  • Large trees or shrubs usually win the battle for water and nutrients. The area under trees is notoriously difficult for growing grass. Consider mulching or naturalizing areas under trees and shrubs.
•  Scalping
  • If your mower blade is set too low or there are lumps in the lawn, it can cut the grass too short and cause damage. Practice proper mowing techniques by raising your mower blades, and smooth out high spots by digging up the sod, removing some of the soil underneath, and replacing the sod.
• Shady Areas
  • If you can’t beat the shade, join it—by replacing the grass with flowers and plants that don’t need a lot of sunlight. Wax begonias and torenias are two flowering annuals that add pops of color. So do New Guinea impatiens, and they’re not susceptible to the mildew-induced disease that has infected garden impatiens in recent years. Among perennials, lungworts produce pretty blue, pink, or white flower clusters, and their leaves are spotted with silver or white. Also check out plants with pretty foliage. The deep red leaves of the coleus, an annual, and the peach-colored foliage of the perennial coral bells will brighten a shady area.
• Too Much or Too Little Fertilizer
  • Too much fertilizer causes excessive growth. Too little does not provide enough nutrition to promote the strong roots, crowns and leaves needed to withstand disease. Follow the proper feeding schedule for your turfgrass.
• Too Much or Too Little Water
  • If the lawn is not getting enough water, the turfgrass begins to resemble straw. Walking on the lawn leaves footprints in the turf. Water only when needed to prevent overwatering. Do it as early in the day as possible to allow evaporation from grass blades. Be sure to follow any watering ordinances or restrictions for your area.
• Watering During the Day
  • It is actually best to water your lawn in the early morning, before the sun has risen, or in the late evening, after the sun has set. Water droplets on grass can act as magnifying glasses for the sun’s rays, which will actually burn the grass instead of hydrating it. Setting sprinkler timers for optimal watering hours will help with this issue. For help with setting up a sprinkler timer and/or repairing or installing a sprinkler system, call Dr. Sprinkler Repair today!

Thanks to ConsumerReports.org, Julie Day at TodaysHomeowner.com, and Lowes.com for the great info on dry spots and their causes!

Dr. Sprinkler Repair, Reno, NV - (775) 387-0519

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Why are my plants turning yellow? Dr. Sprinkler Repair, Reno NV - (775) 387-0519

Dr. Sprinkler Repair wants your lawn and/or garden to stay green - so, when yellow leaves start showing up in the flower beds, we know that you want to quickly and efficiently diagnose the problem. The article below by Russel McLendon of mother nature network can help you do just that!

"If your vegetable garden has gone from verdant to flavescent, it could be a sign of health issues like too much water or too few nutrients. A new infographic offers tips for getting to the root of the problem.

Yellow leaves can indicate a wide range of ailments, such as this strawberry plant's suspected iron deficiency. (Photo: Scot Nelson/Flickr)

Gardening is supposed be a relaxing hobby, but even the greenest thumbs see red sometimes. It might be due to fruit-stealing squirrels or earth-moving moles, but one of the most common causes of gardener angst is the sight of a tomato cage, bean fence or cucumber row draped in sickly yellow.

Known as chlorosis, the yellowing of plants' leaves can point to a variety of health problems. It's sort of like a persistent cough in humans: It probably means you aren't well, but unless you're attuned to its subtleties, it may be too broad of a symptom to diagnose your specific illness.

The direct cause of chlorosis isn't a mystery, though. It's the visible result of too little chlorophyll, the pigment used by plants to trap sunlight for photosynthesis. Since chlorophyll gives leaves their green color, an inadequate supply turns plants a pale green, yellow or yellowish white. And since chlorophyll is key to plants' food-making abilities, a plant suffering from chlorosis might not survive if the source of its chlorophyll shortage isn't addressed. And that's where things can get muddy.

At first glance, a yellow leaf may not seem to hold many clues about the underlying problem. But a few variables in how chlorosis develops can offer a surprising amount of information.

Nutrient deficiency

One common reason for chlorosis is poor nutrition. On top of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen, plants need more than a dozen mineral nutrients to survive, all of which must come through their roots. A soil test is the best way to know what's missing, but a quick look at the leaves can shed light on the situation. Plants with nutrient deficiencies often have distinct patterns of chlorosis — like green veins with yellow tissue in between — that first appear on particular leaves.

Some nutrient deficiencies make older leaves turn yellow first; others start with new growth. That's because certain nutrients are "mobile" in plants, meaning a plant can move them from leaf to leaf as needed. When a plant runs low on a mobile nutrient like nitrogen, it can take more from its older leaves, helping the plant continue growing (at least for a while). Loss of nitrogen turns the older leaves yellow, while new growth comes in green. An immobile nutrient like iron, however, is essentially stuck in older leaves. If a plant runs out of iron, it will develop chlorosis in new leaves while earlier foliage stays green.

Aside from nitrogen, mobile plant nutrients include phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and nickel. Iron is joined in the immobile category by calcium, sulfur, boron, copper, manganese and zinc.

Once you've narrowed down the suspects to mobile or immobile nutrients, look for more clues in the way a leaf is turning yellow. Nitrogen and potassium deficiencies both appear in older leaves, for example, but while nitrogen chlorosis is relatively uniform across the leaf and its veins, potassium chlorosis tends to start on leaf edges and spaces between veins. Yellowing of new leaves could point to iron or calcium, but iron chlorosis is characterized by uniform yellowing with small, green veins. For more details, see the infographic below and this guide by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. If you're curious about organic fertilizers, this overview by the Pacific Northwest Extension Service is a good place to start.

Pests

Unlike a nutrient deficiency, whose symptoms are often distributed symmetrically in plant tissue, pest problems tend to develop in asymmetrical patterns. That includes damage by insects as well as leaf spots, a common indication of fungal or bacterial disease in plants.

Insect damage can lead to chlorosis in affected leaves, but it can also be managed safely with nontoxic methods like insect-repelling plants, neem oil and DIY organic pesticides. Most garden bugs are harmless or even helpful, though, so make sure you correctly identify the insects first.

There are several safe ways to control fungi in the garden, from crop rotation to baking-soda spray, but one of the first steps is often to manage soil moisture. Plants need water to grow, of course, but too much water can create favorable conditions for fungal pathogens.

Water and Light

Even without harmful fungi, overwatering and underwatering can both lead to discolored leaves. That may seem confusing, but there are usually context clues about which is to blame. The soil around an overwatered plant is likely to be wet, for instance, and vice versa. Too much water may also lead to limp, floppy foliage, while the leaves of dehydrated plants are typically dry and brittle.

Overzealous watering isn't the only reason plants drown. Certain soil types drain water slowly, an issue that can be resolved by planting in raised beds — hugelkultur, maybe — or adding sand to the soil. Damaged and compacted roots are another common cause of chlorosis, so protect roots when transplanting and give them enough space to grow in the ground (or a container).

And don't forget about the sun. All the water and nutrients in the world won't help if a plant is too short on sunlight, which can make its leaves droop and fade. Many garden plants like tomatoes and cucumbers need at least six hours of sun per day, preferably eight. But sunlight requirements vary among different kinds of plants, so do research on what your garden needs. Some plants, like broccoli and salad greens, can get by with significantly less direct sunlight per day.

For a quick visual reference about the different reasons why plants turn yellow, check out the infographic below, produced by organic gardening-supply company Safer Brand:"

Call Dr. Sprinkler Repair (Reno, NV) today at (775) 387-0519 for a quick and efficient lawn sprinkler fix!

Source: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/blogs/why-are-my-plants-turning-yellow#ixzz3fnWiZKSw

Dr. Sprinkler Repair, Reno, NV (775) 3870519 - How to Compost

Why buy expensive dirt and soil from the gardening section when you can make your own at home? Brittany Bailey at Pretty Handy Girl gives some great advice on composting!

Learn more about Dr. Sprinkler Repair (Reno, NV) at https://sprinklernv.wordpress.com/

"Do you compost? Oh my gosh, if you don’t, why not?!!! It is easy, it’s great for the environment and it will result in amazing nutrient rich soil that surpasses anything you can buy from a store! Some of the additional benefits are that you will reduce the amount of trash you produce and keep things out of the landfill.

Now, I totally understand if you are living in the big city in an apartment and really don’t have space for compost let alone potted plants. But, if you have a yard, you really should be composting! It’s easy, it takes very little time and my little gardening BFFs (aka worms) do all the work for you.

That’s right, they eat up all your kitchen and yard waste and turn it into beautiful black soil. How do they do it? Well, if I tell you, you have to promise that you won’t get grossed out. They poop it out. LOL. Yup, compost is decomposition and worm castings (a nicer word for worm poop.) Please don’t run away, find out how easy it is to create this magnificent garden soil.

Here’s the basics for how to compost and get top quality soil for your garden and landscaping for FREE!

Materials:

• Sealed bucket or container to store kitchen scraps (attractive Metal Compost Bins)
• Spading Fork
• Partially shaded spot in your yard (if you have pets, put a little wire mesh fencing around it to keep them from scoring extra food.)

What can be composted?

• Kitchen scraps
  • raw fruits
  • vegetables
  • egg shells
• Coffee grounds and the filter
• Newspapers, non-glossy cardboard, paper towels
• Leaves (brown for carbon and green for nitrogen rich)
• Grass clippings
• Plant & flower clippings
• Yard waste

What can’t be composted?

• Meats
• Dairy products
• Processed foods
• Plastic
• Man made substances
• Metals

Okay, you get the picture. Only raw fruits and veggies (and egg shell) kitchen scraps okay?

How to Compost:

Keep your compost bucket in your kitchen. We keep ours under the sink, but if you have a pretty container you can leave it on the countertop.

After cutting veggies or fruit, toss the scraps in the bucket. Coffee grounds can get thrown in filter and all. Egg shells (believe it or not) are also great for your compost.

When the bucket is full, dump your scraps outside in the compost pile. Your pile doesn’t have to be anything special. Ours is simply a hole in the ground. A shady spot is ideal so the pile doesn’t get dried out. If you’ve had a dry spell for a while, go ahead and water the pile.

Occasionally throw in some torn up strips of newspaper to add some “carbon” source to the pile. The key to a healthy compost is to have a good mixture of green (nitrogen rich) vs. brown (carbon rich) materials. Don’t overload on grass clippings or yard waste.

Flip some fresh soil on top of the scraps and walk away! That’s it. What about my BFFs, the worms? If you start the pile, they will come. Trust me, they’ll find your pile. If you’re super antsy, you could buy some red wigglers from a fishing bait place, but honestly why bother? Soon you’ll have big fat overfed worms happily working for you for free. Go back in 2-3 weeks and check on the progress of your magnificent garden soil.

I usually grab my magnificent soil from the bottom when I need it. But, you can split your pile in two. Use one side to add scraps to and let the other side “marinade” to perfection. Then switch sides. Frankly my little worm army works pretty fast. Within a month they have produced enough compost to fill some potted plants and more. I rarely buy soil anymore unless I need a huge amount."

"So, what’s your excuse for not composting? It better be a good one!" - Pretty Handy Girl

While you work on creating that beautiful, rich soil, we'll help out with the rest of your lawn and/or garden. Call Dr. Sprinkler Repair (Reno, NV) today at (775) 387-0519 to get started!

Source: http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/compost-gardenings-black-gold/