Why Does My Lawn Have Mushrooms?

Calls have been coming into our office with homeowner’s wanting to know why they have mushrooms in their lawn.  Mushrooms come from a mixture of moisture (we’ve had a good amount of rain lately), cloudy weather, and organic material such as old mulch, animal waste, or rotting tree stumps.

Mushrooms are the reproductive part of fungi that lives in the soil.  Not only are mushrooms an eyesore to your healthy lawn but you don’t want children or pets to have access to them.

You can get rid of the mushrooms by manually removing them from your yard but that still does not take care of the problem.  Chances are the mushrooms will return.  Mushrooms will often go away when the sun comes out and the soil dries up.

There are preventative measures that you can take to prevent mushrooms from showing up in your lawn:

  • Decrease shade – Mushrooms like shade so trim back any branches in problem areas.  The more sunshine, the less likely you will see mushrooms.
  • Decrease moisture – Moisture in lawns enable mushrooms to thrive.  If you have standing water your soil may be compacted and you may need to aerate your lawn.
  • Dethatch your lawn – Excess thatch in the lawn absorbs moisture and enables mushrooms to grow.
  • Tree Stumps – A place where a tree used to be, even if the stump is removed, can be a breeding place for mushrooms.  The dead roots underground can be a cause for mushroom growth.  Keep the area aerated and clear (raking helps).
  • Pet waste – Remove any pet waste on the lawn on a regular basis.

If you have mushrooms in your yard it is best to call a professional lawn care company to diagnose the problem.  Mushrooms can sometimes be a sign of a more serious problem with your lawn.

Northwest Lawn Care professionals will do a Free Lawn Care Analysis and develop a customized plan to help get your lawn back on track to the healthy lawn that we all desire.

Increasing Wildlife, Increasing Spending?

Wildlife ControlAccording to a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, wildlife damage to crops, landscaping and infrastructure now exceeds $28 billion a year.  The article addresses the benefits to the increase in wildlife but also the damage they can cause and the effect it has on our local economies.

This year, Princeton, N.J., has hired sharpshooters to cull 250 deer from the town’s herd of 550 over the winter. The cost: $58,700. Columbia, S.C., is spending $1 million to rid its drainage systems of beavers and their dams. The 2009 “miracle on the Hudson,” when US Airways flight 1549 had to make an emergency landing after its engines ingested Canada geese, saved 155 passengers and crew, but the $60 million A320 Airbus was a complete loss. In the U.S., the total cost of wildlife damage to crops, landscaping and infrastructure now exceeds $28 billion a year ($1.5 billion from deer-vehicle crashes alone), according to Michael Conover of Utah State University, who monitors conflicts between people and wildlife.

Click here to read the whole article.

For wildlife removal or exclusion needs in your home or business, call Northwest.  A Wildlife Control representative will inspect your property for evidence of wildlife and will determine the points of entry being used by these critters to get into your structure. A customized plan will be developed to get the immediate nuisance under control and to seal off any known points of entry.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204846304578090753716856728.html#

Round 8 of Lawn Care

We are currently on Round 8 of our Lawn Care service.  The main focus of Round 8 is lime application.  Lime is essential in regulating the pH levels in your soil. “pH” is a measure of your soil’s acidity or alkalinity.  If your soil’s pH level is outside of the desired range, there is a good chance that your soil is not getting the vitals nutrients and minerals that it needs to grow into a healthy lawn.

For Best Results:

  • The treatment should be watered in within 48 hours.
  • The lawn should not be mowed 2 days before or after the treatment.

If you are giving your lawn TLC and still not seeing it be as healthy and productive as you would like then maybe your pH balance is off.  A professional lawn care company should be able to test the pH levels in your soil and help you to determine a customized plan that is right for your lawn.  After all…don’t we all want greener grass?

For Atlanta lawn care and other surrounding areas, call Northwest Lawn Care services at 770.293.2700 or visit us online at https://www.callnorthwest.com/lawn-care/

 

Honeybees and the Political Process?

Last week, we experienced the process of democracy at its best.  As a country, we were able to cast our votes on who we thought should be the President of the United States of America for the next four years.  But did you know that our electoral process isn’t that much different than the process of how honeybees find a place to live?

A female scout is sent out to find a new home for the hive.  When the scout finds a suitable home that is large enough to store honey with small entrances to keep invaders out, it returns to the current hive to tell the other honeybees about their find.  The scout will rave about the new findings by wagging her tail and dancing, this isn’t always the tactic that we see in our own politics but you never know.  The scout travels back and forth many times to the prospective site.  Each time she returns she continues to wag and dance for the other bees.  When her moves are more enthusiastic it is a sign that she still thinks the new site is a great place to live, if her moves get less enthusiastic then the other bees know that she’s not as on board with the new site as she once was.  In certain cases, similar to US politics, the scout bee will even head butt other scouts that are trying to convince the hive of going somewhere different.

Eventually, as a group, the bees determine which place is best for the whole group.  See, just as with American politics, there is dancing around and even the occasional headbutting but the majority rules on what is for the greater good.

Source

What’s the big deal about wildlife exclusion?

Some people think that when the temperatures drop, they will have less pest issues. For some critters this may be true, as they use the autumn to store up for a cold winter, during which they hide away. However, some of the larger animals such as squirrels, raccoons, possums, etc., might want to use your home for a warm space to hide away from the weather. Northwest Exterminating’s Wildlife Team knows just what to do in order to keep your home a pest-free zone!

Depending on what type of animals may be in your area, they can leave you susceptible to various issues. For instance, some squirrels like to make nests in attics, using your insulation as material! The costs of repair plus the hazards of a potential electrical fire due to damaged wires makes it really necessary to block this area off from potential unwanted guests. Aside from squirrels, other creatures have the potential to do damage in the form of bites or fleas that might affect your children or pets.

To reduce these risks against you, Northwest’s Wildlife Team specializes in wildlife exclusion. One of form of wildlife exclusion involves sealing up any potential openings to secure your home. The Wildlife Team will inspect your home, evaluating potential problem areas and implementing measures to eliminate these issues. However, if by chance your home has already gotten unsolicited attention from these pests, the Wildlife Team knows just what to do to take care of your home and prevent the issue from happening in the future. If you need a Wildlife representative, please contact us at 888-466-7849 or visit our website www.callnorthwest.com

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-of-Wildlife-Exclusion&id=7352650

Melissa Brown
[email protected]

Pin It on Pinterest

Call Now Button