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Soils Alive Blog
EARTH DAY, 2010: Soils Alive presents . . .
Posted by Soils Alive Administrator on Tuesday, April 06, 2010
WHAT: A Free Premiere Film Screening & Benefit
WHERE: The Angelika Film Center, Mockingbird Station, Dallas
WHEN: Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, 2010
TIME: 7 p.m.
RSVP: greencarpetdallas.org
Could this happen in Dallas? Fueled with medical evidence of the detrimental effect chemicals were having on patients in her practice, one lone physician took a stand—and the results were astounding. A Chemical Reaction chronicles one small town’s heroic quest to protect its people and its local environment from the dangers of chemical pesticides and herbicides. Ultimately, a tale of perseverance and triumph over big business chemical lawn treatment companies and their lobbyists, A Chemical Reaction questions the role and safety of services and products we use today on home landscapes.
Join Soils Alive and Preservation Tree Services for a Dallas premiere screening and discussion with the film's director, Brett Plymale, on Earth Day. Seating is limited and will be honored on a 'first come, first served' basis and according to RSVPs received prior to the event.
Visit greencarpetdallas.org for details and to RSVP.
$20-Off Irrigation System Check thru May, 2010
Posted by Soils Alive Administrator on Thursday, April 01, 2010
Get your irrigation system in order before the North Texas summer heat. Soils Alive is offering a $20-off an Irrigation System Check now through the end of May, 2010 ($95 regular price). Contact us now to get yours. Soils Alive now provides earth-friendly irrigation system management, too. Soils Alive’s Irrigation Management Program can save you 40% - 60% on your irrigation water usage. Over time, our program can virtually pay for itself, saving you time, money, water and the hassle of maintaining your irrigation system.
Take advantage of this limited time deal for your Irrigation System and ask about our Irrigation Management Program. Simply contact us through this site, call Soils Alive Irrigation Manager, Darren Harris, at 214-683-1453 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Category: Monthly Entries | Comments (0)
FREE Irrigation System Check Through March
Posted by Soils Alive Administrator on Monday, February 15, 2010
Extended through March, 2010, Soils Alive is offering a FREE Irrigation System Check for current Soils Alive customers! Contact us now to get yours. Soils Alive now provides earth-friendly irrigation system management, too. Soils Alive’s Irrigation Management Program can save you 40% - 60% on your irrigation water usage. Over time, our program can virtually pay for itself, saving you time, money, water and the hassle of maintaining your irrigation system.
Take advantage of this FREE Audit of your Irrigation System and ask about our Irrigation Management Program. Simply contact us through this site, call Soils Alive Irrigation Manager, Darren Harris, at 214-683-1453 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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Soils Alive Does It Again!
Posted by Soils Alive Administrator on Sunday, January 24, 2010
For the second year in a row and for the third time overall, Soils Alive has been awarded Angie's List's Super Service Award for outstanding customer service.
"We are pleased once again to be recognized by Angie's List as a quality provider of lawn fertilization services. It demonstrates Soils Alive's commitment to customers, not just as an organic fertilization service, but as a company committed to superior service overall," commented Michael Bosco, Soils Alive founder.
Angie's List is a consumer home service and contractor referral website boasting more than 1,000,000 members. With chapters all over the US, Angie's List provides paid subscribers feedback and referrals of home services from members themselves. Only the highest-scoring and top-rated service contractors are annually recognized with Angie's List's Super Service Award.
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Katy Trail Goes Organic with Soils Alive
Posted by Soils Alive Administrator on Monday, September 21, 2009
Soils Alive has been chosen as the exclusive provider of organic fertilization services for Dallas' Katy Trail. Soils Alive will be employing the same eco-friendly and safe organic fertilization practices on the Katy Trail as used for Soils Alive customers.
“We’re excited that the Katy Trail is environmentally responsible to its patrons and that we at Soils Alive are able to be a part of feeding the trail landscape organically,” commented Michael Bosco, Soils Alive Founder.
Open year-round and free to Dallas residents and visitors, the Katy Trail is a Dallas city park. Built along the now defunct Katy Railway line, the trail extends 3.5 miles from Airline Road to the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. The trail is supported and funded by the nonprofit group Friends of the Katy Trail.
Three Vital Components to a Healthy Lawn
Posted by Michael Bosco on Sunday, July 19, 2009
Think about the importance of each leg on a three-legged stool. I use this comparison to explain the three components to creating a healthy landscape: organic fertilization, cultural practices, and irrigation. They are all equally critical to the success of our landscapes.
Fertilization: The Soils Alive Soil-building Program provides essential organic fertilization.
Cultural Practices (mowing, pruning, and trimming): Mow St. Augustine grass at 3.5 inches and Bermuda at 1-2 inches every 5-7 days.
Irrigation (watering): During Texas summers, water is the most difficult component to get right. Watering too much in the spring brings fungal diseases and excess weed growth. It also wastes money on water, but then the hot, dry conditions of the early summer catch many homeowners by surprise. Adjustments are necessary on a weekly basis as we transition from spring to summer. Unfortunately, many of us do not bother with such adjustments. Over-watering or under-watering causes our lawns and bedding plants to suffer. Insects become a major problem on drought-stressed plants (in particular, chinch bugs in St. Augustine are brought on by dry conditions). Setting the controller in the fall and winter months is just as critical as in the summer; if you do not reduce the amount of water your lawn receives, you will create a terrible brown patch problem in St. Augustine lawns that will remain until the following spring. There is no treatment that can slow brown patch if the lawn is being over-watered. Watering should be done only when the landscape needs it.
How can we program our systems to know when plants need water? The only way to effectively do this is manually. Most of us are not up to this challenge. However, SmartLine Controllers by Weathermatic use an onsite weather station to take more than 1,000 readings a day to calculate the amount of water that will be applied. This technology has been used for years on golf courses and large applications, but now it is available to the homeowner. Soils Alive is excited to offer an incredible deal. To take advantage of this offer, call us today to save time, water, money, and the hassle.
Soils Alive will upgrade your old controller to a SmartLine Controller for free if you sign up for our Irrigation Management Program. Details can be found at http://www.soilsalive.com/irrigationmanagement.
Category: Monthly Entries | Comments (0)
Webworms? Bagworms?
Posted by Michael Bosco on Friday, June 26, 2009
Soils Alive can effectively and organically treat your trees for webworms. We use an active ingredient from a naturally occurring soil bacteria called spinosad, which is deadly to webworms, and has minimal impact on the surrounding biology. Contact us now for a quote, and to schedule a webworm treatment.
About Webworms
Webworms will not kill a large tree, but they can defoliate a tree, requiring it to put more energy into regrowing leaves. While webworms have several generations a year, controlling early generations can slow subsequent ones and decrease overall tree damage and stress, while improving aesthetics.
A Guide To Overseeding With Ryegrass
Posted by Michael Bosco on Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Overseeding with Ryegrass - a good idea or bad idea? To answer that question you might first consider the following:
1. Do you have Bermuda grass?
2. Is the area you want to overseed a full sun area?
3. Are you trying to use fewer herbicides?
4. Are you okay with mowing in the winter?
5. Are you prepared to use more water?
If you answered yes to all of these questions then you are an excellent candidate for overseeding with ryegrass.
Considerations
1. Bermuda is the best grass to overseed because it is the easiest to prepare to be seeded. Bermuda can be scalped so that the seed will make good contact with the soil, which is critical for germination. St. Augustine, on the other hand, is the most difficult to prepare because you cannot scalp St. Augustine without damaging the stolons. Also, St. Augustine is thick, reducing the germination of ryegrass and requiring a higher seeding rate. Finally, Brown Patch can be very damaging to St. Augustine in the fall — a result of overwatering. Unfortunately, when overseeding with ryegrass, frequent watering is a necessity to allow for germination, which often causes a severe outbreak of Brown Patch in a St. Augustine lawn.
2. It is recommended to only overseed ryegrass in full sun. Shady areas will transition slowly back to perennial summer grasses causing it undue stress.
3. Overseeding with ryegrass requires less use of herbicides. Overseeding will reduce the need for a fall pre-emergent herbicide. Weeds are at their worst in the early spring before the summer grasses green-up. A healthy stand of ryegrass will keep spring weeds to a minimum, thereby reducing chemical usage.
4. Overseeding with ryegrass requires more mowing. Ryegrass will need to be mowed every 10 to 14 days when temperatures are under 50° F and every seven days when temperatures are over 50° F. A benefit of regular mowing is keeping weeds down, thus containing them.
5. Overseeding with ryegrass requires more water. Germination will require watering three to six times daily at anywhere from 30 seconds to one minute at a time until germination occurs. Then a watering schedule of one to two times daily for seven days will keep the newly germinated seedlings from drying out. After one week, cut back to watering three times per week over a two week period at three minutes per watering. The ryegrass should then be established enough to go to once-a-week watering.
Perennial or Annual Ryegrass?
If you decide to overseed you have one more decision to make: Perennial vs. Annual. Perennial is typically preferred by professional grounds keepers for its superior dark green color and slower growth. Annual is a cheaper option and germinates three to eight days faster than perennial ryegrass. Also, annual ryegrass has a tendency to be very wet and hard to mow.
Transitioning back to warm-season grass
Ryegrass will die when the weather becomes hot in late spring, but the warm-season grasses will have suffered due to increased competition for water, nutrients and light. There are several management practices that encourage transition back to warm-season grass. Do not fertilize ryegrass in early spring, as this promotes competition with warm-season grass. Once the underlying grass greens up in the spring, mow the ryegrass as closely as possible (without scalping the underlying grass.) This opens up the ryegrass canopy and allows light to reach the warm season grass. Once the warm-season grass begins vigorous growth, resume your normal lawn care program.
Spring: Green Grass Along With Green Weeds
Posted by Michael Bosco on Thursday, February 05, 2009
Time and again, we at Soils Alive get asked about weeds - Why are weeds so pervasive in the Spring? The answer is threefold:
1. Weeds have very little competition in the Spring when Summer grasses are still dormant and not competing for water or nutrients.
2. Most weeds are annuals, and they put all their energy into one thing - to mature and produce seeds. Most weeds germinate sometime between the months of September and February. When Spring arrives weeds are putting all energy toward growing and putting out seeds before they die. Conversely, most perennial grasses are in it for the long-haul, storing food during the cold weather months so they can make it through the dormant season.
3. The final reason weeds are more pervasive in the Spring is because we notice them more. Typically, grass is still brown or at least coming out of dormancy, while weeds are green and thriving if they exist in a lawn.
Allowed to go unchecked, weeds create too much competition with a lawn's desired grass. For this reason and for the reasons stated above, it is important to control weeds year-round, organically. The best solution, as we often tell customers, is to be on a year-round organic program with Soils Alive.
Category: Monthly Entries | Comments (0)
Liquid Compost: A Nutrient-packed Spring Punch
Posted by Michael Bosco on Friday, January 30, 2009
For those of you on Soils Alive's Soil-building Program, the Soils Alive team is out applying our nutrient-packed Liquid Compost, along with a proprietary blend of beneficial bacteria, humates and trace elements to condition the soil for a healthy Spring green-up.
Why does Soils Alive's Liquid Compost pack such a punch? The answer lies in three key components of our Liquid Compost:
1. Biology: fungi, bacteria and protozoa are absolutely necessary for a healthy soil food web. Our Liquid Compost contains all three. Without the life in the soil, nutrients do not get released from organic matter. When organic matter decomposes, it's the biology that releases the beneficial organic matter.
2. Organic matter: The organic matter in our Liquid Compost includes humic and fulvic acid which are the basic building blocks of humus and the most valuable portion of a fertile soil. In the Liquid Compost creation process, Soils Alive extracts the humus from the larger organic matter through a hydraulic extraction process.
3. Nutrients: in this case, concentrated nutrients which are condensed through the extraction process. Good organic nutrients have the benefit of improving soil porosity and creating denser and deeper root systems for your plants when they are absorbed. One more benefit: deep, dense root systems lead to water savings.
Category: Monthly Entries | Comments (0)
About this blog
Welcome! Soils Alive's blog was conceived as a method for Soils Alive to provide the latest and most up-to-date information for those who are curious or are seeking answers to common Organic Lawn Care issues.
Within this blog you will find anecdotes, issues and answers from Soils Alive's founder, Michael Bosco. Please comment on any entry or ask an organic lawn & landscape care related question.
