GARDENING: Japanese beetles are here, and we need more rain

As I wrote this column on Wednesday, it looked promising. Fingers crossed. It did rain on Sunday, July 23 after I wrote the column about needing water. Bring on some more please, Mother Nature.

I saw on social media someone recommending fertilizing during a dry spell. It’s ok to fertilize your plants, but NEVER fertilize them when the soil is dry. Soak the soil first and then apply nutrients.

Fertilizers are salts and high salt content in dry soils equals trouble for the roots. Plants will burn easily in this situation. If we get rain, fertilize after the rain event if the soil is saturated. Otherwise, irrigate and then fertilize, and then lightly irrigate again.

Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass lawns in many areas of the Miami Valley are going dormant. This is what they do during dry spells. Turf-type tall fescue lawns are still green. This is what they do.

Lawns can be dormant for up to three weeks with little to no damage. After that, the turfgrass crown (growing point) starts to die. So, if the lawn is dormant for an extended period, you can irrigate with an inch of water to soak the crowns. This keeps them alive.

Japanese beetles are here and actively mating. Soon they will begin to lay eggs. The only good thing about dry turf is that Japanese beetles prefer to lay eggs in moist, irrigated turf. The eggs need the moisture to survive.

What are the Japanese beetle populations in your area? This is the first year that I have had several of them in my landscape. It could be a good (or bad) year for them in the Clark County area. In the past few years, I have had numerous people from the Beavercreek area talk about high populations while many have been unaffected.

We had a pretty good grub outbreak in lawns late last summer and fall. I expect we may see an increase in the population this year.

The ones that are here now are the early hatchers and can easily be killed by squeezing them with your fingers (garden gloves on of course) or knocked into a bucket of soapy water. I can keep up with them by doing this.

Let’s wait and see if this is the case or if there will be a banner population.