[redbuckcavs]

Is there a university website that updates the current soil temp throughout the ohio-ind region. Once the calendar hits April the phone will go crazy saying WE ARE TOO LATE to apply crabgrass control. I know I can use my own soil gauge. However, I would like to direct the homeowner to a University site so they know the temp is still colder thaen they think----Thanks

 

[Young Bros]

This is what I use:
http://www.greencastonline.com/SoilTempMaps.aspx

 

[DA Quality Lawn & YS]

Thats exactly what I use. I look at the 5 day map (am hoping that means 5 day avg??)

 

[starry night]

Thanks for the link, guys. Just what I needed. (Organics here.)

 

[BS1190]

I believe here in Iowa the 3t manual states that crabgrass control needs to be applied before soil temps are above 65 degrees. Does that sound about right?

 

[starry night]

When the forsythia starts to bloom, that's the same time for the first crabgrass seed to grminate.

 

[BS1190]

When the forsythia starts to bloom, that's the same time for the first crabgrass seed to grminate.

so the preventer needs to be put before that.

Back before I did lawn care and I did weed and feed on my yard. I always started with crabgrass preventor in may and it always seemed to work.

I've also that red bud trees are a better reference then forsythia. Forsythia blooms according to air temputeres and red rud to soil temputers.

 

[starry night]

That may be true but the forsythia are close enough. Ohio State University has a website for "degree days" which has a low list of bloom times of various bushes and trees coupled with when certain pests hatch or weeds germinate.
I would refer you to it but it's only for Ohio. Maybe your university might have something similar. Maybe you can checkout "degree days."

 

[grass4gas]

What I generally do is make sure that the "thin" lawns get the pre-emergent right out the door. I will then go back in on my next app and put down a second shot of the same.

Your thicker, denser turf can wait longer for that first app, and you can be fairly sure that you will have excellent control, baring any factors, such as disturbing of the soil that would break the barrier, or improper application.

I don't worry about the timing of the forsythia...hell some were blooming in late February.

 

[tombo82685]

so the preventer needs to be put before that.

Back before I did lawn care and I did weed and feed on my yard. I always started with crabgrass preventor in may and it always seemed to work.

I've also that red bud trees are a better reference then forsythia. Forsythia blooms according to air temputeres and red rud to soil temputers.

i've always hear you want to apply crabgrass control between forsythia and lilac bloom.

 

[Think Green]

I am not being a crotchety old fart here, but is this site a reliable source for predicting your application rates.???
I hardly trust anything this broad. I have a temp probe in the truck to stick into the ground at 2-3 inch levels. It is ironic that while driving around from 2 totally different areas of town and the outside temp is within 5 degrees difference. My truck's temperature gauge isn't correct according to the commercial thermometer's. The soil composition isn't the same for all areas of a city. Compacted soils will stay cooler longer than looser soils.............Am I not correct. Clay soils will stay cooler longer than sandy or loamy-clay loam soils.
I will say for a fact, that the forsythia is a good indicator, but not all of these shrubs will bloom at the same time for the reasons stated above. I have 6 customers with forsythia's and they all never bloom at the same time....!
I will stick to my manual thermometer.