Coastal Region – Christopher Burtt
- This is the warmest part of the Summer. Watch for disease and insect issues and pay attention to water. Just because it is hot, do be careful not to overwater.
- Remember (Important) NO nitrogen fertilizer on lawns after August! Advertised winter fertilizers are not for our coastal lawns. (Potassium is often used to boost cold tolerance but is not necessary here).
- Look for small brown moths hovering above the grass at dusk. Sod webworms and Armyworms can appear this month. Grass blades are notched (eaten) by these lawn caterpillars. Test for by soap flush or visibly inspect.
- Scout the lawn for any disease issues that arise during the hot period. Diseases such as large patch are common this time of year and should be addressed.
- Consider ratooning spent vegetable plants such as okra, eggplant, and peppers. Ratooning is cutting back the plant after it is done flowering to allow for a new flush of growth and fruit.
- Divide daylilies, giving them plenty of space.
- Plant fall vegetables such as lettuce, beets, runner beans, carrot, and fall cucumbers.
- Check cantaloupes, cucumbers, and watermelons for brown lesions on leaves & stems, possibly gummy stem blight.
- Scout for downy mildew on cucurbits and basil as the fall is the prime time for its spread.
A ratooned pepper.
Christopher Burtt, ©2022, Clemson Extension
Daylilies can be easily divided to produce more plants.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2019 HGIC, Clemson Extension
Midlands/PeeDee Region – Carmen Ketron
- Keep plants watered this time of the year. If your yard goes more than two weeks without sufficient rain, you may want to supplement with irrigation. Afternoon showers can make it hard to determine if your lawn is getting an adequate amount of precipitation. Make your own rain gauge or use these techniques to determine if your lawn is getting the recommended 1 inch of water per week for established lawns, shrubs, and trees.
- Potted plants and raised beds dry out faster than yards in the summer months. Please give them a deep watering to achieve full saturation of the container’s soil. Determine appropriate watering based on the type of soil you have.
- Mosquitos can be a big problem this time of year with all the rain. Because mosquitos can reproduce in a thimble full of water, it is important to eliminate breeding habitats in the garden. Overturned buckets, tires, plastic tarps, and 5-gallon buckets are havens for mosquitos to lay eggs. Ensure your yard isn’t a mosquito haven.
- Fall is right around the corner. As you pull out your summer crops, this is an excellent time to get a soil test and amend the soil as necessary.
- Start scouting for late summer pests. Pickleworms and fall armyworms have become a nuisance in the Pee Dee. Go out in the early morning or late afternoon to correctly identify what is devastating your plants before you apply a pesticide.
Pull out summer crops to make way for the next season.
Carmen Ketron, ©2022, Clemson Extension
When scouting for insects make sure to do it early in the morning and look under the leaves.
Carmen Ketron, ©2022, Clemson Extension
Water your container gardens more frequently to ensure adequate moisture.
Carmen Ketron, ©2022, Clemson Extension
Upstate Region – LayLa Burgess
- Plant a late summer container garden. Fill containers with plants of varying colors and textures that will sustain through fall. Hanging baskets will continue to thrive with proper care.
- Continue to deadhead spent blooms from plants. Deadheading and light fertilization with a slow-release fertilizer will encourage annuals to put on a final display of flowers for the year.
- Continue mulching plants to conserve soil moisture and suppress weeds. This may require removing older mulch or applying another layer to existing mulch. Do not allow mulch to become too thick; use proper mulching techniques.
- Remain vigilant for the presence of disease and insect pests. Disease and insect pests can become abundant with late summer heat and humidity. Handpick or prune and dispose of diseased or damaged plant parts when necessary. Use best management practices that align with integrated pest management options.
- Lawns will continue to require irrigation. Lawns should receive 1″ of irrigation per week. Additional irrigation may be required during periods of drought and elevated temperatures. Monitor precipitation and temperatures daily or weekly to track current demands and to determine the shift to shorter days with cooler temperatures to reduce irrigation, if necessary, as fall begins.
- Continue to harvest vegetables that are still producing. Dig potatoes after vines have died. Begin to remove older or less productive plants in preparation for the fall garden. Check plant dates for sowing and transplanting fall and winter crops.
- Plant sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) that bloom prior to frost for fall color. In the Upstate, a 50% chance of frost occurs around the last week in October- first week of November. Counting the number of days from the frost date back to August 1st will determine the number of growing days prior to the frost event. Select sunflower varieties that mature in 55-75 days with an average of 60 days to bloom. This includes varieties like ‘Autumn Beauty’, ‘Goldy Honey Bear’, and ‘Early Black Heart’. Order or buy your sunflower varieties early, seeds are available online and through catalogs.
- Begin planting fall cover crops to improve the organic matter in the soil or to use as a “green manure” in a crop rotation plan for the upcoming fall and the following spring.
Cover crops are valuable sources of biomass or nitrogen when incorporated into the soil properly. Crimson clover and Austrian winter peas are two cover crop options planted in August as temperatures begin to lower.
LayLa Burgess, © 2022, HGIC, Clemson Extension
Late season sunflowers provide a pop of color and beauty along with nectar and pollen resources for pollinators when most other summer annuals begin to fade.
LayLa Burgess, © 2022 HGIC, Clemson Extension
