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Send us an email. Please include your name and address. We reserve the right to edit letters. eMail: editor@progardenbiz.com A New Way to Use Round-up This way I use to control bermuda grass in the grey leaved, yellow flowered trailing gazania has only proven disastrous once. I use Round-Up. I mix it about 3/4 ounce to the gallon. It can take about 3 or 4 tries, but I usually kill the bermuda and not the gazania. It doesn't work on other varieties. Another thing I noticed was that it didn't bloom so much after I sprayed for a few months, but then with some fertilizer it was fine. The Case of the Lost Irrigation Zone Several years ago we took over a large residential apartment complex that was an irrigation man's nightmare. Our biggest problem was locating all the valves (about 200) and determining which of the 20 controllers operated them. After a lot of trudging about, poking through ground cover and under jungles of shrubs we located all the valves. We realized that trying to remember where all these valves were located would be impossible. We therefore drew simple line drawings on quadrille paper, one drawing for each controller, showing the locations and station numbers of the valves in its area. We then sealed the drawings in plastic. Now each controller has its own map safely locked inside with a grease pencil to make notations of problems. Mulch Triumphs Again In an effort to reduce weed problems at a large residential account that had a limited materials budget we got a tree trimmer to deliver over 80 yards of eucalyptus tree grindings for us to use as mulch. The tree trimmer was happy to have a place to dump his grindings for free and we ended up with beds that were virtually weed free. As a bonus, eucalyptus oil repels fleas so we eliminated a nasty pest problem. We started off with a layer 4 inches thick. After frequent irrigations it compacted to about 2 inches. We now add one or two inches every year. LOST THEN FOUND A number of years ago we converted a large turf area from standard 15' radius pop-ups to pop-up stream rotors spaced 30' apart. A short time ago the property was sold and the new owner wanted some extensive re-landscaping which involved the elimination of many lawn areas. Finding the capped off fittings in order to install shrub heads was easy because we capped them with a short PVC nipple and a galvanized cap. We found them by using a metal detector. (The pay off in found coins was fun too!) SLICK DOES THE TRICK After refilling your line trimmer spool, spray the line with a silicone based lubricant. This stops the line from "melting" at the brass fitting through which it passes on the trimmer head. It also prevents the self feeding mechanism from binding.
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