You’ve been watering and watering and watering and the lawn is still dying. Small dead brown patches keep getting bigger. The lawn is dying from the edges of the lawn also.  You have watered so much that now you have algae growing in the turf, mushrooms are now growing and more of the lawn has died. You have now created another problem, a Fungus. We will discuss the Fungus in another issue, so for now let’s discuss the first problem, the Southern Chinch Bug (B. insularis). This pest primarily feeds on St. Augustinegrass but also feeds on Bermuda and zoysiagrass. You can spot a chinch bug problem from a distance. It is first sign is a “Rusty red tint” in color, which as they feed and move on, they leave grass that will turn brown in color, the dead look. You’ll find them at the edges of the Rusty red areas working the lower area of the grass nodes just above the root system.

Adult chinch bugs overwinter in dry grass and other debris that offers them protection. In spring or early summer, depending on temperature and moisture, overwintering females lay 200 to 300 eggs on leaves of grass, or push them into soft soil and other protected places. Young nymphs (the immature stages) emerging from the eggs are bright red with a distant white band across the back. The red changes to orange, orange-brown then black as the nymph goes through five growth stages, or instars. The nymphs mature into adults, which are black with a white spot on the back between their wings. The adult stage of the chinch bug can live 70 days or more. Development of one generation, from egg to adult can take six weeks. They can produce up to seven generations per year in south Florida but only four generations in the cooler areas like north Florida.

Chinch Bugs suck the juices from grass leaves through their needle-like beaks. They also inject a  toxic saliva into the turf that disrupts the water-conducting system, causing it to wilt and die. Their feeding pattern results in circular patches of damaged grass that turn yellow and then brown as it dies. This is what homeowners mistake for fertilizer needs. However when they fertilize and pump more water on the lawn it causes new growth, tender grass blades that the chinch bugs love and the wet grass  mixed with nitrogen  from the fertilize produces a Fungus on humid nights that causes more problems. Again, another chapter will be Fertilization. So as the grass dies, the chinch bugs work outward from the center of the infestation, destroying a larger area as they advance like an army of soldiers.

So how can we defeat this army of sod predators? First of all, break the cycle. Hit them hard while they are in the nymph stage. It will take care of the adults also. The adults are a little more “Hardened off” so to speak, but can be killed off on that initial application. Within ten to fourteen days, hit hard again. Once you break that cycle, then go on a preventative maintenance program of regular treatments every eight weeks. You will probably have some chinch bug activity, but not an infestation. Water and fertilizer is not the answer. Get to the source of the problem. Cut ‘em off at the pass. Destroy the army, don’t feed the army.

Nitrogen is the nutrient plants need most. There is not enough readily available in the soil for the plant and that is why we need to supply it. No matter what source of nitrogen you apply – synthetic or organic – most ends up as plant-available nitrate through a process called nitrification. However, the rate of nitrification (that is, the rate at which nitrogen becomes available to the plants or the rate of nitrogen release) varies. For example, most of the available nitrogen from quick release sources is gone within 4 to 6 weeks after application. Slow release fertilizers can provide nitrogen all season long.

Slow release fertilizers have some advantages over inorganic salt fertilizers. Although inorganic salts begin supplying nitrogen immediately after application, the results are fast growth and a quick green-up they don’t have longevity. There will also be a possibility of turf burn with the quick release fertilizers. The other problem is they often provide more nitrates than the turf can use.

Let’s discuss what makes the nitrogen a slow release. What helps it Hang in their longer ?

It is due to a Polymer coating on the fertilizer. To get a long term controlled release the fertilizer needs to have this coating. There are two types of coatings, one is a polymer coating sometimes called reactive –layer coated urea and the other is a polymer-coated-sulfur coated urea. Coating urea with polymer means that nitrogen release will last 8-16 weeks rather than 2 to 6 weeks as with uncoated urea. Have you ever wondered how your neighbor got such a green lawn so quickly but why it didn’t last long. That is due to the quick release. With sulfur coated urea fertilizers the coating creates a predictable release profile. What causes the release? Water. Nitrogen becomes available from polymer-coated urea as water diffuses through the coating and dissolves the urea particle. Nitrogen then diffuses through the coating by osmosis. It then continues to diffuse into the soil until the urea is gone. These fertilizers release nitrogen faster with high temperatures. In warmer climates, manufacturers increase the coating thickness to slow the diffusion.

Natural organic fertilizers were once the only available fertilizer. When synthetic processes were developed, organics fell out of favor. Now they are making a come-back. Various organic materials such as sewage sludge, feather meal, animal waste, etc., are marketed today as organic fertilizers. Typically, 95 percent of the nitrogen in these materials is tied up in the organic form. About 5 percent is in the ammonium and nitrate forms. Nitrogen release relies on microbial decomposition, so nitrogen availability depends on warm moist weather which we have in Florida. There are people today that prefer the old cow manure from the pasture to help them with their gardens. It just takes longer to do it’s job of releasing the available nutrients. That is why society hires out their work They want immediate results, sometimes a quick green, and there are some who prefer the slow release for long term results. My suggestion would be to use a 16-4-8, 25 percent SCU, 3 percent iron fertilizer for your turf. You should see about a 90 day climb for Greening and from 90 to 120 day drop. At 120 days you’ll be ready to fertilize again. So prime time to fertilize will be March July and November. Each 120 days apart. That seems to be the best program for year round care. This will be your 12 month program. It has worked for me and it should work for you.

Water management begins with you, the homeowner. To properly manage you need to know what to do. If you want to successfully control turfgrass or your ornamentals you must thoroughly understand the importance of soil moisture all year round. Plant-available moisture often is the critical environmental factor affecting turfgrass growth. When moisture becomes limiting, turfgrass plants weaken and become less competitive. Stressed plants can’t fight off diseases, insects, or weed encroachment. Irrigation management is an important component of any integrated turfgrass management system. It not only improves pesticide efficacy, but also potentially reduces the degree to which pesticide is needed. Irrigation should precisely satisfy the moisture needs of turf without giving any advantage to the weed population. Managing irrigation after applying herbicides is just as important as managing it beforehand. In the winter time herbicides, as well as insectacides react slower. Just as the grass slows down so does the reaction time of your chemicals. Cooler temperatures means changes in plant life which include turf. Most of these changes are climactic and as such you have little control. We all know that winter months bring shorter days, resulting in less sun exposure, and less photosynthesis. Couple that along with substantially reduced temperatures, and the end result has enormous implications for the plant world. In the summertime you scalp a lawn and within a week it has grown back out. Scalp it in the winter time and see how long it takes to correct the problem. Do not make big changes to the maintenance of turf or ornamentals in the winter time. It is too stressful on them. Remember the reaction time changes dramatically in the winter. Back to moisture levels in the winter. Although much of Florida receives 50-65 inches of rainfall yearly, it is not distributed evenly throughout the year. When rainfall is low, we need to irrigate to replace the water used by the grass. When rainfall is high, irrigation is often not needed. On average, turf water use in January through May often exceeds rainfall. These are the months when we generally have to irrigate; however, the other factors have to be taken into account. June through September is when rainfall generally exceeds turf water use. This does not mean that we never have to irrigate during these months, but that on average, we may not have to irrigate as frequently as when rainfall is less. These higher rainfall amounts may come in a couple of heavy storms rather than be spaced evenly across the entire month. October through December, rainfall is again less than turf water use. We may need to irrigate again during these months. Let’s get back to basics. When grass needs water, the leaf blades fold down the middle. When 30 percent of the lawn shows this stress symptom, irrigate the entire lawn, unless rain is forecast in the next 24 hours. If you have a hot spot in your lawn with a gray green color, put the hose on that area, let  it run for two hours to bring moisture back in that area. This is the lawns way of telling you it needs help in specific areas. If that area continues to be a hot spot over the years, it is a way of telling you to increase the irrigation in that area, or that a head is not working or that you need to add a head in that area. Listen to you lawn. You can under water as well as over water in certain areas. Learn what your landscape needs. It may take a couple of years but it will be worth it in the long run. Management of soil moisture is an extremely important part of turf management. Too much or too little can kill.

A couple of weeks ago I was visiting a family in a little town in North Florida, where I grew up, called Palatka. My friend Jason explained why he took out all the Oleander bushes in the courtyard of his beautiful new home. He explained that something kept eating his Oleander plants down to nothing. They never looked good, he explained. I asked if he saw these Orange hairy critters always crawling on the brick walls behind the plants. He looked me in the eyes and asked, How did you know? Everyone should know about these critters. His wife Kim loved the Oleander Plants however there is a right plant, right place for all plants. This Courtyard, this entrance to this beautiful home wasn’t the right place for the Oleanders. This orange hairy caterpillar can be very destructive overnight.

They feed, feed, feed until they run out of oleander leaves and then they move on to look for more. Oleander caterpillars are the immature stage of a moth called the Polka Dot moth. The wasp moth gets its name from its appearance which does resemble that of wasps more than moths. It will have blue/green coloration on its wings. The wings and body both have white dots. That is where the term Polka Dots comes in. The young caterpillars hatch from eggs laid by the Adult Wasp moth. The first meal of this caterpillar is its egg shell. Then “Katy bar the door” from there. Oleanders here we come! They always return the next year. It is a never ending battle. The Oleander Plant produces a burst of beautiful flowers and does extremely well in the coastal regions. You can have the large variety or the Dwarf Oleander. Size doesn’t matter to the caterpillars. You will always have the problem of the Orange critters. After its emergence from the egg, the tiny Oleander caterpillar begins feeding on the plant. It is protected from the toxins of the Oleander by its feeding habits. In its first instars this pest feeds on the leaves, avoiding the highly toxic stem and leaf veins. Oleander toxins are highly concentrated in the plant’s vascular system. That is why they say do not burn the plant. The smoke can cause severe breathing problems for humans. Cattle can die if they eat the Oleander. The Oleander Caterpillar knows how to handle the plant. They thrive on it. The smallest will begin to feed on the underside of the leaf. As they grow and transform into larger instars these caterpillars readily consume all the leaves except for the veins, leaving a characteristic skeletonized appearance. As the caterpillar gets larger, it is capable of cutting through the actual leaf stem which cuts off the flow of toxic sap. The feeding habits of different larval stages are what allow the caterpillar to survive feeding on a plant that most pests avoid. The pupa stage is the final one before the adult moth emerges to complete the cycle. The pupae are often found in groups or pupa clusters. That’s part of the reason you avoid installing the plants in your courtyard entrance to the front door. They create a mess on the walls and the eves of your home. They are all over the sidewalks. Try to control the Caterpillars while they are in the beginning stages. Mechanical removal is one method of control. You can spray on a botanical  and synthetic pyrethroid.

BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a material that kills caterpillars and is often used in vegetable or flower gardens. It only affects caterpillars and will not harm desirable butterflies or Ladybugs as well as other helpful insects. Ask your local retailer for the right product. If you control these Oleander caterpillars while they are young you will save the plant. You have to stay on top of the program.

Butterflies in my lawn?  No it’s Sod Webworms the Pest.

Sod webworms are caterpillars of small brown to dull gray moths. Webworms grow to a length of nearly ¾ inch. Depending on the species they range in color from pinkish white to yellowish brown with a dark brown or black head. The caterpillars are  somewhat transparent except for a green line showing the digestive tract. The moths have a wingspan of about ¾ inch. They fold their wigs closely about their bodies when they rest and have a prominent forward projection on the head. The moths hide in shrubbery or other sheltered spots during the day. They, like the caterpillar, are active in the evening; however the moth will fly over the lawn as you walk through it during the day. Mowing equipment or walking in the grass will scare up the month. The female scatters eggs over the lawns as she flies. There are only two stages, the moth and the worm. You will notice the web in the early morning as the dew has settled on your grass.

  Sod webworms caterpillars sleep during the day, and are curled up in a c shape as they sleep and they feed at night (sounds like our kids) leaving large circular patches as they feed on the leaves and stems of the sod. It appears the next morning as though some large animal has fed at night on your grass. It happens that quickly. They move fast as they feed. If you look closely, you will see the blades of grass are serrated at the edges where the sod webworm has fed. If you look closer at the edge of the pattern of feeding you will find them sleeping just above the soil, full of grass. Next to them will be their excretion in little green pellets called fecal fraff. The webworm looks like slime green about the size of the lead in your pencil. A heavy feeding can destroy a lawn in only a few days. The most severe damage generally occurs from June through August in conjunction with higher webworm numbers and hot, dry weather conditions.

   Products containing either Bacillus thuringiensis, or Sevin are suggestions for treatment for the caterpillars. Talk to your licensed commercial applicator or your local retail outlet rep for suggestions of what can be done.

  Lastly, remember what they did to your lawn last year and get them under control before they reach the adult stages. It will be easier to control in the beginning. Take care of the problem before it gets out of hand. With the Turf under stress from mother nature we need to give it all the help we can and maintain a thick, strong, healthy turf.

The Fire Ants

When the need arises for 100 lawn care companies to meet to discuss the problem you know it can turn into a serious problem. That is what happens in this industry. Fire Ants are a problem.  So much of a problem that Lawsuits have risen over the fire ant stings.

Once a colony is established, a single queen can lay her weight in eggs daily, producing up to 2,000 new ants each day of her two to five year life span. That is per day. Red Imported fire ants were accidentally imported into the United States at the port of Mobile, Alabama in the 1930s. Originally from Brazil, the Fire Ant spread to Florida and other southern states in nursery stock and sod during the 1940s and early 1950s. Today, over 260 million acres in 10 states are infested with this serious pest and the likelihood of greater infestation is great since the fire ant has the potential to establish in areas where the average minimum temperatures are above 10 degrees F and rainfall is greater than 10 inches a year. Ants are one of the most numerous groups of insects found on earth. The fire ants live in large colonies and build dome shaped mounds in open sunny areas like yards and gardens. During very hot or dry weather, fire ants will dig deeply into the soil to find cooler temperatures and water. You can have fire ants present in your yard and not see them until you have a heavy rain and the new mounds or adjustments to the existing mound show up. You can kill a colony one day and another colony can show up the next day from your neighbors’ lawn. It may seem like there are more ants, but the ants already present can also be building a new mound, creating and new colony by splitting the existing colony. Fire ants live in colonies that contain the brood (cream-colored to white immature ants-eggs, larvae, and pupae), 100,000 to 500,000 workers, several hundred winged males and winged females (which are unmated queens), and one or more mated queens. A colony generally lives in an earthen mound which is essentially an incubator for the brood, and the interconnected underground tunnels which radiate out of the ground.  Inside the fire ant mound are worker ants which are wingless, and sterile females that live from one to six months, that are quite active. Older workers are tasked with foraging for food (often at distances of more than 100 feet from the nest) and defending the nest.  Each worker ant can sting repeatedly by gripping the flesh with its toothed mouthparts and piercing the skin with its stinger mounted on its tail-end. Younger workers tend to the brood, moving it up or down in the mound depending on the external temperature, moisture conditions, or invasive predators. The fire ants create a new home constantly. Their control is a continuous and serious problem. They reproduce by mating flights. On warm, sunny mornings after a rain shower, winged males and females fly up into the air from the mound and mate many feet above the ground. The newly mated queens’ drop back to the ground, cut off their wings, and find a nice quiet place to dig a hole and start their own colonies. Male ants die after mating. Fire ants are very aggressive and will protect their mounds from any threat. That includes you stepping on their mound. When the mound is disturbed, they rush out of it in large numbers and will sting anything within their reach. Their control is important. Talk to your local extension agent for help. Ask your local retailer what you can use to combat the problem.

It is that time again. Weeds are present in your lawn. You have a service

that is contracted to take care of the lawn so what about  the turf weeds?  It would be nice to think that after struggling with weeds all summer, the fall and winter would provide a well-deserved break from the concerns of weed control. However, winter weeds begin their life cycle in the late summer through the early fall (when daytime temperatures are in the 70s), grow during the winter and die in the late spring or early summer, typically when temperatures exceed 85*F. As weather conditions become favorable for winter weeds, the growth of warm-season turf grasses begins to slow as they approach dormancy. These weeds compete for sunlight in the open or thin grassy areas of your lawn. These thin grassy areas are thin due to insect infestation, or areas under shade trees, and areas where a fungus has been and the grass has died back. You will rarely see turf weeds in a healthy thick lawn.

   Proper identification of weed species is the first step to a successful weed management program. Control is most effective when weeds are immature (two or four leaf stage) and actively growing. However, proper identification is easier once weeds have matured. Many books and weed guides exist to help you identify the weeds. The second step in managing problem weeds is understanding how weeds grow. Annual weeds complete their life cycle (germinate, grow, reproduce, and die) in a single growing season. Depending on when the annual weed does most of its growing, it is classified as a summer or winter annual. Winter weeds germinate from the late summer through the early spring, growing during the fall, winter and spring, and die in the late spring or early summer.

    Perennial weeds live multiple years. They produce reproductive structures (rhizomes, stolons, fleshy tap-roots, corms and tubers that allow these species to survive from year to year through any conditions. It is hard to control these species because they contain stored food reserves and nodes for root and shoot growth.

    Weed control with selective herbicides is only a temporary remedy.We will always have turf weeds. We need to think of long range terms, especially when it comes to Perennial weeds. The problem you work on today is to suppress or control the problem within a two year period. No quick fix will happen. Just because you or your contractor have a problem that still exists from last winter doesn’t mean it is not working. Sometimes it will take a two year plus regular turf weed control program to get the weeds under control. Once under control implement a preventative maintenance program.

Lastly, identify the weed problem, talk with your contractor or retail outlet store, select the correct product, and choose the correct time to apply the product. Start thinking long range goals to combat the problem and work it over a two to three year plan. Keep your turf healthy and full and you will see the results you desire.

One of the problems homeowners have is coming home after work and the irrigation system is still running. The homeowner goes to the irrigation timer and turns off the clock and looks in the yard and the irrigation system is still on. He goes back to the timer and unplugs it from the wall and finds out the irrigation is still on. Stress starts to build and he goes back to the timer and pulls out the battery backup and the irrigation continues to run.

Frantically he goes inside, looks for the phone book, turns to the irrigation contractors section and starts dialing. Call after call recorders come on to leave a message. He calls the water department and they say to call an irrigation contractor or plumber. What is he to do now? The water continues to run into the street while the lawn continues to get saturated after ten hours of watering. Nine of it was while he was at work. Take a deep breath. Walk around the yard, find your back flow valve, and turn it off. You will still have water to your home but now have turned off the irrigation system while you wait for the irrigation contractor to come. Go back to the clock, put the battery back in, plug your timer back in, and patiently wait for the repair man.

One of the problems with irrigation systems is that the homeowners turn the system off totally during the rainy seasons. This is where problems begin to happen. As your system begins to age, like our bodies, deteriorates and dries out. In the irrigation system you have an electric valve for each zone. With this electric valve you have a solenoid that activates a diaphragm. This diaphragm is what dries out over time. It will crack, and leak causing the water pressure to not be able to build and close off the valve for the water to start or stop. This is why you also cannot get the water to come on at times due to this valve not functioning correctly. When you leave your irrigation system off for a while, this diaphragm can dry out. It is best to operate your system on a regular basis but with the time cut back. If you have a complete system, you will have a rain sensor that will keep the water off during the rainy seasons, but will allow it to work when needed. It works off of moisture levels. You can adjust the rain sensor.

Also what can happen to make your irrigation system stay stuck on is when pebbles get caught in the diaphragm and won’t allow the water pressure to build to allow the valve to shut off or come on. With this problem as with a dry diaphragm the valve will have to be repaired or replaced. Repairing could be as simple as opening the valve to clean out the pebbles or replacing the bad diaphragm. This needs to be done by a professional.

Don’t fret, all you needed anyway was to get the water off until a contractor could come out to make the repairs. And you did that. Good luck.  See ya next month. The Landscape Doctor

Yes, those pesky critters flying around under the lights at the ball field are really getting ready to tunnel into the soil at the ball field. The reason for the activity is they are attracted to the lights at the ball field. Also if you have a street light that is near your lawn at home, one of the reasons you have turf problems in your lawn is partly to blame for the attracting light.

The challenges from insect problems are enough to keep us busy year-round.

One of the costly challenges is the mole cricket. It has received the most attention because of its damaging presence on golf courses as well as residential turf throughout the Southeast. The amount of damage caused and the money spent on control is counted in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mole Crickets overwinter as large nymphs and adults. By late winter or early spring, those crickets are adults. In some years, spring damage from adults can be severe, and spot treatments are necessary to keep damage to a minimum. If you’re going to treat in late winter or early spring and since you will be treating adults, it is better to use a bait rather than a residual spray due to the sprays not being very effective against the adult mole cricket. However, in the areas where a lot of spring damage is occurring, some control is better than none.

Adults lay their eggs in the spring and they only have one generation per year, so all the eggs are laid in the spring. The life cycles of the mole crickets in Florida are as follows. They lay their eggs in April-May, and nymphs occur through August or September. In southern Florida, however, the short winged mole cricket can lay eggs all year round. If the number of adults laying eggs could be reduced in the spring, then the problems in the summer and fall would be less. Mole crickets seem to prefer bermudagrass and bahiagrass, but also attack St. Augustinegrass and other warm season grasses as well as vegetables.

Florida has three mole cricket species- the tawny, southern, and short winged mole crickets. They damage turfgrass by tunneling, but the tawny and short winged mole crickets are the ones that feed on the roots of the turf. The Southern mole crickets actually feed on insects, however their damage comes from tunneling.

An important factor in mole cricket management is mapping. Some turf areas have heavy infestations, and very few properties have mole crickets everywhere. So mapping is a way to treat just the areas with the problems. Mapping saves time and money. Treat mole crickets when they are small nymphs, right after the egg hatch. In late June and early July, warm season grasses look good and there are no indications of mole cricket problems. A good map of problems from last year will allow you to concentrate on the problem spots. Scouting is important to determine when egg hatch is occurring. In many areas of the south, egg hatch occurs in late May, June and early July.

The most effective control will be an insecticide application right after eggs have hatched. This assures that nymphs already feeding will be controlled while small and before they do any damage. Weather can delay egg hatch sometimes up to two or three weeks. The soil temperature makes a difference. Timing is very important in controlling mole crickets. So hit them while they are in the nymph stages.

Cypress – Eucalyptus – Melaleuca – Pine Bark – Pine Straw – Rubber

Landscape mulches add to the beauty of all landscapes and have other beneficial properties. One is weed control. They help control weed growth to a certain extent. Secondly they help retain moisture levels in the soil. Third, mulch provides nutrients. Fourth, mulch helps to control erosion and fifth, it insulates the soil, protecting plants from extreme temperature variations. They say beauty is only skin deep and that is about right even for the mulches. The first initial application is usually 2 to 3 inches deep and yearly it needs to be refurbished not only for beauty but also for depth. Too much mulch can be harmful. Building mulch up too high around trees will cause more harm than good. The roots of the tree will try to grow closer to the surface of the mulch causing a girdling effect which can strangle the tree. Mulches can also compact from excessive rains. The moisture beads up and doesn’t make it through the mulch and the plant doesn’t receive the moisture needed. Aeration is needed often for the mulch to prevent this drying out effect to the soil. With compaction also comes fungal growth in the mulch which can cause a disease to your plants and trees. Aerate the mulch often. This will help change the color as well as prevent compaction. Let’s discuss a little about each mulch. Cypress mulch from the native tree is made up of both cypress wood and bark obtained from lumber yards mostly from whole trees. It does not settle too much. The color at initial application is pink. The color at two years will be a pinkish gray.  Eucalyptus mulch is made from eucalyptus trees, which are originally from Australia. They are grown here specifically to be made into mulch, and the  eucalyptus mulch does not settle much. The color of eucalyptus mulch at initial application will be light reddish brown, then by  two years it will turn pinkish gray.  The melaleuca mulch is made from an Australian tree that has become an invasive tree in south Florida The melaleuca mulch also has almost no settling after two years. The color of melaleuca  mulch at initial application is dark reddish brown, and then at two years it will be a pinkish gray. Pine straw is from a native tree called the Pine Tree and is also another desirable mulch. Harvested from the pine tree and baled up and shipped, it has proven to be a very effective mulch that settles well. The color of pine straw at the initial application is reddish brown, and then after 2 years it will be pinkish gray. From the same native  Pine Tree comes the Pine Bark mulch. There is very little or no compaction with pine bark.  It is considered an excellent soil conditioner. As a matter of fact, pine bark is used in the process for making potting soil mixes. It is an excellent soil additive with acid in it. Acid loving plants love pine bark. The color of Pine Bark at initial application will be Reddish Brown / Light Brown. The color at 2 years  will be Dark Reddish Gray. The least change in color after one year was the Cypress and the Pine bark. The most change in color after one year was the Eucalyptus and the Pine Straw. Rubber Mulch is just what it sound like. It is made from recycled rubber tires. With a 2 inch depth of rubber mulch it helps control weed growth. The rubber mulch does not provide nutrients to the plants therefore like other mulches the plants do need nutrients from fertilizers. It is UV protected. Colors include Blue, Red, Brown, Green, Black, and Pine Bark as a color. Manage your landscape properly. Use mulch wisely and your landscape will benefit greatly. You decide which mulch to use.