The Plant Doctor of La Crosse WI. and Decorah Iowa

09/04/2026

It is time that the kiddies to go back to school. I used to tick off mine when they were younger by walking around the house signing "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year", of course I would change the words up a little bit from the Christmas tune. Parents go out and spend a small fortune on school clothes, why I have no idea, the kids are only going to out grow them in a month or so anyway, but the kiddies must have this stuff.
All I know is that what they want for a pair of stinking sneakers now a days is more then my folks spent on the entire wardrobe for an entire year for me.
Now most Moms’ will give the kids a warning, “You had better not come home with these clothes trashed or you will be in for it!”
So Billy and Suzy head off to school with nothing but good intentions in their hearts, and they come home only to find that the shoes that were white that morning have turned this reddish orange color! Some how their knees turned orange as well!
Most of the time Billy or Suzy don’t even see it themselves. However, Mommy does!
She sends them off packing to their rooms and you hear can them crying, “But Mommy! I have no idea what happened!”
They are going to be telling the truth. There is a disease that hits our area called rust. Due to the type of care they get school lawns are notorious for it.
It is really not all that bad of a disease as lawn disease go. It will rarely really harm the lawn. However, if it gets too heavy it can block the sun from allowing photosynthesis to occur. Rust is very much like the powdery mildew that you see in the leaves of lilacs or on your lawn. It exists on the blade of grass but it is not parasitic in nature, and like I said, does not really harm the plant at all. The main problem is that it turns your lawn a rusty color. I guess that is how it gets the name “rust”. Now not only will it turn the lawn this color but anything that goes on your lawn, from pet's feet to lawn mower tires, and yes kiddie's clothes and shoes. If you were to look at a blade of infected grass thru a strong hand lens, you would see many little orange cones or lesions. These little cones erupt and spray their orange spores when ever anything touches them. They don’t seem to mind if it is your child’s new white shirt or not. The spores attach themselves to what ever they land on and there they will stay. Not to worry though. They will wash out with cold water and normal laundry detergent.
Now rust normally occurs on stressed out under fertilized lawns (Just like school playgrounds) which after this summers heat wave and humidity, I think there will be many that fall into that category. So Moms, if this happens to your kids don’t freak out on them.
Like I said it really looks like this could be a bad year for rust on lawns, but the good thing is, is that you don’t need to treat it with a fungicide to make it go away.

All you have to do is fertilize your lawn, make certain that it gets some water (I have to throw that in this season) and it should be gone with in a week; Most of the time it will go when you mow the lawn after a fertilizer application.

08/10/2026

Plant Doctor Update:
I have had a few people asking how we have been doing since leaving Wisconsin. We are well into our first summer down here in Iowa. We love it here, but the higher humidity (thanks to the gazillion acres of corn) takes some getting used to. There are some days when you can hang out your wash to dry in the bright sunshine, and when you go to bring them in, they seem wetter then when you originally hung them on the line! Oh well, nothing is perfect.
Thanks to all of those who have said they miss The Plant Doctor Show, and my hosting LaCrosse Talk PM. I miss doing those shows too. It was always a lot of fun interacting with everyone.
We are still renting, while looking for our place to permanently sink our roots. Yes we are being picky 😁Who knows? Maybe I will get a job at at a station when we find a place, and air the show on the internet or something along those lines.
I had to go back to Wisconsin this past weekend for something and I was totally shocked at how much the area had changed in the short time since we left with new buildings and additions going up all over.
Remember if you ever have any plant or gardening questions, you can DM me or just ask here.

Thanks for listening and take care!

The Plant Doc

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08/07/2026

Depending on where you are, J*panese beetles are hitting heavy this season. They can do a lot of damage to your landscape skeletonizing the leaves on a lot of shrubs. There are a couple of ways of dealing with these invaders.
1. Bag a Bug traps. These use color and a pheromone to attract the critters. They are EXTREMELY effective. So much so, that you do not want to put them near your garden. Tuck them away in a back corner of your yard away from the plants you wish to protect., because it will draw them from all over like a magnet.
2. Treating your plants with imidacloprid (Merit) This is a systemic insecticide that will only effect insects that eat the plants tissue. It takes up to 2 weeks per inch of girth of the trunk of your plant for this to become effective, so it is best applied in the spring after the plant starts growing again.
3. J*p beetle's love to keep coming back to where they were born at to lay their eggs. Being proactive and treating your lawn with a grub prevention product, will help greatly, but the adults can always fly in from other areas, but at least your turf will be protected. Be careful. There are control and prevention products usually sold within inches of each other. Control products will only take care of the insects present at the time of application. Prevention products like Merit or Grub Ex will protect your lawn for a full season. Again it takes a week or so for it to become active in the turf, so you will want to apply it early prior to and grubs showing themselves.

07/13/2026

Let's see we have had the dreaded "ARCTIC VORTEX", "BOMB CYCLONES", "BOMBO GENISIS", "DERECHO'S", "SNOWMAGEDDONS", "GODZILLA EL NINOS", "IMPACT DAYS" and "HABOOBS", we hear that darn near every thunderstorm is going to be "SEVERE". Now we are going to deal with a "MEGA HEAT DOME OF DOOM".
Seriously, MEGA HEAT DOME OF DOOM??? We used to call that "summer" the really hot days would be described as "dog days"
I really wish the weathermen would stop using sensationalism in their forecasts to boost ratings.
Folks it is summer and we are going to be going through a hot spell. We have all seen worse but yet they talk about it like it is the end of the world. The highs are going to be in the 90's. We have not had a 100* day here in the midwest in a few years. Heck I remember one heat wave back in 2012 where the "low" night time temps stayed in the 90s! The day time temps were over the century mark for over a week!
Just make sure that your pets and plants have plenty of water (be careful of your plants if it is humid as well, you don't want to over water), and soak up as much AC as you can. If you don't have one, and the heat is getting to you, go to the library for a few hours, or even grocery stores. Also a great way to keep cool is by wearing a cloth ball cap. (The ones with nylon net fabric won't work as well) soak it in water, and as the water evaporates it will drop up to 20* in temperature, and cool your head. The same thing can go with a wet tee shirt. (Ladies, be careful). Close your curtains and window shades, to keep the sun out. Another good tip, if you have a basement and a window fan. Open your basement door, and close all the windows except for one with the window fan and have it on high, blowing out. This will draw the cooler air from your basement through your house. (That is how people used to cool their homes prior to the advent of air conditioners. If you know of an elderly person who can't get to AC and you have one, have them over, even to stay the night.
Yeah, the next week is gonna be a warm one, but take the dire predictions coming from the weathermen with a grain of salt. Be careful, drink plenty of water (sorry beer will not do) pick up a book or throw on a movie and relax

06/29/2026

People please be careful in the heat. The dew point is now up to 80*!
A great way to cool off if you dont have an AC is to take a ball cap (not a mesh one) soak it in water and put it on and sit in front of a fan. Applying a wet dish towel over your neck and doing the same thing helps as well. As the water evaporates is can drop the temperature over 20*f

06/10/2026

After seeing many people posting in other groups about "giant Queen Anne's lace" please take a moment and check out this older post. That stuff is called giant Hogweed, and it has the ability to ruin your life for up to a year!

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0GMdHmdUBs2PERELWEUoaE26fuhzo4ZaVUDdBGfwvHsHx9WTVF5z4rPbDXw6DfCHPl&id=100077642925971

06/10/2026

Please be safe out there peoples!

05/25/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14gHK4gVGHV/

🚨 MISSING: 11-Year-Old Skylar Thornton 🚨
Skylar has been missing since May 19, 2026, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. She is 5’0”, 90–100 lbs, blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a white floral dress with spaghetti straps, and may be riding a mint-green bicycle. She is hearing impaired and especially vulnerable.

If you see Skylar or have any information, call Prairie du Chien Police at (608) 326-2421 or Crawford County Crime Stoppers at 1-866-779-PAYS immediately. Do not approach her—let authorities handle it safely.

💛 Please SHARE this post to help bring Skylar home. Every tip and share could make a life-saving difference.

05/22/2026

As we wake up and start our 3 day weekend which has traditionally become the beginning of the summer season. Let us stop and think about why we actually have an extra day off. Memorial Day was not designed so people could have an excuse to drink vast quantities of alcoholic beverages. It was not designed for us to have an excuse to BBQ. It was not designed by Madison Avenue so all the stores would have Spring sales. It was not even designed to say thanks to our Vets. There is another day to do that called Veterans Day.
It was designed so that at least once a year, everyone would stop and think about our veterans who gave all they had in order to protect our freedoms, rights and privileges as Americans. I am not wishing to appear as a wet blanket to any of the wonderful plans that you made for this weekend, I just ask that Monday…. Before jumping in the car to take off to the stores, or before you light the grill, or crack open a frosty adult beverage, you stop and reflect that the reason why you are able to do these things is because that someone gave up their life in order for you to be able to continue with what many take for granted these days.
Not to be morbid and only to put things into perspective, because so many take this holiday for granted:
If one were to add up the amount of blood which was spilled by ONLY those heroes who are buried in Arlington national cemetery, you would have enough blood to fill 2 Olympic sized swimming pools. Remember that this is only those who are buried there. The vast majority of fallen heroes are not. More service men and women died in only WWII then are buried there, many of which were never to return home for a proper burial.
This is also not to forget the pain and anguish and gallons of tears that were cried by the families of these heroes. They did this for you so you would have the right to vote, own property, choose which religion if any you wish to follow, own a gun if you wanted to, or just simply live your life without fear of persecution by our government.
So may be before you crack that beer this weekend take a step back and say a silent prayer thanking these people who gave so much for you.
Also a little bit of Flag etiquette I think is needed for this weekend.
1st thing. Trust me, as a vet, it is nothing but wonderful to look down the street the day of a parade and see everyone holding a flag. It really does the heart good! Unfortunately there are so many flags given out at these Parades that many have an abundance of them at home. I am not without sin on this one and speaking from experience. There are only so many places inside our homes where we can properly display these little flags, so they usually wind up being stuffed in a drawer or a closet somewhere. Before leaving for a parade, take your own flags, so you do not add to the ones you have already accumulated. Also during the parades, Please! Please! Please! If your children are not old enough or well-disciplined enough to hold the flag off the ground, PLEASE do not give them one. Too many people have died for this piece of cloth to allow it to be dragged or thrown on the ground.
Also the proper procedure for displaying the Flag on Memorial Day is to raise it all the way to the top of the pole, hold it there momentarily then lower it to its half-staff position. Now here is the part that most people don’t realize. At 12 Noon, ALL flags should be raised back up to full staff. The 1st part of the day is to remember those who died fighting for the flag. The second part is to honor what they were fighting for.
Also While watching the Parades You do not have to stand every time a flag passes, as many floats and vehicles are adorned with them….But as a Color Guard approaches, please stand and if not in uniform, remove any hat (this goes for both male and female) and place your hand over your heart until the color guard has passed by. If you are in uniform, then stand at attention render a hand salute, remaining at attention until the color Guard has passed by. Parents, it would be a great honor to any vet, past or present if you would please teach your children to follow these simple rules.

05/01/2026

For those of you who are wishing it would warm up quicker.....just remember