Skip to main content

Garden & Yard Issues

All Garden & Yard Issues Content

A green field bindweed with a white flower at top.

In a Bind With Field Bindweed?

It’s August and field bindweed, one of our most-persistent perennial weeds, is flowering. Although field bindweed is not statewide noxious, it’s locally noxious in Bennett, Bon Homme, Clarke, Lake, Stanley, and Yankton counties.

Three chokecherry trees exhibiting various x-disease symptoms on their foliage.

X-Disease in Chokecherries

X-disease is the name given to a set of diseases caused by a strain of the bacteria “Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni” that primarily affects stone fruits. Infected plants will typically display yellowing or reddening of their leaves by mid summer.

A picture of a green, smooth crabgrass plant with a white background.

Late-Season Crabgrass Control

At the start of August, crabgrass is often prevalent in lawns. Ideally, this weed should be controlled earlier in the season, but if early management was missed, a post-emergence herbicide can help control it before it produces more seed.

Leaf with noticeable powdery mildew symptoms.

Powdery Mildew Presence in Your Garden: How to identify and prevent it

Powdery mildew is a common fungal disease that targets a wide range of hosts. It is important to identify its presence as soon as possible to slow its spread and prevent irreversible damage.

Rows of empty white, plastic pesticide containers.

2025 Pesticide Container Recycling

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources is again offering pesticide container recycling services across the state. View a complete list of 2025 dates and locations.

A nest of Asian Needle Ants.

No Documented Sightings of Asian Needle Ants in South Dakota

Despite reports from major news networks citing that Asian needle ants are in South Dakota, we have no evidence that the ant is established or has ever been documented in the state.

Variety of vegetables growing inside a high tunnel.

SDSU Extension 2025 Garden Hour series starts May 6

May 02, 2025

/garden-yard/problems-and-solutions

Monarch butterfly visiting a blanket flower near a backyard garden.

SDSU Extension to host Backyard Natural Resources series

May 01, 2025

South Dakota State University is pleased to announce the second year of its virtual Backyard Natural Resources series on May 6, 8, 13 and 15, 2025.

Large, green dandelion floret growing in a yard.

Spring Dandelion Control

If dandelions are present on your property this spring, an herbicide application may be worthwhile, because it can kill above-ground growth, meaning a reduced likelihood for seed production that will worsen problem.

Four common South Dakota ticks: American dog, Rocky Mountain wood, blacklegged and Lonestar.

Spring is here, and so are the ticks!

As spring continues to bloom, more arthropods will begin to emerge from winter dormancy. Ticks are among the first to appear, and statewide reports have already been flowing in.