Mainscape Blog
Fungicide and Disease Management
Fungicide and Disease Management
As the Technical Director at Mainscape, I receive a lot of questions this time of year about ornamental plants not looking good and it appears they have active fungus on the leaf material. Some of the damage is active fungus and some of the damage is caused from cold temperatures and/or fungus can be secondary to the cold temperatures on some ornamentals.
All too often the quick fix is a fungicide. A fungicide application should be viewed as a “band-aid” and not a curative procedure. Fungicide will protect the plant’s unaffected leaves until the environmental circumstances that predicated the disease change or are altered by Mainscape employees. Leaves that are already damaged will not be returned to health those cells are already beyond repair typically and will eventually fall from the plant.
At Mainscape, we use a systemic fungicide in our program. It is the most expensive option for us and it can act as a protectant for new leaf emergence as well as some curative properties to stop any new lesions on already affected leaves. It also provides us the longest residual and is generally recognized as the broadest spectrum fungicide controlling many different diseases.
How to Prepare for Snow Removal
How to Prepare for Snow Removal
As snow and landscape professionals, we are often times asked what we can do to prepare for snow removal. This is a great question and it boils down to just a few easy ideas.
- Protect the Turf
- Make sure that you get out in front of the snow and stake the area that is to be plowed with reflective markers. This is done to help the plow trucks understand the proper areas to plow. It also is a nice barrier so that the trucks do not accidentally plow the turf instead of the drive.
Irrigation Team Members gain accreditation from Florida Water Star
Florida Water StarSM is a water conservation certification program for new and existing homes and commercial developments. Program standards and guidelines for water efficiency are included for household appliances, plumbing fixtures, irrigation systems and landscapes. New homes and commercial sites can achieve gold or silver status while the bronze status is designed for retrofit of existing homes. The program is sponsored by several of the water management districts throughout Florida.
My Thankful Time of the Year
Fall in Indiana is not just the sign that winter is around the corner. It is the time of year to remember what we are thankful for. It is also the beginning of leaves falling on the ground and over the years I have learned to be thankful for them.
I live in a heavily wooded area that bursts into color at the start of fall. Being thankful for the trees’ beauty is easy but at the end of their splendor, I have a mess. About 40 bags worth of leaves! Here is why my family and I are thankful for the mess.
Mainscape launches new irrigation service
With Fall in the air, Mainscape added central control monitoring to it’s water management offerings. Some of the larger more sophisticated irrigation systems are run by one single computer. This type of system can control several hundred if not thousands of zones. The advantage to a centrally controlled system is that the computer can manage all the zones to work in harmony. Without this synchronization, irrigation technicians must be responsible for making dozens of field controllers work together. This can be a tedious task with the slightest mistake causing the program to fail.
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Juniper Problems in Southwest Florida
Click for a full size image
Does this picture look familiar? This picture was taken in October 2011 after a long hot wet summer. I want everyone to focus on the front side of the bed. Do you notice the elevation change? The area of declining Junipers holds water. Note the Juniper in the background appear healthier, they also have an incremental grade change that allows excess water to be channeled away from their roots. Please also note the algae and mold on the sidewalk, also an indicator of poorly draining soils.
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Leveraging Technology
Mainscape has made a commitment to leverage technology to gain a competitive advantage in our industry. Our focus over the last few years has been the use of cell phones to electronically submit employee time information. This allows us to quickly measure performance, process payroll and generate invoices to list a few. With the relatively low cost of todays “smart” phones, we have begun to take this a step further…
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Mulch Volcano
What? Should I run for cover? Undoubtedly, you pass within feet of disaster in the making every day. They are noticeable from the expressway and adjacent to sidewalks. If all is quiet, you may hear faint cries of distress. The volcano is not an act of nature forming an island in the Pacific Ocean, but an all too common practice by professional landscapers and private residents. Mulch volcano’s place great stress upon the tree, resulting in decreased vigor and increased susceptibility to pests.
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Is your Landscape Green
Did you read that write? Or that as well? Hahah.
As a side note, my wife has been subjected to this sad, yes, I mean sad, state of affairs and summary of my sad humor for eight years. Can she survive, let alone endure, such torture? Maybe some would prefer the water and the board to such demise.
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Imprellis Damage or Lack Thereof
Some of you who are tuned into the horticultural world of the newest, latest, and greatest might of heard of a new herbicide product called Imprellis. I attended a seminar in Sarasota in December 2010 put on by the DuPont folks who discovered the molecule, placed it through rigorous testing and research, managed to navigate it through the E.P.A. pipeline and finally get it to market. This process I was told amounted to about $250 million dollars, not small change
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