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Turf Winter 2021 Issue
Editor’s Letter: Raise Your Glass “At the end of each landscaping season most owners are either raising their glasses or scratching their heads,” writes Josh Currivan, owner of Currivan Green Landscaping in “Optimizing Your Profits.” And it’s true. It’s only after the craze of busy, daily work do most owners have a chance to sit, tally up the numbers, and realize how their year truly fared. The New Year is a time of reflection and resolutions for everyone—but it’s especially true for landscapers whose “off-season” occurs at the same time. What went right? What went wrong? How can 2022 be better? Currivan’s article speaks to the heart of this analysis and reminds us that client numbers—or even how busy you were—don’t always equal a great bottom line. He urges peers to do business homework now, in January, and provides a timeline and solid strategies for realizing true profit in 2022 and beyond. In many ways, it’s the most important work you’ll do all year. Even with numbers-based decisions, growth is not without risk and Currivan details his tumultuous 2021. Joel Schaubel, Senior VP of Lending at LMN, addresses this risk/reward dynamic in “Investing In Equipment.” While providing a formula for “lease vs. own vs. keep,” he points out that choosing not to buy new equipment carries its own risk of downtime and lost opportunities. In terms of opportunities, Winter is also the perfect time for exploring new revenue sources. Want billable hours on rainy days or in the off-season? This ...
Turf Winter 2021 Issue
Editor’s Letter: Raise Your Glass “At the end of each landscaping season most owners are either raising their glasses or scratching their heads,” writes Josh Currivan, owner of Currivan Green Landscaping in “Optimizing Your Profits.” And it’s true. It’s only after the craze of busy, daily work do most owners have a chance to sit, tally up the numbers, and realize how their year truly fared. The New Year is a time of reflection and resolutions for everyone—but it’s especially true for landscapers whose “off-season” occurs at the same time. What went right? What went wrong? How can 2022 be better? Currivan’s article speaks to the heart of this analysis and reminds us that client numbers—or even how busy you were—don’t always equal a great bottom line. He urges peers to do business homework now, in January, and provides a timeline and solid strategies for realizing true profit in 2022 and beyond. In many ways, it’s the most important work you’ll do all year. Even with numbers-based decisions, growth is not without risk and Currivan details his tumultuous 2021. Joel Schaubel, Senior VP of Lending at LMN, addresses this risk/reward dynamic in “Investing In Equipment.” While providing a formula for “lease vs. own vs. keep,” he points out that choosing not to buy new equipment carries its own risk of downtime and lost opportunities. In terms of opportunities, Winter is also the perfect time for exploring new revenue sources. Want billable hours on rainy days or in the off-season? This ...
Three Tree & Shrub Pests To Watch
Last December, a CNN article declared 2020 as the year of scary bugs. But 2021 has perhaps been worse with the return of the infamous murder hornets, 17-year-dormant Brood X cicadas, spotted lanternflies, and more. Unfortunately, pests can sabotage the enjoyment of outdoor spaces. And 75% of people deemed outdoor spaces as indispensable this past year, according to a survey conducted on behalf of TruGreen by OnePoll. To ensure outdoor spaces remain a place of reprieve, here’s the latest information on some of the most problematic invasives that affect trees and shrubs. Emerald Ash Borer Originally from Asia, the emerald ash borer (EAB) was first discovered in the Detroit area around 2002. Strong flyers, they have since spread to 35 states (AL, AR, CO, CT, DE, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, Nebraska, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, VA, WV, and WI) and four provinces in Canada. Though half an inch long, the metallic green EAB causes great damage to the circulatory systems of green, white, and black ash trees. Adults emerge in late May (or earlier in warm weather), with females laying eggs shortly thereafter. Upon hatching, larvae quickly bore into the tree, feeding on the cambium and disrupting the tree’s vascular system. Feeding damage inhibits the tree’s ability to transport photosynthates, water, and nutrients between the roots and leaves, resulting in canopy thinning, branch dieback, and epicormic sprouting. Often, EAB presence and damage may not be obvious to clients ...
Three Tree & Shrub Pests To Watch
Last December, a CNN article declared 2020 as the year of scary bugs. But 2021 has perhaps been worse with the return of the infamous murder hornets, 17-year-dormant Brood X cicadas, spotted lanternflies, and more. Unfortunately, pests can sabotage the enjoyment of outdoor spaces. And 75% of people deemed outdoor spaces as indispensable this past year, according to a survey conducted on behalf of TruGreen by OnePoll. To ensure outdoor spaces remain a place of reprieve, here’s the latest information on some of the most problematic invasives that affect trees and shrubs. Emerald Ash Borer Originally from Asia, the emerald ash borer (EAB) was first discovered in the Detroit area around 2002. Strong flyers, they have since spread to 35 states (AL, AR, CO, CT, DE, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, Nebraska, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, VA, WV, and WI) and four provinces in Canada. Though half an inch long, the metallic green EAB causes great damage to the circulatory systems of green, white, and black ash trees. Adults emerge in late May (or earlier in warm weather), with females laying eggs shortly thereafter. Upon hatching, larvae quickly bore into the tree, feeding on the cambium and disrupting the tree’s vascular system. Feeding damage inhibits the tree’s ability to transport photosynthates, water, and nutrients between the roots and leaves, resulting in canopy thinning, branch dieback, and epicormic sprouting. Often, EAB presence and damage may not be obvious to clients ...
Fall Leaf Mulching
For those in landscaping, fall is one of the hardest working seasons of the year with shorter daylight hours, large projects wrapping up, and the tsunami of leaves which “need” attending to before the snows fall. But what if the annual ritual of leaf clean-ups was reexamined? What about a simpler method, with a better understanding of the entire landscape, that leads to less labor, more profit, and satisfied customers? The Why When it comes to fall cleanups, you tend to see a lot of young bravado on display. I say that with certainty because in my younger days, I was long on biceps, but short on wisdom and learned intelligence. Then, in 2003, while walking in the woods one day, I noticed there was hardly a sound at my feet. The leaves hadn’t started falling yet and there was virtually no leaf litter on the forest floor. I leaned over, looked more closely, and noticed the remnants of skeletonized leaves—and lots and lots of worm cast. Hmm, I had never thought about what happens to leaves in the woods? As a landscaper, leaves were something one got all pumped up about in October, something that had to be handled, literally, in the coming weeks. “Leaves are bad, I’ve got to clean them up,” was the mindset. Around 2000, I had downsized my business. Gone were the leaf vacuum trucks, the workforce, and most of the equipment, so how was I going to handle leaves with a body that wasn’t ...
Fall Leaf Mulching
For those in landscaping, fall is one of the hardest working seasons of the year with shorter daylight hours, large projects wrapping up, and the tsunami of leaves which “need” attending to before the snows fall. But what if the annual ritual of leaf clean-ups was reexamined? What about a simpler method, with a better understanding of the entire landscape, that leads to less labor, more profit, and satisfied customers? The Why When it comes to fall cleanups, you tend to see a lot of young bravado on display. I say that with certainty because in my younger days, I was long on biceps, but short on wisdom and learned intelligence. Then, in 2003, while walking in the woods one day, I noticed there was hardly a sound at my feet. The leaves hadn’t started falling yet and there was virtually no leaf litter on the forest floor. I leaned over, looked more closely, and noticed the remnants of skeletonized leaves—and lots and lots of worm cast. Hmm, I had never thought about what happens to leaves in the woods? As a landscaper, leaves were something one got all pumped up about in October, something that had to be handled, literally, in the coming weeks. “Leaves are bad, I’ve got to clean them up,” was the mindset. Around 2000, I had downsized my business. Gone were the leaf vacuum trucks, the workforce, and most of the equipment, so how was I going to handle leaves with a body that wasn’t ...
Tree Services: Taking Tree Care To New Heights
Editor’s Letter It finally happened this summer. Standing on my porch, a flicker caught my eye and there it was—a spotted lanternfly (SLF). I had been reporting on these invasives for several years, but had never encountered a live one in my area, let alone my yard. But I knew they were coming. Inevitable. While SLF was new to me, I had been witnessing the impact of hemlock wooly adelgid (HWA) for months in my hikes along the Hudson Highlands in NY. Quiet, sacred stretches of forest, whose shady understory was once dotted with the gorgeous “redwood of the east,” were clearly showing the effects of this Eastern and Carolina hemlock-killing insect with no native predators. It’s heartbreaking. Factor in emerald ash borer (EAB) and other invasives and quite simply, the very existence of some native trees is at risk—as we learned with the catastrophic American chestnut blight. Yet in today’s global village, the influx of such threats is an ongoing problem. SLF, HWA, and EAB, are detrimental to our forests, yards, and communities, so learning early identification and proper treatment are key not only for your tree care clients but for ongoing biodiversity. When it comes to promoting biodiversity—and with the abundance of species selective insects—John Fech, a horticulturalist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, offers a perspective on the need for a greater variety of trees, or plant palette, on landscaped properties. Better yet, he takes you step by step through the process of performing a tree species analysis, ...
Tree Services: Taking Tree Care To New Heights
Editor’s Letter It finally happened this summer. Standing on my porch, a flicker caught my eye and there it was—a spotted lanternfly (SLF). I had been reporting on these invasives for several years, but had never encountered a live one in my area, let alone my yard. But I knew they were coming. Inevitable. While SLF was new to me, I had been witnessing the impact of hemlock wooly adelgid (HWA) for months in my hikes along the Hudson Highlands in NY. Quiet, sacred stretches of forest, whose shady understory was once dotted with the gorgeous “redwood of the east,” were clearly showing the effects of this Eastern and Carolina hemlock-killing insect with no native predators. It’s heartbreaking. Factor in emerald ash borer (EAB) and other invasives and quite simply, the very existence of some native trees is at risk—as we learned with the catastrophic American chestnut blight. Yet in today’s global village, the influx of such threats is an ongoing problem. SLF, HWA, and EAB, are detrimental to our forests, yards, and communities, so learning early identification and proper treatment are key not only for your tree care clients but for ongoing biodiversity. When it comes to promoting biodiversity—and with the abundance of species selective insects—John Fech, a horticulturalist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, offers a perspective on the need for a greater variety of trees, or plant palette, on landscaped properties. Better yet, he takes you step by step through the process of performing a tree species analysis, ...
Forest Service Helps Defend 9/11 Witness Trees From Insect Threat
By Melanie Brezniak Eastern Region, USDA Forest Service Twenty years have passed since the 9/11 attacks, yet there’s a feeling of permanence in a hemlock grove that stands where so many lives were lost that day in southwestern Pennsylvania. Here, the Flight 93 National Memorial draws visitors to the grove’s almost cathedral-like canopy. But for hemlocks to endure at this site, bearing witness to history, it takes the teamwork of partners led by the National Park Service (NPS). Among those partners is the Forest Service and their behind-the-scenes role defending the lofty hemlock from a tiny yet formidable threat — hemlock woolly adelgid. Flight 93 was the last of the four hijacked planes to take off on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. When reports of the other flights began to reach Flight 93’s passengers and crew, a group attempted to take back control of the plane before it was crashed by the hijackers in a field near Shanksville, PA. This group’s heroism prevented the plane from reaching what was likely a Washington target. Dedicated in 2011 and administered by the NPS, the Flight 93 National Memorial includes the 38-acre crash site and encompasses over two thousand acres. With the reforestation effort taking place on this former mining site, about half of those acres are now forested. While the larger memorial includes a mix of tree species, at its core is an 11-acre grove of almost all hemlock trees. This grove was standing when the plane made impact 20 ...
Forest Service Helps Defend 9/11 Witness Trees From Insect Threat
By Melanie Brezniak Eastern Region, USDA Forest Service Twenty years have passed since the 9/11 attacks, yet there’s a feeling of permanence in a hemlock grove that stands where so many lives were lost that day in southwestern Pennsylvania. Here, the Flight 93 National Memorial draws visitors to the grove’s almost cathedral-like canopy. But for hemlocks to endure at this site, bearing witness to history, it takes the teamwork of partners led by the National Park Service (NPS). Among those partners is the Forest Service and their behind-the-scenes role defending the lofty hemlock from a tiny yet formidable threat — hemlock woolly adelgid. Flight 93 was the last of the four hijacked planes to take off on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. When reports of the other flights began to reach Flight 93’s passengers and crew, a group attempted to take back control of the plane before it was crashed by the hijackers in a field near Shanksville, PA. This group’s heroism prevented the plane from reaching what was likely a Washington target. Dedicated in 2011 and administered by the NPS, the Flight 93 National Memorial includes the 38-acre crash site and encompasses over two thousand acres. With the reforestation effort taking place on this former mining site, about half of those acres are now forested. While the larger memorial includes a mix of tree species, at its core is an 11-acre grove of almost all hemlock trees. This grove was standing when the plane made impact 20 ...
