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Jessica Schwartz
Fall Fertilization Tips: One Size Does Not Fit All
Like politics, all lawn care in America is local—well, let’s make that regional. But you get the point. Consider the differences in turfgrass growing conditions from Cleveland to Miami to Oklahoma City. Each region is markedly different in seasonal temperatures, precipitation levels, soil types and the dominant turfgrass species most suited to their unique conditions. In other words, when it comes to fall fertilization, one size does not fit all. Lawn fertility regimes that benefit turfgrass in one region are wasteful and may even harm lawns in another. Also, soils in different regions of the country (even soils within a single region or market) may differ in terms of soil pH and plant-available nutrients such as phosphorus and potassium. Don’t guess. If you don’t know what’s in the soil, how can you accurately prescribe a fertility program that’s most beneficial to the turfgrass it supports? When in doubt rely on soil tests to show you the way, especially for new or struggling properties coming under your care. Personnel at your county extension office can help you with advice and soil tests. In many cases their services are free. Read about Soil Test Reports from the Winter 2020 Issue of Turf. Now’s the time to fertilize. Let’s start with the birthplace of modern lawn care, the Northeast and Midwest where cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass and tall fescue dominate residential and commercial properties. If you can only fertilize these cool-season grasses once a year, do it in ...
Fall Fertilization Tips: One Size Does Not Fit All
Like politics, all lawn care in America is local—well, let’s make that regional. But you get the point. Consider the differences in turfgrass growing conditions from Cleveland to Miami to Oklahoma City. Each region is markedly different in seasonal temperatures, precipitation levels, soil types and the dominant turfgrass species most suited to their unique conditions. In other words, when it comes to fall fertilization, one size does not fit all. Lawn fertility regimes that benefit turfgrass in one region are wasteful and may even harm lawns in another. Also, soils in different regions of the country (even soils within a single region or market) may differ in terms of soil pH and plant-available nutrients such as phosphorus and potassium. Don’t guess. If you don’t know what’s in the soil, how can you accurately prescribe a fertility program that’s most beneficial to the turfgrass it supports? When in doubt rely on soil tests to show you the way, especially for new or struggling properties coming under your care. Personnel at your county extension office can help you with advice and soil tests. In many cases their services are free. Read about Soil Test Reports from the Winter 2020 Issue of Turf. Now’s the time to fertilize. Let’s start with the birthplace of modern lawn care, the Northeast and Midwest where cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass and tall fescue dominate residential and commercial properties. If you can only fertilize these cool-season grasses once a year, do it in ...
Drainage & Retaining Walls
Retaining walls are useful structures that form a transition between areas of different elevation. Retaining walls allow steep, unusable slopes to be avoided. A retaining wall will make use of the vertical forces from the wall itself and any soil above the wall’s footing to resist the lateral forces from the soil being retained. This balance can be upset when additional lateral forces act on the wall. When water accumulates behind a retaining wall, the lateral forces acting on the wall increase. The more water that has collected behind a retaining wall, the greater the hydrostatic pressure on the wall will be. If the overturning moment (caused by the total lateral forces) exceeds the resisting moment (caused by the total vertical forces), the wall will fail. There are several ways to prevent water from building up behind a retaining wall. Weep holes should be drilled through the wall. Weep holes allow water to escape from behind the wall. These holes should be regularly spaced in the horizontal direction. Retaining walls with a height greater than a few feet should also have weep holes that are regularly spaced in the vertical direction, forming a grid pattern. Another method for relieving hydrostatic pressure is to install a drainage pipe behind the wall. This should be a perforated pipe, to allow water to enter it through the length of the wall. The pipe can be located just above the footing, or can be located at a higher elevation. Taller walls may require ...
Drainage & Retaining Walls
Retaining walls are useful structures that form a transition between areas of different elevation. Retaining walls allow steep, unusable slopes to be avoided. A retaining wall will make use of the vertical forces from the wall itself and any soil above the wall’s footing to resist the lateral forces from the soil being retained. This balance can be upset when additional lateral forces act on the wall. When water accumulates behind a retaining wall, the lateral forces acting on the wall increase. The more water that has collected behind a retaining wall, the greater the hydrostatic pressure on the wall will be. If the overturning moment (caused by the total lateral forces) exceeds the resisting moment (caused by the total vertical forces), the wall will fail. There are several ways to prevent water from building up behind a retaining wall. Weep holes should be drilled through the wall. Weep holes allow water to escape from behind the wall. These holes should be regularly spaced in the horizontal direction. Retaining walls with a height greater than a few feet should also have weep holes that are regularly spaced in the vertical direction, forming a grid pattern. Another method for relieving hydrostatic pressure is to install a drainage pipe behind the wall. This should be a perforated pipe, to allow water to enter it through the length of the wall. The pipe can be located just above the footing, or can be located at a higher elevation. Taller walls may require ...
Work-Life Balancing Act
Whatever the season, lawn care and landscape pros are busy with one aspect or another of business and operations. This past summer, Turf spoke with Chant Singvongsa, owner of Singvongsa Landscaping in Jackson, MN, founded in 2009. In this interview, Singvongsa shared insight on how he balances work during the busy season (and year-round), as well the drivers behind the growth of his business over the past 12 years. Turf: How did you get started in the lawn care and landscape business? Chant Singvongsa: The idea for starting this business occurred when my wife and I bought a home and needed to mow our lawn. I purchased a 21″ Craftsman lawnmower. To help pay for it, I knocked on my neighbors’ doors offering to mow their lawns. After slowly growing the number of homes I was servicing, this turned into a side business. Eventually, I secured enough customers to make it my full-time focus and was able to quit my factory job. Today, my landscaping business employs four people and offers complete lawn care, landscaping, hardscaping, snow removal, and tree trimming. Through my landscaping business, I discovered my passion for sharing what I was learning about entrepreneurship and started a YouTube channel—Chant’s Daily Hustle—where I show my more than 27,000 subscribers what it takes to start from nothing, build a successful business, and positively influence others. Turf: When you started out in the landscaping business, what did you expect to be most challenging? CS: When I first started my landscaping ...
Work-Life Balancing Act
Whatever the season, lawn care and landscape pros are busy with one aspect or another of business and operations. This past summer, Turf spoke with Chant Singvongsa, owner of Singvongsa Landscaping in Jackson, MN, founded in 2009. In this interview, Singvongsa shared insight on how he balances work during the busy season (and year-round), as well the drivers behind the growth of his business over the past 12 years. Turf: How did you get started in the lawn care and landscape business? Chant Singvongsa: The idea for starting this business occurred when my wife and I bought a home and needed to mow our lawn. I purchased a 21″ Craftsman lawnmower. To help pay for it, I knocked on my neighbors’ doors offering to mow their lawns. After slowly growing the number of homes I was servicing, this turned into a side business. Eventually, I secured enough customers to make it my full-time focus and was able to quit my factory job. Today, my landscaping business employs four people and offers complete lawn care, landscaping, hardscaping, snow removal, and tree trimming. Through my landscaping business, I discovered my passion for sharing what I was learning about entrepreneurship and started a YouTube channel—Chant’s Daily Hustle—where I show my more than 27,000 subscribers what it takes to start from nothing, build a successful business, and positively influence others. Turf: When you started out in the landscaping business, what did you expect to be most challenging? CS: When I first started my landscaping ...
Performing A Tree Species Analysis
Do your clients have too many of too few tree species? Probably. An overabundance of just a handful—such as elm, eucalyptus, Austrian pine, ash, silver maple and linden—is problematic. With species-targeting maladies such as Dutch elm disease and emerald ash borer, over-reliance on a particular tree, tempting as it may be, usually leads to big problems. Any property can be greatly improved with an evaluation aimed towards achieving greater tree diversity. Have The Conversation Among the services you provide to clients, is a tree species diversity analysis one of them? Or maybe that’s not the right term. “Right Trees, Right Place” or “Let’s Grow the Good Stuff” might get the point across better to customers. When you’re making the pitch, use terms and concepts they can relate to, such as an HVAC service contract. Create the analogy that periodic landscape assessments are essential to the continued health of the plantings, just as regular heating and cooling system inspections ensure equipment is operating efficiently. When the time is right, a walk and talk with the property owner is a great opportunity to point this out and transform problem plantings into a profit center. Create A Simple Sketch No expensive tools are needed for this one—just a sketch pad, or graph paper, and a pencil. Identify each tree and plant grouping and look for ways to introduce a more diverse group of species. A simple tear-off pad with your company logo and contact information on it will help keep the notes you ...
Performing A Tree Species Analysis
Do your clients have too many of too few tree species? Probably. An overabundance of just a handful—such as elm, eucalyptus, Austrian pine, ash, silver maple and linden—is problematic. With species-targeting maladies such as Dutch elm disease and emerald ash borer, over-reliance on a particular tree, tempting as it may be, usually leads to big problems. Any property can be greatly improved with an evaluation aimed towards achieving greater tree diversity. Have The Conversation Among the services you provide to clients, is a tree species diversity analysis one of them? Or maybe that’s not the right term. “Right Trees, Right Place” or “Let’s Grow the Good Stuff” might get the point across better to customers. When you’re making the pitch, use terms and concepts they can relate to, such as an HVAC service contract. Create the analogy that periodic landscape assessments are essential to the continued health of the plantings, just as regular heating and cooling system inspections ensure equipment is operating efficiently. When the time is right, a walk and talk with the property owner is a great opportunity to point this out and transform problem plantings into a profit center. Create A Simple Sketch No expensive tools are needed for this one—just a sketch pad, or graph paper, and a pencil. Identify each tree and plant grouping and look for ways to introduce a more diverse group of species. A simple tear-off pad with your company logo and contact information on it will help keep the notes you ...
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 ...
