A to Z, from spring to fall—and beyond.
We provide the following services for your trees & shrubs:
Fertilization.
Treatment for insects and diseases.
Pruning.
Weed control in planting beds.
Planting Bed Weed Control
Do you have a problem keeping weeds from invading your planting beds? We can provide season-long control of weeds by applying pre-emergent weed controls in the spring and performing maintenance applications throughout the season to keep all of your landscape clean and weed-free.
Plant Health Care
Our approach to tree and shrub treatment is not just a “shotgun” approach by feeding and/or treating every single planting on your property. That could be wasteful, hazardous, and environmentally irresponsible.
Fertilization
The fact is that most established trees and shrubs don’t require regular feeding unless they’ve been:
attacked by insects and/or diseases.
installed in an urban environment where nutrients are not readily available
installed in the wrong site
physically damaged, or have otherwise been weakened to the point that a feeding or would be helpful.
Treatment
Every landscape is different. Not everyone has the same number, and diversity, of plant types. Many plants may never have a disease or insect issue. That being said, there are some common ornamental plantings that are prone to having them. Let us concentrate our efforts on those and we can develop a plan for keeping them healthy, all the while keeping an eye out for other problems. We can also apply preventative treatments for serious invasive pests such as emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid, and Asian long-horned beetle.
How It Works
We use Integrated Pest Management principles in our programs. This means that we use many different tools for pest management that may or may not include chemical control. We’ll take the following steps:
1) Site assessment
First, we find out which plantings are of greatest concern. We then evaluate them by visual examination. We can also perform a tissue analysis, as needed, if we suspect any disease or insect pest that may be hard to properly diagnose. We will also take a soil sample to test pH, nutrient availability, and organic matter content. The results of these evaluations will form the basis for any treatment plan. There are fees associated with the soil and tissue sampling based upon the number of samples required.
2) Recommendations
Based on the evaluation/test results, we’ll recommend an action plan for either monitoring your landscape periodically or treating specific problems on a schedule best suited for success. We will list these proposals on our Tree & Shrub Analysis and Service Agreement form.
3) Monitoring/treatment program
Our service schedule will be based upon the best treatment regimen for your landscape. It may be as often as needed for a specific pest or just monitoring the landscape. We may not even end up making any treatment applications if we do not find any pest problems. This will minimize the cost to you and the effect upon the environment.
Our Treatments
If our recommendations include a treatment regimen, we have many tools and products at our disposal.
We can apply treatments both topically, with the traditional spray, and/or systemically, through injection directly into the trunk of larger trees, or by soil injection. We also have a variety of control products available to us. Many of these are natural organic products, with little to no toxicity to pets, pollinators, and humans. For example, horticultural oil, insecticidal soaps, biological controls, and newer generation synthesized products are virtually harmless to humans and pets. These will be our first choice. Broad spectrum chemical controls may be very effective on pests but usually also kill beneficial organisms. They will only be used when we feel that the more environmentally friendly products will not be effective.
Pruning
Here are the “rules of thumb” for timing of pruning and trimming:
If you want to drastically reduce the size and shape of any tree or shrub, then the dormant season (late fall/winter) is the time to do it. Bear in mind that any such reduction, of spring-flowering plants, will likely reduce flowering.
If you just want to maintain the size and form of spring-flowering plants, then summer is the time to trim them. This timing allows new flower buds to form for the next season.
Late season pruning is best for the following plants which are:
too large for their location (encroaching on your house, walkways, patios)
misshapen due to damage
too large for your liking
in need of clearing beneath them for mowing, etc.
The dormant season is an ideal time to prune many trees and shrubs because:
Bare trees are easier to prune. It’s easier to see the branches and shape them for better form next season
There’s no insect or disease activity to endanger fresh pruning cuts.
Pruning cuts will heal quickly during spring growth.
We can do corrective pruning of your ornamental trees and shrubs during the dormant season (late fall/winter). If you’re just looking to maintain the form, and size, of your spring flowering trees and shrubs, we can trim them in the summer.
“Friendship is a sheltering tree.”