The proverbial slow season, which varies in length depending on geography, can be downright difficult for tree service companies to survive. While it is possible to do enough work during the busy season to make ends meet year round, such an approach doesn’t make for a good work-life balance. The …
Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, was instrumental in bringing about a nationwide ban on DDT and sparked the environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). New science, however, has demonstrated that many of the claims made in Silent Spring were either exaggerated or …
Many western states are prone to wildfires. Unfortunately, wildfires often spread to involve rural, suburban, and even urban communities. Landscaping, however, can play a huge role in reducing the threat that wildfires pose to a structure. It may involve moving trees, shrubs and plants as well as choosing plants that …
In recent years, best management practice (BMP) guidelines and corresponding regulations have focused heavily on container nurseries. Using the right nursery equipment as well as implementing BMPs can actually help nurseries save money by reducing costs. In some cases, nurseries that implement BMPs can receive state assistance to defray costs. …
If you operate a nursery or tree farm, you probably–hopefully–are visited by many customers during peak seasons. Like any business, you have to be concerned about safety risks for your customers, however, and how to minimize them. From the sharp edges of landscaping equipment to the endless stretches of hose …
Landscape and Nursery equipment can increase efficiency and productivity while improving safety and product quality. Machinery can also bleed you dry if you make poor choices and don’t track expenses. Understanding how equipment produces a return can help nurseries and landscape professionals improve margins, minimize losses, reduce labor costs, and …
From age-old pests to new and emerging diseases, the threats to nurseries and tree farms come from every angle. Every manager knows that the key to healthy plants is the prevention of disease outbreaks, but prevention requires constant vigilance. Rather than keeping track of individual diseases, a better solution may …
Delivering water to trees is essential to ensuring proper growth. It is also an expensive and time-consuming process. Many tree farmers are being forced, as a result of climate change, regulation, and simple economics, to rethink how they water their trees. Drip irrigation provides cost savings and a bevy of …
The boxwood is often referred to as “man’s oldest garden ornamental.” The boxwood, which has been planted in European and North American gardens since the mid-1600s, is popular because it can be used in hedges and groupings or as an individual specimen. Until recently, it was also easy to maintain …
Sudden Oak Death (SOD) is becoming a major threat to a number of plants. First identified in 1995 in California, Sudden Oak Death has spread to several commercial nurseries across the U.S. The presence of this emerging tree disease in cold-weather climates suggests it has the potential to spread far …