Picture Perfect: Snapshots

The contest was sponsored by Lawn & Landscape and the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA), and winners were announced during PLCAA’s annual dinner at the 2000 Green Industry Expo in Indianapolis, Ind. Winners received recognition for their care of a specific property in four categories (warm-season commercial, warm-season residential, cool-season commercial, cool-season residential) and a $200 Travel Worldwide Network travel voucher for this year’s PLCAA Conference and GIE show in Tampa, Fla.

Following are some details about each winning lawn care company and the photogenic properties they maintain.

SOIL SOLUTIONS -Atwood Lawncare, Sterling Hts., Mich.
Winner in the cool-season turf, residential category.

This residential property, which has been cared for by Atwood Lawncare for the past five years, has a Kentucky bluegrass lawn and the difficulties in caring for it stem from the soil, which is more sandy or more clay in various areas.

“The front of the house has a sandier deposit and it is irrigated,” pointed out Steve Martinko, North Oakland branch manager, Atwood Lawncare. “The rear of the house is clay and un-irrigated. We fluctuate the fertilizer treatments in the front and back using both slow-release liquid and granular applications, depending on how the yard is doing, and on temperatures and weather conditions.”

Atwood Lawncare technicians visit the ½-acre property every five to six weeks and apply five treatments throughout the year - three liquid and two granular. Last year, chinch bugs were a problem and they were controlled using Integrated Pest Management, which is a method the company firmly believes in.

The property also contains 50 to 100 white pines of various heights between 12 and 15 feet. These trees are susceptible to root collar weeble, which likes white pines of this height and is drawn to the warm, soft bark of the pines in the summer. The bores tunnel around the bark layer, turning the leaves yellow and eventually girdling the pine. Six of these bores were spotted on the trees last year, Martinko said, so the company is monitoring the property more carefully.

BANKING ON GREEN SPACES - Southeastern Outdoor Management, Panama City, Fla.
Winner in the warm-season turf, commercial category.

The landscape at the corporate headquarters of Peoples First Community Bank, Panama City, Fla., was originally designed by Southeastern Outdoor Management more than one year ago. The company has been maintaining the property ever since.

A variety of landscape materials on this property are located in tight “green” spaces, pointed out Katy Harrell, the company’s senior project manager/designer, which increases the challenges of caring for this property.

For instance, the clients want a well-manicured turf look in the summer, so the St. Augustinegrass is mowed to 1½ inches, which means the crew must be cautious not to scalp sod areas. In the winter, mowing height is raised to 2 inches and mowing frequency is decreased.

Insects, such as mole crickets, and fungus problems are the company’s biggest challenges in dealing with St. Augustinegrass, especially in areas that are overly wet. Making sure turf areas get proper irrigation helps eliminate these problems.

A slow-release granular fertilizer, such as 16-4-8 or 13-6-6, is applied once in the spring and once in the fall. Due to the long-lasting qualities of slow-release fertilizers (according to Harrell, they last about three months), the company usually does not have to fertilize again. And switching to a liquid fertilizer made more sense this past season. “In the summertime, the humidity and the temperature combined made it too hot to apply a granular fertilizer without burning the grass,” Harrell explained. “Liquid absorbs more quickly than granular and made it possible for us to fertilize in the summer.”

The site also contains many varieties of Hollies and Hawthorn, which are susceptible to scale - a problematic insect in Florida the past few years, Harrell said. “The humidity seems just right for these insects to breed, and then, in many areas, the sticky residue they leave combined with the moisture content causes sooty mold on many plants,” she said. “We try to locate these pests in the early stages before they become a problem, so smaller quantities of chemicals are needed to control them. Currently, we are searching for new ways to control scale. For instance, the use of drip irrigation on a majority of our job sites eliminates the excess water from leafy plant surfaces caused by standard spray irrigation and seems to help slowdown the black, sooty mold problem.

A DESERT OASIS - J.R. LandCare Ground dba Yards “R” Us Landscape Services, N. Las Vegas, Nev.
Winner in the cool-season turf, commercial category.

In the Mojave Desert, summer heat rises to 110 to 115 degrees, while winter temperatures plummet to 25 to 30 degrees. Yet the residents of the 320-unit Oasis Pines condominium community demand emerald green turf throughout the year, explained Rob Diaz, the company’s president.

In this harsh climate, maintaining color in the tall fescue lawn is a challenge. For this purpose, the turf is mowed at 3 inches in the summer and 2¼ inches in the winter, in addition to regular aeration and the addition of organic matter. A portion of this 17.5-acre property was renovated to reflect desert landscaping for water conservation purposes. Water management is crucial in this climate to obtain maximum turf color, Diaz said.

The J.R. LandCare Ground crew is on-site 48.5 hours weekly to mow, edge, trim, fertilize and conduct soil analyses.

The lawn care program consists of five applications per year, including preemergent and postemergent weed control, using mostly granular products. “One of our applications is a sulphur application, which aids in maintaining proper pH levels due to the high pH in our soils,” Diaz explained.

Specifically, the property is susceptible to aphids, white fly, white grub and summer patch. Careful water management and the use of organic products protects the property from insects and diseases.

HURRICANE SURVIVOR - Adams Gardening Services, Rocky Mountain, N.C.
Winner in the warm-season turf, residential category.

In 2000, eastern North Carolina saw its fair share of hurricanes. And so did this three-hole private golf course, which was flooded by Hurricane Dennis twice and Hurricane Floyd once in the same year.

Water clean-up, damage repair and dealing with site drainage problems proved to be daunting tasks for Adams Gardening Services, Rocky Mountain, N.C., pointed out Joel Adams, president of the company. “It took us one year to get the irrigation system calibrated because of all the high and low areas on the property, and this was done by constantly changing the controller on different zones to find out what worked best,” he said. “Clean up after the floods included picking up all the mulch, pine needles and clippings that came through the woods with the water. We had to get the water and scum off of the turf immediately so it didn’t suffocate.”

Adams fertilizes the property five times a year and overseeds the Bermudagrass turf with perennial ryegrass in the late fall. The crew mows the property at 7/8 inches in the winter and ¾ inches in the summer. Liquid fungicide is used to control the dollar spot, which the turf is susceptible to.