Tim,
that's the difference between "consulting" and sweating for a living - you recommend it, on paper, detailing where to buy it cheapest, how to apply it appropriately, then bill them for the time/travel/assessment.
I used to conduct a Sunday morning live radio interview from my cabin on the phone with callers to the station a hundred miles away. Focus on oak wilt and callers were peppered throughout the State.
Sans the diagnostic necessities of seeing evidence firsthand and lacking the appropriate lab protocols of isolating specific pathogens from live samples, I had to seat-of-the-pants navigate by dead reckoning and descriptions of a myriad of physical symptoms interpreted thru a variant of descriptions provided by disgruntled homeowners, trophy wives, and illiterate immigrants. Given the characteristic attributes of symptomology regarding oak wilt, a 99% certainty of reverse venal necrosis implicating active disease is more dependable than university lab isolation studies, and it takes less time, plus it has no error of false positives.
Recommendations were certainly more forthcoming than personal visits to sites and trees in question - I couldn't physically see to every potential customer needing help, but was very familiar with conventional suggested treatment regimens - all of which eventually fail their intended purpose. We did, however tend to retain some of the more interesting and challenging calls for later visits in person.
Ferrous Sulfate was the treatment of choice. Immediate, and obtainable from varied sources cheaply and applied with no degree of complication or requirements that certification thru State agency or professional affliates need complicate any self-application - and illiterate and foreign intellects could as easily apply this mixture as the most tested Spalatial Physicist.
Reports back from happy homeowners flooded my mailbox or returned calls live on the air. I had to remind people that this was a quick intervention, designed to suppress active symptoms until an evaluation could occur, given time and need. Eventually a toxin to be applied and a systemic treatment to increase the host's suppressive response would be recommended to further the success of this treatment, but never did I ever get around to seeing all who called. I won't ever, either. I no longer treat disease or consult for decline. Nonetheless, people still write and express joy.
To nip this long story short - to make it relevent anyway - you need not be there every morning after a night of precipitation to re-"dust" the crotches with spicy Mexican flavour additions. Get them to do it - save them money, make you some, and solve the problem. A good way to pave the road for success over the longer term than American business is customized to doing.
That's all.
Good luck,
Reed
