Which services make up the bulk of your phc business?

[Dbodave]

EAB treatments have become the bulk of our work in recent years. Tree fertilization comes in second. Spray applications for apple scab, needlecast and diplodia come in around 3rd, making our spring very busy. We also do DED/ OW injections, mineral injections and various insecticide treatments, but they only account for a small amount of the work generated.

Ideally fertilization would make up the bulk of work as the treatments can be done any time in spring or fall and product cost is fairly low. There's also a period in late summer when we catch up on jobs and it slows down. It gives us an opportunity to revisit sites and evaluate health of trees we treated, but it would be nice if the phc dept had more ways to earn revenue during the slow period.

I met with our regional arborjet tech manager last week and he mentioned nutri root being a good product to use in summer as it helps retain moisture during dry conditions. I tried it on some new planted trees last year that looked very bad and they looked terrific later in the summer. I may look into using it more next year. I was thinking it's a good product for newly planted trees but might also try it on drought stressed trees. Normally we only recommend watering stressed trees.

 

[Dbodave]

Quick 1 min video I found on nutri root.

 

[Dbodave]

Video on lesco moisture manager
http://www.moisturemanager.com/video.html

 

[Jed1124]

EAB has been very good to us as well. Fruit, needle cast, ferts, but we also do a lot of Hemlock treatments for adelgid. Air spading was very good this year and the results from it are great. Tick sprays and deer repellent can round out a phc program nicely.

 

[Dbodave]

Thanks for sharing Jed. Could you give any more info on air spade? One of our customers had soil remediation done on a couple trees by another company. It looked to me the soil was greatly fluffed up and loosened 3-4 feet out from the trunk, within the mulch ring. It was maybe an eighth of the critical root zone.
Mosquitos are a big concern in our area, but I think the timing necessary would cut into applescab sprays.

 

[Jed1124]

Thanks for sharing Jed. Could you give any more info on air spade? One of our customers had soil remediation done on a couple trees by another company. It looked to me the soil was greatly fluffed up and loosened 3-4 feet out from the trunk, within the mulch ring. It was maybe an eighth of the critical root zone.
Mosquitos are a big concern in our area, but I think the timing necessary would cut into applescab sprays.

I like to go out to the drip line if I can. Some guys stick to radial trenching. I incorporate decayed wood chips into the soil and then follow up with a bio stimulant application. The results are not over night, but by year two or three the way the trees fill out is unbelievable. I had some ash that had suffered from yellows that were very thin that I did in 2011. I went back last year to inject them for EAB and I could not believe how good they looked. Gave me a lot more confidence in selling the service. Like usual, I wish I had before and after pictures. I have also seen good results on mature sugar maples.

 

[Dbodave]

Are you able to aerate through sod? or does sod need to be removed. I know compaction has to be one of the biggest factors limiting trees potential. I would like to get into air spade, but the videos I watched looked kind of messy and didn't seem like they doing much; just kind of blowing dirt around. I'm glad you are getting good results though. Keep us posted if you get any before and after shots. Thanks!

 

[Jed1124]

Are you able to aerate through sod? or does sod need to be removed. I know compaction has to be one of the biggest factors limiting trees potential. I would like to get into air spade, but the videos I watched looked kind of messy and didn't seem like they doing much; just kind of blowing dirt around. I'm glad you are getting good results though. Keep us posted if you get any before and after shots. Thanks!

Some guys aerate through sod by hole punching, then add amendments to each hole. If your going to to an entire root zone you will have to replant grass after the operation. I prefer to try to sell a mulch bed with the air spading. Keeps the mowers and foot traffic down around a tree that a client has already invested in.

 

[ATH]

Yeah....you can cut through sod. The most important thing is to have dcent soil moisture.

It is messy. You will get dirt in places you did not have exposed.

It is just moving soil around..."fluffing" it up, it you will. So like Jed said, mulch over the area is a food idea to limit re-compaction.

 

[Jed1124]

Yeah....you can cut through sod. The most important thing is to have dcent soil moisture.

It is messy. You will get dirt in places you did not have exposed.

It is just moving soil around..."fluffing" it up, it you will. So like Jed said, mulch over the area is a food idea to limit re-compaction.

We use construction helmets with the clear plastic face shield with the plastic flap to cover the neck. I also have disposable painters suits and dust masks for myself and all the guys. It's dirty that's for sure.
I got one of the climbing crews this year because we had to fit all the spading into a short window of time due to the drought. I made sure to have coffee and donuts in the morning and lunch a couple of times a week for the guys to keep their spirits up.