The Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association is disseminating a GREAT publication from the MN Dept of Ag about Emerald Ash Borer treatments and their environmental impacts.

It explains when treatments should be done and which are more likely to affect groundwater and aquatic life. Be sure to read this before you do any EAB treatments.

Click on the photo to the right or the link below to download.

Homeowners Guide to EAB Insecticide Selection, Use and Environmental Impact

Have a great day!

Brad

After a beautiful weekend in Minnesota – 75 degrees, sunny and a nice breeze – I’ll bring you back to earth today with another Emerald Ash Borer infestation reported. This one is Iowa’s first and actually doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

EAB was first reported in 2009 in Minnesota with a large infestation near Victory, WI near the Minnesota and Iowa borders. An infestation has recently been discovered in Houston County Minnesota just across the state line from the Victory site so it is very expected that an Iowa infestation would be found.

EAB Trap (photo from city of Roseville)

You’ll see purple traps throughout Iowa and Minnesota this summer looking for more sites where EAB has invaded to attempt to limit the spread of this nasty bug.

Click here to see all the information we have posted about Emerald Ash Borer.

Have a great day!

Brad

How have you been? I hope all is great! It has been a busy busy busy spring. Got an early start and everything is rolling!

Each year there are some plant materials that don’t react really well to some event – known or unknown – during the winter. The past few years spirea and evergreens were hard-hit. This seems to be the year of the maple.

We have quite a few maple trees throughout our sites that are very slow to get moving this spring. They are leafing out and I’m confident they will be ok, but property managers need to be sure to not be too quick to write them off. Be sure to also pay special attention to them throughout the growing season to watch for long-term problems that may be evident.

Have a great day!

Brad

You can check out all of our photos on flickr.com/quercusinc.

Have a great day!

Brad

The Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) introduced a great program in 2009 celebrating Earth Day called PLANET Day of Service. Volunteerism and service to our community is an important part of why Quercus is successful and a huge part of our philosophy.

This year PLANET Day of Service completed over 200 projects with 3,000 volunteers throughout the US. Three of those projects were in Minnesota with Landscape Renovations completing a project at Central Park in Woodbury, we planted shrubs, trimmed trees and cleaned beds at the Scott County Historical Museum and Wild Ways to Garden cleaned up the shoreline of Lake John in Annandale, MN.

Our project went great this year. Our employees volunteered their time and we made a big difference in the gardens around the Stans House at the Scott County Historical Museum. Here is a video with some photos from our day. You can also see more photos on our Flickr page.

I hope everyone had a great Earth Day and keep it in mind every day of the year. I will soon be posting about what Quercus does on an ongoing basis for a better world.

Have a wonderful day!

Brad

Beware the EAB Sales Pitch

You can find our podcasts in our Knowledge Base under podcasts or subscribe in iTunes!

Have a great day!

Brad

The Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) began a wonderful program last year called PLANET Day of Service. Landcare companies from all over the country perform service projects in their local communities on Earth Day.

Last year we planted a bed around a new park sign at Tahpah Neighborhood Park in Shakopee and now maintain the area. Here is a little video of what we did.

This year we are installing plant material and cleaning up the gardens around the Historic Stans House at the Scott County Historical Society here in Shakopee. We are very excited to work with Kathy Klehr, the Director, and help make the world a better place for Earth Day.

I’ll post pictures on here and you can follow us on Twitter as @quercusinc or follow all the PLANET Day of Service projects at #2010PDOS on Twitter.

Have a wonderful day!

Brad

We had a very happy thunderstorm come through the Twin Cities last night. A nice rain, beautiful lightning with not too much wind. There was a bit of hail but I didn’t notice any damage.

You ask, “What does this mean for property managers?” I assume many of you know this but it never ceases to amaze me that lightning makes grass greener! This time of year is when it is most evident. Why does this happen?

Green Grass in Kansas City

Turf is a very needy plant. You have to perform a lot of maintenance on it to keep it green and looking great. The nutrient in the soil that is most responsible for the green in your grass is nitrogen. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the Earth’s atmosphere (and nearly all of Pluto’s atmosphere.) However, nitrogen can not be used by plants simply as nitrogen, it needs to be fused with oxygen as a nitrate in order for a blade of grass to utilize it to make more chlorophyll and go green.

Nitrates are actually tough to create. Plants like soybeans, peas – members of the legume family – pair with a bacteria to create them. WWI bomb-makers created nitrates with high temperatures and high pressure and along the same process lightning creates nitrates by combining nitrogen and oxygen in the air with its extremely high temperatures. The nitrates are formed and then rain to the ground, helping green your grass.

UPDATE 4/13: Just recorded how

Lightning Greens Grass

as a podcast. You can find our podcasts in our Knowledge Base under podcasts or subscribe in iTunes!

Have a great day!

Brad

The past few weeks I’ve had a few property managers and friends ask me about Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) treatments. Tree companies and landscape vendors are are coming to them and saying “You need to get it or their trees will die!” They are 100% accurate, but that isn’t the whole story.

Treatments have proven to be extremely effective in preventing trees from EAB infestations. It is generally a chemical injected into the tree’s vascular system and kills insects that try to make a home inside it. These treatments are expensive and must be done every year!

UPDATE 4/13/2010: I have been informed there is a new product on the market that can be effectively applied every two years. However, this does not change our philosophy on the long-term costs associated with treated ash trees for EAB.

Only treat trees that you REALLY want to keep: old ash at main entrances or trees that may have historical value (like at the state fairgrounds). In my opinion, there aren’t too many ash trees that are worthy of yearly treatments. Ash are not high-value trees or long-lived so you are generally better off using the money you would put into treatments and diversifying with other tree species and waiting for the existing trees to succumb to EAB which probably will not be for many years.

Here is our previous post about EAB that explains a little more in depth Quercus’ approach to EAB.

Emerald Ash Borer

Have a wonderful day!

Brad

Oak Wilt - Photo from City of Andover, MN

Each year, we experience a major threat to the beautiful oak trees of our state. This is the time of year when the fungus responsible for Oak Wilt is active.

Property Managers: Do not prune, cut or injure your oak trees April through June and prune only when necessary July through August.

The Oak Wilt fungus (Ceratocystis fagacearum) basically gums up the system of oak trees causing severe dieback and death in many oaks each year. April-June is generally it’s active season and spreads through the air and along with insects traveling from tree to tree and is less active July – September.

Here is great information about oak wilt from Iowa State University and how it kills the tree.

Oak Wilt Identification and Management

The University of Minnesota also has good information here.

Oak wilt risk status in Minnesota.

Have a great day!

Brad