Beware the Emerald Ash Borer Sales Pitch

Good morning!

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

Emerald Ash Borer Confirmed in Minneapolis

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has confirmed an infestation in the Prospect Park East River Road neighborhood of Minneapolis within Tower Hill Park.

We knew Emerald Ash Borer would have spread from the St Paul site and this is within miles of the first-located infestation.

I’ll post more tomorrow. Here is the MDA release.

Have a great night!

Brad

Jan 21 – Winter Weather Advisory

A few hours ago, the metro was tossed into a winter weather advisory until midnight tonight because of the freezing rain that popped up. Be careful when you are out!

Uh-Oh…Major Christmas Snow?

Good morning,

Gooseberry Falls in Winter

We are looking at and watching a major snowstorm that is aimed at Minnesota for Christmas Eve through the day after Christmas. It appears now to be packing a foot or more of snow over those three days. Much can change between now and then, but it’s not a bad idea to start thinking about it now.

Quercus, Inc. provides our snow clients with a bevy of information about future and past snow events. Here is our latest Wrap Up email following Sunday’s snow. You can find more information at Quercus, Inc.’s Snow & Ice Management Journal.

A small event is working its way through the area tonight leaving an inch or so of snow between midnight and noon tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Brad

1.03 Property Managers’ Landscape Tip Podcast

Here is our fresh episode of The Property Manager’s One Minute Landscape Tip Podcast. Today we discuss a little bit about how and why salts kill plants. I may have had too much cough syrup…

Don’t forget to Subscribe in iTunes (link opens iTunes) and check out our previous podcasts if you missed any.

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Brad

How to Save Money in Your Landscape Budget

Good morning!

Sent out the freshest issue of Quercus News this morning all about how to save money in your landscape budget. Here is the main article about three different methods for saving money. Enjoy!

Each year, you work very hard as a property manager to create your budgets. This year is proving very difficult and everyone is looking for ways to cut money from their budgets. Quercus, Inc. is here to guide you with ways to save money on your landscape budget along with promoting.

1) Reduce Your Turf Area

Turf maintenance is one of the largest items in your budget. Use this opportunity to reduce the turf area on your properties and while promoting environmentally responsible practices. By reducing turf areas you:

• save money on your contract now and in the future.
• reduce chemical inputs.
• reduce water use.
• reduce fuel consumption for mowers and line trimmers.
• reduce noise.
• reduce chemical and topsoil runoff.
• improve air and water quality.

There are many different avenues for reducing your turf area yielding great results.

• Simply cease mowing. Minnesota’s turf grass’ natural tendency is to grow 6-10″ tall. It has a wonderful flow and stays greener through summer months with less water. This works well large areas and also little-used

UPDATED: Early October Snow Breaks Record (Unofficially)

3" of perfect snowman-making snow!

UPDATE: Snow officially breaks record for the earliest, largest snow with 2.5″. I had 3.75″ on my deck even with melting.

Good morning! We’ve got nearly 3″ of snow in Shakopee at 9:00 am today. This unofficially breaks the record of 2.5″ for the biggest, early (before Oct 15) snow in the Twin Cities. Nothing is sticking on the roads so no plowing but it is beautiful if you don’t think about all the corn and beans sitting idle in the fields. At least we didn’t get what North Platte, Nebraska got over the weekend. Ouch.

Have a great day!

Brad

A Happy October Snow

Good afternoon!

What an exciting day! It is actually beautiful out today. The sun is out, the wind is soft and Fall is definitely in the air. However, I have a foreboding feeling that we are actually going to get some snow tomorrow.

Winter Weather Terms for Minnesota from the National Weather Service at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mpx/?n=wwadef .

The State Climatology Office’s information says yesterday was the first time Minnesota has seen measurable snow in October since 2002 when .6″ fell on Oct 20-21. The crazier statistic is that it has only snowed in the first half of the month 8 times in sixty years with all but three of those being less than .5″.

The National Weather Service has updated their Winter Weather Advisory to include the Twin Cities region. Since this is our first advisory of the season I put together the winter terms (left) our clients need to know as a refresher going into the winter season (I just got kind of used to fall).

Check out more information on winter weather at in our Knowledge Base.

Best of luck traveling tomorrow!

Brad