Winter Greetings!
There’s not a whole lot going on in most landscapes now but there are a couple of things that everyone should consider doing at this time of year to ensure a healthy and vibrant landscape when springtime rolls around.
The first is a dormant and copper oil treatment. These are both natural products and a great foundation for healthy and pest-free shrubs and trees. Many insects lay their eggs on plants and trees in the Fall and the eggs overwinter and hatch in the spring ready to attack and munch on the tasty new foliage in your landscape. The dormant oil is sprayed onto plants and small trees, including fruit trees, and it coats and suffocates these eggs preventing them from hatching in the spring. We also recommend adding copper with this treatment as it is a natural fungicide and helps to treat many fungal diseases from taking hold in your landscape.
The second treatment that we recommend at this time of year is a systemic root injection for your large trees that are too large to spray or to take care of insects that are not controlled by foliar sprays. The insect control is injected directly into to root zone and the tree takes it in and moves it up the tree. Insects are controlled when the tree leaves are out and it begins to feed on the foliage. The other major benefit of this treatment is that it minimizes other treatments as it offers full season control.
Both of these are excellent ways to ensure your plants and trees get a great start this spring and your landscape stays healthy and pest-free. They are preventative treatments that are very cost-effective.
I will be posting news and tips about plant health care throughout the year so stay tuned and keep checking back in.
Jim Zauner
Staff Horticulturalist
“An ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure”
Benjamin Franklin