Is your yard
Exploding with weeds ?
You may think a few weeds here or there aren’t much to worry about, but did you know most weeds are capable of producing over a thousand seeds each?
Rain and the warmer weather that will follow will make conditions just right for hose little land mines lying under the soil waiting for just the right moment to germinate and destroy your weekends.
Are you wondering how you are going to get control of the weeds that just keep coming and coming? Did you know that not only can we kill your existing weeds, we can prevent new ones from popping up for months?!
Imaging not being concerned about the weeds at all. Wouldn’t it be great to spend your weekends relaxing on your patio and actually enjoying the view?
Let our experts take care of your weed control.
You’ll have more time for fun.
See your chiropractor less.
Your yard will look great all the time.
Your plants will love you and be healthier too!
What we do: we will price our service right over the phone if you know the square footage of the area you want sprayed. (Length times the width). If not, then we can help you guesstimate the square footage and price that. We’ll schedule an appointment at your place, show up on time, take actual measurements and give you a firm price, make the application and leave you with the instructions on after care.
What you do: Crazy as it sounds, you have to water in the weed preventer, one time equal to ½ inch of rain to activate the pre-emergent preventative action. Don’t worry, you have up to 3 weeks to get this done.
Call us today!
(760) 868-6104
The very best time of the year is here. Fall is the winding down of the growing season and that is why it is the very best time to plant. Things are getting slower on top but there is lots of activity down below in the root zone. Plants planted in the fall take off sooner and do better in spring, than plants planted any other time of the year.
This is a great time to build and work your compost pile with all the leaves and twigs and branches you clean up this fall. Or add your homemade compost to your garden to build up the soil for next year’s veggie garden.
Keep watering trees and shrubs, but much less often. Still water deep though. Just space the days between watering more. Some plants may look dead, but they are really just dormant and all that root action is taking place down below. I suggest you not cut back perennials until new spring growth to insulate the core of the plant from winter frosts.
Definitely this is time to check and winterize your sprinkler system if you live in a zone of freezing weather. Thoroughly check your system before winterizing to make sure you don’t wrap up a leak that will be a problem for months. Then wrap pipes with insulation or cover sprinkler valves with an insulated box. A large insulated cooler works well for this and gives easy access. We can help you with winterizing
Plan for winter weed control to eliminate spring weeds. A pre-emergent weed application in the winter will prevent most spring weeds and give you your weekends when warm weather arrives again. We can quote you on your preventative weed control. We get really busy in the winter with applications and timing is preferred before a rainfall to water in the pre-emergent with FREE water from the sky. Call to get on our schedule so we might schedule you at the most optimum time.
Call Us at (760) 868-6104
We Can Help!
Nature and the interaction of people and the earth is essential to life balance. Get too far from nature and you will find that you are unsettled and cranky. We need to stop now and then and go out into nature to reconnect and find our inner calm.
Those of us who are lucky enough to have some space for a garden can bring nature home. We can build our own little natural environment to enjoy whenever we want.
Whether you have a tree and flower garden or a vegetable garden, pests can be a problem and a hindrance to your full enjoyment of your outdoor space. You put a lot of time and money into your garden, and you don’t want to let the pests eat your investment in nature. But you are also concerned about the environment, as all of us should be.
There are so many little creatures in nature. They all have a place here and a job to do. Mass destruction is not really necessary in nearly every case. There will always be some pests in your landscape. Having bugs in our landscape is unavoidable and is even desirable as they all serve some function in nature. Is the pest causing some economic or lifestyle issues? Then let’s try an integrated pest management approach.
What is integrated pest management, (also called IPM)? The basic definition of IPM according to University of California at Davis is: 1“Integrated pest management (IPM) is an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties. Pesticides are used only after monitoring indicates they are needed according to established guidelines, and treatments are made with the goal of removing only the target organism. Pest control materials are selected and applied in a manner that minimizes risks to human health, beneficial and nontarget organisms, and the environment.” Or put more simply, using the least toxic control method that will get the job done and reduce the pest population to the lowest threshold that will produce the least amount of damage.
The use of resistant varieties is my first choice for reducing pest issues. Of course, this assumes that you are in on the planning of your natural space before it is installed. Planning is the first step in creating your outdoor environment that can thrive with little care in the space you have. Do you have a sunny or shady spot? Is it windy? Exposed? What is the climate? How much space or light will the plants you have in mind require? All too often, people pick the plants they desire, not the plants that will do well in the space they have. It’s like saying I love that little fish! I’m gonna put him here right on my pillow where I can be near him all the time. Nope. Won’t work.
There are resistant varieties of plants that do not attract certain insects, or diseases in the conditions you have. Pick those varieties and plants that will work well there and avoid certain pest issues altogether.
You can’t really plan out all pests. So you have your natural space already AND you have pest issues. What do you do now? Well identification of your pest and understanding it’s biology and habitat is critical to control. What is it’s life cycle? Which parts of its cycle is damaging to your plants? What conditions does it thrive in? Know this and you are half way there to controlling the issue with the minimum of fuss.
Look at your cultural practices. Is the plant receiving the proper care? Does it need pruning? Are you watering enough or at the proper frequency? Is there enough sun? Perhaps the surrounding vegetation has become overgrown allowing too much shade or stagnant air patterns. Is the soil in good condition, not compacted or too wet or dry. Is the ph proper for optimum plant conditions? These are all things we can adjust to modify the conditions to improve the plant health. A healthy plant will naturally repel insects and disease.
Gophers and squirrels are notorious for liking just about every kind of plant. What do you do when they invade? Exclusion is often the answer for that. Pests like certain birds, rats and even some insects can be excluded from your garden by building walls, fences or screens and structures. There are so many possibilities depending on your situation. Traps work as well to trap and kill the intruders without chemical controls.
Then there is hand control. Got caterpillars? You can hand-pick them off. Not for the squeamish, obviously. And then there are traps and things like Tanglefoot which is a sticky substance that pests get stuck in.
Then you try biological controls, natural enemies and predators. Determine the type of pest that you have. Pretty much every pest in nature has a natural enemy or the planet would be overrun with that pest. Conditions in nature bring in the natural controls. In our artificial outdoor space, the natural controls are often out of whack. We need to supplement the environment with the natural controls. This might be anything from importing lady bugs to control aphids (aww..) to bringing in natural controls for snails and slugs like toads and snakes. ( I didn’t say it would be pretty) or birds, beneficial wasps and even bacterial pathogens like Bacillus thuringiensis, to control caterpillars . There are so many kinds of natural predators to choose from.
The next step might be to apply a chemical control to bring the pest threshold down to manageable levels. My first step in any bug issue is to wash off the plant. Pure and simple a blast of water can do wonders! It washes the majority of pests off the plant where many will not make it back to the plant. Washing off the plant often reduces the conditions that attracted the pest in the first place. Take aphids. They attract ants. Both are undesirable. Washing the aphids off the plant will not only reduce the aphid population drastically, but will also wash off the honeydew the aphids produce. The honeydew is what attracts the ants. Two for one with plain water!
The very last step in integrated best management is chemical control. As a licensed pest control applicator, I do not often resort to chemical controls. When a chemical control is warranted due to severe plant damage, with potential loss of the plant or a high value plant in danger then I consider chemical controls. When chemical controls are used, always use the least toxic product that will get the job done. It’s the responsible way to protect our earth.
1 http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/GENERAL/ipmdefinition.html
Baby tumbleweed farm here! El Nino is not done yet. Rain is on the way. Expect to see a LOT of weeds! If this isn’t for you, then weed preventer is in the cards. We apply it. Call us!
By Cindy Poore
According to a recent article in the Los Angeles times, El Niño is a sure thing. Los Angeles area is supposed to get 60% above average rainfall during the months of January, February and March. That statistic was confirmed by Bill Patzert, climatologist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge who said in the article, “I’m quite optimistic that the entire state is going to get hosed”. ( Hosed being a very technical term for WET!)
This is going to make things difficult for lots of us. We have been conserving on our water all year. Now, it is going to be wet, very wet!
New challenges come with too much water versus too little. The first thing that you will notice is the ground will get saturated early on and continued rainfall just rolls off into puddles, lakes and actual new streams all across your property!
Not sure if you are good in the drainage department? Prepare by buying straw wattles and sand bags. Store them in a dry location so you can get to them when needed.
If you are lucky, your lot is properly graded and you (or previous owners) haven’t added anything that prevents the natural run off of excess water. If you are unsure, ask us to check the grade on your property and help you spot problems before they happen.
Before it gets too late, lets look at a few other things you can do to prevent problems.
Check your gutters and valleys on your roof. Blown leaves and dirt can accumulate in these areas, causing back up which will make water back up and get under your roof and cause water damage inside.
Clear piles, equipment and debris away from the house foundation. This will help water move away from your home and reduce the chances of flooding.
Check your outdoor lighting. Longer night hours mean we will be coming and going in the dark. Maybe you need some additional lighting outdoors to make that easier?
With rain, comes weeds. Call us to apply a weed killer and preventer now to keep your yard nearly weed-free all spring and summer! Before weeds show up is the best time to apply a pre-emergent weed control.
Several years ago, we had a very wet winter and even though people wanted us to spray their weeds, we couldn’t because it was too wet or windy and the weeds went wild! Early is better in this case.
- Staying Home May 31, 2020Staying home has new meaning since the tragic and crazy world of COVID-19. While most are keeping a low profile at home, Perfection Landscape knows that we are essential for helping our clients care for their home environments. We continue to do maintenance for our regular and new clients keeping with social distancing guidelines for […]
- Weeds are Back! March 10, 2018Is your yard Exploding with weeds ? You may think a few weeds here or there aren’t much to worry about, but did you know most weeds are capable of producing over a thousand seeds each? Rain and the warmer weather that will follow will make conditions just right for hose little land mines […]