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Autumn is a great time to aerate your lawn.  Soils, especially clay soils in our area, compact over time, making it more difficult for the soil to absorb water.  Aeration helps to stop your irrigation and rainfall from running off into the street.  Furthermore, since aerating helps improve soil, doing so will give grass seed a strong start.  Once rains begin to fall, it’s a good time to re-seed brown spots.

White Grubs are a common problem throughout our local communities and typically found in the lawn during last spring, early summer, or even into the fall.  They come from beetle larvae and are called white grubs because the larvae are white and have six tiny legs.  They can be a disastrous pest to your lawn and can cause major damage to your landscape.  The earliest way to tell if you have a grub problem is to notice if birds are continuously poking holes into the ground.  There a different solutions to your grub problems via the use of pesticides and treatment of lawn.

Please visit http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/sheets/whitegrub.html for more treatment information.

Performance Contract

Most contracts are written based on performance and not man-hours.  A performance contract helps protect the customer and lets the contractor do his job.  In a performance contract, the contractor has to provide a level of service regardless of how many people it takes.  Because landscape maintenance is performed in the heat of summer and the cool of winter, it tends to be cyclical.  As a result, the labor required to perform routine tasks such as mowing and weeding, varies from season to season.  If a contract were to be based on man-hours, it would be very difficult to perform certain tasks in the summer while being over staffed in the winter.  Therefore, a performance contract makes the contractor live up to a level of service if it takes him one person or fifty people.

Contract Summary Sheet

Contracts are often written in a way where they can be interpreted several different ways.  The best way to avoid confusion is to have a summary sheet that specifically says who is paying for items such as fertilizer, disposal fees, chemicals, rodent control, etc.

Acts Of God

Most contracts do not hold the contractor responsible for work involved with an “Act of God”.  An Act of God usually refers to storm, earthquake or fire damage.  For example, after a severe winter storm, if many large trees have blown over, the contractor may have to send out a specialty crew to perform the clean-up.  This work would be as a result of an Act of God and should be billed and not included under the regular monthly maintenance contract.

 Changing Contractors

The best time to change contractors is in the fall or winter.  This gives the new contractors a chance to familiarize themselves with a project and the irrigation systems before the busy spring and summer seasons.

 Tree Trimming Specifications

 Most contracts call for tree trimming up to fifteen feet.  This should be interpreted to mean that only those trees that are less than fifteen feet would be trimmed as part of the contract.  It does not mean that the contractor will trim the first fifteen feet of trees that are taller.  However, on a taller tree, if a few branches are hanging too low or are touching a building or roof the contractor should perform the occasional branch removal.

 All Inclusive Contracts

 Occasionally, a customer may desire an “all inclusive contract”.  These contracts can be misleading and costly.  In order for a contractor to bid an all-inclusive contract he is probably going to include every conceivable cost in the event it becomes necessary.  This may cost the customer more than is required.  On the other hand, if something comes up that the contractor had not expected he would lose or try to get by with less than is acceptable.  There are too many variables and the best relationship is one where the contractor treats the client fair and the client has trust in the contractor.

LANDSCAPE WALK-THROUGHS

A landscape walk-through or inspection is conducted for several reasons.  The most important reason for a walk-through is to determine compliance with the landscape maintenance specifications.  All parties present at the walk should be familiar with the specifications and what is required of the contractor.  Walk-throughs are also conducted for other purposes such as landscape renovation, tree trimming needs or drainage problems.

The contractor should take his own notes and forward a typed copy to the management company.  If any price quotes for additional work are required, they should also be noted along with the maintenance items.

Here are some tips on what to look for on a landscape walk-through:

Lawns

Lawns should be green, mowed and edged.  Most discoloration will be from lack of fertilizer.  A lawn disease will probably affect most lawn areas in a patchy random streak of discoloration.  Check for weeds.  A weed in a lawn is anything other than the intended grass.

Ground Cover / Slopes

Ground cover areas should contain only the intended ground cover and plants.  Any bare areas in the ground cover should be replanted after the irrigation has been inspected and repaired, if necessary.  Poor soil conditions could also contribute to bare areas in ground cover.

Shrub Areas

Determine if the customer desires formal or informal shrub trimming and rate compliance accordingly.  The ground beneath the shrubs should be free of debris and weeds.  Do not allow a contractor to trim the bottom of shrubs up too high.

Trees

The most important item to look for when inspecting trees is the tree tie.  Check to see that the tie is not so tight that it is cutting into the tree.  The contractor should inspect tree ties regularly.  Look for low hanging branches that should be trimmed off of sidewalks and streets to allow for pedestrian traffic.

Irrigation

Look for areas of standing water.  Contractors are notorious for over watering.  Stressed plant material in a dry planter area is a good sign of an irrigation problem.  The most common irrigation problems are broken heads, clogged heads and valves that do not operate automatically.

Every fertilizer’s label shows, in numbers, the formula of major nutrients; the guaranteed analysis information specifies the nutrient percentages and mentions their chemical sources.There is not one specific fertilizer that can be used in all months of the year.  Changes in weather and soil temperatures dictate different fertilizers for the various seasons.

There are situations where the customer prefers informal pruning, but due to the project design, it is almost impossible.  For example, in many of the newer condominium projects the planter areas are very small.  These planters are then planted with shrub material that will outgrow the planter and have to be sheared just to keep them off the walks and driveways.  In this case, informal pruning may require more space than the planter provides and may not be practical.