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Summer is coming early to Boise.  As temperatures reach near the 100s in the first week of June, property owners & landscape professionals must adjust sprinkler systems to replenish water loss in plants & soil.  It’s called “evapotranspiration,” the combination of water evaporating from soil & plant transpiration.  “ET” rates increase with temperatures & sun exposure, meaning you have to replace water more frequently.  While you should adjust your sprinkler system before the heat arrives, avoid these 4 common mistakes:

1. Overwatering – if a little water is good, a lot of water is great, right?  Nope.  Too much water can stress or kill a plant as quickly as too little.  Soil should be consistently moist but not saturated to a depth of 6″-8″.
2. Misdiagnosis – are those yellow spots caused by drought or something else?  Billbugs, necrotic ring spot, & other lawn issues look similar to drought.  Ascochyta leaf blight is also closely related to drought.  A simple way to tell is to dig into the soil.  Again, it should be moist 6″-8″ deep.  Any less is not enough water in the heat of summer.
3. Assuming heads/nozzles are covering well – most systems are not installed with efficiency in mind.  Also, components age with time, plants grow & affect coverage, & heads settle.  Even if everything was perfectly adjusted upon activating your system in the spring, you should check coverage at least every 2-4 weeks during the summer.
4. Underestimating the role soil composition plays – heavy clay soil affects water flow & root development.  It’s often best to break up cycles, applying half of the water during one run, letting it soak in for a few hours, & applying the second half during a later time.  This reduces runoff & pooling.

As the heat arrives, slather on the sun screen, crank up the A/C, & keep the landscape well hydrated!

 

Japanese beetles voraciously feed on 300+ species of plants, costing US agriculture & turf/ornamental industries hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses & treatments.  If allowed to become established in Idaho, the impact on farming could be significant.  In additional to the aforementioned costs, exported crops would have to be quarantined & inspected before leaving the state.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture started finding high populations of this pest in east Boise in 2012.  They consulted with Pro Care on a strategic management plan to treat thousands of properties in residential areas.  In working our plan, the city of Boise has seen a 90% reduction in this pest.  The goal is eradication, which requires two years of zero catches in beetle traps.

If you live in east Boise around the Warm Springs area, you will likely see Pro Care teams hard at work.  The men & women assigned to this project are among the most experienced in Idaho.  Some have been licensed Professional Applicators for over 15 years & most have worked on this project for multiple years.  You can be confident that these treatments will be done with expertise & safety in mind.

Pro Care Landscape’s team of flower experts are cruising through Downtown Boise this week installing thousands of flowers in over 500 planters.  You’ll see petunias, calibrachoa, petchoa, coleus, impatiens, begonias, verbena, nasturtium, daisies, marigolds, zinnias, lantana, & dozens of other terrific varieties in the flowerpots.

Pro Care has cared for the Downtown Boise Association’s flower containers for “generations.”  Perhaps you were just starting a family in the late 1980s & now your kids are starting families of their own.  That’s how long Pro Care has cared for these flowerpots, which in some ways are like kids of our own.  We care for them & do all we can to make sure they grow up well!

Although we’ve been at it a long time, we never stop creating.  Designs are retired each year so we may indulge in creating 30-40 new designs each January.  As our flowers grow in the greenhouse throughout the spring, we watch the snow wane from Shafer Butte, waiting for a warm May morning to start planting!

Our goal remains simple:  brighten the day of every single visitor in Downtown Boise.