Plant Health Care

Our business is being your resource!

Plant health care is one of the most neglected parts of landscape maintenance. At the very most instructions are given for the first year after planting. Those instructions are often vague, incomplete and mostly only focus on watering schedule. Even professionally installed plant material is commonly completed without using horticultural guidelines. The problems that arise from this generally don’t rear their head until 2 to 7 years down the road. 

It is rarely one thing that leads to plant failure. Even when a fungal/bacterial infection or insects are named as the cause of a death, it is almost always preceded with stress. Stressed out plants are extremely susceptible to diseases of all kinds. They are also the first to fail due to drought or overwatering conditions.

Focusing on plant health will ultimately lead to more success.   You will have better looking landscaping, more yield in gardening, and it will save you money on replacing and treating in the future. 

What to do to get started depends on what type of issues have arisen and how far along they are.  If ornamentals are established, a different course of action would need to be taken than if new installations are planned. If new installations are planned, soil samples are always necessary as soil remediation is easiest at this point in the process. If disease is evident, another direction would have to be instituted, usually starting with evaluation of cost to remediate and chances of success.

Simply throwing down a general-purpose fertilizer is rarely, if ever, the best course of action. As nutrients are only a part of plant health care. Other factors are: Soil pH, soil type, soil compaction, plants native environment, micro-nutrients (as well as macro-nutrients, most general fertilizers deal with the macros not the micros), watering schedule, water placement (for example, trees should never have sprinklers hitting their trunks), and so much more!!! Most ornamentals are exotic, so amendments are often necessary to keep them in good health. Many of these problems show up years after planting, when the roots extend into native soil.

Many commonly used ornamentals have specific diseases they are susceptible to. Often, we can preempt the issues and avoid damage and demise all together through preventative services. Our knowledgeable arborists can identify high risk ornamentals and honestly advise on what options are available.

The Green Advantage is your solution; Whether it is new installation, existing ornamentals, or you notice something doesn’t look as it should.  Regardless of whether you are an amateur, you have some experience, or you are a professional; The Green Advantage is an essential resource. Our team regularly works alongside the best people in the industry, bringing them to another level of quality and service.