We hope that you are satisfied with your project, and would appreciate any feedback you are willing to give us! Please, respond to this email or any of our text messages and let us know how we did!
Post-Project Instructions & Notes:
Now that your project is completed, there are a few things you should know, and they vary depending on the type of project. Please read through this email and take note of any relevant notes:
Landscape Installations, establishment, irrigation, fertilization, pest control, and general care:
1) Watering of New Material: New plantings and sod need to be watered once per day for 30 days after installation, and large new trees (suchas Sylvester Palms) once per day for 60 days. This needs to be done even if you have an irrigation system (unless your entire property was planted new, in which case we will have already set your irrigation to water daily for 30 days and you will just need to change your timer settings after the 30 days has finished).
A) Altering your irrigation system would be the convenient solution, but because most landscape renovations and planting projects do not encompass the entire property, increasing the watering frequency throughout the entirety of the property will often result in fungal issues and other problems for established material.
We will cover some basic irrigation recommendations below under Material Care.
2) Fertilization is not necessary in the first thirty days. The material has not rooted yet prior to this, and fertilizer may be mostly wasted if you fertilize prior. We will cover future fertilizer and general lawn and ornamental care below, and provide a referral of a company that can help with such services.
3)Material Establishment & Shocking: Some materials are more prone to shocking than others, but with new plants it is generally considered normal to see some adjustment as your plants are acclimating. Remember that when plants are grown in a commercial setting, they may have been slightly more (or less) shaded, had different watering schedules, or been in a different atmosphere. Their new climate may now cause some acclimation to be necessary, and sometimes this is visibly apparent in the form of "shocking"- leaf drop, wilting, flower drop, or yellowing of leaves. If these plant symptoms are significant or concerning, feel free to send a text message to your estimator.
Remember that just because a plant is shocking (particularly discoloration) does not always mean that it needs more water. Sometimes a plant may be exhibiting signs of over-watering or fungal issues- which may look nearly the same as drought to most- and watering more can exacerbate the issue. So please feel free to send us a picture if you see any such issues.
Large trees- especially large field grown trees- are prone to shocking to the point that it is expected in most cases. Staying on top of watering with large material, field grown material, and transplanted material (more below) is especially important. Palms consume and store Macronutrients and Micronutrients. Macronutrients are mobile within the palm tree. Because these nutrients are mobile, Palms will naturally consume nutrition from their lower, older fronds by moving nutrition and moisture from the lower canopy to the newer (upper) fronds. We will cover fertilization to help with this issue below, but just know that when the yellowing fronds are cut off of a newly planted or transplanted palm tree, they are having a food source removed. This causes the yellowing or shocking to continue to the next row of fronds and will make the problem worse.
4) How to Care for your Plants, Sod, and Trees after your Landscape Installation:
A) Trimming:Until your material has fully rooted, refrain from trimming, unless it is to remove opened or unopened blooms and seed pods. The only material that is reasonable to remove during the establishment phase is material that causes the plant to focus on anything other than establishing a root system.
After your material is established, feel free to reach out to us for occasional pruning or care. While we do not offer single-family residential maintenance, we do offer one-time services and clean-ups.
B) Mowing: For newly installed lawns, no mowing is needed (or safe) until the grass is fully rooted. If you attempt to mow your lawn prior to it rooting, the squares of grass will be pulled up and into the blades of the mower. During Summer and Spring sod takes between 20 and 25 days to root. In Winter and Fall it takes between 25 and 30 days to root. A good way to test this is to grab it by the turf canopy and pull with around 5-10 pounds of pressure. If it does not easily come up, it is time to mow, and we recommend doing so promptly before the canopy becomes so tall that its own shadow and density starts to smother the lower canopy.
C) Irrigation: After your initial watering period, allow your irrigation system to take over from that point forward. Your irrigation system should be set to 3-4 days per week in summer and spring, and 2-3 days per week in winter and fall (on average). Many of our clients think more water is better but for several reasons, this is not the case. The most important of which are that the humidity in Florida and amount of rainfall we get makes fungal issues very common, and because when you over-water, the roots of your material do not need to reach as deep as they should for moisture, causing a lack of proper root development.
Give us a call if you have any irrigation issues that you need fixed in the future, our irrigation division would be glad to help out!
D) Fertilization: Once your material is established (and has a proper root system to be able to take up nutrition), it is recommended to fertilize 4 times per year in South Florida. With our sandy soils and brutal sun, even if you do a soil amendment, you still have to fertilize. Plants are living things just like we are. Not providing nutrition for your plants is the equivalent of feeding a child bread and water only for years of their life. They would not grow up to be big and strong because they would not have the necessary nutrients to do so. Plants and trees all have a life expectancy just as we do, and fertilizing as suggested is the only way to get them to live a long and healthy life.
We highly recommend utilizing our sister company: Q and L Pest Management for your fertilization (and pest control) needs. Q & L is a family owned company operated in Palm Beach County, run by John Park. John has extensive knowledge of Lawn and Ornamental (L&O) care, and we have found that there is no comparison between his services and ones like his, and other big-brand pest control companies who do fertilization and L&O on the side.
Q and L Pest Management:
Phone: (561) 313-5565
Email: John@QandLpest.com
E) Pest Control: In South Florida, we utilize a process called Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM is the process of inspecting the landscape and treating pests, fungal issues, and other problems as-needed, rather than blanket treating the property. While IPM requires more services than other blanket-spray services, it prevents an unecessary amount of chemical being utilized on your property. IPM services are suggested to be performed monthly, but in residential landscapes, this is often cost prohibitve. We recommend a minimum of four services a year, which can be performed in conjunction with your fertilization.
While we understand that many will choose to cut their own lawns and do their own landscape maintenance in general, we Highly recommend hiring a professional for IPM and Fertilization services. Certified Pesticide Operators (CPOs) are required to continually take courses and stay on top of new pests and diseases in the landscape, as well as how to safely treat them. While it is possible to do it yourself, IPM & Fertilization services are some of the cheapest services in our industry, but equally as important as proper irrigation, installation, and manual maintenance.
As mentioned above, we recommend Q&L for services like this. Another added benefit of a company like theirs is that they also do interior pest & rodent control. Bundling interior and L&O pest control can help keep these costs down.
5) Warranty: All plants, trees, and sod that we install are warrantied for a period of 90 days against planting and nursery defects. The reason for a 90 day warranty is that (as mentioned above) most new material is rooted in a span of 30-60 days, if not sooner. Once a plant has rooted, it has safely exited the shocking period. From that point forward, whether the plant survives is up to the care provided (information listed above) by yourself or your service company. Any planting and nursery defects will surface before this period ends.
Upon seeing deterioration present in your new landscape, it is your responsibility to send a text to the office or either the technician or estimator involved in your project. Please do not wait until material is dead to photograph and notify us, as it is often not possible to tell what the cause of deterioration was at that time.
Again, Thank you for you business. We hope the information above helps you to successfully care for your new landscape! If you have any further questions or concerns please feel free to reach out!
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