First Quarter Newsletter 2022

Dear residents,

We’d like to welcome you to our first news article of 2022. As we commence what we Floridians consider the peak of our winter season, January and February, our team is mindful of the threats this time of the year poses to the plants when servicing your properties to prevent plant and turf damage should we be impacted by a freeze.

During this first quarter (January – March) you will notice we will continue mowing every-other week or perhaps less depending on your turf specimen, not only because your turf is growing at a slower rate but because we want to leave enough turf tissue should we experience a freeze. In doing so should a freeze occur at some point only the top layer of turf will be affected and damaged by the small layer of ice allowing the roots to stay healthy and unaffected helping our turf areas bounce back in color and overall appearance as quickly as possible ultimately minimizing the risk of turf loss due to freeze.
We will start to bed edge every-other-mowing event, this keeps ornamental beds from growing larger and keep the garden bed size pleasant to the eyes. Our ornamental bed weed control crews will continue to keep the undesired ornamental bed weeds managed using minimal chemistry as the cooler temperatures will retard the weed development and the recently applied mulch will serve as a barrier and help us suppress the weed population.

As with the turf, ornamental bed pruning is kept light and to a minimum as recommended by the University of Florida for this time of year. This practice will help protect and keep the plants warm during the cold nights expected ahead. In the second quarter news article we will communicate what is our goal regarding the rejuvenation pruning and removal of excessive vegetation during that season. Please do expect for yellow and brown fronds to be cut off and removed from palms below the height of 15’ during our pruning visits, we want to make sure we keep the community looking fresh for everyone to enjoy post holidays.

Our irrigation crews will be preforming their monthly irrigation inspections and clean the irrigation filter cartridges if applicable. The months of January and February we do our best to maintain irrigation watering to a minimum, don’t be surprised if one see’s the system run a day less per week or for a shorter period of time. With cooler weather approaching the supplemental irrigation water is not needed as much. Many local municipalities even launch campaigns like “skip-a-week” this is suggesting that homeowners and contractors like us skip one week of irrigation water during these cooler months. Overwatering can be worse or as bad as under watering as many of us already know. If we saturate or lawns and ornamentals with water, we open the window to undesired aquatic weeds and increase the possibility of fungus which can result in plant / turf loss due to the lack of oxygen exchange at the roots level.
In preparation for this possible threat, our lawn and ornamental pest control department will be making a necessary fungicide applications and selective weed control applications. The fertilization department will start preparations for ornamental bed fertilization and gear your plants nutritionally during February for the month of March when temperatures start to creep up and nutrition uptake increases.

Residents that like to add a splash of color to their landscape during this season you may consider installing Geraniums, they love the cool weather and come in all kinds of colors. Pansies and Petunias are other good choices but keep in mind annuals are delicate and they may need to be protected from the potential freeze with landscape freeze blankets to help keep them off harm’s way.

We wish all of the residents a Happy New Year and want to thank everyone for allowing us to service their property.

Sincerely,
Llomell Llorca
President & CEO
TruScapes Industries, Inc.