Dear residents,
We hope that everyone had a fun and safe summer. The smell of autumn is in the air and with that TruScapes Industries, Inc. wishes to welcome everyone to our fourth quarter news article. As our plants are preparing for the cooler drier weather quickly approaching our team members are also preparing and below we explain what everyone can expect concerning our services during the fall months and start of winter.
This quarter (October – December) most will notice that we go from weekly mowing events to every-other-week mowing event throughout St. Augustine, Zoysia and Bahia turf areas around the community. The bed edging frequencies will also be reduced to keep from enlarging your plant beds further than desired during the slow growing patterns of the turf. Our ornamental bed weeding frequency will remain the same at monthly service intervals of mechanical means and herbicide applications for the smaller less noticeable weeds.
Our trimming technicians will be more nurturing of the ornamental plants being a bit more selective and less aggressive during the pruning events. Currently, we are still “fine tuning” and removing damaged twigs, limbs and other plant tissue damaged during the heavy rains this summer but at the same time we want to make sure we leave enough growth on the plants to help preserve them during the cooler months and start of the winter later this quarter. We will also be allowing for some blooms to be enjoyed by many residents returning to their winter homes. All that in mind plays a huge role for the curb appeal of the community combined with a fresh coat of mulch historically applied during the month of November/December to really freshen the look of all the yards.
The irrigation technicians have been very busy all summer re-programing irrigation controllers after power losses due to the
rough weather this rainy season. They will be preforming the usual monthly inspections of the watering system and cleaning the VU flow filters where it applies. They will also make adjustments to the seasonal settings on the timer as we move deeper into the drier and cooler season. For most, there will not be a noticeable difference in the shorter irrigation run times and weeks of skipped irrigation cycles depending on the amount of precipitation experienced and or cool temperatures. We all know the cooler the temperature the less likely we would need to water for long periods of time. As I am sure we’ve read before, we want to be mindful that too much water can be as bad as not enough water as this contributes too many aquatic lawn weeds and can lead to fungus in the following months especially if we experience a very cold winter following a record breaking wet summer.
As we leave the heavy rains and hot weather in our rearview mirror we come out of our fertilizer black out period also known as
the nitrogen fertilizer ban months in our county. Many will notice our techs busy at work the month of October making granular applications of turf fertilizer followed by the ornamental plant bed fertilization. This process will be repeated in December. By doing this, it will preserve the green appearance of the already established lawns and provide the energy and color to the younger lawns are in need of in addition to also driving roots deep into the ground. It is critical and important to us that we strengthen the turf grass for any potential freeze we may experience before the end of the year. Our trained technicians will also be looking for any fungus activity in the lawns following fertilization applications when it’s more common to occur.
In walking, driving and meeting with residents on occasions I know that there are allot of green thumbs in the community that like to keep busy around their gardens digging their seasonal flower beds. With that in mind, you may wish to look into planting Geraniums, Impatiens, Begonias, Pansies and or Petunias…winter for us in Florida gives us a wide range of annual flowers to splash lots of color around our gardens.
We wish everyone a joyful fall and winter surrounded by friends and family as the holidays quickly approach.
Sincerely,
Llomell Llorca
President & CEO
TruScapes Industries, Inc.