Category: Featured Article

Whacking the World’s Worst Weed

Nutsedge0115

By Kai Umeda A strategy can be implemented to control the purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus), the “world’s worst weed.” Due to regulatory constraints from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, only the use of MSMA (monosodium methylarsonate) herbicide on golf courses,…

Calibrate for Water Conservation

Learning how to audit and calibrate your sprinkler system can save water and money.

By Jeffrey Gilbert Irrigation systems are probably one of the biggest investments made to help maintain landscape plants. They also are both customized for a particular site and probably the most heavily used ‘tools’, sometimes on a daily basis, especially…

Water Conservation and Design

Water Conservation

By Dan Gregg The economics behind water conservation are pushing cities to rely on architects and other landscape industry professionals to design spaces that are more energy efficient than ever before, to save not only natural resources, but also financial…

Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI) for Turf

A cut through a drip line under bermudagrass. There is extensive rooting all around the drip line but there are no roots inside. The drip line is clear.

By Bernd Leinauer, Turfgrass Extension Specialist, New Mexico State University Sprinkler systems are the most commonly used irrigation systems for turf-dominated landscapes despite their inefficiencies due to losses from run-off, wind drift, and evaporation. Subsurface irrigation systems, on the other…

Pruning Palm Trees – By ML Robinson

Climbing spikes should not be used when pruning palms. Always prune heavy skirts from the outside. Climbing under fronds to prune can lead to suffocation and death. Photo courtesy: ML Robinson.

Pruning is one of the most misunderstood aspects of palm culture. Correctly pruning any plant or tree can benefit the growth and health of the plant. Maintained correctly, palms are low maintenance trees. For some reason, people believe they can…

Soft and Sharp

By David Cristiani The use of accent plants, the Southwest green industry’s term for larger cactus and succulent plants, continues to increase beyond low desert communities. Some of that is more about following a trend, but some of that responds…

Facts About Fertilizer

  By Helen M. Stone There are almost as many different types of fertilizers as there are plants. Whole books have been written on soil fertility and fertilizer selection; this publication has covered the topic extensively in the past years.…

Tree Worker Safety: Five Steps to Survival

By Dr. John Ball Every day incidents occur in the tree care industry. Tree workers tend to call them accidents rather than incidents, but the medical field is getting away from this description. Accidents seem to imply that it just…

Drought and Tree Diseases

By Jim Downer, Ph.D By now everyone has heard the hue and cry of drought and the peril we Californians all face from prolonged snow pack depletion and lack of rain. Those who study climate change suggest that some places…