The Spring Ramp Up - 2024

written by: Rob Ferrante?

?

The Spring Ramp Up – 2024

?

Are you tired of hearing about El Nino??? Well, your partners in the landscape industry are too.? This winter we had lots of cool - wet days which had a negative effect on plants and grass.?? Several of the sites CEPRA maintains had difficulty during the past several months producing healthy and vigorous plants.? The environment has been conducive for fungal activity and slow growth rates.? And since many areas in Central Florida did not have significant freeze event this winter, insect and weed pressure will be amplified this spring and summer due to a minimal “dieback”.? The sod is not the vibrant green we are looking for, and your tropical foliage reminds you that the color wheel has many more shades of colors other than the primary 3 (red, yellow, and blue).?? So what do we do to expedite to get the landscape back together?

? As a landscape vendor, there is a lot that goes into the transition from Winter to Spring.? This year’s unusual weather patterns put our agronomics team to the test.?? Besides the fungicide applications, we had to be extra cautious to add certain types of fertilizer.? ??Some of them contain large amounts of nitrogen which can accelerate a fungus outbreak overnight. With that said, a couple of fertilizer applications are on the horizon that are formulated for your sod and soil conditions.?? Many counties in our service areas have some type of nitrogen and phosphorus restrictions during the summer months.? Between now and then, we will be hard at work applying nutrients to make sure your plants and grass have what they need to get through the summer months.?

Now that the fertilizer is scheduled, let’s get the irrigation set correctly.?? Remember, too much or too little water can make your or break the plant inventory.? Most areas limit watering days to once per week in the non-growing season and twice per week during the growing season with a few exceptions in various municipalities. ?Knowing this information and knowing how much water your plants need is critical when determining how much you want to add or reduce.? Now that the weather is warmer, plants and grass will require more water.? And once we get into our dry season (now through mid-June), properly irrigating plants with one day per week water restrictions can get extremely difficult. ??The rainy season typically begins mid to late June.?

This winter, CEPRA has been busy with preparations in the landscape.? Above we discussed the fertilizer and watering, now let’s touch base on a few operational tasks we’ve been working on.?? Have you noticed that your Crape Myrtles were lightly pruned??? Or how about the ornamental grass cutbacks?? We have even trimmed several of the trees in the landscape to help with pedestrian and vehicle traffic.?? Spring in Florida also marks the start of allergy season.?? Although we have allergies throughout the year, pollen from trees (Live Oaks – Laurel Oaks) has literally exploded on car roof tops, grass, sidewalks, and unfortunately our nasal passages.?? For those with severe allergies, I apologize for this next statement – the beauty, the environmental impact, and the cooling abilities of a large tree can not be replaced with no sum of money.? We love trees! ??CEPRA will be on your site working tirelessly to remove the pollen and leaves as they fall.?? And please keep in mind that we may clean the front lawn before lunch today, and by dinner time it appears that we didn’t even perform leaf removal.? Leaves are dropping faster than we are picking up.?? Within a few weeks, this will end, trees will be full of foliage, and the leaves will be removed from the ground.?

All the work described above does not happen by coincidence.? It takes management, training, and execution.?? And most importantly, it takes manpower – labor.?? During this winter, we have attended several different career hiring and networking events at state colleges and universities.?? Some of our leadership team just returned from Purdue University to recruit the nation’s top talent in horticulture.? As you can see, we are passionate about what we do.? CEPRA only hires the best and we are willing to go the extra mile to find the top talent.?

Beyond the recruiting, training is one of our winter to spring tasks.?? Every Wednesday morning at 6am, one of the CEPRA managers is assigned to a training topic to teach for 10-15 minutes.?? The topics include crape myrtle pruning, ornamental grass cutbacks, hydration, mower operation, flower maintenance, rejuvenation pruning, and the list goes on. ?

This past winter, CEPRA has been busy.? We have completed our list of horticultural tasks that included: Crape Myrtle pruning, ornamental grass cutbacks, tree elevations, fertilization, etc.?? And more importantly, we have been recruiting and training some of the best talent in the area so that we can be the best landscape vendor.?? Every CEPRA team member ?is proud of the work that they do.? Our quality comes second to none.? Hopefully reading this short article, you’ll have a little insight for what it takes to prep a landscape and a landscape company moving into the spring.??? ??