It’s about to officially be summer, which means the tens of thousands of plants at the ELS Wholesale Nursery are looking great!
You can slide through the images to the right for just a few selections of the truly massive quantities of beautiful shrubs, trees, and succulents grown in-house for use in the many developments being built and maintained by ELS Maintenance & Construction.
After the lengthy but wet winter we had, it took a little longer for the spring growth to arrive. But when it did, things BOOMED! Now, our nursery is looking as lush as ever, with plants being sent to job sites daily.
If you’re interested in doing business with us, feel free to request a bid by clicking here.
Wondering what you can do in your garden in the heat of the summer? How does pruning trees sound? It may come as a surprise, but May to August—in the otherwise brutal heat of the summer months—is the best time to prune native and desert-adapted trees like palo verde, sissoo, mesquite, willow acacia, palo brea and African sumac. June is ideal, just before the summer monsoon season begins.
Here’s why.
First, desert trees grow quickly and can build up heavy foliage that weigh down their limbs. Second, pruning cuts to desert trees heal more quickly in the heat.
The goal of pruning a desert tree is to evenly reduce the weight of overgrown or heavy limbs to create more space within the tree canopy for wind to blow through and for heavy rains to fall to the ground below. This approach is called “crown thinning,” a term you can read more about it you don’t have much pruning experience.
You can prune any tree at any time of year to remove dead or diseased branches or to remove a branch that rubs against or crosses another branch. If the tree is already unhealthy, limit your pruning to removing only dead branches.
If your tree is in good condition but just overgrown, remove suckers from the trunk and thin the crown, being careful not to remove more than 25 percent of the tree’s foliage in any one year. In the process of thinning, also be sure to avoid “lion tailing” your branches. Lion tailing involves removing too many small branches from within the tree canopy, leaving foliage mainly on the branches’ outer tips. Lion tailing is a common cause of storm damage to trees because the branches end up unevenly balanced with too much foliage weighted at the tips.
So, this month, begin by deciding what and where to prune. Look at your desert tree from a distance to assess its overall height, width, density, shape and spacing between branches. Think about how wind and rain can better move through the tree. Plan your cuts. Then hydrate in advance, head outside early in the day, and start pruning.
Aeration is a process vital to the success of turf spaces, and in the Phoenix area, it’s practically a regular requirement to keep grass looking happy and healthy. You may see aeration listed on your landscaping schedule, but what is it, and when is the best time to do it for your home’s lawn?
Why Aerate Turf?
A grass turf needs water to penetrate deep, through the thick mesh of living and dead material known as the “thatch,” in order to get to the roots. Over time, the thatch becomes thick and tightly woven, to the point where very little water makes it to the roots. This also prevents nutrients from getting to the roots. Grass without water or nutrients results in sad, dry grass that will look ugly for most of the year. Aeration is the most common solution to this inevitable problem.
The Aeration Process
In order to properly aerate a turf space, you’ll need an aerating tool or machine and a recently watered patch of grass. The turf is easier to penetrate when the grass has been thoroughly moistened. The aerator comes in a few forms. There are aerators that you can install on a lawn mower for larger grass spaces, or you can buy a push aerator for smaller grass spaces.
You also have a choice between spike aerators and plug aerators. We usually recommend the plug aerator, as it pulls chunks of soil up and out of the ground and allows for more water to pass the thatch. The spike aerator also works, though not as effectively. It pokes small holes into the turf at regular intervals. Whichever aerator you use, you need to make sure you pass the aerator over as much of the turf area as possible multiple times until there are sufficient openings for water and nutrients.
When To Aerate
The best time to aerate turf depends on the climate and ecosystem of the region. For the Phoenix area, the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension recommends aerating turf once a month from June through August. It’s the hottest time of the year, and during June the driest time of year, a time during which grass needs to be able to absorb as much water and nutrients as possible. Aerating during this time also prevents water waste and saves you money.
ELS Maintenance makes sure all turf spaces are properly aerated as needed, and you may see us poking holes or pulling soil plugs from golf courses, parks, entrances, and anywhere else with grass. For more information about turf care practices, the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension has many great sources. If you know of a community or commercial property looking for a new landscaping company, email us at [email protected] and we’ll get started!
In late April and early May, when nighttime temperatures are consistently above 65 degrees, it’s time to transition winter to summer grass. If you didn’t overseed with winter perennial ryegrass, your Bermuda grass will transition naturally and sooner because it isn’t competing with the winter grass. Whether you’re watching the ELS crew take care of your community parks or striving for the best lawn in the neighborhood, you’ll appreciate these simple tips for transitioning to fuller, greener summer Bermuda grass:
Cut Down Your Winter Perennial Ryegrass
Each time you mow, lower the mow height ½” inch until the winter perennial ryegrass is about ½- to 3/4-inch high. Be sure to collect your clippings so they don’t block sunlight to the soil. The lower the ryegrass, the more heat and sunlight can reach the exposed soil surface. This will encourage the Bermuda grass roots to grow and the ryegrass to die back.
Reduce the Amount of Water You Apply
Ryegrass requires consistent water. When you cut back on the water you apply, you will further stress the ryegrass and allow the Bermuda to gain advantage. You can get similar results by stopping the water completely for 5 days. The Bermuda will hold on, but the ryegrass will die back.
Aerate to Address Soil Compaction and Encourage Bermuda Growth
You can opt to aerate your turf areas. Turf aeration addresses soil compaction, increases water penetration and nutrient uptake to the roots, and oxygenates the soil.
Fertilize Two Weeks Later
The Bermuda grass should be growing in well and overtaking the ryegrass after about two weeks. Then it’s time to broadcast a balanced fertilizer and increase the watering back to appropriate warm-weather levels.
April showers bring May flowers. And weeds. We refer to plants we don’t want as weeds. They pop up in locations where they don’t belong. They compete with the plants we actually want for sunlight, water and nutrients. In other parts of your yard, weeds look unsightly and can become a nuisance.
Control Weeds Before They Germinate
Since weed seeds need the right combination of soil temperature, water and sunlight to germinate and grow, weed control begins by creating undesirable growing conditions.
For a variety of reasons, including health and groundwater protection, turn first to non-chemical options for weed control. Spread a layer of mulch over the soil, especially on vegetable gardens and flower beds to also add organic matter and slow soil evaporation. A layer of rock or bark will have the same effect of blocking sunlight.
Chemical treatments are typical for cost-effectively managing weeds in residential parks and common areas. ELS applies seasonal pre-emergence residual herbicides for long-lasting weed management. Some pre-emergence products are available to homeowners for residential use.
Eliminate Weeds After They Emerge
For the weeds that nevertheless emerge, you can purchase various post-emergence weed killer products. Or, simply hand-pull or hoe the young weeds before they flower and set a new seed cycle. Applying simple household staples, like white vinegar, diluted rubbing alcohol or boiling water, are also effective methods for killing weeds. Just be careful not to accidentally damage the plants you wish to keep. YouTube videos are a good source for further instructions.
Weed Control in Turf Areas
If you have a lawn, this means that the best prevention against weeds is keeping your turfgrass dense and healthy enough to choke out weeds. Be sure to mow your variety of turf to its recommended seasonal heights and frequencies. Maintain turf vigor with routine, seasonal fertilization, aeration, and infrequent, deep irrigation.
If you choose to apply a pre-emergence residual herbicide on turfgrass at home, late autumn and early spring are generally the best times of year in Central Arizona. But plan ahead, because there are two different types of pre-emergence herbicides available for residential lawns, each with a different mode of action. Select the correct type and then follow all package directions carefully.
You know the saying “April showers bring May flowers?” Well, in Arizona this year it’s more like “March showers bring April flowers.” After all the storms last month, you probably noticed if there were any weaknesses in your yard’s drainage system.
Water follows gravity.
Remember that water follows gravity, until it reaches the lowest point, where it collects. It is these low points in your landscape that you need to address with a drainage solution when water becomes a problem. For example, your standing water following rains may breed mosquitoes, or overwatering land above a shallow water table may cause flooding. Here are some solutions to prevent standing water and drainage problems:
Dig a swale
Help water continue to flow by digging a swale that pitches downward from your current low point to an even lower point on your property. A finished swale might be a long, shallow trench finished with small rocks and plantings along it, for example, to help prevent soil erosion.
Add or extend gutters and downspouts
Add gutters along the edges of your roof to catch and channel rainwater down through downspouts. Trench in additional drainpipe lines to carry water even further, from your downspouts and away from valuable structures, like your house, into your landscape or toward storm drains in the street, for example.
Harvest rainwater
As groundwater in the southwest becomes increasingly scarce, and more expensive, many homeowners will join the ranks of rainwater harvesters. Most often, this simple technique involves running water from gutters along the perimeter of your house into barrels or tanks with spigots or submersible pumps for storage and later use.
Plant a rain garden
If you have a low point in your garden that fills with water but doesn’t cause any immediate problems, you can take another approach and transform it into a rain garden or a focal area for your yard. Dig down and place a layer of rocks or add a liner to create a natural pond. Or, find native plants that thrive in that spot. It may take some experimentation because your plant choices will be guided by the size of the wet area, how quickly water percolates naturally into the soil, and how much sun the area gets.
French drain
Trench in a French drain to move water quickly and efficiently away from a structure or from any point on your property to an adequate drainage area. A French drain is most often made from connected lengths of perforated, flexible tubing sheathed in porous landscape fabric, which allows water to seep out without debris flowing into the pipe. Keep in mind that over time, you may still need to dig out and rebuild your drain if it becomes clogged.
Dry well
If the area where water pools also happens to be the lowest point on your property, you may have no other choice than to build a dry well in that spot. A dry well serves as the endpoint in a drainage system. At its most basic, it can be a man-made pit filled with gravel, dug to a width and depth commensurate with the volume of water that collects at that point. Often covered by soil and turf or mulch on the surface, the large pore spaces between the stones allow large volumes of water to pass down deeply into the soil. Dry wells are the most common fix for soggy areas in parks and recreational turf.
There may be other causes for your water drainage problems that may be more complicated to resolve. For example, your land may not have enough pitch, your soil may be compacted, or pavements and hardscapes may be impeding water runoff. Consult with a residential drainage engineer for help with these types of problems.
In the ELS Enhancements Division, we are pros at designing and installing drainage systems and performing drainage repairs for homeowners associations and commercial properties Valley wide. Invite ELS to care for your commercial landscape by sending email to [email protected].
When it comes to fertilizing plants, you can usually find your tree, shrub, and garden fertilizers at any nursery or hardware store, each one specified for all sorts of potential uses and purposes. But for many reasons, turf fertilizer is much less clearly understood by the general populace. What makes turf fertilizer different from other fertilizers, if anything?
Fertilizer Types
Fertilizers, at the most basic level, are collections of nutrients that plants need in addition to water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide, in order to thrive. A “complete” fertilizer is one that contains each of the three most important elements for healthy plants: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. Most of the liquid and granular fertilizer for trees, shrubs, and herbs will be some formula of a complete fertilizer. The ratio, typically written as (Nitrogen %) – (Phosphorous %) – (Potassium %), is important to note on any container, because different regions have soils with different amounts of each of these compounds. Additionally, every species of plant uses up its mineral supply at a different rate.
The Needs of Arizona Grass
The Arizona soil found in the Valley is known for being almost completely void of natural Nitrogen, and it just so happens that Nitrogen is the nutrient that grasses tend to use up extremely quickly. If your grass is looking sad, with patches of thinning or discolored foliage, there’s a high chance that your turf is running out of usable Nitrogen.
In order to ensure a good supply of Nitrogen for your grass, ELS typically recommends the use of Ammonium Sulfate. Ammonium Sulfate is a chemical compound that is not a “complete” fertilizer, but rather a nutrient that supplies exclusively nitrogen to the soil with the fertilizer ratio 21-0-0. We follow the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension’s recommendation of applying ½ – 1 pound of Ammonium Sulfate per 1,000 square feet of turf space, depending on how deficient the grass appears to be. The same ratio is recommended for your personal backyard spaces as well. For example, if you have 500 square feet of turf in your backyard, apply 0.25-0.5 pounds of 21-0-0 Ammonium Sulfate across the space, depending on how healthy your grass is looking.
How Often Do I Fertilize Arizona Turf?
Every yard space is different. Some yards have very poor soil drainage, some have more or less shade than others, some have more nitrogen in the soil than others. Because of this, you’ll have to adjust for how your grass behaves over the course of a year. The general recommendations, however, range from every four weeks to every eight weeks. The Maricopa County Cooperative Extension website with the University of Arizona offers a series of charts explaining the best fertilizing frequencies for different varieties and combinations of grass. Go to extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1817-2020.pdf to read the full explanation.
The most common grasses that follow rules for the examples provided are Winter Rye for the winter and Bermudagrass for the summer. Other, less common grass varieties may have slightly different fertilizer preferences, though these general rules pertain throughout most grasses.
Other Nutrients and Practices
While Nitrogen is the most important element to get into your grass, it’s not the only nutrient that could use an occasional boost. Sometimes, grass becomes deficient in iron, which leads to pale foliage and an overall sad look. To solve this, use iron chelate or other iron-filled supplements. The Arizona soil (and water supply) is often high in salts, which can clog up soil and hurt grass. For this, apply gypsum and “aerate” the soil using a tool called a “lawn aerator.” If you’ve recently overseeded, we recommend using a fertilizer that contains both Nitrogen and Phosphorous.
The ELS Maintenance Division is a group of experts who have been keeping turf spaces looking great around the Valley for nearly 50 years. If you have any questions or manage a community or commercial property that could use a new landscaping company, email us at [email protected] and we can get started.
Citrus trees have strong wood that requires minimal pruning. A healthy tree can bear the load of heavy fruit. A common misconception is that a heavily pruned citrus tree will result in new growth and improved fruit quality. In fact, the opposite is true; minimally pruned citrus trees can produce fruit that is of better quality than heavily pruned trees.
Spring is Citrus Pruning Season
If your citrus tree requires pruning, the best months in Arizona are February to April. Best is after the danger of frost has passed but before the tree flowers. Pruning between April and October can expose the tree to sunburn damage, and November to February exposes the tree to potential frost damage.
Regular Maintenance with Minimal Pruning
Citrus trees produce the least fruit in areas of the tree canopy that are most shaded. Thus, your citrus tree may only need to be pruned in the spring to thin out those deeply shaded sections inside the tree canopy, opening them up to sunlight for fruit production.
Year-round maintenance of citrus trees involves regularly snipping off suckers and removing branches that are weak, diseased or dead. As with other trees, a limb that crosses another should also be removed to prevent damage to and consequent disease in the other limbs it touches.
Citrus trees, like roses, are most often grafted varieties onto a base rootstock. Shoots growing up around the base of the trunk or in nearby soil are rootstock suckers that should be removed. They are characteristically thorny and will not produce the desired citrus variety.
Thorny, unproductive varietal branches higher up in the tree can also be removed as part of regular maintenance.
Protect Cuts with Paint
Especially for large cuts, protect the exposed citrus wood by painting it with a 50%/50% mix of latex paint and water. Never use an oil-based paint on citrus.
Want to know more about how you can maintain the investment in your landscape and improve its value? Call ELS at any time at (602)-243-1106 or fill out a request a bid form on our website at www.elslandscapeaz.com
Love your citrus trees even more by growing tastier fruits. There are steps you can take to make your citrus fruits taste better.
Fertilize for good-tasting fruit
Fertilizing your citrus tree correctly is the key to good-tasting fruit. Different citrus varieties require different amounts of fertilizer. For simplicity, use a citrus mix fertilizer to fertilize your citrus trees three times a year. Feed oranges, mandarins and grapefruit in January/February, March/April and May/June. Fertilize lemons and limes in January/February, March/April and August/September.
To calculate the right amount of fertilizer to apply to your trees, use this citrus tree fertilizer chart from University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. Always follow package instructions carefully.
Give your tree enough water
Properly watering your tree is the next most important factor for growing good fruit. Ideally, you would water your citrus tree deeply and evenly, at times when a moisture meter reads moist at 6 inches below the soil surface. This method accounts for the water-holding capacity of your specific soil and avoids detrimental salt buildup.
Generally, citrus trees consume more water in spring than in fall. Different varieties of citrus trees have different needs. To give you an idea, grapefruit and lemon trees require 20% more water than orange trees, while mandarins require 10% less, according to University of Arizona research. Also noteworthy is that citrus trees planted in grass or with ground cover need 20% more water than trees in bare soil. This is because the grass limits the amount of water that reaches the tree’s roots. Use the number of drip emitters with a flow rate that best matches your desired total water application rate (via frequency and duration) for your tree’s needs.
Both underwatering and overwatering can negatively affect citrus quality. Good practice is to learn from this irrigating citrus trees guide how much water your citrus tree variety needs, and then watch your tree for signs of water stress in dry periods and limit overwatering during wet weather.
Other issues that can affect your fruit quality
If you are applying the right amount of fertilizer and water and your fruit still tastes bad, you may have other issues with your tree. Since most commercially available citrus trees are grafted onto rootstock, it’s possible that the part of your tree producing bad-tasting fruit could be a growing from the rootstock instead of from above the graft, which is a thicker, scarred section of trunk near the base of the tree.
Another good clue is that sucker branches growing from the rootstock usually have more spines than the branches growing from above the graft (also called the bud union). Suckers should always be pruned off. If a sucker grew into a mature leader on your citrus tree, that part of the tree will never produce good fruit, and you probably need a new tree.
Soil and water salinity can also affect the quality of your citrus fruit. Refer to our blog on soil testing for more information on laboratories that can measure salts in your soil or water.
It’s also possible your citrus tree has a disease. You can consult with a nursery professional or local cooperative extension office about the various symptoms your tree is showing.
For more expert insights on growing and caring for thriving trees, invite ELS to care for your commercial landscape by sending email to [email protected].
Most of us grow up hearing our parents yell at us that money doesn’t grow on trees. The sassiest of us called them liars because money is paper, and paper comes from trees. What is indisputable, however, is that trees are tangible assets in the urban landscape that increase in value over time. Generally, the bigger and older the tree, the more valuable it is.
Economic and Ecological Worth
To assess the value of a tree, let’s first ask whether we are after its economic or ecologic worth. Economically speaking, one measure is a tree’s perceived contribution to the value of the property on which it is located. Other economic benefits of well-placed trees include providing protection from the weather. Tree canopies provide shade from the sun, and evapotranspiration cools the surrounding air. Tree canopies can slow down winds and reduce the amount of heat a building loses, particularly through its windows. For a homeowner, that sun and wind protection can add up to real savings from lower cooling and heating costs.
A tree’s worth in ecologic terms is even more interesting. Arborists and other scientists geek out on measures that include stormwater runoff interception, energy savings, air quality improvement and CO2 reductions. Trees serve to control urban pollution by reducing stormwater runoff and are considered a rainwater harvesting technique. They intercept and hold rain on their leaves, branches and bark, increasing soil infiltration and storage of rainwater through their roots. They also reduce soil erosion under their canopies by diverting and slowing rainfall before it strikes the soil.
How Trees Work For You
Trees phytoremediate water, taking in trace amounts of otherwise harmful chemicals from the soil and transforming them into less harmful substances that they use as nutrients or store in their tissues. Trees can reduce the level of air particulates and ozone because their leaves absorb ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide and generate oxygen during photosynthesis. They can also reduce atmospheric carbon by sequestering CO2 in their roots, trunks, stems and leaves while they grow, and in wood products after they are harvested.
i-Tree Design
To quantify and predict the economic and ecological value of one or more trees, use the clever modeling tool from i-Tree Design. This tool uses the tree’s location, species, diameter and condition to let you model your built structures and predict the value of specific tree species over a 1 to 99-year period.
Still, we humans usually plant trees for far simpler reasons—reasons that are rooted in neither economic nor ecologic value. We simply like how they look. They add curb appeal, design interest and sometimes privacy to our yards. We like them for bearing fruit, seeds or nuts. We like how they flower or change color with the seasons. We enjoy them as a source of recreation, like for a tree house, a rope swing or a hammock. And we admire how they are the simplest of homes, supporting local ecosystems of bees, birds and squirrels.
Whatever the value you desire or derive, invest in your landscape and property through proper tree selection, placement, pruning and nourishment.
Reach us at [email protected] to request a custom bid for your commercial landscape.
