Plant Health Care Programs

At Bruss Landscaping, Inc. we are strong advocates of properly caring for landscape plantings. While your new landscape will be beautiful when we leave your property, there are some important steps for you to follow to properly maintain that beauty.

In a residential setting cultivated varieties are planted in close proximity to create a beautiful effect. This creates a higher level of root competition than is usually found in nature. To combat this issue we offer the programs outlined below. Further, simple preventative maintenance can keep weeds from overtaking your planting beds, reduce insect pest problems, control plant growth and provide your plantings additional protection from our tough Winters.

Please read the descriptions that follow to better understand our plant care services. Your Designer can answer any additional questions you may have.

Spring Fertilization:

Why fertilize annually?
When plants are in periods of active growth and blooming cycles their nutrient requirements increase. While the Summer season is a less active growth period, your plantings still require sufficient nutrient levels to maintain their health and vigor. This is especially important in residential landscapes where numerous plantings require nutrients from the same area of soil. If your plants do not have proper nutrient levels growth can be stunted, blooming reduced and overall plant vigor can suffer. Further, low nutrient levels can cause plantings to be more vulnerable to damage from insects and disease.

What we do:
To ensure your plantings receive the proper nutrient levels at all times we offer a fertilization program devised to meet all of your plants nutrient requirements while at a low relative cost. By using formulations of different products we reduce the labor cost by applying all of the fertilization your plantings will require for the Spring and Summer season in one efficient visit.

Trees, Shrubs and Ornamentals:
Liquid root injection (immediate nutrient availability for growth and blooms):

• Nutri-Culture 12-31-14 Fertilizer - Acidic to ensure nutrient availability in our more alkaline soils. Higher in Phosphorus and Potassium needed for Spring growth and blooms. High in Iron to help reduce chlorosis.

Dry Application (seasonal slow release nutrient availability):

• Woodace 14-14-14 X-tra coarse 3-4 month slow release fertilizer - We feel this is the best professional strength slow release fertilizer available for our climate. The formulation is full of macro and micronutrients, slow released to your plants Spring through Summer.

Perennials and Groundcovers:
Dry Application (seasonal slow release nutrient availability):

• Lebanon 16-16-16 IBDU 4 month release fertilizer - This extended release fertilizer gets nutrients to your perennials and groundcovers in the Spring and early Summer when they need them. It is a mild product that will not harm the root systems of herbaceous plant materials.

Pre-Emergent Weed Control:

Why apply pre-emergent?
Spring is the season of new growth. In the Spring as weed seeds find temperature and moisture conditions favorable, they will break and begin to grow. If left unchecked these weeds can establish in your landscape and become an ongoing maintenance problem. While pre-emergent weed control does not control existing or perennial weeds, it will effectively control any newly emerging seeds reducing the possibility of a new weed 'headache' establishing itself in your landscape plantings.

What we do:
We apply a granular pre-emergent weed control product via broadcast application directly to your planting bed areas.

• Ronstar G - A selective, pre-emergent, granular herbicide will be broadcast into landscape beds with woody ornamental shrubs and trees.

Fall Fertilization:

Why fertilize in the Fall?
New studies are showing significant benefits to Fall applications of Mycorrhizal to landscape plantings. Further studies are showing marked health improvement on older plantings which may not have been regularly fed in the past. While top growth may be going dormant in the Fall, this is the season that the root systems of your plant materials are actively growing. While roots are growing they rapidly absorb nutrients from the surrounding soil.

What we do:
A high pressure soil injection of mild fertilizer and fungal organisms beneficial to the health of your planting's root systems. This application is timed for maximum absorption during the season of active root growth.

• Rhizanova Injectable Formula - Strains of endo and ectomycorrhizal fungi that are selected for their ability to colonize in a wide variety of plant materials. The strains are combined with a humic acid carrier to encourage rapid colonization.
  
  
• Nutri-Culture 12-31-14 - Nutri-Culture is one of our favorite fertilizer products due to its highly soluble form and the dramatic growth it produces. Fall application is made at a mild formulation level as only a portion of the plant is actively growing at this time.

Winter Protection:

Why apply Winter Protection?
This form of foliar applied spray is called an anti-desiccant application. Anti-desiccants are most often used as a method of Winter Protection in locations where freezing temperatures may not allow the replacement of water loss in the plant or soil. Evergreens loose moisture through their leaves during the Winter months, especially when windy conditions prevail. Narrow leaved evergreens such as Hemlock, Juniper, Pine, and Yews, as well as broad-leaved evergreens such as Holly, Boxwood and Rhododendron benefit from Winter Protection applications. Further, Roses and other ornamental plantings with more tender branches and stems benefit from the 'Winter Coat' affect of a Winter Protection application.

Winter Protection will drastically reduce the occurrence of plant stress incurred through the Winter months through dehydration or what is called Winterburn.

What we do:
In our service an anti-desiccant application is applied to your plantings in late Fall. This product is foliar applied at fairly high pressure to create a small droplet size for full coverage of your plant materials leaves, stems and buds.

• Leafshield - A highly effective liquid formulation that allows for easy application in colder climates and eliminates the risk of stain from over spray.