This course seeks to help the attendee understand pre and post emergent herbicides and how they can be used in conjunction to build an effective and efficient program that leads to clean well maintained landscape beds. The program starts with identifying the common enemy of weeds talking about categories and lifecycles and why it is important to know key features about weeds.
Woodchip bioreactors are low-cost systems that have been used for reducing nitrate concentration in runoff water from a variety of agricultural operations. Our program has been investigating these bioreactors for remediation of a range of other agrichemicals at the lab-scale, and recently, in partnership with a West Michigan large commercial greenhouse operation.
Course Outline: Pump Controls – Selection Guide & Challenge Prevention
A. Introduction
B. Pump Start Relay
C. Pressure Switch
D. Flow Switch
For successful ornamental crop production, weed control is one of the most important factors to consider. Strategies to manage some of the difficult-to-control weed species will be discussed in this presentation. Growers can learn about various herbicide options and weed control programs to tackle their weeds in ornamental production.
Also, the latest research update from Michigan State University on weed control in container production will be presented in this talk.
Herbicides provide highly effective and efficient means to eliminate unwanted plants (weeds) in landscapes and nurseries. Unfortunately, with vague labels and misunderstandings about the chemicals in herbicide products, mistakes often happen, leading to impacts on non-target plants. These impacts may cause symptoms ranging from minor cosmetic concerns to severe injury and to plant death. When valuable plants such as trees are involved, liability for mishaps may be staggering; herbicide toxicity issues are often catastrophic compared to other mistakes.
Oak trees (Quercus sp.) represent increasingly important components of the Michigan Landscape, whether the landscape is urban or is natural woodlands/forests. The loss of important species of trees (examples: Ash, Elm, and Chestnut), coupled with seemingly almost daily new introductions of pests and diseases (examples: Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, Beech Leaf Disease, Pear Trellis Rust), makes it vitally important that we learn to distinguish the myriad of Oak maladies so that we can properly manage and preserve this important genus of tree.
For years, Paul has refined the art of using PGRs and carefully follows a simple set of guidelines that provides him with consistent results. Paul passes on his trade secrets for obtaining consistent results with PGRs in this informative presentation.
Trees are built to withstand the forces they have grown to endure. Given enough time, however, all trees will develop structural defects. Many defects pose negligible risk to the surrounding environment or to the tree itself. On the other end of the spectrum, severe defects can lead to catastrophic failure. While many defects such as large cavities or broken branches are easy to recognize, others can be more subtle.
Storm damage is a common issue faced by urban tree managers. Sometimes trees are severely damaged and need to be removed. Many more, however, receive moderate levels of damage and can be saved. When tree branches get damaged during storms they typically respond through the production of sprouting branches. Sprouts are a critical component in replacing the tree’s photosynthetic capacity. As the new branches grow and develop, restoration pruning becomes an important process to help improve the structural integrity of the tree crown.
The seminar will cover various topics such as:
• Understanding your ideal client and their needs
• Reviewing the main mistakes landscape entrepreneurs are making with their marketing and how to fix them for 2024
• How to measure the success and ROI of your marketing efforts
• And more…