Turf & Landscape Management

The landscape industry often sees the pieces of the puzzle, but what about the whole picture? What are the common factors needed to create a healthy landscape? Understanding how they all interact is crucial for a successful landscape, and landscaping business.

A Board Certified Arborist and former landscape company owner will share his insights.

Ficaria verna (Lesser celandine) is a perennial ground-covering plant native to northern Europe, newly found to be invasive in the Great Lakes region. F. verna forms a dense mat in the early spring, outcompeting native ephemeral species, many of which are already threatened. It can be identified by its small (1-4 cm), lobed leaves growing in clusters with 7-12 petaled, glossy, yellow inflorescences (2-5 cm). After blooming, F. verna forms clusters of small bulblets and tubers which spread and easily propagate if disturbed.

The year of 2024 will certainly go down as one of the most challenging turf management years in recent memory. Summer conditions could generally be described as uncomfortable. Hot, wet, humid conditions resulted in an abundance of turfgrass diseases including red thread, dollar spot, brown patch, and pythium blight.

This presentation will recap 2024 and discuss both cultural and pesticide recommendations for managing turf in less-than-ideal conditions.

In this program, the audience will gain an understanding of how common insecticides work against pests that we encounter each season and the history of their development. We will revisit concepts such as IPM, resistance, Mode of Action, LD50, and pest resurgence. The talk will provide a foundation to aid in product selection, stewardship, and management decisions.

Mosquito development, species of mosquitoes, diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, mosquito distribution and monitoring tactics, public health stats on importance of mosquito control, control aspects (actives, equipment, calibration, PPE).

Certain construction activities such as dredging, adding fill, or placing structures on bottomlands in waterbodies and wetlands of Michigan may be regulated under the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994, PA 451, as amended (NREPA). Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams and Part 303, Wetlands Protection of the NREPA are two of the statutes regulating many construction activities on Michigan’s wetlands, lakes, and streams.

Tick identification and ranges, disease risk and transmission, PPE and public education, pricing tick work and control methods, disease risk and transmission, adulticides and MOA.

Weeds belonging to the lower group of plants include liverwort, horsetail, algae, moss, nostoc etc. These groups represent some of the oldest organisms on Earth and play an important part in the ecosystems. However, often in ornamental production systems these weeds can cause severe loss due to high competition for limited resources and also reduction in the aesthetic values of the crops. Growers can learn about various non-chemical and chemical strategies to control these lower groups of weeds in ornamental production.