TREE HEALTH CARE

PEST AND DISEASE

Site Inspections and Monitoring
From regular Plant Health Care check-ups to custom Green Pest Management programs, let the experts at Organic Solutions take the worry out of looking out for your landscape plantings.
• ISA Certified Arborist on staff
• Tree and shrub inspections: health assessment and pest & disease diagnosis
• Regular site monitoring: from spring to fall, customized for your needs. Soil tests to determine nutrient deficiencies and other soil concerns.

Control Measures
Applying control products are always the last step in our Green Pest Management programs. But when necessary, we incorporate the latest in effective, low-toxicity technologies.

Fungi
In our region, fungal problems on tree and shrubs can range from Marssonina leaf spot on aspen to Rhizosphaera needle cast on evergreens. Treatments vary, depending on weather, location and specific fungi identified. A few of the fungal problems we often see:
• Aspen Leaf Spot
• Needle Cast
• Powdery Mildew

Insects
Many insects live in and on our plant material, some of which can be serious pests able to cause severe damage or tree mortality. Control methods vary depending upon the type of pest and level of outbreak. We incorporate no-spray injections, spring or fall dormant oils and summer foliar sprays. Some of the insect problems we frequently find:
• Hard Scale like Pine Needle Scale
• Soft Scale like Cottony Maple Scale and Willow Scale
• Spider Mites
• White Pine Weevil
• Aphids
• Borers like Bronze Birch Borer and Poplar Borer
• Bark Beetles like Mountain Pine Beetle and Doug Fir Beetle
• Leaf Miner
• Tussock Moth
• Pine Tip Moth

Diseases and Parasites
Diseases are often the most difficult plant problem to solve. First steps may include minimizing physical damage from lawn equipment or changing irrigation times. Improving soil conditions or proper pruning may also be warranted before we begin using preventative or curative sprays.
• Fire blight
• Leaf Blight
• Twig Blight
• Mistletoe

Anti-Desiccant Sprays
These foliar sprays are designed to help evergreen trees prevent moisture loss through needles as well as prevent winter sun-scald. Anti-desiccant is often utilized during planting to reduce transplant stress or in late fall to minimize winter drought stress when the ground is frozen and the tree is still transpiring.

NUTRITION AND SOIL HEALTH

Compost Tea
Our tea is brewed on site, is full of life and ready for your lawn, trees, shrubs and flowers. While compost tea is not a fertilizer, it promotes microbial activity in the soil. Essentially, these microbes digest the nitrogen and release it in a form that allows the roots to absorb the nutrients. They provide the link between the fertilizer and the plant. Synthetic fertilizers tend to be like a simple sugar to microbes, quick to eat and burn. Organic fertilizers tend to be like whole grains, taking a while for the microbes to work through, which is why organic fertilizers are naturally slow-release, taking a while to be used by the plant. The more soil activity, the healthier the plant.

Granulated Compost
Our granulated compost looks like a dry fertilizer and can be easily applied on any soil, including trees, shrubs, flowers and lawn areas. Similar to our compost tea, our granulated compost packs a punch of microbial activity. Slower to release, our granulated compost is a great alternative to top-dressing with bulky, traditional compost.

Deep Root Fertilizer
Our premium feeding technique, we mix our own special blend of Liquid Slow Release Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potash, and Humic Acid, combined with a unique Micro-Nutrient Mix and Mychorrhizae Fungi inoculants. This exceptional mixture is applied directly to the soil throughout the root zone of each tree or shrub. This may be the most important step we can take to encourage proper plant vigor and build a healthy resistance to future diseases and pests.

Granular Topdressing
Our natural tree & shrub fertilizer blend is an excellent spring & fall topdressing. More economical but with slower results than our premium liquid root feed, we often use this technique for covering large shrub beds or tree plantings.