sustainablelandscaping
The Big Easy:
‘Eco’ is NOT harder!
I just met with an old customer
who became a friend over the years. She’s renovating and landscaping her place in the Cayman Islands, where a large tree on the property became infested with termites. She spoke with many local nurseries and landscapers, and got a variety of answers. I was surprised at the route she took. Chickens. All of the chemical solutions were complex and only had a spotty chance of success. She got a dozen chickens and let them roam free and they gradually cleaned up all the termites, and most of the other pests as well. This got me to thinking about simple solutions to common problems for which we often have no good answer. Our mindset is still a bit stuck in the chemical world, but there are often eco-friendly routes to take.
Much of the trick is learning the life cycle of the problem one is trying to control. Black knot affects cherries and plums, including Shubert cherry, and will spread with catastrophic results if pruned at the wrong time of year. If pruned in August, the tree will have a chance to heal the wounds before the fungus releases its spores, so there won’t be any re-infection. I was having a terrible time with red lily beetle in my own garden. I had some success with nematodes, since the beetle pupates in the soil. Thoroughly by accident, I noticed that the beetles were feeding on my Fritillaria meleagris and, with its thin leaves, the beetle was easy to spot. My morning sanity-coffee walks, before the daily craziness, allowed me to hand-pick the beetles when the population was low, and my lilies haven’t been decimated
BY SEAN JAMES
for the past two years. The Fritillaria are a lure crop for the beetles. There are many expensive things that can be done to improve the health of a tree. Some fight disease. Others fight insects. Some just fight stress. A six inch-deep mat of compost, sloped up from the trunk and spread out to the drip line, will help the tree overcome most problems. I had to deal with a Norway spruce which had spruce adelgid and spider mites, and was in serious decline. An application of compost had the tree growing vigorously within the year. It overcame all the problems and now looks amazing. I’d say a re-application every five years would help. Biodiverse plantings seem to be the best way to control almost everything, with the exception of the new mega-pests such as pear trellis rust and emerald ash borer. Remember, we’re not trying to eliminate harmful insects and diseases — just to keep them under control. With a diverse garden, very few problems will get so dominant that they need to be controlled. Birds and pollinators visit my garden in droves for the seed, shelter and water, and I very rarely have issues that need dealing with, since nature cleans up everything. For instance, I can’t resist buying the new hostas, and I chuckle every time I hear folks looking for advice on how to control slugs. I simply don’t have a problem with them because the birds love them. As with all problems, ya can’t win ‘em all. I keep trying though, and do get some interesting surprises. For each infestation, research the pest and its life cycle, then determine when it’s most open to control methods. Learn one pest at a time, depending on the crisis du jour and before you know it, LT you’ll be an expert! Sean James is owner of an Ontario-based environmentally-conscious landscape design/build/ maintenance company.
68 | JANUARY 2012
January 2012 final.indd 68
| LANDSCAPE TRADES
68 | JANUARY 2012
| LANDSCAPE TRADES
11/23/2011 1:38:50 PM