Plant Health Care
A guide to caring for your plants and flowers
John B. Ward & Co. is committed to constantly researching the latest information concerning insect and disease issues.
Our goal is to keep your plants vibrant and healthy by utilizing the most effective controls with the least environmental impact. We take a personal interest in your landscape, offering advice and design treatment strategies in an honest and informed manner. Simply put: when your landscape looks good, we look good.
Property Inspections
The most important aspect of our plant health care model is the property inspection. Every Fall, a Certified Arborist inspects each client’s property to tailor a program based on the current state of the health of their landscape.
Instead of trying to force a ‘one-size-fits-all’ method of insect and disease management, we custom design each program so that we can meet critical timing requirements of pest lifecycles without treating plants that do not need treatment. We are also always available to meet and answer specific questions and to reassess the landscape during the growing season.
Fertilization
A cornerstone of our approach to plant healthcare is to keep valuable trees and shrubs vibrant through proper fertilization. In a natural environment, organic material releases nutrients to trees and shrubs. Our residential environment often dictates that leaves be removed each fall and lawns are carefully maintained creating competition for available nutrients. The result is an interruption of natural nutrient cycles.
We use the latest generation of blended tree fertilizers and organic root stimulants. Our fertilizers are formulated to contain slow release nitrogen, which will not leach from the soil.
They also contain humates, an organic soil conditioner that works to improve nutrient uptake and water-holding capacity. Humates also stimulates fine root growth. Advances in products include beneficial fungi, called mycorrhizae, which may be appropriate for disturbed soils and newly transplanted plants. A growth regulator, placobutrazol, is a tool that is designed to reduce tree growth, encourage a reallocation of resources to strengthen defenses, and provide therapy for trees in stressful sites.
Our philosophy is to present solutions in an honest and informed manner. Our technicians are extensively trained to professionally apply our root treatments.
Our philosophy is to present solutions in an honest and informed manner.
Soil Injections
Several common insect and disease problems can be managed through use of systemic products injected into the soil at the base of plants, or directly into plant tissue. A single soil or trunk injection will provide effective results from one to three growing seasons, depending on the insect or disease we are treating.
My preference is that he is looking as much as I am to find problems. I’m always scouting and would notice a startling change. Sometimes they see an infestation that I don’t.
Foliar Sprays
Some insect and disease problems are best treated with foliar applications. At John B. Ward and Co., we use only the most effective, environmentally safe products on the market. We treat only when necessary and our technicians are licensed and extensively trained to professionally apply sprays.
Soil Therapy
All too often in a suburban landscape we encounter a tree growing in poor, compacted soil.
Years ago, the only recommendation was to install a mulch or wood chip circle to the drip line, water properly and maintain fertility. Within the past decade, we have been using a tool called the Air Spade to safely aerate the compacted soil and incorporate high quality compost directly into the root system. This procedure dramatically improves the growing conditions right away and the results have been very good.
Trunk Injections
At the cutting edge of tree care are the newest methods of direct trunk injection.
We use both large volume (macroinjection) and small volume (microinjection) methods to manage various insect and disease threats without the risk of unintended exposure due to drift or runoff. Direct injection methods often have multiple year effectiveness and can compete economically with foliar or soil treatments. Dutch Elm Disease, for example, can only be effectively managed with a macroinjection of a systemic fungicide.
We Recycle
We are committed to environmental stewardship and promoting awareness of healthy tree care practices.
Woody’s is our premium mulch manufacturer and green waste recycling facility and supplier in King of Prussia. 100% of our logs and wood chips are recycled into three organic mulch products available for delivery.
