I was just getting ready to go on a week’s vacation when the “no watering” mandatory restrictions went into effect on August 26,” says Jeff Cooper, owner of Lawn Connection, Mt. Laurel, N.J. “We fought for weeks to have it lifted for landscapes because it had the potential to put many businesses out of work. I found it so hard to understand why they couldn’t make exceptions to seeding lawns.”
In any business, things can be going great one day then hit rock bottom the next. In some businesses, modified decisions can counteract a would-be catastrophe. In others, the origin of the problem isn’t one that an altered judgment can prevent.
The drought has affected all Green Industry companies with the exception of design/build firms.
Contractors in drought-affected regions across the nation have fine-tuned their companies to meet their customers’ needs and are planning ahead to avoid being hurt in the future. This is the view from a sampling of contractors who suffered through the 2002 drought and came out wiser.
Client education a must
“I’ve learned how much, or little, we actually use water,” said Scott Arnett, plant health manager for Swingle Tree & Lawn Care, Denver. “And also how much other people didn’t know about water use, including those who regulate water.”
Arnett had to lay off 20 employees for the first time in many years due to a lack of new sales and the loss of established customers. The loss of customers resulted partially from a poor economy but mostly due to client confusion about water use and lawn care during drought conditions.
To alleviate this confusion, Arnett said his company published a drought newsletter that gave details on how to keep the lawn from going dormant, the purpose of fertilization and when it was okay to water. They trained their crews on how to handle customers who were concerned about why their lawn didn’t need to be serviced.
Educating the customer was most contractors’ number one priority during the drought. Clients were informed by the media of the drought and water restrictions, but they didn’t get any instructions on how to use their water efficiently, especially in their landscapes.
“We’ve had to make our clients more aware of how important watering their landscape is,” says Joe Markell, owner of Sunrise Lawn/Landscaping Services, Herndon, Va. “We have a water tank truck to water our residential and commercial clients’ trees and shrubs in situations where they aren’t diligent enough or able to, two to three times per week. Our clients are more appreciative of the service and know the cost of watering can be less of an issue than the cost to replace plants that aren’t watered.”
All dried up
Says John Bass, “If we don’t get snow this winter, there may be no water next spring.” Bass is owner of Lawn Master, West Jordan, Utah, an area that depends on snow to fill its reservoirs and permit irrigation. “We can go two to three months without rain and be okay as long as we have normal or better snowfall.”
Bass cut back his clients’ irrigation time this year, sending them a letter in the spring on efficient watering and recommending sprinkler audits and drip irrigation for non-turf areas.
“Some customers were trying to be patriotic and watered only once a week, causing lawns to go dormant,” Bass says. “They then lost thousand-dollar trees and called me to complain.”
Cooper of Lawn Connection said the restrictions really hurt his company too. They had to educate their customers, making sure that at least one person in the family understood how to care for the lawn during the drought.
“New sales and growth weren’t there,” Cooper says. “After 18 years of business and having enjoyed 25 percent growth every year, we’ve had a 30 percent to 35 percent overall drop in business. I didn’t know how quick growth could stop. It was tough. We were fighting to keep all our employees.”
Cooper added deck power-washing and restoration to their services four years ago, and the fact that their employees are cross-trained helped because this side of the business didn’t fall under the mandatory restrictions.
Rusty Stout, manager of Complete Lawn Service, Vienna, Va., has seen an overall increase in business for both existing and new homes because there have been only voluntary water restrictions so far. Even so, he made an effort to educate his customers too.
“Our customers have never watered their mature trees and shrubs, so we’ve had to focus on education,” says Stout, whose company installs irrigation systems and also does landscape maintenance.
When Stout installs new landscapes, he uses water retention polymers that guard against a drought by absorbing water. He added water garden installation and maintenance to his services this year, not necessarily because of drought but to increase the value of his company to his clients.
Water woes out west
Pro Lawn of Lolo, Mont., is located in a mountainous area that hasn’t had normal snowfall the last few years. The company also had to deal with intense heat from surrounding regional fires this past season. As a result, Judy Stevers, co-owner, encouraged clients to fertilize early. Her company then started clients on a regular watering routine.
The water shortage led to increased sprinkler service maintenance this past year, Severs says. “This goes back to water management as people become more aware of the need to keep heads adjusted and leaks fixed so that water isn’t wasted.”
Todd Graus of Green Turf Lawnscapes, Worland, Wyo., hasn’t been busy so much with irrigation maintenance as he has with tree removal.
“Because we’ve been in drought conditions for three to four years, certain species of trees are dying. We’re busy trimming or taking out large spruce trees,” says Graus. “If the tree is alive, the branches snap off due to lack of moisture. The growth of root-set trees hasn’t been affected, but new plantings are dwarfed.”
One service Graus offers to combat the drought is the deep-root feeding of trees. “Each type of tree has its own fertility program,” he says. “I build a prescription for individual trees, and clients seem to appreciate that.”
Graus also sprays an anti-transpirant in December and again in February or March. This offers protection from transplant stress, drought, salt damage or winter desiccation by preventing transpiration through the leaves, he says.
Lawn Masters’ Bass says the reservoirs in Utah were at their lowest point ever last season and, if they don’t refill this winter, there will be no fertilization this spring and less mowing in the summer.
“I may have to downsize, but it’s not in the plans,” Bass says. “The Farmers Almanac is calling for a warmer, wetter winter, and we’re praying for more snow. There’s not much more we can do.”
Add-ons abound
Like Graus, Bass has established a Christmas lighting business that kept him working into the winter. He doesn’t offer snow removal because, he says, if there’s no snow, there’s no work.
Complete Lawn Service’s Stout is considering adding surfactant application to his list of services if the drought continues. Surfactant is a wetting agent that allows water to penetrate soil more easily. The only drawback, according to Stout, is the expense of the application to the client.
Arnett’s company, Swingle Tree & Lawn Care, is looking into services that fit with what they already offer, such as fire mitigation and deep-root watering of established trees using a water truck and soil probe. With fire mitigation, they would use their bucket truck to remove or trim trees and shrubs that might be a forest-fire hazard around houses.
Insect damage up everywhere
Last year’s drought exacerbated the effect of insect damage. Because it was so dry, the turfgrass was unable to repair itself. Over the fall, applications were made to control grubs, but chances are lawn care pros will be getting calls early this season to replace lawns.
The dry conditions and mild winters were also the ideal environment for more weeds in the landscape, creating more work both this past fall and this spring when the seeds germinate. Pre-emergent applications are advised in flower beds where desirable seeds aren’t going in.
In Colorado, Arnett reports that the insect, Spruce Ips, is attacking and killing large 30- to 40-ft. trees because the trees are weakened from the lack of water over the course of the last three to four years.
Some surprises and some positives
“Car washes and other water-consuming businesses are able to continue to operate,” Bass explains. “We want to ensure that the landscape industry is treated as fairly. Our fresh water comes out of the mountains. We are trying to make people understand that it needs to be used before it runs into the Salt Lakes where it becomes unusable.”
Arnett’s company had to make major schedule changes this past fall. Their main water supplier cut off water for landscaping and watering yards effective October 1.
On a positive note, Markell and Stout found that landscape installation jobs increased this past year because they were able to complete jobs faster due to less downtime from rain.
Stout said it was so dry this past August that when a hurricane brought rain to the area, demand for seeding services skyrocketed. September books showed them with a growth rate of 40%, but he says this was not indicative of the whole year.
“We feel we did a pretty good job in preparing,” Arnett stated. “However, if we could have put more information out to the customer sooner it would have made us more proactive than reactive, which is what I want us to be next year.”
