The emerald ash borer is infesting the north east and if you don't protect your trees they may be at a serious health risk. Get the low down here... http://www.emeraldashborer.info/#sthash.YJ7AHine.dpbs
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![]() The name ‘Takashi Amano’ has become synonymous with the Nature Aquarium and aquascaping. Takashi Amano was born in 1954 in Niigata, Japan. Mr Amano started his career as a famous Japanese landscape photographer in 1975. Takashi Amano: World Class Photographer After visiting the world’s largest tropical rainforests in the Amazon, Borneo, West Africa and the pristine forests of Japan, Mr Takashi Amano produced a range of stunning photographs entitled ‘Untouched Nature”. As a photographer, Takashi Amano works with iconic large format cameras to capture the minute, intricate details of nature. This ability to appreciate nature’s fine detail is expressed clearly in Mr Amano’s famous quote – ‘To know Mother Nature, is to love her smallest creations’. Takashi Amano and the Nature Aquarium Mr Amano’s work has been exhibited across the world, and his appreciation of nature has been internationally celebrated. It is this unusual insight into the natural world that led Mr Amano to develop the concept of the Nature Aquarium, which is now so popular across the world. Mr Amano’s abilities to study and recreate the natural world allowed him to realise that the addition of CO2 to the aquarium environment would allow nature to be recreated as it existed in the wild. Mr Amano’s technique of recreating nature became known as the ‘Nature Aquarium’ style. As Mr Amano’s love of the Nature Aquarium grew, he began to experiment with new ideas, techniques and technologies, and Aqua Design Amano Co was born. Aqua Design Amano, otherwise known as ADA, specialises in researching, creating and developing technologies to allow everyone to create their very own Nature Aquarium easily and successfully. ADA now provide an entire range of items, from the famous ADA Aqua Soil, to their beautiful high clarity ADA Cube Garden aquariums, a comprehensively researched, easy to use fertilization system and all the elegant accessories you need to achieve Mr Amano’s original vision: a cube of floating water, a porthole to nature’s world, an underwater garden. ADA thoroughly research, develop and test all of their products, to the standards of Mr Amano himself, so you can have complete confidence in everything that is ADA. Roughly 3,500 years ago—right about the time the Ancient Phoenicians were hitting their stride—a tiny cypress tree, no bigger than a fist, sprouted in the swamplands of Central Florida. 3,500 years later, in 2012, that very same cypress burned to the ground. Known as “The Senator,” this majestic, 118-foot tall tree was one of the oldest organisms in the world. Over the course of its long life, it survived hurricanes, disease and logging sprees, serving as a landmark for Seminole Indians, a tourist attraction for curious Victorians, and a spiritual epicenter for pilgrims hoping to bask, literally, in the shade of history. Investigators later charged a 26-year-old woman with setting the fire. Here are some of the world’s oldest and most amazing trees that remain. 1. OLD TJIKKO (SWEDEN) 2. METHUSELAH (CALIFORNIA) The world’s oldest known living tree sprouted sometime during the last Ice Age, roughly 9,550 years ago. This 16-foot spruce in the Dalarna province of Sweden may look more like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, but don’t be fooled: this little guy’s root system got started back when the British Isles were still connected to Europe by an ice bridge. According to Wired, geologist Leif Kullman, who discovered the tree, named it after his dead dog. Methuselah, a bristlecone pine tree from California’s White Mountains, is thought to be almost 5,000 years old—and the oldest non-clonal tree in the world. The exact location of the gnarled, twisted Methuselah is a Forest Service secret, for its protection (that might not be it above). In 1964, a slightly older tree by the name of Prometheus was accidentally felled by a scientist who didn’t realize the tree was as old as it was. 3. LLANGERNYW (NORTH WALES) Llangernyw, a lush, 4,000-year-old yew tree, was inducted into a list of 50 Great British Trees by the UK Tree Council in 2002, which, as far as tree honors are concerned, is a pretty big deal. Llangernyw was planted in what is now a North Wales churchyard way back when the Egyptian Pyramids were still considered a new development. 4. ZOROASTRIAN SARV (IRAN) The Zoroastrian Sarv, a tree in central Iran, is an Iranian National Monument. The 4,000-year-old cypress took root right about the time ancient people in Central Asia were inventing wheels with spokes, and over the course of its long life, witnessed the advent of modern human civilization. 5. FITZROYA CUPRESSOIDES (CHILE) Fitzroya Cupressoides, a type of tall, skinny evergreen in the Andes Mountains, are some of the oldest trees in the world. Known commonly as the Alerce, many of these soaring evergreens have been logged in the last two hundred years, but scientists have been tracking and protecting one specific tree, which is thought to be more than 3,600 years old. 6. THE TREE OF ONE HUNDRED HORSES (SICILY) The Tree of One Hundred Horses, this enormous chestnut near the Mount Etna volcano in Sicily, is thought to be between 2,000 and 4,000 years old. Its inimitable name comes from an old legend where 100 drenched knights and their sopping steeds sought refuge from a thunderstorm beneath the tree’s protective branches. It’s almost believable: This truly massive tree holds the world record for girth, clocking in at 190 feet in circumference—nearly the length of a hockey rink.
![]() Why It's Important to Clean Your Gutters Annually. Many homeowners wait to get their gutters cleaned until they notice a problem. Unfortunately, this is like waiting to lower your cholesterol until you have a heart attack. By Robert MacKerron (Open Post)Updated March 12, 2012 at 12:01 pm Gutter cleaning is an integral part of maintaining your home. As a busy homeowner myself, I know gutter cleaning is probably at the bottom of your list of things you want to think about. The problem is, many homeowners wait to get their gutters cleaned until they notice a problem, or so much debris has collected the gutter is tearing from the roof. Unfortunately, this is like waiting to lower your cholesterol until you have a heart attack. Clogged gutters can wreak havoc with the natural drainage of water away from your home. This can result in damage to fascia, soffit, roofing, or even begin leaking into your home. Additionally, water damage can ruin the very foundation of your home – something you NEVER want to happen. Some of the many benefits of gutter cleaning include:
Salting and black ice. Keep your family safe from injury over the coldest months of the year.11/17/2014 Black Ice: How to Spot This Winter Driving Danger
By Kristen Rodman, AccuWeather.com Staff WriterNovember 17, 2014; 5:24 AM ET More Sharing ServicesShare|Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on linkedin Winter brings many dangers for motorists, with one of the most threatening being slippery and hard-to-spot black ice. "The biggest danger [with black ice] is that you are at the mercy of your vehicle and the ice until your car passes over it," Vice President and National Director of AARP Driver Safety Julie Lee said. Black ice forms when the air is at 32 degrees or below at the surface and rain is falling, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Andrew Mussoline. The ground temperature causes the precipitation to freeze upon impact, thus creating ice. Sleet and the refreezing of snow or water can also generate black ice. This type of ice gets its name from its ability to blend in with its surroundings. "It's called black ice because it tends to look like the rest of the pavement on the road, but it's actually clear," Lee said. The complexion of black ice makes it extremely difficult to spot, but using a car thermometer as an initial gauge can be helpful in determining the road conditions. A car thermometer, like any digital thermometer, tries to find the air's ambient temperature. So, if a vehicle's thermometer is close to freezing, the car driver should be cautious on the roads. RELATED: You've Never Seen a Snowflake in This Much Detail AccuWeather Winter Weather Center The Top 5 Least Known Dangers of Winter While the sensors themselves are usually very accurate, their placement on a vehicle can make them less reliable. Located outside the car, behind the front bumper, these sensors sometimes pick up heat from the car's engine, resulting in a higher temperature reading, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Frank Strait. In addition, these thermometers can also read lower if rain water hits the sensors and evaporates while the car is at a higher speed. Overall, car thermometers give relatively accurate readings, but for various reasons they can be incorrect, so they should not be used as the absolute authority, Strait said. Due to the restrictions of a car's thermometers, the best way to know if roads are icy before heading out the door is to be aware of when, where and how black ice forms. The prime times for the development of this ice are around dawn and in the late evening, when temperatures are typically the lowest. During the day, the best thing to do before getting in a vehicle is to take a look at the pavement. "If the pavement is dry but you are seeing spots of pavement that look dark and glossy, that is probably going to be black ice," Lee said. Before getting on the roads at night, drivers should be informed of the area's weather conditions, as black ice is hardest to see in the dark, according to Lee. The most common locations for the emergence of black ice are shaded or tree-covered parts of driveways and roadways due to the lack of sunlight and bridges and overpasses because of their ability to freeze quickly. While driving on black ice is similar in some regards to driving on snow, the biggest difference between the two is the amount of traction the vehicle retains. "With snow there its still some traction, whereas on ice there is no traction and that's where it becomes very dangerous," Lee said. Due to the lack of traction a car has on ice, the basic rule for driving on black ice is to stay calm and let the vehicle pass over it, according to Lee. Tips to Stay Safe While Driving on Black Ice: 1. Do not hit the brakes, instead keep your steering wheel steady. 2. Lift your foot off the accelerator. 3. Do not overcorrect your steering if you feel your car sliding. ![]() Larry Caplan: Benefits of Fall Garden CleanupLarry Caplan9:13 PM, Oct 11, 2014 lifestyle | larry caplan | health and fitness | home and garden EVANSVILLE, Ind. - After the last of the harvest has been brought in, it’s time to start cleaning up the garden. While not as fun as growing the plants, it’s an important job that will make next year’s gardening easier. All dying or dead plants should be removed from the garden. This removes a source of food and shelter for various garden pests. For example, squash bugs and Colorado potato beetles overwinter as adults in plant debris. Various fungal diseases, such as early blight leaf spot of tomato or black spot of rose, can also overwinter on dead leaves and stems. Be sure to rake up and remove all rotten fruit at this time. Not only will insect and disease organisms overwinter on these, but the seeds can become a source of volunteer plants next year. Most of the garden vegetables we plant are hybrids, and don’t breed true from the seed of the harvested fruit. These volunteer plants can make it confusing to figure out which plants are the ones you meant to grow, and will need to be treated as weeds next year. Garden tools should be cleaned of all dirt before putting them away for the winter. This helps prevent rust, extends the life of your tools, and prevents reintroducing disease organisms into the garden next year. Shovels, hoes and rakes can be cleaned with a wire brush and hose. Allow them to air-dry, and then coat all metal parts with a light treatment of oil (such as 3-in-1) to prevent rust. Disease organisms can survive on plant cages and stakes. If you store these outdoors, the sunlight and weather will kill most of the spores; however this shortens the useful life of these tools. If you store them inside a shed or garage, you should wash them off and then disinfect them with a bleach solution. Mix one part laundry bleach with nine parts water in a spray bottle, and then spray them down. Allow the cages and stakes to air dry before storing. Lawn mowers and other power equipment should be winterized according to the owners’ manuals. Briefly, though, use up the gasoline in the tank, to avoid water accumulation or fuel line clogging. If you can’t completely drain the gas tank, then add a gas treatment (such as Sta-Bil or similar products) and run the engine for a few minutes. Sharpen and balance mower blades, and check all belts and moving parts for wear. Replace the spark plug and all fluids, including oil. Scrape off dry grass and dirt from the undercarriage of mowers and tillers, and any accumulated sawdust from chain saws. Doing this now means your equipment is ready to go next spring. Don’t forget: this Saturday is the Ohio Valley Garden Conference, sponsored by the Southwestern Indiana Master Gardener Association. For more information on the conference, or winterizing your garden, contact the Purdue Extension Service at 812-435-5287. Larry Caplan is an extension educator-horticulture with the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, Vanderburgh County/Southwestern Indiana. Email him at [email protected]. Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ![]() As the coming rains signify spring blooms in Pennsylvania, rising concerns of water pollution, squandered fertilizers, and soil erosion comes into sight as well. Our team at Mack Landscape Management LLC. want to inform you of our concerns for your landscape, prevent any problems beforehand, or diagnose and rectify any existing issues before the problems worsen. Rain is Vital: Montgomery county averages 46.3 inches of precipitation per year, 5 inches more than the rest of Pennsylvania, and nearly 10 inches more than the entire average of the United States. This amount of precipitation contributes to the success of a wide variety of plants that thrive here, as well as a continuing problem with erosion, soil infertility, and over fertilization. The way you, as a property owner, and us, as a responsible Landscaping company, manage your storm water is crucial to maintain your home's foundation, your landscape investments, and your cities water quality. ![]() What Mack Landscape Management LLC. can do for you! 1. Establish the soil condition and percolation rate of the permeable areas of your property. 2. Calculate impervious areas (roof, driveway, hardscape patio) and the amount of water being lost by drainage systems. 3. Inspect and diagnose any problems with flooding, erosion, or storm damage. 4. Test soils for nutrients, retention, and leeching. By investigating all these factors we can save you money! 1. Are you paying companies like TruGreen to come and fertilize your lawn? If your soils are like most Montgomery county home-owners, they are clayey, and slightly compacted causing poor water filtration. Perhaps your property is on the other side of the spectrum. Sandy and overly porous allowing all the fertilizers and beneficial nutrients to leech or wash right through. MLM can provide aeration to allow air and water to percolate through your soils instead of forcing it to rush off the property with the nutrients you have or have paid to apply. We are also capable of amending grades and changing plant material to retain your properties water reducing the need for irrigation during the hot and dry summers. 2. Draining and sealing your basement can be very expensive. By understanding how much of your property is impervious to rain, we can understand what type of system will best manage your excess water without damaging your home, plants, or landscape. 3. Do you have a steep grade beside or adjacent to your home that seems to be wearing away? Are trees on your property beginning to lean, show more and more of the root system, or even blowing over after a mild to severe storm? These are signs of a serious water runoff problem that we can solve! Replanting trees or perhaps planting the wrong trees for the area can be very costly. Let us inspect and try to remedy the rushing flow of water away with appealing solutions that wont cause damage, headaches, or a lighter wallet every rainy season. Call or Email us today to schedule your water-runoff and drainage consultation!
610.755.8949 [email protected] Let us help you be storm ready, environmentally conscious, and save money! ![]() What you should know and what Mack Landscape Management LLC. can do for you! For clarities sake, mulch is any material spread evenly over the surface of the soil to enhance the growth in plants and the appearance of the landscape. Mulch applies to any type of spread top layer including the generic brown, black, or red wood mulch, leafy compost, or waste compost. This loose definition also illuminates the other applications and more benign benefits of using a generic leaf and wood mulch, or complex and chemically active compost mulch. Mulching can control undesirable weed growth, improve soil tilth (or soil quality,) and remedy erosion, runoff, and storm water flooding. Soil is the bedrock to a healthy and beautiful landscape. I may seem like a broken record but it is absolutely critical to maintain a good soil structure and tilth to nurture plants, control weeds, curb erosion, slow leaching of nutrients, and control temperatures for plant roots. Above is a chart of the ideal soil composition as well as the soil triangle illustrating what three parts make up any one soil. Sandy soils allow quick root growth while usually droughty and nutrient poor otherwise known as leaching. Clayey soils are prone to compaction making rooting difficult. The finer particles make it more difficult for air and water to penetrate the soils. Loam soils, consisting of all three, sand, clay, and silt, are the most balanced and cultivatable of all soils. This is the end goal; to reach a balance between a sturdy yet aerated soil that retains beneficial nutrients and allows slow percolation of water through its many layers. The Benefits: 1. Mulches generally contain higher amounts of Phosphorous, Potassium, and Nitrogen than inorganic fertilizers. Natural mulches introduce these slowly providing a much steadier and longer treatment for plants than one large flush, which can ultimately harm plants and waterways. Mulches also contain micronutrients that are crucial for healthy plants, shrubs, and trees that are not found in the store bought N-P-K fertilizers. 2. Soil structure is crucial for healthy plant growth. Mulching with organic material can increase the water holding capacity of sandy soils while slowing the leaching of nutrients from the soil to the water supply. Loosening and lightening the platy structure to allow air and nutrients to penetrate its thick skin benefit clayey soils. In turn this lessons runoff by allowing soils to absorb a majority of storm water and curb erosion from fast moving rain streams. 3. Water conservation is crucial during the summer when landscapes have to be irrigated more and more due to higher temperatures and longer sun exposure. Just two inches of mulch in the summer can reduce water loss by 20%! 4. Maintaining a cool soil temperature in the summer and insulating the soils in the winter is crucial to roots and water evaporation control. Two inches of mulch atop of the four inches of soil can reduce the temperature by 10 degrees in summer, and increase temp by 10-15 degrees in winter. 5. Mulching also curbs unwanted plant growth by up to 90%! Annual weeds can be nearly eliminated completely by proper mulch spreading. 6. Microorganisms and worms, although unsettling to some, are nature’s little recyclers. These microscopic organisms increase air and water holding capacity and ultimately make your soil more fertile for your landscape. They can also physically attach to tree root systems to mutually benefit the plant and organism. 7. The right mulch has been proven to help with erosion. Spraying slopes and basins that see high velocity water flow can slow soil erosion and is readily used in Europe and Canada instead of artificial netting or sandbagging. 8. Finally, mulches and composts have been proven to reverse polluted soils because of the increased microorganism activity. Petroleum and heavy metals found in new construction sites are chemical compounds that cannot be broken down and flushed out without a soil rich with life. Mack Landscape Management LLC is ready to help!
Many of our customers in the greater Philadelphia area suffer from clayey soils, live beside streams, or have severe storm water management problems. Besides the services we have always offered to our clients, being drainage system installation, soil amendments, and fertilizing, we are expanding to caring for the “Bedrock” of your landscape. Soil. MLM is now offering soil pH and tilth testing, soil aeration to improve air and water intake in clayey soils, introduction of microorganisms to amend your existing soils, and will be happy to educate you on how to best make your very own compost that we can manage and apply in spring during our mulching season. Many of our customers take pride that their property is a micro-ecosystem that generates waste that is reintroduced as a natural mulch to improve every aspect of the garden or landscape. You may be was well! Give Mack Landscape Management LLC a call to schedule a consultation for your zero-input yard! 610.755.8949 or email us at [email protected] -J. DeLone Below I have provided a number of articles that go more in depth on the discussion. Please feel free to peruse any and all outlets yourself! ![]() Henry Adams put it best when he stated: “Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.” Lawns grow into disorder, leaves fall, and we strive to categorize, organize, and beautify. Although lawn and tree maintenance is crucial for the look and feel of your property, the consequences can be catastrophic on our natural resources. Poorly executed lawn and tree care pose immense threats on the state’s, and country’s waterways, and hastens disease and pest spread worldwide. It is not only our duty at Mack Landscape Management, LLC. to inform you of Pennsylvania state legislation, regulatory action by the state’s EPA, and keep you updated on the most eco-friendly management techniques available, but to also responsibly offer these services to all of our clients! Pennsylvania, Montgomery County, and your local municipalities have and most likely will pass more stringent regulations on how we dispose of your yard waste, water your lawns, and care for your property. PA Act 101 stipulates that no municipality over 5,000 residents can lawfully throw away plant material with general trash nor be burned in piles. This is because plant material then ends up in landfills, decomposing and producing mass amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas. Burning of leaves in fall adds to air pollution and carbon releasing which is also a greenhouse gas. Leaves should not be piled and left near waterspouts, drains, and sewers because of the acidic content during decomposition which leads to water pollution. Using non-potable water to irrigate your landscape is highly illegal in most counties, and irrigation should be closely monitored to ensure you water the correct amount and avoid flooding, as well as save on your water bill every month. Ordinances in most townships dictate that no grass clippings, leaves, or any other organic material be blown into the street because grass clippings contain high amounts of quick releasing nitrogen. This leads to quick algae growth in streams, ponds, and lakes. Over fertilization of your yard can also attribute to water pollution, animal death, and increased pest problems. Mack Landscape Management, LLC. can help you comply to these, as well as contribute to your community by setting up a yearly soil test, building your own personal composter, or simply removing the waste and disposing of it at the proper facilities for you. We are also happily complying with increased regulation. Mack Landscape Management, LLC. must now inform dumping sites of where and when the leaf, twig, or wood waste came from and was removed. Most townships have monthly collection days for all yard waste in accordance with Act 101. For those of you that need more than that, Mack Landscape Management, LLC. will lend a helping hand. Further, we encourage soil testing here at MLM. We believe that additives should reflect what your soil lacks and not be utilized to push new growth and color despite damage to soils, waterways, and your other plants. We also believe in composting your grass clippings. It is proven that leaving grass clippings in your yard provides as much nutrients as general grass fertilizer. As your soils absorb plant material, it replenishes nutrients; benefits soil structure, and fertility. The most important barrier against and the largest contributor to water pollution is soil. The scientific community has made great strides in understanding how our “dirt” functions, renews itself, and benefits our groundcovers, and is the single greatest factor in water conservation. Maintaining a healthy soil structure, suitable or viable plant material in such soils, and the care above and below our grass-laden yards will make our communities much more sustainable. Laws not only focus on water conservation but air quality. Since trees are natural air purifiers, our local, state, and federal governments take great measures to limit the spread of pests that threaten our forests and urban tree communities. Firewood is a serious contributor to the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer (see previous post,) the Asian Longhorned Beetle which attacks hardwood tree species, and the Sirex Wood Wasp whom spread throughout the North-East killing hundreds of pine stands. Our employees are familiar with these threats, treatments, and PREVENTION so give us a call. So schedule a consultation today and let us turn the chaos into order. Let us help you go a little greener! -J.DeLone Township Links: Lower Merion Township Haverford Township Radnor Township Tredyffrin Township Useful & Supportive Articles: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Guides to Protecting your Water & Conserving your Land Lower Merion Planting Guide for Varying Soil Conditions Pennsylvania Trees Organization Pennsylvania Act 101 ![]() The United States faces the most devastating insect infestation in it's history and the pleasantly colored pest is headed down from Maine and to your neighborhood, home, and gardens. Pests rarely make the newspaper, barring the Pine Beetle devastation in the West, however the Emerald Ash Borer has already made headlines in Boston, Chicago, New York, and in our own Philadelphia Inquirer's Sunday issue. Pennsylvania's 300 million Ash trees are predicted to share the same fate as the 50 million fallen trees since the insects first discovery in 2012 by the Michigan State Natural Resources Department. Nationally, the damage is expected to exceed $10 Billion, and Pennsylvania remains one of the 25 states that will see a rise in EAB populations to epidemic proportions. There are many resources to diagnose, treat, and prevent infestations on your property and in your neighborhood. The best management practice for pests is always prevention. The larger the buffer between your treated trees and untreated trees the better! Since 99% of Ash trees infested by EAB die within four years of exposure, it is imperative to start planning now! Review the links below and, please, call us for a consultation in respect to your properties health and wellbeing. Best, -J. Delone Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources: Emerald Ash Borer Penn State: Decoy trees could blunt spread of ash-killing beetles
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