Fertilization: We fertilize all plant material excluding large trees, trees not incorporated into landscape beds, potted plants, naturalized areas and vegetable/herb gardens three times per year (spring, summer and fall). The fertilizer used is a nursery-grade timed release dry fertilizer that uses a sulfur coating in order to provide slow release.
This coating prevents fertilizer burn and gradually breaks down so as to provide continual feeding for a three to four month period. In addition, we feed any plant material showing signs of a minor nutrient deficiency making up for what's missing.
Supplimental care may be necessary for specialized plant material that requires more frequent attention (such as roses, flowering annuals, herbs, vegetable gardens, etc.). This can be provided by the owner, gardener or lawn maintenance company in order to perform best.
These individuals will be able to provide the more specialized services required by these plant groups as they are on the site on a more frequent basis. A Dr. Jack's horticulturist can consult on the care of specialized plant material at no additional charges to the customer.
Disease and Insect Control: Following guidelines of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as recommended by the University of Florida, Dr. Jack's has established the following policies concerning treatments for ornamental pest problems:
We will only provide insect and/or disease treatments if a plant is in danger of receiving substantial damage from the pest, the pest’s presence can cause considerable aesthetic damage to a site, the pest has known qualities that make treatments beneficial, the pest population level exceeds tolerable threshold limits, the treatments make economic sense, natural control predators are absent and/or cultural or environmental changes will not resolve the pest problem.
When reasonable treatments for pests become necessary, we'll provide them as needed at no additional charge to the customer. Some plant materials (such as camellias, gardenias, citrus, etc.) that have known associated pest problems can benefit from scheduled periodic pest treatments.
Should this type of plant material be growing on your property, Dr. Jack’s may recommend and incorporate scheduled pest treatments along with the regular scheduled fertilizer applications. Normally these treatments will be scheduled two times a year and will be done with the spring and fall fertilizations.