A Lake Geneva property we care for.

Position Announcement

Mowing Crewleader

Qualifications: Commercial driver license. Relevant experience in lawn mowing and lawn care or a related green industry field.

Responsibilities: We service a group of high-end landscape maintenance clients with weekly lawn mowing that requires a high standard of care, attention to the client’s wishes and a driven attitude to visit every client, every week, regardless of weather issues.

Primary duties include operating a pickup truck with a 16’ or 20’ enclosed trailer to job sites and using either Ferris or Grasshopper riding lawnmowers, Toro walk-behinds and Stihl string trimmers where appropriate.. Along with the technical skills, strong communication skills are necessary for reporting site conditions and problems to the client and fellow crewmembers.

During the season, crewmembers can expect to work 4-6 days per week between 7a and 4-5p, depending on weather, conditions and workload. During the off-season,mowing crewmembers join our tree crew and join our snow removal operations to provide year-round employment.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities: Individuals familiar with lawn care best practices including mowing height and watering, striping and site cleanup and blow-off will be best suited to this position. Technical skills such as a working knowledge of mower operation and maintenance reduce the amount of training and supervision required for the position. Soft skills like communication, organization, and client relations are equally important in this position because of the record-keeping and frequent client interactions.

• Starting pay rate with green-industry experience and/or education and commercial driver license: $12.50/hour ($26,000/year equivalent).
• Starting pay rate with green-industry experience and/or education and regular Class D driver license: $12.00/hour ($25,000/year equivalent).

Qualifications such as the PLANET Landscape Industry Certified Technician and Turf and Ornamental Pesticide Certification are recommended but not necessary. Both would lead to a higher starting rate or an increase once earned.

Submit a cover letter and resume to Nicholas Crawford.

View as a PDF.

Ginkgo biloba

Ginkgo biloba, the maidenhair tree, is a living fossil. Fossilized ginkgo leaves have been dated as being hundreds of millions of years old. In fact, if you look closely, you’ll see that they are included in the Milwaukee Public’s Museums dinosaur exhibit. Ginkgoes are incredibly resilient trees having practically no disease or insect issues and a high tolerance for tough, urban conditions. That means unblemished ornate leaves all summer long that culminate in a perfect, golden yellow in the fall.

Another favorite of mine is Liquidambar styraciflua, or American sweet gum. This tree is not commonly found in southeastern Wisconsin. Its native range is a few states south and east of us, but sweet gums have proven to be a reliable choice for Wisconsinites over the last few decades. Like the ginkgo, sweet gums are durable enough to withstand tough conditions. In spring, their unique star-shaped leaves emerge and remain a solid green all summer. In fall, sweet gums delight us with a myriad of colors. Burgundies, purples, oranges, reds, yellows, are all included in the sweet gum’s spectrum. The final effect mimics the mesmerizing glow of embers that remain after a night spent around a campfire.

American sweet gum is not the only tree produces many fall colors on one individual. Cultivars of Fraxinus americana, or white ash, can also produce breathtaking fall color effects. F. pennsylvanica, or green ash, also provides a showy, yellow fall color. Unfortunately, as you may know, an invasive beetle called Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) currently threatens all ash species and cultivars. Ash trees are native to Wisconsin and are one of the most commonly planted trees in our landscapes. Do you have any ash trees on your property? Have you considered protecting them against EAB? Aside from admiring the changing colors, fall is also a good time to treat your tree for borers. An insecticide can be applied to the soil around a particular tree. It will stay only in that area and, in spring, will be taken up by the tree’s roots and then dispersed throughout its canopy. This is a non-invasive approach for the tree, and an affordable one for homeowners.

Our trees provide us with countless benefits. Their beauty is just one amongst many. So take some time this fall to appreciate and discover how much trees really do enrich our lives.

“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.” –Albert Camus

Photo: kiwinz

Our landscapes accomplish a lot in the months leading up to fall. Their feats, such as developing new, leafy growth, flowering, and producing seeds all consume great amounts of energy. As winter draws nearer, perennials, such as our trees and lawns, will store any remaining energy to survive winter and reemerge the following spring. This is an ideal time to fertilize. For trees, fall fertilizations ensure that nutrients will be used for beneficial functions such as disease resistance and root development (as opposed to rapid, weak, new growth that is often the result of summer fertilizations). For our lawns, fertilizations in fall will increase the health of the lawn’s root system and allow more food to be stored over winter.

Fall is also a good time to protect against insect damage for next year. Ash, birch, honeylocust, and magnolia trees are all susceptible to insect damage that can be preventatively treated in the fall. Consider contacting us to see what pest management program would work best for your landscape.

Here’s one final tip: fall clean up. It can be as simple as removing diseased plant material and adding compost to your beds. Cleaning up in fall alone can decrease disease populations and create the perfect environment for your plants to flourish in spring. Summer may be ending, but the care we can offer our gardens doesn’t have to!

Photo: Pink Sherbet Photography

According the National Weather Service, precipitation for March 2010 in Milwaukee was 0.83 inches compared to the normal 2.59 inches. This comes at a time when our landscapes are using a lot of energy to push out leaves, develop flowers, and generally get ready for the summer months ahead. Crawford Tree and Landscape would like to give you some tips on when and how to water, and to offer our continued commitment to keeping your landscapes beautiful.

Wee-hour Watering

Watering the garden after a long day at work can be a chore. We grab the gardening hose (or turn on the irrigation), get the soil wet, (and the leaves) and call it a night. Unfortunately, extended periods of standing water on leaves create a perfect environment for disease. Consider watering early in the morning so the sun can rise and quickly evaporate the fungus-loving habitats from your plants’ foliage.

Go Deep!

Another common mistake is not watering deep enough. Shallow soil moisture encourages shallow roots systems that are susceptible to drought. Instead of watering for a half an hour each morning, consider watering for 2 or 3 hours once a week on established landscapes.

Conserve

Water is a priceless resource that deserves our respect. One of the easiest ways you can conserve water is to pay attention to rainfall. Don’t irrigate immediately before, during, or after a rainstorm. This may seem laughable, but with automated irrigation systems, it’s easy to overlook. Rainfall sensors can fix this problem by turning off scheduled watering times during storms. Install rainfall sensors with your irrigation systems and check them occasionally to make sure they are in working order. By decreasing water use, you may even end up with a lower water bill.

How do you know when it’s time to water? Amongst all of our responsibilities, it is easy to forget when it rained last, which plants can take dry conditions, and so on. Crawford Tree and Landscape can help you there. We know which plants will need supplemental watering during the growing season, what method of irrigation will work for your landscape, and how to ensure a healthy green season. Correct watering practices are essential for a healthy landscape, so let’s work together to ensure that your plants have everything they need.

Photo: Pink Sherbet Photography

Salt Hitting the Pavement by the Ton

Salt does a great job melting ice and snow to keep pavement safe. The unfortunate twist is that the same chemistry breaking down ice has a destructive impact on our plants. So the question is, how can we keep surfaces ice-free without sacrificing the landscape?

What does salt do?

1. Salt is naturally occurring, in the world around us and in our bodies.
2. Salt makes snow and ice melt and colder temperatures, but it also absorbs moisture powerfully, even pulling it out of plant tissue.
3. When poured down all winter for ice control, it moves from pavement to the soil where it displaces nutrients necessary for plant life.

Sunlight on the Snow

What can you do to address salt damage and – ideally – prevent it from happening?

1. Review winter salt usage. Apply enough to melt ice without leaving a residue and limit where you apply it.
2. Though more expensive, consider salt alternatives like calcium chloride or magnesium chloride that melt more effectively without applying as much.
3. Flush salt-saturated soil in the spring and provide plenty of water for salt-stressed plants to compensate for their desiccation, or water loss. While irrigating, be sure the soil is well-drained to carry away the salt.
4. If there is a concentrated salt spill, gypsum can help neutralize it and allow a dead spot in your turf, for example, to recover quickly.
5. Plant salt-tolerant species in areas adjacent to salted surfaces. In addition, pile salt-soaked slush away from plants during the winter.
6. Protect plants, particularly evergreens like arborvitae, from salt and salt spray with physical barriers like burlap. Addressing other stress factors too will help your landscape deal with all kinds of damaging factors that come their way.

You can read more in an excellent release (PDF) by the Tree Care Industry Association, the organization that established the accreditation guidelines we follow. In our own snow services, we strive to limit plant damage because it’s best for the landscapes we serve year round.

Snowy Branches in River Hills

Red Oak Trees in Delavan

In Wisconsin, oak trees are at risk of infection by a deadly disease, oak wilt. It gets transmitted by beetles that carry fungal spores from tree to tree. These spores move inside the tree through openings and infect the vascular system of the tree, the part that moves water and nutrients. Unfortunately, pruning cuts create openings that are perfect for this fungus. If we want to care for trees through pruning, it’s important that the timing is appropriate.

A key rule of thumb is to avoid pruning from April to July in Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin DNR. In fact, the best time to prune is now – during the dormant season before April. The trees won’t lose the water, nutrients, and food stores in the leaves that would be lost while pruning in the summer. Plus, dormant pruning can take advantage of frozen ground and a clear view of the tree’s structure.

Oak wilt is a continuing challenge for arborists. We have a limited set of options for controlling the disease, much like Dutch Elm Disease, and encourage following best practices, like pruning oaks when dormant, as a simple way to control the oak wilt.

Injecting a Deeply Planted Red Oak with Alamo

Let’s quickly highlight oak wilt controls that our company provides:

• Don’t prune oaks between April and July.
• Remove diseased oaks immediately to reduce the risk to neighboring trees.
• Severe roots from diseased trees that may be grafted to healthy trees.
• Inject with Alamo to protect the tree’s vessels from infection.
• Plant a diverse variety of species so one disease impacts only part of your tree population.

We love our oak trees and hope you do too! For more information, you can read the USDA Forest Service’s thorough article on oak wilt. In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin DNR offers more local information you might find helpful.

Let’s work together to keep our beautiful oak trees from being distant memories.

Oak Wilt Victim

Photo by phigits.

A Direction You Want to Avoid

In Wisconsin, we get plenty of winter weather that serves as a badge of honor or a burden. At our company, snow provides us with another service opportunity.

• Snow plowing: our plowing customers are clustered into dense routes, often working for neighbor after neighbor. While our service area is more limited, our response times are excellent.
  • Residential: we pair up a driver with a shoveler to take care of the driveway, walks, sidewalks, patios, etc. all together. Many of our snow plowing customers date back 15-20 years and keep returning because of our value and quality of service.
  • Commercial: the bigger trucks in our fleet appear as the snow begins falling to keep commercial clients open for business and minimize the potential for liability. Separate snow blowing and shoveling crews work quickly to open sidewalks and keep customers in compliance with the city requirements for clear sidewalks.
• 

  If snow never fell on pavement...

  Salting: for light snows and following up after plowings, our salt crews work to apply enough salt to keep surfaces safe. You can count on us to be responsive and attentive to your needs.

• Snow removal and hauling: some properties have very limited space for storing snow on-site, necessitating snow hauling or simply moving it around on-site. We frequently work around schedules to move snow during the day (for apartments) or at night (for offices, etc), whenever the parking lot is not being used. Even private driveways can get buried in snow, making it difficult to see or store additional snow.
• Roof and gutter snow and ice: severe damage occurs when snow melts on a roof and forms ice dams that can easily spread under shingles. By removing snow on a regular basis and melting the ice with calcium chloride, which is safer on metal and melts more effectively than rock salt, we can spare your roof from leaks and permanent damage. Many times this is a temporary solution to prevent further problems until the roof and gutters can be repaired in the summer.

We hope you enjoyed a mini-tour of our snow services!

Over her tenure, the TCIA changed its name (from National Arborist Association), redesigned virtually every publication, and created the first accreditation standard for tree care companies. This standard has grown to become a new baseline for companies to meet and exceed and stands to be one of the most powerful impacts.  It certainly was not developed and implemented by her, but Cynthia’s oversight and guidance of TCIA during that time helped make it possible and effective.

Her presence will be missed, but we are excited for the future as one door closes and another opens.

Here are some key things to consider about mowing:

1. In temperate regions like Wisconsin, we grow cool-season grasses like Kentucky bluegrass that thrive in cool weather like the spring and fall but suffer in the summer heat. The turf is very resilient during moderate temperatures, but during stressful periods, you have to change your approach.
2. In the spring and fall, it’s best to cut the grass a little shorter so it grows thicker instead of longer and naturally crowds out weeds. In the summer, let the grass grow longer so it shades and cools itself. Take a look at this excellent article from the Aurora News-Register of Nebraska.
3. Serious damage can occur if you “cut the green & leave the brown” during the summer. This article from the University of Kentucky’s turf specialist, AJ Powell, Jr. lays out the facts, saying “weeds will greatly increase and severe turf kill may occur” if you cut too much off in the summer. The green part is what is producing the food for the rest of the grass plant so cutting that off is detrimental. Some get in a routine of mowing each week without raising the mower deck in the hot and dry periods and unknowingly do damage.

Bottom line: Don’t stress your lawn by cutting the green and leaving the brown. Mow longer (3 to 4+ inches) during summer heat and drought, and mow shorter (2 1/2 to 3 inches) in the spring and fall to thicken the turf.

What kinds of crazy things do you see people doing with their lawns?

USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

Watch for the switch! The Milwaukee area has a consistent climate of wet springs and dry summers that leads to incubates fungal problems and mosquitoes in the spring and drought damage in the summer as the mercury rises. This spring’s showers stretched on much longer than what we’ve seen in years past and helped rebuild a water backlog. The moisture and frequent rains make it possible for fungi that rely on water to transport spores to infect more leaves on plants and make it challenging for us to find dry days to apply protective fungicide sprays.

Mosquitoes benefit from the rains too, laying eggs in puddles of standing water everywhere.  This year, we are continuing our hugely successful mosquito sprays in response to the customer feedback we’ve received. Most customers have reported immediate results and virtually mosquito-free backyards for up to 30 days.

Watching for the Drought

Here in Milwaukee, though, the rains can dry up just as quickly as they appeared. It’s critical to watch drought-sensitive plants such as annuals and turf that will wilt and dry out after just a couple of days without rain. Mature trees are also impacted but are slower to show signs of stress. Before your trees start to decline, be sure that your landscape is receiving approximately and inch of water via rain or watering per week. If you need any help with watering, our landscape maintenance crews are happy to set up sprinklers, water by hand, or bring water by the truckload.

Milwaukee Precipitation Running  Surplus/Deficit

From the National Weather Service’s climate records for Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Precipitation Running Surplus/Deficit

The graph illustrates how Milwaukee was consistently deficient 10-12 inches of precipitation from 2005-2007 but has caught up easily in the last two years. While this has little or no impact on irrigated properties or annual plants, mature trees and forests are profoundly impacted by the availability of water from precipitation.