Landscape & Irrigation

September 2016

Landscape and Irrigation is read by decision makers throughout the landscape and irrigation markets — including contractors, landscape architects, professional grounds managers, and irrigation and water mgmt companies and reaches the entire spetrum.

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www.landscapeirrigation.com Landscape and Irrigation September 2016 27 every municipality and large, landscaped campus. Many companies have started marketing tree inventories as a stand- alone service offering, and are able to deploy a small team of trained technicians to complete a survey in a matter of days. There are even savvy municipalities that are including "Provide detailed map of treated trees" as a requirement in their bid specifications for large-scale treatment programs. This is allowing them to get valuable GIS data on their urban forest while rolling the cost of it into their treatment budgets. 2. Mobile technology Part of the reason GIS has become so common in the industry is the technological barrier to entry is significantly less than it was just a few short years ago. Taking all the information available on the Internet and putting it into a device that fits into your pocket has been one of the great leaps forward in recent memory. Considering how universal smart phones and tablet computers seem today, it wasn't that long ago when all your cell phone could do was make phone calls. Today, arborists are using their phones for just about every part of their business. We are using phones and tablets for collecting GIS data for inventories that used to required specialized, often expensive and cumbersome, equipment. We also use our phones for diagnosing health issues, writing up bid estimates for the client, and checking the rates for a treatment application. Mobile devices are chock full of possibilities with millions of apps available that can help with a specialized task such us tree ID or learning to tie a new knot. They are also extremely valuable for helping pass the time waiting for a client who is late to the appointment. 3. Tracked lifts If you aren't familiar with a tracked lift by name (they also go by mini-lift or spider lift) they are boom lifts that are mounted onto small tractor-like bases. They fold small enough to get through an average backyard gate, but then they have support legs that telescope out, providing a wide, stable base. From there it works just like a bucket truck would, allowing the arborist to access a tree's canopy up to 72 feet above ground. I had the chance to see this type of lift in action in late March. The tree was one of the largest American elms our tree care service, Rainbow Treecare, has ever taken down. The tree was massive — a 57-inch DBH tree in a tiny backyard in south Minneapolis with no alley access and a tree that went over several adjacent properties. Our team was able to access portions of the tree overhanging the next-door neighbor's home by driving the tracked lift up their cobblestone driveway, set up in the ALL PHOTOS PROVIDED BY RAINBOW TREECARE SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS Map showing the location of client trees (dots), the location of large commercial campus accounts (flags), and the median household incomes of the communities (darker green = higher MHI). Modular spray tanks can turn a pickup into a plant health care tool for significantly less than a dedicated vehicle. Tracked lifts can squeeze into sites impossible for other equipment.

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