They're Back...

You may heard their loud, raspy, pulsating sound or seen them munching the leaves in your oak trees - the Central Texas Leaf Katydids have arrived in South Texas this summer.  In the 2007 outbreak, these voriacious eaters defoilated thousands of trees and now they are back for more.

They look similiar to a grasshopper and are often referred to as a "Longhorn Grasshopper" due to their long antennea or "Red Katydid" due to their red color. While masses of them can damage trees, especially the canopy of oak trees, they don't tend to inflict much long-term damage.  They are mostly considered a nuisance because if they pick your trees as their summer home, in mass they make a loud noise that can be heard day and night and they will eat most of the leaves on your oak trees.

As of May 11th, outbreaks were being reported in Bandera, Bexar, Burnet, Comal, Hays, Kerr, Medina, Travis and Williamson counties. Have you seen or heard them yet?

A picture is worth a thousand words

Another example of what adding drip irrigation under your turf can do for your lawn....

Community in Action

Big Angel BBQ

05/14/12

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A San Antonio business has stepped beyond the generosity of financial assistance to hands-on involvement with the organizations and causes it supports.  On Memorial Day week, Soldiers' Angels will be the latest organization to benefit from their support.
Preferred Landscape and Lighting, LLC (recently acquired by national company The Millard Group) has an extensive history of community involvement.  In business for 17 years, they maintain connection to their local university, Rotary Club, and other need-based communication organizations.  As they became more and more well-known for their financial support, they decided that they wanted to include a hands-on service component to get their 80 employees directly involved in the community.  Getting their employees to take action is part of the company's management principle of "Servant Leadership," as President David Dunne explains, "It's part of who we are."
In a very creative answer to the company's outreach goals, Preferred Landscape and Lighting bought a 24-foot long mobile/towable BBQ pit!  Each month the company's staff gets together to barbeque as part of fundraising for a San Antonio-area organization.  In the last three years they have raised of $50,000 for worthy organizations, far more than they could have donated themselves. 

On May 28, Preferred Landscape and Lighting will bring their mobile BBQ to the Soldiers' Angels Support Center as part of the Memorial Day commemorative festivities.  It will be the second time they time they've done this for Soldiers' Angels.  Soldiers' Angels discovered the mobile BBQ pit simply by word by word of mouth and is honored to have Preferred include SA in their support.  "We evaluated Soldiers' Angels on the work they are doing and we felt they deserved our help," says David Dunne.  We had wanted to support them." A huge thanks to David and his staff for their wonderful support!
http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=1067&cntnt01returnid=59

Examples of Drip Irrigation under turf

Preferred has done many successful installations of drip irrigation under turf.  The following is a great example of a project we did this spring for a customer that included adding drip to their turf.  As you can see from the pictures, the customer now enjoys a green, healthy lawn as well as some low maintenance landscaping.

Before

After

Do you want a green lawn this summer?

Sounds impossible given we are already in stage 2 water restrictions.  However, there is an amazing new technology that will allow you to have green grass during the drought and will save you money on your water bills.  It is a new underground drip irrigation system for your lawns.  This is easiest done when you are installing a new lawn but it can be done on an existing lawn.

 

Here is how it works - Tubing is trenched about 3"-4" below the grass surface and covered over with sod.  When the system comes on, the grass roots are watered -which is the only part of the grass that needs the water.  Drip irrigation is the world's most efficient type of irrigation and subsurface drip is especially so because it is unaffected by wind and evaporation resulting in 70% less water use than conventional overhead sprinklers.

Pretty Amazing - Save Water and Money and have green grass all year long! 

Stage 2 Water Restrictions

The following are the water restrictions for stage 2:

• All restrictions from Stage One remain in effect, unless added to or replaced by Stage Two rules.
• Landscape watering with an irrigation system, sprinkler or soaker hose is allowed only once a week from 3-8 a.m. and 8-10 p.m. on your designated watering day, as determined by your address.
• Watering with drip irrigation or 5-gallon bucket is permitted any day, but only between 3-8 a.m. and 8-10 p.m.
• Watering with a hand-held hose is allowed any time on any day.
• Use of fountains, waterfalls, or other aesthetic water features — outdoors or indoors — is prohibited, unless a variance has been granted for 100 percent non-potable water use.

For more information, please visit http://www.saws.org/conservation/aquifermgmt/stage2.shtml

Stage 2 Water Restrictions

Despite the rain we had this past winter, the Edwards Aquifer is falling very fast this spring forcing San Antonio into Stage 2 water restrictions already.

  

"Dry spring weather combined with increased water demands across the Edwards region, especially agricultural use, have caused the Edwards Aquifer level to drop quickly," said Robert R. Puente, SAWS President/CEO. "The Edwards Aquifer is hitting the Stage Two level a month earlier than it did last year during the driest year on record."

  

Unfortunately, stage 3 water restrictions are a real possibility this summer which only allows landscape watering once every other week.   It is time to get ready for another rough summer with drought conditions and water restrictions all summer long.  For more details on the water restrictions, visit http://www.saws.org/.