Weekend Duty Maintenance Blog

March 30-April 1, 2018

Connor, James, & Josh

For our Weekend Duty for the Easter Weekend we had to prune the various trees and shrubs in and around Residence 3 Building (R3). There were many different cultivars/varieties that needed to be pruned, and the number one pruning rule is, know what you’re pruning first. So we decided to list the names of all the plantings and researched their specific pruning requirements. The cultivars that we were unsure about the pruning methods included; Cornus Kousa (Leave be in spring), Viburnum pilcatum (thin 1/3), Clethra alnifolia ( ¼ oldest, largest stems), Hydrangea paniculata ( 6” from the ground), Hydrangea macrophylla ( 3-5 canes), Potentilla fruiticosa ( lower, remove dead ), Hypericum frondosum ( 6” from ground ), Salix gracilis ( 6” from ground ). All of these plants needed Dead, Dying, Diseased removed. Through the maintenance techniques presented by Tim & Jeff, we were successfully able to complete the tasks. We encountered some litter around the gardens and disposed of some, although much of it was unsanitary to remove and would of took too much of the pruning time off our hands. While pruning the Cephelanthus occidentalis ( Buttonbush), we noticed there was some scale on the upper branching and some lower stems which we had to remove. We also had noticed there was what appears to be a gall of some kind present on the Junipers along the southeast corner of Merlin building (R3). All in all, most of our time was spent with cleanup and the pruning the essential plants surrounding Residence 3.

Before photo of South-East corner. (R3)

 After photo of South-east corner. (R3)

 Before photo of the Front. (R3)

After photo of the Front. (R3)

IPM- Gall on Juniper (Front R3)

IPM- Scale (Back R3)