Linnaea Newman

The memory of 2006’s holiday season is in ashes, holiday tear down is complete, and for those of us in the plantscaping business, that can only mean one thing: January pruning/cleaning time is here!

If we completed our quarterly pruning and cleaning of specimen plants in October, before the holiday decor was installed, it is now time to remove all the excess dust left behind from the holiday season.  If we didn’t get around to cleaning in the fall, the job will be twice as hard, but, clean we must. 

In a low light interior setting, dust limits the plant’s light level to a fraction of what’s avavilable, which for us is almost nothing.  Individual plants get cleaned on an onging basis while we are servicing them, but for specimen plants, the task is a little more complicated.

Since the extra time to prune and wash a tree and clean up afterwards does not normally fit into a technician’s workday, it generally requires the scheduling of some "Special Service" hours.  How much extra labor is needed depends on the job.

More (as in frequency), is better.  As far as scheduling goes, the more experience in cleaning and pruning someone has, the less time it takes to complete the tasks.  A proficient pruner and cleaner from way back, I know that if I do the pruning and cleaning on a quarterly basis, it will take me approximately an hour (each) to prune and wash a 95 gallon,15-20′ tall specimen tree, including preparation and clean up time. 

However, the same jobs on the same tree will take 15 minutes each if done on a monthly basis.  The choice is yours, and depends on manpower available as well as the travel time required–6 manhours a year for the monthly 15 minute job, or 2 people x 8 hours or 16 manhours/year for the quarterly job, which will need a much greater volume of water and clean-up time.  Travel time (times the # people) is then added to the labor total.  Obviously, with the proper training, 15 minutes of extra time per month would fit into the regular technician’s schedule, dramatically saving on extra labor and travel time.

Leaving the pruning or cleaning job on specimen plants go to six month intervals will not only more than double the labor time required, but also harm the health of plants that aren’t pruned and cleaned on a timely basis. 

Since we know Special Services work is needed at least quarterly to maintain the health and aesthetics of specimen plants, that means the next washing and pruning services will be scheduled in April, July, October, and then back to January, again.