Reducing pesticide use and improving the health of your landscape are two primary goals of BTSE’s ActiveCare program. ActiveCare is the name of BTSE’s intensive plant health management program. ActiveCare is based on three tenets: frequent monitoring and assessment of plant pests; treating pests only when they exceed threshold limits; and utilizing the most effective technique or environmentally sensitive materials available to manage pests detrimental to plant health.
Frequent monitoring of plants by experienced and knowledgeable Certified Arborists is a key component to the success of the program. This is what enables most insect and disease problems to be identified early and enables us to minimize the use of control materials.
The ActiveCare programs allows properties that require multiple treatments to be managed more economically as well. For example, flowering dogwoods infected with anthracnose, a foliar disease, may require four separate fungicide applications throughout the spring. If other plants on the property suffer other problems, it is more cost-effective to monitor and treat them while on the ActiveCare program than with traditional spray programs that focus on individual plants.
Additionally, efficient application equipment and exact timing practices allow us to use less material in treating problems. Our research has found that ActiveCare properties average a decrease of around 40% in pesticides used than those of traditional programs. This is the case despite the fact that more problems were treated than on each of these properties. The result is significantly decreased pesticide exposure for everyone and healthier landscape plants.
If you are interested in the benefits of ActiveCare for your landscape. Please call to meet with one of our arborists to decide if ActiveCare is appropriate for your property.