Electrical Safety in the Landscape Services Industry

An article appearing in Green Industry Pros.Com covers the topic of electrical safety for the landscape services industry. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), employees in this industry are more likely to die from electrocutions (9.8% of their job-related fatalities from 2003-2006) than those in the U.S. workforce overall (4.4% of the job-related deaths during that same period).
Training materials for electrical safety:
Tailgate training, Electrical Shock (English and Spanish)
Tailgate training, Overhead Electrical Hazards (English and Spanish)

From: UF/IFAS Safety News and Notes

St. Pete Fertilizer Ordinance Requires BMP Certification

Do you apply fertilizer in St. Petersburg?

All site supervisors and managers of professional lawn care companies, as well as government and institutional landscape supervisors must obtain the Best Management Practices (BMP) certificate by March 19, 2010.

Employees of lawn care companies who are not site supervisors or managers shall also be trained in BMPs within ninety (90) days of employment. This training may be provided by a BMP-certified site supervisor or manager employed by the company.

You will need to have a Best Management Practices (BMP) certificate in order to get your local business tax certificate.

For a copy of the fertilizer ordinance: http://www.stpete.org/stormwaterops/docs/St_Petersburg_fertilizer_ordinance920_G.pdf

Their brochure: http://www.stpete.org/stpete/trifold_fertilizer_brochure.pdf

For a copy of ordinance prohibiting sale of fertilizer during blackout period: http://www.stpete.org/stormwaterops/docs/St_Petersburg_fertilizer_ordinance921_G1.pdf

Pesticide Study Shows Increased Risk of...

A study done by the National Institute of Health regarding pesticide usage and pesticide residues in homes; pesticides and colorectal cancer; and pesticides and diabetes is summarized in this UF/IFAS publication: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PI216

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Red Date Scale - New Resource

Want to know more about the Red Date Scale?

The host for red date scale is usually restricted to palms of the genus Phoenix and it is named after its preferred host, the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera.

Other reported palm hosts (Miller and Gimpel 2009, Stickney et. al. 1950, Sinacori 1995) include:
Calamus and Daemonorops spp.: rattan palms,
Pandanus sp.,

Phoenix canariensis: Canary Island date palm,
Phoenix reclinata: Senegal date palm,
Phoenix roebelenii: pygmy date palm,
Washingtonia filifera: California fan palm, Washington palm, American cotton palm, desert fan palm. Additionally, red date scale has been reported from Eucalyptus sp. (family Myrtaceae) (Kozár and Drozdják 1998).

For information about control, life cycle, etc. see this new publication: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/palms/red_date_scale.htm