The baseball fields at Chapman Field Park always have been beautifully maintained, but an attack of webworms was destroying the turf. And budget cutbacks meant the fields couldn’t get the quick and concentrated attention needed to fight the infestation.
Officials at Howard Palmetto Baseball Softball Association, which has a permit to use the fields, called on Marc Terwilliger, owner of One Two Tree Pest Free, to help save the grass.
“For about three and a half months we have been there every five weeks,” Terwilliger said. “It’s not 100 percent, but we are making great headway.”
Terwilliger said at this time of year, the grass is going into a dormant stage but the weeds will be growing.
“We will be working extra hard. This property did not get this way in three months. The budgets started getting cut in ’08.”
Terwilliger figures the cutbacks might include the frequency of fertilization and weed control as well as manpower.
“That stuff is expensive. They figure we’ll keep the grass cut and it has to survive,” he said. “But if you don’t keep the nutrients… they [the fields] were in terrible, terrible shape.”
He said in this economy, even the major golf courses in Doral and Miami Lakes have cutback maintenance.
Since the call for help, One Two Tree has done three treatments with fertilization.
“We’ve had great results,” Terwilliger said.
“The gentleman who works with the parks out there, he has been amazed with what we have been able to do.”
Terwilliger began One Two Tree, a pest control/ tree trimming business, with his late brother Paul. The company is an integrated pest management (interior and exterior) and tree service company. It employs 28-30 people.
“We started by trimming the trees,” he said. The company grew naturally. The graduated from just trimming to fertilizing trees and then they started fertilizing the grass and so forth. This year they purchased a vehicle to be used only for pest management services for home and office interiors.
One Two Tree is a pioneer in modern pest control methods. Terwilliger said they always have been a leader, not a follower, in going to the new, more environmentally friendly pest control standards and products.
It used to be that pest control services would go out and spray the entire yard if one small area had a problem. Now, if there is an insect problem, One Two Three sprays that one area.
“It’s better for the environment,” he said. “If we have red bugs on the palm tree, we treat the palm tree not every tree in the yard.”
The company conducts weekly training for its spray techs. And they do extensive testing to make sure everyone is up to date on the latest techniques and products.
They already have switched from granular fertilizers to liquids for 95 percent of the work they do. Terwilliger said it will not be long before granular fertilizers will be banned because of environmental concerns.
“The products are safer compared to what they were 20 years ago,” he said.
Because homeowners are not always aware of the new regulations and the need to cut back on pesticides, the folks from One Two Tree do homeowner education as well. When the customer calls to complain of a sickly lawn, a representative will visit to see the problem.
“We have a lot of brochures on how to have a healthy yard,” he said. “It’s a partnership.”
For more information, call 305-267-1426 or go online to www.OneTwoTree.com.
