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could be a matter of interpretation — or of execution. 



Be that as it may, you must find what works for you 

 and your clients, and your own peace of mind. My own 

 experiences are bittersweet. There don't seem to be any 

 easy roads or quick fixes. Experimentation is a must. 

 Don't give in to easy solutions when trial-and-error 

 seems to be taking too long. 



Personally, my training is on the Turf-and-Tree end of 

 the Green Industry. It's an industry full of giant corpora- 

 tions trading on the Big Board. It is also a place of dedi- 

 cated horticulturalists working out of their homes. When a 

 group of professionals is so diverse, there's bound to be 

 contradictions. With contradiction comes confusion. And 

 with this confusion comes the apprehension most clients 

 have about IPM. 



When our firm approaches a client and tells them we'd 

 like to come by and inspect and maybe treat, we only get 

 paid for the treatment. The strong belief that people in our 

 profession should only get paid for spraying is no longer ap- 

 propriate. But because this dictates the push to spray for 

 pay, most companies go right past the inspection. 



Being the father of three growing children, 1 can easily 

 see the need to put energy into the aspects of the job 

 that pay the bills. But remember, we are professionals 

 and — just like lawyers, consultants, or counselors — we 

 should be financially rewarded for our years of knowl- 

 edge. Are we doing more for the homeowner when we 

 come in and blanket-apply a broad-spectrum pesticide or 

 when we give them the low-down on a cultural practice 



for cure? 



Perhaps the buzzword "IPM" really should have an "E" 

 in it — "E" for "Education." Not only do we need to further 

 educate ourselves as we deal with the problems, but we 

 need to educate the end-users. Equipped with this 

 knowledge, they will be ready to maintain their property 

 themselves. 



But what if they're too busy or simply not interested? 

 No problem! Your business sense kicks in and you're 

 making regular house calls and charging accordingly. 

 That's right — charging a fee to inspect, adjust, and just 

 maybe apply control products. 



Trust me — it's a tough sell. Out of almost 5,000 current 

 customers, it's a pretty small percentage who are willing 

 to pay for Green Industry knowledge. Is this an example 

 of traditional New England frugality? Perhaps people 

 here need to be conditioned to a more sophisticated 

 form of plant management. 



There are some great organic products on the market 

 now If someone tried to tell me ten years ago that 

 spreading animal byproducts on lawns would really be 

 taking off, I wouldn't have listened. From what I've seen, 

 these organics have helped us take a step toward IPM. 

 Pesticide reduction is growing. The full evolution of Inte- 

 grated Pest Management is right on the heels of organics. 



Dennis Hayward is president of Bio-Spray, a company performing 

 programs in lawn, tree, and interior pest control. Ihe address is 

 1660 Greenland Koad, Greenland, NH 03840; the phone number. 

 603-436-2358. 



C\ 



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