March 2020 Calendar of Events

March 5, Thursday
Central Coast Chapter Board Meeting

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: seascape golf club

Contact Justin White at (831) 331-3476 or justin@kndlandscaping.com

March 20, Friday
Central Coast Chapter “Spring Ramp-Up Course
CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19

Sadly this special event, that was to be held at the UCSC Arboretum, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak. If you have registered for this event you will be contacted and your registration fees will be reimbursed. Contact Justin White at (831) 331-3476 or justin@kndlandscaping.com.

April 2, Thursday
Central Coast Chapter Board Meeting

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: seascape golf club

Will include awards discussion for Suppliers Night. Contact Justin White at (831) 331-3476 or justin@kndlandscaping.com

April 9, Thursday
Suppliers/New Members Night

Time: 4:30-8:00 pm
Location: seascape golf club

You can learn more and sign up online to reserve your space. Contact Justin White at (831) 331-3476 or justin@kndlandscaping.com

March 2020 President’s Message

by Justin White, Chapter President, K&D Landscaping Company

All About Technology

I just returned home from the Lawn & Landscape Technology conference in sunny Florida and wow... so much tech coming our way! It inspired me to write this month’s article on technology and how it will impact our industry in the coming years. This three-day event included several speakers, educators, and a lot of exciting exhibitors showing off their latest and greatest technology. I spoke on the second day of the conference on the topic of “Predictable Profit.” The concept is that if you are able to write your future through vision and budgeting, your business’ success is almost certain. The event was recorded and will be published shortly, so stay tuned! 

I want to remind everyone about our training event coming up March 20th at the UCSC Arboretum. This is the first of its kind and will help prepare you for this year’s busy season. We’ll be covering drip irrigation conversions, controller programming, fertilizer application/calibration, pruning techniques, plant care, and more. This event will be interactive and you’ll have the opportunity to put your new skills into action during a live demo at the UCSC campus. Make sure to sign up soon! UCSC Arboretum Training Event Registration.

Now back to technology—first off, there are a lot of options when it comes to implementing and merging tech within your landscape operation. This includes: estimating software, crew routing, job costing, GPS, inventory management, financial software, robotic mowers, employee training, job site picture management, customer payment portals, safety software, asset management, AI-powered CRM, email management, to-do-list management and so much more. The one thing these all have in common? People are at the center of them all. People drive technology; we design it, we use it, we implement it and its all about making our lives and our client's lives easier. Many of you may have a love-hate relationship with technology, but its important to know as we head into the future, it will only become a larger part of our businesses. The biggest take away for me is ensuring you have the right people in your company and that you are training them with these new technologies as you continue to grow.

When will robotic mowers take over for the commercial landscaper? The answer is not too soon. While the technology is advancing quickly, it is similar to Tesla AI-powered cars. They may work in the test sites but in the real world, there are situations that you need a human operator to handle. Yes, it will be great for athletic fields and sod farms but when it comes to public spaces, the robotic revolution has a lot of bugs to work out. However, homeowner options are becoming relatively effective, think of it as a Roomba for your lawn. The mower has a charging station and at night it comes out and mows the lawn for you. Of course, if your kid left their bike or a soccer ball out, that can create some issues for the machines. I encourage you to stay informed by reading articles in national publications and being ready to experiment when the time is right for your business.

What about all that software? To my surprise, there are many options available for landscape management software! Most of these brands offer similar benefits and features, which allow you to run your entire business on their cloud platforms, giving you 24/7 access to your data from anywhere in the world. The question is, when are you ready for business management software and how do you know which one to pick? The answer can be complicated, but I’ll simplify it down to this: if you have more than one employee and you plan to add more, then business management software is in your best interest. As for picking the right fit for your company, that will depends on many factors. The best advice I can offer is to research and demo as many different brands as possible. Developing a strong plan of what your company’s 10-year goals are will also greatly help in the selection.

There is much more information out there on tech, specifically for the landscape industry, and I encourage everyone to do a little research this month on the potential solutions it could offer your company with effectiveness and efficiency. At the end of the day, every investment needs to make sense, financially and culturally. Be careful with anything that dramatically changes your successful business model and ensure that it does not make your employees’ or clients’ lives harder. 

To your success,
Justin White
CEO, K&D Landscaping Inc.
justin@kndkandscaping.com

C: (831) 331-3476 │  O: (831) 728-4018

Lawn & Landscape Expo in Florida

featuring our President, Justin White, representing the central coast!

2020 Central Coast Chapter Partners for Success Program

Our Partners for Success Program is a win-win opportunity for suppliers and contractor members looking to increase their visibility in the community, and be seen as leaders in the green industry by helping sustain the many educational and enrichment offerings of our association. For more information, contact Justin White justin@kndkandscaping.com. Or, better still, go directly to our online registration! Join us!

PaRTNERS CORNER

Lance Perry of CLCA Insurance Solutions

This month Lance Perry is featured in our “Partner’s Corner.” Read more here.

Central Coast’s Michael Johnson

Teacher, Conservationist & Dedicated Community Service Advocate has Now Earned his Master’s Degree!

Central Coast Chapter Education Director, Michael Johnson, enjoys rocking to heavy metal music and cultivating cut-flowers. A California transplant from North Carolina, Michael grew up gardening with his grand-daddy and worked on landscape installation and maintenance crews in the hot and humid Carolina summers to pay his way through college. Upon arriving in Santa Cruz in 1999, Michael discovered the Cabrillo College horticulture department and found new mentors in Rich Merrill, Lisa McAndrews and Chris Elliot, just as Cabrillo was expanding its horticulture program and botanical garden on top of campus. Inspired by soil science and the rich diversity of Central Coast California flora and micro-climates, Michael found work with local landscape contractors as he became a father and worked multiple jobs to support his new family. After years of working and attending school, Michael graduated from California State University Monterey Bay with a degree in Agribusiness during the drought of 2008. Seeing a business opportunity to make a difference in improving water efficiency in both the agriculture and landscaping industries, Michael and partner Sherry Bryan formed California H20rticulture Services. The company offers irrigation auditing and water management services to growers, businesses and public agencies.

If you manage landscapes in south Santa Cruz County, you might have received a call from Michael in his role as contractor for the City of Watsonville’s landscape water conservation program. Hopefully the call resulted in an irrigation retrofit or landscape transformation job for you, as Michael is charged with preventing water waste from the Pajaro Valley’s over-drafted Aromas Red-Sands aquifer. Michael’s first year working with City of Watsonville Parks resulted in a 30 acre-ft reduction in irrigation water use, just by implementing weather-based irrigation scheduling at controllers. As he works with business parks and landscape contractors to bring properties into compliance with the California’s Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (WELO), he’s also working on transforming the City-owned properties. On Michael’s hit list is a 3-mile turf median on Bridge St. In 2020, the Bridge St. retrofit project is entering phase 2 of conversion to climate appropriate plants and low-volume irrigation, ending once and for all complaints from residents about unwanted car-washes from sprinkler overspray during the morning commute.

Coming full circle, Michael is now an adjunct instructor in the Cabrillo College Horticulture Department, teaching the popular irrigation class, business practices in horticulture, and edible landscaping.  In January of 2020, he earned a Master’s degree in Instructional Science and Technology from Cal-State Monterey Bay. He decided go back to school while teaching and running a business full-time to understand how to be a better teacher and how to use technology for training a 21st century workforce. Take a class with Michael and you’ll get the latest in tech combined with good old-fashioned, hands-on learning.   

In addition to his expertise in irrigation efficiency and ecological horticulture, perhaps what we admire most about Michael Johnson is his dedication to community service and landscape beautification outside of work. In his spare time, Michael manages two community gardens through the Live Oak Grange on 17th Ave. These gardens provide cultivation space for members of our community without access to land. You can bet these community gardens have irrigation sub-meters!  Micheal is always willing to roll up his sleeves and contribute to CLCA’s community service projects – like the Animal Shelter, Grange orchard irrigation, and Natural Bridges High School. You can pick up a conversation and a shovel with Michael at a future CLCA community service event.

The Central Coast Chapter is proud to have Michael Johnson as a contributing member. 

Advertise in the Central Coast Seascape Newsletter!

Advertising is now available for 2020 in our newsletter! Reach your target audience monthly. Sign up for large, medium, or small ads. For specs and pricing contact: clcaccc.editor@gmail.com. OR sign up online here.

February Board Meeting

Central Coast Chapter CLCA February Board Meeting

By Phil Dundas, Secretary
February 12, 2020, present: Justin White, Katia Velasquez, Craig Stenehjem, Phil Dundas, Ki Bowman, Gregory Miller, John Kern, Dinah Irino, Ian Dresser

Call to order by Justin White at 12:00 p.m. at the Seascape Golf Resort

Meeting Topics

• A brief introduction and good news was provided by all in attendance.

• The Central Coast Chapter new logo was discussed.

• It was moved and 2nd to use ACH as a method of payment.  All voted in favor.

• Membership was discussed and it was agreed that a mailer to all C-27s would be a good idea.

• Suppliers Night was discussed and the need for signups and more sponsors and vendors to be contacted.

• Beautification Awards were discussed. Dinah and Craig will serve as judges again.

• The first Education Event of the year will be rolled into the Cleanup Day at the UCSC Arboretum on March 20th. Topics to include plant care and pruning, fertilizer and irrigation.

• The Arboretum Garden Tour was discussed.

Adjournment 
The meeting was adjourned at 1:35 p.m.