Design & Build Landscaping

When a customer inquires about new landscaping ideas, there is a certain level of design and planning capabilities that are needed to demonstrate and visualize their dream. In this specific example (see picture), the customer wanted a cleaned up front yard for parking and a laid back backyard with sand, palm trees, hammocks and a fire pit to enjoy views of the water. They also wanted to clean up the sides of the yard with low water plants and a plethora of color (does this sound appealing?).

Of course, the next question is always cost and protecting their investment. Only companies that have proper design capabilities and an installation and maintenance division can rightfully answer these questions when they are addressed without consulting a third party. With a budget and a plan in place, the home owner knows they have a vision and can "phase in" the new landscaping over a couple of years, knowing where they are going. This vision is critical so if you intend on doing this, make sure you take a look at your place and contact an experienced and capable company (Reef Tropical) to help you re-do your yard to achieve your Tropical Paradise!

Example of Reef Tropical Drawing

Pool Renovation Advice

When a pool floor began to separate, the investigation turned up sub-standard work. The pool in this picture was renovated one year ago and the depth was reduced without proper engineering for steel and concrete. It is important to know that concrete gains strength with steel reinforcement, encapsulation / coverage of steel by concrete and proper thickness of concrete and application. Re-bar is drilled into strong existing walls, and then glued in with hydraulic cement.

As seen in this picture, Reef Tropical Pools had to remove the floor entirely, grading to proper height and executed on thicker rebar / steel specified by engineered drawings. Next, concrete will be applied (note thicker edge as "footing" for strength) and a new finish floated in. With this work, the pool will be stronger with a new Diamond Brite aggregate plaster.

Chinch Bugs in Florida Grass

Chinch bug is the most devastating pest in our popular St. Augustine grass. St. Augustine is our grass of choice for many reasons. It has low maintenance costs and looks great when fertilized and freshly cut. It easily patched and blends in quickly. It also grows fast in the heat and rain of summer but slows considerably in the winter month allowing bi-weekly service to be adequate for most seasonal residents.

Chinch bugs insert their beak and suck the juices from the horizontal growing grass and the grass then grows patches of yellow, then brown and eventually kills the grass. If left untreated it can devastate an entire section of a yard. Chemical treatment and re-sodding is the recommended course of action. Chinch bugs have become resistant to almost every pesticide. The current product being used with great success is “Arena”.

Chinch bugs are hard to see but their damage is easily identifiable. A mature patched surrounded by green grass with a pattern of yellow, brown or dead grass in the middle. The bug itself can be found in the perimeter of the slightly damaged turf. Like in snakes, Mother Nature helps us identify danger by having what looks like a colored strip across the back. It is small so get out your reading glasses. Young chinch bugs are yellow in color and turn red to brown but all appear to have the distinctive mark on them. Chinch bugs never invade shady areas and rarely attack healthy, well-fed and irrigated turf. Instead, Chinch bugs prefer hot spots on the edge of paved areas or by weak, full sun grass caused by poor irrigation, poor nutrition or poor subsurface soil conditions. Scalping turf can stress areas and stressed grass is a welcome mat for pests like Chinch bug.

Chinch bugs can be seen year-round in South Florida but are predominantly a summer pest and win the war with St. Augustine growth in dryer weeks of summer months. It often comes in the same area of your yard, year after year so fix irrigation, top dress with a rich sand soil mix, re-sod with a strong soil base or make a planting of low water, full sun plants.

Feel free to consult with Reef Topical to help you learn about your yards, landscape appropriately and identify pests and treat with safe pesticides with our licensed professional.

Do you miss the change of seasons in the North East?

I certainly do not miss the change in seasons. Fall is in the air in Miami as well. You can't smell it and feel it in the breeze yet, like in Philadelphia, but the boys in the field here with football pads on can. Also, the radio TV and newspapers with football hype building remind us of the eminent arrival of “snow birds” and the anticipation of a season’s change of cooler nights and hearing “it’s forth and one”.

During our mid-August visit to the New Jersey shore the weather was remarkable, similar to our summer South Florida weather. Highs near 90 and lows a bit milder but still the AC was running for sleeping comfort.

What we try to forget is that the biggest downside of living in tropical paradise is our haunting watch of the tropics for hurricane development. Especially in these six weeks around the month of September, the busiest month of Hurricane season. As our friends, family and customers get the kids off to school, pull out the sweaters and get excited for football, we do the same here, with our eyes on the tropics and hopes to get these six weeks behind us.

Wish us luck in these weeks and we will see you when the threat of ice and snow chase you away to our tropical paradise. We will have the pool and landscape ready, even if Mother Nature decides to remind us of the price of paradise.

Can Basketball Really Help Miami?

James, Wade, Bosh

Will the signing of Lebron James and Chris Bosh to the Miami Heat help improve the lagging economy in South Florida?

Some may be skeptical but a Heat ticket is now the hottest ticket in all of sports, replacing the Lakers ticket, proving the boost of interest in Miami. This activity or the "buzz" surrounding the team may stimulate the local economy. Economist suggest that the real estate market and the above average unemployment rate will be slow to recover. This may take several years but Reef Tropical’s pool construction and landscape divisions are receiving calls and delivering proposals suggesting renewed optimism.

Lebron and the Heat will certainly need help to bring Miami out of the troubled times but according to the International Business Times, “People are hopeful that Lebron and company can make a meaningful impact upon Miami's fragile economy”. With the signing of the two super stars, there will be an increase in the migration of wealthy individuals seeking to buy second homes in the Miami area. Also, when athletes of this caliber are introduced into a city, the city has a chance to become a premier sports hotspot similar to New York and Los Angeles. “Miami will become a more attractive destination for travelers and tourists, as well as sports fans, and that should have a positive spillover effect upon downtown restaurants, hotels, cruise-lines and other related businesses.”

Considering the pick up in pool construction projects at Reef Tropical in the last three months, we remain optimistic that the South Florida Real Estate market is the last piece of the puzzle before the economy takes an upward path. Some of the others positive affects of the signing include; hotel occupancy rates, tourism, higher TV advertising fees and merchandising revenues. Go Heat!

Summer Tropical Storms

High Tree Trimming

There was a tropical storm Thursday night July 15^th in Miami that produced loud thunder, lightning, heavy rain and strong winds. It rolled over the area around 11pm at night and lasted about 45 minutes. There will be about half a dozen storms like this before the end of the summer. As my son and I were driving through Miami on Saturday after the storm, we noticed some trees that were slanted due to the storm and other smaller trees that had roots coming out of the ground. This is unfortunate and takes time and money to repair. Additionally, Friday morning I noticed a dent on the hood of my car. This dent is from a medium sized branch that fell from a tree onto my car during the storm. We actually saw the culprit that caused it lying next to the car. Needless to say, the trees have been sub-sequentially trimmed around my house. Again, this takes time and money to repair.

Properly Staked

The point I want to emphasize is the importance of tree maintenance and summer pruning. With proper tree care, also called preventative maintenance, damage can be circumvented or avoided completely. During hurricane season, valiant storms are likely and we advise our customers to take action before the storms hit. When a tree is taken care of and properly maintained, it will be clear of dead branches or unnecessary thickness to allow the wind to filter through the tree easier. Consequentially, there will be less damage. It is similar to taking your car to the shop and servicing the engine so the engine will last longer and won’t cause damage to other car components. Also, new landscaping that comes in a root ball will take six months before it can sustain a 50mph wind. These trees need to be staked and it is important to stake them properly.  

Pool Construction & the Economy

Pool construction and renovations requests have really picked up in the last few months. I believe it is a sign that the economy and confidence of our customers are improving. Spread the word. The Dow Jones is the best indicator of the trend of confidence of customers. It is now up from 2009 lows when construction requests were near zero. So many weak and insolvent competitors have fallen out and so many customers have experienced the real cost of the low bidder, poor quality or other horror stories. We are now getting some people who ask for us to negotiate a value engineered pool renovation or construction to meet their budget and avoid the horror stories. Spread the word on that too.