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Since the last landscape report, we’ve focused mainly on maintaining the existing landscape with weekly landscape maintenance, quarterly pack rat inspections, and annual tree trimmings. The plantings in areas that were re-landscaped in 2014 and 2015 now look much more mature and vibrant (e.g. the Gelsomino/Velazquez area and the southern barbell portion of Sempreverde). This fall we did some small refreshes of areas on Velazquez which included both of the north and center mailbox areas as well as some other small common areas that needed granite and grading.
One major capital expense we incurred this year was updating the irrigation from poly to PVC along Largo Salici. Two separate irrigation areas are fed by this line (the front entrance and downstream Sempreverde including the north mailbox) so when leaks occurred, everything had to be shut down until a repair was made. We were experiencing numerous leaks (sometimes 2 or 3 a week) due to the old poly aging. Since that change was made we have not had a similar leak in that area. That experience did drive home the point that over time as poly in other areas fail we will need to update it with PVC which has a much longer life.
We’ve also had some backflow and irrigation problems in the South Pool area. Both backfill valves were rebuilt (they were too old to repair) and we’ve made several repairs to irrigation on the west side. For those of you who use the South pool and tennis courts I’d appreciate it if you would keep a lookout for further leaks and report any problems you notice.
This summer we had more than normal problems with weedy yards. Several homeowners were notified of an issue at their home and promptly dealt with the weed issue. If you are gone for long periods of time in the summer, ensure you have a weed strategy and either arrange for regular maintenance while you are gone or know who you would call should a problem arise.
Finally, many of us have had too many visits from packrats. The unusually warm fall has contributed to the packrats being very active longer than normal. If your home is a frequent stopover for the packrats, ensure that you have no packrat nests in your yard (front or back). Remember they love to be hidden so if you have ground cover such as Rosemary or Oleandars that are thick at ground level these are nice hiding spots for them. Keep packrat friendly vegetation well lifted to avoid making easing nesting spots for them. They also like stacks of wood and bricks so ensure you don’t offer any those types of easy nesting spots in your yard. Finally they could be in your neighbor’s yard so chat with your neighbor to ensure he too is taking corrective action with yard plantings. If you do spot a nest on your property, you can always contact Mr. Packrat for a free estimate for removal. If the visitors are coming over the wall and you decide to trap them yourselves as several homeowners have done, please keep in mind the following:
- Never trap more than two consecutive nights. You will actually draw more packrats to your yard due to the scent trails they leave
- Clean and disinfect the area with 50% PineSol and 50% water after catching something (or after two nights if you caught nothing) and wait until you see more signs of packrats before attempting to trap again
- A used packrat trap will attract other packrats. When not trapping packrats ensure the trap is put away where it can’t be scented by other packrats
- Consider coating rocks with 50% Pinesol and 50% water and place near areas that seem to attract packrats. (Suggested by a homeowner who says it works. I haven’t tried this myself).
Remember that packrats are a part of the food chain in the desert. We’re fortunate to have a large amount of green space surrounding our community and that brings with it various desert critters that we have to deal with or tolerate. We can’t eradicate packrats (or snakes or scorpions) but we can minimize our brushes with them and ensure we aren’t doing anything to unnecessarily attract them.
Thanks to all who have reported landscape problems year! Don’t hesitate to call or email if you spot a leak or observe something in the landscape that needs to be attended.