Landscape Maintenance and Pruning
What this domain tests
This domain tests whether you can hold a property to a defensible maintenance standard: ANSI A300 pruning, correct mowing heights and intervals, palm pruning limits, mulch depth, and routine scouting that prevents callbacks.
Pruning standards (ANSI A300 Part 1)
- No topping, no lion-tailing, and no flush cuts; cut at the branch collar and use the three-cut method on limbs too heavy to hold.
- Remove no more than 25% of the living crown in a single season, and make reduction cuts to a lateral branch at least one-third the diameter of the limb removed.
- Prune spring-flowering shrubs right after bloom; heavy late-summer and fall pruning reduces cold hardiness in north Florida.
- Palms: remove only dead, dying, or broken fronds and spent fruit stalks. Hurricane cutting strips green fronds, drains potassium and magnesium, and lowers cold tolerance. Refuse it and explain why.
Turf and bed maintenance
- Follow the one-third rule: never remove more than one-third of the leaf blade in one mowing. St. Augustinegrass is kept at 3.5-4 inches, bahiagrass at 3-4 inches, Bermuda at 1-2 inches.
- Keep blades sharp; dull blades fray tips and invite disease. Alternate mowing direction and keep string trimmers off trunks.
- Mulch beds 2-3 inches deep, keep mulch 6-12 inches off trunks, and refresh before it thins to bare soil.
- Audit irrigation quarterly with catch cans and scout for pests and disease on every visit rather than waiting for callbacks.
Worked example
A St. Augustine lawn is maintained at 4 inches. The one-third rule means the grass should be cut before the canopy reaches about 6 inches, since removing 2 inches from 6 inches is one-third. If it has grown to 7 inches, one pass down to 4 inches removes 43% and stresses the turf. The correct sequence is a first cut back to about 5.5 inches, then a second cut to 4 inches within a week, plus a tightened mowing interval so the grass never exceeds 6 inches again.
Traps
- Selling hurricane cuts, crape murder, or topping as a service.
- Flush cuts that remove the branch collar and slow wound closure.
- Cutting turf too low in summer heat, thinning the stand and inviting weeds.
- Mulch volcanoes piled against trunks.
- Pruning at the wrong season and cutting off flower buds already set for next year.