bushes

I have a customer that I cleaned their roof last month. I used the usual soaking of plants bushes etc. The problem is three weeks later she tells me her grass, 6 bushes and a couple other plants died. I go out expecting a burnt area. The azaleas are brown, 6 feet away from the house. Her friend says all the ground was compromised. My problem is other than slight over spray there is not enough chemical on the ground to kill those bushes like that. My guy on the ground keeps stuff soaked before during and after. My plant guy thinks she over watered the plants causing root rot. Either way I will have to replace the plants,I can't have negative stuff out there. I just wonder if I could have done that with just over spray or is it something else? I haven't had any other issues other than a spot of grass here and there. The bushes are not burnt although on an evergreen there is a little white area. No question that's mine but the azaleas are evenly brown. I'm puzzled. I don't want to kill anything obviously and I'm not going to argue, just replace what is dead but I don't know what happened. Any thoughts? .

Have any pictures? Horticulture guys might be able to tell you what actually did the damage.

The time lapse of three weeks would bother me first. The chems we use for cleaning cause problems with plants more immediately than that. Secondly, this time if year people are treating lawns before the weather changes and sometimes they can burn vegetation if not mixed or applied correctly. I agree with you on fixing the problem though as I would do the same thing regardless because we all now "you" will always get the blame to all of her neighbors and friends. Residential work and it's issues!

Yes, you could have done that with over spray....but the damage will be revealed a lot sooner than in a 3 weeks, usually on Rose bushes before you leave you will see it. We always cover delicate plants like Rose bushes. Did the Rose bush leaves turn brown or are the whole plants dead. If so, feed them with some Miracle Grow Rose food, before you change them all out. Also agree that you should go ahead and do whatever it takes to make the customer happy, but also need to find out what the exact problem is so you can learn from it.

What makes your ground think she over watered??? Is the ground really saturated with water and you haven't had much rain???

Call me if you want to discuss this or if I can help.

I always tell guy's to find a local landscaper/horticulturist that you can network with and refer business to each other. This way when you have a problem like this you can him out their quickly to help you assess the problem.

Always take before and after pics, on EVERY job.

These bushes were azalea bushes. The reason for thinking she may have over watered is she was worried about plants from the start. I explained how we protect them but when she called she said she was watering them every day. When I talked to the landscaper he mentioned too much water could cause root rot. I'm not saying that's what happened problem is I don't understand how it did that much damage weeks later. I plan to replace them but she wants to wait til spring in case they may come back. She is a nice enough customer and from a business point I will fix the issue just scratching my head over how. As Doug said it's something to learn from. The plants are not dead inside, at least not yet, they are still green under the layer of bark. I will give the miracle grow a shot to see if it helps. Can't hurt and may save me some free work in spring

One thing with this job, the roof was really bad and I had to spray the front a second time. I bumped my mix up some making it pretty strong. The roof is beautiful now but maybe the stronger mix played a roll. I will give you a call Doug, thanks for the offer, one can never have to much help.

I understand you wanting to take care of the problem. I also understand your thought process that you should. We as contractors should accept responsibility for our actions. But what sucks is having to do all that work and lay out the cash when in fact it may not be your fault or problem. wouldn't that just be a kick in the butt if you went ahead and did all the work and come to find out she over watered or some landscaper killed them. you have to be allowed some time to investigate the problem. not just run out and fix them just because.

If she doesn't want replacement till next spring, you might want to tell her to stop watering for a week or two and see if they start coming back.


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