Tyson Carroll

Paul,
Also consider maintenance requirements. While I like the use of stone fruit consider the surrounding concrete and if any dropping fruit will cause any aesthetic issue. At your size constraints you are limited and might be more inline with a large shrubs verse tree. Some of the smaller crapes could work, Dr. Hurd Manzanita, Mexican Redbud (if…[Read more]

Elaine our specifications did not cover retaining walls but they are definitely boiler plate and have been vetted through a review process cover soils, planting, irrigation, and tree protection. You can download them and their associated details at the ISA website or ours. http://www.urbantree.org.

Cad on  a mac using a vm is the same as a pc. 

Problem can be solved by running through a virtual machine like vm ware or boot camp. The cost will be comparable with mac being somewhat higher but not bad. As Andrew alluded to this falls into the larger debate of Macs vs. PC’s. Like anything there are pros and cons. Just make sure that whatever you decide to go with that the specs for the…[Read more]

Depends on what you are trying to get out of the program. I do not have much experience with Landmark but am a user of Land FX and thoroughly enjoy the program and believe it is a huge time saver on the design side of things. The staff there is also very helpful and updates the program based upon the users suggestions and comments which makes its…[Read more]

5 x 5 is fairly typical and the size is fine for smaller trees but larger shade growing trees can pose problems. 
What size of tree are you specifying? The grate that you select should have an opening that can be enlarged to allow for the calipher to grow in size. 
Grates cost with angle iron 1300-3200. With installation you are looking between 3…[Read more]

As long as the pump can kick the system on and off w/o the controller you are ok. The downside of not having it tied to a controller is that if does not turn on there will be no alarm to communicate there is an issue. 

Yes you would think that but a main line break at 1 in the morning may not get noticed until 7. 6 hours of a mainline break running is a lot of water at 4 inches. Plus 4″ mains are notorious for popping of using PVC connection. Steel fittings are highly recommended as are saddles at your valves. 
Whether or not you have tried it the city’s…[Read more]

True. Here were the specs 
Core I7
8 GB RAM
512 GB SSD
1 gb or 2gb video card
27″ display
I was off by my numbers. The difference was 20% mac higher than a PC but I added 8 more gb of ram and got a laptop verse desktop. 

I am going to respectively disagree. We switched our office over to mac’s about 2 years ago and when we priced out a commercial grade pc to a mac the price was within 10% of one another. The argument can be made for or against both systems but in the end it comes down to user preference. Both systems have their pluses and minuses. 

Like anything you have to weigh cost with increased productivity. In addition it is an investment and if you go with the subscription the cost decreases dramatically over the initial investment. Yes we run paralles to run Autocad for the platform and loaded up Irrigation F/X onto that. It is very easy to use but there like anything there is a…[Read more]

I am not sure about your first question. 2 years ago we moved our office from PC’s to Mac running Autocad with Irrigation F/X. We also have Adobe CS6 and sketch up. Works very well. If you have not already take a look at some of Land F/X’s webinars specifically they have 1-2 on running land fx on a mac. 
I have not had much experience with…[Read more]

All at full size. LA’s have a tendency to over plant projects without looking at the landscape 3,5,7 years afterwards. Some of that stems from outdated planning regulations which require x number of plants per sq. foot. The result is maintenance has to come back and rip plants out that grow together or it creates burden for long term maintenance.…[Read more]

A down side is they do not get filled up on a regular basis which can affect establishment. If your climate has ample enough rain than may not be a problem. In the west and southwest the same cultural practices will lead to dead plants especially during the summer months which is why irrigation systems are utilized. 

Dennis, 
I was told by some local Chicago LA’s that the city was moving away from structural soil because of the reasons I mentioned. You would know that better than I through. That being said the issues arising from the use of structural soil have become more apparent in years 10-15 but it also depends on the species you selected, genetics, and…[Read more]

A few questions. 
what type of trees are you using?
if you are looking at creating an impermeable surface on top of the rootball and root flare how will the tree have access to water?
what climatic zone are you in?
Realistically with a tree well that small your options are somewhat limited on what species you can and cannot use. Whether or not…[Read more]

Salvia Bee’s Bliss
Baccharis ‘Pigeon Point’
Some of the Arctostaphylos species
Mahonia repens (part sun/shade)
Some of the low growing Zauschneria but aesthetically need to be cut down every year before spring
The cotoneaster mentioned in this thread is also a good choice. 

Some will depend on the characteristics of the site as asked in this…[Read more]

Steve, 
I was pleasantly surprised to read your thread. As I am sure you are aware ANSI Z.60 covers many things but it does not cover quality. Sadly most firms have old and outdated specifications on this matter or do not know enough in the first place to know any better. The challenge you will run into is that every portion of the country does…[Read more]

Is water provided by the city or a private utility company? You will have to spec whatever they require for an additional service. Contractor will have to install it per there standards. Indicate on the irrigation plans the size that is required and refer to city or private utility company’s standards and specs for installation. 

The answer to that question depends on several factors
– Are the officials asking how many trees are going to be planted by volunteers for the entire plan or in one sitting?
– What is the organizational capacity of the city and other organizations that would assist with this effort?
– Does the city have established volunteer days throughout the…[Read more]