THE OFFICIAL ARBOR-NOMICS® ATLANTA NEWSLETTER
Bare in Mind by Dick Bare
Hi, Everyone. I hope all is well with you and yours. Well, well, well,
did you all see the latest news on animal fat and heart disease? It
looks like much of what we’ve been told is wrong. In early May,
the Wall Street Journal reported on a recent study, published in the
journal Annals of Internal Medicine, that concluded...
saturated fat does not cause heart disease.
For decades, we’ve been warned about the
artery-clogging dangers of steak, ice cream,
cheese, and butter. Diets favoring carbs over
meat, and vegetable oils over butter have
been the long-standing alternative. We’ve been
so scared away from animal fat we’ve even
come to believe sugar and processed foods are
better choices.
But I’ve always wondered about this. Coming
from the Midwest, I’m no stranger to farmers
and Amish folks who eat sausage, butter,
cheese, and steak and seem to live long,
healthy lives. But they also do physical work,
getting plenty of exercise outdoors. (In that
part of the country, they don’t think “manual
labor” is the president of Mexico!) Plus more
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CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Customer Kudos
I’ve been with Arbor-Nomics for over 30 years and still sing your praises. You have
followed me from Dunwoody to St. Ives to Lake Lanier! Several of my neighbors
have switched from other companies to you because of how terrific my lawn looks. I
especially want to let you know how much I appreciate the job Daniel Sparks does.
He handles every request and question promptly and thoroughly. He is an awesome
tech and an asset to Arbor-Nomics. Thank you!
Pam L., Buford, GA
Our technician, Daniel, is great. I am very picky when it comes to my lawn, trees and
shrubs. Anytime I have questions or concerns, Daniel always addresses them. I can
tell he likes his job and he’s very knowledgeable. He is always friendly and ready to
help. Arbor-Nomics is definitely a five star company. Thank you for providing excellent
customer service and quality care for my yard.
A very happy customer in Suwanee, GA
By far, your company, employees, and quality of work exceed my expectations.
Thank you for a great job!
T.B, Lawrenceville, GA
APPLICATION #4, 2014 I VOL. 37, NO.209
Ask your tech if
it’s winter kill
or a fungus.
The past winter’s extreme cold
and precipitation has left behind
a good deal of turf damage
known as WINTER KILL. The
good news is that turf will
rebound without any treatment.
To be on the safe side, though,
have your tech check out any
brown or gray areas to make
sure it’s not a fungus that does
require treatment.
1
Watch For These Diseases & Pests This Summer
We all know how hot and humid it gets in the south during the spring and summer. All that
moisture could cause many lawns to have fungus issues this summer. These can affect Fescue,
Bermuda and Zoysia lawns.
PLEASE BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR:
Some Fun
Facts to Ponder
• It is impossible to
lick your elbow.
•A crocodile can’t
stick it’s tongue out.
• A shrimp’s heart is in its head.
•People “bless you” when you
sneeze because your heart
stops for a millisecond.
•In a study of 200,000
ostriches over a period of 80
years, no one
reported a single
instance of an
ostrich burying its
head in the sand.
•It is physically impossible for
pigs to look up into the sky.
• A pregnant goldfish is called
a twit.
• More than 50%
of the world’s
population has
never made
or received a
telephone call.
• Rats and horses can’t vomit.
• If you sneeze too hard, you
can fracture a rib.
• If you try to suppress a
sneeze, you can rupture a
blood vessel in your head or
neck and die.
• If you keep your eyes open by
force when you sneeze, you
might pop an eyeball out.
• Rats multiply so
quickly that in 18
months, two rats
could have over a
million descendants.
• Wearing headphones for
just an hour will increase the
bacteria in your ear
by 700%.
• In every episode of Seinfeld
there is a Superman
somewhere.
Source: http://bootstrike.com/
LaughterHell/Misc/miscs13.php
2
Brown Patch: Large, unsightly symmetrical patches, ranging in diameter from a few
inches to a few feet.
Zoysia Patch: Attacks zoysia grass, causing blades to take on a tan/orange color in
small, 2-inch patches. These patches can quickly expand to about 20 feet in diameter,
so taking care of the problem promptly is essential for the health of your lawn.
If you see these types of patches, please contact us for an estimate on fungicide treatments.
These diseases require treatment with specific fungicides.
When it comes to fungus, it’s not pretty and it’s not easy to treat:
• If you don’t treat it, it will spread and can destroy your lawn.
• Whatever areas are damaged from fungus will remain damaged for the rest of the season.
Treatment can only prevent it from spreading.
• You will need three applications to keep fungus from spreading. Each application lasts
approximately 21-28 days.
THERE ARE ALSO PESTS TO BE AWARE OF THIS TIME OF YEAR:
Armyworms: These pests, which look like caterpillars, can be detrimental to your
Bermuda lawn in just days. They will cause brown patches that rapidly grow bigger.
If you spot birds clustered on your lawn for no apparent reason, they may be at the
armyworm buffet. We can stop by to verify this, and we’ll provide you with an estimate for
taking care of these hungry pests.
While our Gold customers’ trees and shrubs receive an insecticide to prevent lace bugs,
aphids, caterpillars and Japanese beetles from settling in (Japanese beetles are tough
and may require an extra treatment, so please call us if you see them), those of you on
the Silver program need to be on the lookout for these pests. Japanese beetles, for example, can
be quite destructive. They feed on over 300 species of ornamental plants and trees, causing the
leaves to turn brown then die and fall off.
So, while summer is a time for blossoming flowers, beautiful trees and green lawns, it’s also a
time for diseases and pests to feast on your property.
Spotlight on Extreme
Temperatures in Atlanta & GA
Atlanta is certainly known as a city that can get pretty hot in the
summer, but it can also get pretty cold in the winter too. In fact,
Atlanta’s all-time coldest temperature is not much different from
New York City’s all-time coldest temperature. Here are some highs
and lows documented in official weather records since 1878.
• The difference between the hottest and
coldest temperatures in Atlanta is 115°F.
The difference for the state is 129°F.
• The coldest temperature ever recorded
in Atlanta is -9°F, which occurred on
February 13, 1899.
• The hottest temperature ever recorded in
Atlanta is 106°F, which occurred on June
30, 2012.
• The coldest temperature ever recorded
in Georgia is -17°F, which occurred
on January 27, 1940, near the city of
Lafayette, in northwestern Ga.
• The hottest temperature ever recorded
in Georgia is 112°F, which occurred in
Greenville on August 20, 1983.
Application #4
What we did today to your lawn:
1. Different lawns have different needs:
• BERMUDA, FESCUE and ZOYSIA lawns received a treatment of Arbor-Organics
fertilizer. This fertilizer will provide nourishment to the grass plants until our next visit.
• BERMUDA, FESCUE and ZOYSIA lawns received an application of four kinds
of herbicides.
• This time of year, brown patch fungus is active and causes havoc on FESCUE lawns.
If you see brown circular patches, call our office to set up an inspection and quote
for a fungicide application. Cut fescue lawns at the highest setting on your mower.
This will help to lower the soil temperature for this cool season grass.
2. Gold customers also received a FREE Outdoor Pest Control application.
3. Platinum customers also received a fungicide treatment, an application of Outdoor Pest
Control and a nutsedge/grassy weed application as needed.
What we did to your trees & shrubs: (tree & shrub customers only)
1. We applied an insecticide to help control lace bugs, aphids, caterpillars and Japanese
beetles, and a miticide to battle spider mites.
2. A fungicide was applied to control diseases like powdery mildew and leaf spot.
What you need to do until our next visit:
1. During summer, all lawns should have one inch of water per week from rain or
irrigation. If it doesn’t rain, check with your local water authority regarding watering
regulations. The best watering time is early morning. Do not water in the afternoon
or evening.
2. Keep an eye out for fungus diseases, Japanese beetles and armyworms.
3. Routine mulching will help your shrubs grow better, as it helps retain water in the soil.
If you have any questions concerning your lawn, trees, shrubs or our service, please call our
Customer Service Department Monday – Friday, 8am – 5pm at 770.447.6037. If you call
after hours, please leave a message and your call will returned the next business day.
WATERING: Critical To A Beautiful Lawn
Our job is to fertilize your lawn, keep weeds at bay and take care of diseases and pests.
However, watering is the other part of the equation for a beautiful lawn. This is one of the
most important tasks you are charged with, and it makes all the difference in the health and
color of your lawn.
Your lawn should get about 1 inch of water every week. Use a tuna fish
can as a measuring tool when you water. Place the can on the area
being watered. When it is almost full, you know you’ve watered enough.
This can make a critical difference in the color of your lawn, as well as in
its resistance to disease.
We can assist you in finding a company to install a sprinkler
system if you don’t have one. If you already have a system
and need advice on how often to run it, we can help you
with that too.
And if you’re wondering why we continue to treat during a drought,
your lawn is a living organism that needs nutrients and weed control
even though it is going through a dry period.
Helpful Phone
Numbers
MAIN NUMBER
770.447.6037
www.arbor-nomics.com
OWNER/PRESIDENT
Dick Bare
Office: 678.638.4550
Cell: 770.815.3879
[email protected]
VICE PRESIDENT
Doug Cash
Office: 678.638.4548
Cell: 770.596.8388
[email protected]
ARBOR-NOMICS TREE
OFFICE MANAGER
Holly Coll
Office: 770.368.0072
FREE Perimeter
Pest Control
To take advantage of FREE pest
control treatments for this year
and next, upgrade from the
Silver to the Gold program. Sign
up in July or August, and you
will receive two free Perimeter
Pest Control treatments this
year, and four free Perimeter
Pest Control treatments next
year. The tree & shrub care
and pest control treatments are
not available with the Silver
program, so upgrade today
and see why Gold is our most
popular program
with customers.
3
Bare in Mind CONTINUED
and more, we’re hearing about health
problems associated with carbs and
vegetable oils.
It seems that many of the guidelines
put out by the American Heart
Association are just plain wrong. So
how did this happen? Back in the
1950s a researcher at the University of
Minnesota, Dr. Ancel Benjamin Keys,
proposed that a diet high in saturated
fat raised cholesterol and caused
hearts attacks. At the time, heart
disease was skyrocketing to become
the No. 1 cause of death in the US,
and the time was ripe for Keys’s ideas to take hold with the media
and the American public. Then when President Eisenhower suffered
a heart attack, the deal was basically cinched.
The problem is that Keys’s research was terribly flawed. He
concluded that saturated fat, not aging, caused heart disease
based on studies of populations that were not randomly selected.
In other words, he picked populations that supported his desired
results and excluded those that didn’t. Yugoslavia, Italy, and
Finland, where animal fat consumption and rates of heart disease
are high were included. France, Germany, and Switzerland, where
animal fat consumption is high but rates of heart disease are low
curiously were not included.
Similarly, he used his findings from Crete to demonstrate that heart
disease is rare when animal fat consumption is low. Want to know
when he studied Crete? During Lent, when most observant people
give up meat. Naturally, this misrepresented the population’s meateating habits. This is just bad science, plain and simple.
For some reason, the problems with Keys’s research didn’t come to
light until about 2002, and by then the damage was done.
By 1961 Keys occupied an influential position on the nutrition
committee of the American Heart Association. In a decades-long,
twisted tale that involves hubris, personal agendas, and more
flawed research funded by companies promoting non-saturated fat
products like Crisco, the bias against saturated fat became firmly
rooted in the American Heart Association’s guidelines. Without any
sound evidence to support it, diets that restricted saturated fat and
favored carbs and vegetable oil became the new common-sense
approach to healthy living.
This is unfortunate. For one, it seems there are health benefits
from saturated fat – especially for women. There’s mounting
evidence that diets low in saturated fat cause a steep drop in
HDL, or “good” cholesterol, and actually increase women’s risk of
having a heart attack. (HDL also drops in men, but not as steeply.)
Secondly, the move toward diets high in carbs is being linked
to obesity and diabetes. And vegetable oils that oxidize when
heated are implicated in Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and other
health problems.
What is the answer? Nutritionists think a diet of meat, fish, and
dairy should be consumed in moderation, along with 15 to 45
4
minutes of exercise a day, such as walking. (Even centuries ago
Socrates recommended walking every day). Moderation and regular
exercise – it harkens back to a more old-fashioned common-sense
approach to healthy living.
Another interesting new study, featured on 60 Minutes on May 4th,
looked at the secrets to longevity. Researchers reviewed data from
1981 on 14,000 retirees who were interviewed on their lifestyle
habits, such as diet, exercise, vitamin and alcohol intake, and
smoking. They then recently followed up with about 1,600 of the
original participants, with some surprising results. (Mrs. Adina R, you
can download an Apple app that will let you watch every 60 Minutes
show ever produced!) Here are some of the highlights.
Most people think longevity is genetic. But some people in the study
had parents who died young from natural causes. So, while it might
be reasonable to expect to live long if you have a family history of
longevity, it doesn’t follow that you will die young if you don’t.
Smokers died early – no surprise there.
Taking vitamins didn’t increase longevity, neither did avoiding desserts
or alcohol. In fact, a couple of drinks a day reduced risk of death
by 15%. Doesn’t matter if it’s red wine, hard liquor, or Bailey’s Irish
Crème, my favorite nightcap and coffee drink. (Speaking of coffee,
one or two cups a day seems to be a good thing, so don’t cut out your
morning coffee, but you might want to skip the Bailey’s for breakfast.)
Maintaining normal body weight – even gaining a little as you age –
is good. Neither being very thin at an older age or obese in one’s
younger years bodes well for longevity.
Romance and social contact also keep
us living longer. The study didn’t look
specifically at laughter, but I’m sure
laughing with friends has to be a good
thing. So, on that note I’ll leave you with
some hilarious quotes from Disorder in
the Courts, a book that features actual
exchanges between attorneys and
witnesses that will get you laughing.
Here’s to longevity.
ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at
the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
_______________________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his
sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
_______________________
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He’s 20, much like your IQ.
_______________________
ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a
deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.