Landscape & Irrigation

April 2017

Landscape and Irrigation is read by decision makers throughout the landscape and irrigation markets — including contractors, landscape architects, professional grounds managers, and irrigation and water mgmt companies and reaches the entire spetrum.

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www.landscapeirrigation.com Landscape and Irrigation April 2017 27 locations of police speed traps and red-light cameras then warns you as you approach them. Not saying you would ever need this info, just saying… Storm — Radar, Storm Tracking, Hurricanes, Accurate Lightning, & Precipitation Alerts › iPhone, iPad, Android › Free ($1.99 ad-free version) The overly long name of this app not withstanding, this is simply one of the best weather apps available. Most cellphones these days will give you the temp and 5-day forecast, but sometimes working in the field you need much more dynamic information. With this app, you can quickly get up-to-the-minute radar images that can help you decide if you should start that next job or not. This app can help you be safe by showing any lightning strikes within a 100-mile radius. You can also turn on the wind layers, and the animations will show you the speed and direction of the breeze with impressive accuracy. This can help you plan your spray treatments so you don't arrive at the job site to then decide it is too windy to apply that day. Thumbtack Pros › App Free, Proposal pricing varies › iOS, Android You're looking for work; people are looking to hire you and "gig economy" apps are a great way to find each other. I know several different business owners in very different types of fields who are using Thumbtack to find new customers and new opportunities — from odd-job landscapers to yoga instructors — and have found it to be a success. Here's how it works: You fill out a profile for the type of jobs you want to be informed about. For example, let's say it is tree planting. Consumers can go onto Thumbtack and submit a request looking for a tree planter. You get a notification there is a job available and can send them a quote. Here's how Thumbtack makes money: they charge you to quote the customer in the form of Thumbtack Credits. Each credit costs (at the time of this printing) $1.67 each and the number of credits varies based on the job's relative demand. Sounds confusing but it's fairly straightforward. A request for a tree planting might be 2-3 credits, so it would cost you under $5 to make an offer. Now, if you don't get it, you are out $5, but if you do, spending $5 to make $400 is a pretty good return. It might not be for every business but if you are interested in finding more work Thumbtack is worth checking out. Unroll.Me › Free › iOS, Android If your e-mail inbox is anything like mine, it's chock full of stuff you don't really care about. This easy-to-use app automatically unsubscribes you from any e-mail list serves or reoccurring spam mail you don't want. Simply login into your e-mail though the app where it will scan for e-mails you are subscribed to. Swipe left to no longer receive the e-mails from that sender, swipe right to keep getting them. It's that easy. If you like, you can swipe up and "roll up" that e-mail sender's content into a single once-a-week e-mail that equals a significantly less cluttered inbox. The first time I used the app I unsubscribed to 76 spam e-mail lists in less than 4 minutes. Multi Measures › Free (with ads) › iOS, Android There are many apps that can turn your device into a useful measuring tool. My favorite so far has been Multi Measures 2. This all-in-one app has a decibel meter, a plumb bob, a compass, a bubble level, and several other features in a slick interface. This app has many uses in the field and is one of the easiest that I have used. It even has a flashlight feature that allows you to adjust the brightness of the lamp. Use the bubble level to check the slope of a patio for water runoff, or switch to the plumb bob feature and align it to the angle of a leaning tree to determine the exact degree of lean that hazard tree is exhibiting. Soils Direct › Free › iOS, Android Are you one of those landscaping savants who can look at a planting bed and know exactly how many cubic yards of mulch are needed? Me neither. Even buying bags of mulch for my home landscaping projects I find myself wildly underestimating the total amount I need. The free app from Soils Direct has a handy mulch calculator that removes the guesswork. Simply enter the dimensions of a planting bed and the depth you want the mulch to be and this app quickly spits out the cubic yards of mulch required. Also works for circular plots so you can add mulch rings around trees. Smart Converter — Fastest Unit Converter › Free (paid version is ad-free) › iOS Why is nothing ever simple? You need to mix 4 ounces of fungicide per gallon and the only graduated cylinder in the truck is in milliliters. Don't worry, your cell phone is here to save the day. Smart Converter is nice-and-easy app that converts any unit into a mindboggling number of options. While it gives you all the most common units any normal person would ever need, you can also go down the rabbit hole of finding obscure units of measure to impress and annoy your coworkers. Did you know that 1 U.S. gallon is equivalent to 85.3 jiggers or 378.5 Robiespoons? You do now. Brandon M. Gallagher Watson is creative director at Rainbow Treecare Scientific Advancements.

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