Tuesday Schedule

Discover the best practices on how to start & grow a New Service Business. Christmas Lights is a high growth and margin service IF you have the right road map.

Learn practical strategies for smarter irrigation and water-efficient landscape management in Texas:

• Understand the difference between water conservation plans and drought contingency plans
• Apply effective irrigation techniques, including cycle and soak, seasonal adjustments, and pressure regulation
• Use simple water-saving practices like master valves and proper lawn management

• Global and expanding, not just a local problem
• Biology and behavior drive their spread and persistence
• Understanding how they feed leads to smarter, more effective control

Today’s labor market is reshaping how landscape operations succeed, making clarity, systems, and leadership more important than ever:

• Understand why even skilled crews struggle when expectations and priorities are unclear
• Learn how clear standards, focused scope, and simple systems improve performance with limited labor
• Identify where accountability truly lives and how to improve outcomes without overburdening crews

Roses are one of the most valued landscape plants, but Rose Rosette Disease has created serious challenges for maintaining them in Texas landscapes:

• Understand the history and impact of Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) in Texas landscapes
• Learn how RRD spreads from plant to plant and why it is so difficult to control
• Explore practical IPM strategies for managing and responding to RRD in the field

Healthy trees start below the surface, and understanding soil biology is key to improving long-term landscape success:

• Learn how construction impacts soil health by disrupting structure, compaction, and the soil microbiome
• Explore how soil genomics reveals microbial communities and their relationship with tree health
• Understand practical ways to restore healthy soils and support stronger, more resilient trees

Unlock proven strategies used by top hardscape contractors to build more profitable, efficient, and high-performing companies:

• Understand the “system” behind successful hardscape construction operations
• Learn crew motivation, jobsite production techniques, and how to create consistent project execution
• Discover sales and business strategies that improve efficiency, quality, and overall profitability

Vigilance in plant health requires understanding how and why certain diseases and insect issues become quarantinable while others do not:

• Explore potentially actionable and quarantinable plant disease and insect issues
• Understand the factors that determine quarantine status in plant health management
• Learn how early detection and surveillance guide response to emerging threats

Tree pruning is often driven by unclear proposals and production pressure, causing avoidable damage and liability. This session builds a defensible pruning system using standards and prescriptions:

• Why most pruning failures are systemic, starting with proposals rather than field execution
• How ANSI A300–2023 standards support consistent, defensible pruning decisions
• What a pruning prescription includes and how PPQ improves clarity, accountability, and profitability

Learn how a systems-based IPM approach reduces plant disease risk in nursery and greenhouse production by identifying and managing critical points in the production process:

• Identify critical points in production systems where disease risk is highest
• Apply systems-based IPM strategies to reduce outbreaks and losses
• Integrate prevention-focused practices into nursery and greenhouse management

You built something real — with your hands, your relationships, and more early mornings than you can count. But growing a business and running one are two different jobs. If you’re still the one holding everything together, this session is for you.

• Build simple, proven systems using EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System)
• Gain clarity on where your business is going
• Get the right people in the right seats, and build systems that create traction without everything running through you

Explore how lightweight aggregates can improve growing media performance while balancing cost, sustainability, and plant health.

• Improve aeration, drainage, and moisture management to support stronger root development
• Apply lightweight aggregates across a range of media, from cost-effective blends to premium engineered systems
• Optimize performance and sustainability while managing input costs for growers, blenders, and landscape professionals