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Graphic courtesy of Douglas Plant Health Biologicals.

Since graduating from Michigan State in the 1990s, Steve Martinko has taken a progressive, holistic view of tree and lawn care.

“I’ve always gravitated toward microbial solutions,” says Martinko, who started in the lawn-care/golf-course industry and eventually opened a lawn-care/plant-health-care company with his wife in 2008. Waterford, Michigan-based Contenders Tree & Lawn Specialists is a $3-million-a-year company that does primarily PHC and lawn care, catering to the high-end residential market. His wife, Theresa, still runs the company, but he stepped aside in 2020.

“Contenders basically takes the clientele who want to solve any type of invasive-insect or other challenge to keeping the landscape healthy – to keep it looking good – without relying on too many pesticides,” Martinko explains. “The owners we were buying from were retiring, and I stepped sideways into that company.”

That was 2020. Since then, Martinko has owned and operated Banner Sales and Consulting Inc., a distributor/advocate for the environmentally sound products he’d been using in his lawn-care/PHC business. These include fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, growth regulators, repellents, anti-dessicants and more.

“We’re focused on U.S.-made microbial products, with no reliance overseas,” he says. “Legitimate products that help to de-
stress soils, especially with compaction-related issues and hydration of the plant material.”

Addressing limitations

One area he’s excited about is a microbial mix that solves soil compaction, which he calls the “number-one problem in urban settings.” This product also addresses the age-old tree care problem of workforce labor shortages. Air excavation is a traditional answer for soil compaction, but he believes using microbial products specifically designed to alleviate soil compaction is a better path.

“You used to have three people on a crew, and now it’s just too difficult to even pull three people,” Martinko says. “Or you plan on a three-person crew, but have only one show up. Sometimes the job is inaccessible and you just can’t get hoses from a compressor out there anyhow.”
Weather also can be a factor, Martinko adds, either when using air excavation in muddy conditions “or the opposite, with complete droughts, and now you’re shooting rocks all over the place.”

As he sees it, a paradigm shift from air excavation is now available for arborists in the form of a specialized microbial tea. A mix of microbial products specifically designed to alleviate soil compaction is addressing those above-mentioned challenges. “People need other options, and some of these other options have not been very good over the years,” he says. “This one definitely is.”

A paradigm shift

He is referring to TerraTrove, a liquid biofertilizer comprised of a diverse community of microbes, plant-based humus extract and algae designed to work together to improve soil structure, making more nutrients available and ultimately increasing plant health.

Microbial technologies have advanced so rapidly that soil structure can be changed within a matter of weeks, Martinko says, not months or years. Some soil conditioners in the marketplace have long-term advantages, he says, but can’t be applied annually. Not so for these new classes of microbes, which allow for multiple applications per year, every year, and at very affordable application costs.

“We know this product, we’ve been using this product and there’s no need for a lot of staffing. People can still use air excavation, but this microbial tea is a great tool to use without air excavation.

Game changer

TerraTrove’s ability to have a dramatic effect on soil physicochemical and biochemical properties is a game changer, Martinko says. The algae, combined with these unique microbial colonies with a great food source already included, enhances cation exchange, causing nutrients to break free from soil particles that are binding everything together. If you can help clay particles bind with clay, pore spaces are opened while at the same time allowing positive cations to move more freely into absorbing root tips and hairs.

“We have found it’s best to soil drench in conjunction with deep-root fertilization penetrating the entire root zone,” Martinko says. “With vertical mulching alone, the area of soil surface covered is less than 10%.” However, when using TerraTrove to alleviate soil compaction as a soil-drench/root-feeding process, total root-system coverage is 100% and can be performed on one tree in 10 minutes, he says.

Better business

This new approach resolves labor challenges and reduces job cost by allowing for the entire landscape to be treated, no matter how small the shrub or how large the tree, and by enabling tighter routes to be created due to its annual application schedule, Martinko says.

Because of its price advantage, some operators have opted to apply 30 to 60 days before air excavation, he says, enabling easier working conditions. When soil bulk density is between 1.5 and 2.0, this makes it far easier to utilize air excavation with vertical mulching.

In 25 years as an arborist, Martinko developed an appreciation not just for quality work and environmental stewardship, but also for an understanding of the bottom line that informs his opinions, he says.

“I am very much a strong believer in supporting small businesses and small-business owners,” he says. “We never take our eye off the ball. We look at how people are modeled in their operations, and we help them take some new pathways to cut time and savings.”

Client satisfaction

“We all know what it’s like trying to air excavate when soil is saturated,” Martinko says. “I can’t tell you how many times I had my crews skipping certain job sites due to poor drainage and the muddy mess that would have ensued. The difference now is that there’s no limit to what can be serviced on the property, giving all trees and shrubs the special care they deserve.

“A company’s sales force and workforce love nothing more than addressing soil problems,” Martinko says, adding that now they can do so more easily.

“Stressed trees are not able to handle diseases and insect problems. We are able to do so much more with trees by reducing compaction,” Martinko says. “And you can have the soil cooperating with nutrients. You don’t need pH reducers to change the pH and soil. You can get right past that. So we’re going to unlock a lot of stuff in there that you normally could not tap into.

“The (client) wow factor for this is simple to engage in,” Martinko says. “This is entry-level PHC stuff, very easy, no pesticide license required. You can wow a customer in a matter of weeks, not months. And then they’re going to ask for more. Or the neighbors, they’ll talk about it. You’ll go viral.”

Conclusion

In four years, Banner Sales and Consulting has expanded from a staff of three to eight people, and broken into the international market with clients in Turkey and Japan. While today’s subject is solving soil compaction, Martinko says his company distributes hundreds of products, and more new and interesting microbial solutions are coming that he thinks will change the PHC industry.

“Paradigm shifts are solving problems in a new world of customer service,” Martinko says. “It’s hard to imagine anyone using a core aerator anymore to aerate lawns or any operation trying to vertical mulch using only air excavation. Caring for clients’ needs using microbial solutions is proving to be rewarding, knowing we are doing what’s right for the soil first while reducing pesticide usage.”

L.J. Vaillancourt has been writing business articles for numerous publications for more than 30 years. He makes his home in Concord, Massachusetts, where he lives with his two springer spaniels.

TCI Magazine’s Sponsored Content is a feature available only to TCIA corporate members. This article is sponsored by Banner Sales and Consulting Inc. Contact advertising@tcia.org for more information.