What’s happening at Zants Plants? January Edition / January 11, 2023 by Peter Corke

An internal newsletter for the Zants Plants Team

In this edition:

What’s News!
Team news
2023 Resolutions
Let’s all join in

Welcome to 2023!

Great to see the team together and enjoying themselves at The Zants, sorry, The Grand Hotel Warrandyte.

Seems like yesterday … but we’re back!

What’s News?

Madeleine(Maddie) Shera-Jones

Maddie joined us right on the Christmas close down and we know that when you bump into her you’ll make her feel welcome!

…and did you know that in 2007 …

Efficient won the Melbourne Cup

Cats belted Port in the GF

The iPhone was released

Judy started at Zants Plants

A few New Year resolutions …

1) At the start of every shift phone Judy or Mike … “Hello … I’m on the job”
2) Fill out service card (trello) with all details after service NOT a week later. 3) Replacement excel sheet MUST come with your time sheet!

Let’s all join in! We are very proud of what you do and want to tell the world …….. take a pic of “work you are proud of”, post it on trello, @petercorke3 with “insta proud”.

WE CONTINUALLY STRIVE TO BE
THE “BEST IN THE BUSINESS”

**Here are some of the innovations that we’ll be introducing this year …**

Foliar Fertiliser

Liquid fertiliser

Custom design service systems

Zants - 100% Recycled Plastic Range

Coming soon cO2 neutral range

What’s happening at Zants Plants? September Edition / September 2, 2022 by Peter Corke

An internal newsletter for the Zants Plants Team

In this edition:

New Installations!
Gnat Flies!
This month’s SAFETY FOCUS
Plant of the Month!
and much more!

**TAL, 390 La Trobe St : Service by Judy**

**Orange Door, Box Hill: Service by Alison**

New Installations!

TAL
Orange Door
BDO

**BDO, 727 Collins St: Service by Judy**

Gnat Flies!

Gnat flies are a constant problem in our industry, you could say it comes with the territory! So, what do we do to maintain a high standard of servicing? Well, we follow the guidelines below, which is a 3 Step Process…

1st Step: Place trappits where gnat flies have been reported or where you have spotted them yourself. The idea of this is to identify the problem area and the pest and to start the drying off process of the potting media in preparation for the next service visit and step 2. All observations and actions are to be recorded on the Trello card!

2nd Step: Which is the next service due, check trappits and note what insects have been captured, if you’re unsure of what they are take photos and/or contact a more experienced team member. Once the gnat flies have been identified and the potting mix has been dried out, then the area can be treated with Crown that is applied evenly over the entire surface of the potting mix, do not pour down irrigation tube. All observations and actions are to be recorded on the Trello card!

3rd Step: and the third service. Inspect the area treated for the effectiveness of the treatment. Are there any more gnat flies present? If not, then fabulous! No further action required other than: Recording the result on Trello. Unfortunately, things aren’t always clear cut, there could still be some flies around, if that’s the case go back to Step 1 or if the soil is dry Step 2 and: Record observations and actions on Trello. The last scenario could be that the problem has worsened, if so, submit a replacement sheet, contact a team member if guidance is required and: Record observations and actions on Trello.

Health and Safety -

This month’s health and safety is a reminder of where to locate an incident report, it is attached to each trello board under Zants Plants HSE & Policy Documents, if you can’t locate yours please let either Judy or Michael know.

The form is easy to follow

Kentia Palm

***September Plant of the Month***

Botanical Name: Howea forsterana

Common Name: Kentia Palm or Sentry Palm or Paradise Palm

Family: Arecaceae

Country of Origin: Lord Howe Island

Description: Single-stemmed with dark green, arching fronds cut almost to the midrib into many leaflets.

How to Care: Kentias palms do well in bright or medium light and prefer normal room temperatures and can tolerate reasonably dry air. If they get too little light they will slowly deteriorate and they do not like temperatures below 13 degrees Celsius. Never allow allow pot to stand in water but keep potting mixture thoroughly moist. A standard liquid fertiliser should be applied every 2 weeks.

Special Hint: Run your thumb or finger down the stem of the plant to check if it’s flat. If it’s concave the plant needs watering! (thanks for the tip Judy)

Potting & Repotting: Use a premium standard grade potting mix and once the maximum pot size has been reached an annual top-dressing can replace repotting, making sure the mixture is pressed down around the roots of the plant.

New Team Member - Welcome Aboard Liam & Michael!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

***to the Big V on the 5th September!***

A Very Special Thank You & Congratulations to Judy for 15 years of Service!

We actually celebrated Judy’s 15 years of service earlier this year, in fact Judy achieved that in January. Pete and Sheralee finally got to thank her personally by taking Jude out for dinner a bit later on and now the “Team” is finally saying “Congratulations & Thank You” for her kindness, knowledge and guidance. Where would we all be if it wasn’t for Judy giving us a gentle nudge and her “can do” attitude leading the way!

What’s happening at Zants Plants? August Edition / August 4, 2022 by Peter Corke

An internal newsletter for the Zants Plants Team

In this edition:

New Installations!
Farewell!
The Potting Shed!
This month’s SAFETY FOCUS
Plant of the Month!
and much more!

**AKCELO 154 Wellington St, Collingwood: Service by Lucas**

**MLCOA 485 La Trobe St: Service by Jeff**

**Citywide, Nth Melbourne: Service by Lucas**

New Installations!

AKCELO
MLCOA
Citywide
Rockwell (sort of)

**Rockwell Hawthorn has our mobile wall on loan: Service by Alison - Watch this Space!!!**

THE POTTING SHED

Sheralee and Karlie have been soooo busy potting up plants for new installs and replacements! Good work girls, I have it on good authority that replacements are back to “pre-covid” schedule on top of all the new jobs going in, really great effort!!

One of Vinnie’s favourite jobs to do is picking things off hard rubbish to use, love this one! A multi-purpose “thing”! Vinnie is the master of re-purposing! Woody is always on hand with expert advice and the guys continue to go from strength to strength. Part of Ringwood is a mini workshop that can fabricate mobile walls, mulch plates and can custom colour planters.

Finally say hello and goodbye to the masked man. Alex helped Shrek and Vinnie out for a short time but has now gone on off to fight the good fight for our armed forces. All the best mate!

Health and Safety - Ladders

Please refer to your Trello board on Ladder Safety. Review the information and tick the boxes to say you have read and understood the information.

AUGUST 2022 - PLANT OF THE MONTH!!!

RUBBER TREE

Botanical Name: Ficus Elastica

Common Name: Rubber Plant

Family: Moraceae

Country of Origin: Easter parts of South and South-east Asia - places like Nepal, Bhutan, Bhutan, Indonesia, China and Malaysia.

There are several varieties of the Rubber Plant, the ones we are most familiar with at Zants are probably “Burgundy”(has deep red foliage) and “Ruby” (the variegated one with a pink blush) but there are many more such as “Decora”, “Tricolor”, “Robusta”, “Black Prince” etc., etc.. Do you know of one that’s not mentioned? Please if there is and you think it would be good to have… let us know.

Most Rubber Plants do well in medium light to retain their characteristics, they tend to lose those features if they don’t get enough light. Ficus Elasticas tend to like the warmth but if acclimatised slowly they can survive in other conditions, but beware they are susceptible to red spider mite in very hot rooms. Overwatering will cause their lower leaves to fall, let the top half of the mixture dry out before re-watering. It likes a liquid fertilizer every so often when established and they also like their shiny leaves to be sponged carefully and regularly to keep them free of dust.

As far as re-potting, use a soil-based mixture and a pot that looks as if they are a size too small for the plant.