Maintaining Your Firewise Landscape

Yearly maintenance will keep your hard-earned firewise landscape effective.

Once you have established your Firewise landscape it will need yearly maintenance to keep it effective.

Grass

• Green turf is very fire resistive, so if possible, water your lawn through the summer.
• If you cannot keep the grass watered, keep it trimmed low, especially close to the house.

Plant litter

• Keep plant litter to a minimum by regular pruning, mowing, raking, and removal.
• Keep the roof and gutters clear of needles and other debris.
• Don’t allow plant litter deposited by wind to accumulate in corners or at the foundation of the house - burning embers may easily collect in the same places and ignite your home.

Vegetation

There are several ways to control unwanted vegetation.

Mechanical control. Cutting plants off at the base can reduce fuel hazard from shrubs. Many native Idaho shrubs will re-sprout vigorously, so repeated trimming is usually necessary to maintain reduced fire risk. Mid-summer is the best time to do this.

Livestock. Sheep or goats may also help maintain brush at a low level. Time grazing to late spring or early summer (not early spring) to minimize soil impacts. Later grazing also reduces plants’ ability to regenerate because of drier soils.

Herbicides. Several herbicide brands are sold to kill brush and are available in local home & garden stores. The herbicide labels will list plants controlled by the herbicide. Regardless of the herbicide, always read and precisely follow the label recommendations before purchasing and using it.

In addition:

• If trees have just a few branches within 10 feet of each other, prune them back.
• If adjacent trees have many branches crowding together, it may be time to thin out a few more trees.
• Keep lawn and plant materials well watered and trimmed.
• Clean debris from your roof and yard.
• Prune dead branches as needed.
• Insects and disease should also be monitored and controlled as necessary.