Keith Weyrick's roots go deep in the green industry in south Florida.  A second generation nurseryman, Keith and his family owned and operated Quail Roost Nursery, Inc for 43 years in south Miami-Dade county.  They grew a wide variety of palms, trees and shrubs from 1 gallon to mature field grown specimens on 35 acres.  The business attained sales throughout the eastern US, Canada and the Caribbean, shipping plants as far away as Saudi Arabia.  Keith was the owner and manager of this business until 2003 when he decided to sell the business.  In 2004 Quail Roost Nursery, after 43 years, was closed.  The property was leased and is still in production to this day.

 

In late 1997 Keith purchased a franchised organic based lawn care business.  This business decision came as a result of input from his local landscape customers.  At the time, there was a tremendous lack of knowledge in the spray industry with regard to providing plant health care services.  January 1998 saw the opening of the Miami location for NaturaLawn of America.  Providing exceptional service and results in the lawn and landscape care industry, Keith's business grew.  He was soon providing nutritional and pest control services for many landscapers, landscape architects and designers.  Business grew to include over 300 residential and commercial accounts.  The Airport Corporate Center was their largest commercial account.  In 2006, after a major car accident Keith decided to sell the client base and take some time off. 

 

After a 4 year sabbatical, during which time Keith became a licensed US Coast Guard Captain as well as acquiring his UK Captain's license, he returned to the Green Industry.  Going to work for a large local lawn and ornamental spray company Keith first served as a consultant and eventually assumed the full time position of Customer Service and Quality Control Manager.  During this time he became acquainted with Mr. Ian Maguire.  Keith, again seeing a need within the spray industry for a knowledgeable and reliable plant health care company and Ian, seeing the same opportunity soon came to an agreement and Plant Health Care Systems of South Florida, LLC was born. 

 

Keith has been a Florida State Certified Pest Control operator since 2001 and is also certified in the Florida Green Industry Best Management Practices.  With over 15 years’ experience in the plant health care and pest control business as well as a lifetime of experience in the production of palms, trees, shrubs and groundcover Keith's extensive background brings a vast amount of knowledge to the company.  Keith's managerial experience includes running 2 businesses simultaneously with as many as 26 employees. 

 

Ian Maguire is a Homestead, Florida native and has bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from Florida International University (2000). He began working at the University of Florida (UF), Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) in 1999 as a part time digital photographer for the Tropical Fruits Virtual Field Laboratory (TFVFL) project under the supervision of Drs. Jonathan Crane and Bruce Schaffer. While working on the TFVFL project he had an opportunity to learn micropropagation of bananas in Dr. Richard Litz’s micropropagation lab under the supervision of Senior Biologist, Pamela Moon. In 2002, he was hired by Dr. Wagner Vendrame (Professor, Ornamental Horticulture UF/IFAS/TREC) as his biological scientist and focused on tissue culture of ornamental plants. In 2006 he was promoted to the multimedia specialist for TREC and the Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center (FLREC) were he focused on collaborative projects and grants with faculty at both centers. During this tenure he developed a web-based resource with Drs. Monica Elliott and Tim Broschat on palm disease and disorder detection, which was funded through the USDA (A Resource for Pest and Diseases of Cultivated Palms).

 

In July 2009, he was hired by Dr. Aaron Palmateer (Associate Professor, Plant Pathology UF/IFAS/TREC) to be the biological scientist in his ornamental plant pathology research and extension program. As the biological scientist for ornamental plant pathology research and extension program (2009-2014) Ian’s responsibilities included processing plant samples for the detection and isolation of plant pathogens, identification of insects and plant disorders. Additionally, Ian Maguire worked on developing disease management strategies by conducting pesticide efficacy trials which help determine the best approach to managing pathogens in the landscape and nursery.

 

Ian has completed plant disease diagnostician and quality management training and given presentations at scientific meetings. Ian’s expertise in visual communication, biological sciences and plant pathology has given PHCSFL the ability to show proof and provide information that our methods work.