- Hi, thanks for joining us for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

I'm Chris Cooper.

There are several insecticides on the shelves of your local garden centers.

Today, we're going to look at some of them.

Also, we are planting onions.

That's just ahead on The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

- (female announcer) Production funding for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South is provided by the WKNO Production Fund, the WKNO Endowment Fund, and by viewers like you, thank you.

[upbeat country music] - Welcome to The Family Plot.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Joining me today is Mike Dennison.

Mr. D is a retired UT Extension agent.

And Walter Battle will be joining me later.

Alright, Mr. D, there's a lot insecticides out there on the shelves.

- Yup.

- A lot to choose from.

We need to help those homeowners out.

- That's right.

It can be kind of confusing there's, first, let's break, insecticides can be broken down into four major categories.

- Okay.

- The botanicals, microbial, inorganic, and synthetics.

- Right.

- I mostly use synthetics, and I use a lot of microbials.

But let me give you a couple of examples of each.

- Okay.

- The botanicals are insecticides that most of 'em have been made from, from plants.

- Got it.

- An example is pyrethrum, which is made from chrysanthemums, neem oil made from the neem tree.

And those are a couple of the most common that you see out there as far as- - Right.

And a lot of people that use the neem oil.

True.

- Yeah.

Some of the, the botanicals can be pretty tough on pollinating insects, honeybees and things like that.

So you've gotta be careful.

- Okay.

- Microbials are very, very interesting.

Bacillus thuringiensis, Bt.

This is been around for years and years.

It's very, very safe for the environment, safe for pollinating insects.

The microbials are generally very specific as the type of insect they kill.

The Bacillus thuringiensis kills caterpillars.

And it doesn't harm bees, humans, or other insects, beneficial insects.

- That's good.

- Inorganic insecticides, those are the oils.

Mostly the summer oils, superior oils that we use.

They work very good on insects.

When you get it, you have, but you have to put the product on the insect.

Mostly it blocks their breathing tubes.

- Right.

- And also good for eggs, insect eggs, that can smother them.

You need to be careful, and watch temperatures, and- - That's good point.

- And with that, insecticidal soaps are another example of an inorganic insecticide.

And then kaolin clay.

I think Surround is, the trade name, is also an inorganic insecticide that you're likely to find on the market.

- Okay.

That's a new one.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- It's, I think folks in the apple industry us it.

- Oh, okay.

- It's good for codling moth control, I think is what its strength is.

- Okay.

- Synthetic insecticides, those are the ones that are most common.

The ones that, that's the Malathion, the Sevin, the Diazinon, those are synthetic insecticides.

There are several.

The synthetic pyrethroids kinda mimic the pyrethrum, you know, the chrysanthemum a little bit, but they, they last longer, have a longer residual on the plant.

Some of those synthetic pyrethroids are permethrin, esfenvalerate, gamma-cyhalothrin.

Those are some of the common synthetic pyrethroids that are synthetics.

Carbaryl.

- Yeah.

- Very, very common.

Been around a long time.

Sevin, I think is the most common trading name for carbaryl.

And it's, works really good on insects with chewing mouth parts, like caterpillars and, and things like that.

Malathion is another very, very common insecticide out there.

Works best on insects with a sucking mouth parts like aphids and maybe a stink bug every once in a while.

- You said, "Maybe."

Alright.

- Then you have acetamiprid is another synthetic.

Imidacloprid it's systemic, you know, and, those are examples of synthetic insecticides that are out there.

No matter what kind of, whether it's a botanical or, or synthetic, or inorganic, or no matter what kind, you need to read the label.

Be sure you read the label, and follow the label.

- That's right.

- Just because you have one that you perceive to be organic and safe, doesn't necessarily mean that it's totally safe as far as humans are concerned.

- Right.

- So read the label.

Read and heed.

The label's a legal document that a lot of money, the company's put a lot of money into developing those labels.

And, and the EPA has looked at 'em very, very closely, and they are legal documents.

And we are bound by law to follow them.

Not only because they're legal, but because they can save you.

- That's right.

- It can keep you from getting hurt.

- That's a good point, read and heed.

- Read and heed.

- I like that.

- Yeah.

- Let me ask you about this.

So should we rotate those insecticides?

How do you feel about that?

- Probably a good idea to do that.

I tend to, to try to use the one that is the least harmful, and least likely to affect pollinating insects.

Which, if I can, I'll go with the, with a biological- - Sure.

- Like the Bt.

But then again, sometimes you can't do that if it's not a caterpillar, if it's, you know, in fruit trees, there are sucking insects, and there's all kinds of things.

But it's always a good idea to rotate, because if you don't, insects can build up resistance.

And you know, you let a few survive, that product doesn't kill, and they reproduce, and then next year you got bigger problem.

- Right.

- Some of these insecticides will kill mites.

And there are some beneficial mites out there.

And some will kill beneficial insects that kill the bad mites.

And so sometimes you will have a explosion of bad insects if you continue to use the same insecticide that does that.

So it's a good idea to rotate if you can.

- If you can.

- Yeah.

- So let's talk a little bit about action threshold.

So when do we need to start using these insecticides?

Or when should you start using insecticides?

- Yeah.

Every insect pest, probably there is an economic, or an economic threshold far as farmers are concerned, you know, they'll let the insects build up to the point where they will affect their pocketbook.

That's an economic threshold.

- Ah, okay.

- There's an aesthetic threshold- - Yeah.

- Is where you can let them build up to the point where they start looking bad, you know.

And, you know, scale insects and things like that, and chewing insects can rapidly reach that threshold.

But basically the reason you want to allow insects to build up to reach these threshold, is because of the predator/prey relationship.

You can't have predators, you can't have good insects if they don't have anything to eat.

- That's a good point.

- And if you let 'em build up, many, many times, you let these insects build up a little bit, give 'em a chance to build up a little bit.

Because many times beneficial insects will come and take 'em out.

And I can give you an example on pecan trees.

It's 30 yellow aphids per leaf on a compound leaf of pecans.

And most of the time, if you let, it never reaches that level.

- Right.

- It may get up to 15 or 20, and then the ladybugs, and the lace wings, and the, the beneficials come in and take 'em out.

- That's good.

That is good.

Yeah.

It sounds like a IPM plan.

- It is Integrated Pest Management.

No doubt.

- That's what that sounds like.

- All the way.

- That's good.

That is good stuff.

Appreciate that, Mr. D. [upbeat country music] The azaleas are starting to bloom now.

As you can see, they look very beautiful.

The question I usually get is this, "What should I be doing with my azaleas right now?"

Well, here's the answer to your question.

Not much.

Outside of maybe fertilizing your azaleas, I wouldn't do any pruning of my azaleas until the blooms have finished for the year.

Okay?

So again, I would fertilize probably with an organic fertilizer.

Soil test is something I would consider doing as well.

But as far as cutting back on your azaleas at this time, I would hold back on that, wait 'til they finish blooming, then I would prune.

So, that will be your spring care for your azaleas at this time.

[upbeat country music] Alright, Walt, so we're gonna be talking about onions, right?

Planting onions.

- Yes.

Planting onions.

And you know, onions is one of my favorite foods.

I mean, I mean, they can really enhance the flavor of any dish, you know, that you cook.

- Okay.

- Now, there are some people who, you know, most people plant 'em from the bulbs, but there are a few people who really like to plant 'em from seed.

- Okay.

- And, so all you're basically doing, let me just kinda show you what a onion seed- - It's a real small seed.

- Yeah, a real small, a little black seed.

And to get 'em started, you may want to, you get your potting soil there, and basically, you can just about a quarter of an inch, that's about that much on my finger there, just plant a seed.

- Okay.

- Cover it up.

- Just get good contact there.

- Yeah, just good contact there.

And I mean it really, you know, these things will pop out.

Takes about 14 days for them to germinate.

And, and I'll show you what you're going to have in about 14 days.

- Okay.

- Gimme just a second here.

- Sure, sure.

- And I'll show you.

So in 14 days, maybe 20 days, depends on, you know, where you have 'em located.

You'll end up with this right here.

And you'll have these little, you know, onions.

- Okay.

- And, and then from there, if you wait another couple of weeks, watch this.

[Chris laughs] - Aha.

- You'll end up with these.

And, and this is when they're ready to go into the ground, into the raised bed here, you know, for planting.

And just real simple technique.

Look folks, it's real simple.

All you want do go down about, from my finger right there, that's about an inch.

You just wanna go down about an inch and close.

- Just stick them in there, okay.

- Yep.

And you wanna go about three inches between, three inches there, and there you go.

Doesn't take long.

- Okay.

- What kind of onions are there out there that we need to- - Oh, well, you know, you have your yellow onions- - consider planting.

- You have your red onions, you have your sweet type onions.

- Okay.

- And then also, you know, I believe people have tried to grow things like leeks, those type of onions.

I guess they are onions.

- Okay.

- But you know, you begin to see a lot of that.

Now, one thing about an onion you need to know.

Some people will buy those onions that they, that they'll say they're supposed to be the sweet onion.

- Okay.

- You might not have the soil type for that onion to be sweet.

Sulfer plays a big role in how that onion has flavor.

- Wow.

Okay.

- And with the, you know, the pungentness of the onion.

So, you know, you may have to kinda watch your soils there.

- Okay.

- Okay?

Now, I want to look at one other thing here.

- Alright.

- Now, this is the way a lot of people- [Chris chuckles] - Yeah.

Bulbs.

- Yeah.

And they use the bulbs.

Same concept.

Go down about an inch.

And, and I just do 'em like this.

- Wow.

So while you're doing that, Walt, I mean, how do we need to prepare the soil for planting onions?

- Well, like any other crop, - Okay.

- It really wants well-drained soil.

- Well drained.

- You want to have a good sunlight.

You want a good eight hours of sunlight- - Okay.

- With 'em.

Let me get this one other one in there.

And also, they want the pH to be about 6.5.

- Okay.

- That's kind of what a onion likes.

Onions also like fertilization, a complete fertilizer.

So like a 10-10-10, or a triple-13.

- Okay.

- Something like that will work well for an onion.

- Okay.

And when you're planting them, I mean, does it matter how far apart it had to be planted, or?

- Now this here is, of course there's a raised bed right here.

Now, if I was planting in a field, probably would be 36-inch rows.

- Okay.

- But here in these raised beds that are just wonderful, you just want to go like right here.

I'm probably going about six inches there, away from the other onions.

That'll work perfect in a raised bed.

You know, now over time these onions will get bigger.

And if you, in about, I would say these in about 30 days, will be ready if you want to have some green onions.

- In 30 days.

Okay.

- You know, the bunch onions that we chop up and put in our salad, and also put in our turnip greens, or whatever that we're eating.

But if you want to keep 'em on a little while longer, let 'em mature out for another, I'll say 90 days, 100 days.

- Okay.

- And then when the tops begin to, you know, fall over- - So that's when you know it's ready.

Because that's what I was gonna ask you how do you know when they're ready?

- Yes.

That's when they're ready to be pulled for what we call storage onions or dry onions.

There was one other point.

How do we dry our onions out?

- Oh yeah.

- Because that's always... And the way I do it, if you can get your hands on a bread rack, works perfect.

Set your bread racks up where air can come up under the bottom, lay those onions out on top of 'em, and let that air circulate in there.

And they'll just dry out.

Now you don't want to get 'em wet, so don't wash 'em before you- - Gotcha.

- You know, dry 'em out.

And then some people you may have seen, you know, maybe in the older days, people used to use pantyhose or stockings to- You know, they would hang them up- - Hang 'em up.

- You know, you know, in a closet or something or area, a storage room or whatever.

And that's how they would let 'em dry out.

But really, really good flavor.

- Okay.

- Now as for insects, every now and then you will hear of someone, I'll have someone come in the Extension Office, and they'll talk about, you know, the onion maggot.

- Okay.

- But if you rotate the crop, you'll be okay.

So like take this raised bed for instance.

So next year I would need raise my onions over there somewhere.

- Over this way.

Okay.

- I don't need to put- - In the same place.

- Those onions right back in the same spot.

- Good.

Good.

- And that would help alleviate that problem.

And aphids can be a little bit of a problem with 'em, but, ugh- - Eh, aphids attack everything.

- Yeah.

- Just wash those off, they get on everything.

- Yes.

And that's, you know, a little bit more about 'em right there as far as that goes.

- So no major disease problem or anything like that anymore?

- Not really.

Not that I know of, or that I have experienced as an Extension agent here in this area.

No, I have not really had any issues.

Again, there's just all different flavors, all different types, you know, just, they just make any meal great.

- What about short day, long day bulbs for your onions?

- Oh, great question, Chris.

Because you know, it depends on where you live.

- Okay.

- Now, here in our area, which is the Memphis area, we want what they call a "short day bulb".

That's what we want to grow here.

Short day onions.

- Okay.

- That means onions that's going to receive ten to twelve hours of daylight.

Okay?

Now when you go north, - Mm-hmm.

- Okay?

You want an onion that can be anywhere from 14 to 16 hours of daylight.

And they're called "long-day onions," or "long-day bulbs," which way you want to call them.

So that's what you want.

That's the difference between the two.

Now the issue, if you are up north, and you tend to plant one that is a short-day, you'll end up getting a very small onion because it's going to want to, you know, form that bulb, so you won't be happy with your product.

- Right.

- So be very, very careful when you order from your seed catalog, which ones you're getting.

- Right.

- Be very, very careful.

- Watch your label, 'cause it'll probably tell you on that as well.

- Absolutely.

- Okay.

Alright, Walt.

Well we'll see, you know, how it does.

And we'll definitely let you know.

- Oh, yes, yes.

Well I'm gonna stay here and finish this out, okay?

- Okay.

- Alright.

- Definitely appreciate the demonstration.

[gentle country music] - Another great woodland groundcover is Disporopsis, or evergreen Solomon's seal.

You want to cut off these old leaves, as they've gotten ratty looking through the winter.

You'll go in and cut those all the way down to the base, being very careful not to cut the new shoots coming up.

So there's your new shoots that have come up.

And you do not want to cut those off, 'cause you're cutting off the new leaves that are coming out.

But this whole patch would need to be cut back.

It's better to do it before these come up.

So early March, late February, early spring before the new shoots come up.

And just take the old foliage off.

Very easy to do.

Get you little nippers that's easy to cut.

[upbeat country music] - Alright, this is our Q&A segment.

Y'all ready?

- Yes.

- Great questions.

Great questions.

Let's start with the first viewer email.

"Can pine needles be used to hill potatoes?"

And this is Tony from Southaven, Mississippi.

So what'd you think about that one, Mr. D?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- I think you can.

I think it'd be great.

You know, there's some concern out there about the acidic nature of pine needles.

If you analyze pine needles, they tend to be acidic, but it's not acidic enough to appreciably change the soil pH.

You know, it's not gonna.

And it's a good organic matter.

It's a good, good, good product to use.

Pine needles are underappreciated and underutilized.

[Chris laughs] - They're underappreciated.

- Don't just burn 'em, use 'em.

- That's true.

- Anything you wanna add to that, Joellen?

- No, I was gonna say, "Yeah."

- Okay.

- That or pine straw.

Something loose.

- Yeah, that pine.

- 'Cause you want the potatoes that you're hilling in to get as big as possible.

And they'll be nice and clean with the pine straw.

- That's right.

- So you don't have to get dirt off of 'em.

It'd be nice.

- It sure would be.

- Let me ask- - Easy to dig.

- Let me ask you this, though.

Why do we need to hill potatoes?

- It's a good question.

- Hmm.

- You don't.

- Okay.

- You don't, because when I was growing up, we planted them in the ground, and, and we dug them with a middle buster, and, but they were dirty.

- They were dirty.

- And they were small.

- Yeah.

- And so you don't, so I guess, and I'm doing little reverse work here.

The need to hill 'em is to, to make 'em bigger and cleaner, and- - And more productive.

- Yeah.

Easier to harvest.

- Mm-hmm.

There you go.

- You know.

- Alright.

- Yeah.

- There you go, Tony.

We appreciate that question.

Thank you much for that.

So yes, you can use the pine needles.

Alright.

Here's our next viewer email.

"If I plant it in the ground, is purselane a perennial?"

And this is Amy from Memphis, Tennessee.

So what do you think about that one, Joellen?

I like that question.

- Well, purslane is a perennial in zones 10 and 11B - Oh, okay.

- So here in zone 7b or even 8, no.

- No.

[laughs] - No.

No.

- It's gonna be an annual.

Okay.

- And you know, she could, seed could be coming back.

It could be seeds coming back that she's getting.

If it's the actual plant, I would be very surprised, 'cause of the cold winters we've had lately.

But I think it's seeds coming up.

But no, it's not a perennial here.

- Okay.

It's an annual here.

- Mm-hmm.

- Do you like purselane?

- I do.

Yeah.

- I think it's a good plant.

Succulent leaves.

- Uh-huh.

Yeah.

- Good.

- Very nice.

- Thank you, Ms. Amy, we appreciate that question.

Alright, here's our next viewer email.

"How do I keep my fern thriving while it is indoors for the winter?"

And this is Mary from Baltimore, Maryland.

So what do you think about that one, Joellen?

- Fern's like humid conditions.

And it's gonna need light, and it's gonna need watering, but not as much watering as it was in, because it's inside.

- Okay.

- A lot of people I know will have a window in their bathroom, and they'll leave it in the bathroom, because it's humid in there because every time you take a shower, it gets it nice and humid.

- I have personally kept them in the garage, and of course they turn all colors of, you know, and almost completely defoliate by the end of the winter.

But then the roots are alive, and they come back in the summer, so, it is gonna defoliate some because you don't have the high light conditions.

I would just keep it in as humid conditions as you possibly can.

Don't overwater it, and just clean off the dead leaves as they fall off.

But try to keep it humid.

And even if you have to put a little- - Can you mist?

- Well you can mist it, but I was thinking to have a tray that does not drain, with some rocks in it, and put water in it, and set the pot over the top of it so it has kind of some kind of humidity created right there.

- Okay.

And if you notice from her picture, it does have a new sprout.

- Mm-hmm.

- You know, so I guess everything that you're mentioning still pertains?

- Yeah, it's, it still is fine.

- Yeah.

And- - Okay.

- Basically, what you're trying to do is hold it over 'til it can go outside and do, and thrive agan.

- Got it.

Thank you much, Ms. Mary.

Appreciate that picture too.

Yeah.

Looks like it was beautiful.

Alright, here's our next viewer email.

"How do you root muscadine?"

And this is L. Reed in Memphis, Tennessee.

So, Mr. D. - They're, they're fairly easy to root using soft wood cuttings, and you can layer.

You can, layering is a pretty good way to root them.

A very simple way the using the cuttings is a little bit more complicated.

But probably the first thing I would ask you is what variety do you have?

Because a lot of these varieties have patents, and it's not legal to propagate them.

So make sure that the variety you wanna propagate is, you know, is not patented.

And there are several of those varieties out there too.

- Okay.

- But as far as propagating from a soft wood cutting, you know, when you have shoots, you know about that long, you cut you off a good shoot that's about pencil diameter, and you take the lower leaves off, and leave at least four buds on the, and then cut off the top part of that, and leave a few leaves on the top of what you have left, and you put it in usually rooting hormone, putting in potting soil, and you know, keep it moist, and it takes a while.

- Okay.

- It'll be ready to plant, you know, next year.

You know.

- So when, when is a good time to take those plantings?

- As long, as soon as you have shoots, you know, long enough to get, you know, two, or three, or four, you know, cuttings off of.

- Right.

- You know.

So, you know, you can't do it now.

Now it's hardwood cuttings.

And you know, with a bunch of grapes, you, you can have some... And you can, actually, you go with hardwood cuttings.

But I think research has shown that you will have about a 12% survival rate.

- Wow.

- So that means if you want 10 plants, you know, better have a hundred, to start with a hundred.

So it's a lot tougher on the hardwood cuttings.

- That is tough.

- Mm-hmm.

- Joellen, anything you wanted to add to that?

- Yeah.

And, and- - That was good.

- you know, you talked about the air layering, you know, those shoots are long.

You could bring it down to the ground.

And the space, I like to take cuttings around the area from, that is from last year's growth to this year's growth.

'cause that is a point of growth in the plant, and there's a lot of hormones there, that you have a better rooting possibility in that section.

- Yeah.

- And you know, either cut it there, or lay it on the ground, take and put your hormone down, and bury it into some dirt, and let a brick stay over it and you know, it will root.

- That's right.

Next year, cut it loose from the mother plant, and transplant it to where you want it.

- As long as it's not patented.

- As long as it's not patented.

Yeah, that's a good point.

- And that is a, I've never heard of lawsuits involving muscadines.

I mean, the potential always exists, but I have heard of lawsuits involving farmer, where farmers save the seed from, from plants that had, that were patented.

And I'm talking about soybeans and cotton.

You know, you can't do that anymore.

It used to be a common practice, but not anymore.

- Not anymore.

- The technology, I guess the amount of research that goes into producing some of these varieties, the folks that patent them want to recover the cost.

- I understand.

Yeah, I understand that.

- Yeah.

- Alright.

So, L. Reed, thank you much for that question.

Got a good explanation here.

So, Joellen, Mr. D, we're out of time.

That was good.

That's good.

Thank you much.

Remember, we love to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is qu estions@familyplotgarden.com, and the mailing address is Family Plot 7151 Cherry Farms Road, Cordova, Tennessee 38016.

Or you can go online to familyplotgarden.com.

That's all we have time for today.

Thanks for watching.

If you want to get more information on insecticides, onions, or anything else we talked about, just head on over to familyplotgarden.com.

Be sure to join us next week for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]