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

I'm Chris Cooper.

When people go into the garden in the spring, they have lots of questions, today, we will be answering some of them.

It's the Q&A show, next, 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.

It's spring, and a lot of people are thinking about gardening.

Whether they have a problem with fruit, soil issues, or a tough weed they want to get rid of, they want to be successful.

We want to help, so today, we are exclusively going to show you the answers to viewer questions.

First up, a question about a weed.

- "How do I get rid of horsetail fern in my perennial beds?"

And this is Theresa, so what do you think about that one, Kyle?

[chuckles] That's gonna be tough, right?

- Another, being diligent, you know, if you dig out the plant, and especially during the summer, and there's no foliage for it, there's no way to feed the root system, but again, it's tough to get rid of.

- Well, I want to applaud her for saying horsetail fern.

- Horsetail fern.

- Because most people call it horsetail weed, and it's actually more closely related to a fern than anything, 'c ause it reproduces by spores.

But the Equisetum we have here is the horsetail reed, and it's scouring rush.

Pioneers used to use it as silica gel, they used to use it to clean out pots and such.

- How about that.

I didn't know that.

- But it is a tricky thing to get rid of.

I know in when I lived in the Pacific Northwest, we had one that had whirls around it that would come out, it wasn't just the bamboo-like canes.

- Right.

- And if I'm not mistaken, we would use a product, I'm not sure what the active ingredient was, but it was Crossbow.

- Yeah, triclopyr, you could use 2,4-D, dicamba mixture.

- It's a mixture.

- Yeah, so you had the read and follow the label on that.

But my whole thing is you gotta be persistent.

Cut, mow, cut, mow.

You know, that's pretty much what you're gonna have to do.

You may have to add a combination of that with using the herbicide to deplete the reserves.

- It doesn't like it dry either, though, it doesn't like it dry.

- It likes it wet.

So improve the drainage maybe.

- If you improve the drainage, keep it dry, probably would help too.

- Yeah, probably.

Slow it down anyway.

- Slow it down.

Yeah, a lot of food reserves, you know, in that root system.

[gentle country music] "Can you get rid of privet without using chemicals?"

And this is Becky.

So, what do you think about that, Kyle?

And we have a little something to show to Ms. Becky.

- So, if it's small enough, you can just pull it up.

- Yeah.

- Make sure you get the roots.

Get the roots.

If you cut it back, it's just gonna come back even stronger.

One of the kind of old school ways is to cut off low to the ground, and put a glass jar, like a mason jar over it.

- I think that's interesting.

- And if you have enough sun, it'll heat up in there and actually kill the plant, and I've seen that used a lot of times.

- It's hard to beat pulling though.

- Yeah, good moist day, moist soil.

- You want an organic way?

- Pull it out.

Yeah.

- After a good rain, it's time to get in there and do it.

- Yeah.

Good rain, yeah, and make sure you get all of this though, that's gonna be the thing, look at how extensive that root system is.

- You can dig it out, and you can also, they make these weed pullers, that use kind of a fulcrum that attach to, grab hold of the plant, and you pull back, it's easier than trying to pull it by hand, and it'll pull it right out the ground.

- Right.

It's gonna be easy to do when it's this size.

- Yeah, for sure.

- If it's bigger than that, it's gonna be some work.

- Yeah.

[gentle country music] - "When is the best time of year to cut off large tree limbs so the bark heals over quickly?"

So, what do you think about that one, Dale?

- Well, I think dormant pruning is the best way to go.

I know there's some things like some maples, and some birches, and things, if you cut 'em in the spring when the sap's rising, they'll bleed on you.

But I think just dormant pruning is the way to go, so fall and winter's a great time, you can see the structure of the tree.

It's a little bit harder to discern what's alive and what's dead, but a good arborist can do that.

- Yep.

Do you wanna add to that, Kyle?

- I'd just make sure the pruning's done right at the branch bark collar, and, you know, you're coming back when you're cutting it, and not leaving a stub, and so that it'll heal correctly.

- Okay.

Yeah, and I do want to add, so if you do it in the wintertime when it's dormant, you may not have to worry so much about insect and disease infestation.

- Yeah, good point.

- So, you know, that's something I would consider as well.

[gentle country music] "What disease is affecting my apricot tree, and how can I treat it?"

And this is Michael from Northwest Indiana.

So, Joellen, what did you think about that?

- It looks like there's lichens on it.

But, you know, why is there lichens on such a small tree?

Is it in too much shade?

Is it, you know, now the lichens themself won't kill the tree, but they are a symptom of something wrong with the tree, I think.

- Definitely look like lichens to me, Mr. D. When I think about lichens, I think about something as decaying.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- So, that's what I think.

- Lichens have to have sunlight.

You know, they have to have sunlight to survive, so the only way you have lichens is if you don't have leaves shading them out.

You know, I don't know whether, I'm not sure that's what it was, I do know that apricots are stone fruit, and they're very similar to peaches and plums, and have similar diseases to peaches and plums.

There is a white peach scale that might have been, but the picture was not very clear.

And if that's the case, you need to go with some of the oils.

But it's very serious, the white peach scale, if it gets around the trunk of the plant, it will kill the plant, it will effectively girdle it.

So, it's not just your typical scale insect, it's a killer.

I guess I would encourage you to follow the stone fruit spray schedule in your area, and it will tell you when to spray, and what to spray for, the white peach scale, and if it's another problem.

But, I dunno, if it's lichens, I would be looking at, do you have a soil problem?

- Yeah.

Proper nutrition.

- Is your pH off?

You know, you may have lesser peach tree borer in there that has basically killed that limb, and the lichen could be on that.

So, you know, I don't know.

- Yeah, so there you have it, Michael.

Yeah.

It'd be interesting to see if it has leaves on it when it comes out this year.

- Right.

Yeah, definitely check with your local Extension Office there.

University of Illinois Extension, they may be able to help out with that, and they have a spray guide as well.

[gentle country music] "Does neem oil work the same as dormant oil?

I would like to use neem oil to prevent boring beetles on Japanese maples."

And this is Andy in Wilmington, North Carolina.

So, what do you think about that question, Dale?

- Dormant oil, to my knowledge, is a paraffinic oil, it's a petroleum-based product, that it usually smothers out egg casings, and things like that, of plants you put it on when it's dormant, you can use it as a lower rate in the summer.

But in my mind, neem has other properties that sort of repel, and I believe there's some other things that neem will do.

I know in India and some other countries they use a lot of neem oil as an insecticide.

I know neem will burn as well as dormant oil if you put it on when it's too hot.

- Right.

That's good.

Anything you'd like to add to that, Kyle?

- You can get a sun oil that you can use during the summer that's a thinner oil, that's not as heavy as the dormant oil, that will work.

And I think the neem oil also has a fungicidal aspect to it as well.

But for boring beetles, I think you need to use something a little bit stronger to control that.

- You know, for boring beetles, you'll probably have to use a systemic, you know, is what I think, or maybe bifenthrin, or permethrin, or something like that.

Read and follow the labels.

- Astro I think is permethrin?

And Astro's formulated I think for boring.

- Yes.

- Like I know when I was urban forester for a municipality, we would spray all the trunks of all the oaks that we'd plant with that.

- Yeah, it is a good product for something like, you know, lesser peach tree borers, you know, things like that.

The think about neem oil, Azadirachtin, you know, is really the ingredient that you should look for for neem oil.

So, it does have fungicidal properties, but it also is an insect growth regulator.

- Oh, wow.

- So it doesn't allow the insect pests to grow.

- So it's working on multiple levels.

Multiple levels, yeah.

- So, yeah, it affects their hormones.

- Oh, wow.

- So that's why it's so good.

- But you know, as far as a oil to put, I mean, as far as an insect treatment, dormant oil is probably the most benign of anything you could put down.

Put it down.

We hit our boxwoods and our azaleas for leaf miner, and so anyway, and lace bug, I think it smothers the egg cases.

- It does.

It sure does.

- And it's pretty safe and benign, even though it's not listed as organic.

- Right, right.

And one last thing I wanted to add about the oils too, contact activity.

So you have to contact the insect pests, you know, with the oils.

- Right.

- Short residual for that.

But if you read and follow the label, Andy, that will work for you.

[gentle country music] "How can I help my miniature Meyer lemon?

It's barely surviving."

And this is Earl from California, and of course this is Zone 8 there in California.

It is in a pot.

And of course, you know, he brings it inside if it's cold.

So, what do you think about that, Mr. D.?

- First, I can tell you what Meyer lemon's like, I know they're very common, we had a lot of them down around the Mobile area when I lived down there.

The zone looks good, in that Zone 8, he ought to be able to grow a Meyer lemon.

They like at least eight hours of full sun a day.

They like a well-drained soil, don't need to overwater 'em.

The number one cause of yellow leaves and dropping leaves in Meyer lemons is too much water.

They need to be pruned when pruning is needed, and insects and diseases need to be controlled, and they need to be protected from the frost.

And we see that he does that.

- Right.

- The thing that concerns me more than anything is the fact that he's fertilizing them every three months.

I don't understand.

Well, I'd like to know what he's fertilizing with.

- Yeah, I would too.

- Unless it's just nitrogen.

You know, I can understand that.

If he's not using slow-release nitrogen, he does need to add nitrogen, you know, every month and a half, or three, you know, three months is not too much.

But if he's using a complete fertilizer that has phosphorus, especially phosphorus in it, then he probably has already built up extremely high levels of phosphorus, which can interfere with the uptake of other nutrients.

So, that's a question that I have now.

- Sure.

- But if it's not a complete fertilizer, if it's just strictly nitrogen he's using that often, then I don't know what the problem is.

- All right.

Anything you'd like to add, Joellen?

- And that might be why he's got iron chlorosis.

Because if he's putting fertilizer down, and it's off, or the pH is off, he may need to get a pH test done to see what kind of fertilizer he actually needs, and that might cure the iron chlorosis that I see on the bottom leaves, with the green veins and the yellow leaves.

It might be that the plant can't take up the right amount of fertilizer that he's already, you know, applying, 'cause something is built up, the pH is off, or there's too much phosphorus, or something is going on.

- Yeah, and again, he's fertilizing it every three months, so definitely something's building up.

And we're talking about a pot.

- Yeah.

- You know, something that's in a pot.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, so it can make the difference.

[gentle country music] "How do I protect my plants from cicadas?

This year is predicted to be a big cicada year."

What do you think about that, Dale?

- Well, around here in Memphis, we only have the annual cicadas, but I know in certain parts of the country, they have those ones with the red eyes, and those are the periodical cicadas.

And when those hatch, apparently it's like they're everywhere doing damage.

You know, I really didn't realize that cicadas were damaging the trees.

How does that work?

- Yeah, so the female has a ovipositor.

Of course, she loves young saplings, she'll cut a slit in those young saplings, lay her eggs in it, and of course, it causes flagging.

So when you see those, you know, leaves start to die, and kind of just, you know, look almost like the shepherd crook, so they call that flagging.

Two hundred and fifty types of tree species that cicadas will attack.

- Does it ever kill 'em?

- Dogwood, blackberries, blueberries, oaks.

Does it kill 'em?

No, I won't kill 'em.

- Yeah.

- It won't kill 'em.

- But probably in large numbers when you have those periodical cicadas, I imagine.

- Yeah, probably so.

But you know what I would do, I would just, if you want to, you wanna save those young saplings, a mesh cover, you know, just kind of cover 'em up, you know.

Or just don't plant during the time where they're supposed to be active, you know, wait 'til after they leave, then you plant your plant material.

But yeah, I'd just cover it up.

You know, make sure the the holes are a size where they can't actually get in there.

But, outside of that, you know, not a major problem for me.

- Well, like he said, we don't see a lot of that, but when it's every so often, you know, you could buy a flock of turkeys and release them, and let 'em eat all the cicadas.

- Everything eats cicadas.

[laughs] - Tough to get rid of 'em, I think like you said, and if you could get out and hand-pull 'em, I've done that at a nursery before, where we hand pulled them.

- Have you ever seen a cicada killer?

It's a big wasp.

- I have, I have.

- I watched one on the south lawn one day actually catch a cicada in flight, take it to the ground.

- Yeah.

Drag it down.

- And then they sting 'em, and they bring it in their nest, and they lay their larva on 'em.

- Cicada killers are pretty cool, right?

- Yeah.

- You know, black and yellow.

They look dangerous.

- Yeah, but they're really docile.

I mean, I think they probably probably pack a punch if they stung you.

- And they don't want to, the female don't want to, of course.

But yeah, they're pretty cool I think it's pretty cool.

- It's a sound of summer around here, cicadas, you know?

- I mean, we're used to 'em here in the south, right?

- Yeah.

- All right.

- I like 'em.

- I like 'em.

[gentle country music] "Why do my phlox have different colors and heights this year, compared to their original from last year when I planted them?"

And this is Rebi from Dayton, Ohio.

So, let's go over this, y'all.

So "the first year, the first plant was tall and white, the second plant was short and medium pink", with no eye, right?

Well, "with an eye.

"The second year, the first plant was shorter "and light pink, the second plant was taller and light pink with no eye."

Okay?

So, Joellen, what do you think about that?

- Wow, this - - It's an interesting question.

- It's an interesting question.

And the first thing that I think about when it's changing like that is that they've cross-pollinated, and some of the seeds have come up, and they are different from the backgrounds of the parent plants of either one of those.

But if it's actually the roots coming up from the same plant, that's a question that I have for them also.

And maybe something happened, and they're coming back as one or the other of their, where their hybrids came from.

I don't know.

I don't think perennials are supposed to do that, but they can, I guess.

And it could be the soil pH is off.

and the environment that it's in, that it's changing colors because of that.

But more likely, I would think it was the seeds crossing.

But it could be something else.

- Right, I definitely thought about pH, you know, changing that.

And then I thought about light, you know, it was something else that came to mind.

But Mr. D., you had something that I thought was pretty interesting.

- Yeah, I did a very specific search, and using the different colors and all that, and I found a study, and I can't even remember where I found it, it's thanks to Google, but you could do the same thing and find it, I'm sure, but it was a pretty interesting research project that was done.

And basically the conclusion was that phlox has the ability to change colors in some years.

I mean, in the same year, it may be one shade early in the year, and a different shade later in the year, and the thinking was that it had developed, it was to encourage pollination, and that certain colors attract insects certain times of the year, and certain colors attract hummingbirds at certain times of the year.

So, to help attract pollinating insects and birds, that those colors might vary a little bit.

That's very interesting.

- It is.

- And another thing that they did mention was that, if they were hybrids, that it was not unusual for them to revert back to their parentage.

But one thing that backs up what you said, the cross-pollination, where we have colors that are in common, pink and white, and then light pink, which is a combination of pink and white, and all of that, so it sounds like the cross-pollination is probably more than likely what's going on here.

But... - I'm just fascinated that it'd do that within a year.

- Yeah, I am too.

- The timeframe, it's interesting to me.

- I wonder if it has to do with the heat too, you know?

I mean, it's interesting.

- Yeah, it is an interesting plant.

[gentle country music] - "I recently acquired a small garden plot "that had laid vacant for some time.

"I dug up the hard ground.

I added 10-10-10 fertilizer."

Triple-10.

- Yeah.

- "Preen, and, I'm afraid, "too much peat moss to my new garden.

Have I ruined my spring garden?"

And this is Shirley from Huntsville, Alabama.

So, okay.

- Oh, wow.

- So just think about this, right?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

It was vacant.

- Yeah, she put fertilizer on it.

- Put fertilizer on it.

- Which could activate whatever - Yeah, triple-10 - Is in there.

Yeah.

- Right, fertilizer.

But Preen, and what is Preen?

- Preen is a pre-emergent, so if she was trying to grow seeds, the Preen may have prevented them from growing.

So, that's a concern for me.

- Right, that's definitely a concern.

[Joellen laughing] And depending on which one of the Preens that you purchased.

- Yeah, that's true.

- They have a long residual, some are 40 days, and some are longer than 40 days.

so that's on the label, so you have to make sure you follow that.

And then as far as the peat moss goes, here's the thing about peat moss though, it will make the soil more acidic, right?

- True.

- It has good water holding capacity.

- Yeah.

- And it promotes water drainage, but it can plummet the pH of the soil.

- Yeah, the pH.

And until it decomposes more.

- Right.

- Because when it's decomposed, the product of decomposition is more of a neutral pH of soil.

But it's gonna take a while for it, because peat moss stays in the soil quite a while.

And then the other thing is, did she put too much?

Well, how much did she put in?

- Right.

- Because really, you're not supposed to amend more than 20% of what is actually there.

- That's good.

Okay.

- Because you need enough of what's there, and it shouldn't just be all peat moss.

- Right.

- Even 50/50 is too much, because what you're gonna do is create a bowl, because it's hard ground, then you're gonna create a bowl, and water will stand in it, and then nothing wants to grow in a bowl of water.

- Right.

Right.

Yeah, you rot the roots that way.

All right, so here we go, Ms. Shirley.

- Yeah, let's help her fix it.

- Hard ground you gotta dig out.

This is what I would've done, add organic material to the soil.

- Yeah, well, she probably thought she was with the peat moss.

But I think a more decomposed type of amendment would've been a little bit better.

- Right.

And I wouldn't have worried so much about the triple-10 fertilizer at this point, nor the Preen at this point.

- No, neither one.

- Get that ground ready, organic material, you know, get the soil tested just so we can see where your nutrients are.

And then from there, let it rest, and get it ready for spring is what I would've done.

But just be patient.

- Yeah.

- It'll come around, it'll come around.

- It will.

And, you know, amending something, I have done that to my yard, and it was too hot, the amendment was too hot.

So just like the chips, the product hasn't decomposed, so it's drawing nutrients, and especially nitrogen from your plants, or anything that you would plant in there.

And that's what I had problems with, my garden got stunted, so what I did, I said, "You know what?

"I'm gonna put some more nitrogen on it, "because I think by the process of what I've amended is taking nitrogen from my plants."

- Right.

- And sure enough, that's what it was.

And they started greening up, I had to do a couple of applications of nitrogen, but after that, everything was fine.

[gentle country music] - "What hedge can I use as a barrier that will grow in deep shade?"

And this is Gene, from Worcester, Massachusetts.

So, what do you think about that?

Now, look, wants it to be used as a fence, and of course to keep out the critters.

So, that's gonna be pretty tough, right?

- That's a tall order.

[Chris laughing] - It is, it is.

- I mean... - So, let's think about the zone, right?

- Zone.

Yes.

- In Worcester.

- It's Worcester.

Maybe you can go to Extension and find some plants, you know, listed for his area.

- Right, 'cause the zone is gonna be 6a.

- 6a.

The first thing that I'm thinking of, for like, if he wants it evergreen, I would mix the hedge, for one thing, 'cause it'll do better.

Because some things will do better than others.

And if he finds that, then he can add some more of those.

But I don't think it's ever gonna keep out what he wants, because it's out there.

But I mean, I'm thinking evergreen could be cypress, juniper, Arborvitae, yews, hemlock, holly, boxwood, and Rhododendrons.

Deciduous, which lose their leaves, lilacs, hornbeams.

- Oh.

How about that?

- Forsythia, viburnum, quince, and hawthorn.

Some of those have thorns.

- Yeah.

- But the thing is, he's talking about deep shade, that probably concerns me more than anything, because nothing is going to bloom or do well in deep shade, no matter what it is.

So...

I'm perplexed with the deep shade part.

[Chris laughing] - The deep shade part.

- Because no plants will.

I mean, what do you think grows in the deep woods?

Nothing.

- Yeah.

- You know, it's just leaf litter on the ground, so.

- That's gonna be a tough one.

- It's gonna be, and I'm afraid that he's gonna have to plant them so close together, and they're gonna be existing until maybe they decline because of the deep shade, unless he wants to, I mean, if he wants to get the trees thinned so some dappled light comes in, that would help.

- Right.

- But I mean, all of those things can be used, because they use all those things for hedges.

- Right.

- And I would mix up the plants, I wouldn't make it all one type.

- Yeah, not a monoculture of the same thing.

- Yeah so, but I don't think any of it's gonna bloom if it's in deep shade.

- All right, I see Mr. D. over there.

[Joellen laughing] So let's hear it, Mr. D. - I've got an idea.

- You got an idea?

I do have an idea.

[Chris laughing] - Alright, let's hear it.

- I think the first thing you need to do is build a fence.

[Chris laughing] Fences do very well in deep shade.

- Yes, they do.

- I would build a fence, and then, on this side of the fence, I would plant the shrubs you were talking about.

Just exactly the way you described them.

And that way you don't see the fence that much, maybe, maybe.

- Maybe, maybe.

- But if you do see the fence, you still are keeping the critters out.

- Ah, right.

- That's true.

- So, I have a problem with critters.

- Right.

- So that would be my number one thing.

And then the shrubs and all that is great.

But as far as a hedge?

- To keep out stuff, no.

- To keep out critters.

I mean, hedges attract critters, you know?

[Chris laughing] - That's true.

- That's called protection for those guys.

That's just not gonna happen.

So, I'd say a combination here would solve your problems.

Fence and shrubs.

- Fence and shrubs.

- And if you could just have one?

Fence.

- Fence.

[Chris laughing] [gentle country music] Remember, we love to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

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Thanks for sending in the questions, they keep us on our toes.

If you want to find research-based information about your tough garden problem, head on over to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

We have well over 1,000 videos, and with each one, links to Extension publications from all over the country.

Thanks for watching, I'm Chris Cooper.

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

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]