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

I'm Chris Cooper.

It's summer, the plants are growing, but some things are not quite right.

Why did this not work?

Why is my plant not doing well?

These are some questions we are answering today.

It's the Q and 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.

The garden is in the ground and it's time to catch up on viewer questions.

We have answered a lot of viewer questions over the past few months, but have not had the time to air them all.

Hopefully, these answers will help you in your garden.

Let's start with a question about some strange shaped tomato leaves.

"What causes the leaves on my tomatoes in my high tunnel greenhouse to curl up like this?"

And this is Curtis from Old Fort, Tennessee.

Oh, Polk County.

- Oh, wow.

- All right.

So, good picture.

- Well- - Appreciate the picture.

- It's a good picture.

but there's nothing around- - What came to your mind?

- There's nothing around it.

- Okay.

- At first I thought maybe nutrients, but then I saw it was curling.

- Ooh.

- And that, and then, because there's nothing else around, makes me think maybe he sprayed some herbicide to get rid of weeds or something else there.

And when the high tunnel it may have captured and volatilized and it sounds like there's, it looks kind of like herbicide damage.

- So to me, it looks like herbicide damage, right.

You have the curling of the leaves, right?

- That's the key, the curling.

- Distorted leaves, right?

- Uh-huh.

- The real thick petioles, the thick stem.

- Uh-huh.

- Yeah, that sounds like an herbicide to me.

- Yeah.

- So here's the thing now, not gonna be able to do too much about it.

Will it grow out of it?

Maybe.

But you know what's gonna happen if it does grow out of it?

You're not gonna get the production that you're looking for.

- True.

- Right.

So that's what happens.

- You may need to start over again.

- Yeah, and then too, you can notice, I mean, look at the coloration of it.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, feel lighter- - It's not healthy.

- Yeah.

Not healthy at all.

So you can try to keep it watered and see if it'll grow out of it.

But, you know, outside of that, it's not gonna be much you're gonna be able to do with it.

- And you know, I know you have high tunnel, but maybe it'd be better to have some kind of groundcover landscape fabric, just that you just lay on the ground to keep the weeds off instead of spraying - Right.

- For weeds in the high tunnel.

- Right, because again, if you're gonna be spraying any pesticide in the high tunnel, remember, it's- - It's just gonna stay in there.

- Yeah.

- And with the fluctuation in the spring from heat and cold.

I can see things volatilizing.

- Yeah.

- And he may have sprayed it in the right temperature, but, and then it volatilized before it dissipated in the ground.

- Classic symptoms though.

Strapped leaves, cupping, curling leaves, thick petiole and stem.

Yeah.

Herbicide.

[gentle country music] "Why are my daffodils not blooming?"

And this is Tim from Markesan, Wisconsin.

He said he "lets the leaves die back naturally every year," Celeste.

So he is actually doing the right thing there.

- Yes.

- Right.

So why are they not blooming?

- Well, that's a tough questions.

- It's a tough question.

- So I'm gonna kind of lay out all the options.

- Let's lay it out.

Let's lay it out.

- And then see if he can kind of, you know, pick through these to see if any of these fit his situation.

- All right, let's do it.

- So, number one, we could be in too low light of a situation, okay?

So sometimes we will, you know, plant plants and they had plenty of light when we initially planted them.

But as things mature and grow, right, then shade conditions, sun, shade conditions can change.

So maybe they're getting more shade than they used to.

And so maybe that is an issue with why they're not blooming, okay?

- Okay.

I can follow that.

- The second thing that came to mind is depth.

Maybe they are too deep.

Now, sometimes I see more often that bulbs are pushed up and they become too shallow over time from the freeze and thaw of the ground and they can slowly push bulbs up to the top.

- That's good.

- So, but then at the same time, maybe consider has there been any construction?

Has there been any land movement, any disturbance?

Have you created a new bed?

Have you added mulch on top of them for two, three, four years in a row?

And now they are six to eight inches deeper than they were before.

So depth could be an issue.

Maybe too deep, maybe too shallow.

So let's check on those.

- Okay.

I like that.

- Ideally for daffodils, 'cause daffodils have different size bulbs depending on what type you have, you want them to be planted two to three times their height deep.

- Okay.

- Okay, so use that kind of as the gauge.

The other thing that I was gonna throw out there is I'm not sure if they have been there a long time or are they newly planted.

Newly planted bulbs can take a few years to really kind of start initiating a really good bloom display.

Or if you dug them up from another location, split them up and planted them a new spot.

Sometimes that can push them back a few years.

- Okay.

- So those would be my go-tos.

- Okay.

Can I add another one?

- Yes.

- Could they be crowded?

- Yeah.

They could be overcrowded.

Maybe they need to be thinned.

- Yeah.

- Certainly.

- Yeah, so maybe you need to dig them out and- - Uh-huh.

- Yeah, divide them up.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, put them back in the ground - And let them kind of rejuvenate.

But again, when you divide them up, then expect a year, you know, a couple years.

- That's good point.

- A play there before they're nice and thick again.

[gentle country music] - "Last year, my hostas had yellowing "around the leaf edges and tips.

"I am seeing the same thing again this year.

Why is this happening and how can I prevent it?"

And this is Kelly from Bartlett, Tennessee.

She says "the pots are located "on a fully covered porch facing north.

"She waters them frequently "and fertilizes them three to four times during the growing season."

So we'll start with you on this one, Celeste.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

So what do you think?

Yellowing around- - So, yes, I wanna, I just wanna preface this by saying before I read the full explanation of like placement and everything out- - Sure.

- Initially I was like, I bet they're getting sun scorched, right?

Hosta are shade, part shade loving plants.

I bet they're getting too much sun.

They're getting brown around the edge.

But then I looked at the picture [chuckles] that they sent and I also, you know, continued to read her description.

And she said they were on the north side, - North side.

- The north side of your home where we are is usually going to be the one that has the most shade, right.

Just because of the aspect of the sun.

- Yep.

- So, and it's fully covered.

So I'm like sun is not- - Fully covered.

- Is not the issue here.

- Not a problem.

- 'Cause they're getting plenty of shade.

And then I just kind of started, you know, weeding out all the potential options.

I was like, this doesn't look like hosta virus where you get strange mottling and streaking in the leaf.

- Yeah.

- It doesn't look like anthracnose.

- Yeah.

- Which is one of the leaving leaf issues with hosta.

They get these weird kind of wavy brown, you know, dead areas along the edges of the leaf.

The picture didn't look like that.

And so I want her to just check her drainage holes in her containers.

Make sure that they have drainage holes.

- Yes.

- Number one.

Number two, make sure that they, the hole isn't clogged by something, you know, in really large containers, sometimes people will fill the bottom with another material, just, you know, so they don't have to use so much potting soil.

So that might be completely clogged up and the water doesn't have any way to get out.

And then the third thing that I would suggest is sometimes the, depending on how the pot is made, it lays flush on the concrete.

And so just the concrete itself prevents the water from draining out.

So maybe put some of those little pot feet underneath the container.

You know, they make these little, little feet you can just kind of wedge up underneath there to create an inch or so of width there in between the pot and whatever it's sitting on.

And I think that things might clear up.

- Think they might clear up?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

I didn't think about that one.

Anything you wanna add to that, Peter?

- No, I saw it and I was like, eh, this kinda looks like overwatering to me.

- Yeah.

- So the other thing is, you know, it all depends on how big of a pot it's in.

- Yeah.

- Uh-huh.

- But you know, you can take your finger, just stick it in the soil, you know, up to, you know, a couple knuckles in and just see is it dry or is it wet down there, you know, an inch, inch and a half below the soil surface.

- Yeah.

- And if it's wet, maybe you should hold off on watering it.

- Yeah.

- Now that doesn't cover if the, you know, if it's sitting in, you know, if your pot's 18 inches tall and the bottom six inches is just water, that doesn't apply.

But yeah, that or yeah.

Investigate the drainage holes on the bottom of those pots and see if it really is draining.

- Yeah, 'cause that definitely could be it because she saw the problem last year, seen again this year.

So I look for patterns.

- Yes.

- So, you know, could it possibly be, you know, too much water?

And I think that could be the issue because she is watering them frequently.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

Right.

- Which I mean is better than not frequently enough.

- That's true.

- I guess in some cases.

She may not have a plant anymore if she watered not frequently enough.

So yeah, just kind of adjust that watering schedule.

Check your drainage.

- Yeah.

- See if that improves things.

[gentle country music] - "What are these metallic looking "beetles on my yellow rose?

"And is there a way to take care of them without using harsh chemicals?"

And this is Twinkle and Mark from Wimberley, Texas.

Right, so we do appreciate the picture.

This is something you and I took a closer look at, dark flower scarab, or sometimes called the spangled flower beetle.

- Okay, 'cause I was gonna say it was some type, it looked like some type of beetle to me.

- Yeah.

- I couldn't quite make it out.

- Yeah.

- But I know the second part of that question says, how can I take care of them without, what, using a chemical.

- Right.

- Only thing I can think of is some type of bait, maybe.

- Maybe.

- You know.

- Yeah.

A bait or spinosad, you know.

- Okay.

- For, you know, those insect pests that have chewing mouthparts.

- Right.

Right.

- Or how about this?

You just hand pick them off - Hand, pick them off.

Yes.

- Hand pick them off.

Or you get your, you know, bucket of warm soapy water, you just knock them in it.

- Okay, yes.

- That way you don't have to worry about, you know, using any of the chemicals.

And here's the thing about, you know, the dark flower scarab is this, the life cycle, one year.

- Oh wow.

- Right.

- Okay.

- So the larvae actually feeds on decaying organic material.

So what does that tell you?

Practice good sanitation.

- Yeah, good sanitation.

- It also feeds on manure.

Right, so practice good sanitation.

- Yes.

- Right, because it can actually go from larvae, you know, to an adult in about 15 days.

- Yes.

- Right?

But the life cycle is just, it's just a year.

- Just a year.

- Right, so it's gonna feed on nectar, pollen and it could, you know, chew on some of those leaves.

- Okay.

- Right.

But unless they're in large numbers like Japanese beetles or something like that.

- Right, right.

Which yeah- - I wouldn't worry about it.

- Yes, and you could kind of rule out Japanese beetles on that picture.

- Yeah.

- Because usually when you have one Japanese beetle, you have like a thousand, so- - It's several.

- Yes.

- Right, right.

But again, yeah, I mean the scarab, year life cycle, I mean, yeah, hand pick them off, you know, knock them into, you know, a bucket of warm soapy water.

- Yeah.

- There you have it.

[gentle country music] "Can cucumbers be pollinated without a bee?"

And this is Carol from Catskill, New York.

She says she's "growing them in her apartment window."

So what do you think about that, Celeste?

- Yeah, so definitely she can grow these indoors and get some fruit if she hand pollinates them, okay.

So cucumbers are in that cucurbit family, right along with squash and watermelons, cantaloupe, all those things.

And so all those plants in that family are what we call monoecious.

- Yeah.

- They have male flowers and female flowers on the same plant, okay.

And so first of all, we have to be able to identify which flowers are male and which flowers are female because we need to, with a Q-tip by hand, take the pollen from the male flower and move it to the female parts of the female flower.

And the way that we can identify this is that the female flowers have a bulge at the base.

And that is what will actually develop into the fruit itself, okay.

Male flowers never turn into a fruit.

Their only reason for existence is to produce pollen, to pollinate those female flowers.

So a lot of times right at the beginning of flowering, all those flowers are gonna be male flowers.

And that is a technique of nature to draw in the pollinators.

They wanna make sure pollinators are present in the environment before they put energy into making female flowers.

- Makes sense.

- So I don't want her to freak out if like the first week and a half or two weeks it only makes male flowers and she's like, "I've never seen any female flowers."

They'll come and then you have to find that window where you've got two present, right.

And move, with a Q-tip, move that pollen from the male flower into the female flower.

And you've done the deed.

- Yeah.

- It has been pollinated.

- It has been pollinated.

- And now we just have to wait and so if she wants to be diligent and hand pollinate all of those female flowers, she can certainly produce fruit indoors.

- Yep.

You could definitely do that.

I'm also wondering, as you're talking about that, can't you just take the male and the female flower and just kind of rub them together?

You think that'll work a little bit?

- Well, but the bloom- - Could you do that?

- You could- - Or could you take off the male flower, you know, just pop one off and then go to the female flower.

- I guess she could.

- Maybe shake it around- a little bit.

- You have to pull off the petals, right.

- Yeah.

- And everything, and then really like shove it down in there.

- Right.

- Yeah, I mean yeah, you could do that.

- It'd be possible?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, there also, you know, are self-pollinating varieties and I happen to know that, 'cause I know, you know, a grower that actually grows some self-pollinating varieties, right, parthenocarpic- - That's what I was gonna say.

- Is what it's called.

Parthenocarpic.

- And that is- That is such a hard word to say, I'm so glad you said it.

- I got it out, I spit it out quick.

- And they're usually seedless, right?

- Yeah.

And they're seedless.

And they're grown in a greenhouse.

- Right.

- Right so this is apartment- - Perfect situation.

- And so it can work.

And a variety that he has is called Diva.

- Ah, okay.

- Yeah, Diva, you know, I was paying attention.

- She's a diva.

- So, yeah, Diva.

- She's a diva.

- How about that?

- She can take care of herself.

- How about that?

So there you go, Carol.

You could do that.

- I would add- - How- - I would add just- - Sure.

- I suggest you probably pollinate them in the morning.

- Oh, okay.

- Because that's when the plants are most, you know, they're expecting the bees to come first thing in the morning.

So yeah, pollinate them in the morning as opposed to the afternoon, and probably have more success that way.

[gentle country music] - "When and how should I up-pot budding magnolia cuttings out of their eight-inch pots?"

And this is Robin from Eupora, Mississippi.

- Yay.

- So Robin, Celeste is gonna help us out with this one.

- Yes.

So- - So what do you think?

- First of all, I wanna say congratulations, Robin.

- Ain't that good?

- You're doing such a good job- - That's good.

- Of propagating woody plant materials.

Sometimes that can be challenging.

So she must have taken those cuttings at the ideal time, gotten those rooted in well.

And I'd say that they're doing great considering that they, when she said they are budding- - They're budding, - I'm feeling like, she means budding as in flower initiation and not like budding out through leaf.

So my suggestion would be if they are budding, flower budding, wait to pot those up until after flowering has done its thing, okay.

- Okay.

- Because right now that plant is putting a lot of energy into producing that flower bud and sustaining it.

- Got it.

- So let it do its thing, then pot it up so the plant can focus its energy on generating new roots to fill in that larger pot that you've bumped it up into.

Another option would be to clip off the flower bud and then go ahead and pot it up, right.

So now we've diverted the energy, we're like, oh, there's no more flower bud there.

So now you can, you know, focus on this root development.

Another thing, little side tip, I know that she didn't ask, but I wouldn't go too up into too large of a container because then we could end up with like moisture issues, right?

And then the potential for root rot is greater.

So we definitely wanna make those bump ups in increments.

So nothing probably larger than like a one-gallon pot.

If she's in an eight-inch- - She's eight-inch now.

- Eight-inch now maybe a one gallon, I wouldn't go up too high, you know, all at one time.

So those would be my suggestions for- - Good suggestions.

- Good success for bumping up.

- So what do you think about potting media?

- Yes, so for woody plant material, we mostly want some really well-draining substrate.

So I'd stay away from things that have too much peat moss in them, again, because then you could get that root rot but you've gotta pay more attention to your watering habits.

- Yeah, yeah.

- To make sure that they have the water that they need.

So just making sure that you have, I don't know that there's any perfect, you know, formula for that.

But if you feel like it is too peat heavy, add in some like shredded, finely-shredded pine bark mulch.

I mean, when you buy woody shrubs at a nursery and pull them outta their pots, that media is predominantly like a shredded pine bark type of material.

[gentle country music] - "Does mixing all my raised bed soil and adding compost count as crop rotation?"

This is John form Warwick, Rhode Island.

He says "every fall he breaks down his raised beds "and in the spring sets them back up and refills them using the old soil mixed with compost."

So, good question.

- Real good question.

And to answer his question, that is not crop rotation.

- Okay.

- Crop rotation is where you plant a different crop species from, you know, in a spot than what you had last year.

- Right, right.

- So like you would plant, say like you would plant your sweet corn or your tomatoes where you had your peas and beans last year.

- Okay.

- Because you wanna take advantage of, you know, the nitrogen being in the soil because corn and you know, tomatoes are nitrogen lovers and those legumes that would've put nitrogen into the soil.

- Okay.

- So that's really more crop rotation.

- Right.

Got it.

- Right there.

- Okay.

Now what about, you know, changing the soil out, you know, as you're doing crop rotation, what do you think about that?

- Well, the thing is ask yourself, did you have a disease issue last year?

'Cause if you did, we don't need that soil coming back into the raised beds.

- Right.

- You know, so you, we wanna make sure you know that you, you know, not reintroducing some pathogen or something back into the, you know, into the garden area.

But what he's practicing here though, about how he breaks it down and refills it and all that, that's good, you know, and add new compost.

That's a great gardening practice, that's really, really good.

- Yeah, I'm with you on that.

So the raised bed soil and adding the compost, you know what that does?

Improves soil health.

- That's right.

- Right, which is a good thing.

- Yes.

- We want you to improve that soil structure, that soil health.

Yeah, and crop rotation as you just mentioned, when I think about crop rotation, plant placement to prevent diseases and pests.

- That's right.

- I mean that's what I think crop rotation is.

- Yes.

- All right.

So there you have it, John.

I mean, you're doing the right thing, mixing those soils together.

- That's right.

- Right for soil health, not crop rotation.

[gentle country music] "How do you get rid of goat head stickers?"

And this is Alicia from San Angelo, Texas.

She says "they're everywhere and her Schnauzer brings them into the house."

So can we help her out, Celeste?

- Yeah, I think that we can help her out.

So these little goat head stickers are from a plant called puncture vine.

- Yes.

- But the stickers are very distinctive.

So they look like a little goat's head, right, with the horns.

And it makes sense that they're getting stuck on her little sweet Schnauzer's hairy legs, right, every time they go outdoors.

So there are some things that she can do.

Our primary objective would be to lower the amount of seeds that this plant is making, adding to that weed seed bank in the soil, right?

It is naturally a lower growing plant.

But if we can keep that mode to prevent flowers from maturing into, you know, the pods that form the seeds, then that would be a good strategy.

- Sure would be, yeah.

- Not only, you know, for the long term, making sure we're not adding more seeds to that weed bank, but preventing development of stickers for that season.

So that would be one kind of mechanical-like strategy.

The other would be for the plants that are existing already germinated, growing, we could look at a selective broadleaf herbicide that we could spray in that lawn area that would not affect the grass but would target those broadleaf weeds.

So we've got lots of lots of options out there.

But I would suggest a multi-ingredient product that will likely contain 2,4-D and dicamba as two of the primary ingredients.

And most of those mixes now have three and four active ingredients to kind of expand the range of plants that they will control to make it a broader spectrum.

So, but I think that that would help her.

So those would be some options for control of the plants that are there right now.

- Post-emergent.

Yeah.

Make sure you read and follow the label on that.

- Yeah, I'd say some pre-emergent could be effective too because the weeds seeds, those, you know, the, what are they, the stickers are the seeds.

And they'll last for four to five years in the soil.

So just- - If not longer.

- Yeah, so just, you know, winning one year is not gonna keep them from coming back the next year.

But pre-emergents are useful.

You can use pendimethalin, trifluralin or Gallery, put that down before the seeds sprout in the spring and that stops them from growing.

And so that could be very effective especially if you have a lot right now that'll help next year to really cut down on what you see.

- Right.

- And after you do that, you know, they do have a little yellow flower so you can just look out at your yard and just kind of scout once in a while.

And if you have little yellow flowers, just go pick them and hopefully, you get down, you know, the pre-emergent will reduce the number of plants you have to the point where that's practical.

- Right.

Right.

And you know me, right, I'm all about cultural practices.

- Yes.

- Thick stand of grass.

- Yep.

- There you go.

- Thick stand of grass.

- Improve the health of that grass.

- Right, you gotta improve the grass, right, 'cause it'll crowd out, you know, that weed for you, the puncture vine.

[gentle country music] "How do I keep squirrels off my bird feeder and bird bath?"

This is Craig from Apollo Beach, Florida.

He says "they feed blue jays and other songbirds, "but the squirrels climb up and eat the food, scaring them away."

- Twelve-year-old with a 20-gauge.

They have the ability to discern the difference.

- Okay.

- Between a blue jay and a squirrel.

- Okay.

- So they won't hurt your blue jays but they can take the squirrels out if you're in an area where it's legal.

- Yes.

Right.

That's legal, right.

- And it's squirrel season.

- Oh boy.

- I guess I need to add.

- Right, right.

- But that can be a problem.

A squirrel baffle may be about the only thing I could think of on your bird feeder.

I'm not sure whether you can figure out a way to put a baffle on a bird bath.

- Yeah.

- Or not, you might be able to arrange one over the top of it, but that might keep the birds out too so.

- Yeah, that's gonna be tough.

- Yeah, bird bath might be kinda tough.

I don't know whether anybody makes a squirrel-resistant or squirrel-proof bird bath.

I've never heard of that, but there are some squirrel-resistant and squirrel-proof bird feeders.

- Yes, there are.

- That you could look into that have, I guess the baffles built in or something to aggravate squirrels and make it where they can't get a toehold or anything like that would work pretty good.

But, I say good luck.

- It's gonna be tough.

Yeah, especially, going back to a point you made about squirrels before if there are trees around, I mean, maybe you need to find another place, you know, for the bird feeder and bird bath maybe.

- You can move your bird, that's right.

Bird feeders.

Well, even if you have a lower baffle of a, under a bird feeder, if it's less than 10 feet from an area that it could jump to because they can jump 10 feet.

- Yeah.

- If it's less than 16 feet from a roof because they can jump 16 feet from above to a feeder.

- That's crazy.

- And they can jump five feet high, so it needs to be over five feet high and at least 10 feet from something they can jump to and 16 feet from a higher something that they can jump from.

But if you're closer, get a baffle to go on top and then watch the squirrel jump on top of the baffle- - Yeah, fall off, right.

- And just slide on off.

- You know, that's amusing and it's kind of entertaining when we see that.

- Yeah, get some entertainment out of it, right.

- But that's the only thing I can think of.

You know, the baffles are- - Yeah.

- They're readily available.

You can find them in a lot of different places.

[upbeat country music] - Remember, we love to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is familyplots@wkno.org 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.

To get more information on anything we talked about, go to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

We have all these questions listed on the homepage.

We also have many other answers to all sorts of gardening topics.

We even may have already answered your question.

If not, you can ask us right from the website.

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]