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

I'm Chris Cooper.

There is so much to learn with gardening.

Why did my plant do this, or what made my plant do that?

Today, we're going to answer some of those questions.

We have lots of questions from you.

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 Joellen Dimond.

Joellen is the Director of Landscape at the University of Memphis.

And Celeste Scott is with us today.

Celeste is a Horticulture Specialist with UT Extension.

Thank you for joining me, ladies.

- Yeah.

- Yes.

- Y'all ready?

- Good to be here.

- This is gonna be fun.

Y'all buckled in?

- Yes.

- I know, yes.

- All right, you ready?

- We've got lots of questions.

- Let's see.

We can get to 'em, all right?

This is gonna be real good, y'all.

All right, so here's our first viewer email.

"Can you compost walnut leaves?

I've heard it is not a good idea."

And this is Robin and Dolores from Wenatchee, Washington.

So how about that, Joellen, what do you think about the old walnut leaves?

- Well, you know, I understand their concerns.

They're concerned about the juglone that is in the walnut plant that inhibits growth of other plants.

But yes, you can compost it because the composting process also breaks down the juglone and as time goes on, it leaves the system, but you've gotta give it time, more time than normal compost.

- Okay.

- And maybe make sure that it's in a mix with other items that you're also composting, right?

It's like other types of leaves, other types of that dry material, maybe not just like all walnut leaves.

- Right.

I would agree with that.

So you gotta mix it up, right?

- That would be the best because even fall, the juglone gets less and less in the plant.

So the plant tends to wanna retain it and not put it in its leaves than when it sheds the leaves because, but it does, it's a mechanism to keep the walnut tree safe from all the understory plants that might grow underneath it.

So that's the attempt that walnut tree is trying to take with the juglone.

- They wanna survive.

They're fighters.

- They wanna survive?

- Yeah, I think that term is a allelopathic.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

It has allelopathic behavior, right?

- And then there's some people that say, the compost is good if you put some tomato seeds in it and they start to grow- - Yeah.

- With the composted, but you know, not everybody... - Kinda of use that as a trial test to know that if that product is ready to be used and if it's going to harbor any of those mechanisms.

That's a good idea.

- Yeah.

- I think it is a good idea.

So how long are we talking about?

How long do y'all think it would take?

- You know, the compost to be broken down?

- Well, they're talking about two to three months longer than normal compost.

- Okay, [laughs] okay.

All right.

So yeah, it's gonna take a little while.

- Take a little while.

- Just be patient with it.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Browns, greens, add some of that in the mix.

Yeah, you're gonna have to add some moisture, add some water, not too much water, right?

And that will help the breaking down of that process.

- Breaking down.

That's true.

- And you can probably add some alfalfa pellets and things like that to add a little nitrogen to it, they help it break down.

So there you go, Robin and Dolores.

Thank you so much for that question.

- Good question.

- So, yes, you can compost those walnut leaves.

Appreciate that.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

All right, Celeste, "Can I grow sweet potatoes in Albuquerque, New Mexico?"

[Celeste laughs] And this is zone 7A, 7B, and this is Demetria from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

So what do you think about that one, Celeste?

- Well, initially, when I was reading through these questions, I thought, well, hey, they are in the same growing zone that I grow in.

So sure you can grow sweet potatoes, but then we have to take in a lot of other things to account as well.

So let's think about their soil composition.

Let's think about their humidity and availability of the water.

That's a drier and arid, more arid- - Yeah.

- Climate than we have here.

So, I think that yes, it could be done, but they're gonna have to pay some special attention to making sure that adequate water is provided to that plant.

The above ground portion, right, the vine that's growing as the sweet potatoes are developing underground are expansive.

And so, that's a plant that's going to require a lot of water to make sure that it-- - And space.

- Doesn't wilt and has plenty of space to grow.

That's right.

And then the other thing that I was thinking about the soils, I don't know what type of soil they have, maybe, is it very sandy?

Does it drain very quickly?

And so, if that is the case, then they may need to consider adding some organic matter, so that soil holds on to that moisture longer, makes it more available to that plant.

Or even just growing in raised beds where they can control that media when that's a hundred percent up to them and able to make that what it needs to be.

So those would be my concerns, but yeah, I think it's doable.

- I definitely think it's doable.

Yeah, so I would contact your local Extension Office there with New Mexico State University.

- Yeah.

- And they probably have some cultivars that you could probably grow there.

And I'm thinking 7A, 7B, I mean the ones we have here is like Centennial.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, that's what?

Bunch Porto Rico, I think, that may grow well there.

Jewel is another one that comes to mind.

So, yeah, I would contact them and see what they think about that.

- Yeah, because they'll have the varieties that do well in that area.

And of course, mostly, there'll be slips you don't usually plant, but usually slips of, and they might know a source, a local source for the slips, too, so they wouldn't have to send them off by a catalog or anything.

- Okay.

All right.

Well, thank you, Demetria.

We appreciate that.

Yeah, good luck with those sweet potatoes, all right?

Here's our next viewer email.

"How do you control spider mites on kale?"

And this is UT from Toronto, Canada.

So Celeste, how do you control those spider mites?

- Well... - On kale, specifically?

- On kale, specifically.

- Yeah.

- So, we have actually a number of options available to us.

- Okay, good.

Good.

- So first step, and I guess it depends on what scale you're growing kale, right?

Do you have a whole field of kale [laughs] or are you got, you know, a couple kale growing there on your porch in your backyard?

First, I would use a kind of a strong stream of water.

Let's try to knock off what we can with that stream of water, initially.

And then working our way kind of up the ladder of chemical product options.

I would look first probably towards products like neem oil, probably some horticultural oils.

And then if we're not having success with those, then looking at some of our broader spectrum products.

But spider mites in general are tough to control, and it's because they replicate quickly, and they are very small.

And when we are using some of these softer products, we're only going to see positive results if we get really, really good coverage because the way that those products are working, spider mites are soft-bodied insects.

And so, when we are using those products, we're essentially like suffocating them, right?

So you've got to get good coverage on the upper side of the leaf and the underside of the leaf.

- That's right.

- And that can be tricky when we have leafy, green-type, vegetable crops, right?

So you're having to not only walk and be treating from the top, but you've gotta turn that spray nozzle upwards and kind of hit 'em from the underside as well.

- Yeah.

- Also, making sure that you're repeating those applications on a regular basis 10 to 14 days.

Make sure you're always following your labels- - Yes.

- For the specific products.

But those natural products have no residuals, and they break down quickly in the environment, due to sunlight, et cetera.

And so, they're gonna require more frequent applications.

So those would be where I would start with spider mites for kale and those apply to essentially all other crops as well.

I mean, the same approach, the same application methods.

- That's good methods.

I mean, those are real good.

Yeah, something else, practice good sanitation.

- Mm.

- Right?

So you definitely wanna do that.

And it's funny, you know, I'm sitting here thinking spider mites, kale, usually when I think about spider mites, I think about hot, dusty weather conditions, you know?

- And kale's a cool-season crop.

- And kale's a cool season crop.

- And so, yeah.

- Yeah, so it could it be stressed, so if the kale is stressed, then, of course, here comes spider mites.

Right.

You know, so that's why I was sitting here thinking in my head.

So, yeah, UT.

You follow that and I think you'll be fine.

Yeah, read and follow the label directions.

I think you'll be okay, all right?

So thank you so much for that question.

Here's our next viewer email.

"When is the best time and how do you prune blackberries?"

And this is Larry from Bloomington, Illinois.

So Celeste, - Yes.

- What you know about pruning those blackberries, huh?

- Oh, this is so complicated.

- I wish I had a diagram.

- Oh, it's complicated.

Larry, it's complicated.

- It is.

- I wish I had a diagram, but okay.

So we'll cover the Cliff Notes version.

- Okay, let's do it.

- Okay, so blackberries have two different types of cane.

They have one set of canes that flowers, that's called the floricane.

That's what is producing the crop on that current year's growth.

And then they've got a primocane.

And those are the brand new canes that grew that year, but aren't fruiting, okay?

- Okay.

- So we have to have a couple different little approaches here.

So as far as pruning goes, we want to prune out any of the canes that flowered and fruited in this current season, right?

At the end of the growing season.

So whatever that looks like for you, wherever you're located, right?

For us, that's the end of the summer.

They've flowered in the spring.

They've fruited in the summer.

We prune out those floricanes at the end of that growing season in late summer all the way to the ground.

Cut 'em, cut 'em, and take 'em out.

Then we need to come in in late winter and top the primocanes that were left, right?

So anything that was left.

If we top them, if we pinch the tops out, that encourages lateral growth this way, okay?

And our next growing season, that is the portion of that plant that's gonna create berries for us.

So if we can increase how many side branches they have, that increases the number of fruit blooms and yield that we're gonna get- - Okay.

I'm following.

- So, that is the most simplified explanation that I can provide for when and how to prune blackberries that have that biennial lifecycle, primocanes and floricanes.

- Primocanes and floricanes.

- Yeah, mine usually died.

I didn't have to prune it because it died, and you don't know which one to cut out.

And mine kept traveling.

The primary canes just kept traveling into my black, I mean, to my blueberries and I'm like, you can't go over here.

You don't have enough room for both of you to live here.

- They love to spread underground, so keep an eye on where those root suckers are popping up.

They may be popping up in places where you don't want 'em to be.

- Right.

- Right.

- Yeah, those things get outta control, yeah.

So if they're weak, get 'em out.

They're stunted, get 'em out.

- Yeah.

- Diseased, get 'em out.

Okay.

Cliff Note version.

- Cliff Notes.

- That's... - Did you get that Larry?

- That's good.

- Yeah, it's good.

Thank you for that question.

We appreciate that.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"When should I cut the blooms off my Lime hydrangea?"

And this is Kelly from Alexandria, Virginia.

So what do you think about that one, Joellen?

Cutting off the blooms?

Huh?

- Well, you know, you can cut them off anytime you want, but I like to leave it in the winter for nice winter interest.

- I do too.

- And then when the leaves start breaking out in the spring, that's when I cut mine off.

'Cause I want them to be out of the way for the nice new leaves and new blooms.

- Okay, so let me add this.

So "some flowers seem to stay attached into the next spring.

The whole plant still blooms."

- Of course, it's going to.

- Of course.

- Uh-huh.

Yeah, and if you aren't there to cut them off, they would stay there and the other plant, the plant would just grow around them and bloom over the top of them.

But they'd just stay in there dead until they fell off.

- So that's one reason I love paniculata hydrangeas, is because they bloom on new wood.

We don't have to be all finicky about the timing of pruning- - Right, right.

- As we have to be on some other types of hydrangeas.

Like the macrophyllas, like your oak leafs.

They are always going to bloom on new growth.

And so, yeah, less touchy about when to prune.

But- - But.

- If you need to do significant pruning, right?

So like some paniculatas can be 10, 12, 15 feet tall and really, you know, just be really vigorous growers.

If we need to prune to control size and are gonna be taking off a lot of plant material- - Okay.

- I like to come at that in late winter.

- Got it.

- That's really the preferred pruning time for the majority of all woody-type plants.

And so, I'm gonna leave those in that category and say come in March for this area that, you know, late winter can mean different things depending on where you are- - Yeah.

- Throughout the world.

But here in Tennessee, that looks like March, April for us.

- Yeah.

- And so, do that.

Any kind of structural pruning that you need to do to get that plant shored up before it starts shooting out, I like to do it before it even starts shooting out its new growth.

- Yeah, that was good - For renewal pruning, yes.

- Yes.

- Definitely.

You're just getting the limbs off.

Sometimes the winter can kill.

I've noticed some of mine get winter kill and that's why I let it just, the buds just start to break-- - So you can tell.

- Before I cut it.

- So I can tell where.

- If there's anything else you need to cut out.

- Okay.

I see that.

Well y'all are good.

Kelly, I hope you got that information.

That was real good.

That was good.

So thank you much for that question.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"Should I shorten my tall stick of a kousa dogwood, so it forms lower limbs?"

And this is Rebecca from south Knoxville, Tennessee.

So what do you think about that when, Joellen?

- Oh yeah, I would do it, yes.

- You would do it?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- 'Cause if you just, and I wouldn't take a a whole lot, I just tip off the top.

That's the apical dominance up there, and it'll stop forming the hormones and stuff that actually keep the other branches from forming.

You wanna take that apical dominance away and let everybody have a free reign of coming in in filling out a tree.

- Free reign.

- And hopefully, it's in enough sun and it's not in too much shade.

'Cause kousa dogwoods can take a lot more sun than regular other types of dogwoods.

- All right, so let me add this.

"A sapling was planted this year.

It's 12 feet tall with leaves all the way up", so how much would you take off?

- Wow.

- Yeah, all the way up.

- Still, I'm talking six inches or less.

You just wanna stop the apical dominance.

And you just have to take the tip off, not clear down, but I mean just take it off.

'Cause all the leaves along the stem will make branches and fill out.

- All right, Celeste, I heard you say, "Wow."

So 12 feet tall with leaves all the way up- - Yeah.

- So, your concern?

- That's tall.

- That's tall.

- So, I mean, yeah.

- Yeah, that's tall.

- Now, if it were me in my own landscape, I agree with the things that Joellen said, yes, removing that tip is gonna help with lateral branching.

But I feel like that is a flimsy, wispy whip of a plant.

And so, I might like bring it on down to six feet and allow it to really develop in girth, you know, give it an opportunity for that trunk to grow in diameter and develop some lateral branches just so that it's not so tall and flimsy, you know, whippy.

But that would just be like my personal preference, right?

For my personal landscape.

Either way is a perfectly good recommendation for approach to correcting the issue.

And also, I'll add that I don't want people to worry and think that that means that they are like topping a tree because I feel like everybody always hears, oh, don't ever cut the top outta your trees.

They are going to, the next shoots that come out are going to be able to reestablish a central leader for that plant.

So the one that's nearest to the top is actually going to try to grow and straighten itself to replace what has been cut off.

So it's not like the tree's never gonna get any taller than that, right?

That's not what's gonna happen.

That tree will continue to develop in height.

- Right.

That's a good point.

- And it's because we're approaching it while they're young.

- It's a sapling.

- Right, right.

- It's a year or two old, so.

- It's small.

It can take it.

In fact that's what they do in the nurseries.

They'll go through in the nurseries, all the trees that are grown are all tipped so that they form lateral branches.

It's just a common practice.

- That one just got missed.

- Yeah, and that's pretty tall.

[all laugh] Right, 12 feet tall.

All right, Rebecca, thank you so much for that question.

Yeah.

If you have any other questions, your local Extension Office there in Knox County, check out my man, Lee Rumble.

He'll help you out with that.

- Yes.

- All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I have a shell, alkali type dirt that does not like to grow anything.

How can we improve it?"

And this is Stephanie from Olathe, Colorado.

So what do you think about that one, Joellen?

Yeah, shell alkali- - Well.

- Type dirt.

- Obviously, it's not conducive to growing things is why she wants to know if she can do something with it.

And yes, she can.

She can add organic matter of any kind, and you might wanna get a soil pH test to see where you're at.

So there might be other products that you could add if the pH is off somehow, but organic matter to the soil, loosen it up, and she should be able to grow something in that.

- And depending on, you know, what level of commitment and like machinery she has to be able to make that happen because that could be a lot of product when it comes down to the math of it.

How much organic matter?

How are you gonna get that incorporated into the soil?

They maybe want to just consider growing in raise beds.

- Hey.

- Again, and then you have complete control over that growing media, and you don't have to worry as much about what's going on in that native soil zone as long as we make those beds deep enough to grow and support whatever particular crops that they're wanting to grow.

- Yep.

- So, you know, always an option is just to go with above ground, above ground growing.

- I like that.

- A lot of people will do that.

- Yeah, a lot of people will.

- It is so hard though.

Another thing I'll add it is so hard to fight pH.

So if she has a high alkali soil, if you're above seven, and we need to bring that down, you're always gonna have to fight that pH.

Our soils naturally wanna migrate back towards whatever their original pH was.

Makes sense, right?

- Right.

- And so, instead of us trying to change the soil to be able to grow things that we want, I'd say let's grow the things we want in soil that we have complete control over.

Not always soil, we'll call it a media.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Media that we have complete control over.

And then look at growing things in those native soils.

Let's take cues from nature, like look out and see what things are growing naturally in those climates, in those environments around her.

And those are the things, right, that we need to lean more towards to grow in those native soils in a landscape-type setting, so that we're not always having to come back to that discrepancy of not enough organic matter, too high of a pH.

- Yeah, that soil pH thing is tricky, you know?

That nutrient availability thing.

- Yeah.

- I mean, yeah, it's the old barrel, right?

- Yeah.

It is.

- Yes.

- It's like, yeah, too much, not enough.

And you're right, once it gets above seven, you know, fighting with elemental sulfur, you try to bring that down, yeah.

- Yes.

It's a lot.

- It's tricky.

It's tricky.

- And plus you got rain and leeches out.

- Yeah, so gotta to think about environmental conditions.

- And you gotta start redoing it again.

but if, you know, if she looks, maybe she doesn't like the plants that are around there and that's why you would go to a raised bed because you, when you have your own soil mix and you know what you want to grow, if you just put it in a container of any kind, it's gonna do well.

You might have to do a little more watering.

- Yes.

- But you could grow stuff.

- All right, so thank you for that question, Stephanie.

All right?

Hope you like those answers also good.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"How do you care for Amaryllis bulbs in Florida to get them to bloom each year?"

So this is Jan Marie in Palm Beach, Florida.

So you know about Amaryllis bulbs, don't you?

- Oh, yeah.

I love my Amaryllis.

And mine do well here in the ground simply because we have a cold spell and a dormant spell.

- So yeah, a dormant period.

- And in Florida they may not ever get their dormant spell.

- Ah, they just keep trying to grow on and on.

- Yes.

So, you know-- - Yeah, good tropical weather.

- To get a stem of flowers, you need four leaves to grow.

So if you have eight leaves that grow in the summertime, you'll get two stalks of flowers.

- Oh, I never knew that.

- But the problem is Amaryllis has to have a downtime.

So he may have to take them or someone maybe, Jan Marie, you may have to take them out of the ground, let the foliage die, and then put it in a cool, dormant place for eight to 12 weeks for it to get that dormant period and then you can put 'em back outside again, and they should bloom for you.

- Right.

- But if you don't have the dormant period, they will not bloom.

- And so, that's the same concept that people follow when they're trying to force Amaryllis to bloom indoors in the winter time because that is not the natural time that Amaryllis would want to bloom, right?

If they're planted outdoors and in a climate where they can survive the winters, the cold, then they're going to want to naturally bloom in early summer.

That's when they want to bloom.

- Yeah.

- So if you are trying to perpetuate them year after year for use indoors, follow those same instructions- - Yeah, you can follow that.

- Right?

- So that's the thing about good tropical weather, right?

- Yes.

- They can grow outdoors all year long.

- All the time.

But yeah, and unfortunately, I mean she's got probably has beautiful foliage plants.

- Right.

- But she wants blooms.

She's gonna have to give them a dormant period, Eight to twelve weeks.

- Eight to twelve weeks.

Right.

So, what do you do with the bulb though?

You know, so we're here in Tennessee, can we bring the bulb inside?

Does it have to be refrigerated?

I mean.

- Well, they grow out here naturally, I put mine in the ground and they like, they bloom in, you know- - Yeah.

- Late May, early June, but they get a cold period for at least three months out of the year.

But yeah, she's gonna have to dig them up.

- Yeah.

- And Amaryllis bulbs, my aunt in Indiana used to say, "How do you get such beautiful blooms on yours?"

And I said, "Well, it's starved."

I put it in a pot almost the same size as the bulb.

- Yeah.

- So it doesn't have a whole lot of area to grow in.

- Oh, okay.

- They like to be tight.

- They don't like a lot 'cause sometimes you can buy Amaryllis bulbs that have just been dipped in wax and they'll bloom.

- How about that?

Okay.

- So yeah, this is the same.

They don't need a whole lot.

You want them to be on the edge of, you know, oh my gosh, there's no more room for me to grow.

I must bloom and so I can continue to be a plant.

- Survival, right?

- It's a survival thing.

Yeah.

So yeah, she's gonna have to dig them up and she could divide them now, and she could give them to everybody if she wants to.

But put 'em in pots, the bulbs in themselves, in individual pots in a smaller, you know, just barely big enough for the container.

- Okay.

- And let them be in a cool, dry place and let them die, the foliage die down, and cut it all off.

And then in about what, 8 to 12 weeks, bring it back out and see if they'll bloom again.

- You could also store them without soil.

Like they don't have to be in a pot with soil.

- They don't have to be?

Okay.

- Yeah.

So just dry.

I have some little cardboard, flat cardboard boxes, and I kind of put some sphagnum moss on there and just kind of space my bulbs out.

You don't want 'em to be wet or come into contact with one another where they could develop or rotted spaces.

- Right, yeah.

- They need airflow.

And so, I like to kind of just nestle 'em on top of, like I've even used like that torn up raffia-type kind of stuff, you know what I mean?

Just like whatever I had, you know, laying around that I knew wasn't gonna hold moisture and was gonna allow air flow.

- Yeah.

- So just make sure that they are nice and dry and dark and.

- The foliage has gotta die down.

- That's right.

And the only way for that to happen is for you to quit watering, - Quit watering, right.

- Yeah.

- You gotta stop watering.

- Yeah.

- Oh, okay.

- Yeah, I used to my, we used to bring, my aunt would bring them inside and that's how hers would die 'cause they don't live- - Right.

- Outside in Indiana, so she would bring hers in.

- Ha ha ha.

Jan Marie, did you like that?

That was good.

I learned something.

I thought that's pretty good.

And yeah, you can go to the University of Florida Extension.

I'm sure they probably have publications about, you know, Amaryllis bulbs and all that kinda good stuff.

- They should probably do.

- I betcha they do.

All right, so Celeste, Joellen, that was fun as always.

We've learned so much, too, at the same time, right?

Yeah, so thank y'all so much for those questions.

Thank y'all for being here.

- Thanks for having us.

- My pleasure.

Yep.

- Remember we love to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

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