Hello, and thanks for joining us for another episode of Mid American gardener.

I'm your host Tinisha, Spain.

And joining me in the studio today are two of our panelists who have brought some really cool stuff for us to learn about today.

So before we get into all of that and your questions, let's have them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit more about them.

So Karen, we'll start with you.

Hi, I'm Karen Ruckle, and I live in garden in the Peoria area and I love trees, shrubs, perennials, houseplants about a generalist you'd say yeah, okay.

All right.

Hello.

I'm Ella Maxwell.

I'm at Caswell County Master Gardener, and I'm in the Peoria area as well.

And I have a large yard and really enjoy gardening.

Pretty much anything.

All right, pretty much anything.

Alright, ladies, let's just jump right in then.

So Karen, we'll start with you.

We've got a question.

This is from Gloria she wrote in what is wrong with this tomato short, sweet, and to the point, yeah, she sent in her photo.

So what is your guess for her tomato issue, she's got two different things going on with her tomato.

That's it's called radial and concentric fruit cracking.

And the good news is, is the fruit is still edible, it just kind of ruins part of part of that part of the tomato.

And if you leave it too long, you could get a little bit of rot that you're gonna have to cut off.

But typically, that is caused by water fluctuations.

So either when the drought time, irrigating a little too heavily or kind of infrequently might have been the problem or that our heavy downpour was a lot of moisture, then, you know, of course, you couldn't control that with a natural rainfall.

There also was a little bit that there could be a little high nitrogen or low potassium levels.

So using a good standard, if you are doing a fertilizer using a good standard tomato fertilizers says for tomatoes.

And then the other thing that might help is make sure your plants are mulched that's going to help with your fluctuation in moisture a lot with the tomatoes retaining that moisture trying to help during the hot dry times.

And then I wanted to bring in a tomato.

And this one, I It looks really good.

This is variety gulyas It's probably about nine foot tall now in my yard, but I should have picked it just a little bit sooner because with the heavy rain that we thankfully finally got with some rains, then you you sometimes will get the splitting or cracking and so I should have picked this maybe two days earlier and I might not have had the crack so bad.

So now the tomato is fine to eat, it's just you need to eat it sooner than later.

Because you're going to start getting bacterial, you know, some little rock going on here.

And then I wanted to talk about in my yard, the tomato plants some of these tomatoes this is this is pretty heavy, good size.

That's a good size.

And some of my stems aren't too strong this year.

And so some of you might recognize this from years ago, this is actually pantyhose and this is just a knee high that I cut open.

And I will actually for my poor tomatoes go out there and make slings.

And if it's not if the pantyhose isn't long enough, I use a little bit of twine and I help support it on on the vine because I've got a couple of plants that the tomatoes were so heavy they were they were bending over their STEM and I want to make sure I get all the nutrients getting to that developing fruit.

And then I brought the basil in a picture that this this is my favorite thing right now is have bruschetta bruschetta or however you want to say it more likely yesterday.

That's what I had for my lunch.

All right, and you sent us a picture in of one of your culinary creations right so everything that we're going to be seeing in this photo that all came out of your your yard your garden.

Yes, except the bread I bought at the grocery store.

And then the garlic that's in it is from Ella's yard.

Oh, very nice.

Very nice.

So basil, do you grow this out in the ground?

Do you grow this in pots?

What's your technique?

I grow it in pots and I'm pretty finicky about my basil plant where I grow it in a pot and years ago, I brought in a picture where I've got a cage around it and then I wrap it with a fabric.

And then that way I just always have trouble with Japanese beetles feeding on my plants.

And so then that way it keeps all the bugs off and keeps it cleaner and I know I've given a couple bouquets to eat on this summer.

What's your favorite variety?

Just just the large leaf the the Jenny's.

And then I've done a couple other varieties, but I just you know just the standard one.

Yeah, that's the tried and true.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Well, thank you for that tomato tutorial.

Appreciate that.

Alright, Ella, we are to you.

All right.

Well, I thought I would bring in some hydrangeas because they are looking so great right now and actually with some of the rain and the size of the flower hours.

I mean, they can.

They, they're huge.

But I wanted to start out and talk about some of the different hydrangeas.

The first one to bloom is the oak leaf and of course it gets its name by the shape of the leaf.

And so this is usually the deer eat my tips and they don't flower but the flower has held and so you can see that this is a combination of fertile flowers and sterile flowers.

And the sterile flowers are the ones that have dried, kind of pinkish.

And then the next one is the Annabel to bloom and these were white back in June.

And you can cut these back if you want, or I just leave them for the winter interest.

And then next spring now I'll trim them back, but they age to really kind of pretty green.

And then the next one's to flower.

And gosh, those are so pretty right here is a bouquet of the macrophylla or the Bigleaf hydrangeas, and these are the ones that actually can change color depending on the acidity or alkalinity of the soil.

And they are also ones that bloom on old wood, like the oak leaf, and there are some reblooming types and this reblooming you can see now, this is an endless summer.

macrophylla type with pink blooms because the soil is Alkalyn.

And then Karen brought in one of hers.

This one is bloom struck and it has much more blue colored flowers naturally and then you also treat it right.

Or do you have to treat it to get the blue?

Okay, can you tell us a little bit about how you treat and what you use?

While we're Yeah, well, I use aluminum sulfate.

And so typically I do an application in April when it's just starting to actually leaf out.

And then a second application in May to get a good get a good bluish color is it like a liquid or granular so then I it does have instructions, you can either soil application or mix it with water.

Oh my gosh, you mix it with water and all sinks to the bottom and you can't get it out.

So I just always incorporated into the soil and then watered in.

And so now this though actually is on the backside of this blue.

It's so evading it's but that's a faded flower.

And how beautiful are they even as a faded flower on the plant can be dried.

So this is the dried pink one here with some green Tengiz and the pink and then this is the dried purple and I love it when they take on them this kind of magenta, kind of zactly burgundy color highlights those crops of Cohen and a cut of hydrangea will probably only last maybe three days inside.

They are very popular as a cut wedding flower kind of thing.

So they're really nice.

And we'll talk about the panicle or these later summer flowering ones the next round.

Okay, so stay tuned.

Those are so pretty gosh, I mean, they're pretty enough just to carry by themselves, like you said at a wedding that looks like a bouquet that a bridesmaid would walk down the aisle with so very pretty.

Okay, let's go to a question.

Let's see.

Karen.

Is there one that you are just crazy about?

How about prune pruning time?

We'll talk about that one.

Yeah, okay.

Burton runs wrote in my time plant has flowered and the leaves are all but gone.

Can I prune it down to about one or two inches to rejuvenate it?

So will that work?

Yes, if it's still alive, so this is one a pretty quick answer of yes, if it's still alive, sure, go ahead and prune it back.

Time doesn't like really wet or a lot of excessive moisture.

But if we go dry again and you're trying to flush out new growth, you will want to water once a week just to help with that energy to use that.

Let's do one more since that was kind of a short one.

Let's do 243 This one is Connie Whelan.

This is about potatoes.

This one is really interesting.

She's got some yukon gold potato plants and wants to know can you tell them what the little balls on the foliage of them are?

We've planted russets in the past but have never seen these on the plants.

They are new to us.

How cool thank you for sending that in.

Actually that is the fruit of the tomato the potato plant so that even though they look like tomatoes, it is the fruit of the potato and they are both in the nightshade so on ACA family so that's why they look similar.

The big difference is that food is toxic.

So Oh, keep that in mind.

Long days and cooler temperatures help to bring this about to the flower to form the fruit.

So I don't know that we've really had cool temperatures.

But oddly enough, the Yukon Gold is one variety that tends to fruit more heavily.

So it's kind of funny what you find.

I always like to reference a university websites with trying to look up stuff about about these fruits and one university said, hey, it could be kind of fun to let those fruits mature and harvest the seed and plant them in the house next year to get him a start.

And then Iowa State University says, No, there's no significant value for the homeowner.

So, you know, either cut them off and check them or you know, give it a try.

Either way, you give it a shot.

That's that was really interesting.

I thought for sure.

When I read it, it was going to be something insect related.

a God thing.

And then when it was like, oh, yeah, those are just the fruits.

Interesting.

You never know what you're gonna see.

Lucky.

Yes.

Okay, Ella, we're back to you.

Okay, so, right now, the last hydrangea to bloom are the panicle hydrangeas.

And they're called a panicle, because that's the shape of the Bloom is kind of like a cone.

And what's interesting about them is that they bloom on new woods.

So in the spring, they can be cut back to about any size.

And it's interesting in that they have two different kinds of flowers.

They have the sterile flower with the four little petals.

But then inside here we can see the fertile flowers.

And this particular variety might be one like Pink Diamond, white diamonds, tar diva.

These are really excellent for pollinators, you'll see all kinds of wasps, at bumblebees, honey bees, all different kinds of pollinating even some soldier beetles and different things on these hydrangeas with these fertile flowers.

And so these little balls here are going to open up and you can see the stamens and, and such.

So it's really interesting, but they've developed through different hybridizations, these large panicles that are just all sterile flowers.

And so you can see here that this one is, again, this was the one that's as big as your head, bigger than your hand.

And the it flowers white, this one might be like vanilla strawberry, that's the name of a taller variety.

And then as the flower ages, it gets the final show that pink tones to it.

And it it just is is really, really interesting.

So at my house, you can see full sun makes a big difference.

So this is the neighbors, this is my this is the one that unfortunately, I'm going to have to move because it's in too much shade.

And it's not even going to bloom this year.

Plant different conditions.

So one that was interesting is is lime light or little lime.

And you can see that it really does have a much greener appearance.

And then of course some are very early flowering, this is one this is quick fire that I have.

And so the flowers are already aging out and it's made some seeds.

So this was, you know, these aren't going to open anymore.

This is just seed that's formed from the pollinator activity and such.

So these hydrangeas are really nice.

Once the flowers start to look bad, you know, maybe they're starting to turn brown, maybe the weight has broken them or something, you can cut them off, it doesn't really matter.

I do like to leave mine through the winter.

So I really do most of my trimming.

So with these, you don't, the only thing you would really do is cut off the spent flower.

You don't really cut them back because they bloom on can you talk a little bit more about that old wood versus new wood and kind of just Yeah, so with these different hydro branches, you're going to see that they have buds along the leaf axles here and Most of these flowers always are on the terminal on the, you know, the end of the branch.

And so if this had been cut back, then there might be two smaller blooms.

But this one, it takes the whole summer for that flower primordia to develop inside the ends of these branches, where this during the summer down, lower down, there are buds that already have that primordia in there.

And so these are the ones on old woods.

So if you cut these back, you cut off the potential flowers, these are the ones that bloom early on in usually by the middle, late June.

And then there's a second flush of flowers that we're seeing in September and October.

And you have a good trick if if folks don't know which one they have at home, just look for those buds is that a good way to the trick is is really the leaf, the size of the leaf and the the the flower shapes so this is more of a bomb shape or you can have a flat lace cap, kind of look where these always are going to be cone shaped.

When I always feel like the the leaves are just so much leathery.

Yeah.

macrophylla type compared to the panel, that's a big difference.

That's a really big difference.

They really have to be mulch.

These types need winter protection, or the buds die back, the flowers are lost, and you just have this big green bush.

And so actually, I have a friend who refers to these as endless bummers.

Until I dug mine out.

I called mine endless disappointment and I dug out my endless summer and planted this drum planted the newer variety bloom struck and I'm very happy, it's supposedly has better hardiness for the buds.

I mean, they're always coming out with new ones, you need to research them.

There's some hydrangeas in my neighborhood, 12 feet tall, I mean, oh, they're just humongous.

And then, of course, you know, the name kind of suggests it, we've got the limelight, but then we have the little lime, or we have quick fire, and we have little quick fire or there's some new ones.

Lots of proven winner hide ranches.

So just pay attention to what you're buying and make sure it's growing.

Make sure that these guys like some afternoon shade.

And these guys love to have full day sign.

Okay.

Make sure you read those tags.

All right.

Thank you.

That was incredible.

All right, we're going back to you, Karen.

Let's do the rooting hormone question.

This is from Anna Joe mounts.

Should a root stimulator only be used during the original planting or transplanting?

Or can it be beneficial with later applications?

Great question at Sure.

A root stimulator is very helpful in that initial planting because it is going to minimize transplant shock help with root development, just a little bit of fertility.

Honestly, after the plants taken off and doing fine.

No point, root stimulator isn't cheap.

So I would say unless the plant is stressed out or having some issues, there's there's really no need to use it later on.

All right.

Let's see.

We've got a question about moles for Ella This is from Peggy.

Over the winter, some critters made a mess of parts of my yard.

There's evidence of extensive tunneling with large mounds of dirt here and there.

Many of these channelings run alongside landscaping, timber or concrete walk others just randomly in the yard.

There are lots of them.

This doesn't look like the way mold tunneling usually looks.

Can you tell me what's going on with all this digging and what I can do to make it stop?

And I'm listening because I have the same issue at my house.

During the really hot, dry spell, I hardly saw any mold damage in my yard.

But now that we've had rain, I'm getting that tunneling and stuff and the thing about walls is that they are not, they do not hibernate like ground squirrels.

So little chipmunks do kind of go into a hibernation but most don't.

They might not be as active but they do have some deeper underground tunnels.

But those meandering tunnels that you see out in the yard, those are feeding tunnels and they'll usually only use them once.

And that's what's so infuriating about them.

But they're also just right Get below the surface where the ground is loosest and and they're able to tunnel through and that's where they're looking for.

Grubs, worms, grubs, seagulls, beetles, whatever they can, they can eat.

And when they hit that concrete line, or that timber line or whatever, they, they're just gonna go right along it till they, you know, there's a place to branch out.

So I'm convinced that she has moles and that they were just active in the spring.

So mold control.

They're an animal and the, there's different kinds of baits that they have now that that that they have to consume.

And so they have some kind of like little worms that have a chemical in them that would poison them.

So that's one way to kill them.

And you need to follow the labeled instructions and how to best bait their tunnels and such.

Then there's the different traps that actually physically impale the moles, you know, that you can set and whether it's his scissors trap or the guillotine type.

Again, oh, actually, I was gonna say years like struggling to get through this far.

Yeah, I, I, we want to gone we just can't kill them.

Yes.

Now, some people have excellent Bulldogs that the dog will just wait out there and watch.

And then you know, and you can do that too.

They're most active earlier in the morning and later in the evening, and you can watch for them.

And then there are deterrence, that maybe don't necessarily kill the moles.

But that would be like the castor oil products that are in granules that you could spread out.

They don't really like that.

There are some Sonic devices.

I have not really had success with those, but supposedly make it inhospitable for the mold to want to stick around.

The thing is, by this time of year, there's not one mole, there's a whole family of moles and the mom she kicks them out right away.

So they're all on their own out there trying to make their yard your lawn.

So yeah, so those are some of the things I have used some of the poison control products.

I add some of the traps and usually I just just look the other way.

Okay, we've got about three minutes left camera going back to you.

This is from Gianna rose IK.

She wants to know, some good house plants for dark rooms.

Yeah, great question.

The thing with houseplants just give me a short little list of some plants that are low light, peace lilies, Snake plants, which also sands avaria, philodendrons postdose, the heartleaf philodendron, Chinese evergreen and spider plants are some kind of readily available easy to grow plants.

The thing is, depending on how dark your room is, it might just be too dark.

So thinking about trying so easy to grow plants, but maybe have a rotation.

So you have to Spider plants and swap them out and put one where it's happier and then take one into the room where you really want it that there's not adequate light.

The other thing to think about is a grow light.

And I got a cool one that's on a little bit of a pedestal and then has arms that I have because I've my living rooms the north side of the house and it's it's always dark and there's a roof extending over.

So try and try and those ideas of some easy to grow plants, but maybe either rotate them from time to time, or trying to grow light because even even the low light plants if it's just too dark in that room are not going to thrive.

Right and that happens to me I have a plant prison their winter quarters where they have to go and just survive, make.

And then in the spring they once the temperatures moderate I take them back outside.

They really love it.

That's when I fertilize them and then I just feel so bad when they have to come back in.

I should get some more lighting.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

We all need more lighting.

We've got about a minute and 30 left.

I would love to hear about how your yards are doing this year.

How are your flowers holding up?

Oh gosh, what a summer you know, between some bugs and the drought and all I was doing was watering but right now I'm doing a lot of cleanup.

Clean up my day lilies taking off the dead leaves this Dems making them look better cutting off spent flowers, especially for my butterfly bushes, because I want to get good blooming for this last part of the summer and full blooms.

And then oh, man, I have a horrible problem with chickweed in my yard.

So I've actually put a preemergent down already, because it germinates in the fall.

And then drives me nuts next spring.

So I'm trying this year to get a handle on that in the yard and reduce the presence of that weed.

Oh, and tell him about your cricket.

Oh, you remembered Okay, cricket time.

Okay, this is crazy.

Every year.

I'm always trying to determine when a frost is going to be and so it's it's been years I always have the cricket, cricket thing of you know, it's kind of like the woolly worm.

So when I get a cricket in the garage, typically it's six weeks till we get a frost.

Oh my gosh, I've already had a cricket in the garage.

So six weeks, so Septate well, when it was just last week, so September 21.

And I'm like, is this gonna be like spring or spring?

We were we were pretty rocky in the springtime with cold temps and we're a little scared.

We do stuff.

And so I'm really worried about fall.

Boy, we'll have to see if your prediction comes true.

Well, let me not, you know, my plans to go to prison.

Thank you ladies so much for coming.

I really appreciate it.

We're out of time.

Thank you so much for watching.

Got a question.

Send it in your garden@gmail.com We'll see you next time.

Good night.