Unknown: Hi, and thanks for joining us for another edition of mid American gardener.

I'm your host Tinisha Spain.

And with me today are two of our panelists who are ready to answer your questions and also show you some of the show and skills that they brought today.

So let's have them introduce themselves and we'll get started.

So Jen, we'll start with you.

Tell us a little bit about you, and where we can find you outside.

Well, you can find me online at grounded and growing dot com I'm a horticulturalist and right now you can find me out in the garden picking cucumbers.

It seems to be all I do these days is pick cucumbers.

A whole lot of the rest of my garden is a disaster this year, but the cucumbers are doing great.

That sounds like over here.

We're doing the zucchini.

So I'm I bake six loaves of zucchini bread yesterday, and I've just been giving them away.

So we're in that phase where we're just like, please take please take.

All right, Sarah, tell us about you.

Hi, I'm Sarah Vogel.

I'm the horticulture educator for DeWitt Macon and Piatt counties for Illinois Extension.

And you can typically find me chasing kids around the yard and occasionally playing in the flowers and vegetables.

I'd really like to get out in the woods when i when i can to.

Excellent.

She's going to be taking a lot of the tree questions that we have on the list today.

So as promised, Shawn towels are always the first step.

So Jen, you've got a few things.

Go and show us your first.

This first show and tell this is a clematis, believe it or not, it's a late blooming clematis, it just it blooms a little bit earlier in the summer.

But this is the time of year that it really is in its glory, this cultivars called Mrs. Robert bryden.

And it looks very different from most of those spring blooming clematis that we're used to.

I love that it's I planted it specifically because it isn't Late Bloomer.

So this time of year, everything just looks kind of tired, it's good to have something new and fresh to look at.

And this is just covered in pollinating insects this time of year.

So I think they're happy with it, too.

And it's not as finicky as some clematis can be super finicky on when you prune it and how you prune it.

This one is just cut back last year's growth, and it comes back.

So vigorously.

I had to actually hack capital that out this year, because it was just doing almost too well.

And you can't even tell now.

Now does it grow just like the other varieties of clematis where it sort of vines and it does vine, but it doesn't have those tendrils, or the leaves that kind of grab on as tightly as some of the other clematis.

And the vines are a little bit thicker.

They're just they're not as wirey tell, by the way, it's sitting up, I never would have guessed that that's what that was.

This is just kind of how the flowers are born.

They're kind of on these long stocks.

And so they love a really neat, attractive area look to them.

So they're presented totally different.

They're not they don't recede or anything.

So you'll see sometimes sweet autumn clematis is of late bloomer, and that's when we don't advise people plant because it's so invasive.

It recedes like crazy.

It's really beautiful.

And it smells nice, but don't plant that one.

But this one's really nice to have and it's blue to you don't see many blue flowers.

I like that.

very dainty, very dainty.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, so Sarah, we're going to go to you.

You talked a little bit about, you know, this summer with storms and drought and lots of rain and just normal wear and tear.

And so we need to be taking, finding out how the health of our trees is this time of year or any time really.

So you're going to talk to us about assessing our tree health and what knowing what we need to do to look for damage in our backyards.

Right.

So you know, anytime is a good time to kind of go out and assess the trees in your yard or maybe your neighborhood to kind of get a feel for what is out there.

In terms of different things.

Just starting in your own yard.

Summer is a great time to kind of take in the overall health of a tree you have most of the tree should be leafed out by now.

So when he dead branches are going to be very apparent.

And you can look into then having those pruned or pruning those yourself with proper techniques, hopefully, but just getting out and visually inspecting your tree.

You maybe start from the ground up.

Oftentimes we think about the full agenda tree and what the leaves look like but the branches look like but really starting from the ground up looking at the root color of a tree.

Looking for any you know again summer is when our insect populations are up when any fungal grow Maybe active.

So start from the ground up, look at the root flare, any holes or cracks or maybe spots where it's decayed.

And think about what may need to happen if there's any serious problems for that.

Maybe move up a little bit, look with the rest of the trunk, any swellings, any cavities, any soft wood or holes again, and then then move on to the canopy.

That's the part that would most of us enjoy, you know, it provides shade, and thereby recreation.

So again, look for those dead or dying branches that hang low, or any places where branches have maybe crossed and rub together, creating wounds that would then invite pests and pathogens.

Maybe you can see, well, in those summer or winter, when leaves are gone from deciduous trees were weak, weakly attached, or co dominant branches have grown together and have what we have termed included bark that causes for a weak spot in in the tree and can blow over in a storm that will be one place that that is a V shaped branch union is a place where branches have grown together and can be a weak spot in high winds, and easily break.

And then of course, your leaf problems user the things that we most often get, I get out most often get questions about what's the spot on my leaf?

Or what are these bumps on my leaves or these holes in my leaves.

So anything that looks looks out of the ordinary to you, whether it's curling, you know, the foliage is curling, whether there's spots, or yellowing, things like that, but just really get out in summertime.

And I think assess, look, look around, look for anywhere from the root flare up, look for girdling roots, you know, a lot of things reside, a lot of issues with trees can reside below the soil where we really can't see them until they should start to show symptoms.

And unfortunately, trees can take a really, really long time even years to show symptoms of things like that.

Awesome.

And so we've got lots of questions coming up later in the show from viewers about their trees.

And so we'll have Sarah answer those.

But first, we're gonna go back to Jim, for another show and tell item, what do you got this time?

Okay, well, I mentioned that I've been picking a lot of cucumbers.

And before anybody assumes that my garden is not without its problems and problems caused by the user.

This is what a bunch of my cucumbers look like.

And you might wonder why you see these in the garden.

This is a sign that the flower, the original flower was incompletely pollinated.

So something happened at pollination time that it didn't fill out, you didn't get enough pollen down into all of the ovvio that would form seeds.

And so we see that when there's not a lot of insect activity, because cucumbers require insects visit the same flower somewhere between like nine and 15 times in order to produce a cucumber.

But it also can happen because of weather.

And so I think just based on like the timing of when this was a flower was when it was so hot.

And you were describing how you were out in the garden told me a segment and about ready to die.

I think my cucumber flowers were about ready to die too.

So when it's dry like that they just cannot pollinate well.

And so I have just like a little segment of my abundant cucumbers that look like that.

So it's not uncommon to see that sort of thing during hot dry weather.

Now will that affect flavor?

Will you eat that one?

Does it affect how it tastes or anything it doesn't it doesn't seem to in the varieties that I planted this year.

I have had a sometimes depending on the variety, dry weather will make cucumbers really bitter.

And I've had I've tried some over the years there was one year I had a white skinned heirloom variety and that was just bitter no matter what I did no matter how much I watered it.

And I was like well, that's probably why no one grows it anymore.

Never heard of it.

But making sure that things are well watered even through the hot weather is advisable and things can dry out really quickly even though we've had so much rain last week too.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Keeping with our tree thing with Sarah, we're going to go to question 61 this is from Anne Robertson.

She writes in I was just doing some major waiting around my tree.

When I removed some of the bushy weeds that were pressing against the trunk I found what appears to be SAP draining out of a small hole.

At first I thought it was just moisture that had been retained against the bark where the shrubs had been leaning, but it hasn't gotten better.

So sounds like she's describing a wound.

Sarah what what advice would Do you have for her.

So there are some things that can cause this kind of black stain, look on bark, there are some biotic disorders.

For instance, bacterial wet wood is something that affects a few species.

However, without knowing more about that, you may want to send in a sample to the University of Illinois plant clinic for more accurate diagnosis on that, or this might be a good opportunity to bring up competition between species.

So oftentimes, when we plant other plants right up against trees, we don't get enough really good circulation around there, we have to keep in mind that any plants that are next to each other, well, first of all that tree roots extend three to five times beyond the canopy of a tree.

So though most people may think that a tree looks underground, like what it does above ground actually looks more like a great big pancake, and most tree roots are in the first 12 to 18 inches of soil.

So anything you plant around there, and that's a big area will be in competition for the same moisture and nutrients as those tree roots.

So something to keep in mind is using native species of trees, they're often more well suited to our sites, to our soils, and things of that nature, you might also get a soil test to see if there's any nutrient deficiencies that might need to address.

Maybe it's as simple as you know, using some fertilizer, though, I would look further into a diagnosis from the plant clinic.

Okay, awesome, great advice.

All right, Denver, and go back to you for your last show until I don't sure another show Intel of things going wrong in my garden.

This is a bell pepper and it looks really nice.

It's starting to get ripe until you look at the end.

And you might wonder what's wrong.

And we're used to talking about blossoming Rotten Tomatoes all the time.

But a lot of people don't realize that happens and other vegetables too, like peppers.

And so what it is, is it's a it's a calcium deficiency.

These are tomato, these are peppers being grown in a container is not necessarily a true calcium deficiency is calcium has to travel with water.

So what happened is that I mistakenly thought we had plenty of rain the other day, certainly I don't need to water my my pot of peppers tonight.

And I skipped a day and it was it was a lot hotter, and it dried out a lot quicker than I thought.

And if that pepper is in its right growth growth stage where there's a lot of cell growth and it needs calcium to to grow.

And it's not there, it dies.

So that's what happened.

It's not all it's only a handful of peppers on the plants, but it's all ones that are in the same actively growing stage.

So the solution is to water and make sure that you don't have big swings and dryness and wetness.

That's tough too.

Especially you know, everyone's busy.

It's the end of the summer.

Just making yourself go out there and water and I'm like you if I see it rain and there's rain in the forecast, I'm like skip day.

So it says good to go.

One thing that I think we all get ourselves into, but good to know that just keeping that even watering pattern, even watering pattern will help.

Yeah, awesome.

Okay, we're going back to Sarah more tree talk.

This is going to be Question number 63.

So we've all we're all familiar with the emerald ash borer.

So Anna writes in, I'm having two mature mountain ash trees removed that are deteriorating rapidly due to due to bores.

Sometimes I have the wood chip for mulching purpose purposes.

Is it not advisable to produce mulch from the ash trees due to the bores, since it would be used at the base of other trees and shrubs in my garden?

Thank you for your advice.

So what do you what do you say here?

Well, we we definitely encourage the use of mulch, you know, both in the vege garden, the flower garden around trees, you know, there's lots of benefits of mulch, you suppress your weeds you help moisture retention, you're adding organic matter back into the soil.

However, with emerald ash for the most recent studies that I am aware of, say that if mulch chips, if wood if ash wood is chipped down to an inch size wood that there has been no proven Return of the insect or pupi or larva.

However, in four inch pieces that there they have found eaab youth and adults.

So if you can absolutely guarantee that you can get smaller have pieces that you aren't going to allow this pest to persist.

By all means, however, I think erring on the side of caution with that, and just taking it to the local composting facility and getting it out, getting it taken care of mulch down into into compost or whatever the case is, would probably the safest.

Wild.

So those three inches I mean, are very important in whether or not you perpetuate this thing in your area.

Right.

Right.

And again, I think erring on the side of caution, there is probably the best recommendation.

Great advice.

All right, Jen, we're gonna back to you 64 DJ, this is a weed ID question.

Coleen Sherry writes in this grows every year, and I do like the little pods, they have a little pee in them.

And they stay green.

And she wants to know what this particular plant is called.

I was really surprised and kind of happy to see the picture of this.

This brought back a lot of memories.

This is the common name is Chinese Lantern, and happens to be one of the first perennials I ever started from seed.

And I didn't really know what I was doing.

This is a plant that is poisonous.

And it's the berry inside is poisonous until it's right.

But after that potentially birds could eat it and spread it far and wide.

What I made the mistake of when I started this plant from seed is I thought I know that it would just stay in one spot and I planted it that I was still living at home.

This is like ages ago.

And I planted it in one spot.

And then it was everywhere.

And so that may be why she's experiencing it as a weed.

And that's something she planted on purpose.

And I remember getting in lots of trouble with my dad over this one.

And if you look this plant up, you'll find instructions on how to grow it and how to kill it.

So it's one of those that you have to kind of weigh your options of what you really want.

And where you put it.

If you put it somewhere where you don't mind it filling in and taking over them.

That's probably really good.

It spreads with like kind of some underground runners, but it makes it really pretty.

Those green pods that she had in the picture attached pictures actually turned bright orange and they make a nice dry flower.

So if that's something that interests you, and there they are just something a little a little different to look at.

But definitely I wouldn't use some caution with pets and kids because of the poisonous nature.

It's in the Nightshade family.

So related to tomatoes and peppers.

So that's where the poisonous part comes from.

Okay, all right, Sarah, what do you this is question 74.

This is from Kim, I'm sorry, Jim and Carrie Christo.

Hello, we're having some issues with our younger Japanese maple tree, it did not bloom out and most of the branches are bare, we have another Japanese maple on our front yard.

And it looks fine.

I'm hoping that these pictures come through and you're able to see the status of the tree now.

Thanks so much.

We love the show.

So after looking at the pictures, what is your recommendation?

So Well, I should start out by saying that trees in urban environments like our yards and parks and street trees like that really get the short end of the stick, they typically live, you know, half to a third of their actual genetic lifespan.

And that is not typically due to biotic stuff like bacteria and fungus.

You know, diseases like that, it's often due to environmental conditions.

So without knowing more about the the site that that tree was in and how it was when and how it was installed and established.

There could have it could have been planted slightly too deeply, which is a very, very common problem and can again take years to show symptoms.

It could have a girdling root below the soil surface that you can't see, that can cause essentially a girdling root chokes out the vascular system of that tree.

So then you'll start to see branches die back and so on.

But a lot of again, landscape tree problems, I think that the IRSA says something like 70 to 90% of three failures are a result of these environmental conditions.

So doing things like and from the pictures that I saw, it looks like that tree is not coming back.

You're welcome to wait or fertilize and try I would suggest if you're going to fertilize wait until after the leaf what leaves remain drop that you can try and see what comes out next year if anything.

Um but if you do end up having to replace it.

Again, I do encourage the use of native species.

I think Japanese may not maples are beautiful and have their place in our landscape but installing correctly so we're planting at the right depth.

Using a multi ring to kind of protect against, you know, root damage.

Making sure mulch rings can also help keep our mower decks away from the the trunk of trees, making sure we're watering adequately for the first several years of a tree's life.

Because drought stress takes again a years and years to show symptoms.

And then using proper techniques like you know, pruning at the right time pruning correctly at the branch color, fertilizing and planting at the right time, being very aware of our lawn regimens in terms of fertilization or broadleaf control.

Sometimes, especially during drought stress conditions, those can negatively affect the health of a tree as well.

So just some things to keep in mind.

Great.

Thank you so much.

All right, Jen, we're going to you with a houseplant question.

We haven't had a whole lot of these in the summer.

It's all been gardening.

So this is kind of refreshing.

This is from Linda mcglothlin.

And she says my Jade plant has grown so much that I'm afraid that the pot will tip over soon.

Should I cut back some of the branches or just report it.

In a shallower wider pot.

I already have one branch propped up with a tall plastic fork, which I do, which is hilarious, you just look for anything.

She says the fork will snap if the branch gets much heavier.

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one that uses plastic cutlery.

So that's no thumbs up there.

I the pictures of this fan, I would say that it probably does need to be pruned.

And probably part of the reason that she's using having to prop up the branches because they're getting some heavy is that she hasn't pruned it along the way.

And so as those Jade gets really long and scraggly, it's gonna get heavy.

And if you can encourage branching by pruning right above where the leaves where a set of leaves comes out, you will encourage branching kind of like pinching moms out if you don't do that out my garden, but just kind of to maintain a more of a branch structure.

Yeah, we're getting kind of in past when we typically would replant house plants, usually that's more of a springtime activity, because now we're kind of slowing down growth and getting into most houseplants kind of pause over the winter and don't do much growth.

If she got into a situation where the thing fell over and it broke or whatever, and she had to report it, then sure you're not going to kill it.

But if she can, can give it a little trim and hold out hold off on reporting it till the spring that probably would breathe some new life into it.

And if she because if it's if it's in a situation where it's you're gonna have branches breaking anyway, I would go ahead and prune it.

And that does kind of encourage growth that that you don't necessarily want in the fall and going into winter.

But sometimes you just can't avoid it.

And if it's in such a fragile state that she can't even move it I would prune the most unstable branches and then I would also propagate them and give them to friends.

Absolutely.

Jade is really easy to propagate as long as you just put the cuttings dry off for a few days.

Awesome, great device.

Okay, Sarah, this will probably be our last question number 76.

This is Michelle.

She writes in and says, Hi, I have a beautiful tall oak tree and I think the roots are lifting our sidewalk.

I really don't want the city to take her down her shade and shelter is so important to our van.

Right on.

My question is what can I do to stop the lifting of the sidewalk?

You know, she's asking about cutting through routes or maybe using a route sealer product.

And this is something I remember seeing in my hometown all over the place.

What do you do when the sidewalk starts to lift?

I mean we loved riding our bikes over it, but I'm sure it's not great for the city or for the tree.

Yeah, yeah, you can do some sweet jumps on Absolutely.

So I encourage that practice.

So you know unfortunately our Boulevard trees you know the area between the sidewalk and in the street, they already have restricted route space which is going to negatively you know impact their health and that you know, street trees are planted for that reason to provide shade, you know, to add back, you know, some some green to our cities.

However, that's kind of the nature of the beast, right, the arteries need to grow.

And so as their roots expand, they are going to possibly go through a pipe in your house or possibly lift the sidewalk, possibly grow to a size that you did not at first realize that mature size was going to be and so yeah, sure you could cut the roots but realize you are cutting off part of the vascular system.

Have that tree, you know, the roots are exactly what tries to take up the moisture and nutrients from the soil.

And so to inhibit that, you're going to negatively negatively affect that tree.

And then up above, you'll see the result.

And dead branches that may fall on that van that you prize.

So much.

And in terms of pruning page or any of those products, I really don't recommend the use of those.

Often, if we cut in the right place, whether it's a branch or a route, if we are pruning in the correct place.

plants have hormones that help them to seal we say that trees don't heal, they seal right today well off decay from the rest of the tree.

But to use one of those products can often seal in moisture, and again, create that damp, dark environment that some pests and pathogens prefer.

So, you know, if the city is planning on taking it down, maybe that's because it's time for it to go.

Unfortunately, hopefully the city has some kind of a schedule in which I know most cities have a tree ordinance and things of that nature, that they'll come back and replace it in some amount of time to sorry, it's may not be the answer that you want, but it's the answer that we have.

Sarah, thank you so much for that answer.

And I want to thank both of you for being on the show today and bringing your time and talents and thank you so much for watching and we will see you next time.

Good night.