- Hi, thanks for joining us for The Family Plot, Gardening in the Mid- South, I'm Chris Cooper.

Blackberries like to climb.

Today we're going to build a blackberry trellis.

Also, you can grow vegetables in your kitchen with hydroponics.

We're going to go over the basics.

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.

[cheerful country music] - Welcome to The Family Plot, I'm Chris Cooper.

Joining me today is Mr. D., and Stephan Leonard will be joining us later.

Mr. D., it is a windy day out here today, don't you think?

- It is a blustery day, as Winnie the Pooh would say.

Definitely blustery out.

- It feels good though.

- Yeah, it does.

Feels real good.

- Now, we have our blackberries here.

And I understand you're gonna make a trellis for the blackberries to climb, right?

- That's right.

They're starting to run a little bit on us, and we're gonna give 'em somewhere to go.

We're gonna give 'em somewhere to go.

- So where do we start with that?

- Yep, let's do that.

What we're gonna do is we're gonna use a, this is what I've got in my yard, I've got, we've got T-posts, and a livestock panel.

So they're not, they're alive.

They're livestock I guess, right?

So we're gonna put a post on each end.

Raise it as high as we can.

Two posts in the middle so, because there's gonna be quite a bit of weight on it when these blackberries get full grown.

And we don't want it to blow over.

So we'll have four posts and 16 foot livestock panel.

We'll be in good shape.

All right, ready to get to it?

- Let's get to it.

- Okay, I'm gonna start.

The first post will kinda determine our starting point, and then we will measure, we'll do a little measuring from that point on.

As tall as this post is, I've learned that instead of setting the post up like this and trying to get the post driver on it, it's better to do it, put the post driver on it first.

- Smart.

Yeah, that'd be hard to reach way up there.

- Hope I can reach it.

Now we got it up here.

So I want it about four inches off of where the plants sit.

I'd rather get it a little bit too far off than not enough.

I wanna make sure the posts are all turned the same way.

And I think that's gonna do it.

I'm only gonna put it in the ground to, to that anchor point right there.

We need a tall guy here.

- Yeah, I know.

Need me to hold it?

- You got it?

- Yeah, I got it.

- Okay, we got it in enough, I wanna make sure I'm kinda going straight (chuckles).

- Whoa, look at that!

- How 'bout that?

- Look at that.

Oh, leaning over a little bit.

- All right.

- All right.

Good stuff.

- Take it again.

- Take it again.

- Need to do a little bit with that.

Still needs to go that way a little bit.

- Yeah, this way.

- We have another tool that's gonna help us on the leveling when we mount the livestock panel on it, we can adjust it just a little bit if it needs it, but let's see how close we are.

About the same, it still wants to go that direction.

So we'll need to pull it over a little bit when we, when we hook the livestock panel to it.

We need to go 16 feet.

Sixteen feet over here.

That's about where I want it.

- Got it.

- Yeah.

Let's see here.

Perfect there.

- Let me watch this one.

- Ah.

Okay.

- (Chris) I think that did it.

- Okay, let's do string.

Okay, the string is a fencing technique to make sure all the posts are in line.

If you're building a fence, you'll go to your corners, you know, and put your posts up, and put your string, and then measure off the distance between the posts.

It basically, I'm putting up a fence right here, is what I'm doing.

- (Chris) I've seen guys for the fencing company do the same thing.

- Okay.

- Trusted knot.

- Now, we can, we need to put the other two in here, so let's see what it looks like with my tape measure.

Got four posts, but we're gonna have three spaces, right?

Let's go five two.

I'm gonna go 11 two.

(laughing) - How about that?

Little change in your pocket, huh?

- (Mike) I learned that trick from a golfer I saw on TV one time.

- Wanna start at this one?

Five two, right?

- Five two.

Five foot two.

- (Chris) Get it?

- (Mr. D.) Now I'm gonna take my quarter back.

- (Chris) Yeah (chuckles).

Oh, I think that's it.

- Okay.

Good.

- You get it?

- About right.

Don't run off with my quarter now, buddy.

- I'll try not to go too far with it.

- All right.

Hard work's done.

Okay.

- Okay.

- Come all the way up.

Now hang it right there.

But these are standard T-post fasteners.

It's a pretty strong gauge of wire, and it's, again, designed to hold livestock, so it ought to be able to hold this blackberry.

So I'm gonna hang one here.

And then we'll go down to the other end and hang the other and arrange the blackberries, and then we'll, we'll try to get the rest.

- (Chris) Gotcha.

- Perfect fit.

- (Chris) How about that.

(chuckles) How about that.

- You can make it fit.

These are the two hardest ones, by the way.

- (Chris) The first two, right?

- Uh-huh.

Think I was using the wrong pliers?

- (Chris) Oh man.

- These are called fencing pliers.

- (Chris) Oh, are they?

- For a reason, I guess.

Okay, these.

These wires, these fasteners, are pre-bent to fit on the T-post and you can use 'em for any kind of fencing.

You can use it for American wire.

And with these pliers you just grab it like that right there.

Grab the loop, and then I'm gonna twist the pliers and it's gonna put a bend in that wire.

And then I'll come to the other side, and using the side of my pliers, I'm gonna grab that and just bend it down.

Crimp it down.

And that's secure.

That's very secure.

- (Chris) All right, is that the last one?

- Last one, I think this ought to do the trick.

Little feller on there.

One I've been looking for, anyway.

- (Chris) Oh yeah.

Oh, that looks good.

- But this, I mean, you can work under this.

Let's go ahead and, I'm gonna go ahead and give these a little help right here.

They're probably, they've been waiting for that.

- Oh yeah.

Nice fruit on there, too.

- And in just a few years, this will be one solid mass of blackberries and you'll wonder why you planted 'em.

(laughing) - Well Mr. D., we can't thank you enough for this demonstration, man.

- You're most welcome.

- This is good.

- Best of luck to you.

[gentle country music] Systemic.

- And that's usually in reference to how pesticides move through the plant.

That's what it means.

So, if you have a systemic insecticide that means that as you put it it's soluble enough in water that it can actually be taken up through the tissues of the plant and translocated throughout the plant to give that insecticidal or fungicide or whatever it is, you know, to protect that plant against the disease or the insect.

And, herbicides do that as well, you know, glyphosate, Roundup.

It translocates, so it's a systemic herbicide.

[upbeat country music] All right Stephan, let's talk a little bit about hydroponics.

- Well I appreciate you having me on the show.

- Sure, sure.

- Hydroponics is really kind of a new term that's kinda come up.

But it's a old technology that's existed for actually centuries.

But it's basically growing fruits and vegetables in a water-based system.

Whether you have a soilless media, or you just grow straight in water.

But basically hydroponics is having your roots system in water, and you're providing those basic nutrients that the plants actually need to grow.

It's a faster way to grow your items.

It's very controllable, as long as you control the pH.

You control your light.

And you can actually have it in a smaller space.

And you can actually grow those items that you want a little bit faster, and more manageable.

- That sounds pretty good, are you familiar with the hydroponic systems, Mr. D?

- I've seen a little bit of it.

I've seen hydroponic tomatoes, I saw some hydroponic strawberries in the greenhouse one time.

And it's always been very interesting.

I mean, you can grow 'em in the middle of winter.

- Oh, absolutely.

Hydroponics allows you to grow year-round, as long as you have those conditions.

You can grow outdoors, you could also grow indoors, as long as you have those conditions and you can control your conditions.

Most of the high producers grow strawberries, and what they do is they elevate their strawberries, so that way they can actually produce more, harvest more, and then they have a consistent yield and can produce more during the year.

- That's pretty good, all right, okay.

Now what is aeroponics though?

- Aeroponics is similar to hydroponics, but instead of actually having a pump system that continuously runs water, aeroponics has a timer where it mists the water onto the soil's roots and then it cuts off.

And so you're actually using a little bit less power, but you actually have the same growing power.

- Wow.

- Wow.

- I never heard of that.

- Hey, I never heard of that either.

Okay, all right.

- It's less water, too.

- Yes, less water.

- Less water, okay.

Now what's gonna be the pros and cons?

- The pros and cons.

The pros are you can control your water.

You can control your temperatures, you can control your lights.

You're basically controlling the atmosphere.

You don't have to deal with mother nature.

The cons are you have to have a power source.

And if you do not have power, you do not have anything growing once the roots get dry.

So you have to have your roots wet at all times.

- Wet, okay, right.

Wow, how about that.

Okay, now let's talk about, you said nutrient solution.

So what are we talking about there?

- Basically it's a nutrient solution that's gonna give you your basic nutrients.

You know, you need your nitrogen, your phosphorous, your potassium, but there's also six more basic ones, and then seven more additionals, 13 that you need.

So basically you have a solution that provides the key nutrients that the plants need to grow.

So you don't have to worry about if the soil's gonna provide it for you, because you're providing it for them, 'cause there is no soil.

You're putting it in the water solution and the plants uptake it into its, into its foliage.

- So, soilless media then.

You said we don't need the soil, right?

- Yeah, absolutely.

A lot of the medias that you use is really just a placeholder to keep the plants upright.

So that way it has something stable, while the roots are connected into the water pulling up those nutrients to grow.

- Well how are these plants supported most of the time?

- Most of the time you can use like a rockwool, where the roots just grow through it.

And it just absorbs, it's like a sponge.

That's how rockwool is.

Or you can have little beads, that actually just lets the roots grow through, but it holds the plant in place.

- (Mr. D.) Kinda like soil.

- Mm-hm, kinda like soil.

- How about that, okay.

Now speaking of the seeds, now, are we doing it from seed, or do they need to be, you know, transplants, or, how does that work?

- It's better to actually do it from transplants.

- Ah, from transplants.

- Yeah.

You start your plants off moreso in like a rockwool, little tray, and then you get 'em going.

Once you actually get your plants up to its first true leaf then you can transplant them into the system.

- They're pretty easy to transplant, too, when you-- - Oh, absolutely.

- don't a lot of water.

Because most times if you have 'em in the rockwool trays, you can just break the things into the cubes, and put 'em into the cups.

And then that way the roots are already going down to the moisture.

- Ah, makes sense.

- Pretty neat.

- That is pretty neat.

Now, you mentioned earlier about pH.

You know, Mr. D. and I talk a lot about pH.

- Oh, absolutely.

- Yeah.

Let's talk about pH balance.

- pH, for your system, you need to have your pH between a five and a six.

And that way, because when your system's running, you don't want your pH to be out of balance.

Even if you have those nutrients that your plants need, if your pH is off then your plants will lock out, and even if you have those nutrients they need, they will not grow.

You'll have more issues with your plants.

You have to have that perfect pH for the roots to actually uptake the nutrients and continue to grow.

- Wow, so between five and six.

- (Stephan) Between five and six.

- Interesting, okay.

Now what about sunlight though, because we need those plants to grow, right?

- Absolutely.

- We need some sunlight.

- Sunlight.

You basically have to mimic the sunlight, because if you're actually having your hydroponic system indoors, just like you guys teach us in the master gardener class, you know, you wanna have your sunlight closer so you won't have your plants tall and strangly, you know, so they won't die off.

So you have to have your certain amount of hours, depending on what you're growing.

Your lettuces, your strawberries, your tomatoes, you have to have those same amount of hours of sunlight that they need outdoors.

So you can actually control that indoors, with your grow lights.

- Well somebody learned something in the master gardener class, how about that, Mr. D.?

How about that?

(laughing) Now what about preventative maintenance?

- Preventative maintenance, for most of your hydroponic kits you want to actually dump the solutions every week, so you won't have too much of a salt build up.

Because your plants could be taking one nutrient more than another, and so that means that you have excess of that nutrient that's not being used, and if you keep on putting more nutrient solutions in, then it'll be too much of one nutrient, and that could kill off your plants.

So it's recommended each week that you actually dump it out and start over with fresh water with the perfect pH.

Each week.

Aeroponics, it's a continuous loop system where you won't have to actually worry about that until after you harvest.

- Wow.

That's pretty good, huh?

So you clean the system out.

- Clean the system out.

- Each week.

- Each week.

And refill it up with fresh water.

- Fresh water, okay.

- Mm-hm.

- Now what do you use to clean the system though, I mean?

- You actually don't.

You just have to dump it out.

- And that's it?

- Absolutely, just flush it real good, and put fresh water in there.

- Wow, okay.

What about yields, you mentioned a little bit about yields.

- Yields.

You'll have more consistent yields, because you get to control the temperature.

You get to control the sunlight, so you can basically speed up the yields, and also the conditions will be better.

For example, strawberries, you won't have those outside in the elements, so you're gonna have perfectly looking strawberries, 'cause there's nothing in there to damage them.

- Now are there certain vegetables that work better in a hydroponic system than others?

That you would recommend?

- Absolutely.

I would recommend your loose leaf lettuces, that's something that's gonna be a quick turnaround.

I would not recommend anything that grows underground.

You cannot do your radishes, you can't do your potatoes.

But anything that's gonna grow above ground you can actually do.

Tomatoes, you can do your peppers.

But your peppers may not taste like peppers, you probably won't have the heat, because you're not gonna be able to dry out and get the heat into the peppers.

So.

- Okay.

Something to think about.

All right.

Definitely wanna ask you about this, so what about any disease problems, or any insect, pest problems that might occur?

- Hydroponics is just the same.

You can actually have those same diseases that you have outdoors, but you can control those.

For example, you're not gonna have your moisture on your plants, because your leaves are not getting wet.

And so a lot of times if it's not, if it's air controlled, it'll help you out with your hydroponic system.

Circulation of air keeps your plants stronger, so you wanna have some type of fan system for circulation inside.

- Okay.

Wow.

Stephan, I appreciate that man, it's good stuff.

- No problem.

- Thank you much.

[upbeat country music] We have a birdhouse here tied by pieces of rope as you can well see.

If you look here, the rope is actually cutting into the tree.

Now, this can be very dangerous to the tree because it can weaken the tree and leave it susceptible to fungal diseases, bacterial diseases or insect pests.

So what we're gonna do here is we're going to loosen the rope.

We're gonna tie it back, and we're gonna make it just a little looser this time.

And, I'm sure the tree will definitely appreciate it.

You can see here how this rope has been cutting into the trunk of this tree.

If you're gonna decide to tie a birdhouse to a tree using a rope, make sure you check it every year just make sure you're not weakening the tree.

[upbeat country music] - Here's our Q & A session.

Stephan, you're a master gardener, you'll help us out if we get in trouble here, right?

- All right.

(laughing) - All right, here's our first viewer email.

"What are these things that suddenly "appeared in my flower bed?

"Will they harm my plants?

What should I do?"

And this is from Ms. Carol, right here in Memphis.

So, what do you all think?

I know Mr. D. knows what that is, look at him taking his glasses off, look at him.

So what is that, Mr. D.?

- I think it's a slime mold.

- (Chris) It's a slime mold.

- And there's actually a slime mold.

- (Chris) Oh, here we go.

- The name is called dog vomit.

And that looks like dog vomit slime mold.

Some of that does, but it's a fungal organism that's growing on organic matter in the mulch, and it's not hurting, it won't hurt your plants or anything, and you know, you can go out there and pick it up, or take a broom or a rake and rake it, sweep it, move it if you want to, but, it's really not causing any problems.

It's just kinda unsightly.

- It actually goes away after a little while.

You know, it's just there-- - Of course if you've got a dog, you may wanna double check and make sure it's attached to the, you know, mold, because it might be dog vomit.

(laughing) - Well yeah, that one now, I've had that one in my flower beds in the past, you know, it goes away after a while, but you know, the fungal spores are in the air.

So any time you have warm weather, high humidity, and rain fall.

- It's gonna happen.

- Yeah.

- It's gonna happen.

- (Stephan) Things get spread.

- It could spread, and that's what it does.

I just kinda leave it, it disappears, it's fine.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I have a lentenn rose, Helleborus, "planted in a container on my patio in full shade.

"The leaves are turning brown along the edges.

"Am I watering too much or not enough?

"Should I cut off the bad leaves?

"It is a new plant, I just picked it up from the local nursery this spring."

And this is from Brian right here in Memphis.

Stephan, what do you think about that?

What do you think that might be?

- I'm thinking it could be over-watering.

'Cause if she has that plant in the shade then it may not actually be wicking the excess moisture fast as she thinks it is.

Now with these higher temperatures coming our way, she might wanna pick up her watering after this is, issue is taken care of.

- All right.

Mr. D?

- I agree.

When you see, you know, that kind of injury on leaves it's either too much water or too little water.

And I would, most folks over water.

Most folks.

Most of the time with under water you'll see wilting, will go with that too.

- Yeah.

- But, I agree.

- Right, I agree with that, and the thing about it is, you know, for the most part, the leaf, it might get worse.

You know, I mean, there's still some green tissue in there, so it may still be trying to go through the photosynthetic process.

But if it, you know.

You continue to water too much or whatever, that leaf is probably gonna die and it would be best to go ahead and take it off.

Yeah, 'cause it's not serving the plant any good, you know, at that point.

So I do agree, it might be too wet.

And then of course it's in the full shade.

If you're watering it too much, yeah, and it's not gonna have enough time to kinda.

- Absorb.

- Absorb, and dry out the way it should.

So I agree with that.

So there you have it Brian, thank you for the question.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I was gone on a two day trip and came home "to find my honeydew plants like this.

"We had a lot of rain while I was gone.

Could this be from the rain, something else, or both?"

And this is from Ms. Cathy in Old Hickory.

All right.

So Mr. D., she was gone for a couple of days, came back.

It did rain.

Rain, something else, how about a combination of both?

- Yeah.

Looks very similar to the problem some of our cotton farmers see every once in a while called damping off.

Damping off.

- I didn't think about that.

Okay.

- Which is.

Soil organism, soil fungi.

Phytophthora, and pythium are a couple of the organisms that can cause that.

And if it's wet, and cool, they can, if the soil temperature is a little cooler than normal, that's more likely to be a problem.

Did we have a cool snap a couple weeks ago?

- Yeah, there was.

I think there was.

- Yeah.

- And you know, so this would.

Damping off, is that what you think?

- Damping off, I thought, 'cause it almost looked like the plant collapsed, you know, it almost looked like that to me, so I actually thought about bacterial wilt.

'Cause if you can have.

'Cause this is with honeydews, it's a melon, so I'm thinking if you have like cucumber beetles or something feeding on the plant.

You know, it actually transmits the bacterial wilt.

- Right, and you can snip the plant.

You can touch the pieces together, if there's a bacterial wilt there should be some stringing that occurs when you touch it together and pull it apart, and that'd be a good way to check that.

If it's bacterial wilt there's not much you can do about it.

If it's just damping off, warm, dry conditions are gonna be better, but the actual plants that are down are not, you know, I don't know that they're gonna survive.

- Yeah, the one plant to me that was down looked like it collapsed, you know, to me, from the picture.

- But if it's bacterial wilt you just probably need to get that out of there, and you know.

You don't want it to spread.

- Sure.

Yeah, you don't want that to spread.

All right, but yeah, just make sure you're always inspecting and examining your plants, Miss Cathy, and hope that helps you out.

All right.

So Mr. D., Stephan, we're out of time.

Thank you.

Remember, we love to hear from you.

Send us an email or a letter.

The email address is familyplot@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.

Need gardening advice?

Go online to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

There are tons of videos from the show, and links to extension publications from all over the country.

Thanks for watching, I'm Chris Cooper.

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

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]