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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Trees are beautiful, but they look awful when they're sick.

Today, we're talking about tree diseases.

Also, we'll show how to preserve the great taste of herbs all year long.

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's the Director of Landscape at the University of Memphis, and Sherri McCalla will be joining me later.

All right, Joellen, let's talk a little bit about tree diseases.

- Yes.

- And there've been a lot of diseases this year- - Yes.

- Because of the- - Cool wet spring.

- Yes.

- Cool wet weather in the spring is one of the number one causes of the increase in tree diseases.

- I can definitely believe that.

In this area?

- Mm-hm.

- We've had cool wet weather.

- Yes.

- In the spring.

- And it has been, for us personally, it's been pleasant, [Chris laughs] for people, but the trees are suffering a little bit because of it.

- Yeah, that's right.

That's right, so let's start with the first common tree disease, which is anthracnose.

- Anthracnose.

- Okay.

- This is a fungus that affects a lot of deciduous and evergreen trees.

There's different types of fungi that actually attack and cause anthracnose.

And it's different for, you know, certain trees will get certain types of the fungus that causes the anthracnose.

You want to see what it looks like?

Well, it starts with black spots in areas on the leaves, and sometimes it'll carry itself through to the stems and down the branches to the main trunk, or another main branch.

And the best thing to do is when you start seeing that, to cut it out as soon as possible, because then, and then don't put that in the compost pile.

Put that in a garbage and throw it away, because you don't want those spores to stay around, to infect the tree again.

- Right, 'cause those spores are still there on the foliage, right.

- They're still there, yes.

Yeah, high humidity also can cause anthracnose.

So that's why in the fall, sometimes, once we start getting cool weather, you'll start seeing anthracnose also on your trees.

- Yeah.

- Fungicides can work, but remember, you're talking about a tree, and it's kinda hard to spray a large tree, and I would get a professional to do it if you just really want to.

- Sure.

- But anthracnose usually doesn't affect the whole tree, unless you just don't do anything about taking out the dead parts.

And like I said, cut out the dead parts as soon as you see them, and throw away those spores so they don't keep infecting the tree, or other trees around it.

- Right, right, so practice good sanitation, right?

- Very good, and then when the leaves fall in the fall season, collect them, but don't put 'em in the compost pile, because they may be infected with that.

- Okay, all right, so that's anthracnose.

- Anthracnose.

- All right.

- Then we've got bacterial leaf scorch.

Now that's mostly of oak trees, the pin oak being the worst.

In fact, pin oaks are so bad with leaf scorch disease that we don't even recommend pin oaks anymore, because they're just so affected by this disease.

Again, it's a bacteria this time, that affects the xylem of the system of the tree, which is where the nutrients all flow up and down the tree.

- Right.

- Once the tree gets this, it's just a very slow process, and it will always take over the tree.

There's no cure for bacterial leaf scorch.

You can keep the tree as healthy as possible for as long as possible, and some people will even have a tree company come in and put antibiotics into the tree.

- Oh wow, okay.

- But that's very expensive, and has to be done all the time.

And it's just gonna slow down the inevitable, which is when this bacteria just takes over the xylem of the entire tree and will just take it out.

- Wow, and the thing about the leaves, it actually looks like it's been burned by a torch.

- Yes.

- Yeah, so bacterial leaf scorch.

- Yeah, not that the whole leaf always gets brown.

It can be just parts of the leaf that turn.

- Wow.

- And it can be different sections of the tree.

It could be a top section and a lower section, or a quarter of the tree.

It's very interesting how it affects, but it's the xylem.

It's affecting the xylem on that particular side or part of the tree.

- Yeah, which takes the water, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, up to those leaves.

How 'bout that?

- The next one is oak leaf blister.

And that's where you see these raised, it's a fungus.

And you see these raised areas that can be almost two inches in diameter, on an oak leaf.

And a lot of people say, "Oh, what is this?"

But that is what it is.

They'll become yellowish and brownish.

And there'll be a concave on the leaf.

Wet, cool springs again.

But you know, maintaining plant vigor is important with this disease, because it's cyclical.

Some years will be worse than others, depending on the weather.

It's very dependent on the weather, the cool springs.

The next thing you need to think of is when those spores are out there, you really don't treat for them.

And it rains, they'll splash spores, but they get on the buds of the tree.

And it overwinters there.

So-- - So when it leafs out- - Leafs out, then it rains- - Then they have it.

- And they spread out to the leaves, so.

- So are we talking fungal or bacteria?

- This is a fungus.

- Okay, so it's a fungus, good.

- Yeah, and sometimes It really doesn't seriously affect the tree.

Some years are worse than others, but you can do one application of chlorothalonil, and in the spring, as the buds are bursting, and it will control it better.

But still, like I said, you're talking about a tree.

- Yeah we're talking about a tree.

So again, you know, a certified arborist, if you want somebody- - Yeah, so definitely certified arborist.

- To come out and assess the plant health.

- Yeah, keep it healthy.

- Keep it healthy.

- Water it in drought.

Next, shot hole disease.

- Yeah, wow.

- Oh, my goodness.

- All those shot hole diseases, right, okay.

- These cause brown spots on the leaves, usually of the Prunus species, the plums, the cherries, the laurels.

And what happens is that, in the inside of the little hole, it turns brown.

It then dies.

- Mm-hm.

- And then you see little holes, in your leaf.

- 'Cause that tissue falls out, right, and the- - Yeah, tissue falls, and it, you've got, so that's why they, it looks like somebody shot... - Yeah, buckshot.

- Buckshot through the tree, but that's not really what it is.

Again, this is favored by wet cool weather [laughs].

It's a ongoing story, air circulation.

That's one thing about these.

If you've got a cherry tree that's in amongst a bunch of other trees, you need to make sure there's enough air movement and prune it away.

And then also the tree itself, the canopy itself, needs to have air circulation through it, so it- - Good point.

- The more air circulation you get, the less you'll have of the shot hole disease.

You can spray it, but it would be a regular spray program.

You can't just spray it once and it, 'cause all fungicides are mostly preventative, and not curative.

- That's right.

- So you have to have a program of spraying fungicide on it.

And there's a lot of places I know, that have lots of cherry trees and they want, that's their signature.

They have a company, certified arborists come in and spray regularly for this disease on these cherry trees and other plums and things like that.

- Because they will get that disease.

And again, practice good sanitation as those leaves fall, right.

- Good sanitation, yeah.

Definitely.

- All right.

- Powdery mildew.

- Yeah, saw a lot of that this year.

- Again, cool, wet springs, it's caused by.

It can kinda be a white or a grayish fungus that grows on the new growth, especially.

Dogwood trees are especially susceptible to it.

Again, wet, cool weather in the spring, and sometimes the fall, also.

Good air circulation again, 'cause you think about it, dogwood trees are in, under the shade of other trees.

- Yeah, understory trees.

- Yeah, so, you know, you've gotta have air circulation in there.

You gotta think about these things, prune 'em away from each other, make sure the dogwood has some air circulation in through the leaves, and irrigation systems that keep throwing water on the trees.

Try not to have that happen.

- Right.

- Because that's just gonna increase the chance of it getting powdery mildew.

But most importantly, get species that are resistant to it, yeah.

- Resistant, yeah, resistant varieties.

- There are resistant varieties, [Chris laughs] to a lot of these, to anthracnose and to a lot of these others, the diseases we're talking about.

But you have to look for the newer varieties that say they're resistant to some of these.

- Sure, and let's make sure we cover this, 'cause we're saying air circulation a lot.

- Yes.

- So what do we mean by that?

Why are we saying that?

- Air circulation, yeah.

You've gotta have space between your tree.

You gotta see air and light between your trees, and then in the tree, you would like, you don't want a dense canopy.

You want dappled shade.

So you want to be able to see some shade and some sun come through the tree.

- Okay.

- And that then you'll know you have enough air circulation around it, so that the leaves don't stay continually wet all the time.

- There you go, right, right.

You want those to dry out.

- You want everything to dry out.

Right, that's right.

Okay, good good.

- And the last thing we've got is cankers.

- Yeah.

- And you know what?

This is the sad part about cankers.

Cankers are mostly our fault, because it's mechanical problems that start the canker.

- I hadn't thought about it like that, you're, all right.

- Yeah, it's mostly, cankers are mostly our fault, because we've run into them with something.

- Yeah, lawnmowers, weed eaters, right.

- Something.

- Something, yeah.

- And it causes a dark section to form on the, for the wound.

- Right.

- Well, you know, some cankers can, the tree can outlive itself and close over that wound that you've created, as long as it's not too much of the percentage of the round, the base of the tree.

- Okay.

- But you know, there are some canker diseases that when they get in, it's a death sentence, and that's like hypoxylon canker, chestnut blight, cytospora.

All of those are, when they get in, there's no saving the tree, after that.

- Right, 'cause it makes it hard for the water and nutrients to get around that area, right?

- Mm-hm, yeah.

- Where that canker is, to get up to the upper canopy.

- It does, yeah.

- Ah, yeah, how 'bout that?

- And sometimes it, you'll see a canker, and then the leaves and stuff, branches will die because it's not getting the nutrients and- - Yeah, it's not getting- - Water that it needs, yeah.

- Exactly.

- But keep trees, if you've got that problem, just keep trees as healthy as you can.

- Okay, healthy as you can, right?

'Cause we want those trees that look good, not awful.

- That's right.

- All right, thank you, Joellen.

Appreciate that, good information.

[upbeat country music] - So we're looking at this crape myrtle, and guess what?

It has crape myrtle bark scales.

There's some scales here, and some up above.

Crape myrtle bark scales have piercing, sucky mouth parts.

They feed on plant sap.

So when should you treat for the crape myrtle bark scale?

Well, we're getting a little late in the season to do a systemic soil drench now, but what you can do is do a horticultural oil treatment.

It will actually smother these crape myrtle bark scales.

And then I would come back next year in the spring with a systemic drench.

The active ingredient for that systemic drench would be imidacloprid.

Please read and follow the label directions on that.

So again, crape myrtle bark scale, piercing, sucky mouth parts.

They actually feed on plant sap, which can weaken your crape myrtles.

[upbeat country music] - Hi, Ms. Sherri, so not drying herbs, but preserving herbs.

- That is correct, yes.

- That's correct, okay.

- Yes.

- So what do we need to know about preserving those herbs?

- Well, you start it out with drying.

Most people do think this is the time of the year to harvest and dry, but that's slightly incorrect, because we should actually be harvesting and doing all of this year-round, not year-round, from spring.

- Okay.

- For example, you can get two to maybe five pounds of basil from a- - That's a lot.

- One plant.

- One plant.

- If you collect it properly.

So you're supposed to keep pinching, and it gets bushy.

So I've brought an example of some basil that I did last year.

And as you can see, it's nice and dry.

- Yeah, it's real dry.

- And you want it to sound like potato chips, [Chris laughs] when it crumbles, and this is nice.

Now the stalks, I'm not too sure.

I cheated and this has been out.

So I should have, as soon as it got nice and crisp, put it up, or if there was any doubt, removed the leaves and left the stems.

- Okay.

- But one of the things that I want to talk about is, thank you, Booker.

- Yes.

- And this is one method to dry, for something that you know is going to crumble.

And you use screens.

- Okay.

- And I cheated and used a smaller screen, if Booker will tilt it for the camera.

And you can see the little black dots are the seeds, so I can collect seeds.

But if you don't know anybody that can make you some screens, then you can just use, a paper sack.

- The old paper sack, okay.

- And hang it inside.

Oh, and this also shows, I bundle using rubber bands.

As plant material dries, it shrinks.

We all know that.

If you just use a string, sometimes you go find out that you just have, everything's on the floor.

But I wanted to talk to you about pastes.

- Okay.

- We dry, it's easy.

But, we're all from the South.

We've all had dried black-eyed peas, right?

- Right, yeah, right, right.

- Right [laughs].

- And we've had fresh black-eyed peas.

- Yes, we have, uh-huh.

- And you know there's a major difference in the flavor, right?

- Right.

- Right.

So same thing for dried herbs.

- Okay.

So you can also make pastes, that preserves the flavor.

It tastes fresh.

You'd do just enough oil to cover the plant material, put it in a food processor, put it in a bag.

Now, you also want to be sure to label what you put in the bag and what quantities.

When you've put it in the freezer, lay it flat, and let it freeze.

And then you have little planks, and you can put it anywhere, 'cause let me tell you from experience.

If you put it over something, and it droops around it and freezes, you may have to thaw both items at the same time.

But when it comes time to use it, you can pull it out.

You've got a little plank.

You either break off a corner, whack it on the table, or use the whole bit.

If you like pesto, what you would do is use the oil and the amount of material required, which is usually about two cups of plant to two-thirds of oil, and put the whole thing in here.

So when you have company come over in the winter, you pop this out and you have fresh pesto.

- And there you have it.

- And they don't know any difference.

- That's right, that's right.

I like pesto too, so that's good.

- So, we're talking the paste.

There's a whole lot of methods.

You can do syrups.

You can do vinegars, salts, sugars.

So let's go.

Would y'all like to taste?

- Let's go with the vinegars.

Let's go to taste something next, yes.

- We can do that, sure you can.

- Here's three different vinegars I've used, and it's just as simple as, you put the plant material in the container, pour the vinegar over.

- Okay.

- What vinegar do you need to use?

Well, what do you like?

This one's apple cider vinegar.

And you can see it's a little cloudy.

That may be off-putting to some people.

[Chris laughs] But that's nothing other than, this still has the mother in it.

- Okay.

- The mother is what makes vinegar.

So it kinda will roll around in the bottom and, maybe it's not attractive, but it's fine.

It won't hurt you.

This one's made with white wine vinegar, and this one's made with red wine.

See how nice and clear this is.

So the white wine.

- Mm-hm.

- This is a Bloody Mary mix.

There's, I've got a book that has different recipes in it.

And this one's got cardamom and mint, and rosemary and garlic.

So I know y'all are just wanting to try it, so- - I'll try that apple cider.

- You want the apple cider, this one?

The Bloody Mary?

- Okay, I can do that.

- It does not really have, no alcohol in it.

- Okay.

- And what would you like to try?

- I'll have this one here.

- Piece of bread here.

- The Bloody Mary for you?

- Bloody Mary, yeah.

- Yeah, let me try that there.

- And so it is vinegar, so bear that in mind.

- It tastes good, though.

- And you don't have to have recipes.

You can just go with it.

It's a very forgiving method.

It makes great Christmas gifts.

And we're starting to talk about this time of year.

Yes, so- - Okay.

- So we also said salts.

So here are some examples of salts I've made.

The pink one is a rosy basil, that's kind of a red basil, 'cause you could you could use the red ruffles and stuff.

The one across the table from me is made with Himalayan pink salt.

- Pink salt.

- And I used a little bit of Tagetes lucida, which is the Texas tarragon.

And I used a little bit of just common basil.

What's in the cup is some that I did not put in the food processor.

So you can see how pretty it is.

It didn't keep the nice pink [Booker laughs] that I was hoping for, but it was a nice thought.

So it's pretty much equal parts, salt to plant material.

And this you do when it's fresh.

So it's wet.

So you put it in the toaster oven or oven for on low heat, 'til it dries and gets nice.

And then you put it in like, a coffee grinder's a great item to use, to grind up spices.

- Coffee grinder.

- Coffee grinder.

- Never would've thought about that.

- Yes, 'cause they're small.

Dedicate one to your herbs, though, if you're gonna do that.

- Otherwise, it's gonna have coffee flavor, right?

[Booker laughs] Right.

- So, if y'all wanna try that.

- I can try that.

- We can pass it around, and so, get you some tomatoes- - I know Booker likes- - Well, he's going to- - Oh, fried green tomatoes.

Let's see if he likes the red tomatoes.

- And these are an, just-- - Put it here?

- You can, or you can sprinkle it on it with your fingers, either way.

- Just put it here?

- That's a lotta salt.

You want another piece to go with it?

[laughs] - Yeah put it, I put a lotta salt, yeah.

- Course, I like salt, so.

And you can, however you would like to do it.

- Do this here.

- That is a lotta salt [laughs].

- You know, so it's the basil flavor, and if you wanted to be really fancy- - But it tastes good, though.

- Mm-hm.

- It tastes good.

- You can taste the, so the licoricey flavor is the Tagetes lucida, the Texas tarragon, which grows really well here.

- It tastes good.

- Tastes good, don't it?

- Yeah, yeah.

- I like this, though.

- And I don't know if you noticed, but I said- - Yeah.

- Did I say wines?

If I didn't, here's my, and I understand we're not supposed to drink it, [Chris and Booker laughing] but nonetheless, I found a pretty bottled wine, a nice little white wine.

You could do red wine, whatever wine you like.

And you just open it, uncork it.

And then you put whatever herbs in you think you would like.

This is Texas tarragon and basil.

I wanted you to taste those two flavors, but it's very pretty.

And trust me, it's tasty.

- We'll take your word for it.

- Okay [laughs].

- How 'bout that?

- Yes.

- Sherri, thanks for that good information, and for this demonstration.

- That was good.

- That was actually good.

- Tasted good too, I liked that, and the salt was real good.

[gentle country music] - In the summertime, the water in the hose gets very hot, especially if it's sitting out in the sun.

So if you can, leave your hose in a shady area, because once you turn it on for the first time, test it first to see if it's hot, which it is.

And then if it is, then don't plant your, don't water your plants right away.

Let it run a little bit 'til it gets cooler, [water sprays] and then water your plants.

[water sprays] And just remember, the summer heat heats the water up in your hose too.

So test it before you start watering.

[gentle country music] - All right, this is our Q & A segment, you ready?

- I'm ready.

- Great questions, so let's jump in, right?

Here's our first viewer email.

"This is a branch which fell from my oak tree.

"I thought it was broken, "but then noticed a very evenly sawed edge.

"Also, I noticed a tiny bug "in the hole inside the branch.

"I put it to the side, "and later noticed a pile of sawdust next to the branch.

"Apparently, whatever cut off the branch "was still in there working away.

"What is happening?

"Should I call my tree guys right away?

Thanks so much."

This is Judy from Memphis, Tennessee.

All right, Ms. Judy, hold on one second, right?

- Yeah.

- So this is the larva of the twig pruner, right?

Actually doing its damage from the inside out.

- He's pruning your tree.

- Yeah, so he's pruning your tree, right?

Again, doing the damage from the inside out, which is why you see the frass or the sawdust.

And they actually pack that frass and sawdust in those areas to protect it from predators.

How 'bout that?

Isn't that pretty neat?

- Yeah- - So again, the larva of a twig pruner, when it hits the ground, here's what you do.

You collect it and you throw it away.

No need to pull out any chemicals or anything like that.

Practice good sanitation.

Pick those twigs up, throw 'em away.

And of course, when the larva grows up, right, it becomes one of those long-horned beetles.

So you know, pretty much like the twig girdler.

- Yes, twig girdler.

- This is the twig pruner.

All right, so there you have it, Ms. Judy, no need to call the certified arborist.

Again, just collect those twigs.

Throw 'em in the trash.

- That's right.

- You'll be just fine, just fine.

Just a little pruning for you.

Hope that helps you out there.

Here's our next viewer email.

"I have a dwarf crape myrtle with at least four suckers "about six inches tall.

"Can I transplant crape myrtle suckers to another site?

"If I do transplant them, is one sucker enough?

Or should I plant two suckers together?"

And this is Wayne.

Guess what, Wayne?

We have somebody here who's actually transplanted- - Yes, suckers, that's right.

- Crape myrtle suckers, so, can you tell us?

- Yeah.

- One or two, or?

- Well, you know, it's up to you.

- Okay, all right.

- You can take several, you know, but one thing you need to do is don't plant them exactly together, because think about the tree when it gets larger.

See how, it'll get large in girth.

And if you put them too close together, they're gonna end up growing into each other.

So I like to just do one and separate it from the other one.

But you can do more than one.

I would, you know, dig up all four of 'em if you want to.

Some of them might or might not live, depends on how much roots you get with it.

- That's gonna be key, yeah.

You gotta get the roots- - And then you gotta keep, once you do it, you gotta keep watering it and making sure it's okay.

- Right, yeah, you definitely have to get the roots.

So were these suckers close to your crape myrtle, to the mother tree?

- Yeah, they were within- - Or were they out a little bit, - They were out a little bit in the yard.

They weren't right up next to it or anything.

- Right, right.

- Yeah.

- So yeah, it can be done.

I mean, you've done it.

- Yeah, I've done it.

- But I do know you have to, you know, make sure you get the root system.

- Some root, yeah.

- Yeah, you gotta get some of the roots outta there, you know, for this to happen.

And then you have a beautiful tree.

- Yes, that way, I have some that my father planted, and so does my sister.

Because we transplanted the suckers.

- How 'bout that?

So there you have it, Wayne.

It works, all right.

Thank you very much for that question.

Here's our next viewer email.

"I have dead spots on this row of trees.

"What is going on?

What can I do to make my trees healthy again?"

Diane from Hernando, Mississippi.

- Ah.

- So, as you can see there.

- Yeah.

- Hm, look at that at the top.

- Yeah, it reminds me of bagworm.

- It must be bagworms, yeah.

- I really want to know if she can see them, 'cause you should be able to see the little bags hanging in the trees, because that would be the, what I would, I've seen that damage before, and- - I have too, right at the top.

- That's usually what it is.

Bt, Bacillus thuringiensis, is a real easy, I've had this problem before, and I've the Bt in a, and dialed the rate that I needed- - Ah, yeah, okay.

- At the end of a garden hose, so I could get it up further in the tree, and sprayed Bt on a tree that had bagworms, and I haven't seen 'em in two or three years now.

- Right, right.

- So you know, it can be done.

But she'll see them, little bags on the trees, to make sure that's what that is.

- And the larva is gonna be out for those bagworms, pretty much in the spring, right?

- Mm-hm.

- But after it forms those bags, it's gonna be tough to use any type of insecticide.

- Any, yeah, it won't.

- So at that point, if you can reach them, you know, you could take them off.

- Picking them off would be really good, at this point.

- Right.

- May and June- - Yeah this late in, yeah.

May and June, when they're actively feeding, is when you want to apply the Bt.

And also at this point too, it looks bad.

So maybe a little fertilizer and TLC with trying to keep the plants healthy will help it grow out of that.

- Right right, right, and keep those evergreens watered, please.

- Yes.

- You know, during any drought-like conditions, they need to be watered for sure.

Because if they're not, they become stressed.

And then when those plants become stressed, then guess what?

- Bugs.

- Here come the bugs [laughs].

All right, so thank you for that question, Ms. Diane.

We appreciate those pictures, too.

- Yeah, good pictures.

- Thank you much.

Joellen, fun as always.

- It is fun.

- Thank you much.

Remember, we love to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is questions@familyplotgarden.com 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.

Thanks for joining us.

To learn more about any of the tree diseases Joellen talked about, or get more information on preserving herbs over the winter, head on over to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

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

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]