(upbeat music) - Hi, and thanks for joining us, for another episode of "Mid-American Gardener."

I'm your host, Tinisha Spain.

And as always, we've got our expert panelists here, to tell you everything you need to know about gardening, indoor and outdoor.

And we'll have them introduce themselves, and tell you a little bit more about their specialty, and what they like to grow.

So, Ella, we're gonna start with you this time.

- Okay, I'm Ella Maxwell.

I'm a horticulturist, up in Tazewell County.

I live in Washington, and I work at Hoerr Nursery, in Peoria.

So, I enjoyed horticulture my entire life.

And I did graduate from the University of Illinois in horticulture, and this is my 40th year.

So, I'm kind of excited about trees and shrubs, Perennials.

I have a large yard, and I can answer a lot of different questions.

- All right, great, Karen.

- Hi, I'm Karen Ruckle.

And I live outside of the Peoria area, and I also graduated through the U of I.

And I have a small yard.

And I love Perennials and shrubs, and houseplants.

- Okay, and Jennifer.

- Hi, hello everyone.

I am a horticulture educator, with the University of Illinois Extension, serving Logan, Menard and Sangamon Counties, in the center of the state.

I guess, I will also mention, I am a University of Illinois alumni, as well as a UIS alumni.

So, I'm so glad to be in great company.

I can talk just about anything, Things I really enjoy.

And have a passion for my own yard, of vegetables and herbs.

And now, I'm getting into native plants.

- Wonderful, I am the odd man out.

I went to Illinois State, so, I am, (laughing) I missed the party.

The Illinois party today, so.

Okay, so we're gonna jump in, with some show and tells.

Everybody, brought things to share.

And Ella we'll start with you.

- Okay, well, I'm here at work today.

So, I'm thinking, what's in my office, and a friend of mine, gave me a dried mushroom, or a shelf fungus.

This was on a rotted tree.

And several years ago, I did get a whole poster, of all the different mushrooms, that are found in Illinois.

And I have a very good friend, who with this COVID, there is so much information online.

She took a mycology mushroom identification course, and she's been so excited, about the fall mushrooms.

Now, a lot of us, have looked for morels, in the spring.

She sent away now, to grow oyster mushrooms and everything.

And mine is just decorative, but I did have some turkey of the woods.

I did try it.

I had it like an egg McMuffin.

It was pretty meaty, I don't think I'm going there again.

(laughing) But, there are so many really interesting mushrooms.

And with the rains of this fall, or actually that summer flood, just left a lot of very moisturelaited rotten wood, that then sporulated all these different kinds of funguses.

These different mushrooms.

And each one of them, are so unique to identify.

And they can also help us identify, most of them are decomposers, that show us, that there's rot in our trees.

And again, that could create, some structural instability.

And that's when you see some of these mushrooms, growing on the trunk of trees.

You have to understand that there's decay.

- So, that tree that it's growing on is.

- (indistinct)interesting.

- Even if the tree looks completely healthy, beautiful foliage, but if you see a mushroom on a tree, there's something going on with the tree's health.

- Right, and it doesn't necessarily mean that, it's going to fall over tomorrow, but it's something that you definitely want to monitor.

- Gotcha, okay, thank you.

All right, Karen, you've got a giant pot on your lap.

(laughing) What's in there?

- What I always love to do, is I always try to save, as much as I can, from one year to the next, to save money to buy on other plants.

I'd rather not buy it, for the same thing I bought last year.

So, this was my sunbelievable.

Annual helianthus, that has sunflowery looking flowers, that came out, I think two years ago.

And it was pretty popular this past summer.

So, I thought, well, why not try to overwinter it, like I would a tropical hibiscus?

So, I chopped the plant bark, and I'm gonna try keeping it, in my cold garage.

The stems still are alive, sprouted a little bit, and see if I can keep it alive, and regrow it next spring.

'Cause why not?

I'd show you better, but, this is like a good 20 inch pot, and its filled with hope.

(laughing) - While we're talking about that, you reminded me of a question that I had.

So, I have a lot of pots, of things that I'm overwintering in my garage as well, and they won't stop growing.

My banana trees, the coal acacia.

They won't stop growing.ú And I think it's because, my family, refuses to turn off the garage light.

So, they're under the fluorescence.

But, any tips on how to get things to chill.

I haven't watered these things, in probably eight weeks, and they're still growing.

So, what can I do to turn it off?

- We stayed too warm this fall.

I've even got plants outside, that have broken dormancy, that I'm pretty worried about going through (indistinct) It's just that, we didn't get cold enough early, and then stay with that cold.

'Cause, your garage is staying too warm,(indistinct) Probably (indistinct) stuff, to see if they need watering.

'Cause you don't want them to go bone dry.

'Cause then that would stress out the roots going through the winter.

But, your garage needs to get colder.

- Okay (laughing) - Yea, it'll be okay, Karen is right.

- But, do water them a little bit.

- A little bit( indistinct) stay wet, but if they get too dry, then that's just as bad as too wet.

- Okay, good to know.

I'm glad we stumbled upon that.

I'm glad you brought that up.

Thank you.

- And you'll have to let us know, how that turns out next year.

- But, I'm always willing to try.

Why not try this?

- Why not?

(indistinct) There are geraniums, that are still on my porch, with blooms on them.

They're hanging on.

So, we'll see how long they make it.

Alright, Jennifer, what have you got?

So, now we're in the shopping season.

This is the kinda year, that folks like us, are in the house kinda fidgety and home and ohh So, what can you get, for the gardener in your life?

(laughing) - So, one of my recommendations, one of many is, something that we don't always think about, till we go to grab them, when we're in our garage and getting ready to go outside.

But, some really nice gardening gloves.

And you can see, I have two different gloves on here, to remind everyone that, not one glove, fits every task in the garden.

This glove right here, is water resistant on the bottom, breathable on the back.

Great for weeding, and doing general gardening work.

While this one here, is leather, and protects the arm, almost to the elbow.

And this would be used for pruning rose bushes, or something where you might be scratching your arm with brush.

So, this would be a great glove for that.

Gloves can range in all prices from, I know a few dollars, on up to $30, depending on the task.

But, just to remind folks that, this does make a nice gift.

I think a gardener never has too many gloves.

I don't think, it's something that can be purchased locally.

Look for ones that fit that person's hand well.

You want it to not be hanging off their hand.

You want it to fit fairly snug.

Consider that, when you're purchasing, considering what they do, when their gardening on a daily basis.

And what might work best.

And if you get the general chore outdoor gloves, for weeding, like this one here.

I would buy a couple pair of these, in the same color.

That way, if you lose one, you still have a matching one.

And if you can buy bright colors, so, if you lay your gloves in the garden, you can find them fairly easily (indistinct) - That is a really good idea.

(laughing) - It's always a good idea.

I can find the bright pink when I walk outside, I can find them, but if you buy something, that's a duller color, that will blend in with the grass, not so easy to see.

- And you brought up a really good point, about different gloves, doing different things.

And it sounds kinda like a no brainer.

But, I noticed that when I'm tryna do something, with a delicate plant, I can't wear the bigger bulkier gloves.

I need the ones that are more sleek, so I can have better dexterity.

So, yeah, really good point, about different gloves for different things.

- And you know, other tasks might include, for me in particular, we have some acreage.

So, we're cleaning, autumn olive, and honeysuckle.

So, I have a pair of leather gloves, for working with the branches and the debris.

And then, I also have a pair of chemical gloves.

So, if I'm spraying any herbicide, or any kinda chemicals, you have the right gloves for that.

You don't want something that's absorbing.

You want something that will not absorb that chemical.

So, all kinds of gloves out there.

- Good to know, thank you, very much.

Okay, we're going to Ella.

This is a question about a locust tree.

We have a locust tree, in our backyard and the cable company dug a trench next to it, to put in the fiber optics.

Now, there are trees popping up all along that trench.

How do we eradicate them?

Interesting.

- Okay, what they probably have, is a black locust.

And the black locust tree, is kind of a suckering.

It forms a colony.

And so, it has a lot of surface roots.

And when those get cut, that's where, because of that damage, there's going to be some advantageous buds there, that can start a new tree.

And that's what they're seeing happening there.

And what's problematic is that, people want to maybe reach, for some type of chemical.

But remember that these little trees, that are coming up, are on roots that are feeding, and caring for the large tree that they have.

So, unfortunately, you can go ahead, and cut them bark, and cut them deeper and remove them.

And they probably won't resprout.

But, if you do find, that they resprout, you have a chemical option, that's a growth regulator.

It's called, Sucker Punch or Sucker Stop.

And you can cut that off, and paint that.

And this also works for suckers, or water sprouts, that are coming up on a crab tree, or in an apple tree.

And you can apply that to prevent it.

And then, another person had once told me, that they need light.

And so, if you just take a soup can, and you cut it off near the ground, and you put that soup can over the top, it can't come through the metal can.

But, how many metal cans do you want in your yard?

I don't know, but again.

- It's a lot of soup.

(laughing) - Yea, but the big thing is, is that, don't a try chemical stem killer, or something like that.

Eventually, removing those, it'll slow back down.

The roots will go back to just normal rooting habit, and you probably should be okay.

- All right, thank you very much.

Karen, you've got another show, and tell item for us, just go around - Yea, what I wonder once again, that re-purposing This was a cycleman, that I had in a planter, for this past summer.

And so, before frost hit it.

Well, actually I think we had a couple of frosty nights.

But before it got too cold, I dug it out, and brought it into the house.

Once again, this is a plant that can go dormant.

You can let it die down.

Go completely down to the tuber, and then resprout in the spring.

So, once again, if you can keep it for the next year, bonus for that timeframe.

And this poor plant, it's not even potted up yet.

It's thrown in a plastic bag, stuck inside of a pot.

(laughing) - Well, it looks pretty happy, so.

- (indistinct) Watering this right now though, I don't get any water up, in the growing point, on the top of the plant or cold water.

So, I make sure that I'm watering it, so that it's going more to the soil, and that it's room temperature water.

- Interesting, Okay, thank you, Ma'am very much.

All right, now we're going to go to 978.

This creeping plant, showed up about July, and spread rapidly.

Digging them up, was the best method to get rid of them.

This is growing in a dark corner of my yard, that gets light at the end of the day.

FYI, this corner is great for daffodils, but I am still looking for a good shade flower.

So, they would like to know what this is.

- So, what I see in this picture, is wild violets.

So, depending on who you are, this is a good thing.

Or maybe not as a good thing, Wild violet, is our state flower, by the way.

They do very well.

They adapt to full sun, to full shade.

You usually see more, in part shade, to full shade.

And they like areas, that might have a little compaction going on.

She could leave them, if they were in the flower bed.

And she just wanted to keep one grouping, I should say, together.

That would be okay, if that's okay with her flower bed.

That would be a good shade plant.

But, a lot of times, people are annoyed by their presence in a spot.

They don't want them.

So, in that case, you could easily dig them out, as long as, you're getting all the root system there.

Dig them out, and do that before they flower.

The flowers, they will self, So, that's one of the ways, that they spread.

They can also be chemically controlled in a flower bed.

Though, I'd obviously recommend spot control, but if you only have a few, hand digging them out, is going to be the best.

And you'll use a broadleaf herbicide, either in the spring or October, November timeframe, to do that, if you wanted to try to chemically remove.

But they could be left.

And the second part of our question, there are lots of options, for full shade.

Hostas, are one of our standbys in that area.

Azaleas, rhododendrons, depending on the location, that they would have a little bit of protection there.

As a shrub, would be an option and still be.

But there are lots of choices.

Ferns, would be another good choice.

- I have lots of wild violets, that pop-up in our yard.

I like them.

I'm just gonna leave them alone, and work around them.

They don't match the color theme, in one of the beds, but I just let it slide.

(laughing) - And you mentioned the lawn.

And if they are in their lawn, before you remove them, think about your plan, for how you're going to address, the soil conditions.

So, many times they will be in an area, that grass doesn't grow well.

So, if you're going to try to remove them, be prepared to correct the soil conditions, and plan a desirable turf, for desirable plant material there.

- Okay, 975.

We're going back to Ella.

This is a long one, so bear with me.

I have a black elderberry, which is in the spring, sorry.

I have a black elderberry, which in the spring and summer looked beautiful.

The past month, it started to not look so good.

Some of the leaves, are wilting and the branches look dead.

I was pruning the dieback, and it looked like an insect, had crawled out of the center, of one of the branches.

All I can tell you, is that it looked black or at least dark.

After cutting several bark, photos attached.

It appears that there's a hole in the center.

Is this insect damage?

If so, what can I do about it?

I prefer something organic, as I try not to use chemicals, in my garden at all.

That is from Lorrie Jay.

What do you think?

- Okay, well, the sambucus, has a pith in the center.

So, if you were to split the stem, that's a diagnostic tool, on identifying it.

And there are some natives bees, that maybe a broken stem, they can use that, as a nesting site.

They're tunnel masters.

But, the thing is, is that really, and truly.

I don't think that it's insect related.

A lot of times, if there are borers, that would have excavated that pith out, she could look closer to ground level, and they would have some kind of exit hole, where the saw dust-like frass material, would be there, to indicate that there was.

And she could even split one of the stems, and open it up to see if, there was any type of caterpillar in there.

So, or it could be a beetle larvae, or a moth larvae, depending on what kind of borer it could be.

But more likely, I think that she might have some verticillium wilt problems.

That's fungus related, that's in the soil, and has caused some of the dieback.

And it's a very prominent soil-borne disease, in overly wet soils, which we had this year, and also in very heavy soils.

The best thing to do is cut bark.

I don't think, I would use any chemicals at this time and just wait to see how the plant responds next spring.

- Okay, great advice.

All right, we're going to 966 with, my friend keeps admiring the pretty variegated leaves, on my pink dogwood.

When I looked at it myself, I realized, I may have a mineral deficiency.

What do you think?

- Well, typically with your dogwoods, and by the pictures, normally you have an iron deficiency.

(indistinct) lightning but veins, look prominently green and in between of them looks a lighter color.

And then because of the sun, will kind of cause a scalding that will kind of do the pink (indistinct)bronzing, to the leaf.

So, typically on the dogwood, our (indistinct) there is iron (indistinct) plant, can't get enough available iron, because of the pH.

The problem we have is, if anybody's tried to change the pH, you're not really gonna do that.

So, a lot of times, it's amending that soil, that site location for the tree.

But when it's already planted there.

A product I use a lot on my yard for problems, it is a Chelated Liquid Iron.

And the reason I like this product, is because it is a liquid.

And so I have very good response when I've got plants that are showing a deficiency.

And the great thing about this product, it's just not iron, and it also has micronutrients.

So, if there's other micronutrients, that still can cause that (indistinct) that you think is iron.

I have a good response with this on plants of spraying it on the plants in spring.

So, when the leaves are new in the springtime, doing as a foliar feeding, its uptake is very good.

You get a good response to the plant.

And typically, I've had a couple of years, three to four sometimes, where the tree does fine, with not showing stress or an issue, Or you also can do it as a soil application.

- Awesome, so when you say, the foliar feeding, do you dilute what you have, in like a spray bottle and just sort of mist?

- Yeah, well, when you've got a tree, you need an end of a hose sprayer.

So, you set the dial on it, to the proper dilution for the product.

And then it automatically draws up your product, dilutes it with the water, and then sprays it onto the whole tree.

- Okay, I was thinking small version.

Like her plan, could you imagine.

(laughing) - (indistinct)To be anywhere from 15' to 25' feet.

- Gotcha.

(indistinct)with a lot of end of the host sprayers.

A decent brand one, you can get up to that 25 feet.

- Gotcha, okay, thank you, very much.

Okay, we're gonna go 987 to Jennifer, Lots of treatment questions today.

This one is, we have a redbud tree, in our front yard facing west.

The bark has been splitting for several years.

This year was the worst.

We do have squirrels, that climb and try to get on the roof.

I think that's the problem.

What do we do to help save the tree?

If possible, do we need to wrap it?

We also plan on putting a guard on it.

Thank you, from Elaine.

So, how can she help her tree?

- Well, the good news is, a redbud is one of the trees, that does have a natural exfoliating bark.

By exfoliating, we mean, that the bark will shed.

So, it is natural for it to do that.

What she may be seeing possibly, if she does have a lot of squirrels, is that, one area where they may be jumping or getting onto the tree.

Maybe that bark, is sloughing off, a little bit faster.

So, that's okay.

A tree this size, I would not recommend putting any guards, or wrapping it for any reason.

Typically, we do that with newly planted trees, so they don't split.

I don't see a split in the bark.

And that doesn't mean, that the other side of the tree, couldn't have it.

What she may also want to do, is just look a little bit closer at that bark.

Make sure there aren't any insect holes, or seeing any fungal issues, which I'm not gonna rule out.

But it is something that does happen naturally.

- Excellent, thank you.

And so now, as we're all starting to those of us who get fresh trees.

I'm an artificial girl, those who go out and get fresh trees, let's talk a little bit about tips to keep your tree happy, healthy.

How to not get spider mites in your house.

What tips do you ladies have, that you can offer to people, who are out shopping for a real tree?

- Well, I say that the best thing to do is, to get one of those disposable tree bags, so that you can have it under the tree when you want to carry it out of the house, or be able to have a sheet or something to put it on.

And then also, once the holiday season is over, and you've taken off the lights, you can then cut off those branches, and use them as some mulch, over in your perennial garden.

Many communities, recycle trees.

And they also use them, where they put them on a pond, where they sink them, and then it's where the fish will spawn.

And the little baby fish, are protected in those trees.

At least, that's what they did in our community.

One year, so that's my advice.

- Okay, anybody else?

- Well, if you haven't already selected your tree, do so carefully.

There are probably very limited stock available.

Make sure, you can buy from a cut and choose, where you actually go to the farm, and they cut it for you.

If you're picking them from a lot, touch the needles, make sure the needles are still pliable.

If they're dry and brittle, don't purchase the tree, because it won't take up any more water.

And then, the big thing is water, water, water.

You need to check the water levels, every single day, on your fresh cut trees, in your house.

If they stopped taking up water, that's a big no-no sign.

You'll have to take the tree down, make a fresh cut at the base, and see if it'll take up water again.

If not, you need to take that, out of your house, at that time.

But do you make sure the needles are so pliable.

If they start to dry out, that's not a good sign.

Try to keep your trees away from your register vents, away from fireplaces, open doors, windows.

So all those places we usually put our trees, (laughing) So, do you be mindful of that or close the register vent, that's next to it.

It would be a good idea.

(upbeat music) - All right guys, well, we've run out of time.

It's funny how fast 30 minutes go.

So, thank you all so much, for coming on today, and making yourselves available.

And thank you, so much for watching, and hanging in there with us.

It's been different this year.

Absolutely, but this show, was better than "Dove Show."

And so, we've decided to keep tracking.

So, until we can get back in the studio, this is it.

This is "Mid-American Gardener."

So, thank you, so much for hanging in there, with us and being patient.

And we will see you next time.

(upbeat music)