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

I'm your host Tinisha Spain and joining me in the studio today are two of our panelists who you know and love.

Recognize it's been a while since you've been here.

Yeah, Kelly and chuck in the house today.

And before we jump into their show Intel's and your questions, let's have them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit about their specialty.

So Kelly, we'll start with you.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Kelly Allsup.

I am a horticulturist extraordinaire.

I like that.

I like that.

No argument here.

Yes.

I love all plants and all insects and I'm in I'm super passionate about urban trees and beneficial insects and pollinators.

But you know, I love it all.

I love growing fruits and vegetables.

It is hard to have horticulture out of my life.

I knew when I knew when I chose horticulture as my major in college.

I knew I was going the right way you knew it cuz I loved it.

I loved it from the beginning.

And you you brought some interesting critters on the show.

I love insects too.

And wasn't that a hissing?

Cockroach?

Yes.

Good time and the eastern lover grasshopper that bit me that I just smiled during that doesn't ever buy.

Anyway, silly always on TV by all right.

Chuck, tell us a little bit about you.

Okay.

I'm Chuck Voigt and I was a vegetable and herb specialist in various departments at the University of Illinois for 27 plus years.

Horticulture is where I started and when my heart was been retired now for for lo these many years.

I think it's coming up seven years.

Which is amazing how fast it goes once you're once you're on this shelf, but I managed to stay quite busy and you stay busy with us a lot.

Yeah.

So well, I try to keep you pandemic slowed me down a bit.

Yes.

But you guys knew each other before, right?

Yeah.

I mean, before the show.

We did a header into my greenhouse.

I survived.

Yeah, I was great.

I ran a portion of the UEFI greenhouse and with that I supported teachers.

And so I supported his class.

Now, I wasn't able to take his class, because his class was for non majors, even though all the majors wanted to take the big checks.

You could have taken it just not for credit, or as far as an elective.

Because I did have one heart major took it as an elective.

Oh, well, I already had my electives.

But yeah, so I would have said there's better ways to spend your electives in my class.

But what do I know?

I remember a few guys if you if you had ever been in Chuck's class, but I knew that there was a relationship there.

What were you taking off the shade?

That when you went I was Oh, my claim to fame is falling through the roof of a greenhouse, please.

We have a few we so I was you know, they've put you know, helped me with the chemical.

They'd put a sunscreen on the glass in the greenhouse, the greenhouse kind of okay, and you do that in the spring and then you spray a lie on it in the fall to get it to wash off because you want the full sun penetration during the winter and I fell through the roof.

fell through the roof.

Yes.

As she sits here with her arm in a sling.

I know.

Yeah, I thought you were when you said that.

No, that's a real story because she survived it with fairly minimal damage.

We can we can kind of smile about Yes, but it was when I heard Kelly through fell through the roof of the greenhouse.

I had I had a gas grill.

Yes.

Clutch that was yes.

As they say on ghosts, that TV show that was gasp were they?

Oh, I tend to do that.

You know, sometimes I'm, you know, I didn't accident word accident, you know, just like, you know, I just lost my balance.

And there it was.

I'm glad we're all here to laugh about yesterday.

I will not be getting up on the dais for ladders anymore.

It's pretty forgiving sometimes.

I think once you get my agent or had to calm on ladders might know that you just asked someone to one of the other students like you.

You do it?

Yes.

So Chuck, we had we had a video a couple of weeks ago where you showed us your broomcorn and now we get to see it in person.

Yes, here it is in person.

I've brought it in before but I tried to grow it at least every few years to keep the seed viable and whatever.

Varallo this, what I planted this year has been in has been in the refrigerator since literally before I retired.

So it's, it's pretty, pretty long live seed, especially under under good conditions.

But you can, you know, you can see there the you know, you strip off the seeds and what's left is what you see in the classic broom.

And this just happens to be when you grow this out on the farm, you grow this different ornamental, what's the what's the purpose, I guess?

Do you eat it?

Do you use it?

Do you look at it?

Why do you Why does Chuck like broomcorn?

Well, it's it's one of the one of the things that I've tried to maintain over the years.

I think I said on the show, Mrs. Louis jocose.

from Essex, Illinois, there was an article about me and the Kankakee paper.

And I mentioned that I had over 100 potato varieties and showed pictures of them.

And she really wanted one called cow horn, and brought me seed of of this red seeded and a black seeded one that she and her husband had visited his brother who still was living in Hungary, which is where he came from, and, and set back these two.

And she gave me those I gave her potatoes.

And I think we were both happy with the exchange.

And so I just feel like I I owe it to the plants to keep them going.

And since I've gone to a smaller space.

In the past, when I was growing all over, I could isolate them enough to grow them both in the same year.

So I grew this one this year, I'll grow the black one next year.

And I've gotten it into seed savers as Hungarian red and Hungarian black broomcorn.

Dr. Hadley, when he had his breeding program for broomcorn, at the U of I actually read about it or saw me with it, and he incorporated these into his breeding program.

I don't know that that's going on anymore.

But because of the history of brooms and Arcola, Illinois, I think that's how we got into that into that whole thing can be planted, those are all seeds.

They're all yes, it's an open pollinated variety, and no other broom corns around it.

So those seeds are absolutely true to type and I've selected for longer straw and and in some of those things.

Occasionally one wants to break out of the boot if it would just they fall over and bend over.

And I try don't save seeds from those because that's not a real desirable characteristic.

But Diane has used this in in in flower arranging, what she would do would would take like a small part of this and either wrap it with floral tape or put it into something else and then use it in smaller bits because you have to have a pretty giant arrangement to use those there.

Sure.

Although Marty took some home last time she's gonna put it in her big outdoor thing that she had with all our dollar prunings that she stuck in the pot.

So So you're saying it's not the usual plant?

Well, unusual plants was kind of my my signature hay.

As soon as she asked the question, I knew what your answer was.

I knew it was going to be seed saving I was knew it was going to be seed saving saving it.

It is a sorghum.

So I think I think you could use them for for bird seeds or in a pinch.

I think you could probably get some food value out of them if you wanted to grind it up and do whatever you need to do to prepare it but but basically, you say sorghum Yes.

What does that word mean?

Well, a sorghum grain that's a grain grain, like, like, sometimes it's called Milo when they when they grow it commercially, grain sorghum.

These aren't nearly as meaty as those are because those have been selected for big, you know, relatively big fat seeds and, and shorter plants.

These are a little primitive in that they grow about 12 feet tall.

And that's what I was going to ask.

I remember from the picture, it's like yeah, it's it's tearing.

I tried to cut them off, you know, maybe three or four feet from the top and I have to reach up as high as I can to get to that.

That's why sometimes even have to shorten them up after I get them.

So brooms are no longer made out of this anymore.

They are most of them, or I don't I don't know what the percentage is but you certainly can still get it I know.

My dad was in lions.

The Lions would sell brooms is one of their moneymakers.

I think there's still at least one Room maker working in in in our cola says the production moved.

It started out like in Massachusetts and moved west with big goes, those soils were not ideal, or the growing season was an ideal went through the Midwest, moved into Mexico.

And I think it is most of it now has grown not in the United States, but it certainly could be.

And so if you didn't take this, it would itself seed where it's at.

And then it would volunteer to some to some extent.

And I know that there's a field field weed called shatter cane that looks vaguely like this, that gets into some fields.

And I can see where a farmer might look at this and, and wonder, but so I did a very conscious job of getting everything cut off of mine, even though I didn't need anywhere near as much as I produced for seed, just to have it not be a weed for me next year, but it's not a you know, a noxious weed.

But Gotcha.

Now, if someone is interested, is this seed easy to find?

And catalogs or online, or, as I said, they're both available through seed savers exchange.

I also sent it out through that, and and I know, seeds Bloom no, no longer exists, but I know they had it.

And anytime I see either black or red seated broomcorn in a catalog, I kind of like kind of feel proud, because I think I'm the one who got that out there.

So as seed savers free, you can get on and yes, get free seed and, and be part of an exchange.

Probably have to create an account.

Yeah, they put out a catalog for their first years.

They didn't, they didn't want to be a catalog.

But then they saw how well other people were doing with their with their heirlooms.

And so they started doing a catalog.

And so certainly you can find these things in their catalog.

And that's available online.

To be in the exchange, I think you may have to get a membership to get access to the to the winter yearbook, which is where they have the 1000s of things that that the members grow and offer now I'm on their website, very curious.

So yeah, if you want to get into Apple catalog, I almost brought it today, but didn't exchange dot seed savers.org If you're looking for the website there, so Okay, Kelly, we're gonna move to you what you bring, I brought a plant that you know, so the holidays, I always want to give people plants because I want them to enjoy what I enjoy and give a little piece of myself.

So I this is one of the ones that I'm giving this year.

It's called it to lancea zero graph.

And it is I've been growing this one in particular for a year.

So they're epiphytes, which means that they grow in the crotch angles of trees, and they're used to having roots that dry out while even though they have roots.

These roots are not primarily how this plant takes up water, but it takes up water through the rain on it and it collects in there.

And you can even have a whole little ecosystem in there in the jungle, but you wouldn't truly want to keep it in water in your house.

So my house I just put it in the sink, I sprinkle it with water and let it soak a little bit and put maybe once a week if that.

I think you can overwater it.

I think it does like some humidity, which is almost impossible in the Illinois home to create the kind of humidity that all these tropical house plants you want.

But ways to do that is to shove plants in close to each other.

Usually we're all shoving them in front of a window.

So that can help with the humidity.

But I think it's a really easy plant to grow and it's just like here.

So when you start watering, do you mean like it collects?

Yes, yes.

Okay.

Yes, it collects in the water and absorbs through the leaves.

And you know, a lot of epiphytes do that some like orchids, even though they're there, they still have those roots, those aerial roots, those white roots.

It has a material called velopment on it and it just collects the water.

So usually the roots are mainly for support and Not that I can't get that root to take up water to keep it keep it from blowing off the tree.

Yeah, I can put an orc I can actually take the soil off of orchids put their roots in a glass of water and grow them in water like that, where the bottom of the root, it's just barely in the water.

Gotcha.

And so if you did plant this in soil, I would not planted in soil, but if you did just for experimentation, you wouldn't water it.

I think he would rot the base off.

That's okay.

That's what I was wondering.

Would it survive?

I don't think so.

Interesting.

I think if you were to let it sit in water, I meant you know, this you could let it sit in water a little bit.

But like if I were to let this sit in water, I'd have the water down.

I don't have that other hand.

I'd have the water you know, down here, you know, not up on the bass.

Gotcha.

Good job.

So now Can you can you split these can you?

No, no, they're not one of those that you know where they don't do off shoes like some of the other Bromeliads.

I doubt you'll you know be as successful in getting it to do that even to get it to flower I think we get them to flower sometimes there when you buy them in the industry flower I just think it's a cool plant like it's it's better than given a cactus like you know that we have like there's cool house plants in there there's not so cool house plants.

So you know don't give them a piece Lily pieces.

These are difficult.

They have these they I think he taught me this the fluoride are Skirvin you know, I get them mixed up.

The fluoride in the water makes makes the leaves the tips of the leaves look ugly.

And so you'll see people like cut the tips off of like spider plants or pieces.

Please don't even get those go out and get a beautiful fiddly fig or ZZ plant.

I don't know if I'd be able to keep a fiddle with all of my friends who have them have terrible luck, especially this time here.

Is it us?

Son?

Do you have enough sun they're just always look so are you over watering them?

Maybe I don't own one.

I'm just saying a lot of my friends have them and they're always various.

The number one thing What is it with you the people who are not plant people think the number one problem is under watering plants.

The people who are plant people know the number one problem with house plants is over watering and watering.

You got to let them dried out.

And you can't just stick your finger in the top of the soil and be like, Oh, it's dry.

You want to look at the entire root ball.

You want to look at make sure it's dry.

Thin water in give it a drink.

Shucks laugh I don't do that and I feel guilty Just hearing that.

You can tell it's my grid the greenhouse girl in me because you that's what we did when I was growing plants in the greenhouse.

I didn't like at the top.

I looked at the roots.

I was like do I have healthy roots?

Am I going to have healthy growth?

And so if I don't have nice healthy white roots, you're probably over watering.

Yeah.

Noted.

Noted.

So this guy does back to him a lot.

Now does it need much?

Do you just set it on a shelf?

Do you put it you can put it anywhere decorative.

Not too rare items but yeah, like decorative little bowls or a vase.

You know, like a flower or, you know, a little collar around the base of it to make it festive.

Yeah.

Candace?

She Candice my friend.

She goes them in her kitchen window.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, they're I think they're very easy to grow in.

If my two sisters can grow then Ouch.

Two sisters.

I know they're actually both pretty good with the Christmas surprise.

Now you've told everyone this is what they're getting this year.

So oh, so that they're not getting it.

The friends are getting it this year.

Because they got this last year.

This is one of them last year.

The other one has two of them.

And she's been doing very well with it and all she does is just puts it in the sink.

Once a week.

There you go.

Okay.

I like it.

All right, on to the rolling pan.

Okay.

Well, our viewers may recall.

Those are available for adoption.

The Super Durecho show that went through the Midwest in 2020.

Yes, it just flattened things out in Iowa, went across northern Illinois, Northern Indiana and even got in to Michigan a little bit 75 mile an hour winds gusts above that.

It was It was terrifying.

And a walnut tree at the farm you already associated me with walnuts went down it.

It had for years it had had one side was dead.

And it never could grow around that.

So that side I think was very brittle.

And the Draco came from a direction where it just hit that brittleness and just snapped it off.

It was just million pieces down at the bottom, it just just tore it apart.

Well, I salvaged some of that.

And at the same time, my college roommate and singing partner, Gary leg weld up in up in Minneapolis, had gotten into making rolling pins.

He's a left side expert, if you know left side is like a Scandinavian tortilla made with potatoes and flour and, and you roll them out there.

They're big.

And so anyway, he decided he was going to going to get into to making these so this is walnut, and you can see the wonderful grain in that.

And then if there's any, any tendency for it to crack, he's got an epoxy that he that he puts in into the cracks.

That makes it look like you've inlaid turquoise.

If you can, you can see one of those there.

And as he was as he was doing this one there's supposed to be textured, like like the other one is, but the one that was just so beautiful.

He couldn't make himself couldn't bring himself.

He just made it smooth because it was just they'll there's a there's a good one you can see the roll that forward just a little bit.

Perfect.

Right.

And then the handles are I think the handles are ash.

But that's you get this to him.

Did you take him?

He um, and get it I'm very curious about He's originally from Dixon, Dixon area, actually Amboy.

So he and his wife came down, they were there visiting there.

She had an ill sister and so they just swung by the farm.

And he was there in his Prius, and we're looking logs into the back.

Because they need to be like 20 feet 20 inches long.

And so we're loading those into the back of his Prius and, and, you know, he took what he thought he could do without having the headlights pointing towards the sky and took them up there and then you know, there's a bunch more drying in the barn for his next trip.

He's been back once since then.

But that's that's what that any makes little little stands stands for them as well.

What about the other one?

Well, this we've talked I haven't talked but certainly talk has been about the green the emerald ash borer Yes, this is this is the main part of this is is green ash.

And we had a bunch of them that had of course died.

This is this is a tree that actually climbed as a as a young fella it was a weed that kind of came up in a fence row so it was easy to kind of climb up the wires and get into the into where it was easy climbing and this is the the texture that the left's rollers are supposed to have are usually have and then he went the other way you know this one, the walnut has ash handles, the ash has his walnut handles.

So it's sentimental do you use these are these just you know I have to have to get a demonstration from him because I'm not sure it seems like they wrap something around this in addition to having this this way.

Plus this one I'm not sure I could ever let doe touch it it's just so so smooth and gorgeous that it would be difficult and you know he he's written two books on Lhasa and goes around to all the all the church suppers and whatnot around around Minnesota.

And he sells a whole line of life stuff so wow.

I always am a fan of gifts or or keepsakes that have that sentimental value like your climbing tree.

That's that's priceless.

That's what got me into it.

He wrote an article he has a left some newsletter a woman in Iowa and she she and her family had this this walnut tree that have been blown down by the same tradeshow but there's there's was even more intimate in that it had a swing in it and a lot of happy family times associated with it.

And she got a hold of him and said You think he could make less rolling pins out of out of this for us?

And so you They sent a bunch of it up.

I think he had somebody with a with like a kiln dryer so they could do it faster because some of some of what I have still isn't isn't fully drying or you get a log this big.

It's like it only goes a few inches a year.

But he made those for her I think five for the, her her and her four siblings assembly.

So everybody, everybody got one.

I'm hoping to get another species to him because I have three great nieces.

And that would be nice.

Leave one to each.

Great.

Nice.

Absolutely.

Well, thank you for bringing those in.

Thank you for both of you.

Thanks for coming in.

And I want to share these Donna, your sweet sister, who is just amazing.

She's made me sweaters and hats and scarves and all kinds of stuff.

She sent me a little goodie.

I believe these are cinnamon, hard candy.

So thank you so much Donna for sending me I gotta hide them from my boys because they won't last long.

Oh, very good.

Very good.

Thank you.

Well, now my mouth is full.

We have to end the show.

So thank you so much for watching.

If you have a question, you can send it into us at your garden@gmail.com Of course you can always find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as well.

And we will see you next time.

Good night.

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