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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Fall and winter   will be here soon.

Today, we will talk about what   to do to get your lawn ready.

Also, there are several ways   to propagate your plants.

We'll take a look at   using seeds and cuttings   to get new plants.

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 Mr. Booker T. Leigh.

Booker's a UT Extension Agent here in Shelby County.

And Ms. Kim Rucker will be joining us later.

- Okay.

- Thank you for being here today.

- Man, always good to do your show.

I mean, I just really enjoy it, and this is great for havin' me on here.

Thanks for havin' me on the show.

- Oh, anytime you're our lawn expert, so we're gonna come to you for these lawn questions, right?

- I appreciate that then.

Thank you.

- So let's talk a little bit about getting your lawn ready for the fall and the winter.

- May be that time of year again, and where we're already gettin' a phone call from people on their lawn.

And the most important thing they're askin' now, "How low should I cut my grass durin' the fall of the year?"

And I will tell them all the time, you don't wanna cut it too low.

You wanna maintain the same height that you were cuttin' it durin' the regular season.

'Cause if you cut it too low, and we have another winter like we did this year and that ice and snow get on there, - Right.

- It can be damagin'.

- Oh wow.

- It can be damaged.

You can damage your grass in there.

But you wanna maintain same height.

And this is a good time now to get your soil tested - Mm-hmm.

- You know, in the fall of the year, get it tested 'cause if you need to add any lime to it, and anything you need to add to it, like, especially phosphorous-potassium.

You know, people think that, they still, them roots are still active.

- Right, still growing.

- Durin' the fall of the year.

but the top part, it's not growin'.

- Right.

- Because of the weather.

But you get that soil tested, and you need to add any lime to that, now, you can do that now, and by the time your grass start back in the spring next year, the lime is already there and ready to go.

You cut down a lot of problems, but don't cut it too low.

- Yeah.

- Don't cut it too low.

Get your soil tested.

- Yeah, get your soil tested.

- Of course to go to your local extension office.

- Call your local extension office if there a problem in there, and do that, see.

- Right, right.

- And so they need to do it to the end there.

Another thing we don't realize though, you know, and it never happen probably a lot of times, we go through a real dry, dry, dry winter, especially in the early part, you need to add a little water to your lawn, might need to water it.

Not like doing it in the summertime, but you need to add some water to keep those roots with some moisture.

They're very, they're still active under the ground, and you just don't see what's going on.

- Right.

- But they're still active.

- Still growing.

- They're still doing that.

But that's a good point, you need to get that lawn ready, if you wanna have it to come back strong next year.

- Okay.

So I have a few questions for you about getting that lawn ready for the fall and winter.

- Okay.

- Is it necessary to fertilize your lawn in the fall?

I know you talked a little bit about it, but is it necessary?

- It is necessary if you're needin' it.

Like I said though, You don't wanna give it no nitrogen fertilizer in the fall of the year, especially warm-season grass.

You wanna give them, at least, phosphorous-potassium.

That is good to do that in the fall of the year, because you do that.

- Right.

Now if you've got a cool-season grass beginning to grow now, then you might want to fertilize it in the fall of the year in there.

- All right.

- But your warm-season grass, hold back on your nitrogen fertilizer.

If you give it some nitrogen fertilizer, it could start to grow.

And when it starting to grow in there, then we have a real cold spell, it can damage that grass.

- Right.

- So you don't wanna do damage to that grass there.

But hold back on your nitrogen, but give it some phosphorous potassium, if needed.

And also check that soil pH for to add that lime to that because the lime is very important.

If you don't have that lime right, correct on there, a lot of times, all the other nutrients you add to the soil, it's not gonna be taken up by the plant.

- Right.

- So you wanna do that in there.

And like I said, fall is best time to do that for it.

Then it's ready to go in the springtime.

- Ready to go in the spring.

- When they come out of there, that grass is ready to go.

It's healthy, says, "Hey, I'm ready to go now.

[Chris laughs] "Let me come out this dormancy and get up.

Let me grow."

- Good and green.

- Look good and green.

"I'm ready to go in there."

- All right, so this next question is the question I know we get a lot at the extension office.

"When should I put down a pre-emerge herbicide on my lawn?"

- A pre-emerge, now, pre- meaning before.

- Right.

- You know, in there.

For your warm-season grass, you wanna put it down in, like, in the fall of the year.

- Okay.

- And pre-, it's gonna keep the seed from even germinatin'.

- Right.

- You know, you wanna do that in there.

And puttin' a pre-emerge herbicide down, you need to get a complete cover.

- Okay.

- You need to get a complete cover, and you need to go both directions.

- Right.

- If it says half   it say 50 pounds here,   put 25 pounds that way,   and 25 pounds that way.

- Right.

- For you get a   good cover in there.

Then come back again   probably in March.

- Okay, right.

- Put another pre-emerge down, and that's to try and get some of those summer weeds out in your lawn.

- Right.

- And most pre-emerge herbicides are gonna come, like, in a granule.

- Okay.

- It's gonna need to be activated in by rain water or some type of irrigation.

- Okay so you do water it?

- Over a period of time.

Yeah.

- All right.

- It'll be, it should be on the label, if you irrigate in, some kind of, in that way in there.

- Okay.

- But pre-emerge, very important though.

- Yes it is.

- Get that pre-emerge dow, you'll control a lot of those summer weeds from comin' and germinatin' in there.

- Right.

- If many of them get through, you use a post-emerge herbicide at the end.

- Right, right.

- Mm-hm.

- Or if you can't just pull it out.

[both laugh] - Yeah, pull it out of there.

- If it's not much of it, just pull it out.

- Just pull it out there.

Then when you pull it up, try to get that whole, that root system.

- Right.

Right.

- Gotta get the root system.

- Try to get that root system.

Yeah, you don't wanna break it off in there.

- Do read and follow the label though, for pre-emerge herbicides, for sure, and post-emerge herbicides.

- Read, mm-hmm.

- All right, so the next question is this, "How low should I cut my warm season grasses for winter?"

- Well you need, like I said, only to maintain the same height that you had 'em before.

Yeah, maintain the same height.

ou don't wanna cut it too low in there, about the same height.

Like for Bermuda grass and zoysia grass, about two and a half to three inches tall in there.

You wanna do that.

- Okay.

Just cut it tight.

And a lot of people mow their lawn, they think that if they cut it real low, maybe think it's gonna look better during the winter time, and they want it to look good, but you really can be damaging your lawn.

- Sure.

- In there, 'cause you don't want that.

Like I said, when we had that ice and snow, like we did this year, it can get on there and then damage that grass in there.

Like I said, a good thing to do on your lawn is, when you have a big rain, walk around that lawn.

- Right.

- Walk around that lawn.

Just see how everything look.

See if you got any water standing.

You might not notice that 'cause, by the time it finish rainin', just just see 'cause, you don't want it standing too long.

- Right.

- You want that go on and drain off there.

- Okay, no, that makes sense.

That makes sense.

So let me ask you about the fescue grass.

- Okay.

- So how tall should we, you know, maintain our fescue grasses?

- Well normally it's growing in the fall of the year.

- Right.

- You wanna keep it somewhere about three inches tall.

- Okay.

- Three inches tall in there.

Then sometimes you might cut that often, like that, because, man, they grow real fast.

- Oh yeah.

- That fescues, your fescue grass.

You do have some Kentucky bluegrass, and it would be looking good too, you need to cut that, too, about three inches tall in there.

- Okay.

- In there, so, in there.

So yeah, you need to keep that grass the right height, and then you can fight off a lot of problems with that.

- Right, right.

All right, so this next question is about soil testing.

- Okay.

- We talked a little bit about soil testing, so again, it's just important, right?

- This is just important though, in there for the pH of the soil, in there.

- Right.

- That's most important for it.

And also the uptake of all the other nutrients that we have in the soil.

You don't want it to die in there.

And a lot of time people say, "Man, my grass not doing good.

What's wrong with my grass?

It's not doing good," in there.

- Right.

- "It's not growin'.

"I passed fertilizer to it and everything."

You need to have that soil tested.

And a lot of times, nowhere.

And a lot of times you can get the pH too high.

- Oh yeah.

- You know, you can.

And you get it too high and still that'd do the same effect that having it just bein' too low.

- Right.

- And what we recommend doing then, and you have some thinkin' some kind of lawn service, something like that.

Sometimes have them test your soil, okay, just to see what the pH runnin' in there.

So you wanna know that.

That's the most important thing in your grass there.

- Okay, and again, what's a good pH for your lawn grass?

- For most lawn grasses we have, it is between 6.0   and 6.5.

- Okay.

- Like I said, like that,   you cannot know that   by lookin' at it.

- Nah.

- Like, I thought, man, I thought mine was right, one time.

And I thought it was right then I had it tested, and it wasn't, like, it was low.

- All right.

All right.

- It wasn't too low, but it was low.

I need to add some lime to it.

And another thing, you don't need to test your soil every year.

- Right, yeah, of course.

- About every three years is a good time to have that tested.

Okay, it'll stay the same for about three years.

Then you might wanna come out and test again in three years, in there.

- Right.

- And you know, you can call your extension service for a soil box and information on how to get that tested, in there.

- Right, right, right.

'Cause then we have a great soil lab here in Tennessee.

- Great soil lab.

- With Dr. Robert Florence.

He does an excellent job there.

- And the price is not that bad.

I'd rather pay $15 and get it tested than putting, throwing money out there, and it not doing any good.

- All right, good point, good point.

All right, so our next question is, "Do we get diseases on our grasses during the winter?"

What about that?

- Well, sometimes we, we take them from our warm seasons and we take them over into the winter, if we don't have any control though.

They we're still on your lawn, when you don't control the grass.

You just don't hardly see 'em in the winter time, because the grass is dormant.

- Okay.

- It's in dormancy.

And sometimes, with you fescue lawn,   you might get some brown   patches sometime in there,   and you might just look   through that and see it.

You might see some   brown patches in there, and normally you'll see that on your fescue grass.

And very few on Kentucky bluegrass you might see that.

- Okay.

- You wouldn't see that-- - But it is possible?

- It's possible, it's possible.

Because they're growin' then, and you can see it.

It'll be visible to the eye then.

But normally your warm-season grass is kind of dormant, and because it's brown, so you can't hardly tell, But you would know you have some in there, in the springtime, last year, and sometimes if you ain't do nothing with 'em, so then they'll carry over in there.

- And they carry over, okay.

- Mm-hm.

Yep.

- Wow, so, good tips, right, on getting your lawn prepared for the fall and winter.

- Getting ready for fall, but you're really tryin' to get it ready for next spring.

- Right.

- Then you need to be thinking of doing the things now to get it ready for next spring, in there, yeah.

- Okay.

- You take care of that grass now.

- Take care of that grass, man.

Well we appreciate that information.

Thank you much.

- Thank you for having me.

[Chris chuckling] I enjoyed it.

[upbeat country music] - Let's talk a little bit about this summer annual grass weed.

This is goose grass.

Goose grass is related to crab grass.

It loves compact soils and also loves soils that are poorly drained.

You definitely want to remove this weed before it actually starts to go to seed.

And as you can see, now, it is starting to go to seed, because it is an annual grass weed.

So here's a couple of things that you could do.

One use a pre-emerge.

Dimension will be   a good pre-emerge   to control goose grass,   And you wanna put that down   of course in the spring,   then again in the summer.

And since this weed   is already here,   how about a post   emergent herbicide?

You can use something   like quinclorac.

That's the active ingredient.

So again, goose grass, make sure you get it up, because, if you don't and you wait too late, it will go to seed, and guess what?

It will be back next year.

[upbeat country music] - Alright Kim.

We're gonna talk about propagation.

So here's the first question.

What is propagation, and why do we need to propagate?

- Well propagation, if you're like most gardeners, once you get the gardening fever, you just want to acquire more and more plants.

And, when you learn to propagate, it's a skill set that you learn.

Plus it's a way to get new plants, without-- - Okay.

- It's economical.

- Okay.

All right, so you want to get us started, on some of your practices?

- Sure.

There are several ways to propagate.

The easiest, to me, one of the easiest, is to seed.

It's very economical.

It's a quick fix.

You get plants fairly quickly.

A lot of people are interested in vegetable gardening now.

- Sure.

- So it's very easy to seed your vegetables.

There are basically two types of seeding, direct seeding, or in situ, which means you take your seeds, you go out in the yard, and you plant them in your prepared bed.

A lot of your vegetables, you can do that way.

Especially if they have, the plant is gonna have a taproot, those don't usually transplant real well, so you want to start those outside.

The other is indirect seeding, and usually, what that involves is seeding into a container of some sort, and then you, usually, end up transplanting, at least once or twice, before you actually move it into the spot where you are going to grow it on.

We do a lot of indirect seeding at the Dixon.

- Okay.

- And so basically, what I do with the indirect seeding is, this is our seeding tray, and I've got little cells.

We put a special mix in there.

It's basically just a soil mix.

It's a little looser.

And we put one seed per cell.

- Okay.

- And that's just, because it's easier to transplant, so you don't have to divide 'em.

- Okay, makes sense.

- And we do quite a few.

And usually, the seeds we're using, the germination rate is really high, so we know, if we need 40 plants, and I seed 42 seeds, I'm gonna get at least 40 plants.

- Okay.

- A lot of that depends on your germination rate.

- Let me ask you this before you keep going.

So can the homeowner get the seed trays?

Where can they purchase them?

- Oh yes, you can.

A lot of times you'll see 'em in the big box stores, and they come in a big flat.

This has actually been cut in half.

And then it'll have a dome on the top.

Sometimes they'll already have the soil in 'em, and it'll have a little tray that holds water on the bottom.

That's what this tray is for.

We actually seed into dry mix, and then pour warm water onto the tray, and let it soak up from the bottom.

You don't want to water on top of this, because your seed's gonna wash out.

- That's good to know.

- That's good, yeah.

- That's good to know, yes.

- That's real good to know.

- Once they get this, these are some seedlings.

It's Aquilegia or columbine that we seeded, and these were actually seeded, on January 23rd.

- Okay.

- But these are, we call these plugs, and what we do, once they get their second set of true leaves.

- Okay.

- What we do is we just kind of squeeze it like this, and then I usually take a bamboo stick, and you just poke up the bottom, and it just pops out.

- You got all the tricks.

- And there's your plug.

- I can handle that.

- Sorry, I'm makin' a mess.

- Oh, that's all right.

- And then you just move that to the next size pot, and you grow 'em on.

That's actually the pink flowers down there.

Those actually, the seed is about the size of a grain of pepper.

It's very tiny.

- Wow, small.

- And then in 12 to 14 weeks, that's what I have.

- Okay.

- So, and that's another important thing with seeding.

You need to decide when you want your plant, and then count back the number of weeks that it tells you on the package that it takes for the plant to get that size.

- Okay.

- So with the, the snapdragon there, we actually seed those.

We want 'em about the 1st of February, so I count back 12 to 14 weeks, and that's usually the end of October, 1st of November.

That's when I seed it.

- Okay.

- Usually a month later I can up-pot it to the first small pot, and then we move 'em into the big gallons.

And then we, it's very important for us for timing, because I want the flowers for the arrangements in the museum, so I have to have 'em on a certain schedule.

- It's pretty neat.

Now can we get to the cuttings?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- On the cuttings, there's several ways to vegetatively propagate something, which basically, with that, you're gonna get the identical plant that you're working with.

- Okay.

- And there are several ways to do this.

You can do stem cuttings with herbaceous plants, and that's real good for your annuals.

My mom always kept coleus in the window sill.

She would save 'em from the season before, and you just take a cutting, and, what I do is-- We call this the mother plant.

- Okay.

[all laughing] - And we keep several of these, and then we take cuttings off of it.

But you just find a stem, and you want it not real flexible.

That means it's the newer growth.

But you want to get it back just a little bit to where it's not real stiff.

- Okay.

- And what I usually do, you can take it off here, and you'll usually hear, as much as feel, a little snap.

[plant snaps] - Wow, okay.

- And you can do it that way.

It's really best to cut, 'cause you end up tearin'.

But the next, it's really very easy to do this.

You can either root it by dipping it in hormone, and then sticking it in soil or with these, I like to start 'em in water.

It's just easier.

It's quicker.

But you just take your leaves and strip 'em off.

- Okay.

- And then you want several leaf nodes, one, two, three down into the water or into the soil.

- Okay.

- So that's what... And then this is what you get in about two weeks.

- Well how about that.

- Two weeks?

- And then you just stick-- Two weeks.

- Yeah.

- And that's just in water.

- That's just in water.

We usually set it in a window sill, where it gets indirect light, good light, but indirect light.

And then we just pop those into a soil mix.

- Okay.

- The other, that's a kind of an herbaceous.

There's also semi-hardwood and hardwood cuttings.

The boxwood, we don't do a lot of those.

We do it more for demonstration and, just, what we call playin'.

[Chris laughs] But you usually use the past year's growth, and what you do is, you find a stem, that's, the same thing, not real hard, or it's somewhat woody, but, you know, it's not like this major stem here.

But what you do is, you just cut it off.

- Okay.

- Use good clean clippers.

[branch snipping] I like to clean 'em in between with alcohol.

- Okay, and we wanna make sure we get a clean cut as well.

- A clean cut, right.

- Okay.

- And then you do the same thing.

You want to take your leaves off, and you want several nodes.

And then, what I like to do with hardwood or semi-hardwood cuttings, and a lot of these depend on the time of the year.

Usually May, June, July, you've had that first flush of new growth, and it starting to get a little bit hard.

It's not quite so tender.

And then I just take a rooting hormone.

There's also liquids you can use.

You can buy 'em anywhere.

This is kind of professional strength.

- So the homeowner can readily get that?

- There's one called Root Tone that you can find at most any garden center.

- Okay, from any garden... - So what you do, I don't like to dip into that, because, if this is diseased, you're gonna contaminate your whole container.

- Makes sense.

- So what I do is pour it into a little cup, and you can, it's not necessary to wet this, because it's gonna stick.

It's just a real fine powder.

[softly tapping] And I put it in there and knock the excess off.

And then what I've done, I've got potting mix in there, And then I generally put a small layer of sand, and then I put more potting mix, and then you can just poke it in there.

- Okay.

Now what is the sand for?

- The roots seem to grow off that, into that fairly easily.

Plus it kind of holds a little moisture.

- Okay, that makes sense.

- And then, this is kind of short, but [laughs] he's in there.

- It's peepin' out there.

- It's peekin, I can see it.

- He's peeking in there.

Generally what I will do is water it once really well after that, and then we have a mist house which keeps the humidity up, but most homeowners don't have their own mist house.

So you can put it in a Ziploc bag and seal it, and put it in good indirect light, and then that'll kind of keep it moist.

And usually they root in, in maybe two to three months.

[cheerful guitar music] - Okay, we appreciate that awesome demonstration.

I'm pretty sure the homeowners are gonna love that as well.

So thank you much.

- You're welcome.

[gentle country music] - Squash vine borers can be devastating in the home garden to pumpkins and other squash plants.

The borer boroughs into the   stem, girdles the plant,   and the whole thing   just wilts and dies.

And there's not much   you can do about it,   once the borer   is in the plant.

To stop the squash vine borer, you have to kill it before it enters the plant.

So, if you choose to go the chemical route, I have here a bifenthrin and zeta-cypermethrin.

So take your spray and direct it to the base of the plants.

You don't need to spray the leaves or the flowers, just the bottom three feet of the vine itself, 'cause that's where the squash vine borer will lay its eggs.

You wanna spray in the evening,   because, in the morning,   the pollinators are active,   and the flowers are open.

Always make sure you read and follow the label direction, including protective clothing.

This particular chemical says I need to wear gloves and a long-sleeve shirt and long pants.

And you wanna repeat the spray every week while the squash vine borers are active, and that should keep the squash vine borers out of your squash.

[gentle country music] - All right, here's our Q and A segment.

You ready?

- I'm ready?

- Some great questions here.

- Always a good question here, always comin' in.

- Here's our first viewer email.

"I have vinca that is trying   "to take over my   whole garden bed.

"I have let it grow   for about 15 years.

"It is now layers   and layers of vines   "and rising higher and   higher around my plants.

"Will glyphosate   kill this weed?

"If so, when should   it be applied?

"If not, can you suggest   something that will curb   "or kill this growth?

Thanks in advance."

Patsy   from Lexington, Kentucky.

So we're trying to see if glyphosate will kill this weed.

What do you think?

- Glyphosate will kill it.

It will kill the weed in there, and you gotta spray it at the right time of the year and make sure the temperature is right.

To kill it, you need to get a good coverage on that, when you spray it on there.

And another thing, when you're usin' glyphosate, any kind of herbicide or somethin', always read and follow the label directions.

If you're gonna spray it in you flower bed, you need to be very careful when you're sprayin' to make sure the wind is not high or not blowin', 'cause it will drift.

Whatever glyphosate get on, it's gonna kill it, you know, so you need to be very careful in there.

Then she obviously, like I say, well she can get some black bags to put over there, and try to cover it out and smother it out.

But if you're gonna spray chemicals on that, best thing to do is, if you can, cut it, and then let it start to get some new growth on there.

A lot of time it'll kill better.

- Right.

- On that tender growth.

- Right, and it'd be best to do that in the spring when it's actively growing.

- Active growing, yeah, mm-hm.

- Right, right.

But yeah, spray when it is young and actively growing.

Read and follow the label, Ms.

Patsy.

You'll be fine.

- Yeah.

- Thank you much.

We appreciate that.

Here's our next viewer email.

"How can I make my   Bermuda lawn thicker?"

This is from Ken, so he wants   to make the Bermuda thicker.

- Well, like I said, [Chris chuckles] You got that big turf in there, well that big grass looks really good in there.

One thing that you're cuttin' at the right height.

You cut it at the right height and you fertilize it, get the right amount of fertilizer, and your waterin' it in there.

When you cut it a lot, sometimes it'll thicken up more, but a healthy turf is gonna do that, you know.

To make it thicker, you got to get it right, gettin' the right amount of water.

You cut it the right height, and everything, and all the nutrients good in there.

Your pH is good, your phosphate good, and potassium is good, that grass will get thicker in there, when you do that.

And no, you don't wanna give it too much, especially, too much phosphate-potassium fertilizer, probably.

That can build up in the soil.

But, normally, a nitrogen fertilizer leaches it's way out.

It'll come in and do what it, do it's job, turn it green and make it grow and leach its way out.

And that way will make your grass thicker in there, the good cultural practice, and then do that.

And like I say, I cut mine twice a week, and that helped it.

[Chris chuckling] That make it grow, and that make it thicken up some more in there.

A weak grass, a weak grass, they're not gonna.

They're not gonna thicken up.

That's under stress.

It's not gonna thicken up, likely.

You'll see you'll have thin spots in there.

- Right, so cultural practices are important, and we wanna make sure that Bermuda has full sunlight.

- Full sun, yeah.

- Right, full sunlight.

- Full sunlight, yeah.

- That's what it likes, no shade.

Because, of course-- - I had that problem too, in my grass.

- A real problem.

- I had a tree in there, and the grass begin to thin out under that tree because.

As the tree get older, it'd lay more shade get in there, the Bermuda grass is gonna thin out.

- Right, so give it full sunlight.

- Full sunlight.

- All right.

- So there you have it, Mr. Ken.

We appreciate that question.

Here's our next viewer email.

"My oak tree has been   looking bad this year.

"There have been rounded   brown spots on the leaves.

"Many inside branches   have no leaves,   "and, this morning, I found   these critters munching away.

"What's going on?

"Should I have it sprayed?

Thank you,"   Paula in Bartlett.

So you know, first of all, had a lot of fungal diseases on our trees this year, because of the early spring rains and the cool temperature.

Okay?

- Mm-hm.

- Secondly, the critters, yellow-necked caterpillars.

- Caterpillar, okay.

- Of course they're gonna   be feeding on the foliage   of the tree.

- on the foliage.

- The Oak tree will be able   to maintain its growth,   even though   it's being eaten on.

- Yeah.

- So I wouldn't consider that   to be a major problem.

But if you will like to   have the tree sprayed, I would contact a certified arborist to come out and spray that tree.

- Yeah.

- They have products.

Bt will probably be one of the products that they will use to control the yellow-necked caterpillar.

So keep those trees as healthy as possible, because, if they're stressed, then here comes what?

The fungal diseases and the caterpillars.

- And those dead limbs in there too.

All that'll cause a problem in there.

You need to prune those out of there and everything.

And if you think you've got a fungal disease on those dead limbs, you might wanna sterilize your prunin' shears after each cut.

- Sure, sure.

But yeah, we were talkin' about your large trees.

- Large trees, yeah.

- Large trees, certified arborist.

- Certified arborist, yeah.

- Will assess the plant health.

So thank you for that question, Ms. Paula.

Here's our next viewer email.

"Can the clippings I   collected from my lawn   "be used for a mulch   or in my compost pile?

What if I sprayed my lawn?"

And this is Mary.

- If you sprayed your lawn with any kind of chemical.

- Okay.

- And then let those clippin' in there, you need to make sure you make at least three cuttings on there before you start usin' those clippings, especially in your and your compost pile, especially if you're gonna use that compost pile in your vegetable garden, you need to make sure you make at least three cuttin' on there before you do that.

Then all the chemicals and things should be gone.

Then make sure you had that compost pile to heat up to a certain temperature in there, and try to kill all the stuff out of there in there.

But, if you're gonna use those clippin' in your vegetable garden, do those three cuttin'.

- Right, do those three cuttings.

- Be cuttin' on that before you start doin' it.

And make sure you heat it up good, and how you make it heat up, you have to turn that.

It'll cause you to work to do that there, to turn that compost pile in there.

And I did a compost pile, [Chris chuckles] and you turn it and get it to heat up in there, and that that'll kill a lot of those spores and things in there, all of that still in there.

But there bein' three cutting's the most important thing, though, mm-hm.

- Okay, three cuttings.

- But it can be used though.

It'll be good organic material.

- Okay, so it can be used as a mulch, and it can be used in the compost pile.

- The compost pile, yeah.

Once you've had three cuttings on there, you should have all the chemical out of there.

- Okay.

Yeah, just make sure you keep it turned, like you mentioned.

- Oh yeah.

- And it has to be aerated and watered as well.

- Watered, yeah.

[laughs] - Right, so it can heat up, but we're talking 120 to about 140, 50 degrees.

- Warm, yeah, it's gotta get hot down in there.

It's gotta get hot, most of it.

- All right, so Mary, hope that helps you out.

- Hope so, yeah, that in there.

- All right, we appreciate that.

It's fun as always.

- Always fun, always good to be on here.

I thank you again.

- Thank you much.

Remember we love   to hear from you.

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That's all we have time for today.

Thanks for joining us.

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