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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Fertilizer helps plants grow.

Today we're going to show you   how to make sure you   apply the right amount.

Also, sod is a great   way to start a lawn   or just fill in some holes.

Today we're gonna show   you how to lay it.

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 Celeste Scott.

Celeste is a UT Extension Agent in Madison County, and Booker T. Lee will be joining us later to show us how to lay sod.

All right Celeste, fertilizer mixing and guess what?

Math is involved!

- Yes, lots of numbers and math when were talking about fertilizers.

[snaps fingers] Darn it!

- Math has to come in handy somewhere, right?

It does, but you know it's not hard math.

So, we're doing some basic Junior High math skills.

Nothing too difficult.

We're gonna do a little division, little multiplication, and we're good to go.

- I think I can handle that.

All right, so where do you wanna start with this?

I see you have fertilizer here.

- Yeah, we got several places we could start.

You wanna start with talking about the parts of fertilizer?

- Let's do that.

- Okay, well your fertilizers are gonna have three numbers that are denoting what type of fertilizer they are.

That's known as the fertilizer analysis.

So for example, 34-0-0's the bag I have right here beside me.

The first number is the amount of nitrogen you have   in that fertilizer.

The second number   is your phosphorus.

The last number   is your potassium,   and a lot of old timers know   potassium as potash.

So, it gets a little confusing   when you're talking about that,   people think phosphorus   is potash, but it's not.

So we've got nitrogen first, phosphorus, then potassium.

- N, P, and K. - N, P, and K for short if you wanted to sum that up.

It is called the fertilizer analysis, but it can also be looked at as a ratio or a percentage.

So these numbers are telling you that percentage that's in that bag of each ingredient.

So, 34-0-0 has 34% nitrogen in this bag, and it's got 0% phosphorus and potassium.

For example, there are some other types out there that people may be familiar with.

We have on the table triple-13.

If you look at that in a ratio form, that would be a 1:1:1, because all three numbers are the same.

So you've got 13% nitrogen, 13% phosphorus, 13% potassium, and hopefully I've described that well enough to make sense.

- Yeah, that makes sense, 1:1:1 ratio.

Okay, now so we have triple-13, or we have, how about 15-5-15?

Let's start with that.

So, if only 45% of 15-5-15 is actual fertilizer, what is the remaining portion?

- Okay, so the remaining portion that's not talked about on your fertilizer analysis, that is going to be what they call inert material.

It's a filler.

It's usually going to be made of clay or something organic in that form that that fertilizer is able to be mixed with, and you would think, "Well, I'm getting cheated.

"I'm not getting all I paid for."

But really it does have a few purposes.

Number one, it helps owners be able to apply it more efficiently, get better coverage, and it also prevents over-application of fertilizer.

So farmers buy fertilizer in bulk, and that doesn't have filler in it.

Bagged fertilizers are going to have this inert material, and it just makes it more efficient for homeowners to be able to use it properly.

- Okay, inert ingredients.

- Inert.

- It's pretty much what you see on the bag.

So how about this one.

What's the difference between complete verses incomplete fertilizer?

- Okay, well we have some perfect examples.

The 34-0-0 that we talked about, that would be considered an incomplete fertilizer   because it only   has one ingredient.

It doesn't have all three   ingredients in the fertilizer.

Now, anything else   that has a number   in every one of those slots   would be considered a   complete fertilizer,   like a triple-15,   or 15-15-15,   people shorten it for short   and say triple-15.

Or the triple-13 that we   have on the table as well.

Those would be considered   complete fertilizers.

There are also some other ways that you could categorize fertilizers.

You could categorize them as slow-release or fast-release.

These both would be considered a fast-release fertilizer.

They're gonna release their nutrients over a two to three week period,   and they're usually gonna look   kind of like crushed up rock,   just for general appearance.

Slow-release fertilizers are in more of a, it's called a prill,   it's a small, smooth,   round type ball.

And those are gonna   release their nutrients   over a two to   three month period.

- Like Osmocote.

- Right, like Osmocote would be considered a slow-release, and they make it in large bags as well.

So, you've got a lot of different options and difference circumstances call for slow and some you may wanna go ahead with fast-release.

So those are a few different ways that we can divide fertilizers up into.

You could also go water soluble or insoluble.

A water soluble fertilizer would be something that's in a crystal form, kind of like Miracle-Gro.

They can pour into water and it goes into solution.

You can water your plants with it.

So that's a few different ways that you could talk about fertilizers.

- Okay, now let's definitely talk about this while we have a little time left.

Organic sources of N, P, and K because you know of course a lot of folks wanna grow their vegetables organically.

So let's give them some organic sources for N, P, and K. - We definitely have sources for organic nutrients.

The only issue with that is usually they're going to have less of that nutrients in them so you'll have to use more of it than you would synthetic fertilizers.

They're also a little more expensive, but we've got a couple of examples here.

This first one is blood meal.

This would be a source for nitrogen, an organic source for nitrogen.

This particular one here I think has 12% nitrogen.

So obviously that's not even half of the synthetic 34-0-0, but it's available.

Also, here we've got bone meal.

That's a good source for phosphorus.

It does have a little nitrogen in it as well.

This particular brand has 2% nitrogen, 14% phosphorus, and 0% potassium, so it's mainly a phosphorus source.

Now, the third ingredient, your potash or potassium, I don't have an example of it here, but that would be products that are made from seaweed, or kelp, or even burnt wood ashes, you can get some nutrients in the form of potash in that way.

They're usually gonna be between 4 and 10% active ingredient in those products.

So they are available and on the market.

- Again, these are your organic sources.

So, these do work.

- (Celeste) Yes.

- Okay, and they are good.

- Yeah, and they're good.

I mean, this is what folks used before we had synthetic.

So, if you are trying to promote organics and try to go in that direction, you can definitely do that with those products.

- All right, Celeste.

We appreciate that information and you're gonna be with us next week to show us how to apply these fertilizers.

- Yes.

- All right, thank you.

- Okay, thanks.

[gentle country music] - Chill hours.

- Okay.

That's... [chuckles] That's typically referring to the number of hours   below a certain cold   temperature that is required   before fruit trees, or any   will flower and bear fruit.

It can not just be a fruit tree, it can be a flowering plant, you know.

I think, like for example, Encore azaleas.

You know, they kinda bred that out of them because they don't know- they don't have the chilling requirements as much anymore.

They just bloom sporadically throughout, you know, the season.

But, the chill hours are typically used to describe fruit trees.

You pick your peach variety, or your apple variety, based on where you are, because if you have a cultivar that let's say has a certain number of chill hours and those chill hours are met.

Let's say it had to be just arbitrarily 30 hours below 40 degrees, okay, and you had this peach tree and it all of a sudden you get that requirement met and it's too early, and it blooms out too early.

So, then what's gonna happen, it's gonna get nipped by the frost and it's gonna kill the flowers.

So, that's why chilling hours are very important for people who grow fruit trees to know they're picking the right cultivar [chuckles] with the right chilling requirements so that they don't bloom out early, and the blooms get killed.

And, that's what happens sometimes when the Bradford pears and some of these other things bloom really fast in the spring, and you think, "What's it blooming now?"

Well, the chilling hours were met.

They'll be blooming at Christmas and you'll go, "What, that stupid thing, it's crazy."

Well, the chilling hours got met.

[upbeat country music] - All right, so Booker you're gonna show us how to lay sod.

- Yeah, I'm gonna show you how to lay sod.

- Why don't we get started with that?

- Why don't we get started?

The first thing, where we're laying this sod, now.

We had a friend, he wanted to lay some sod, and he started, I've been with him for about 20 years now, and he had Bermuda grass down here.

And over a period of time, you see you got some big old tall oak trees, an oak tree, and while he built the house, they were real small, and we had Bermuda grass down here.

And over a period of time the grass begin to die, and now he wants to go with a new grass.

And we know that zoysia grass would do good in partial shade, but we find a new one, royal zoysia.

It'll do good in shade.

So, he goes with a royal zoysia this time in here.

But before we got started, the first thing he did, he killed everything out of here.

He got some Roundup and sprayed everything.

- The whole yard.

- The whole yard, turned it brown.

Then he came back in with this garden tiller and tilled it up.

And before you get started doing anything, another thing, don't till it when it's wet.

But those hard pan will get in there, it's hard to break up.

So you wanna make sure it's dry.

Then, once you get it tilled, you wanna rake it out.

So I got a rake here, we're gonna show you, just rake it out real smooth, move it out real good.

You want the sod to come in contact with some good, loose soil for the sod to catch on real good.

See how I'm doing that?

- Right, right, real smooth.

- (Booker) Lot of work too, now.

Muscle work.

You're gonna level it out real good, real smooth.

Then you'll come in and lay your sod.

But another thing when we did that, he did a soil test.

- Oh yeah.

- And the soil test came back.

Its pH was kind of low.

He needed to add some lime.

They told him to add 100 pound per 1,000 square feet.

But you don't wanna do that all at one time, now.

You wanna do part, about 30 pounds at a time, then come back in and do it again once the grass catches on and starts growing really good.

You see, sod, it's cut a certain way.

And we're gonna start right here because we're gonna... You know, if you've ever laid sod, you got some sprinkler heads out there you gotta... You need to make sure you mark those, like you got right here.

You got little circles right around there.

That's how we know that was a sprinkler head.

You don't wanna cover it up, you'd wonder why it's not doing any good.

Now, you see sod, only right here.

Now, you cut a certain way.

When you buys sod, it's cut a certain way that will fit in.

You want it to fit in where it'll be real good.

See, because they go together.

- (Chris) Okay, so you gotta butt it up.

- Butt it up, see that's real good, like that.

See that?

How I butt it up?

Gonna lay another one here.

Make sure you butt it up real good.

That's where it goes.

See how that looks real good in there?

Now we'll just stop here and come back.

When you're laying sod, you wanna make sure that you don't have the seam, see that's the seam there.

You don't want the seam, you don't wanna lay it like that.

- Right.

- For the seam, you wanna get it when it rains, it'll wash up.

- Yeah, you can see the water channels.

- The water channels getting in there, so you wanna-- - Not only that, but weeds used to grow in between there.

- Yeah the weeds.

You wanna come back just like that in there.

And come on down, because you wanna make sure that sod is tight together.

Then you come back in here again, you make sure you find the right edge, for it to butt up real good together.

Hope he ain't got another sprinkler head down there.

[laughs] - Oh no, if it is, it's coming up.

- So that's why I'm keeping a rake right in there.

- So it's gotta be raked, right?

You said rake it smooth, rake smooth.

Good contact is what you're looking for.

- Good contact, good contact.

So that looks good there.

How does that look?

- It looks good so far.

Have you done this before?

- Yeah!

- You know what you're doing, huh?

- Yeah, I know what I'm doing there.

[both laughing] - You know when you come in and do all kinds of odd jobs and catch it in there.

So, we need to watch those ends and make sure they go together.

That's where they go.

- Now, Booker if you flip this up, you can see this has a real good root system in there, too.

- (Booker) Oh yeah, real good.

- (Chris) Real good root system in here.

- And another thing that, when you buy sod, you don't want it to lay on the pallet too long.

- (Chris) Okay.

- (Booker) Try that, when we have it shipped, in less than two to three days, try to put it down.

Because it will dry out, now we'll be doing this in the summertime, when it's real, real hot, and it's been real dry.

What you wanna do is you wanna water it down some.

But the roots didn't want to get into no hot, hot soil.

Not wet, now.

Kinda moist.

Moist it down real good.

So we're gonna go ahead again and lay another one down here.

And let's make sure.

Isn't it good looking there?

How's that look?

- Oh man, that's looking good, an.

Are you for hire?

You're looking good, man.

- Oh yeah, any time man, I could use some money, man.

Nah, we'd be working together, man.

So that looks good now, so.

- (Chris) Now Booker, while you're doing that, how long do you think that's gonna take hold?

- Oh, it'll catch hold, and you'll see it catching hold real good.

It keeps some moisture on there.

You don't wanna keep it wet.

Keep it kinda moist until it starts catching on.

You can come out here and pull on it, and it'll be caught on.

If it's hard to come up, - That means it's taken root?

- Taken root.

You know what?

I'm getting tired.

But that's good though.

Very good exercise.

So that we got it down there real good.

Now you see that there?

Now, that doesn't go together.

See how that looks?

You can tell that don't fit like that.

So yeah that don't fit there.

You see that big gap you got there?

- (Chris) Yeah, that's too big a gap.

- (Booker) Yeah let me tell you what I do, I turn it around.

Now, see the difference?

You see the difference?

When you're laying sod, don't go in and put it any kind of way, because it won't look good.

You gotta fit it like a puzzle.

Like a puzzle, yeah, you right.

Now, you know that don't-- - Like a puzzle.

- Now I'm gonna rake this out right here.

Because that's kinda high there.

Would you hold it for me for a minute?

You don't mind?

- Nah, I can hold it.

- I wanna rake that a little bit.

Yeah.

It's just kinda mud out here right now.

I'm glad we didn't do a whole lot right now.

Probably good for the show there, too.

Now when we get this laid, when we get the sod laid, all of it laid real good, you wanna roll this, here.

That way it'll fit in real good together.

So we got a roller, we can roll it out, and make sure it comes in contact with the ground real good.

- (Chris) So you wanna get it even when you're rolling it?

- (Booker) You wanna get it even when you're rolling, yeah.

You wanna get it even when you roll it to make sure you get everything together.

Now, I think that it looks pretty good.

The most important thing, don't have these seams running together.

Have those seams split, kind of lay out like a puzzle like you said.

You wanna make sure you do it like that.

- Okay.

- That looks real good, don't it?

- It's a good sod, right?

- And when it get through, you gonna have a pretty, pretty yard in there.

So, think that when you do that sod, two things to keep in mind.

Do your soil test, because the lime is the most important thing.

If the pH is off, it's not gonna take up the nutrients in the soil.

So you wanna make sure that you-- - So what does the lime do to the pH?

- It helps other soil be used up by the plant.

- When you use the other soil, the pH is off.

So you wanna make sure you do that soil test.

And he did his soil test, came back, low like mine did, and he got it fixed in there.

- All right Booker, well we definitely appreciate that demonstration.

Can't wait to see what it looks like later on in the season.

- All right then.

- All right.

[gentle country music] - Okay, I want to show you how to properly plant a hosta, and hopefully protect it from voles at the same time.

The first thing when you get a hosta, you want to dig your hole about twice as wide as the container.

Then, loosen this, you don't have to go deep, about three inches or so, and incorporate some good organic matter.

Hostas are not deep-rooted plants.

Then, right in the center of your prepared area, you want to dig out just like a cone shape like this.

Then we're gonna take a product.

This one is Soil Perfector, there's MoleGo, there's a whole bunch of products out there and just dump it right in the hole like that.

And make it, pack it up against the sides like this.

We're gonna get a little bit more there, in there.

Now what this does gives you a protective barrier because when the voles are in there, they don't have any place to push that.

So, we're gonna make this cone like so.

Then we'll remove this hosta from the pot just like this.

Spread the roots out a little bit.

Force it down in the center, and then we're gonna come back again with a little more on the top of it like so to protect the pip.

Then bring you a little light mulch on top of it.

The hosta's done, and you got pretty good protection against voles.

[gentle country music] - All right, Celeste this is our Q and A session, so let's see what we have, okay?

Here's our first question:   "Why didn't my daffodils   bloom this year?"

Typical question   we get this year   at the Extension Office, three things come to mind for me.

Number one, not enough sun.

Not enough sun, number one.

Number two, they cut the foliage back too soon last year.

- Maybe their husband got a little antsy with the lawnmower?

- (Chris) Maybe.

- And just went ahead and ran over?

- Just ran right over.

And see, you need those leaves, because those leaves are going to be collecting nutrients for next year's growth.

So just let those leaves stay there until they start turning yellow.

They're gonna brown out, then they're gonna die out.

Then you'll be fine.

But, yeah if you cut them back too early, it's gonna be a problem.

Or the third thing is this: crowding.

So if those bulbs been in the ground for a long time, they're gonna crowd each other out.

So you have to dig them up, separate them, put them back in the ground, you'll be fine.

- Share them with a friend.

- Share them with a friend is something that you can do, so they can have some of your beautiful daffodils for next year.

So those are the three things that come to mind to me.

So if you do those, you'll be just fine.

But don't cut the foliage back.

Don't do that one.

But yeah, divide them if they're crowded, make sure they have full sun, they'll be fine.

Here's our next question:   "What is wrong with my azaleas?

"They didn't grow.

"The leaves look weak.

I fertilize them but   they just look anemic."

And this is from Mr. Joe.

What do you think about that one?

- Well, Joe, several things that could be going on there with your azaleas.

We'll just start at the beginning.

They maybe planted too deeply.

If they're new planting.

- (Chris) Because they're shallow-rooted - They are, - For the most part.

- and they like drainage, they don't like to be in really wet sites, so makings sure that the crown of the plant is above ground level there would be important I would think, for me.

- (Chris) All right, that's good, that's good.

- Also, the location.

If they're in a sunny location, it's gonna be more condusive for them to attract a bug called the azalea lace bug,   and it can kind of cause them   to have a silvery kind of   appearance from far away.

When you get up close,   they're stifling, so   that could be an issue   If they're in a sunny location.

So make sure they're   getting enough shade.

I'm sure you probably have some things to add.

- Yeah, those are good.

I think you just about covered it, but I've seen a lot of landscape here in Shelby County, azaleas in the wrong conditions.

The afternoon sun here's just too hot for your azaleas.

They need to be in the shade.

And then of course, if they're out in the sun they're gonna be stressed out, and if they're stressed out, then then guess what, here comes the azalea lace bug, like you mentioned.

Again, bug named after a plant, so here we go with that again.

Azalea, azalea lace bugs.

So you have to be careful with that Mr. Joe and hey make sure you go out, inspect.

Fertility again may be an issue, pH, whatever, come by the Extension Office.

- They like acidic soils.

- They like acidic soils, so you could test your soils, come by and let us give you a soil kit so you can get that done.

But I think if you do all of that, you'll be just fine.

So here's our next question.

"How do I kill a   small amount of clover   in my fescue lawn without   harming the grass itself?"

And this is from Mr. David.

So, he wants to kill the clover in his fescue lawn without killing the fescue.

- Right.

- So what do you think about that one?

- Well, as far as chemical applications, I'll cover that part.

You're gonna wanna use a selective herbicide.

That means it's going to selectively kill broad leaf weeds, and it's not gonna harm the grass.

It'll be fine for cool season grasses like fescue.

You're gonna wanna use something that has active ingredient 2,4-D or there are some three-way chemicals out there that also contain usually 2,4-D, dicamba, methacrop, and there are some other combinations out there, but something along those lines would take care of it as far as chemical applications go.

- Right and then you know I'm gonna hit the cultural practices.

I always like to go to that.

Healthy, dense stand of grass would actually help ward out weeds for the most part.

And if you think about clovers, Celeste, clover actually produces nitrogen from the atmosphere, from the air.

So the reason why it is there, is because it has to produce it's own nitrogen to be there, which means your site has poor fertility.

- (Celeste) Yeah.

- So pH, so get your soil tested figure out what your pH is, fertilize according to the soil test.

And then from there, you have to mow it at the right height, of course, proper irrigation, and again proper fertilization, and I think you'll be fine with that, Mr. David.

I think that'll work.

But yeah, using, if you have to use the chemicals, three ways do work.

Broad leaf weed killers, and that will get the job done, even in your fescue.

- Even in the fescue.

- Even in the fescue.

- Read the label!

Always read the label.

- Read the label, I'm glad you mentioned that.

Always read the label, that's right.

Here's our next question.

"What is the best way to   control tomato blight?

I had a big problem   with it last year."

And this is Mr. Jimmy, so he had a problem with tomato blight last year.

He doesn't wanna have the blight this year.

- Okay.

- Here's the thing about tomato blight.

To me, again maybe four or five things come to mind.

If you would mulch your tomatoes, you would cut down on the soil splashing.

- (Celeste) Splash up.

- Because if you don't have the mulch, it rains, you water, splashes up,   lower leaves are gonna   get the spores first,   and then guess what happens?

It flares up the rest   of the tomato plant   throughout the summer.

- (Celeste) And old-timers   call it "firing up"   - Firing up, that's   exactly what they call it.

So if you put the mulch   down, that'll work.

Something else I recommend, staking.

Because you wanna get those leaves and the fruit off the ground.

Another thing is this: crop rotation.

- That's what I was gonna say.

Crop rotation.

- You don't wanna put the tomatoes in the same place year after year after year.

- Because it's getting in the soil and it's not moving.

- It's in the soil, that's right.

It's in the soil.

Another thing is get rid of that old crop debris.

Because I see that in a lot of gardens.

- They think that it's helping improve the organic matter, and it does.

- (Chris) It does.

- If your plants aren't diseased.

- That's right, if they're not diseased.

And the last thing I could think of is check to see if there are any resistant varieties out there.

- And there are some resistant varieties, but it's gonna be hard to avoid that in our area just because we've got those ideal conditions.

- All right Celeste, thank you for being here.

- You're welcome, thanks for having me.

- Remember, we'd love   to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is   familyplot@wkno.org,   and the mailing address   is Family Plot   7151 Cherry Farms Road   Cordova, Tennessee 38016.

Or you can go online to   familyplotgarden.com.

That's all we have time for today.

If you would like more information on mixing fertilizer or laying sod, go to familyplotgarden.com.

You can rewatch any part of the show and read extension publications about that topic.

Thanks for watching.

I'm Chris Cooper, be sure to join us next week for The Family Plot: Gardening In The Mid-South.

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]