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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Gardening is just one big experiment.

Yes, this happened, but why?

Hopefully we can answer some of the whys today.

We're spending the whole show answering viewer questions.

That's just ahead on The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

- (female announcer) Production funding for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South is provided by the WKNO Production Fund, the WKNO Endowment Fund, and by viewers like you, thank you.

[upbeat country music] - Welcome to The Family Plot.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Joining me today is Joellen Dimond.

Joel Ellen is our local horticulturist.

We have Celeste Scott.

Celeste Scott is a UT Extension horticulture specialist.

And Mr.

D is here.

Mr.

D is a retired UT Extension agent.

Thank you for joining us.

- Yeah.

- Glad to be here.

- This is gonna be fun.

Are y'all excited?

- Yes.

- Oh, yes.

- Oh, yeah.

- I am excited.

I'm excited.

So let's get right to it.

Right?

Here's our first viewer email.

"How can I eradicate air potatoes?

There are taking over my backyard."

And this is Mary from Kissimmee, Florida.

She says she sprayed and collected the drop potatoes, but she feels like she's fighting a losing battle.

The vines are now climbing trees and engulfing the electrical wires.

So, Celeste?

- Yes.

- Can we help Mary out?

- I think we can.

- Okay.

- So first I wanna start by pointing out that I'm so sorry for this struggle that she's facing, right?

- Right.

- So air potatoes can grow like eight inches of vine a day.

- That's crazy.

- In the middle of their, you know, prime growing season.

So they have the ability to just really engulf any types of structures in that area.

But their control can be really, really difficult because they are propagating in two different ways.

Underground tubers.

- Right.

- As well as aerial tubers.

And so those potatoes that she was calling, those are aerial tubers or bulbils is another word for that.

And when those fall onto the ground in the wintertime, they just lay dormant and then they sprout the following spring.

So it is a real struggle, even if you're pulling up the vines that you see growing in that current year, if you don't pick up every single one of those aerial tubers, potatoes, that fell on the ground, that is serving as another, you know, another chance for those to just re-sprout and cause a problem all over again.

So number one, just staying on top of that.

- Okay.

- Manual removal.

I know she said she's already been trying it, but just keep- - Yeah.

She's tried.

- Keep staying on top of that if you can.

And then if she needs to resort to some herbicides to help in this battle, if you will.

Glyphosate and triclopyr are two like non-selective active ingredients that are labeled for control of that particular plant.

You know, of course, always follow your product labels.

- Yes.

- But definitely, those products could help her in the battle.

And I think timing of application is what's gonna be most crucial for this.

- Good point.

- You don't wanna apply that right at the beginning of, I mean, you could at the beginning of the spring, but you're gonna see the most effectiveness if you are applying those products in late season, like late summer as the plants are sending all those carbohydrates down to their roots and preparing for dormancy.

I think that she could, you know, that could be another tool that she adds to the toolbox.

It's not gonna be a cure-all, you know, doing it one time isn't gonna solve the problem because you could still have those air potatoes laying all over the ground with potential to resprout every year.

But just staying on top of it for several years in a row can help you knock it back.

- Be persistent.

- Yeah.

I don't think there's a magic, there's not a magic solution for that one.

- I don't think so either.

And you might have to do a combination of both.

- Yeah.

Yes.

That's what I said.

I just like to use all of those tools that are in your toolbox.

There's no reason that we need to ever really limit ourself to one.

We need to look at all of those control eradication options for sure.

- And watch the wires.

- Yeah.

Be careful.

- I would have somebody else, you know, cut those.

Not try to cut those.

- Yeah, I wouldn't want to pull it down from the wire.

- Oh, yeah, no.

- Out of the electrical wires.

- No, definitely, no.

- Stay away from the wires.

- Be careful.

- But what you could do is you could take your pruning shears and at about chest height, go around the pole where it's going up and cut.

- Yeah.

- Cut it.

I do this with ground ivy.

- Oh yeah.

- And also kudzu.

- Yeah.

Kudzus.

- Trim it and cut it.

And where you cut it, as with all pruning, that initiates growth.

You get a flush of growth there.

Then you hit it with your systemic herbicide like glyphosate or triclopyr.

And it'll translocate hopefully to that tuber and kill it.

But that's a combination.

- Yeah, that's a combination.

- And but leave 'em up there and then you get to watch it die.

- Die.

- Right.

[laughing] - So satisfying.

Right?

- Get to watch it die.

- Slowly wither away.

- Leave it up there.

Yeah.

Don't try to pull it down.

- Up in the canopy.

- Yeah.

- That's good.

- So there you have it, Ms.

Mary.

Yeah, good luck with that.

We want to help you with this battle.

All right.

Here's our next viewer email.

"How do I get consistent production from my figs?"

And this is Kurt from Henagar, Alabama.

He says he has multiple varieties and they have been very inconsistent with production.

Some not even ripening, Mr.

D. So you know a little something about Alabama.

- I do.

- And about figs.

- I do.

I even have-- - So what do you think?

- I even have a friend from Alabama named Kurt, but he doesn't live in Henagar.

- All right.

[laughing] - Well, you got multiple varieties.

I wonder how old they are.

- Sure.

- I know there are early-, mid- and late-season varieties of figs.

And all I can tell you, and this year may have been, I wonder how many years he's comparing this to, because this year has been a really, really strange year.

- Yes, it has been.

- Because of the really, in our area anyway, the really, really wet spring and then the rains quit and you had the drought situation, and that could have adversely affected all of these varieties.

The number one thing you can do is soil test.

As long as you're pH is, figs like a high pH, 6, 6.5 pH, make sure your pH is good and make sure you fertilize according to soil test results, you ought to be okay in a good year.

- Yeah.

- But environmental stress can, you know, throw a wrench into anything.

- I agree.

- Definitely.

I'll throw in there that, so I grow in a zone seven and late freezes can be an issue with us.

So just as they've begun to grow, kind of killing whatever had started to grow above ground and that just pushes the whole plant back.

So years when we see that, we will get some like fruit set, but it hardly ever, the season at that point doesn't last long enough for them to actually mature, get large enough.

- You get a late start.

- Right.

And so like, maybe that has something to do with the inconsistency.

- Maybe.

- And again, that could be variety dependent or, and I know we struggle with this less in the warmer growing zones, but just picking those cultivars that are cold hardy.

- Yes.

- So I have to be, especially on top of my game for that one.

So like, Celeste.

- Yeah.

Celeste be one.

Yeah, of course, yeah.

- Chicago.

- Brown Turkey.

- Brown Turkey.

- That's another one.

- I knew there was a turkey one in there.

- Yep, Brown Turkey is one.

And there's actually a LSU Purple.

- Oh yes.

- That's cold hardy.

- That's another good cold hardy one.

And so just making sure that we're, you know, starting out with those selections.

And that's gonna help guard against, if we have extremely cold periods through our winter times, even if the above ground parts of that plant die, the roots are still gonna be hardy, - That's right.

- So.

- Right.

- Okay, Kurt.

And one thing I'd like to add to that is yeah, go to your local Extension Office.

They will have a publication about figs, and that should help you out.

Thank you much.

We appreciate that question.

Here's our next viewer email.

"How do I condition my soil before planting a garden?"

And this is Alfred from Batesville, Mississippi.

He says the area he wants to use is currently poor soil without no top soil.

- Yes.

- So how about that, Joellen?

- Yes.

I can feel his pain.

- Can you feel it?

- Yeah.

The property that I lived on was a construction dump site.

So I have no top soil on, I had no top soil.

It needs compost.

He's gotta do a whole bunch of composting.

You'd be surprised.

I was all excited one year when I saw robins and thought, well, we have worms now, so you know, what we've been doing is working.

But- - And then you got moles.

- And then I got moles.

Now I got moles.

So yeah.

- Wildlife, wildlife.

- The more wild.

Yeah.

It can be reclaimed, I can tell you, it can be, it's gonna take some time, but it can be reclaimed, adding compost, anything kind of compost.

You can add manures of any kind, but make sure they're a year old at least and mature.

If you wanted to, you could do cover crops to get some- - I would consider that.

- Some, you know, nice nutrients down in the soil like vetch or clovers in the wintertime.

And then plow those in for more composting nutrients.

I mean, you can get it to do fine.

It's gonna take some time.

- Take a little time.

Right.

- Yeah, that's what I was gonna add is- - Take a little time.

- It's gonna take time.

That's not something you can't fix in one growing season.

Right?

You can't say, oh we've got, you know, pitiful top soil and expect to have, you know, a thriving ecosystem, you know, in less than a year.

Like that building your soil profile and really coming in and renovating that area is definitely gonna take time like Joellen said.

- I agree with that.

Yeah, improving that soil structure is what you're trying to do at the end of the day.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

And that could be done with compost, aged manure, leaf mold.

- Leaf mold.

Yeah.

- Something else you could do as well.

- That's one of my favorites.

- Go ahead, Mr.

D.

- If you can grow vegetables hydroponically, you can grow vegetables in your lawn if you just stay with it.

- Where there's a will, there's a way.

- Provide what the plants need.

- There you go.

- That's what it needs.

- Soil test.

- Ah.

- And soil testing.

- Soil test.

Mr.

Alfred, there you go.

Appreciate that question.

Thank you much.

Here's our next viewer email.

"What are some low maintenance evergreen bushes "we can plant in our side yard?

"It would be nice if they had some seasonal color too.

"The area is mostly shady with some sun.

We do have a rabbit and deer problem."

- Oh.

[laughing] - And this is Anna from Columbus, Ohio.

- They just layered 'em all on there.

- Ah, yeah.

So what do you think about that, Joellen?

Yeah.

They just put it on there, right?

- Well, you know, it's interesting because there are a good many plants that she can plant there.

But of course, you know, the deer and the rabbit problem really narrows things down just a bit more.

- I know somebody who can help you with the deer and rabbit.

- Twelve-year-old with a twenty gauge.

I almost said a 20-year-old with a 12 gauge, that also would help too.

- Evergreen with seasonal color is also a high order.

I mean, it's- - Yeah, you could do that too.

- Yeah.

- I mean, there's lots of needs there.

- There are some and there's a publication that Ohio State University has put out and we'll have that link.

And it'll have a lot of suggestions on there.

But the ones that I know that will do well that have blooms are viburnums.

It could be a, you know, a there's smaller ones.

There is Abelias, then there are, those are the ones that are blooming.

Then there are things like false cypresses.

I'm thinking because foundation plants, I'm not thinking big plants.

- Mm-hm.

I got you.

- You know, all these are small plants that you can find.

False cypresses.

There's junipers.

Boxwood.

But those are all evergreen types.

- That's right.

- But the ones that'll bloom, there's fewer of them that are deer resistant, but, and if it's shady, it will bloom, but it may not bloom as prolifically as it would if it had some sun.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- So just think of that.

But still, the Abelia, the viburnum, basically those are the really the only two that have a lot of blooms on 'em for the condition that she's wanting them in And are the right size.

- I had viburnum on the top of my list too, so I was so glad that you led with that because they can tolerate some shade.

We do have a few that depending on what your growing zone is, in zone seven would be considered evergreen and then have that bloom.

And I really love, there's one viburnum called Pearlific and the buds start out pink and then as they open and mature, they turn kind of like a creamy white and there's fragrance.

- Yes.

- And I mean, I feel like we're checking all the boxes for the need in that particular site.

- Color, fragrance.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- She is.

- So we found a solution.

[laughing] And then also keep in mind that any of those conifer-type evergreens that you mentioned, like your false cypresses and junipers, as far as color goes, we have an array of color choices from blues to grays, golds.

So don't let that hold you back.

Just the thought of saying, well, it's just a evergreen conifer.

Hey, you can mix color options there.

- That's true.

And you know- - Seasonal color.

- And the Abelias, even though they're evergreen, they have a lot of colors with them too.

And in her area, she might, they might lose their leaves up there if it gets cold enough.

- Right.

Right.

- Yeah.

- But the benefits, you know, outweigh.

- Outweigh.

I agree.

- The rest of the year.

- And the plants that you mentioned will grow in that area, right?

- Yep, they'll grow in that area.

- There's a publication.

- Yep.

And there's a publication.

- Okay.

- That has even more on it.

But some of 'em are are deer and rabbit resistant, but they're gonna be bigger plants and that may not fit her area.

So I just tried to think of things that were smaller for around her foundation.

- Mm-hm.

Gotcha.

- Avoid azaleas as the deer will love to consume.

- They love that?

- It was not on the list.

- Well, there- - Yeah, so don't have to worry about it, right?

- It's checking the box.

Right?

For semi shade and evergreen and seasonal color.

Like it checks all those other boxes.

But the deer and rabbit- - But the deer and the rabbit.

- Mm-mm.

No.

- No, no.

- They like azaleas?

- They will.

They'll just nip 'em.

- That's gonna be a problem.

So there you have it, Ms.

Anna.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Gave you some things to think about here.

All right.

Be careful of those rabbit and deer.

All right.

Here's our next viewer email.

"Can I grow garlic in containers?

I live in an apartment."

And this is Elizabeth.

So can she do that Joellen?

- Oh yes, she can.

- Oh, she can.

- Yeah.

- Yes, she can.

- If you can grow something in the ground, you can grow it in a container.

It doesn't matter what it is.

Just got to have a large enough container.

- Ah.

- And you gotta, you know, be able to keep it moist and evenly.

You know, don't let it dry out.

That's the key because a lot of times, you know, people will put plants in pots and then they don't realize that there's not enough soil like the earth around them.

They have to put a little more water on them than they would if they were just planted in the natural soil.

- Right.

- So that's the only thing I can say to look at and enjoy your garlic and harvest it.

And around here we would plant that in the fall.

- Yeah.

In the fall.

- In this area.

But other areas, you may have to wait 'til spring, the colder the climate is, the more you'll have to wait 'til the spring to plant them.

But yeah, it'll grow.

- I agree with that.

- But the only, I mean, I completely agree, but then I think about the length of the growing season of garlic.

- It's long.

- It's really long.

- It's long.

- So they're gonna, you know, just know that you're gonna be committed to growing it in this container.

It's much longer than, say if you maybe have some experience growing a tomato or a pepper in a container.

You know, I would consider them long-growing seasons in the vegetable world.

But garlic is even longer.

I mean, you're looking at six months or more for those garlic to mature.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is maybe plan that when they are designing their container, maybe put it like right in the middle, try to concentrate them in the center and then that way they can grow along the periphery like other shorter- - There can be other herbs like thyme and- - Exactly, yeah.

- And oregano and things like that, that would go with the garlic.

- Exactly.

- Go with it.

That's good.

- Or maybe like leafy greens that have a shorter maturity, like 40 days or something like that.

You could do those crops over and over around the base of it.

Or just make it your herb pot.

- Your herb pot.

- I love that.

- Yeah.

It actually makes sense.

I'm sitting here thinking, yeah, make sure you get enough sun.

- Definitely sun.

- You gotta get enough sun.

Make sure the container has a hole in it.

- Oh yes, yes.

- So the water can drain out for sure.

- Gotta be at least 12 inches deep.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

It needs to be deep.

- Yeah, you gotta have a sizable container.

- Yeah.

That's for sure.

And yeah, the season, yeah, if you're growing garlic here, you know, in the Mid-South, it's about eight or nine months, you know, to harvest, you know, so yeah, you have to plan it out to your point.

- Yeah.

- That's for sure.

- And definitely again, they can make this happen, but if you are planning on growing that container, primarily indoors, if you're in an apartment and you don't have a patio and you don't have a balcony, you're gonna need grow lights that have full spectrum light.

You're not gonna be able to get away with just putting it close to a window, [laughing] so.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

So a lot of things to think about there, Elizabeth.

Yeah.

But you can grow it in a container.

- Yeah.

- Yes, you can.

- All right.

So thank you much for the question.

Here's our next viewer email.

"I planted these hollyhocks four years ago.

I know that they are biennial, they come back every year, but never flower.

Any ideas?"

And this is Peg from Hanover Park, Illinois.

So what do you think about that one, Celeste?

- Okay.

- They don't flower.

- They don't flower.

So probably, and from the picture, it looked like there was quite a bit of shade right there.

- Yes.

- In that planting area.

- Yes, it did.

- So that may be what's holding those plants back as far as their bloom goes.

But then taking into consideration, I like that she knew this plant was a biennial so it has a different, you know, process for its growing season.

Biennials typically have one season where they grow vegetatively followed by a season where they flower and that signals the plant to stop being a plant, right?

Produce seed and then start over.

And maybe since this plant is never reaching the point where it is flowering, it hasn't sent that signal, you know, back to the plant that hey, your life cycle is over.

So it's stuck in its biennial life phase because it hasn't actually produced seed 'cause flowering is what we see visually, what we relate to that biennial stage.

But really physiologically it's seed production is what signals to the plant that it's done.

Another thing that I thought is if she like direct seeded, maybe she just went out and seeded.

I mean, you can grow, you know, hollyhocks just by seeding them directly in the garden.

Maybe she had one group of plants that came up in year one and now she has some other seed that are coming up this year.

And it just seems like they're the same plants.

Sometimes that gets a little- - I can follow that.

- You know, confusing.

So could be a lot of things happening there with that biennial lifecycle.

But I think why they're not blooming is because of the sun.

So we need to get some more sun on 'em.

- Yeah, and because four years is a long time in the life.

- Oh, did she say four?

- A landscape- - Yep, four years.

- Oh, I missed that part of it.

I wasn't sure how long they were there.

- Yeah, four years is a long time.

I mean, I've gone from full sun to a partly shady area in four years with trees and stuff around where I have my flowers.

So you know, there could be other factors limiting the amount of sunlight that those plants can get.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

I would agree.

But yeah, from the picture again, definitely could see some shade.

- And the plants look healthy.

I mean, I feel like other than that, she's got an ideal area.

[laughing] - Yes.

- So thank you Ms.

Peg, we appreciate the picture too.

Thank you so much for the picture and the question.

All right.

Here's our next viewer email.

"How do I get rid of Johnson grass in a Bermuda field?"

And this is Ray from Dallas, Texas.

So what do you think about that one, Mr.

D?

- I contacted and did a little research with the Texas A&M Extension Service.

- Ah, there you go.

Okay.

- And there are some herbicides that you can use that will take out Johnson grass and leave the Bermuda grass.

Outrider is one, sulfosulfuron, is the way you pronounce it, I think.

And then Pastora, which is a mixture of nicosulfuron and nicosulfuron and metsulfuron.

Both of those need to be applied with a surfactant.

Follow the label.

And do that before the Johnson grass blooms and that will help you.

One thing I do that to control Johnson grass where I don't want it is I use a rope wick applicator.

- Oh, okay.

- And use a 33% solution to glyphosate in that rope wick applicator.

And it will do a good job.

It's above the, it would be above your Bermuda grass.

You could wipe it and that's very effective.

But either of those three herbicides should do the trick for you.

- So lemme ask you about timing.

- MSMA is another one that would also work if you can get it.

- Right.

- And it also can brown your Bermuda grass.

- Yes.

- If you're not careful.

- Right, so let's talk about timing.

- Timing?

- So when do you make those applications?

- Those applications of the Outrider and Pastora and MSMA, you would do it before the Johnson grass blooms.

So it would be earlier, you know, early summer, you know?

The rope wicking can be done anytime the Johnson grass is tall enough to fit your rope wick applicator.

I have one mounted on a four wheeler and it will do the trick quickly.

You can get bigger ones for a tractor if that's what your, or lawnmower.

You can, they're out there and they really do a good job with Johnson grass.

- There you go.

Alright.

Texas A&M Extension.

Yeah.

- Spot spraying too, depending on how much you have.

Yeah, you can spot spray with glyphosate also if you don't have a lot of Johnson grass.

- Right.

- But if you got a lot of it, go with rope wick.

Or one of these other products.

- Thank you, Mr.

D. That was good.

Yeah, thank you for that question, Ray.

We appreciate that.

Read and follow the label.

All right.

Here's our next viewer email.

"What has caused some sections "of our large boxwood hedge to die?

"Is this a slowly progressing disease that will infect the entire row of healthy bushes?"

And this is Archie from Austin, Texas.

So what do you think about that, Celeste?

- Well, so I wanna start off by saying there could be several different things.

- Yeah.

Several.

- Happening with boxwood.

So there's a condition called boxwood decline.

Which we, you know, cannot pinpoint an exact pathogen that's contributing to the decline of that plant.

But generally we'll also see Volutella blight set in, that's kind of like a coral powdery substance on the underside of a leaf.

And the leaf is usually light tan.

That's exactly what I was seeing in this picture.

Just that kind of tan cast to the leaves.

- And it is a slow progressing disease.

- It is slow progressing disease.

But we didn't get any up close pictures of the leaves.

So I couldn't tell if we had any of that development on the underside.

But just know that the Volutella is opportunistic.

Like it's still not the cause of what is the decline, it's just setting in once the plant is already declining.

And that could be, you know, I've seen this on boxwood, old-age boxwood that haven't had rejuvenation prunings, you know, in a while.

So lots of different things can be going on there.

Root rot, boxwoods suffer quite frequently from root rot diseases or crown rot in their case, what we call that.

And that can present in a few different ways.

Usually you'll see just like a portion of the shrub going downhill while the rest of it still looks green and you think, well, if I just prune this one out, maybe it'll get better.

But then it just progressively gets worse and worse.

Definitely those are soil-borne diseases.

So in that case I could see it being passed from plant to plant if they're in similar, you know, growing soils planted right next to each other.

I was trying to look in the pictures to see if I saw any indications of where they may be like standing in water.

- Or something that- - I was looking for that too.

- Maybe had changed.

I only saw a downspout in one picture.

But let me tell you what I did notice is that all of the sidewalks that edged the flower beds looked almost brand new.

So I'm wondering was there some construction that disrupted roots when they came in and installed those sidewalks?

Maybe the sidewalks are holding more moisture in those flower beds where before it could drain away.

And so now we're seeing a little bit of that maybe crown rot development, possibly.

Lots of different things that could be going on there.

So I don't have a definitive answer, but those are some things that they could look at and reach out to their local Extension agent to help them investigate further.

- For sure.

- And the last thing I wanna mention is the possibility of boxwood blight.

This does not look like boxwood blight to me, but when we have issues with boxwood, I feel like it's important that people realize that that is a really devastating disease of boxwood that we need to know how to be able to identify.

Typically you wanna look for target shaped lesions on the leaf that have like a dark purple almost center, that's kind of your, and then also cankers on the stems.

- Yeah, the little black, yeah.

Streaks.

- So a couple different things to look for.

I don't think boxwood blight is what's happening here.

But definitely wanted to mention it since we were talking about 'em.

- Yeah, yeah.

That's good.

Yeah.

And this is Austin, Texas.

It was hot.

Probably some environmental issues as well.

- Yes, very hot.

- You know, heat stress, the concrete, the sidewalk that we were talking about.

- Yeah.

- So yeah, that's something to think about.

All right.

We thank you, Mr.

Archie, for the picture.

Yeah, thank you for the question too as well.

Appreciate that.

Y'all that was fun.

Don't we learn a lot, you know, from each other?

- Yes.

Every time.

- Yeah.

Just a lot that's out there.

So I thank y'all for being here today.

So Joellen, Celeste, Mr.

D, thank y'all so much.

- Thanks.

- All right.

- Thank you.

- Remember we love to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is questions@familyplotgarden.com and the mailing address is Family Plot 7151 Cherry Farms Road, Cordova, Tennessee 38016.

Or you can go online to familyplotgarden.com.

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