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From the Keiko Miwa Ross WPSU production studio.

This is conversations live.

Welcome to Conversation live.

Get your garden on I'm Alex Rab coming to you live from the doctor Keiko.

Me well Ross super deduction studio.

Many of us have already started planting cool season crops.

Or we're getting ready to grow fruits and vegetables that like warmer weather.

Either way, now is the perfect time to get tips on getting the most out of your garden and yard.

We have two experts joining us tonight to talk about everything from spring lawn care to planting and caring for trees, and we'll take your questions.

Let's meet our guests.

Tom Butler is a Penn State Extension horticulture educator.

He works with commercial horticulture operators and landscapers in Clinton County.

His areas of expertise include vegetable production and beekeeping.

And Elsa Sanchez is a Penn State Professor of Horticulture Systems management in the College of Agriculture.

Her areas of emphasis include nutrient management with organic nutrient sources, cultural pest management strategies, reduced tillage, and hydroponic systems management.

You, too, can join tonight's conversation.

Our toll free number is one 800 543 8242.

Our email address is connect@psu.org.

So I thought we could start by talking about some of the things gardeners can do right now, either planning or actually getting out and doing it before the summer in the summer heat actually gets here.

So, Tom, what do you like to do in April to get your garden and yard in shape for the season?

Yeah, we've been cooped up all winter.

Right?

So everyone has just burst in to get out and do something and in their lawns and landscaping their garden.

And there's there's so much to do.

Probably too much to do with the length of time you have in a day.

So what I've been doing, I actually started planting some of the garden already planted some, broccoli cauliflower that I had started a couple several weeks ago.

and then I started some seed of Redbud.

It's an ornamental tree.

And so I had about 100 of these seedlings.

So I've been busy planting those on the property.

So.

Yeah, I'm.

I'm out there and I'm getting my hands dirty.

It feels good.

Yeah.

Spring.

Yeah.

Spring is here.

So else is the same question for you.

It's it's mid-April.

What are you doing this month?

So for my vegetable garden, some things that I'm doing is thinking about starting my summer transplants already.

Actually, Tom and I are meeting later on, next week in order to start some of our spring, our summer transplants.

So it's a great time to start thinking about that.

soil testing.

If you haven't done that, you can still do that, to get ready for the growing season.

And for me, this is the time of year where I just gotta try to have a little bit of patience because, you know, with the weather getting warm and cold, I like, like Tom was saying, I'm just itching to get out there, but I don't want to get out there too early.

It's understandable.

Yeah.

Soil testing.

where can the person on the street find this to help themselves?

Right.

So Penn State has a facility that anybody can use.

And so in order to do that, you can either, connect with your local, extension office or there is a website that you can go and download a form and gives you all the instructions about how to do it, where to send it, all that thing.

and it's ASL dot Pearson edu and that's where you can go easy enough.

Yeah, that's real nice.

And it's just not your, vegetable garden.

If you want to do a soil test for your lawn, if you want to do it for your, flower beds.

Or maybe you have a small Christmas tree planting, you can cater that, the results to the crop that you want to grow.

So, I mean, it's kind of wide open on, on, you know, Holly, fill out that form.

Yeah, that sounds really helpful.

Yeah.

Actually.

Yeah.

And it's really inexpensive to like $10.

It's 10 or $11 now.

So portable and quick turnaround time.

And like I said, they cated the results on how you fill out the form.

Just make sure you fill it out completely and correctly.

And and a couple weeks time you'll get, you know, kind of a list of directions.

Okay.

It's great to use the resources right in our backyard.

Yeah, yeah.

So one challenge this year has been the fluctuating temperatures, like you said, early spring weather fall by cold weather.

We're warm now.

It's damp.

What do those shifting temperatures mean for your gardens?

And all the gardeners out there?

Like what?

What are you seeing?

Yeah, well, you know, for for the gardens.

I don't think it's that much of a problem because people really haven't planted, other than some of these cool season crops where, you know, they can adjust.

But I do think the big problem is probably our fruit trees.

you know, when, when fruit trees are just putting out, growth.

I mean, the buds are haven't opened yet, but they're still kind of tight.

They can withstand temperatures 15, 16 degrees, but once those buds open and then you've got those blooms, those flowers, you know, now they're not very hardy.

I mean, at 28 degrees you're going to start getting damage.

And so that's the problem is that with this warmer weather that we have had, it pushes plant growth.

And then you get these cold snaps come in and then it's you know they're not winterized anymore.

Yeah.

Plants can withstand our winters very easily.

But you know once they're you're kind of pushing that growth and they lose that, ability to withstand cold temperatures.

And that's where we get kind of, kind of hurt.

Now, you know, I also mentioned that we're starting our tomato plants, for some of the trials that we're going to do over the summer.

And, you know, sometimes gardeners, they get a little too anxious.

And you mentioned that patience.

And you got to be a little patient with some of these warm season crops.

Yeah, you absolutely do.

There were a couple of years back where, we had some, some freezes in the middle of May, and people were putting their plants in, tomato plants in like a beginning of May and you could walk around the home gardens and plants were turning black.

Yeah.

And that's a sad sight, isn't it?

But, I guess for the, the greenhouses and nurseries that are selling the plants, you know, that's that's added business, I guess.

Yeah.

we got our first phone call.

Steve, from Dubois.

Oh.

Oh.

Hey, Steve.

I'm sorry.

We seem to be having some trouble hearing you go and, That's okay.

Oh, there you are.

Could you, we're with two experts here.

So what is your question?

Oh, my question is about what soil I should use on the garden because I buy, garden soil and sometimes don't work that way.

Or make cow manure or something like that.

I want to know what's the best of, so Mary's peppers, I okra, plain okra.

Sometimes lots of flowers, of course.

Probably grow that in eggplant sometimes eggplant.

Don't don't go.

Great.

I have a soil that has, clay on it and stuff like that.

You know, I want to see what the better soil is for eggplants.

Okra is, is just a general root vegetables and.

Okay.

Yeah.

It sounds like you have a clay, soil, Steve.

And one thing you might consider doing is adding some compost to that soil that will help with your soil structure, but it also add some nutrients in there that your plants can, take advantage of as the season goes on.

those are the things that come to my mind right away.

Are you thinking anything, Tom?

No, I think those are good recommendations.

I mean, you know, everyone looks at the top of the plant, but, you know, half the plant is under the ground.

And it's important to have good soil structure, good fertility.

you know, the other thing about soil structures is poor space.

You know, you have to have these pores where there's some air, there's some water in there.

Things aren't too compact.

And he mentioned clay.

And typically when soils have high clay content, they can get compacted.

And roots have trouble growing in that.

So yeah the compost is a good, good idea.

Awesome.

And then even testing the soil too to see what other factors could help.

Yep.

Be could be low in nutrients.

And that soil test will tell you that maybe they're deficient in phosphorus or potassium that you would need to address that.

And the big thing is pH, you know, with the soil and and actually, Steve, that if you're doing a soil test, that pH is a value I would look at right away on the soil test.

The first thing I always look at, because that will greatly affect nutrient availability and that will affect how all of your crops are going.

All your plants are going.

So, I recommend a soil testing.

Yeah.

I mean, a lot of our souls in Pennsylvania are acidic, and oftentimes you need to add some lime to bring.

That is also, as mentioned, you bring it up a little bit.

you know, maybe they're on a limestone outcropping where they don't have to worry about it.

But most of our souls that you have to address that pH.

Yep.

Okay.

That's I think, very helpful, especially the Pennsylvania soil.

It can be frustrating, especially to novices, as myself.

I want to go back to the late frost.

The safe planning dates.

It it seems like it almost has been changing in a way.

Is is that true?

Or, you know, taking a look at, our frost map.

Yeah.

So that map, there's a freeze map, it's very similar to the frost map, but general rule of thumb, at least for central Pennsylvania, is the middle of May.

You know, you go up into the some of the higher elevations, you're going to run into some of that colder weather that's going to go into the end of May.

you know, some of those higher, plateaus in you down into the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, around Philly, York, Lancaster County, as you see on that map.

I mean, you run into those colder temperatures in middle of April by that time, once you get into May, things are just, you know, booming down there.

So, and, you know, the the frost date really hasn't changed too much.

but, you know, there are some other things.

There's the plant hardiness zone, that map has changed over time.

but it is something for gardeners to be aware of.

Okay.

because you can invest your time and effort into planting your garden.

And if you jump the gun, you will pay for it.

Yeah, yeah.

But you do see up on the map there is these I mentioned that this plant hardy hardiness maps and these are maps that are designed to, to look at the average winter temperature and how it interacts with our perennial plants, herbaceous perennials and our trees and shrubs.

And they're ability to withstand these winter temperatures.

And these maps are data updated every I think it's every ten years.

And if you look back historically every ten years, these maps are slowly changing to where the average these winter temperatures are getting warmer.

And that's going to allow us to be growing some of these trees and shrubs that normally grow in the southern parts of the US, we may be in the future be able to grow them up, in Pennsylvania.

So that is something to keep a, you know, an eye on to see how those hardiness zone maps change.

Okay.

That's I had no idea about that.

So that I think that's extremely helpful, especially as temperatures change.

If climate change is occurring, how we can maybe get some new plants.

Well, things in our area, people, people like to explore with plants, you know, they like to see what people are planting in their in their neighbors yard, but also when they go on vacations and oftentimes people go down south, they'll see some plants they'd like and they'll want to try them up here.

Yeah.

And you have to pay attention to that hardiness zone map, because what grows down south may not grow up here in Pennsylvania.

That's a great point.

We have another phone call, Sherry from Dubois.

Hi.

You're in Conversations Live.

Get your garden on.

And we have two gardening experts.

What's your question?

Hi.

I have a pear tree.

And for the past 4 or 5 years, we're only getting some size pears.

And then they get hard and they crack.

But we have another pear tree handy to it, and it produces some pears.

So we have a pear tree.

Yeah.

So has that pear tree that you're getting the small fruit.

Has it ever produced a large fruit.

No.

Okay.

So is it a is it a cultivar.

Was it a plant that you you put into the ground that you know that it's a, a commercially bearing, cultivar, or is it one that was just kind of grew up and did its own thing?

No, it we got it from a nursery.

Okay.

Yeah.

So, I don't know.

Do you know what the cultivar is?

The variety, of that, you know, I don't.

Okay.

Yeah.

I'd be curious to know what the, the cultivar is and just to see what the requirements for that, for that is because that that might give you some answers on on why it's not, you know, giving you fruit of size, but it is producing fruit.

Yes.

They just slowly get, you know, real small and then the in the hard and crack, they don't, you know, they're like some size.

So.

Yeah.

And the, the other pear tree, is it blooming at the same time as this.

The is the other pear tree.

Believe it.

I believe they do both above the same time.

Yeah.

You need pollen moving around between the, different pears in order to get, fruit set.

But, yeah, I don't know.

I'd like to.

I'd like to know what the two cultivars are dealing with.

Maybe pruning, too.

Might be a factor.

Do you think?

Are, Are you pruning the trees at all?

Yes.

Okay.

Could you be pruning?

Could you be pruning off some of the, the flowering branches?

I don't know okay.

Yeah, I don't know.

I, you know, one of the things you might want to do, if you can find that information on the cultivar that the caller had is if she can take it to, the Master Gardeners in her county.

there's almost every county has an extension office.

Every county has an extension office.

Okay.

and almost every county has a master gardener program, and you can take plants to that office, and the Master Gardeners will look at that.

And, you know, they can, you know, take the information.

Done.

They may be able to answer their question.

And if they cannot answer the question, there are labs up at Penn State that they can send the material out.

So, for example, if they feel that they're looking at a disease issue, we have a plant disease lab.

And if you're thinking you have an insect problem, there's an insect identification, facility up here at Penn State.

So, you know, we talked about the soils lab, but we have an insect lab.

We have a plant disease lab.

So we have some of these resources that are available to gardeners that they can take advantage of.

Now that's very helpful.

They also have access to other people too.

I think that's another great resource.

Yeah.

So we do have like tree fruit specialist.

So that if a master gardener can help, can help.

Cut to the bottom of that question.

Unfortunately I don't know a lot about, fruit tree.

I'm not a fruit tree expert.

Yeah, we do have some educators that, like Elsevier is referring to that, solely work with fruit tree operations.

I mean, we do have some counties that are very heavy in fruit production.

And so we have educators down in those areas.

So, yeah, that would be a resource too, is is contacting some of the educators that are versed in fruit tree production.

Okay.

So if you're just joining us I'm Alex Rabb and this is Wpx conversation live.

Get your garden on.

We're talking with two gardening experts and we're happy to take your calls.

Our toll free number is one 800 543 8242 or 8242.

Yep.

I said that you can also send us questions by email at connect@psu.org.

So Master Gardeners in each county that's really helpful to know.

And then if they can't get to the bottom of it, more resources at Penn State through Penn State Extension.

That's great to know.

You said insects.

So, that kind of brings me to a thought.

the spongy moth that's been plaguing parts of the state.

They come and they go and cycles, and then they cause, severe damage to the trees.

can we explain what the spongy moth is and what we're seeing right now?

Yeah.

So the spongy moth, you can see what it looks like for those who are watching TV.

there is, some females there that are laying some eggs.

And then on the right is, the immature, the caterpillar, the larva and, yeah, it's, it's, it's a problematic in central Pennsylvania right now.

And as you mentioned before, it kind of cycles, you know, it's they're always present, but in very low numbers.

And then for whatever reason, there will be an outbreak.

And when there's an outbreak, they can cause a lot of damage.

And, and last summer, if you were traveling the highways, you could see parts of the hillside completely devoid of vegetation in, late June, early July.

So they'll they'll just eat leaves and, you know.

Yeah.

Do their thing.

And so, on the map here, you can see the state of Pennsylvania and, Dcnr, the Department of Natural Conservation Resources, they do these egg mass surveys.

And in that map, those those dots that are represented in red are where there are very, very high counts of this spongy moth.

And for your for your listeners, we use the term spongy moth.

It was historically called the gypsy moth.

but they've changed the name the past couple of years.

Yeah.

And so, those red dots represent very high counts of spongy moth eggs on tree bark, tree surfaces.

And so when they do these counts, then they'll go in and do some aerial applications on these high density areas.

Okay.

And so area applications of of an insecticide to knock that population back a little bit, because if you have, summer after summer a feeding, you will see tree death trees can respond to some stress.

one summer, no big deal.

But two summers in a row of feeding and a complete loss of defoliation, they'll die, they'll be stressed out, and other things will come in and take them out.

Yeah.

And the red dots were quite large in, in our county, so that's, Yeah.

And so that's disheartening.

So the map you see there, is a kind of a close up on some of the counties in central Pennsylvania.

And those red areas, represent the the places that a spraying is going to occur.

Now, take note that that is just state owned land.

This is not private land.

Private land.

You have to contract out yourself.

The state, will will take care of their own lands, such as, state forest, state parks, kind of a couple of other things there.

So that's state owned land that they'll, they'll be spraying.

But, folks that have hunting cabins and large acreage, they'll have to contract out on their own, and get someone to come in and spray for them.

Okay.

But it is, as much as it's money being spent, it is an important reason to protect your property, your plants and your trees.

Right?

You know, for for a lot of, landowners that have large acreage, you know, they're, they're maintaining that forest for lumber, you know, wood and, and, yeah, it's an investment.

And so, yes, it's worth taking care of.

Yeah.

We have another phone call, Jane from Johnstown.

Hi.

You are on Conversations Live.

yes.

thank you for, my question.

it concerns how can you tell if your soil is too rich?

If you have a garden that has trees, shrubs, flowers, roses.

ornamental grasses, etc.. how can you tell if you've added mushroom manure and mulch over many years?

do you have to have each sample of that particular space of the garden?

tested?

But could you give just generally some brief symptoms of when the soil might possibly be, or is there such a thing as too rich a soil, too rich of a soil?

Is that a thing?

It is a thing.

Okay.

it is absolutely a thing.

we, I guess I don't see it too often outside, but if you have a raised container garden or you're, continually adding compost, or in your case, you were talking about the mushroom soil in those situations, I do see where we have to rich soil too many nutrients.

And what happens is they can get out of balance.

And then your, the plants that you're growing there won't, you know, grow as well for you.

commercially, we see that sometimes in high tunnels, you know, situations.

so you can do a soil test, you know, going back to the soil tests, and that will let you know what nutrients are in the soil.

compost is a wonderful tool.

however, it can be over applied.

And so, it's not something that you probably want to apply every year.

No.

so, when we do calculations, you know, applying it based on nutrient needs of the plant versus just on a volume, and we lay it out, you'd be surprised at how little it is.

You know, we're talking like, you know, less than a quarter of an inch.

You can see the ground through the compost, but oftentimes you hear just anecdotally apply an inch of compost and you can get yourself in trouble with that because it's over time, especially a lot of compost, a lot of nutrients to be applying to the soil.

that's fair.

You know, one of the things that, else mentioned a chemical imbalance, I think we're you know, one of the things you you can look at the plants and you'll you often see the leaves showing some sort of, a different color, some or abnormal color on the leaves.

That might give you an indication that, there's too much, nutrients or there is competing nutrients.

So that might be a way.

I mean, the soil test is the scientific way to get, you know, the, the, the best answer, but an indication that you got an imbalance would show up oftentimes on the leaves.

Right.

It's something you definitely want to avoid, especially nitrogen and phosphorus.

If they make their way to bodies of water, you can have an environmental hazard with that.

So I'm glad you're thinking about that.

And, I would suggest soil testing.

Thanks for your call.

Jane.

We have another phone call.

Tina from Linden Hall.

Hi.

You're on Conversations Live.

get your garden on.

what can you tell me about the invasive jumping worm that, has penetrated Pennsylvania?

Have you heard about the this jumping worm?

The jumping worm?

Yeah.

I mean, we, my, I think Michael Savala, our, entomologist, has talked about it a little bit.

Okay.

and, I have not seen it.

I know, talking to one of the extension educators, I think, out of Allegheny County, or she was visiting Allegheny County.

She's from Erie.

she has seen some of this, this jumping, worm.

And, it's not throughout all of Pennsylvania, but in certain sections.

And the problem with it is that, you know, the population builds in some worms.

It's good for garden soil.

I mean, they aerate the soil.

the castings, basically, the defecation material adds, you know, organic matter to it.

I mean, a lot of good things.

But this population gets so large that they create a lot of holes tunneling through the soil, and it dries out real quick.

And, it's detrimental to plant growth.

So that's about all I know on it.

I mean, I do we do have some sections of that in, Pennsylvania, but I don't think it's that widespread at this point.

Okay.

And so we don't really have to worry about, it coming into our gardens too much.

It's more of a forest thing.

Yeah.

I don't, I, you know, you would have to introduce it.

I mean, you know, like, with a lot of invasive species, you know, they they have to be spread somehow, and some of them can do it on their own by flying, you know, to just move to new areas.

The other one is by movement of man.

We move things around, not man, but humans.

We move things around.

So this one is, you know, it's a little difficult to move around.

People can see up there of some size.

So yeah, I don't think it's anything to worry about yet, but it's something to, you know, maybe, you know, keep an eye on in the news or pull up a fact sheet.

I do know some of the land grant universities, written some fact sheets on that, and, all you didn't need to do was type in, jumping worms and put, you know, an edu into the search, and it should come up.

Oh.

That's helpful.

Oh, good.

Another insect that we can look out for, right.

We have another phone call.

Mary from State College.

You're joining Conversations Live.

Get your garden on.

What's your question?

Hello?

Oh, my question is, one is a good time.

I mean, weeks or months before me, the before the end of May.

Should you turn your garden over?

If you have to, the soil should be turned over.

And secondly, I want to expand my garden some.

And there's grass there.

So how what's the best way to get rid of the grass?

Should you do something ahead of time or just turn it over and shake out the clumps?

Anyway, what would be the best best way to enlarge a garden if you having, I think it's going into grass.

So when should we turn over the soil?

And what's the best way to enlarge a garden with grass and.

Right.

So if you have grass, I would suggest, trying to take care of that grass well, in advance of starting your garden, so I'm not sure.

I think if I, if it was me, I would start trying to kill the grass, but I wouldn't plant anything in that area this year.

Do you agree with that?

I mean, that's one way to go.

you know, I've expanded my garden and I've used the black plastic or something.

Okay, put it over it.

And, you know, by weekend in some really hot days and it cooks that grass and kills it.

That's what I was thinking.

Put something over it.

Don't plant there till that grass is dead, till it started to decompose.

And then you can expand your garden.

that way I've done it like if I have an old carpet or, you know, anything like that, anything that's going to prevent light from getting to that grass will help, to kill it.

As far as turning it, I think this for me goes back to the soil testing, right?

I like to do soil testing in the fall.

and then it'll tell you like, for example, Tom was talking earlier about needing to maybe adjust your pH.

So when you need to do that, it's good to do that, as well in advance of planting as you can so that the soil has time to react with whatever you're adding.

So if that was for me in the fall, I would, you know, work my soil, you know, work in my lime.

And then in the spring, work it again right before I planted.

That's how I would approach that.

Okay, that sounds good.

One could say easy peasy if you're well right now.

Gardening is not easy work, but it's I think it's so satisfying though, you know, it can.

Yeah, it is to the smell once you once you till the soil and it's just lovely.

Yes I agree another phone call.

They're coming in right now Michael from woodland you're joining Conversations Live.

Get your garden on.

What's your question?

My question is the spongy moss.

Is that the same as the gypsy moth?

Just the name change.

Yes, that that is correct.

They they started changing the name I think, about two years ago.

And this was done by the Anthropological Society of America that changed the name.

So same problem.

New name.

Yep.

Same process, same problem.

It's just the new name, but it does the same thing, causes the same damage and the controls are the same.

Yep.

Thank you.

Michael, we have another phone call.

Debbie from Belmont.

Debbie, you're on the line.

Conversations live.

Get your garden on.

What's your question?

Hi.

I tried to plant peppers and squash in my garden.

And almost every year, even though I have a farm fence around my garden.

And that's mine with chicken wire, I have mice that come in and just pretty much like, as soon as my peppers turn red, they eat them, turn orange, they eat them, they eat the white squash.

And I'm not quite sure if there's any kind something I could spray around the garden to kind of like, keep them from, you know, being attracted to my fruit in my garden.

I, I'm, I'm afraid to put it live trapped in there some afraid of getting myself caught in them.

So I was wondering if you had any kind of, peppermint oil or anything that I could put around the preserve that would keep them from wanting to go into my garden and eat everything.

Mice?

Yeah.

Little rodents wanting to eat all the yummies in a garden.

It's so frustrating.

Debbie, I feel for you.

For me, it's the chipmunks at my house.

They're my nemesis, I call them.

It's tough.

I there's not really those, repellents and lures and things like that.

There's in general, they're they don't work all that well from, my experience, I think, we have some mice.

at our research farm, I was talking to a colleague, and he's out there trying to trap them, because that's the only thing that's very effective, that he's found.

So I don't know if you've had any experience with that.

not my site.

I've had issues with some groundhogs and things like that.

Yeah.

Mice.

Not so much.

We have a couple two cats that kind of stick around the house.

Oh, there you go.

Get a cat.

Yeah, the cat would actually be helpful, most likely with the mice.

But the fencing and the chicken wire.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know those those I also mentioned some of those deterrents, those repellents.

And they might work initially.

They might give you a little bit of protection.

But a lot of wildlife become accustomed to the smell.

and I guess the taste of some of these deterrents.

So maybe, you know, you can go to the garden store and maybe purchase one in small quantities, try that and then switch it up with something different.

So just kind of rotate them around.

But you know, the research has shown that most wildlife just get accustomed to the same thing.

And then they just kind of ignore it.

Okay.

One thing I tried with my pepper that seemed like kind of like a copper mesh, kind of like that.

You do that to what, like it's just a copper meshing kind of.

Kind of just like a nylon.

Oh, they wrap my peppers as a as soon as they start to turn color to keep them chewing through it.

And that seems to work.

It kind of expands a little bit with the pepper, because they only seem to like them when they turn colors.

I wonder, then would that kind of go to the same what I've read before?

Marigolds deter deer from garden and in rhododendrons and things do we find any any natural plants help deter I you know I I've heard that too in like in companion planting and that sort of thing.

to my knowledge, in my experience in my garden, it doesn't really work.

And to my knowledge, I don't think there's been any science to back that up.

Yeah, yeah, if that was true, we'd have we'd have, farmers putting marigolds on or on their fields.

I mean, the damage at deer cause in Pennsylvania to commercial crops.

You know, we heard from Debbie earlier on their home garden with mice, but on, commercial crops, deer do a good amount of damage.

And so if we could find out a way to keep in mind, I mean, I think people would be utilizing them just, you know, one place that folks do use plants to and not exactly the same, but kind of similarly is like to attract beneficial, insects to your garden.

That that does work.

We had a research project a few years ago in high tunnels.

We found alyssum was, good for attracting, natural enemies of some of our insect pests.

So I've seen that kind of work.

But, not for money, not from mice.

Yeah.

No, unfortunately, that is a great way to to think about battling, though.

Bring in, bring in the enemy of your enemy.

There you go.

And alyssum is such a nice plant.

It smells so good.

It's so pretty.

So it's a nice one just to have out there.

Anyway, if you're just joining us, I'm Alex Rabb and this is a conversation live.

Get your garden on.

We're talking to two gardening experts and we're happy to take your calls.

Our toll free number is one 805 482 42.

You can also send us questions by email at connect@psu.org.

Well I'm thinking gardening.

We talked about the gardening.

We talked about the soil.

What about rain?

We've been getting a lot of rain.

There's been flooding around.

I mean even last week more flooding.

So what impact is this going to have on the growing season or just does it kind of depend?

It depends.

I mean, not we did get a lot of rain, but it doesn't I don't.

Not any problem yet.

Okay.

Maybe some problems later on in the summer there.

Nelson, I work a lot with vegetable growers, and one of the big problems is this, phytophthora soci.

And it's a, a fungal organism that loves wet, wet soils.

And, you know, it can cause, a good amount of damage, but right now, that's it's not too much of a problem or anything.

It's just it's filling the creeks up and.

Yeah, you know, got a good, water moisture in the soil for some early spring planting.

So, yeah, I guess I maybe the only thing I could think of that it would be problematic is if you do want to get into your garden, in your soil so that you will compact those soils.

And we talked about it earlier about roots needing to grow through those poor spaces in the soil.

And if you're walking on your garden, you're compacting that soil and it makes it really tight.

And then when you plant your garden, your roots are going to have trouble growing through that.

So yeah, maybe, maybe stay off the soil.

I think a lot of as with timing, was what you're kind of getting at too.

So like for our vegetables, there's not too much in right now.

So there's not, you know, too much to worry about when it comes at the end of the growing season, however, then we start to see issues with diseases, but also fruit quality issues.

we grew some remember the musk melons that we grow.

So mama is another name for cantaloupe, basically.

And you know how they have those cavities on the inside.

We had so much rain.

One fall you cut the cavity and there was actually water in the in the inside.

So, you know, we get a lot of rain at the end of our gardening season.

It might cause problems, but at this time of the year and I'm not sure, you know, I'm not not yet, but okay, so we're still in this the spring.

the April showers bring May flowers, and we're okay right now.

Okay.

Well, then, still going on the water for a little bit.

but conserving water, water barrels, and mulching.

So, Tom, can you tell us about how a water barrel, works and maybe why someone would want to get one?

Yeah.

So we might have a lot of rain right now, but who knows what June and July is going to look like.

Yeah.

So you've got these, a gardens planted, and you know that almost all our vegetables are 90% water, 95% water.

So they require a large amount of water.

And these spring rains that we're having now could shut off really quickly.

and so a rain barrel is just something you hook up to near the house that's catching water as it comes off the roof, and you're just storing it for later use, in the season.

And I mean, I've got several rain barrels and they're just great to have.

And, you know, I have a water system in my house, so when I use water out of the, the spigot, you know, it's it's got some salts in it, and I really don't want to use that repeatedly on on any of my plants.

I'd rather use something that's canned it doesn't have that in it.

So that rain barrel allows me to to water my plants.

And it's it's free water.

I have a well, it costs electricity.

Pump that water.

I mean, our wells.

Oh, that's like 300, 400ft deep.

So, you know, you got to bring up that water from great depths.

and, that rain barrel, I just open the spigot and get water and put it in my, a watering can.

So.

Yeah, they're great to have.

Can make your own.

There's plenty of online, directions.

Or you can buy one that's already made.

so, yeah, it depends on what you want to do.

Doesn't sound terribly, scary on the constructing part.

No.

It's not buy one.

The scariest part is here's the scariest part is when you have to cut your downspout, so that you can have a hose going through the downspout now into your water tank.

That's probably, I think, the biggest stumbling block for homeowners.

And you can see on the picture here, with one of the rain barrels on the left, that you see the downspout coming down next to the steps, there's got to be some way to get the water out of that downspout into the barrel.

So you have to cut the downspout.

And for a lot of people that's.

Yeah.

You know scary.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll say you don't want to screw it up.

Yeah.

Oh we have another call.

Bruce from Altoona is on the line.

Hello, Bruce.

You on conversation is live.

What's your question?

Oh, yeah.

I have, at a in, like, an invasion of these things called box elder beetle or a bug like to me, I call them pumpkin bug.

They have a red belly and a black top.

I just want to try to get rid of them or control them.

Anyhow.

So we have.

What was the box elder?

Box elder bug okay, so Box Elder is, it's a tree.

It's, It's a maple.

Yeah.

and so oftentimes these bugs will feed on the seeds of the maple, the box elder tree.

But, and, yeah, they're they're they're a nuisance.

They're not doing any damage.

they don't really do any damage to the tree.

they do work their way into the house in the fall.

They're looking for a place to overwinter.

So oftentimes they'll get into the house, into the living spaces.

they're not like termites.

They're not chewing on anything.

They're just, you know, who wants a massive amount of insects in the house?

yeah.

You have to maybe locate some of the box elder trees that are on the property or the neighbor's property to see if they're, you know, they're coming out of there.

the other thing is, if they're working their way into the living space, find out how they're getting in for some older houses.

You know, there's a lot of cracks and crevices in really trying to need to find out how they're working their way in.

I really discourage folks from applying insecticides in their house.

I mean, you can't kill them by applying insecticide, but why would you want to apply that in your house?

So, you know, find those cracks and crevices, or you may need to treat the exterior part of your house with some insecticides.

So, yeah, the box elder bug, they're there as a nuisance.

for your call of there.

we do have some fact sheets.

Penn State has some fact sheets on the box.

Elder bug.

That kind of explains their life cycle.

The biology, and some other, tips.

And we can certainly get that to an individual.

Or they can just Google that fact sheet.

Oh.

All right.

Again, Penn State extension having the information just readily available at everyone's fingertips.

Yep.

It's very helpful.

Yeah.

Tom and I are just two of many people out there doing it.

Yes.

Well, thank you for always spreading the knowledge and the news of that because it again, it's helpful.

And we have another caller, Barbara from Everett.

Hello.

You're, live on the air.

what's your question?

Yes.

Good morning.

I think I have moles in my yard.

there's there's some rough, really rough places in there.

And someone said to through Courtney Grounds down there, and that would get rid of them.

Is that a fact?

yeah.

So?

So moles with coffee grounds.

I've never I've never heard that.

I've never heard that.

It it it made maybe the smell of it might deter them a little bit, but I, I think that would lose its efficacy pretty quickly.

I did try it.

I mean that's kind of the fun thing about gardening.

That sounds kind of like a, a low cost ask there.

Just try it and see what kind of results you get out of it.

But I've never heard that, as, as a mold.

Yeah.

So what do you do for for moles?

I guess maybe that goes back to the, previous caller.

Me a couple cats, but, I mean, there are some traps there that you can set into the tunnels, and, and try to, manage them that way.

but, yeah, that's that's about all I know on.

Yeah, that's a tough one.

It is.

Because they, they can make those tunnels and.

Yeah.

Good for them.

Bad for us.

Yeah.

Well good luck with the with the mole problem.

Mary Beth from Altoona is on the line.

Hello.

You are with two experts with.

Get your garden on.

What's your question?

Hi, this is Mary Beth from Altoona.

I was wondering, when is the best time to plan dahlias?

I love them to beautiful flower.

So when is the best time to plant them?

When can we plant the dahlias?

Oh, no, I mean, I love a plant.

I don't have values on my property.

I've never plant on them.

I got a lot of flowers.

But time.

I'm not.

I'm not too sure either.

We do have experts, though, at Penn State who do, like, cut flowers.

that could help with that.

unfortunately, Mary Beth, I don't know the answer to that either.

I'm sorry.

Well, they are a dealer.

Okay, you have to, They're beautiful.

They're gorgeous.

Play a flower.

How, how could Mary Beth, get in touch with an expert at Penn State for the cut flowers?

Is it a simple Google search, if you will?

I think there's a couple ways.

I think Tom was mentioning contacting your county office.

Extension office.

The Master Gardeners there could help point you in the right direction.

And then I think we have a pretty good website, too.

we and, we do have an extension educator, Margaret pick off.

Right.

that does a lot of work with cut flowers.

She's worked on a cut flower operation, and then she also coordinates the cut flower session at the Mid-Atlantic fruit and vegetable.

convention.

it's a four day, affair for growers.

And we do have a section for cut flower growers.

And so, yeah, Margaret would be, a good one to answer on that one.

Yeah.

Great.

One more caller, Jane from Elk County.

Hi.

You're on the line.

And we are with conversations Live.

What's your question?

Okay, I was wondering, what is the best method of controlling slugs in my vegetable garden?

And also sometimes around the trunks of my trees.

Thank you.

Slugs in a vegetable garden and trunks of trees.

So slugs like it.

Where it's moist.

And so I don't.

I don't know, Jane, if you have like a mulch, like a straw mulch or anything down, in your garden.

But sometimes that makes a lot of moisture around the plants and that can attract them.

so, you know, we're pushing out a mulch away from the plants we grew.

Oh, I forgot what we grew.

We grew lettuce for one of my classes, and we had slugs in these raised garden beds.

And they did that method with with, tuna can with the beer in it.

It worked.

And I was going ask, wow.

Okay, so a little a little can and a little bit of beer.

Yeah.

And the slugs go crazy for it.

Okay.

It works.

And then, and then if you don't want to use the beer, there are some recipes.

It's, it's the yeast they're going after.

Okay.

So they get in there and then they basically drown.

So I mean there are some recipes that you can use to do the very same thing.

The other thing, diatomaceous earth, diatomaceous earth, it works.

So diatomaceous earth, if you look at it under a microscope, high powered, it would look like shards of glass.

And so the slug going over that would basically, you know, get cut off pretty good.

Yeah.

So yeah, there's.

Yeah, there are a few options.

Yeah.

There's some options.

Yeah.

Okay.

Janet from East Freedom is on the line.

Welcome to Conversations Live.

get your garden on Janet, what's your question?

hello.

I have, a lot of rabbits in my yard.

And the last couple of years, they've won the war so far as, the peas, the carrots, the beans are concerned.

And I noticed that maybe they hadn't gone so much for the peppers or the cantaloupe.

And I'm wondering if there's certain families across occasion of plants that they won't go for.

I've seen lists for, like deer, but I have not seen a list for rabbits.

But it wouldn't surprise me.

I mean, all wildlife have preferences.

I mean, they're going to go towards certain crops for whatever reason.

It's probably, as you mentioned there, that, you know, there are some aromatic flavor or smell to it that it's attractive to them.

So it wouldn't surprise me.

Yeah.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised either.

And they.

Well, and they have preferences like you're talking about.

But if those things aren't there then I wouldn't be surprised either.

If they go for, you know, the secondary thing like the pepper or whatever it was.

Yeah.

Okay.

So yeah.

And so with with wildlife the best thing to do is exclusion.

And so you had a previous caller that was talked about putting up fences, but you know, that that's about really the only surefire method that's going to control wildlife in the landscape or garden is exclusion basically fencing?

Yeah.

Keith from door we have you on the line conversations live.

Get your garden on.

What's your question for our two experts?

hi.

Thanks.

my question is, that we have built a small eight by 12 greenhouse and it's quite nice, but my question is, what kind of, temperature range can plants and or inside a greenhouse would, like pull sunlight?

And the reason I asked is that it goes sometimes up to 110 or so in this, in the greenhouse.

So if you're, there is a, a higher temperature range where they'll still grow, you have to make sure you're pumping water to them, but sometimes it can affect like the, the reproductive structures, like, for example, if you're growing a cucumber, if you get up above, like, you know, 80 to 80, I'm sorry, 92, 94°F, then you start to see, more male flowers and female flowers and then, you know, the female flowers where you get the fruit.

So, the I would say probably the lower 90s is where I'd start to, if it's a fruiting kind of vegetable, I'd start to expect to see some issues with fruiting.

Yeah, it sounds like that probably, you know, with some of these hobby greenhouses, there should be some sort of ventilation vent or something that would, like, pop open once a temperature range is reached.

Well, that's, that's helpful because we don't want our plants to be too hot and then they can't make the fruit plants just plants can last.

That's a good point.

I'm so sorry about the plant.

That's right.

Vegetables are vegetables.

We care about them.

A Jamie from Spangler's on the line.

Jamie, what's your question for our two experts?

you know, lately I've been doing some research on adding charcoal to your soil.

basically, I guess it's called bio char.

looking in a lot of the YouTube videos, and, I run a tree service, so wood's plentiful, and I actually make my own charcoal.

doesn't actually hold the nutrients like some of these guys are saying for the plants.

And, how much charcoal is too much charcoal to add to the soil?

How much?

That's it.

It's a good question because I've heard a lot about it, too, but I'm not sure I've seen the research that's showing how effective it is.

Have you seen it?

I know that it it does, help to hold on to nutrients.

the second part of your question, though, as to how much to apply that part, I, I'm not sure.

there's, like, periodically I see folks doing some research with Biotronik for example, they were looking at, mixing it with compost, you know, to hold on to nutrients and that sort of thing.

but and so there, there is a science backing up the use of it, and it's an ancient technique, actually.

but I don't know the a quantity to apply.

No, it's a good question.

It's got to be someone out there doing some research on that.

Yeah.

So that's something we'd have to dig around a little bit on.

But yeah.

Good question.

Thanks, Jamie.

Joan from State College, you're on Conversations Live.

Get your garden on.

What's your question for our two experts?

Oh, thank you very much.

Experts.

And I have a question about blueberries and strawberries.

Last year I got two good blueberry bushes from burpees.

And they didn't flower the first year, but I wasn't expecting them to.

However, when, autumn came, I realized that their instructions were that I had to plant them in the ground instead of the planters that I had put them in, or mulch them all the way up to the top.

Neither of which I could do.

Or they said you could bring them inside and put it in an unheated place.

Well, I didn't really have an unheated place, but I did have a dark, closet.

So I put them in there and darn it, don't you know, about six weeks ago they started to flower?

Sure.

And at that point I brought them out and put them in the sunroom.

And they now have lost the flowers.

But they are little tiny things that look as though they might grow into blueberries.

But I doubt it because there was no pollination, obviously, in my sunroom.

So I'm trying to figure out what should I do with those blueberry is, is the only thing I can do in this hardiness zone just to finally break down and, dig holes that, deep in my, garden and put them in there, or is there something else I should be doing instead?

And one other thing is that the blueberries are the same variety.

I didn't realize when I got them that it would have been better, possibly for pollination, purposes, to have gotten to of a different varieties.

But, I've got what I've got.

Yep.

So any suggestions?

Well, it does sound like they need to be planted.

I mean, blueberries aren't a great house plant.

Yeah.

And that the acidic soil that's going to be tough to keep in a in a pot.

Yeah.

my understanding about blueberries correct me with what?

You know, Tom, is that you don't need, they can self pollinate.

And so you do get bigger fruit.

However, if they can, if there's another, you know, cultivar that they can cross-pollinate with.

I'm wondering if those flowers fell off because, you know, just all the differences that the plants were growing through.

you know.

Yeah, kind of darkness for several weeks, a couple months, and then bringing them out in the light and cold and warm and, you know, I was like, the plant was kind of stressed.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

yeah.

So I, I would get those out into the, into the ground.

I mean, do you have property or someplace you can place them in a garden or landscape setting, I believe.

She said there was some, on her property, but we we did just lose her.

Okay, okay.

Can't ask her the question.

No.

Yeah.

I mean, blueberries don't make good house plants and or plant or plants.

so, you know, you get them out there on the ground.

So Kathy Demchak, who is our small fruit specialist, actually just came and talked to, one of Mark my classes about that.

And there are some blueberries that they have, bred for containers.

Okay.

and then blueberries are native to the U.S, so I would think that they would be okay.

I, I was kind of confused about why they were being brought in instead of keeping the container outside.

I don't know if they're like, what the why?

Why that was happening.

so there are blueberry, tanner plants, and I think they could do.

Well, I'm wondering if they.

It's the moving around in this part, you know, because you could use, like, a Miracle-Gro, acid fertilizer and that sort of thing.

yeah, I have more questions.

Well, do you a do either of you have any thoughts, maybe that we didn't touch on or we could give the resources out again as we start to wrap up the show?

No, just to reiterate, you know, Penn State Extension, which both of us are part of, you know, we have a lot of different resources up here at the university with the different labs, the soil labs and psych lab, the disease lab.

But then we're dispersed throughout the counties.

And, you know, I also works a lot with, county educators.

fruit vegetable growers and.

Yeah.

And real quick, what are you looking forward to growing this season?

Yeah.

so I think I mentioned it at the beginning of the, of the show is that I started a bunch of red redbud buds.

It's a tree, from seed.

Collected a lot of seed in the fall and germinated.

And I got these, saplings from last year about 6 to 8in a planting them.

And I'm going to see what it looks like your next year.

Okay.

And also quick, what's what you what are you looking for?

tomatoes.

Tom and I tried it last year.

Didn't have success.

And so I'm hoping this year we do.

All right, well, happy planting and good luck.

Thank you.

Our guests tonight have been extension educators Tom Butler and Elsa Sanchez.

I'm Alex Rab.

Thank you for joining us on Conversation Live.

Get your garden on.

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