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

I'm your host, Tinisha Spain, and joining me in the studio today are three of your faves who are here to answer your plant questions and show you some of the show and tells that they have brought in.

So let's have them quickly introduce themselves, and off we go.

So Jen, we'll start with you.

I am Jennifer Nelson.

You can find me a couple places, online, at grounded and growing.com and on campus teaching Hort 105 vegetable gardening.

And today I brought my holiday cacti.

Hold on.

Hold on.

We have to introduce our other specialties.

Sorry, that's okay.

Jumping right into it.

That's all right, Chuck.

Edit it out.

I'm Chuck Voigt, and I'm retired from several different departments at the University of Illinois, the last one being crop sciences.

What I was doing was horticulture, vegetable crops and herbs are my specialties, and I love everything in Article.

Ulcer, pretty much, okay.

And last, but not least, not least, I'm Martie Alagna, and I'm I'm trying to retire from lots of things, but doesn't seem to work so far.

I'm retired from Plant Pathology at the U of I and grounds at the U of I and horticulture at the U of I, and they just wanted to share the wealth, share, I guess, knowledge so well.

Thank all three of y ou for coming.

Really appreciate it.

Okay, so let's jump in with your show and tell Okay, Miss Nelson, so I brought a couple different examples of holiday cacti.

Sometimes this one is sold as a christmas cactus, but it is actually a Thanksgiving cactus, and then this is actually a true Christmas cactus.

And how do I know that that's the difference?

One is by flowering time.

This one, this bigger one, was in full flower right at the end of November.

And it you can tell it is a Thanksgiving cactus by the jaggedy edges, oops, jaggedy edges on its leaf.

You see how it's got these sort of, like really sharp edges on it.

And then the true Christmas cactus, if you look at the leaves, they're rounded.

So this one is this one's new.

It's a new cutting that I bought recently.

I was so excited to find it.

It's not as common in the stores as the Thanksgiving cactus, and so it's not flowering this year, probably, maybe next year.

But we, we can big question that people ask all the time, and I think you got a question.

Yes, we sure did.

Somebody wanting to know, how do you get them to flower?

Sometimes, this one, this person, had a particular cutting from an original plant that was 65 years old, and the cutting has never bloomed for this person, for Becky, so she was, hey, that explains it.

But she says she's tried everything fertilizer and has never gotten it to boo, well, I'll tell you what I do, and it's in the camp of thriving on neglect sort of plants.

My favorite.

Yes, there's all sorts of detailed things you can find where people talk about doing the like so many hours of dark like a poinsettia, and that just seems like a lot of work to me.

And so the best tip I ever got was from Diane Noland, who used to host this show.

She said, leave it outside as long as possible.

And so that's what I do.

I put it out for the summer on a north facing porch, give it lots of water and fertilizer, and it gets nice and big.

This used to be really small.

Leave it outside as long as possible in the shorter days and the cool nights start to initiate some flower buds and make it the last thing you bring in.

But don't do what I did.

I used to have a 65 year old Christmas cactus that we got as a wedding gift until one may have waited a little too long to bring it in, and it, yeah, missed it by that much, and it bit the dust due to temperature.

So that's why I was really excited to find this one, because I've no doubt I bought it down in Arthur.

I'm sure it was propagated from some older plant.

You can see on this one, it's, got a few extra flower buds, some, most of them are falling off because I think they just didn't ask about this.

So I bought a Thanksgiving cactus, and it was full of buds.

Just full, full, full, and now they're all starting to drop off.

They're not opening so Did I do something wrong?

Did taking it out of the store?

What changed probably the taking it out of the store.

And the change is my best guess.

This had a ton of flowers, like I have pictures, I should have sent you one, and I didn't think that far ahead, but it was covered in flowers.

And so these were ones that were really just barely starting when I brought it in the house.

And so I my guess is that i.

It's that change in location kind of made them abort there.

I picked that one because it was loaded, and then they all shriveled up, except for a couple.

But I've had that happen before, so I'm not too disappointed, because I did get a good show out of it.

But okay, very nice.

And also, I just want to say I remember these because the leaves here look like Batman loves Thanksgiving.

Thanks, Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving.

So if you're looking for a little white, remember the difference between the two?

Batman loves Thanksgiving.

Don't watch this.

They have no idea what the if you just you're probably confused.

What's wrong with these people.

And the trade will try to confuse you too, because, for marketing purposes, they give them Christmas names to Thanksgiving cacti.

So yeah, and then throw even another wrench in it.

There's an Easter cactus too.

You can get all crazy.

So you also sometimes, since it's the day length that triggers this and cool nights, sometimes you can kind of catch that same pattern of daylight on the upswing towards the spring.

So sometimes you'll get a few more blooms on the way to spring.

So that's kind of nice.

Very nice.

All right, thank you, ma'am.

All right, Chuck, we are to you.

Okay, well, knowing what a great bulb planter you are, yes, I thought I would bring my bowl planners in today.

This is the one I used at the at the vegetable Research Farm, usually to punch holes through like plastic and put in, you know, several 100 sweet potatoes or 1400 pepper plants or whatever.

And as you can see, it's out of stamped steel, and you can kind of get it spreading open, especially in the hard, tight soils that we have here on campus.

And so that's not quite ideal.

This one, I found.

I don't even remember where I think I got it at, like an auction sale, because I have never known the original source, but it is wonderful.

It's welded tight along the along the seam.

It's much higher gage material.

It's adjustable for height up to six inches.

So you don't even have to be thinking, now, is that five inches, or is that safe?

Well, it's set for six and if you get it all the way down to the to the to the gage, you've made it.

So my I have no idea if these are still made, but if you can find one, either fresh from the from the factory or at somebody's garage sale or something, this is highly superior to this.

But if you can't find this, this is highly superior to the to the little stubby hand one that you have to bend down and use so work smarter, not harder, that's right.

And then I have a, I have a David Hill story, oh, go for it.

It kind of relates to you.

Oh no.

And your proclivity for planning things eventually.

Chuck knows me, my friend in Chillicothe, Illinois, was cleaning up around his what used to be is he had a small house.

He was a book dealer.

He just kind of gone out of that.

He dug up this bed of daffodils that had been there for 10 or 12 years and just kind of overgrown and and the varieties all intermixed, and he dug them all up, and you've been to my place.

Do I need more daffodils?

No, not really.

But he said, otherwise, just take 50.

And I said, Well, okay, how bad can 50 be?

Proverbial drop in the Bucha.

I get the box.

I kind of let it sit.

It gets to the weather forecast.

We get to that, you know how we got pretty, pretty chilly there kind of all of a sudden, well, that last day before that, I said, Well, today's the day.

And so Donna and I go out and I punch holes, and we plant 50.

And then we they came in two bags, and then we start the other bag punching holes, and how many you got left?

And so then finally, we finally got them all in the ground, and there were 97 which, Wow, sounds about right, yeah, with a guy with a for a guy with a master's degree from the University of London in Plant Biology didn't count real well.

And there were some doubles I could easily have gotten to 100 Oh, wow.

I didn't break anything apart that was still together.

And then I used, like a little three prong color grader.

Things I used.

That to close them up, because the cores that flop out, it worked really well, because it broke those up, and then I could kind of push it in from around the sides.

Then I went back a while later, after some of the cold spell, because I was afraid it was going to freeze down to them too soon.

And we raked a bunch of leaves and put leaves over it to hopefully get them rooted in where they develop a lot more cold hardiness, so that that's my Oh, my God.

Do I need more daffodils?

Story, about 100 more, to be exact.

Yeah, that could easily Yeah.

Now we'll look forward to seeing those pictures, then this spring, when those babies, they were really, must have been really overgrown, because I'm not sure how many of them are going to flower.

They were not, they were not, gotcha really small.

They were like starter sets.

Okay, so we'll see.

We'll see what we can see.

The ones I planted two years ago, I think should, should be in good shape.

Those I didn't need either, but they were on sale, double yellow and double pink.

So you can't turn that down.

All right.

Miss Marty, you've got, let's see.

We've had a couple of questions come in, actually, from people who have an amaryllis that has not rebloomed, or they're wondering if they can get it to bloom twice.

So take us to Amaryllis school.

Okay?

Thank you, by the way, for bringing in a show and tell I can borrow.

I looked at my Amaryllis and they were horrible.

I didn't bother.

Okay, so Amaryllis bloom, if they are not planted too deeply, I want you to be able to see that this is in soil.

I'm just going to dig this up.

Go right ahead.

But this also has some moss over the top.

Okay, it's not planted in the moss.

It's planted in potting soil.

But here's the Can you see that where the neck starts into the bulb, and the bulb is probably, probably missing maybe an inch, just an inch of space on either side.

People want to put these in a big pot, and I understand that, because when they bloom, they get tall and top heavy and gangly, and it's easy for them to fall over, which they will frequently do given the opportunity.

However, they need tight shoes.

It's better for house plants of practically any stripe to have a smaller pot than you think, because you're not planting them in the earth.

You're planting them in an unreasonable facsimile of Earth.

And they need, they need this controlled environment to be able to do what it needs to do.

And too big of a pot holds too much moisture, and they just won't do well.

They need, they need a confined environment like that.

So, you know, a pot like that in clown shoes.

It's just it's too big.

They can't do it.

So amaryllis, also, I dug that down so you could see leave a third to even maybe a half of the bulb exposed above the soil level in the pot where you plant it, because they need that.

They can thrive on remarkably little water.

But they need they like air.

They night.

They like good air circulation.

These will bloom, frankly, on the table.

If you don't, you go to the big box store, grocery store, where they have there too long they come out the box.

Yeah, they have this little squirt.

So, I mean, it's like, there's like a, you know, like a Spitz worth of dirt in there.

They don't need soil to bloom.

These will bloom with no soil.

However, if you do want them to get them to bloom next year, it's a better idea to plant them in some dirt.

So put them in some soil, leave at least a third or even half of the bulb exposed.

Also, I would recommend a clay pot instead of plastic.

Sorry, because clay is heavier, so it'll be able to counterbalance if you get some bloom.

So this is going to bloom.

I think we've got two on here.

Here's this one's obviously, but there's this one here.

Is also a bloom.

Tanisha got her money.

It'll be fabulous.

Yeah.

So now after that first one, because clearly we've got one that's going to flower first, do you remove dead stocks?

Do you leave dead stocks?

If they when the flowers fade, usually there's four blossoms at the top of the stem.

When the flowers fade, or as they fade, they'll do one at a time.

I'll remove them and when, when this stock is done, I just cut it off as close as I can.

It's it's done.

It's not helping anything.

It's not green, though it may be, it's now photosynthesizing and significant.

Definitely after the flowers will come long, strappy leaves and like the Christmas cactus and Thanksgiving cactus, if you have a covered porch or a shady place where you can set the whole pot outside, that would be great or Northern Exposure people like, well, isn't it cold?

Isn't it too dark?

No, no, the foot candles in the darkest spot in your yard is so, so much higher than any place inside your house without a grow light.

So, yeah, they need the they need the the light exposure they need.

Being outside is really, really beneficial for them, and bring it back in.

Some people now this is up for debate.

Some people re, oh, you let them grow.

And then about July, I would put them someplace where they have to dry out, let the leaves shrivel up and die, turn the pot on its side to remind you not to water it, or, you know, put it in the garage, something.

And then some people repot.

Some people don't repot.

I've heard both ways.

I think if repotting a survey, yeah, what do you guys do?

Not every year?

Okay, I've done it both ways, me too, and it's like a while, yeah, yeah.

If see the bulb gets larger and larger.

So if you really, really, really need a bigger pot, then repot it.

But if you don't, if it makes you feel better, you can take it out, change the soil, put it back in.

Doesn't matter.

Does it need a dormant phase before it will bloom for you again?

Yes, after, after the like I said about, about July, mid July, tip the pot over, put it in some place, dark and cool, like garage, down by the floor and let it dry out, and then it'll go dormant.

And then when you bring it back, don't let it freeze.

They can't freeze.

So if your garage freezes, bring it in before then.

But then bring it in the house, put it in a sunny window, start watering it.

You'll be amazed.

Excellent.

Anything else anybody wants to add there on the amaryllis care, because I see them everywhere.

When you talked about they don't need soil.

We see the wax dipped ones.

We see the beautifully decorated ones that sit on just like a nice little plank of wood.

They really can't survive anything.

They really the ones that are dipped, the holiday ones you eventually, eventually peel.

That gotcha Well, I mean, you can't.

It can't it has to make roots and feed the bulb for the for the blossom next year, for next just can't do blooming, blooming, ad nauseum, it's got to have some help.

So some help and some rest.

Yeah, and the earlier you force them, the harder it is to get the foliage to to do enough work.

Because, like, if you, if you could force one say at Easter time or something that's late enough, you can get them outside while those leaves are still ready to go.

If you do one at Christmas, it's really hard if you don't have pretty ideal conditions somewhere, or we're spoiled if we have greenhouse space at the University of Illinois, because you can, you can, you can really be from up there, you have greenhouse space.

Tanisha, boy, it's, it's at a premium.

And then the other thing is, as a front window that faces, and they're happy for multiple years, they will start to divide and make off shoots.

That's true.

That's true.

Such a pretty flower.

And really helps this time of year too, to have just something so lovely to look I say, I save mine till after Christmas to bring them out, because after you put all the Christmas away, you need a little spring bulb thing going on.

This is blooming, and pretty soon the million daffodils will also be safe.

We're thinking ahead.

All right.

We've got a couple questions.

We got about 10 minutes left.

Let's see Prince of Orange plant, Angela sent this question in.

She's got one of these, and she said she ended up staking it.

Once she staked it up, it had explosive growth, but still got very floppy.

And so she was just wondering if this is the normal growing pattern of this plant.

Is it?

Does it vine?

What are some characteristics?

Did she send a picture?

Yes, she did.

Yes.

So there, oh, yes, that's the growth that took off after she staked it.

But just want to know how to set this plant up for success.

Because it's floppy.

It's a Prince of Orange philodendron, Jen and I assumed.

And yes, it is.

They have an amazing, really beautiful color.

The name is from the color.

The leaves are green, but they have an orange ish cast, but then the stems are beautifully red.

And yeah, they look like rhubarb, almost really pretty.

But remember, it's a philodendron, so it's gonna wind around like, people don't think of Monstera as being a wandering plant, but they are there.

It's actually a vine.

It's just a huge so I'm thinking, I'm thinking, you.

Might want to consider putting, like a moss pole in there, or something and something kind of tall, and if it's not in a heavy pot that can support that top heaviness, you might want to repot it, not necessarily bigger, just a heavy make sure the base is heavy, because as it gets tall, it's going to it's going to want to flop over anything else to add.

Mine has done the same thing.

Hers looks a lot better than mine, so you're not doing anything wrong, just maybe get it a little support.

And, yeah, there you go.

You can also cut those.

And you can see where they'll sometimes they'll send air roots out, you know.

And you can, you can start them easily enough.

I mean, put them back in the pot and try to fill it out more, whatever you like.

Give it away Christmas.

Yes, yes.

We're back to check with the tools.

All right, I know, isn't it neat?

Oh, wow.

You're familiar with with a more modern version of this, if you've worked with Jack at all, yes, it's, it's a platter, either for, like corn or for for potatoes, you just jam it in the ground and then hit this.

It opens it up.

That was not the spring loaded.

Yeah, and they also have so you can right?

It's aiming or bending and working on this.

This is, this has an extension story too.

Oh, was it was a tour you took a pass on.

We went to Iowa and up into Minnesota.

Oh, I don't think I got to do this one.

Yes.

What were you doing?

We visited all my places.

We went to seed savers.

We went we went to Bailey nursery in St Paul and and then we came back.

We stayed in Boston, Wisconsin.

And Sandy Mason and and Martha Smith were with me in the vehicle.

Jim.

Jim Schuster, how could you miss?

I don't know why.

Yeah, no, who knows?

Yeah.

So anyway, they, you know, we, we stayed there in in Austin, got up, gonna drive all the way back down here, and they wanted to stop somewhere and antique.

And being a softie, I said, Well, fine, we're going to London station.

There's, there's lots of things there.

We're walking around in, in the in the antique store, and I Spy this, and it's like, I think that needs to come home with me as I recall, that might have been the only thing any of us so the people who wanted to go antiquing didn't find any.

Just did a lot of looking.

And I actually found, do you still use this?

I've never used so they can say, Okay, so you've jammed it in the ground, you put your little toe on there, and you lean back.

Then you lean this back, and it goes, Ah.

And then you drop a tater in there, maybe, maybe, maybe scuff your foot over the hole a little bit to make sure it's nice.

Sure gotta get the shuffle, you know, as with the other one, you get a rhythm, and it's like riding a bike.

If I did it again, I would just lapse right back into the industry.

And you know that I'm gonna say you have a child with a bucket full of starts, and when you go, I drop it, it's almost lunch time.

Let's go sprout up anyway.

That's a combination extension and whatever story.

Thank you very much.

We've got three minutes.

I want to get one more question in.

There's a woman named Jane.

She wanted to know if it was okay to treat her herbs with Neem and then bring them in and cook with them.

She's dealing with fungus gnats, so to control the fungus gnats and be able to use the herbs.

What advice do you all have for her?

Read the label on the neem.

Okay, there, there should be a post harvest interval.

And if that post harvest interval is longer than you want to wait to use the herbs, then don't use the name.

Okay.

Now, if you don't use the Neem, what can you do?

Just have it wise watering wise at home to cut you out on your fungus.

Now, definitely drier.

Let them dry out.

Yeah, most, most house plants do better on the dry side, or being drenched once, so every two weeks, or something like that.

Depending on the size of the pot, you could do that pretty handily.

I don't know how big a pot we're talking about, what she's got, but most herbs are pretty drought tolerant.

I mean, except for maybe basil, but the rest of them, gosh, they can drive.

She didn't mention Basil, basil, rosemary, thyme and etc, rosemary and thyme and oregano.

They're water people using peroxide to control fungus gnats.

Is that something anyone would if?

You just dry, just they only want moisture.

So if it's not moist, though, and they're not going to want it, that's right.

All right, we have a minute and a half.

Let's end with a snack kindergarten.

Now, what are we eating?

Chuck?

What do we got here?

You said chocolate, something or other?

Chocolate Mixed Up kitchen, and she's always sending us things.

So thank you very much.

Hot diggity dog, you bet.

Oh my gosh, we have a sweet crust with some little cookie on top.

Well, thank you guys for coming in and bringing your things.

Thank you so much for watching.

If you've got questions for us, send them in to your garden@gmail.com or you can look us up on socials.

Just search for Mid American gardener.

We will see you next Time.

Good night.

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