Unknown: 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 my pals, and we've got a lot of stuff to cover from insect damage to plant identification.

We have a lot to talk about, so let's have them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit about them, and off we go.

So Jim, we'll start with you.

Jim Appleby, I'm Jim Appleby, and I am an entomologist, a retired entomologist, with the Illinois natural history survey here on the campus of the University of Illinois, so I deal with insects and mites attacking trees, shrubs and flowers.

Excellent.

Okay, I'm Kay Carnes.

I'm a Champaign County Master Gardener.

My expertise is in herbs and some flowers and a little bit of everything else, little bit of everything.

Miss Martie.

Hi.

I'm Martie Alagna.

I'm a semi retired private landscaper, and I'm not a master gardener.

I just play one on TV.

And, you know, I Google a lot so and we all know that Martie grew up growing potatoes.

She's told that story to us a few times, acres and acres of taters, we dug them by hand because that's what I should have never brought it up.

All right, let's jump in.

Jim.

You've got some show and tells, so we'll start down there with you.

Which one, whichever you'd like to talk about first, would you bring?

Well, I brought some plant damage here caused by airborne contaminants.

You know, in the Midwest there's herbicides like 2, 4-D and dicamba, that are very volatile substances, so when they're applied, they become airborne.

Now, I haven't used any herbicides on my property, and the nearest property that could have been used.

Where herbicides could be used is at least a mile away, so these contaminants can get into the air and damage follow your plants.

Now, some plants in the Midwest are very susceptible to herbicide damage.

I call them indicator plants because they indicate whether herbicides are used.

These herbicides are used in the Midwest, particularly red bud foliage, grape and tomato, they are very susceptible to that.

And I brought in some foliage here.

Of my red bud plants are showing evidence of this herbicide injury.

Notice these leaves here.

You have some of the leaves here that are are normal.

These herbicides affect leaves just as they're unfolding.

So on mature leaves, you make a little bit of spotting, but on leaves that are just opening up mature, in mature leaves, you get this really bad damage where the leaves are curled, they're sort of yellowish green, and they're leather, like, I mean, you know, they're thick.

So I don't know if you can see that well on the close ups or not, but it's very distinctive.

So this is on red bud.

The other is on grape.

And it's the same kind of injury.

You get this very distorted leaves, they're sort of curled, and they're sort of a yellowish green.

So again, now, should you be concerned about that?

Well, I can't get too concerned, because this is only one application of herbicide.

So that injury is sort of temporary.

The plants will come out.

These leaves will not mature into normal leaves, but you know, later on, as red blood, will produce leaves that are not damaged, as this, on this stem that extends out.

So I really wouldn't be too concerned about it.

It's sort of temporary, but it's something that people sometimes come to me and they say, What kind of insect causes this injury?

And it's not caused by insects, it's herbicide drift, airborne.

Tinisha Spain: So what for the at home gardener?

I mean, that's you said it's a mile to the next place that could have sprayed it, at least a mile, at least a mile.

Oh, yeah.

What implications does that have for the at home gardener?

Just, you know, when applying those, those chemicals?

Unknown: Well, you know, it's risky on some plants, particularly, like I said, tomato in the garden, tomato is the most susceptible.

Grapes is its second second one Tinisha Spain: Gotcha, okay, so just be careful when applying do the best you can.

But it sounds like there's no, you know, clear way to eliminate, Unknown: no, there really isn't, because it's so volatile.

Those chemicals are so volatile that they're airborne.

We Kay Carnes: had we're surrounded by on three sides by farm field.

Yeah.

And they sprayed on the west edge of us.

And I went out a couple days later, and the grass from they must have been okay, and then wandered over, but the grass is all yellow.

Oh, wow.

You know, for about this wide, I was not happy, and there's no Tinisha Spain: question about where that can Kay Carnes: I could smell I went out while they were doing it, I could smell it.

Oh, yeah.

But what can you do?

I mean, they got to do their thing too, you know, they got it.

Yeah, Unknown: I think so.

And I think the farmers are having a tough time of it, so I don't complain.

I mean, you know, so so you get a little bit of damage.

It's not going to hurt the permanent damage on these trees.

Good to know, though.

Oh, yeah, it's good to identify that, and particularly my insects get blamed for this.

Tinisha Spain: Oh, it's a travesty.

Back to you, Jim, because I know you've got something else to share.

Okay, we'll go to you.

You brought something lovely?

Kay Carnes: Yes, I did, and it's getting a little floppy.

Now, this is a pink Peony Poppy, and it's a, actually, it's an annual, but it seeds itself.

And you can see this is a classic Poppy, where the seeds are, and they're really showy.

And they get, they get, oh, I don't know, three or four feet tall, and they're really, they're pretty.

It's beautiful.

That's a gorgeous color.

And I have, can you purchase those locally?

I don't know.

I think you can still you can get the seed to go online.

Is that what you do?

No, I don't know where I've had them for a long time, and I Tinisha Spain: don't think they just reseed.

So you get to just enjoy them now.

Is this an early, not early spring, like a mid spring, late spring bloom?

Are they finishing up, or are they just starting to open?

To open where they're Kay Carnes: kind of in the middle, in the middle, they've been out for a little, for maybe a month or so?

Yeah.

Tinisha Spain: Now, do you save?

Do you snip the pod, the seed pods off and keep them, or do you just let them fall?

And Kay Carnes: I let them fall, you know, if you wanted to put some in a different spot, you could, you know, dry the pot and then take the seeds out.

But I've got a couple.

I've got one batch on the in front of our garage, and that's really nice, because people can see it, yes, road.

But then I also have a patch in my vegetable Tinisha Spain: was that, by design, Kay Carnes: I don't know where they came and we'll take them.

They're gorgeous Unknown: pollinators.

Tinisha Spain: Easy maintenance.

Do you have to do anything?

Just Unknown: I don't do anything with them.

We love low Tinisha Spain: maintenance.

Okay, the peony pop Kay Carnes: and they bloom for a while very Tinisha Spain: nice.

It is gorgeous.

It looks delicate.

But you were saying it's it's a tough flower.

It looks delicate.

Yeah, Kay Carnes: it's kind of this.

One's kind of droopy right now, because it's Unknown: so are they deer resistant?

Kay Carnes: Well, we have deer struck through our yard periodically, and I've never seen them bother them.

Tinisha Spain: That's another thumbs up.

Oh, Unknown: that's for sure.

But Kay Carnes: next to the garage, so the deer don't usually get quite that close in our front yard, in front of our house.

Tinisha Spain: If Unknown: If they were going to munch them, I bet you they so you might be in the clear out at your place.

I'm going to have to get some.

Yes, those are gorgeous.

Well, I'll tell you what.

I'll dry a bunch of seed and give them all see.

This is, Okay, Martie, we have a question for you.

This is from Suellen this is what we do here at Mid-America, just keeping the Fredrick.

She said, What is this weed in my yard?

It's taken over.

varieties alive.

It's not a weed.

Well, it can be a weed if you don't like it.

A weed could be anything.

A weed is a plant out of place if you like it there.

It's not a weed that is Mirabilis.

There's a couple different varieties of it.

I... if you don't like it, you can pull it.

It does have a tendency to spread pretty freely, but it's not that hard to to control.

So okay, if you don't like it, yank it out.

And if you do like it, don't yank it Tinisha Spain: out.

So we're thinking maybe a bird planted it, or does it grow wild?

Could have Unknown: been a bird.

I don't know if it's not pretty.

I'm not familiar with the seed.

They're kind of they're in the same family as four o'clock, okay?

And anybody who's grown four o'clock knows that they make a hillion gazillion seeds, and they're all fertile, all of them every single time.

So that's.

Why?

That's why you have so many of that.

Does it bloom all summer the out that looks good against that it looks great against the fence, the kind that you like.

They're an annual but they seed so freely that, as Suellen is learning, once you have some they just kind of proliferate.

But they're not they do.

Yeah, I have planted these for clients before, and because they loved four o'clock.

This is a little bit different color.

Four o'clock that I planted for her were, like, in the red spectrum, not so much purple, but they're really pretty, and they're not they're not hard to control.

I mean, if you just just yank them out, if you where you don't want them, I mean, they come right out.

So it's no biggie.

She's pretty, whatever she is, so Sue.

we vote keep it if you like it.

Yeah, not don't yank it exactly, exactly.

I had dames rocket blow in from the railroad track or something, and it started in my yard on the east side.

And it was delightful.

I mean, I know it's like, it's a wheat I like them.

They're really pretty.

They look like an early flocks, kind of, you know, they had that, and they were so pretty and and I did not disturb that bed.

And it came back for a couple of years.

I'm like, yay.

Drop seed.

I don't care.

Grow in there, and then they just quit.

If I were her, I would cut them off three or four inches tall, chunk them out, put them in a pot, give them a squirt.

They'll they'll come back the cabbage.

Any opinions there, ladies and germs, I have no idea.

Not so much.

I've only transmitted cabbage roll pot to the ground, not the other way.

So well, this will be interesting.

So Maria, if you're watching, try to transplant your garden and let us know how it turns out.

The first time these guys, they said that, Martie said she's never been asked a question like that before, and never 20 some years of being on the show.

So okay, well, give it a shot.

All right, Jim, we're back to you with your Well, I grow mint, and there's an insect that does affect mint.

It's called the four line plant bug.

There's the adult is sort of a yellowish green with four black stripes on it, and the head is orange.

The nymphs are bright red and black.

Now they overwinter in the stems of your plant, like mint, they overwinter in the egg stage.

So one cultural method to get rid of these things is don't let the old stems in the area where you have the men remove those stems and take them, you know, 20 feet away, or burn them, because when the eggs hatch, the young nymphs, the little ones, they have to find the new plant to start feeding.

And so that's easy to control that way the following year.

Now this is a damage that the nymph, as well as the adult uses.

Now these are sort of getting bad, but you can see how damaged the leaves are on the mint.

Should you be concerned about that?

Well, I'm not too concerned about it.

If you want to put some mint leaves in the cool beverage or so, it's probably not too appealing to a person had meant leaves like this so but other than that, I don't think they need to be controlled, other than the cultural practice of removing the stems in the fall months and disposing those old stems, because that's where the eggs are so.

If you did want to put some in your iced tea, the leaves that have been damaged, there's not bugs on there that's damaged.

sucking mouth parts.

And they insert their mouth parts in there, and then that causes damage to the cells.

And so that's what you get.

Is this browning here.

I do have some of that in my mint patch, and you do know what it is, and you have, it smells lovely.

I mean, we can smell it.

I mean, I don't like man, I do too.

It's very aggressive, though.

Boy, oh, boy, I don't plant.

Man, I just visited a year round.

Take a couple leaves to go.

Smokes.

It's insane.

Jim also, if you cut the stems in the fall to prevent the overwintering, if you compost those, is that going to get hot enough to do anything?

Or do you have to burn them?

Oh, you know, I mean, the nymphs are little, tiny things, so they have to crawl to the new plant.

So the compost is compost bin is effective just a ways away from the right, where you have these, I would say maybe 20 feet is enough.

Okay.

I mean, their little nymphs are little, tiny things, so if they don't find food, they're going to starve.

Okay, 20 feet is like 20 miles.

They have one a.

Plant, yeah, I plant way more varieties than you'll ever need.

I mean, I'm no John Bodensteiner, but you know, case are tomatoes.

Did you put how many?

Only four.

Kay Carnes: I know interesting.

Unknown: Pull them out.

It should just cut them off.

Right, right.

Just a hair below the I think a trail cam is a perfect idea, so you can catch the culprit in the end and then have it right here on television exactly.

You can show everyone.

Hey, this is great idea.

Yeah, we're all waiting.

Let's see.

One more.

One more.

We got a couple minutes left.

I'm not gonna read the entire question, but someone is having issues with their clematis not flowering.

So what are some common things that we could Should they?

Well, they said, they said it grows up and leaves out.

Out, and then it says flower buds, but then the whole plant will die.

And that just sounds a lot like clematis wilt to me.

So you could try a different variety, or you could try that variety in a different place, because I don't, I don't think there's anything you can treat clematis wilt with.

It's just, it's a condition that happens and okay, you know some some clematis varieties are more susceptible to it than others.

So you've tried for two years.

So you may have to, I had another one.

I have a Rebecca clematis that I have to replace routinely because they're fabulous, the huge, red, velvety flowers, and then they just, it just croaks.

And I've got all kinds of other clematis in the yard, they do fine.

They're just robust and recognize so try another one.

She's a quitter.

Alright.

we're out of time that went fast, didn't it?

Thank you to the three of you for coming in.

Thank you so much for watching.

We had a blast.

If you've got questions for our panelists, send them in to us at yourgarden@gmail.com, or you can search for us on socials, just look for Mid-American gardener, And we will see you next time.

Good night.

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