Narrator> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina.

This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina, family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons, a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.

♪ ♪ ♪ > Good evening, and welcome to Making It Grow.

We are very, very happy that you are with us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty, and I'm a Clemson Horticulture Agent, and I'm here with my good friend and fellow Clemson employee Terasa Lott, who helps us in so many ways.

Thank you as always, Terasa.

> It is always my pleasure to be right here on the set of Making It Grow.

Amanda> Yeah, we're delighted to have you with us.

And we also are very, very happy, Jackie Jordan, we haven't seen you at a while.

Welcome.

Jackie> Yeah, been a minute.

Amanda> Yeah, yeah.

And you are in Fairfield, Kershaw, and Richland.

That's a lot of territory to cover.

Jackie> It is, it is.

Amanda> When you have a Master Gardener class, do you generally have it in one location and let people come to you?

> So I typically offer two Master Gardener classes.

I'll do one in Camden for Kershaw folks and I'll do one in Richland.

Amanda> That's mighty nice.

Okay.

Good for you.

Alright.

Well you're a good teacher.

I've heard people say, "Oh, she was just wonderful."

So kudos to you.

Yeah.

Okay.

And Vicky, you are down there in Aiken, but you also work with the HGIC, but you don't have to drive up to Clemson to work.

> No, no, I get to do that right here.

Amanda> That's mighty nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And, I bet people are happy when you answer the phone cause you're real cheerful and bright.

> I try to be.

Amanda> Yeah, yeah.

Well, I think that's just kinda naturally the way you are.

<Thank you> We're glad you're with us tonight, anyway.

And Davis Sanders came down from South Pleasantburg Nursery in Greenville.

And, y'all have kind of a big growing concern up there.

People are, and people are coming in and do they want to have mums and things to put out for fall or what happens?

> Well, they do, but, unfortunately, we are kind of at the tail end of what we call "the desperate season."

Where people's summer annuals have already been pretty well <Yeah!> from the heat and the late season rains.

But it's way too early for our mums and pansies and that kind of thing.

But they're desperate to get something in their containers.

[laughter] Well, I hate to encourage maybe something green.

They don't like green things.

Davis> We have enough offerings that we can use to satisfy them.

Amanda> Okay, well, I'm glad you can.

they keep coming back, and asking you for help.

You've been there a good while now.

Yeah, I'm working on 20 years now.

Amanda> Good gracious all mighty.

Davis> Nursery's been there 61, so I don't think I'll catch up with that.

[laughter] Well, thanks for, thank them for letting you come down.

Davis> Well, it's always a pleasure to come down.

I always learn more here than I come down with.

Amanda> Well, I don't know about that.

You bring a lot of knowledge.

Thanks for the trip.

Anyway, so we have some fun things for you.

Terasa went to a wonderful place.

And tell everybody where it was.

Terasa> Yeah, so that's the Nature as Teacher Preserve.

And, it's in Camden, so not too far from our extension office there.

Amanda> And it's a pretty nice, beautiful piece of property, I think.

Terasa> It really is a treasure.

One of many we have in the state.

Amanda> Yeah, it's a beautiful state.

Well, and then we also learn about peanut farming.

Hannah Mikell went to talk to one of her growers, Jeremy Cannon.

So that's fun.

Peanuts are a big, big part of our economy.

And I love peanuts.

Anyway, so, boiled peanuts, peanut butter, roasted peanuts.

Just peanuts in general.

They're tasty.

Alrighty, well, Terasa, usually we have, we used to have "Gardens of the Week," but now we have a montage.

Is that correct?

Terasa> Thanks to all of you, our viewers who share the photos that show your green thumb, whether it's your backyard or perhaps one of the many beautiful places that we have to enjoy in the state.

So let's take a look at this week's edition of "Gardens of the Week."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I absolutely adore that last photo of Page Brewer standing in front of the butternut squash patch.

Her grandmother shared that photo with us, and Page will carry that memory with her forever.

Perhaps one day she'll find herself gardening as adult and be able to look back on that memory.

And, you know, think kindly about the experiences she had with her grandparents, as I do, from my childhood memories with my grandparents as well.

So thanks to everyone who shared their photos.

That's just a few, there are many more on our Facebook page, and I encourage you to take a look and perhaps submit photos when we make our call for "Gardens of the Week."

> Thank you so much and thanks to everybody who participates.

We enjoy seeing them a lot.

Well, we're supposed to be answering some questions and helping people, so, we've got some bright people here today.

Maybe they can help.

Terasa> I am sure they can.

We're gonna start by trying to help Robyn in Columbia, who reached out, and we don't have a photograph, but she said, "What could be killing my grass?

It looks terrible this year."

And I'll just commiserate and say that my grass doesn't look very good either.

But what are some reasons for poor looking grass?

Amanda> Jackie, it's kind of hard to ID things sometimes if you can't go or see a picture, but, are you seeing a lot of common problems this year that maybe are unusual or predominant?

> Well, this year we've had a lot of take-all root rot for our warm season turf grasses.

And this is a disease that's rooted in a lot of mismanagement techniques.

So it's a disease that takes advantage of the turf when it's weakened.

You can tell that you have it because if you pull up a runner, the roots are actually black and mushy.

So that's a great diagnostic tool, pull up the runner.

Other diseases affect the leaves or affect the stems, but take-all root rot is the root.

So you'll pull them up, they're black, they're mushy, they're soft.

And it's usually associated with a bunch of mismanagement techniques.

So- <Well, go through them for us.> The biggest one is watering.

We always encourage people to water deeply and infrequently.

We've had a very, very hot, stressful summer.

We've been in a drought and you see people watering ten minutes a day, sometimes every day, sometimes every other day.

But what we want to do is a deep but infrequent watering.

Amanda> Well, and you can't help, I mean, we've been having, like, weird showers, like, we don't know when they're coming and it rains for a few minutes, but sometimes it comes down a good bit, you know, and you can't control the weather.

Jackie> No, you can't control the weather, but you can control your irrigation.

And another contributing factor is thatch.

A lot of people are switching to a zoysia lawn, and it can build up thatch, and thatch is something that has to be managed.

Amanda> So, tell people what thatch is cause it's kid of confusing.

Jackie> So thatch is an accumulation of dead stolons and rhizomes, and it's just the more fibrous parts of the plant that are hard to break down.

And there are a few different ways that you can manage thatch.

Probably one of the easiest ways is to plan on core aerating your lawn every year at the beginning of the season.

So sometime in late May, early June, you can core aerate.

That pulls a two-and-a-half, three-inch core out.

You just let it dry out on top of the lawn.

You don't have to rake it up because that introduces the soil microorganisms to the top of the thatch layer, and they can help to break it down.

Amanda> Alright, okay.

Is it hard to core aerate?

Jackie> There's a variety of different tools out there.

There are some implements that you can put on a, on your riding lawnmower that you can pull behind.

There are machines that you can rent.

So it can be, but there's a variety of ways to get it done.

Vicky> Now whenever you're talking about core aeration, we have people that ask us, "Can we put the spikes on our shoes?"

Will that work?

Jackie> No.

Putting the spike on your shoe pushes the compaction down to the bottom of the spike into the side.

And what we wanna do is get a lot of oxygen to the root system.

So we need to physically pull a core out.

Amanda> So we want it to decompose and it needs oxygen to do that.

Jackie> And then another contributing factor is not mowing at the correct height.

A lot of people come in and remove more than a third.

They're trying to slow down or trying to stop as much mowing as possible.

So they come in and they'll cut like half the blade off.

Well, that puts the grass in stress.

And so anything that puts additional stress on the turf- Amanda> Oh, because it's got this whole system that's used to having a certain amount of green tissue to support, and you take too much off and it's like, [gasps] Jackie> Exactly, exactly.

So you add the mismanaging you're watering the thatch, you're not mowing at the right height.

All of those are contributing factors.

So if you can use proper management, that will really help to reduce the incidence that we see of take-all root rot.

And a third thing that I really, really want to point out is if you are cutting your grass and you allow your clippings to lie and decompose in place, it helps with the fourth component, which is nutrient mismanagement.

A lot of times, we can get, we can reduce our fertilizer need by 25 percent just by letting those clippings lie.

And it's a slow, steady feeding to the grass instead of just a bunch of fertilizer at one point.

So with fertilizer costs going up, that is certainly something that will help save you money, help save your grass, and prevent these diseases from developing.

Vicky> But when you're talking about letting the clippings lie, you have to make sure that you're mowing it at a third and not lopping off half of it like you're- Terasa> And you've got like a hayfield laying in your yard.

Jackie> Right, right.

So proper mowing techniques, letting your clippings lie, all of that will promote a healthier lawn and help to resist take-all root rot in the future.

Amanda> Okay, so it's not something that you're gonna have to put out a chemical treatment for, you just need to be better?

Jackie> If you have it.

If you have it, it's very hard to cure it.

You have to put a lot of fungicide out, but proper techniques, proper maintenance is gonna go a long way in preventing that disease from developing.

Amanda> Okay, thank you a lot.

Thank you so much.

Alrighty, Terasa.

Terasa> Managing a lawn is complicated.

[laughter] People think of it as just, "I just gotta go out there and mow the lawn."

But it's not that easy.

Anyhow, we've got a question from Beaufort.

Rick said, "I have a photo of mites that I would like for you to identify.

They're ubiquitous on my ligustrum and junipers.

It's very hard to get photos because these mites are actually the larger of the ones I have seen.

The surface the mites are on is actually a sheet of paper from doing a paper test under the branch."

So you put the paper under there and shake them.

So it sounds like Rick got some advice on how to try to identify, at least from the beginning.

So he wants to know, what are these mites?

Amanda> And mites aren't insects.

They're different.

Vicky> Right.

So mites are arachnids.

Amanda> Yes.

Like spiders, Vicky> Correct.

So all spiders are arachnids, but not all arachnids are spiders.

So in this case, these are mites.

And, these are actually relatively large mites.

And, these are oribatid mites.

And these mites, sometimes they can be a problem.

But in this case, these are oribatid mites are eating fungi, they're eating algae, they're eating decaying plant matter.

So these are not- Amanda> Harming the plants, really?

Vicky> No, in this case these are not hurting the plant.

And then whenever Rick and I were talking a little bit further, we found out what the issue was that were hurting the plants and they're spider mites.

And so, that's something that he and I are going to work on.

But this particular mite, we were able to identify it because it's so large.

It's unusual that they're that large.

We find them very often in the soil profile.

We'll find them in that duff layer where the leaves fall down and they start to break down.

Because that's a great place for them to find moisture, warmth, and plenty, plenty, plenty of decaying plant matter.

And then there's fungi in there helping to break stuff down.

So this is like, the best place to find an oribatid mite.

Amanda> Okay, okay.

So... the other problem is something you're helping this person with, separately.

Vicky> Yeah.

We're not, we're not looking to control the oribatid mites because those aren't what's causing the problem.

Instead, we're gonna work on a program trying to manage those spider mites.

Amanda> Okay, well, is this from your HGIC work?

Vicky> So we've got a great fact sheet on spider mites, We don't have anything on oribatid mites, but- <Because they're not a problem?> Because they're not a problem.

But this is one of those things where it was an HGIC question, and we get fun stuff.

[laughter] And so, this is, it's one of the best places to learn, is HGIC.

So yes, it's one of my HGIC things.

Amanda> Okay.

Well, they're lucky when they get you on the phone.

Davis, I bet you bought some things that are fun for us to look at.

Davis> I certainly did.

I mentioned earlier, we've just come to the end of the desperate season because there's nothing out there to dress up their plants that is gonna last.

But there are a number of ornamental peppers that have been developed over the years.

And, just look at the array of colors.

You've got all these beautiful little purple pods.

You've got yellow pods here.

Some of them have got purple foliage with green pods.

And they're just a lot of fun.

Amanda> This one is really cool.

Davis> They can really withstand the heat that we have in late summer and early fall.

<They can?> And they'll last up until really the first hard frost or even the first freeze.

<Whoa!> It's not something that you can count on all winter, but it is something to dress up those containers with, toward the end of the season.

Amanda> They're just fabulous.

But you could bring them inside, I guess, if you wanted to.

Or just replace them.

Davis> Most people just discard them, but, yeah, they can be brought inside.

Amanda> But they're not dreadfully expensive?

Davis> No, no, they're not.

<Okay> And there are also a lot of people ask, "Are these toxic?

Are they poisonous?

Or can they be eaten?"

The answer is no, no, and no.

<Okay> [laughter] They're just so insanely hot, that they're considered inedible.

They're not really toxic.

Of course, being a nightshade, the foliage on the stems can be toxic, but the fruit itself isn't.

But you don't want to eat one of these.

Amanda> Wow!

Gosh.

So, if your dog tried it- Davis> He would spit it out immediately and immediately go under the house until he recovered.

[laughter] Terasa> I've always wondered why we don't see them until later in the year.

Because if I'm not mistaken, they're, I mean, they could go a longer season there.

They'd be okay.

Davis> They certainly can.

But most of the wholesale nurseries want to grow what they know they're going to be able to move the most product of, and when you've got these on a table, they're beautiful.

But earlier in the season they're competing with the marigolds and the salvias and the portulacas and things like that.

And, at that time of year, people are more interested in bell peppers and jalapenos and habaneros than something that's just pretty to look at.

Terasa> Right.

That makes sense.

Thinking about more of the fall themed decor.

Halloween even.

Amanda> They're trying to stay in business.

Terasa> I have seen them reseed, if you have them planted in the ground.

Which could be fun depending on if you like randomness in your landscape.

Vicky> I've had them reseed at my house and they're pretty fun.

It's a nice little surprise.

Amanda> Okay, well, I'm glad you brought those down and told us about them.

Well, Nature as Teacher.

Terasa went, so I ought to let you introduce this, but we'll just go and see what you have to say once you got there.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Terasa> Within the state, you'll find many parks, preserves, and natural areas.

I'm visiting with Ashley Branham, Director of Environmental Education at Nature as Teacher, located in Camden.

Ashley, Nature as Teacher is a rather unique name.

Can you tell me a little bit about the story behind that?

> Yes.

So the name Nature as Teacher came from Ms.

Margaret Lloyd, who donated this property to Clemson University in 2006.

She actually coined that term Nature as Teacher during an interview for conservationist of the year.

Terasa> That is amazing.

What a gift to give that to the citizens of South Carolina to be able to utilize.

And it sounds like she really had a vision for how this property would be utilized.

Ashley> Absolutely, she did.

This is 850 acres of pristine property on the Wateree River.

And she had a vision for everything here.

She has it under a conservation easement with the Congaree Land Trust.

And, she even separated it out for the ecosystems that she wanted to protect that were very important to her.

Terasa> So not only is the land here for educational purposes, but also, for preservation of various habitats and natural resource elements.

Ashley> Right, right.

So in her, in the conservation easement, she has listed longleaf pine, the floodplain forest, the river, Camp Creek and five headwater streams that she wants protected.

And as you can see, going across Camp Creek, it is quite the location.

Terasa> It really is.

So much diversity and really very close to urbanization.

Ashley> Yes.

Very close.

We're very close to the big box stores.

They are actually our neighbors.

Terasa> When people come out here, I believe, Ms.

Lloyd's focus was really to be on that immersive learning experience driven by each person, by that learner, which is different than what you would experience in a classroom.

What does that look like out here?

Ashley> Absolutely.

So if you were to come during a field trip or a community program, you would likely see, students walking through the creek with nets, looking for macro invertebrates or flipping over rocks looking for the macro invertebrates and identifying them.

Just last week, we were out at the longleaf area and we had a wild turkey just walk right out, casually walk down the road.

Terasa> What an amazing experience.

And I can hear birds that are in the background as we're talking, I've seen butterflies flying.

Bees and gnats, so much wildlife- Ashley> And there's so many things that you think about at that time, right?

You know, there's so many real world lessons, like life cycles and habitats and ecosystems and all the things.

Once you actually slow down and, and use your observation skills and listen.

And I think that's the hardest part.

Terasa> It really is, everyday life is so busy.

And even as we were sitting here, in my mind, I was thinking about all the things that are on my to do list when what I really should be doing is just stepping back, relaxing and enjoying what the beautiful world has to offer us.

Ashley> Right.

And that's where my job comes in.

And that's why I think my job is amazing because I get to introduce a lot of people to a lot of new things in nature that they've never experienced.

And to me, it's an everyday occurrence.

You know, it's, this is a normal life.

This is what we do here.

But for most it's not.

So just sitting and listening to the birds or just actually feeling comfortable sitting outside.

And that's my job, to make sure that we can ignite that spark and create that sense of wonder that no textbook can recreate.

Terasa> And you don't have to be an expert to come out here and be the teacher or be the learner.

We can all learn together.

Ashley> We can all learn together, that's right.

So I actually learn every day and, I enjoy every class and every person that comes out here and teaches me something new.

I go home and I can't wait to tell my family what I've learned that day.

So it's just an amazing place.

And I think the biggest thing here is connection.

So Margaret was very fond of connections to the natural world.

And once you have that connection, then it becomes meaningful and it becomes important to you.

So that's my job to create that with the children and all participants.

Terasa> There's so much to see here, but spring might be the best time because it's a rebirth.

And so I'd love to share some things that are flowering now.

Starting maybe with some of the spring ephemeral, like rain lilies.

Ashley> Yes, our Atamasco lilies just started blooming this week.

And they are beautiful.

We have them in about four or five different locations.

Terasa> And we're going to find those in wet soils.

They like to have wet feet.

<Yes> Without the flowers, folks might miss them because it looks just sort of like grass, like foliage.

Ashley> It looks grassy, but once you see the light hit the white blooms, you know that it's the beautiful Atamasco lilies.

Terasa> It makes a really dynamic picture almost illuminating the forest floor, especially if we have some dappled lighting.

And another impressive plant is going to be butterweed.

What, what is so special about butterweed?

Ashley> So I love butterweed because it is an alarm for spring.

It says your busy season is getting ready to start.

And that's when we noticed the changes in the colors and the scenery.

Terasa> And you have some areas where there's large colonies.

So, it looks almost like sunshine because of those yellow flowers.

Those, of course, are in the aster family, that Asteraceae.

So we've got those nice composite flowers attractive to bees and butterflies.

So, it'd be a great place for kids to come and see how important plants are to our pollinators.

Ashley> Yes, they're the perfect addition to our magical forest playground.

Terasa> Now, we've talked about plants kind of with wetter conditions, but in a drier area on your longleaf forest area, there's a very small but beautiful plant.

Ashley> Yes.

Those are our dwarf irises and they produce such a beautiful purple and yellow little flower.

Terasa> Absolutely gorgeous.

But again, something that if we were too hurried, we might miss.

Ashley> Right.

Absolutely.

We will miss all of them, if we didn't take the time to just slow down and use our senses and just take it all in.

Terasa> And I think sometimes especially say, iris, we would expect a lot of iris do like wetter conditions, but these are in a much drier, sandier soil.

And so minuscule compared to the longleaf trees.

Ashley> Yes, they kind of seem out of place, but that is the soil that they desire.

Terasa> Everything has a place.

The plant I think I am most excited about is Wateree trillium, a pretty rare plant.

So very exciting to have it within the preserve.

Ashley> Yes, that's very exciting.

So our Wateree trillium is endemic to our area, which means that it's only located within a certain range.

So, that plant prefers to be in wet ground, at natural levees and bottomland forest and, it is one of a kind for sure.

It's three leaves, and its flower really doesn't look like a flower, but it's an amazing plant.

So- Terasa> It really is, and the history behind it, I think is fascinating.

So only found in two counties, I believe, in Richland and Kershaw County along the Wateree floodplain was discovered in the 1930s and thought to be a different species.

And then not until the early 2000s, with the help of DNA evidence, it was confirmed to be the Wateree Trillium.

So Trillium oostingii I believe, is how you pronounce it.

Named for the original person who discovered it.

And so typically, we wouldn't, we don't get to experience trillium that much in this part of the state.

Much more common, I think there's about 30 species or so that occur within the Carolinas and Georgia, but typically more of the western part of the state.

Ashley> Yeah.

So, last year was the first year that we actually found it blooming, and it was identified for sure.

And we have several locations around the property that we've seen it growing this year, and it is just now starting to bloom.

So it's really exciting that y'all are here to see it.

Terasa> So much to see and do.

We could never get to it all.

That's really just a very small sample of what people might experience.

If our viewers feel inspired to maybe come out and experience this for themselves, how can they get more information?

Ashley> Yeah.

So we have a new website.

It's NatureasTeacher.org.

You can follow us on Facebook and you can reach out to me.

All my contact information is on there.

We're also open the first Saturday and another Saturday for open trails from 8 to 5.

And that's a free public event.

We have a lot of people come out and walk our ten miles of trails and play in the creek, ride their bikes, bring their dogs.

Really the opportunities out here are endless.

Terasa> Thank you so much, Ashley.

What an incredible resource located in Camden.

I hope it inspires you to get more connected with the natural world.

♪ Amanda> Terasa, I'm so glad you went and it just sounds like a marvelous place for people to learn.

> It really is.

And it just so happened that my district, the Midlands district, we visited Nature as Teacher, not the spring of this past year, but the year before.

And Jackie was a participant, as well as Jennifer Weaver, who's also been on the show.

And we had broken out into two groups for kind of a field exploration, and they went in a group and got to, we expected we would find perhaps Wateree trillium.

And sure enough, there it was.

Amanda> How about that?

Kind of special for that part of the world.

Yeah, yeah.

Isn't that fun?

So y'all are good botanists like Doctor John.

Good for y'all.

Yeah, yeah.

But you didn't pick it and press it and carry that to the herbarium.

<That's right> Which he would have done.

With permission.

Only with permission.

He's really good about that.

All righty.

Well... Terasa> Ready to dive into some more questions?

Amanda> I think we are.

Oh, I was supposed to talk about my hat.

Gracious almighty!

Yeah so, you know, this time of year, la la la la la.

Well, that side of the road business that always saves me these wonderful swamp sunflowers, which were often they're kind of, they weren't in a ditch.

They were just on the regular side of the road.

Very easy to get to this time, which was nice.

And, they're so much fun.

And they have a really, it's a native, and they have a really scratchy leaf.

And it reminded me that, Woolly mullein, they used to say that when, you know, when we weren't supposed to wear any makeup or anything, you'd be up the creek, that women would get Woolly mullein and use it to pink up their cheeks.

And I think this would probably work as well.

It's really, really, really scratchy.

Which is just kind of fun, anyway.

But it's a great plant, yeah.

And I think if it's real tall, Terasa, can't you cut it back halfway through the season?

Terasa> Yes, and encourage it to kind of branch out and be more full.

Yes, we try to do that at our house too, if we can remember.

Amanda> Kinda like people do with okra halfway through?

<Yes> Ratooning, you can ratoon your swamp sunflowers.

I don't know if it's called that but- Jackie> Chelsea Chop.

[laughter] Amanda> Anyway, I thought that was kind of fun.

[exhales] Alrighty.

Terasa> Now it's time for a question.

<Yes> Well, funny, it comes in from Camden, which is where Nature as Teacher is located.

This question is from Joe, sent us a photograph and said, "Can you identify this mystery fruit tree in my yard?"

Amanda> A mystery fruit tree?

Gosh, maybe you're supposed to find out what it is before you eat them.

[laughter] Terasa> I would recommend that.

> Yes, yes, I've had people who have come in who ate fruit and then came in to ask if it was poisonous before.

[laughter] Amanda> What do you think?

Jackie> Well, this is not a fruit tree.

This is the seed pod for Camellia sasanqua.

They'll show up, they kinda do look like apples.

A little bit smaller apples.

But yeah, this is a Camellia sasanqua.

Amanda> That's pretty crazy, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah.

And it's the seed pod.

And the sasanquas do that frequently, don't they?

Seed down moreso than the japonicas, I believe.

<They do> That's fun!

Okay.

Terasa> I've had a similar question.

But mine happened to be a gardenia and I don't see it happen on gardenia very frequently, but I could see how someone would be like, "Wow!

What is this fruit?"

Amanda> On a gardenia?

<Mhm> Wow!

That's cool.

Vicky> And they ask about whenever roses have the hips on them.

<That's right> They ask about those too.

And those actually, during the second World War when they just, poor England couldn't get anything, those were a great source of vitamin C. And the British loved to have flowers often in their front yard and so they saved and used those as a way to get vitamin C in their diet because they had a hard time getting all the things they needed.

Isn't that wonderful?

Davis> The Father Hugo Rose is particularly grown for the hips.

<No!> Not so much the flowers.

Yeah.

Amanda> Come on!

Okay.

Davis> Rosa hugonis.

Amanda> Okay.

Sometimes I pick them off and taste them just to see what they taste like.

Anyway, that's kind of fun.

Vicky> But, make sure you know what it is before you taste it.

Amanda> Well, I think I can tell a rose.

Vicky> Always, always, always, Amanda> I think, you know, I think studying horticulture, I can probably tell what a rose is.

I would hope so.

[laughter] I don't want to have to give my degree back, okay?

Davis> But if it's a rose, it's probably been sprayed with something you don't want in your mouth anyway.

Amanda> It's in my own freaking yard!

Get outta here.

[laughter] And people don't, you know, now they have lots of roses now that aren't quite so given to all those diseases and pests, right?

<Right> They've done a good job improving them.

<Absolutely> Yeah.

Okay.

[sharply exhales] Terasa> Up next, this one comes from Aiken.

Lynn said, "I know this dogwood has powdery mildew, but why do the leaves look the way they do?

So like, shriveled up.

Amanda> Maa!

Vicky> Yeah, Lynn brought this into the office and- Amanda> Poor dogwoods.

And she did know that this, it did have powdery mildew and, so powdery, we'll talk about two things.

<Sure> Powdery mildew is a fungus that a lot of dogwoods get, a lot of our other plants get it too.

But we notice it a lot in dogwoods, and it happens whenever the... how is it?

The, the... <humidity> The nights are cool, but the days are humid.

And so, Amanda> That's just when it likes to grow.

<Right> And the spores are in the air all the time.

Vicky> Right.

But the thing about this is, yes, it does have powdery mildew, but it's looked like this since it came out in the spring.

<No!> And so she's looking- Amanda> So it's not herbicide, because, I guess.

Vicky> Well... <Oh, since the spring?> So, the leaves came out like this.

And she's, like, when you look at her picture, she's only got one little section of leaves that aren't deformed.

And so I started asking questions.

"Well, what about herbicide applications?"

And she said, "Well, I haven't put out any herbicide in the bed the tree is in."

Amanda> Oh, in the bed.

Vicky> But they did make herbicide applications to the turf.

And it was broadleaf herbicide applications to the turf.

And what happens is, is, so there's on those labels, they give you a precaution to mind what the temperatures are when you're making these herbicide applications.

And some of the broadleaf herbicides they'll volatilize.

<Yes> And those, it's not gas that you can see but it'll end up touching the new foliage.

<Wow> And whenever that foliage comes out, it'll be distorted.

In this case it's, you know, dogwood leaves are supposed to be relatively broad.

<Yeah, sure> But they're strappy, they're curled.

Amanda> It's gonna have a hard time photosynthesizing.

It kind of hurt the tree in some respect.

And so it's, you don't necessarily want to cut this off because the tree's already stressed because it's a dogwood.

And then it's got a herbicide application, but you don't want to remove the photosynthesizing organs on here.

So, the best thing to do is, is take care of the tree as best she can, and then wait for next spring and we'll make another assessment about this.

Amanda> Okay.

Vicky> But- Amanda> And be more careful about when you're putting those.

Read the label, read the label, follow the directions.

Jackie> Well it's 2, 4-D and there's two formulations.

There's 2, 4-D ester and 2, 4-D amine.

<Alright> And so the ester is the more volatile one.

But it's stronger as a weed killer.

So you'll usually have more, your lawn surfaces, go for that.

And if you buy the formulation off the shelf as a homeowner, you're gonna have more of the amine, which is less effective on the weeds and less volatile.

Amanda> Oh, goodness.

Jackie> But still, you don't want to, you wanna be careful about your temperatures, and especially as those later trees are leafing out, cause we see this a lot on dogwood.

We'll see it on hawthorns, sometimes crepe myrtles.

Amanda> Frequently?

<Yes> Dang.

Gosh.

Well, I'm sure glad you warned people about that.

Thank you a lot.

Davis> And that kind of damage is also often mistaken for rose rosette.

We see that occasionally when people bring it in and they have that deformed, bright red foliage that you get with the rose rosette, but it doesn't have any of the other symptoms questions.

Amanda> Gracious goodness.

Davis> And almost always somebody says, "Yeah, we did put weedkiller out."

Amanda> Well, sometimes the quest for the perfect lawn can cause other things to be a lot more trouble.

I think it's better to just take a few things mixed in, but that's just me.

Jackie> This is one of the, this is a case where, as an extension agent working, where Davis works, when people are asking what's wrong with this?

And they just bring it and show it to you, "What's wrong with this?"

You have to ask a whole bunch of questions.

And all of those questions give us clues as to what could be happening.

Amanda> You need to be kind of nosy?

<Right> Okay, alright.

Thank you.

Okay.

Davis, you have some pretty things we gonna look at.

Davis> Yeah, here again, you know, if you've got, foliage or rather flowers that are not looking very good, you don't necessarily have to replace them with more flowers.

The crotons in particular, are tropical plants, they're often around as house plants.

They do need bright light, but these make- Amanda> Can you put that there so I can see you?

Davis> Okay.

They also make a spectacular addition to a fall container garden.

These are both actually the same genus.

This one is a cultivar called Petra.

Amanda> That looks like what we're used to.

Davis> Right.

This is one that's been around for a little while, but it's only recently gotten more popular.

That one's called paintbrush.

<Gosh> For obvious reasons, still got all those multiple colors that the crotons get, but it's got a unique growth habit.

It's got a unique leaf form.

It's really stunning in a fall container, especially if you've got some early, or some late season, trailing plants, like the portulacas and some of the bacopas and that kind of thing, that makes a really nice foil for that really fine foliage.

Amanda> Ooo, it's beautiful.

And, if you wanted to save one, you'd need to bring it inside.

Davis> Just bring it inside before the nighttime temperatures are consistently getting below 40.

These are actually relatively cold tolerant, as long as it's a gradual cool down.

But you don't want to leave them out if there's any danger of frost.

Bring it inside, put it in the brightest spot you can possibly find in your house, and cut way back on the water.

Because one thing about these plants, they don't really like water in their areas where they're hardy.

They're extremely drought tolerant.

But if you bring it inside and you are these once a week, they won't survive till spring.

Amanda> Really?

Davis> Yeah.

They, they're right up there with ZZ plants and some of the cactus succulents as far as indoor moisture.

Amanda> Okay.

Alright.

So don't treat it like the dearest thing in the world.

<Right> Okay, thanks a lot.

Davis> Thank you.

Amanda> Okay.

Okay.

Found a peanut.

Did you used to sing that song with your grandmama?

Terasa> I remember singing it in school.

I don't know that my nan knew that song, but yes.

Amanda> Well, she was from England.

<Right> [laughter] I don't know that peanuts are a big crop in England.

Well, anyway, they are a big crop here.

So let's go learn about them.

♪ > Hello and welcome.

My name is Hannah Mikell, I'm a Clemson Extension Agronomy Agent in Clarendon and Williamsburg Counties.

I have the pleasure today to meet with Mr.

Jeremy Cannon with Cannon Ag Products.

Jeremy, tell us a little bit about your operation.

> Well, Hannah, pleasure being here with you.

I'm actually a fourth generation farmer here in Turbeville, South Carolina.

And we farm a lot of different row crops and produce and much like where we're in the field here with some peanuts that we have planted.

Hannah> That's right.

Yeah, we met probably... 12, 15 years ago.

You were doing corn, soybeans, cotton.

You added peanuts about four years ago with some other produce that you grow on the side, which takes a lot of your time, right?

Jeremy> For sure.

Hannah> Yeah.

But today we're... I'm pleased to be here with you and talk about some of these Virginias that we have out here.

These are our nice big ballpark peanuts, right?

Jeremy> Yep.

Hannah> Do you grow any other varieties?

Jeremy> We actually grow some Valencia's.

Little small red peanuts that everybody loves to boil.

And we grow some for our market.

Hannah> Well, cool.

So with your Virginias, about what time of year are you planting those?

And what time are we looking at harvesting?

Jeremy> We're trying to get them planted, you know, mid-May.

And, the actual variety that we plant are called "Baileys."

And they are 120 day peanut.

So, you don't really... want to start even looking or even considering digging them until they get at least 120 days after planting.

Hannah> Yeah.

Well, that's cool.

Yeah, so our Runners then are going to be a smaller variety of peanut.

And those are going to be more of like our, our crushing peanuts and that sort of thing.

And the Virginias are going to be our candies.

Right?

Jeremy> Oh yeah.

Hannah> High oleic, they have a higher oil content.

So whenever you're growing these, what are some of the few things that you need to keep your eye on?

Jeremy> Probably the thing that we look at the most is fungicides.

<Yeah> You know, what kind of, any kind of leaf spot or, you know, insect pressure within the field.

That's something that we would monitor every week.

<Oh yeah> We got a spraying schedule.

It's like a five spray, <Yeah> that we try to spray something every couple of weeks on them.

Hannah> That's right.

Yeah, baby them, kind of keep them in shape and make sure they're not losing their leaves because you know as well as I do, if the bush is out there, but there's no leaves to pick them up, there's no way really to flip them and invert them to let them dry during the growing season.

You also need the leaves to be getting good shape because all that energy out the plant <Mhm> is going to go back into that peanut to make a good peanut, a sellable peanut.

Hannah> That's right.

Yeah.

Alright, so Jeremy 2024, this has been at most a challenging season with our rainfall.

Tell us about that.

Jeremy> It's been dry.

We have been so dry.

You know, we've had D3 drought status.

<Yeah> Which is just... you know, hardly no rain.

I don't think since May, we have had any rain.

I think we've had four rain events and all of them have been tropical or subtropical.

Off of a tropical storm off of the hurricane, it's not really a soaking in rain, something that's really going to benefit your soil moisture profile.

You know, and it's difficult to even imagine, as dry as we are this year have been in 2024, what it would have been, had we not had any, you know, tropical system come through.

You know, I was just thinking that, sometimes even the storms... are a benefit.

You know, as much as we hate to see tropical storms, our state would be pretty desperate had they not came in 2024.

Hannah> Yeah.

And even after those, have passed this year, we still had a prolonged period just this tad bit of the end of the growing season.

But now let's say if we have adequate rain, these peanut plants are going to lap the row, right?

Jeremy> For sure.

Hannah> And when we talk about lapping the row, they're touching.

Jeremy> They're gonna touch each other.

Hannah> Yeah.

So what, tell us... what has your dad ever got on to you about how straight your rows were or how does that look?

Well, that's one thing that, you know, today we have that we didn't have 15, 20 years ago when I first started pulling rows, planting rows.

Is we have GPS.

<Yay> Yeah, thank the Lord for GPS, you know.

But... you know, years ago we had it, we did it all by row marker.

We had... to start off a field, you would pick out a tree or a bush on the other end of the field, and you try to drive to it.

Hannah> You close one eye and just see how straight you can get it, right?

[laughter] Jeremy> You know, I always did a really good job of that back in the woods, but the fields beside the highway, is when I would always- I was so efficient at making a terrible row, right beside the highway.

And then you got... your daddy's upset because you pulled a crooked row.

He'd say, "You had to do it right side of the highway."

Hannah> They're gonna be talking about it at church, after church.

They're all gonna say, "Did you see that row Jeremy pulled?"

Jeremy> At the store... you know, all your farmer friends, you know they would judge you when they came by, you know, looking at this row, "Now it's the crookedest row I have ever seen."

But, getting back to what we are today and these peanuts, you know, straightness and, getting on top of the row when your- Hannah> Accuracy.

Jeremy> Accuracy is, utmost importance because, you know, when you're digging those peanuts, if you're off one side or the other, you're leaving, it could be a third or half your crop in the dirt.

Hannah> Yeah, that digger blade, so what, what I guess our growers need or our viewers need to learn about is there's a big blade that kind of... pushes underneath that plant and inverts it.

And as it starts to pull it, it's going to turn it over.

<That's right> And lay it upside down.

But if our blades off, it's gonna start shearing the taproot off of that crop, which could leave a tremendous amount of peanuts in the ground.

So that's our yield.

<Yes> Up until this point you've harvested nothing, right?

So we want to make sure that that's as accurate as possible.

Jeremy> Right.

So that is the significance of, of being over the center of the row.

Is that knife can cut peanuts off and leave them in dirt.

I mean, your peanut is your weight, is your yield is your income for that year.

<Uh-huh> So, but one thing that we have today is the GPS accuracy.

We actually plant and harvest with, with RTK technology, which is, gives you sub-inch accuracy, repeatability.

When I say repeatability- We can plant a row and in three months or in six months or whenever we can come back and dig the same row.

<Yep> I just think that's, you know, it's fascinating.

It's amazing what technology does, but it is key to making a good peanut crop.

Hannah> That's very true.

Very, very true.

So another part of that is not only knowing the accuracy of how to dig and how to spray throughout the growing season, but knowing when to harvest.

So we talked about the days there's, you know, you start planting in spring and then by the time we get to 140 days and we start really monitoring that crop for maturity levels, right?

<Yep> And I like to think of it as a bell curve, right?

So we're not gonna want to dig too early where all of our maturity is immature because that's going to shrink.

We'll have a lot of loss there in weight, but we want it where most of our crop, whenever we pull them off and we check the peanuts are gonna be at a peak performance, right?

Jeremy> Yep.

You know, we start looking at 120 days.

We go and get a sample and we blast them and kind of look at colors and that color scheme will tell you, you know, when is the key time to dig.

Now, they say once the peanut gets mature, the difference between the pod being full and it being, you know, immature, you know, is about 500 pounds that you could gain <Wow> of yield in a week.

<Yeah> So that is, I mean, you can make an excellent crop, excellent plant, big... a large sample of nuts.

But if that nut is not fully mature, then you're giving away yield.

<Yeah> In this field, we're only 154 days, which is really late.

<Yeah> But we got some peanuts that were made- Hannah> Late season.

Jeremy> Late.

You know, after the tropical storm, the plant got a little bit of life in it.

Started blooming again, trying to set pods again.

So we actually have, like, two crops being made on this plant this year, when typically, you know, all of them will be, you know, in a closer window.

So as you get closer, you know, past 150 days, you stand the risk of losing the older ones.

Hannah> A lot of our people will know though there's a peg that holds that peanut down in the ground, and that's what's feeding it, giving it nutrition, right?

And so whenever you go to invert those peanuts and dig them, the pod or the peg strength needs to, to be great enough to hold it, to pull it up out of the ground.

So although you've got a nice load of nuts in the ground, if we don't have the pod strength and we haven't protected those plants well enough, we might lose some of it.

<Yeah> It's just knowing that sweet spot.

It's almost like an art, right?

Jeremy> Oh yes.

And you're looking at days, you're looking at... you're also looking at weather, you know.

Peanuts have to have at least four days to dry down.

And it has... that's four days of high temp and you're actually looking at four days, warm temperature, low humidity.

Hannah> So after they dry down, you got about four days.

And then what'll happen next?

Jeremy> Well, you know, we're going... we'll run the combine through them.

We'll actually pull some off and we'll take them to the market and check for moisture.

You know, they want them around ten and a half.

Hannah> Ten and a half percent moisture.

Jeremy> But there's also, you know, if there's a risk there, of not having enough days if we think rain is coming, <Right> down the road and we're not going to have enough days to harvest them all, then maybe we'll start digging around or maybe start combining around 14 percent.

The later you get in the season, the closer you get into November, <Yeah> the chances go up.

You got frost damage, you got rain damage and you have a lot less drying days.

Obviously, the days are getting shorter.

It's a pretty good challenge to picking the right day and the right time when to dig, when to harvest to get the most, yield.

Hannah> So, Jeremy, one of the most entertaining things I've had in my dealings with peanut harvesting time of the year, is knowing what's out in these fields and knowing how attractive a peanut is, right?

Especially to like... a mouse.

Jeremy> Oh, yes.

Hannah> So along with a mouse goes, what else?

Jeremy> Well, snakes.

Hannah> That's exactly right.

Jeremy> Exactly what you see out here in these fields.

Snakes chasing after rats chasing after our peanuts.

Hannah> And they will.

And so when those peanuts are dried and combined this habitat underneath these vines make for a perfect... place for little mice to run around, but also for the snakes to catch them.

And so when, you know, the combine is not going to select whether they're picking up a snake or a peanut, right?

Jeremy> Oh, no.

Hannah> And so that, unfortunately, the hand that's up in the top of the bin raking all the peanuts down and leveling them off occasionally we'll see a snake.

And all that whooping and hollering is is pretty hilarious sometimes.

Jeremy> Well, hilarious... is a strange choice of words.

Hannah> I'm sorry.

Jeremy> But... Yeah, it's not that fun when you're 14 feet in the air and you get hemmed up in there with a snake.

So, it's evasive maneuvers, you know.

Hannah> It's either you or me, right?

Jeremy> One of us has got to go.

Hannah> Yeah, yeah.

That's funny.

Well, I've enjoyed talking with you about the peanuts.

I hope other people have, gained a little bit of insight into them if they wanted to try to grow some.

I know back home in Mississippi, my next door neighbor actually grew peanuts.

Isn't that crazy?

<Yes> The deer loved them, so they ate a lot of the tops out of them.

But always... it was a fond childhood memory of going out and finding what was in the ground, right?

Jeremy> Yep.

You know, deer actually like, if the deer pressure is high enough deer actually will eat the peanuts after they're dug.

Hannah> You're right.

Jeremy> They can start smelling them.

You know, I guess the sweetness of them and they'll actually, you can actually lose yield while you're waiting on the combine.

Hannah> Exactly right, yeah.

We've seen that.

I mean, we did a yield check one year and we were thinking like 500-plus pounds, and you got out there and we started getting our tickets back from the buyer, and it was a thousand or more lower, which was disheartening kind of.

Jeremy> It's really hard to... see a two ton plus peanut crop, you know, laying on top of the dirt and then lose it.

You know, and that's, I reckon that saying, you know, it's one of those "don't count your chickens before they hatch" type deal.

The crop is never made until it's at whatever its last destination is.

Hannah> That's right.

Jeremy> Till its at the buyer's station.

Yeah.

So there's a lot of risk.

Hannah> A risky business, that's for sure.

But it takes a good grower to end up being able to harvest after a challenging year that we've had this year.

And I look forward, Jeremy to seeing all the different other products that you produce on your farm, and just, maintaining the relationship and getting to know your family better and enjoying our time spent out in the field.

Jeremy> Sure.

I appreciate you.

Hannah> Yeah.

You're welcome.

♪ Amanda> Davis, we've just got a little bit of time left, but I think this looks fun.

Let's learn about it.

Davis> This is a lemon cypress.

It's another one of those, what we call a transition plant.

For, mostly for containers.

I've never really seen these growing in a landscape anywhere in South Carolina.

Amanda> Gosh, the color's beautiful.

Davis> It's a beautiful color.

It keeps this color all season long.

They don't like heat, they don't like cold.

So it's a good spring or fall plant.

But, I have seen these survive, you know, three or four years in upstate landscapes or in upstate containers, anyway.

They need to be in a bit of a sheltered area through the winter.

And they definitely could stand just a little bit of afternoon shade in the summertime.

<Sure, yeah> Beautiful plant.

It does have a sort of a citrusy, fragrance if you rub the foliage.

Amanda> Oh, boy, that's nice!

Davis> And this is its natural growth habit.

It'll grow just like this if it lives long enough to be four feet tall- Amanda> Four feet tall?

Davis> Just perfect shape.

And in their native area, which it's basically a solid Zone 7 plant.

Not a whole lot hotter, not a whole lot colder.

But it will maintain this shape throughout its lifespan.

Amanda> Gosh!

Well, thank you so much for showing it to us.

Woo woo woo woo.

And thanks for coming.

Thank you all for being with us, we really appreciate it.

And thank you at home for being with us.

I hope you'll be with us next time.

Night night.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Narrator> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina.

This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina, family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons, a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.