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 two of our panelists who are brought in lots of stuff to show and tell today and also are going to answer some of your questions.

So let's have them introduce themselves.

Before we get started.

Jen, we'll start with you.

Hi, I'm Jen Nelson.

I am horticulturalist.

And you can find me a couple of different places.

I'm online at grounded and growing.com.

And I also teach vegetable gardening or 105.

At UVI.

Excellent.

All right.

My name is Rusty Maulding.

I spent the first roughly 25 plus years of my professional life as a landscape contractor and just recently moved over moved over to public gardening at Lake of the Woods.

Excellent.

So it's been a busy year for you for both of you honestly.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

All right, let's jump right in.

You've got some show, Intel's I did.

I brought kind of an update show Intel.

So we love those.

Yeah, like February 2022, I brought this plant on.

And this is called holy hearts.

And it was Valentine's Day kind of episode.

If you see these for sale, they're just a single heartbeat shaped leaf.

And in a small pot, it was about $6.

And I thought, well, I have no idea what this plant is.

So it's interesting, I'll take it home.

And I read about it.

And it said it was highly unlikely that it would do anything but be this heart shaped leaf in a pot for the rest of its life.

Because it's it's tricky to propagate the you can get the leaf to produce roots, but it won't produce a vine or shoot unless the proper part is included in the cutting.

And even then it's kind of a 5050 shot.

So I literally was going to throw this away this summer, I was cleaning my office up and I'm like this thing is looking sad.

It kind of had some brown showing up on it.

And I looked closer and there was a tiny sprout coming out at the base.

And it has since very quickly expanded into two heart shaped leaves.

And I was telling my neighbor Sue about this.

And she said, Well, I saw you on that show.

And I went on bought two of them.

Because they were so cute.

And she lent me her, her heart to bring in it's like ways spectacularly bigger than mine.

But she has another one that she bought at the same time that is still just the heart, the pot.

So kind of an interesting plant native to Southeast Asia.

It's very rare to find it sold as a vine, it's usually sold at being on time, stay time, just a single leaf.

But, you know, it took almost two years to actually produce the vine, but we were lucky.

So this is the same leaf that you bought.

Yeah, back in February.

So yeah, how interesting.

It must have known it was headed for the trash and get her to six cents because I literally had it in my hand and I turned it around like oh my gosh, it's actually growing.

And it knew you could not throw it away.

No, I can't.

I wonder that, like you said there has to be like a piece like a node.

Yeah, it's got to be able to so it says From what I've read, you have to have a bit of the node which is like back on the main stem in order to have any shot at a new new sprout coming up.

And even then it may not grow.

And it may take a long, long time.

So I think close to two years is pretty long.

Wow.

So patience on that one.

So it's probably I'll probably report it in the spring I this really not the best time to start switching pots on houseplants as you head into the winter.

But I'll keep my eye out for something a little bit bigger to put it in for this.

We love it.

We love update plants.

So maybe in two years, you'll bring it in and it'll look as good as soon.

Excellent.

Okay.

All right.

A lot of times people will ask me about a trees like they want something a little quicker growing.

I think if you ever went to somebody and said, Hey, this tree is gonna grow four inches in two years.

That probably wouldn't be real popular tree.

keep things in perspective.

keep things in perspective maintenance.

All right, we are to you, Rusty.

Sure.

So gardening is something where there's always something to do and every single season.

And right now we're sort of at this inflection point where we're sort of pausing but you can actually start planning for next year right now.

So before you get the breaks out and start raking up leaves, take a look around your garden and see what you have that might be sort of overly generous for next year.

And what some some things you might want to disperse talking about things that have seeds.

This is a Purple coneflower which is a much beloved plant has a nice, nice long blooming time.

But all these seeds on top of here, the ones that made it past the birds are going to perhaps give you a gift of a new plant next year.

Occasionally they can be overly generous.

So if you can find that you're getting too many of these you You're in your garden, perhaps you go back and you cut it off, you know, sort of you just take the sea head off, I cut this off about a foot 18 inches or so from the top, and then dispose of it.

That way, you're not propagating these everywhere.

On the flip side, perhaps you do want to propagate some things.

So if you've dabbled into more of a native style of garden, and you've got some little bluestem this is one where perhaps you picked up a couple of one gallon plants, and you've got them you love them.

And you thought, You know what I got a spot over here could benefit from a few more, you can take these little seeds here on the ends, and just take them and sprinkle them in, in the areas where you want.

That lends itself towards a very naturalistic style.

Little Bluestem is great at that.

Cool.

I've got a couple more things here.

So mattress or gay feather, kind of another one, it's this is a great companion plant for anything in the milkweed family.

Because monarchs absolutely love these flowers, the adults will will go nuts for them.

So this is one that will self sow, somewhat, I haven't found it to be rampant.

So I have found that if I kind of play again, Johnny Appleseed and sprinkle these around a little bit in select areas, that's that's tends to be a good thing.

And you can do it right now.

height wise, how tall are those?

I don't think I've ever seen one in bloom, it's purple.

Well, they're purple, most of the garden styles are purple or white, and ranging from 18 inches to three feet.

Okay, there are some native ones that will be a little bit taller, I found that those in the right setting, do a better job of attracting the monarchs.

So there's a rough blazing star is was one I think that was 36 inches, maybe 42.

So it's a little different than the typical garden gay feather.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Got two more things here.

And this is one that maybe you don't think of, as something that would be come back.

This is a perennial hibiscus.

A lot of times, you can see there's a little purple here, too.

This is color.

These are the perennials that get this huge sort of slaughter size, bright cherry red, or white or pinks, flowers, does very well in in kind of a wet sunny location, or even moderate, you know, sort of average soil.

But there are seeds inside this little seed pod right here.

Take those and you can distribute them around if you want to.

Cool.

So those are really pretty Yeah, I love those.

Yeah, that's a showstopper, it will take from seed it'll take a couple of years before it gets up to size.

This is one of those plants that doesn't actually emerge or crawl out of the ground until like June 1, all right.

So you probably won't actually see this seedling pop up until probably July Good to know, cuz you're you're anxious gardener will just dump more seeds on top of that, or if you're doing a little of this sprinkling of seeds and shit and spreading the sharing the wealth, make sure that you're not using a pre emergent next spring.

So you want to stay away from things like snapshot is a commercially available pre emergent printing is more of a homeowner style.

So if you're doing this seeding stay away from the premium stay away from that.

Okay, anything else in that area?

Okay.

All right, Jen, we're back to you.

Okay, well, God, let me help you out here because we got kind of a big, big guy to show.

So this is another another plant for my neighbor Sue.

Thanks.

So thanks.

So this is a chameleon and so it doesn't look like all that much now but you can see where there used to be.

These are sold for their flowers, their relative of pineapple pineapple is a bromeliad we eat so usually it would have had a large red in this case flower coming out here.

And typically what happens is once that flower is done, this mother plant ends up dying it hasn't died yet.

But what happens is that you get little baby plants called pups that grow out from the base and so I guess technically you can crack these off and give them their own pot if you wanted.

But it looks really nice and full the way it is now and this is one that I haven't tried it myself but I've read that to get it to produce that beautiful flower.

You would put an apple or two and then enclose it in a big bag like a dry cleaning bag something big and clear to trap the ethylene given off by the ripe apple and that is a signal to the plant to produce a flower for so yeah so stay something interesting to try when they do bloom.

They're beautiful and then last for a really last for a very long time and they keep in this one plant has produced two new ones so nice but gift Now you mentioned that now is not the best time To start repotting, right, I would not like if someone has one of these at home, you would not snap the pups off until spring, I would wait till the spring just because houseplants in general are, even if they grow a little bit over the winter, they're going to be slowing down, they're going to be they're going to be slowing down, they're going to be, you know, maybe growing a little bit, but not a good time to put them in a new pot and expect any kind of vigorous growth.

It's just not the right time of year, you're kind of inviting problems like disease problems.

While we're talking about it.

Do you use any fertilizer in the fall or winter months on your house plants?

If I have them under lights, I occasionally use a really dilute solution, but I don't do anything.

Like super strong.

Okay.

All right.

Good to know, because we're all in that kind of transition of bringing them back in if they've been outside and they're not real happy about the big thing right now, when you're bringing stuff in is kind of watching for insect problems, or even bigger life forms.

If you have a big pot.

No, I'm serious.

People like that bring in giant pots, find that a mouse family has a mouse like the whole family.

So that is my worst nightmare.

I have not had that happen.

I've had the biggest thing I've had is a praying mantis.

All right, doable.

Yeah, there was Lucent cat toy.

But it was a family of mice.

And that would end me I believe.

Yes, it was.

Oh my gosh, okay, too.

Good to know.

All right, we are back to you more more winterizing more, a little more winterizing.

And, you know, we're sort of, maybe get some, some of our areas get some frost this week.

Not Not everybody did.

But certainly, it's time to start thinking about bringing in the plants that, like we were just talking about are not cold hardy.

And so some of those things are in the ground.

And you're only storing things that are in the ground.

This is a cannabis job.

We use these in beds.

Most people, if you've used it as a centerpiece in like, say a container, or something along those lines.

This is the underground structure.

And so as we get into colder and before it freezes, you want to go out and harvest this, cut off the top, kind of clean all the soil off, and then put this in a in a dry cool space.

A basement is ideal.

Generally speaking, that's all I do to them.

Yeah, I put them in our crawlspace.

Yeah, I mean, you just gotta keep it.

So that's reasonable, it can't get too cold.

But yeah, anything in the 40s would be ideal.

Okay.

This is this next one here.

This was an elephant hear.

Those great now have this great big looks like an elephant ear.

And they love both of these love water.

But again, it's another one of those container plants that most people will get as sort of a centerpiece as part of a larger outlay.

And you can kind of see that this whole top has been cut off a lot of the smaller routes, I've I've trim these off, and then at through the next year, you can, you should be able to split this into two.

And then take that and put it into two separate pots.

You can start these inside a little bit early before may know whenever you'd want to put them outside.

And that's a good way to get a jumpstart on, on on your next round.

Now when you're talking about dividing that do you have to get a piece of that crown that that center?

Or can you just pop off the guys along the side these so like this bigger one here, this has some starts on it, I got some little buds coming off of there.

So this guy, you could probably use his openness.

These little itty bitty guys, I would not okay, I can see that home.

I would not just take that piece.

But you can break off some of these larger pieces and make them their own insane with the canner.

Let's talk about that one.

Absolutely.

So most of the time, these cameras, and these can get to be really aggressive, depending on the variety that you have.

Sometimes, we've had some urges, like, Yeah, and so this is kind of a good size to kind of store but certainly, you could probably break this into two.

Okay.

Ideally, it's, it's, you know, from from here on up, that's, that's a good piece.

It's a good start.

And this is much smaller down here.

You only have really the one I ideally you've got at least a couple, okay.

So you want to have enough space that it can support, you know, being separated, but it's good enough reserves to push out some things and I'm brought with me, this is a gardeners best friend.

If you ever are going to order a lot of bulbs.

You'll get these things called a bulb crate.

Oh, I need to elevate my game.

I am going to put this sucker out here.

And the reason why this is awesome is because it allows air to kind of flow through.

So these are like drill like a gift.

Exactly.

I need to know a lot of balls go plant 200 daffodils.

You know, this is this is kind of one of the way they come shipped.

Okay, gotcha.

So now we just have to buy in bulk quantity.

Because we need to get the crate about the free gift.

But it certainly illustrates you know that ideally, they're in a container that is that has some airflow through it.

And during the winter, it's not a bad idea to kind of go down and check on the sometimes they'll get a little rot or a little disease in them.

And just kind of call that from the from the group so it doesn't spread Sure, but no moisture, no watering or moderate thing or whatever light just let them be dormant.

Chill Latin.

Speaking of which, we've got a question from Chris Baxter.

This was an email question about an amaryllis which was my unicorn plant, but I, I've got it now.

After the now he's had the same Amaryllis growing for two years, says the leaves have grown two to three feet, but it is not flowered in two years, wondering if he should cut all the leaves off and repaint the bulb, or if there's any way to get it to bloom again, every year.

So I say, I originally thought you might have written by um, Chris Baxter.

But I think the key is that he's just let it grow for that amount of time.

Some Amaryllis need a dormant period.

So typically, you stop watering them September ish, and let it die back.

And then bring it out.

holiday time, I typically bring mine out after the holidays, because there's just kind of nothing to look at it after we put all the Christmas stuff away.

So that should help us.

And if he's had this, I heard this years ago somewhere that if you had at least four leaves on the bulb over the summer that that should guarantee you a flower it seems to hold true from what I've observed in my own bulbs.

So it but if he's got leaves that are two and three feet long, should make up for numbers, I think, to some to some extent, but definitely try giving it a dormant period.

It doesn't necessarily have to be super cold, but you have to withhold water.

And would you cut the leaves or let them die or die?

Okay, I would not cut green leaves off.

Got it.

Okay, so yeah, maybe let it take a nap.

And when it wakes up, it'll blue eyed do you do we all feel better after I started taking mine out after Christmas after, like you said, because I'm like itching and chomping at the bit to grow something look at something, see something.

It's too early for seeds.

And so yeah, I'm surprised that it does.

It really does.

So Okay.

Let's do another question.

This is from Tom Clark.

He wants to know how to add sulfur to the garden.

Now it also why because I'm not familiar with it.

Yeah.

So if people are looking to add sulfur to their to their garden, whether it be the remonda trees, the actual vegetable garden area, typically it's because they would have a high pH issue.

Most plants are going to like to in the six, six and a half to seven pH range that's slightly acidic to right at neutral.

If soil pH gets up over seven, there are certain species of plants that were are going to struggle.

And the biggest struggle is it makes at that at those levels.

It makes certain macro and micronutrients.

micronutrients, like iron and manganese less available to the plant, it just vines it up so that the plant can't access it.

And so they're adding in the sort of the central Illinois area in Illinois.

In most areas that I'm familiar with.

This is typical, we would have basic soils, you know, we have limestone soil, right, we know a lot of clay, a lot of high carbon exchange capacity, what's going on.

So the best time of year to add soil sulfur is sort of in the spring, before things really get cooked and good or right about now in the fall.

Because we're in this fall window, I would I would urge people to get that soil software treatments made probably by about the middle of November.

And depending on your on your plants, there's different ways to do that.

So if you're looking at a tree, you may be augering a hole down into the ground.

It's maybe two three inches wide and eight to 12 inches deep.

And then after you buy the sulfur go by the label directions, but then you're actually pouring that sulfur and usually some micronutrients also down into that hole.

It's important to get it into touch with the soil because the sulfur is fairly immobile in the soil.

So you're getting it down here into the root zone.

If you're talking about a turf area, ideally you aerate, pulls cores out and do a broadcast spread of golfer and that also gets that right down into the soil.

So you know, there's there's those kinds of things.

You know, a lot of times, if people were looking at like, say trees, like they've got a river birch or something like that, and it gets honored chlorosis bad.

You know, if you've just moved into the home and you inherited this Well, sorry, I would not plan another one.

That is going to be a perennial fight.

Because that, as you mentioned, we have a lot of clay soils in Illinois.

And that is going to resist, it's going to buffer your effects of putting the sulfur in so that pH is going to be difficult to drive down into an area where you want it.

And and we talking soil samples before this or if people are going out and buying sulfur there.

They know what they're doing or know what they're trying to do.

Ideally.

I've also seen people that go out and apply lime to the is like, when you do Yeah, let's talk about this.

So no, absolutely, soil test is a great thing.

If you if you've taken tests before, and you kind of know what your pH is, you probably know, it's going to take you several years and several applications to get that pH down.

So maybe if you did an initial test, and then make a couple of years worth of applications, do another just to kind of see where you're at.

And the plants will also kind of tell you, you know, hey, I'm happy or I'm struggling, not quite there yet.

Keep it common with a lot of soil testing operations if you when you're sending your sample.

And if you provide them with some information of what you're trying to do, like you've got a river birch that's looking absolutely good to have no problem.

Give them an idea of what the crop is, they can actually give you an idea of how much Oh, nice to put down.

So because you might not be putting enough, right, especially if it's like a huge swing and pH or a huge area.

Good to know.

Good to know.

Okay, we've got about five minutes left.

Let's do another question.

Mitch from Sycamore wants to know, why do my Brussel sprout plants not produce any sprouts, the plants only grow to about half the normal height and with no sprouts, this has happened for the past three seasons, other people in my area are having the same problem.

So we've got a case of sprout envy here.

Okay.

My experience with brussel sprouts, is basically never recommended as a spring crop, because it tends to react to healing really poorly.

So it works better as a fall crop.

And that said, I have planted it as a spring crop and it has done nothing.

And then I've just left it over the summer and it just kind of hung out.

And then in the fall is when I got decent sprouts from interesting, but to encourage the formation of the sprouts, like it's a very tall plant people that have never seen them grow before.

I don't know if they just thought there were little tiny cabbages in the field somewhere, but they grow off the side of the main stock.

And so if you start removing the leaves from the bottom half of the stock that will encourage those sprouts to grow.

Okay, and generally you don't see them in the spring if you plant I don't know when you got this question if recently, okay, so So hopefully, he recently planted them like mid summer for a fall crop.

And hopefully if he had removed those lower leaves, he can encourage the development of sprouts.

Hopefully they've got good sign that and that influences it too.

Okay.

Well, hopefully that works for you and the folks in the neighborhoods to be able to get some good sprouts, we've got about three minutes left and any tips from either one of you as we're moving into these cooler temperatures, about bringing plants in or or closing beds, any any helpful advice out there for folks.

Something I've talked about in the past that I'd say it's very applicable to start thinking about now, the certain species of trees, Ash, if you have, we still have some of those hanging around, we had some walnuts in the Preserve, that are always already dropping, and it's kind of like the the every year what do I do with all these leaves?

Right?

It's nature's bounty.

And, you know, in past the practice was, at least commercially, hey, let's get those leaves up and out of here, you know, make everything nice and tidy and clean.

And that's really not the best approach.

So those leaves staying in your garden over winter will actually be great places for insects to two overwinter and things like that.

So you don't want to necessarily lead take all of them away.

I'm not saying you gotta leave two foot high pile all over everywhere.

But if you can, if you can leave even a couple of inch layer in your in your beds especially and the ones that are in your on your turf mulch mulch, mulch them up and keep running them over and shut them down little tiny pieces that that's it's more fertilizers adding it's keeping carbon words that it's a good thing okay all right Jen anything to add?

Well along those same lines I I'm of the camp that doesn't cut everything down as it I've noticed that just looks so bare over the winter.

You need some winter interest, something to catch the snow, especially like your grasses and stuff.

You don't want to cut that down till next spring but Um, things like my Hostos they just look kind of melted.

So get those out.

Yeah.

Peonies, like all that stuff that is going to come up kind of early that you may not get to and then you're like, Oh, forget it, I'm not going to get to it and then it's too hard to chop out the old for you.

So those things I'm going to make sure that I am telling myself right now that I'm going to make sure that I get that done before it gets too cold, but you don't have to clean up every right.

Peonies is a good one to cut back in the fall because it gets detritus blight, so that you're removing that disease like actually get it out of the garden.

Don't just leave it there.

Get it Get the heck out.

That's a good that's a cleanliness thing.

Cleanliness.

All right, we're out of time, guys, it goes so fast.

Thank you so much for coming in and sharing your time and talents.

And thank you so much for watching.

If you've got any questions, send us an email and don't forget to attach a picture to your garden@gmail.com or you can find us on Facebook, just search for min American gardener and we will see you next time.

Good night.