- Hi, thanks for joining us for the Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

I'm Chris Cooper.

What do you get when you combine bugs, weeds, and lots of shrubs?

It's the Q&A show just ahead on the Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

- (female announcer) Production funding for the Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South is provided by the WKNO Production Fund, the WKNO Endowment Fund, and by viewers like you, thank you.

[upbeat country music] - Welcome to the Family Plot, I'm Chris Cooper.

It's getting to be summer and the gardens are in and growing.

Over the past few months, we've answered some viewer questions that we have not had time to air, so we're catching up.

Let's start with a question about pill bugs.

"We have been growing our veggies for years.

"The last five years we've been fighting "the rolly pollies or pill bug.

"These bugs have been wiping out our veggies.

"We thought they were supposed to be great in the garden, "but we have generations of them.

"How do we control pill bugs?

We have tried everything."

And this is Debbie from Las Vegas, Nevada.

So are you familiar with the rolly pollies, pill bugs?

- Oh yes, I used to torment them when I was a little kid.

[laughter] - I remember those as a kid as well.

If you know anything about ro lly pollies or the pill bugs, first of all, they're actually related to lobsters.

You know, I actually found it out years ago.

I think that's pretty unique.

But they love moist conditions.

- Yeah, that's it.

You find them under bricks.

- Right, so you found 'em under bricks, any debris that you have in the garden.

But again, they need moist conditions to survive.

Of course, they're feeding on decaying organic matter or material, right?

So when you think about that, Mr. John, they're actually beneficial because they're doing nutrient recycling, right?

But the thing is, if there's no decaying organic matter there, they will feed on little seedlings, which can be a problem.

- So we need to provide them with a better diet of decaying organic material.

- So if you get 'em decaying organic material, that will definitely help.

But here's something else too that you gotta think about, right?

So we're talking about moist conditions.

Culturally, maybe you have bad drainage or something there.

- That's what I thought.

- Collecting a lot of moisture maybe.

Something else that I would think about as well is practice good sanitation, right?

So you have to clean up your garden because that's where they're trying to overwinter is where you have that old crop residue.

So if you practice good sanitation, get rid of that crop residue, I think that may help.

Now, I know some people that may try diatomaceous earth.

I mean, you can try that, may help for a little while.

I actually know somebody who would sink like a coffee can lid or a jar lid in the soil and fill it full of beer.

- Oh, I've heard about that for slugs.

- That actually works for rolly pollies as well, pill bugs.

Of course, they'll fall in and they'll drown.

That way they're attracted to the yeast, okay?

Something else that you could use.

You had to be careful and read and follow of the label, slug, snail bait.

So any bait that contains iron phosphate, which is a lot safer, you can use that as well if you have to.

But I would practice good sanitation.

I like cultural practices.

So yeah, extreme moist conditions, you need to kind of straighten it up a little bit, right?

And then from there, I think you should be okay.

I think it'll be fine.

- I think so.

- Yeah, but again, they are beneficial.

Nutrient recycling is what they're doing.

[gentle country music] "What is the best way to deter snakes in the garden?

I sure don't want to find one while I'm working."

And this is Mary right here in Cordova.

So yeah, we get that question a lot at the Extension Office as well.

So how do you deter those snakes from being in the garden?

- Well, if you're finding snakes, well, if you're finding snakes in your garden while you're tilling things up, snakes that are in there, those are typically gonna be smaller snakes that are beneficial to your soil.

They're eating things like earthworms.

So if you've got earthworms, then you're doing something right.

If you've got enough that you're attracting predators, you've got some great soil, right?

So those guys, they're really small.

So things like worm snakes, smooth earth snakes, small snakes hanging out in that area.

Not a bad thing.

- Not a bad thing.

- And they are way more afraid of us.

They see us as predators.

If you're attracting the larger snakes, those snakes are typically going after rodents.

And so again, food source, if you can eliminate the food source, you're gonna prevent them from coming in there.

But the little ones in your garden, they look like worms.

Just say they're worms and move on.

- Just say their worms and move on, all right.

So what about those big snakes?

So can you give us some examples of some of the big snakes we might see in the garden?

- Oh sure, so rat snakes.

Okay, the name kind of gives away what they're going after.

King snakes, king snakes are great to have around.

I always say if, this is not gonna make sense at first, if you don't like snakes, you wanna have a king snake around.

So the king snakes actually eat other snakes including venomous snakes.

So it is a non-venomous snake, but they will eat other snakes, okay?

And they will keep other snakes out of the area.

If you see a king snake and you're not a big fan of snakes, make sure you keep the king snakes around.

- How about that?

Yeah, so do your research so you can know what those king snakes look like, be able to identify them.

So having a king snake is actually good.

- It is.

Yeah, they'll keep the other snakes away.

[gentle country music] - "How on earth can I kill off English ivy "and other such invasive vines?

"It started in the yard of a neighbor, two doors away, "and they shared it with the rest of the neighborhood.

Of course now they have moved away."

And this is Tom from Elsmere, Kentucky.

- That's a good question.

- Yeah, I like that one.

So how do you kill off this English ivy that's been shared with the the neighborhood, so to speak?

So how we can control that?

- Well, you know what, ivy is one of those top invasive species in the United States.

So yes, I can see why they want to get rid of it, And definitely once it starts going up a tree, it gets in the top of the tree, it gets even worse 'cause then it produces berries that the birds spread everywhere an d then it just gets to be bad.

That's why it's an invasive species.

- It's very invasive.

- So incidentally enough, I'm surprised that it hasn't taken a hit because we have one small bed of it and they were hit by this cold weather we had this last year.

- It slowed it up pretty good.

- Slowed it up quite a bit.

So that should help him out this year a little bit.

But just again, remember there's a rhizomous system underground of all of these roots and rhizomes of the ivy.

And until you get rid of all of it, you are gonna have it keep coming up.

So either pulling, cutting, herbicide spray on it, - Yeah.

- Whatever you want to do to get rid of it.

That's how you're gonna, and if it's growing up a tree, I say cut it off at the base and try to get it off the tree.

But if it's too far up in the tree, it may already be into the bark system and then you're only gonna hurt it.

It may still live up in the tree, I don't know.

- Yeah, English Ivy is so tough.

You're right, so you could try to mow it, you can get the weed eater out and see if that will help.

Once it starts to regrow, spring is the best time to do this.

I would've probably applied 2 to 3% product that contains glyphosate and read and follow the label.

Because if you catch it young right, it doesn't have the waxy cuticle.

- Right, and it will absorb it.

- Right, it'll absorb and translocate that way, so 2 to 3% solution glyphosate product, or you can go with a 2 to 5% solution of triclophyr, read and follow the label on that.

But yeah, catch it early.

- Yeah, and you have to keep up with it.

- You gotta keep it, gotta keep going.

- Because as soon as you think you've got it all and it starts coming back again, you've gotta get it before it starts maturing those leaves out so it doesn't get that waxy coating on it.

- Yeah, gotta keep up with it.

So Mr. Tom.

- That's quite a chore.

- Yeah, he gonna be pretty busy.

- Everybody's gonna be busy.

- He gonna be busy.

- But once everybody gets rid of it, then they won't have it in their neighborhood anymore.

- That's right.

- And it won't be an invasive species in that neighborhood.

- They won't have to share it.

- No.

[gentle country music] - "When you say to avoid privet, "what kind do you mean and why?

"I recently planted some Recurvifolium or recurve privet for privacy in southeast Tennessee."

This is Tara on YouTube.

So Tara, we have somebody here who knows a little bit about privet, right, at Lichterman Nature Center.

So Mary, what do you think about that?

- That's the privet we're talking about to avoid.

That is the Chinese privet.

It's just a... variety of the Chinese privet, the recurved one.

The reason we talk about avoiding it, it is a non-native invasive plant.

It grows a little crazy.

If your neighbor has it, it's gonna start popping up in your yard.

It's prone to whiteflies and some other diseases.

- That's good.

- So of course what I'm gonna say is get rid of the privet, and look for a native alternative.

- Look for a native alternative.

Yeah, 'cause the thing about a privet, real extensive root system, right - Yes.

I would get rid of it as soon as possible.

If she just planted it, hopefully it hasn't rooted or established.

So I would get rid of it because you're gonna be fighting it for a long time if you have it.

- Yeah, and the thing about that it produces a fruit and of course the wildlife likes the fruit.

- And then spreads it.

- And spreads it, right.

So Chinese privet, Ligustrum sinense, very invasive.

Dense stand, shrubs that can produce, crowds out the spring ephemerals.

I would look for some alternatives.

Yeah, so do some research.

Go to your local Extension Office and look for some alternatives.

- Yeah, some native alternatives in her region, in southeast Tennessee, Inkberry.

- Oh, there you go.

- It's an evergreen shrub.

You could do some of the native hydrangeas.

They're gonna lose some of their leaves in the winter, and beautyberry is another one.

And that one you can kind of prune to be what you want it to be as well, so avoid the privet if you can.

- All right, Tara, yeah, avoid it if you can.

There are some alternatives there, native alternatives.

Yeah, stop by your local Extension Office.

They will have more for you as well.

[gentle country music] "We have several wild holly trees "with nice red berries for the birds.

"Also, we have one holly "with only some small white flowers on it.

Why have we never seen any berries on this holly?"

And this is Joan and Dan on YouTube.

So berries on one, just white flowers on the other.

Why is that you think?

- Well, because one's male and one's female.

- That's right.

Females are the ones with the red berries.

The male is the one that has the flowers that didn't, and everybody thinks well, flowers.

And it doesn't have berries, it doesn't make sense.

But think about squash.

Squash has male flowers and female flowers.

And that's why we get a lot of questions sometimes saying my squash is blooming, but I'm not getting any squash from it.

Well, what's probably blooming is the male flowers.

Yeah, first, yeah.

- First.

So yeah, so it is true of the whole plant world.

So there's male and female.

So I would assume the one that doesn't get berries is the male.

- It's the male, yeah.

There's a term that comes to mind, dioecious.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

Female and male flowers on separate plants.

- On separate plants.

- Right, one of the first words I learned in botany, how about that, yeah, dioecious.

So yeah, so that's why you see the red berries on one, female, no berries on the other one.

- The male.

- The male.

[gentle country music] "I have five camellias that are over 10 years old, "all have grown beautifully.

"But one puts out buds about one inch long "and maybe one half inch diameter.

"And then the buds easily fall off the tree.

"Every year I treat all five the same way, "water and identical fertilizer.

"This year the little brown buds "hang on through the blooming season, but still no blooms.

"It's even the same height and width as its fellow camellias.

"What can I do to help this one ca mellia to actually bloom?

Thanks for your help."

This is Cheryl from Clover, South Carolina.

So it's just that one.

- It's that one.

- It's the one out of the five.

But it's not blooming.

So what do you think, what comes to mind?

- Well, it is getting blooms, but they're dropping off.

- They're just dropping off the buds, right?

One thing that's real critical is early spring and late summer, the camellias do not like to be dry.

So you gotta make sure that time of year, and that is the time of year that causes them to possibly drop their buds.

So those are two critical times that she needs to make sure there's enough water on 'em.

Now, we don't know if they're under irrigation.

We don't know how she's watering them.

- How much water she's doing.

- How much water she's putting on 'em.

But because the others are doing fine, this screams to me of the same example of, oh, I have a plant, the same plant on either side of my front door.

But one side doesn't look good, but the other one does.

And they're not that far apart.

There's some kind of environmental condition that is causing that particular one to have problems versus the others.

And the only thing that I can think of is 'cause talks about needing water at those two times in the year.

Well, is there a tree or is there something else that is sucking the water away from that particular plant more so than the others.

But there's a Clemson University publication on care and we can put that on the website too.

But those are the only things that I could think of that I found that can cause bud drop.

And because there's a flower blight, but they bloom first and they're not blooming.

They're dropping off.

And they need water, those two critical points, early spring, late summer, and just, I would say maybe this year, try to water them more than the others.

And see if that works.

- That particular one.

Even watering, okay.

- Yeah.

- And too, I, again, I wonder how much water she's putting out, okay.

[gentle country music] "How do I care for these two starter plants?"

And this is Michelle from Memphis, Tennessee.

First plant is kalanchoe, right?

The thing about kalanchoe is gonna be this, Mr. John, so it loves bright indoor light.

- Ah, the problem with house plants.

- Yeah, it's the light, right?

- Yeah, it's always a problem.

Just houses by and large don't have as much light as plants would like.

- That's right.

So bright indoor light, you can give it that, good, well drained potting mix, right, or potting medium, you definitely need that, okay.

Something else about house plants, you would probably know this, it's the watering regime, right?

They don't want to be soggy, right?

They actually want to dry out before you water them.

So I would let you know those plants dry out before I water.

And then if you need to fertilize, I would probably fertilize kalanchoe maybe once a month with one of your liquid house plant fertilizers, okay.

Kalanchoe is pretty easy to maintain.

So bright indoor light, you should be fine with that.

Now the other plant was peace lily.

Seems like everybody has a peace lily, right?

- Yes.

- All right.

A pretty popular house plant.

- And they're a little more forgiving of a darker room too.

Right, they can actually flower in low light.

Yeah, my mom has a house full of peace lilies.

So low light, they can flower, but they do like bright indirect sunlight.

And the thing about peace lily is gonna be this, right, so you have to have a moist soil, not soggy, but moist.

So let it dry out just a little bit in between waterings and then of course water appropriately at that time.

- Yeah, and I would think of that giving them a bigger pot would be a good thing too.

- Yeah, bigger pots definitely for both of these plants, especially for the peace lily, actually likes to be kind of root-bound a little bit.

But when the roots start coming out of the bottom holes and make sure you have drainage holes.

That's very important.

Then you might need to go up another pot size.

But yeah, draining holes are gonna be real important.

Yeah, don't let 'em just sit, let that water sit in those saucers, right?

And let the pot sit in there with that because yeah, that can cause problems.

But light is going to be key.

It's going to be key, Ms. Michelle.

So again, for your kalanchoe, bright indoor light, and then for your peace lily, yeah, it can flower in low light, but it likes bright indirect light.

And then watch your watering.

Let the soil dry out a little bit before you do water.

And I think you'll be fine.

[gentle country music] "I purchased a lemon Meyer a few months ago.

"I transplanted it recently and th e roots were extremely wet.

"How can I make sure the roots "get the right amount of moisture "and how often is it recommended to water.

"I was doing it only if the soil looked almost dry, but apparently that didn't work."

And this is Dilia from Lakewood, Colorado.

So yeah, we looked at that picture.

- Yeah, that picture.

- Wow.

- Now, she said that it was wet when she got it.

And that I can understand that with shipping 'cause they didn't know how long it would take to get there and so they wanted to make sure it had plenty of water.

She potted it.

I know she potted in a big container 'cause she knew it was gonna get large.

I would tend to wanna put it in a smaller container because then it will drain out and dry out a little faster when that large container, there's no roots, the roots haven't gotten into that container, so it's staying wetter longer.

And the top might dry out but underneath is not.

And so I never go by the looks, I always touch the soil and in fact I'll dig down an inch or so.

But that's usually when a plant is in the container that it's almost the size of.

Since she put it in such a large container that's where I think the problem is that it's too wet and she's thinking it's dry and it's really not because it's so vast amount of area of soil that it's wetted that there's no roots in to take up the moisture, so it's staying wetter down in the soil than she thinks it is.

But a moisture meter, I mean she could get a moisture meter and figure that out.

But yeah, it's not got enough light versus the wetness of the soil to be able to thrive right now.

- Right now, yeah, 'cause it was a pretty good size pot.

- If you do that again, I would put it in a smaller container so you can really monitor how that pot is actually drying out versus this huge amount of soil from a little tiny plant.

- Okay, yeah, make sure you have some well-drained media or potting media for sure, yeah.

Not soggy.

- No.

- Moist, and don't let it completely dry out, not completely dry out but yeah.

- But dryer.

- Yeah, but dryer.

[gentle country music] "So I am a home gardener with two peach trees.

"Last July I noticed some sap on one of my trees.

"The sap seems to only be coming from two or three spots "and not the whole trunk.

"I'm wondering if this is normal "or if it is caused by the peach bo rer or some other insect.

"How can I manage it for the upcoming season?

"I did read about the chemicals you mentioned, "but am not sure about timing since I'm in the Midwest.

"Also, if it is insect damage, "can my tree be saved or will it die?

And thank you much."

An d this is Punit from Chicago.

So, a pretty detailed question there, appreciate that.

So what do you think?

- She's correct.

- How do you manage it?

- Well, she's correct, I think it is the peachtree borer.

- I think it's the lesser peachtree borer, I do.

- And timing, she's going to want to know about the timing of the sprays.

And there's a publication from Purdue University, which is pretty close to her that does have a guide for the Midwest.

So you might wanna look at that.

We'll, I guess we'll have that on our website too.

- Yeah, we can have that information there, sure.

- But yeah, and keep it healthy.

Gosh, try to keep it healthy.

- Yeah, keep it watered for sure, fertilizer may help as well, but timing is gonna be critical.

Gummosis is what we're seeing there.

So anytime you have that sap that's mixed actually with frass and a little sawdust.

Yeah, yeah, that might be the lesser peachtree borer.

So you have to look at that.

I would target that during July, in the summer, June, July.

- With an insecticide?

- With an insecticide.

And it's gonna be a preventative insecticide.

That's what it's gonna be.

So one that comes to mind is permethrin, you can use, you have to read and follow the label on that.

The publication may have the information as well.

Carbaryl is another one.

But again, so when the moth comes and lays the egg, the egg's gonna hatch and the larva is gonna try to get into that wood.

That's why I would say July would be a good time for that.

Because that's usually when the moth is on her flight, right, pretty active.

- Well, and then it's not just one time she's gonna spray, she's gonna have to keep spraying every like two weeks, whatever the label says for the insecticide she uses is how long it will last.

And of course if it rains, all bets are off, you gotta spray all over again.

- It's good point, Joellen.

- So yeah.

- Yeah, that's a good point, yeah, so do read and follow the label.

- But it is saveable.

- It is saveable, yeah.

Keep it comfortable, it is saveable.

You should be fine, you should be fine.

Peach trees, I'm thinking about Mr. D now.

Boy, they're tough, right, they're tough.

[gentle country music] "How do I get rid of mole crickets?

"They are destroying my lawn.

My pesticide company has not helped."

And this is Bridget.

So yeah, we had a little conversation about mole crickets, pretty interesting little critters, right?

- They are, yeah.

And definitely attracted to the turf grasses.

- Yeah, so they love the turf grasses, which is why we always tell folks make sure you grow a thick healthy stand of grass, make sure you're cutting at the appropriate height, fertilizing according to your soil test, and then irrigating properly as well because they do like your turf grasses especially if they're weakened by scalping your lawn and things like that because they tunnel in the soil, they can eat roots, shoots, and they can eat your leaves, right?

But the interesting thing about mole crickets, it's gonna be the life cycle, right?

So they're pretty active a couple of times during the year.

So in the fall of the year, the adults will start laying eggs, all right.

So you can actually target the adults 'cause they're laying the eggs in the fall, but in the spring they're very active.

The little nymphs are out there.

So you definitely want to target those nymphs.

Now your pesticide companies will probably have products that you can use, bifenthrin is one that comes to mind, permethrin is another one.

There are some soil systemic drenches that you can use as well, but you would have to talk to your pesticide company about that, okay?

But we also learned something else interesting that could help out.

- Yeah, so we were kind of looking into it and there is a parasitic wasp that parasitizes the mole crickets.

So basically they lay their eggs on them and then as the young wasp develops, it's eating and eventually killing that cricket.

So there's actually a way to attract that wasp into your area.

Now I should say, this is not a wasp that is going to sting you.

They're small.

They're not the typical wasp that we're thinking of.

- That's good.

- So there's a native plant and I can't remember where Bridget is from, but.

- Yeah, we don't know, yeah, she didn't tell us.

- But it should be there's one called partridge pea.

And apparently these wasps really like that plant.

So if you plant that you can potentially attract that wasp to help deal with your mole crickets.

The other one is, and we were talking to the Extension Office in Florida is working looking at nematodes.

So nematodes are microscopic parasitic worms.

And they target, well, this specific type is targeting mole crickets.

So a little bit of new stuff coming out.

- Yeah, new stuff coming out, which is why it's always good to consult with your local Extension Office.

- That's right.

- Right.

'Cause they have that information there for you, research-based information.

Remember we love to hear from you.

Send us a email or letter.

The email address is familyplot@wkno.org.

And the mailing address is Family Plot 7151 Cherry Farms Road, Cordova, Tennessee 38016.

Or you can go online to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

That's all we have time for today.

Thanks for sending in the questions.

They keep us on our toes.

To get more information on anything we talked about today or to see answers to even more questions, go to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

And while you're there, you can ask us your gardening questions.

Thanks for watching, I'm Chris Cooper.

Be sure to join us next week for the Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

Be safe.

[pleasant music] [acoustic guitar chords]