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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Indian hawthorne, voles, raised beds, and apple cider vinegar.

What do they all have in common?

They're all viewer questions and we're going to answer them today.

It's the Q and A show next 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.

Summer's just about over and we got lots of viewer questions this growing season.

Today we're gonna do a little catching up, questions we answered, but did not have time to air.

Let's start with one we get a lot this time of year about mildew on flowers.

"How do I prevent mildew in my east-facing flower garden?"

And this is Carol from Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

She says, "In late summer the mildew gets "on her peonies and some other flowers, but they come back every year."

So, can we help out Carol?

Celeste, what do you think about that?

- Sure, yes.

So I think, first of all, let's start with its east facing.

So, that let's us know that area is likely getting morning sun, afternoon shade.

So morning sun is great for making sure that we get that rapid drying on foliage.

Especially when we get into the more humid periods of the year.

In the morning time there's lots of dew.

And so we're getting that east-facing sun.

We're getting drying pretty quickly.

So, I'd say that she has that working in her favor.

She did mention specifically that it's happening with her peonies and then some other flowers.

So, a couple things to remember are several of our beloved garden, herbaceous garden perennials are just prone to mildew.

Peonies is one of those.

And actually, I mean I have several peonies.

Towards the end of the summer they look horrible.

- Yes, they look ragged!

- I mean, that's just what happens.

But it is not affecting the overall vigor or health of that plant.

You know, if it is visually disturbing to you, you can actually go ahead once they have deteriorated substantially, you can go ahead and cut those leaves off.

Because they are not contributing through photosynthesis at that point because they turn crunchy and brown at a certain point.

So, I don't usually recommend that people try to treat powdery mildew on a peony.

Because that is just naturally going to happen in our garden environment.

You know, there's a handful of different common garden perennials that powdery mildew is just gonna be an issue.

So for those plants, that doesn't really concern me.

But if it does concern them, I would say let's try to open up the garden a little more.

Make sure that we've got some really good air movement.

That can also aid in drying.

I know that wasn't a perfect solution, but now at least she knows that it's nothing that she's doing wrong, you know?

It just is.

- It's pretty normal.

- Yeah.

- It's gonna be normal.

Yeah, but the good thing going back to what you mentioned earlier, east-facing flower garden.

Morning sun.

- Yeah.

- So it dries that dew off.

You know, it's a good time to water, of course.

So, that's a huge advantage in my book.

- And they're appreciating afternoon shade.

I mean, especially here in the South, Mid-South, southeast.

Plants, or even full-sun plants, are appreciating some afternoon sun.

I mean, shade, so that's nice.

- Right, so I think that works, Ms.

Carol.

So you have some choices there.

Resistant varieties, do your homework.

- Yes.

- They are out there, check with your local Extension service.

They may have some for you.

[gentle country music] "I have outdoor containers with elephant ears "that have been very happy until some heavy rains.

"Now they look bad while putting out several smaller leaves.

What do they need?"

And this is Terry from Lebanon, Tennessee.

- Yeah.

Well, I can see it was a heavy rain because the plant is appearing to look like it's a little too wet.

- Right, it looks water logged.

- Yeah, water logged.

And you know, container.

First, she needs to make sure that container is draining.

Because I saw, it's sitting on the ground.

So, I'm wondering if the container is draining properly for her.

That was the first thing that I wondered about.

Next is, if she wants to, after she makes sure that it's draining well and it's not wet, put a little fertilizer, liquid fertilizer with it.

I wouldn't do much because it's the end of the growing season.

You really don't want to promote too much new growth.

- Good point.

- And if you want to, I mean I don't know if she wants to save it or not, but if she does want to save it, you know she could let it dry out and put it in a place that doesn't freeze.

And it would last until next year.

- So, she has that option to do that?

- She has that option, yeah.

- All right.

So, I'm with you.

It looked water logged to me.

And I do know, for some plants, right, when they're stressed, drainage stressed, if you will, they produce plants that have smaller leaves.

- Mm-hmm.

- Right?

Because they're trying to force itself to grow, right?

So again, they're gonna have newer, smaller leaves.

But that's all due to stress.

- Yeah.

- Drainage stress.

All right.

But she has the option of maybe just kind of letting it go and... - Yeah, letting it dry off.

- Letting it dry out.

- But either way, if it's gonna be outside, it's gonna keep raining.

We need to make sure it's draining.

- Right.

- That's what I'm worried about, that it's not draining.

[gentle country music] - "I found this on an elephant ear leaf.

What is it?"

And this is Juwana from Memphis, Tennessee.

So, what did you think of that picture?

- Well, it was hard to tell.

But I can tell they're obviously caterpillars that have hatched from the eggs that are on the leaf.

I don't know which ones they are, it's hard to tell.

But you know what?

I know how to get rid of 'em.

[Chris laughs] Because they're all right there, I would get a paper towel and I'd just take 'em all off.

Get rid of 'em.

- Yeah, they all congregated in one little area.

It'll be easy to physically remove those, is what I would do.

- Yeah, I would.

- That would be the easiest way to do that.

If you see more on some of your elephant ears, then yeah, insecticidal soap should help.

Neem oil or something, that should help as well.

Read and follow the label on those.

But yeah, they're all congregated right there.

- All right there, easy.

- So physical removal, it's easy.

- Get rid of 'em.

- Yeah, just get rid of 'em that way.

[gentle country music] "How do I stop moles, voles, or mice from eating my sweet potatoes?"

So Natalie, we're gonna start with you on this one.

Right, so moles, voles, or mice from eating sweet potatoes.

- I mean, when we talk about those wildlife issues I just think exclusion is really our best bet.

I've mostly struggled with voles in areas of perennial plants.

So they're a struggle in blueberries and things like that.

So they are actually feeding on the roots of the plants.

Actually, oftentimes its a fall issue for those perennial plants.

And so while you can trap, snap.

You know, I haven't seen as many issues with some of the more aggressive measures.

Then I think for those small spaces, I would aim towards carbon cloth, things like that.

- Okay, okay.

So, Celeste, you and I talked about this, right?

But how do we know if it's moles or voles or mice?

How would we know that?

- Well, that one's a little more complicated.

I don't know how we would tell if it's mice.

But if they're actually seeing damage on the sweet potatoes once they're dug up, I'm saying it's probably voles.

Because like Natalie said, voles are feeding on the roots of plants.

- Right, right.

- Moles, with an M, are underground, but they're not feeding on plants.

They're eating insects.

So, I'm thinking that it's probably voles in this particular situation.

And some indicators that you do have voles would be like, you know, silver-dollar-sized holes in the ground.

And then sometimes you can see actually where they have like a little path that's trodded down between the holes.

- Just a little trail.

- It's like a little trail, like a little run.

Because they're underground feeding, but then they run on top of the ground and they dart right back into the next hole.

So if you can find those little trails, put you a little, just a cheap mice snap traps.

You know, parallel to the trail.

Don't put it in line with the trail.

Put it parallel to the trail.

And so, as they're just blindly running from hole to hole it'll snap 'em.

But you gotta stay on top of it.

And you gotta change those out.

It's not a fool-proof control method, for sure.

- No.

And I actually know some people that would cover those snap traps with a pot.

- Oh yes.

- Because the voles are very secretive.

You know, they come out undercover.

- Yeah, they like to be cool.

- Yeah, yeah.

So, that may help.

That may help.

[gentle country music] "Is there something that will kill creeping Charlie in strawberries?"

And this is Ernie on Facebook.

So, what do you think about the old creeping Charlie, Peter?

- Is there something that will kill it in strawberries without killing the strawberries?

No, there is not, I'm sorry.

But there's a couple things you can do.

You can wipe on an herbicide.

You could either on a non-selective like glyphosate or triclopyr.

You could use a broadleaf weed killer.

Once again, wipe it on, don't spray it.

Because it's gonna kill your strawberries too.

- Right.

- I was doing some research just to make sure I had all the paths covered.

Just to make sure there was no chemical.

And I actually read a recommendation, this is for lawns, that said if you have the problem in your lawn, a lot of times it's easier to just kill everything and reseed.

So that brings up my next idea, which is perhaps it would be a good idea to, this fall, carefully dig up all your strawberries.

And then just spray all the creeping Charlie.

And then replant.

Or maybe even move your strawberries to another place for a year while you really work on controlling this one area and then move 'em back.

But yeah, that might end up in the long run being easier than just chasing your tail trying to get rid of it.

- Another take on that same thought is if you have this perennial patch of strawberries, you can just do like a renovation.

So that's where you come in after their primary harvest has come in and you can just tear up.

Like, say that it's, I don't know, I'm just throwing this out there.

An eight foot wide by however long bed.

You just tear up the strip in the middle and then you're gonna be able to put a pre-emerge down in that middle, right?

And that is going to help you start this weed control process.

And then your two areas that you leave send out their runners and they tack down into that area that you tilled up.

So that's gonna be your new fruit bearing row the following year.

And then the next year you renovate the two sides that you left the year before.

And so, you know, once you get into year two you've started this rotation of weed control where you have been able to not worry about spraying directly over strawberries.

And you are starting with controlling in your renovation areas.

Does that make sense?

- Yeah, yeah.

So that's definitely another good option, right?

Because think about strawberries, broadleaf plants.

- Mississippi State has a really good publication on strawberry renovation that could help you get on that rotation.

- Right, that would be good, yeah.

Creeping Charlie is tough, ground ivy.

But here's something else too.

Ground ivy actually likes damp, shady conditions.

Right, so make sure it's not too wet in that area.

Make sure you're getting full sun.

And yeah, if you're gonna do a renovation.

If you're gonna kill off those plants, I would come back with a pre-emerge.

Corn gluten meal is something that's recommended that you can come back in with to kind of help suppress those weed seeds of the creeping Charlie.

And then just kind of go from there.

- Yes.

- All right, so, that's what I would do.

All right, to slow it down.

[gentle country music] "How do I get my tea olive to stand up straight?

It was pushed by a hurricane."

And this is Dennis from Evans, Georgia.

So can we help Dennis out?

- Yes, the best thing that I can tell them to look at is probably see where he may need to prune something or whatever.

And then at some point, you know, I guess guide it or stake it.

You know, to get it back like he wants it.

And it also depends on the size.

- Right, right, right, right.

So yeah, I would definitely suggest staking the tree.

All right, two or three stakes.

So here's the thing about staking, right?

So I would stake it low enough for stability, but high enough to keep the tree straight.

- Yes, yes, yes.

- Then you want some slack in there.

- That's right.

- Because you want the tree to be able to sway or move with the wind and build up that reaction wood.

- Exactly, exactly.

- And I wouldn't use wire.

Because the wire, you know.

- It cuts into it.

- It's gonna cut into the tree itself, right?

So, I would probably use some soft ties or something like that.

Again, make sure you give it some slack.

And then from there, Walter, I would make sure that you water it, mulch it.

- Yes!

- Is what I would do.

And then the thing about staking.

No more than about a year.

- About a year.

- Six to about twelve months.

- Yes, and another old trick I use, if someone do wanna use wire, at least take the old garden hose.

- Oh yeah, I've seen that.

- And you know, and cut, put that over it.

Because you don't want it cutting into it.

- Right, right.

That's the whole thing about using the wire.

So, that's what I would do, Dennis.

Yeah, so I would definitely get it staked.

Give it some slack.

Again, low enough for stability, but high enough to keep it straight.

- To keep it straight.

- Water it, mulch it, I think that'll help you out.

And then, as Walter said, if you need to prune it, be a good time to prune it.

- Yes.

[gentle country music] - "What would cause small sections to die "on our 50-year-old Indian hawthornes?

"They receive full morning sun and afternoon shade, but no irrigation."

And this is Mark from St.

Petersburg, Florida.

Fifty-year-old Indian hawthorne!

- I'm impressed.

- Yeah.

- I think that they look fantastic.

There's just a couple of dead places in 'em.

I would cut those out.

- I would.

- And you know, I think it could be just airflow.

I mean, they're so old that they maybe just saying, hey, there's not enough airflow in this area.

So they're, you know.

Hawthornes are susceptible to diseases when it's too wet.

- Yeah.

- And so that's what I would make sure there's a little more airflow through the whole plant.

- Right.

So, I would prune out the dead like you mentioned.

Practice good sanitation, right?

Pick up those falling leaves.

Indian hawthornes suffer with entomosporium leaf spot.

- Yes.

- Right, so I would look for those.

And you can tell, because they're gonna be orange red little spots on those leaves.

So you definitely want to check for that.

And also scales can be a problem with Indian hawthornes.

So I would scout, you know, look for those scales.

If you don't have any of those, prune.

Just prune.

- Yeah, just air circulation.

And within the plant, uh-huh.

- Get the airflow in there.

- But they are beautiful.

And yeah, a little pruning and a little scouting for diseases and I think they'll be fine.

- Hey, they'll be fine for the next 50 years.

- Let's hope so.

- Right, the next 50 years.

I think that's pretty good, because they're in the right conditions.

- They sure are.

- Right, you know.

- Look how well that has done.

I'm amazed, that's great.

[gentle country music] - "Can apple cider vinegar kill fungus?"

And this is Agatha from St.

Louis, Missouri.

So what do you think about that, Peter?

- Can it kill fungus?

Yes.

Studies have shown that acetic acid, which is the main part of vinegar, what gives it a sour taste, can kill fungus.

The catch is what exactly do you have in your kitchen in apple cider vinegar?

What is its, you know, how much do you dilute it?

How much do you put on the plant?

Do you... Is it not a good idea to use it when the sun's on the plant?

Or do you have to use it in the morning or can you only use it between these temperature ranges?

We don't know any of this.

- Right.

- So, if you do want to use acetic acid on your plants, there are fungicides that are acetic acid, the same thing as vinegar, that are labeled and they have done all of the testing on it to know that this particular formulation, you need to dissolve it to this amount or dilute it to this amount.

These are the conditions you need to apply it in.

This is the interval.

This is what it will control.

This is what it will not control.

And so I would suggest using that to figure out what you want to do.

Now, if you just have some sooty mold on your sidewalk, yeah, put some vinegar on and scrub.

But yeah, if you're gonna apply it to your plants, you probably need a little.

I would suggest you go with the labeled fungicide.

- Right, we're always preaching label is the law.

So we definitely want folks to use products whose main purpose is meant to be used on plants.

So, definitely.

I agree with that.

Look for those products that are made for horticulture use.

And then we've gotta be even more specific.

If this product is being used on an ornamental plant versus an edible plant.

- Mm-hm, that's good too, yeah.

- So, just following those labels.

- Yeah, there's so many different combinations of all this stuff.

And they have, as part of getting that label, they have spent tons of money researching all of the different little permutations of this in order to make the label so its accurate.

- All right, something else I would like to add to that discussion is, yeah, so we're trying to kill a fungus.

There are other means to do that.

There are low-impact fungicides that you can use as well.

- Certainly.

- Without even having to use the vinegar.

- Yes.

- So there are some oils out there that you can use.

You know, they can help out with that.

- Even if you were an organic grower, you want something that's OMRI, like neem oil, has both insecticidal and fungicidal qualities.

So, that could be an option that has a label.

And we know that's its purpose.

- Yeah, I'd be much more willing to use neem oil than kitchen vinegar.

- I would go with the oils.

Yeah, that's for sure.

[gentle country music] - "What ground cover do you recommend "that I could plant instead of grass in a median under live oak trees?"

And this is John from Houston, Texas.

So what do you think?

In Houston, Texas it's probably hot.

- Yes, it's hot.

- In the summer.

- I wonder if its irrigated, you know?

- Ah.

- You know, hopefully it would be.

Because anything you plant is gonna need some extra moisture because of where it is in the middle of a road.

- Right, I would agree.

- But you can plant anything that is shallow rooted.

And I'm thinking like, monkeygrass or mondograss or Vinca, the Vincas, any kind of the Vincas.

It's not gonna really go anywhere.

All of that stuff will be contained within the median and it would grow and be underneath the tree.

- Yeah, my thing about this is you definitely would need something drought tolerant, shade tolerant.

- Definitely.

- For sure.

So, mulch is the first thing I thought about.

But he does want a ground cover.

So, yeah, I agree.

Some liriope.

Which one would you go with?

There's the spicata.

Or muscari, you know.

- Either one.

It depends on how tall he wants it.

Now, I would think that the mondograss, you can get a dwarf mondograss.

I love my dwarf mondograss.

- Don't have to worry about mowing.

- Never have to worry about mowing the dwarf mondograss.

And it will spread underneath there.

But it will be expensive to put all that in.

But anything you plant in the median, we're talking a lot of plants, so.

- Okay, so we're thinking of those plant selections.

- But those will be, yeah and Vinca minor, it will root and keep going.

You'll need less of that because it just spreads.

- Right.

- Faster than, the mondograss is more of a bunch type and from the center it keeps expanding.

Where as the Vincas run.

- Okay, got it.

I think those are good options.

I would stay away from ivy.

- No, no, not ivy.

- You don't want anything to climb the live oak tree.

- No, that's really one of the noxious weeds in the United States, really.

So, yeah, stay away from that.

- Stay away from that, Mr.

John, that's for sure.

And I also would stay away from plants that need frequent watering, right?

Because you don't want to rot the roots of the live oak tree.

- No, no.

[gentle country music] - "How often should you aerate your lawn?"

Guess who we're going to for this question?

What do you think about this, Joseph?

- At minimum, every three years.

- Every three years?

- It's not gonna hurt to do it once a year, every year, but at minimum, every three years.

Especially if you're seeing some issues with the drainage.

If it starts getting worse, it may be time to bump up that aeration.

And that can kinda help improve it.

If you start seeing some health issues with your turf.

If it's not looking as good, may be time to hit it up again.

- So how does aeration work, though?

Can you tell us that?

How does it work?

- So, aeration, you have your soils and they just naturally get compacted walking over 'em.

Gravity, you know, maybe it's a sports field or whatever.

It gets a lot of traffic.

And as it gets compacted the roots have trouble working their way through the soil.

Water has issues working their way through the soil to get to the roots.

So it just kind of gets tight in there.

There's not a whole lot of room to move.

So you come in with, there's different types of aeration, but generally we do a core aeration.

And it's a big machine and it rolls over the turf, the yard, and it pulls out plugs.

And that just alleviates that compaction and just loosens up everything.

And you an leave the plugs in the ground.

They'll break apart, work their way back into the soil.

Or you can rake 'em up and remove 'em.

It's just however you wanna do it.

- I've also seen aeration being used in this plug style to help breakdown thick thatch layers.

- Right.

- Right, so after the plugs are out then they run over the turf to kind of break up those soil plugs.

And it helps break down if you've got that thicker thatch layer.

So, I've seen that be effective too.

- Yeah, so you know aeration and de-thatching kinda go hand in hand.

You want to keep up on that de-thatching too.

Especially in zoysia grasses.

They don't like a lot of thatch, yeah.

- What time would be the best time do you think?

- For aeration and de-thatching, both when the grass is actively growing.

So, our warm-season grasses now, June/July period.

And then for our cool-season, our fescues, in the fall is actually a better time.

- I can send you out in my yard trying to pull plugs one by one.

Doot, doot.

- And I've done that too, you know.

Where you can't get around the houses or buildings and corners.

You just take a pitch fork, you know, and just kind of break that up a little bit, so.

- Okay.

- If you got a small area, you can do things like that as well.

[gentle country music] - "What is the best material to use to line the bottom of a raised bed?"

And this is Ginger from Millington, Tennessee.

That's a good question.

- It really is.

You know, because basically we build the raised beds.

And really if you just, what I like to do is have a small layer of gravel at the very bottom of the bed.

You know, kind of help with the drainage and all of that, you know?

And then I think, you're fine.

If you wanna put a layer of sand on top of the gravel.

You know, it depends on how deep your raised bed will be.

And then from there, the rest of it can just be soil and composted materials, and things like that.

But I think it wouldn't hurt to have just a small layer of gravel at the very bottom.

You know, allow for some good drainage.

- All right.

And I know there's some other options.

You know, we can discuss, landscape fabric is one I know that some people use.

- Sure.

- The thing about the landscape fabric, over time it will break down.

- Right, that's right.

- It does allow for water to penetrate down into the soil.

Or hardwood cloth is thought about.

That's something you could use as well.

It's more expensive.

But the thing about the hardwood cloth is you don't have to worry about voles.

They won't be able to get through.

- That's true, that's true.

- So I mean, that's something.

And then of course, you know, being with the master gardeners, you know, the master gardeners always use cardboard or newspaper.

- Right, that's right.

- So you can use that.

The thing about that is, it will break down.

You know, over time.

So you have to get that replenished.

- And that's kind of why I like the gravel because it's not gonna break down over time.

You know, it'll sit there and get pretty steady for you.

- Okay, so the gravel or if you wanna go with bare ground you can do that too.

- You can do that too.

- You know what I mean?

I mean it'll allow the roots to get down into that soil, get those nutrients.

You'll have to fight the weeds.

- Yes, yes.

- But bare ground.

And you would get good, you know, if it's in a good drained area, you know, the drainage would be better.

- That's right.

- But yeah, you don't have to use anything.

- Right.

- Just fight the weeds.

- Just kind of depends on your situation and what you wanna spend.

- Right, what you wanna spend.

That's exactly right.

Remember, we love to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is questions@familyplotgarden.com.

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.

To get more information on anything we talked about go to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

On the website we also have answers to probably close to 2,000 gardening questions.

So, if you have a question we may have already answered it.

If not, you can ask us your question right from the website.

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.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]