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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Trees, grasses,   flowers, and weeds.

That sounds like gardening.

And today we're answering   questions about all of them.

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.

Today, we're going to spend the whole time, showing you the answers to questions we have received over the last year or so.

We just did not have time to air them.

Up first, are a few questions   about ornamental grasses.

"I planted pampas grass   this past spring.

"Should I cut them back?

If so, when should I cut?"

This is Darcy from North   Carolina on YouTube.

So Doc, you have pampas grass- - Oh no.

I don't have pampas grass.

- You don't have pampas grass?

- But I have a whole bunch of other ornamental grasses, the miscanthus and some of the others.

But yeah, and I like to leave them through the winter because these landscape designers tell us that, you know, they move gracefully, the plumes move gracefully during the winter and they add winter interest to the garden.

So what you do want to cut all that dead stuff back before spring growth emerges in the, in early spring, so I would say February, late February.

- Especially in this area, you know.

- Yeah.

Get out there with your big metal blade on your weed eater or something.

That's what my husband uses.

[Chris laughs] He loves cutting down ornamental grass but... - Or a chainsaw.

- Well, it gets all stuck in the saw.

I've tried that!

Just grrr!

up in your chains So I get him out there with that metal blade, just a regular string trimmer won't do it.

- Right, yes.

- You gotta get heavy duty or you can just use the big old loppers.

- That's what I use at home.

- Yeah, well you're much of a man.

[laughs] That makes me tired.

- Yeah but February is definitely, you know, a good time to do that, before the new growth.

And something else too, I, you know, I learned this from somebody a couple of years ago.

If you get one of those cords bungee cords, you can actually tie them up   and then it makes   for easy cut.

- Oh very good!

- How about that one?

- Yeah, well, you know,   I said I grew miscanthus, the maiden grasses.

Yeah that's a good idea!

Yeah.

But they get floppy.

You know how some grasses get floppy when they get more mature, they flop all over everything else.

Well, I saw in a garden, somewhere up in Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, a beautiful garden.

And they had pulled   all of that stuff up   and made like haystacks,   and tied it, to get it all up.

I mean, it's really attractive.

You got this pretty   grass haystack.

So, and then you got it   ready to cut it down.

[makes cutting sound] - Yeah.

But I mean, it was, to me, it was very pretty.

Because they do tend to flop, the maiden grasses do.

when they get, you know, fairly good size.

So they just gather them all up.

- Put a belt around them.

- Put a belt around it, right.

- Yeah, I use a, you know, something, it's not like, nah I don't use a bungee cord.

I use something that's aesthetically pleasing.

- Okay.

[Chris laughs] - You know, like garden twine.

- Haystring.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Something that is pretty, you know.

- Something like is pretty.

- You tie it with a big bow.

[chuckles] - Right?

Add some seasonal, a little interest to it.

- Yeah, Christmas bow.

- Christmas bow or something like that.

So there you go, Darcy.

Yeah, sometime in February should get that done.

And yeah, a little Christmas bow or something to hold it up.

[upbeat country music]   - "Are there any   prairie-type grasses   "that grow in the Mid-South?

"My backyard is too large,   and mowing it has become   too tedious, thanks."

This is Moni Sue from Memphis.

So yeah, backyard is too large.

She wants a prairie-type grass.

Can we grow prairie type grasses here?

- Yes.

They can grow prairie.

In fact, there's a publication about prairie grasses.

And so I'm sure that'll be available if you look it up online.

But the problem is with prairie grass is they're big.

I mean, their prairie grasses are not short, like more grasses.

I mean, we're talking to one to three and two to four feet are just some of the shorter ones.

And I don't know if she wants that tall of grass around in her backyard or not.

Maybe there, she has a swath of area she would want those in.

But prairie grasses are tall.

They're not short growing grasses like we would think in our yard.

- Right, not like the fescues.

- No, it's nothing like that.

Little bluestem is   one, broomesedge,   - Which grows well around here   - Bluestem, sideoats grama   and pink muhly grass.

All of those are, but   they're, you know,   everywhere from one   to four feet tall.

It's not, nothing short.

- And most of those grasses are all clump?

- Yeah, they're all clump-forming.

So you'd have to have quite a few of them and there's others, but they're taller.

I don't know if she wants that much.

I mean, how tall you want to go?

'Cause I mean six to eight feet could be some of the others.

- And she probably didn't want them that tall because she's already talking about mowing is too tedious.

- Yeah.

So you'd have to cut all of them at least once a year.

And, but anyway, yeah, prairie grasses are nice, but they're tall.

If she wants to deal with taller grasses then, you know, anywhere from one to four feet to me is tall for a yard of grass, but maybe a section should would want to do with that.

I don't know.

I don't know what her light in - Yeah, I was wondering to.

- 'cause if it is, is it sunny or is it shady?

- Direct sunlight.

Yeah.

- Because the grasses will need some sun.

- Sure, yeah, full sun for that matter.

And we'll have the link to that publication on our website, for sure.

But the question is, yeah.

Can you grow any prairie-type grass?

You can, you just have to make the decision of - How tall - How tall.

[upbeat country music]   - "How do I get   rid of Vinca minor   "that is growing   into my monkey grass   "along my driveway?

"Please don't tell me   "I have to just   pull it up by hand.

Just kidding," she says.

"It really is way   too much Vinca   to try to pull it up by hand."

And this is Nancy from   Walnuts, Mississippi.

So Celeste, please   don't tell Ms. Nancy she has to pull it up by hand, please don't tell.

- Okay, well - I won't tell her.

- Okay, unfortunately Ms. Nancy, So sorry.

[chuckles] The products that we use to control broadleaf weeds in monkey grass also do not kill Vinca minor.

So, you know,   a lot of people use Vinca   minor and Vinca major   as groundcovers   similar to how I'm sure   she's trying   to use her Liriope   and the particular   product that we would use for broadleaf weed control you can use it in all of those groundcovers to control some basic things like, you know, poison ivy.

I don't know what are some purple deadnettle.

You know, just any kind of broadleaf something that's coming up in those areas.

The active ingredient of that product is called bentazone.

So, you know, hopefully what we're providing her today might be able to help her with some other weed control in those groundcover areas.

But as far as keeping the Vinca from getting into the monkey grass, the only real solution that I could could recommend was would be to create a clear, defined boundary, right?

Whether you're bringing in maybe like an edger or something like that and really delineating those two areas from one another, getting the Vinca that is in the monkey grass cleaned out.

And then hopefully from that point, you've got that delineated boundary where you can manage the Vinca and keep it away from the monkey grass.

Does that make sense?

- It makes sense.

- So it might take some hand pulling on the front end, but make control in the long run easier.

- So some hand pulling on the front end, close your ears Ms. Nancy.

Yeah.

You're right.

So Liriope, lily turf, hard to control broadleaf weeds in Liriope but easy to control grasses in Liriope.

- Right!

So we've got plenty of products for you to control grasses - But not broadleaf weeds.

[upbeat country music]   - "Can you tell me   what this weed is   "and how to kill it?

"I've used Roundup   and it killed it,   "but it has come back.

"It has some mean   seeds on it.

"They will stick   you in your foot   if you don't have your   shoes on and they hurt."

This is Gracie in   Somerville, Tennessee.

So what kind of weed   you think that is?

- I don't know, if it stick you maybe burweed or something?

- Yeah, lawn burweed.

- Okay then, [murmurs]   - And here's the   thing, It's actually   a winter weed.

It's a winter weed, you know?

So of course when it   starts to get hot,   it will go away.

It will drop seeds.

- She was saying it was,   what grass was it in?

Bermuda grass?

- She didn't say.

- She didn't say exactly, but yeah, if it's in Bermuda, zoysia, you can use, you know, of course, you know, a chemical.

- A lot of times, if it's a winter weed the Bermuda grass should be going dormant when it come out of there and then she might be able to pull it out there.

- You can pull it out.

- You got to get it out of there see the burweed on there, it probably won't have a lot of seeds on that that she might want to make sure that she did try to don't let you shake it.

When you get out of moving around, do that.

And I said, you might want to use the chemicals.

I said, she tried Roundup and stuff that didn't work on that.

But I tried to get it out of there.

- Yeah, I would go with the pre-emerge first.

So go with the pre-emerge first in the fall.

'Cause this is a winter weed and then we're talking about, so yeah, go with that.

If it's still there, still persist then of course, you know, she's tried to spray it with Roundup, spot spray it, okay.

That's fine.

You're going to have to continue to do that.

But again, we want you to grow a thick stand of grass.

Make sure you have the right grass seeds for the area.

And that should crowd out the burweed because it has spine-tipped burs in the leaf axles.

So, yeah.

I actually have it in my yard so it can stick if you are out in the yard barefooted.

- She said she sprayed it with Roundup.

She might be spraying it when it real cold.

And it might not be affective on there.

You need to read the label on that and see what temperature range on when you start spraying in that grass.

'Cause you might be spraying it's, just not working.

- Could it be, but I always like to go with-- - Cultural practices.

- Cultural practices first.

- That's the best thing to do to get that grass and soil tests and all that.

The pH and everything is correct in that grass.

Weed will grow anything when the grass is not suitable for that lawn it just come in there.

- Yeah, weeds is looking for space, right?

So if you have any space, you have a weak stand of grass.

The weeds are going to try to get in there to out-compete those grasses.

So I think if you do that, then, you know, think about your pre-emergents and then of course, if you can't get it, then you have to go to the post-emerge and just read the following label or whatever product that you're going to use.

[upbeat country music]   - "My dogwood tree has   red berries from blooming   "in the spring.

"It is also blooming   again right now.

"How unusual is this?

"I've never seen this before.

"The tree was planted   about 30 years ago.

"And it has never   happened like this before   I live in the Mid-South."

This is Dixie on YouTube.

So it was planted there 30 years ago.

- Thirty years ago, that is - It's never happened like this before - No, well it probably wouldn't.

[Chris Laughs] But 30 years is an older dogwood tree.

And so my thought is, it's very stressed and that is why it's trying to bloom again.

It's trying to die and it's very stressed.

So it's trying to get those berries-- - That last little bit.

- Trying to survive.

But the ends of that is why it is actually doing that.

- Right, so it's not that unusual.

- For a stressed tree - to do that, right?

Because yeah, it wants to just put off that last little bit and then it'll be good.

- Yes.

[upbeat country music]   - "This small tree is a   volunteer at my garden.

Can you help me   to identify it?"

Sheree from   Southaven, Mississippi.

Thank you for the   nice picture too.

- Yes good pictures.

- Yes good pictures.

- So what do you think?

- It's a sweetgum.

A sweetgum is a very prolific grower.

It's native, in the right place.

It's a good tree but I've seen that it's up against the house.

Not a good place for a sweetgum to be.

- Okay.

- Even with the gumballs.

I happen to like sweetgum trees.

They produce nice shade.

Unfortunately they have some porc-, my granddaughter calls them porcupines, porcupine seed balls.

You can see on the second picture,   it has that corky texture   on the bark right there.

It kind of almost   like a wing down.

And then on the second one,   yeah, it's a sweetgum.

- Okay, And they're corky   bark is just normal.

- No.

- Okay, yeah.

Right.

- Just the characteristics.

- I like sweetgum, they have a beautiful fall foliage.

- They do.

They're in the right spot there.

They're beautiful.

It's one of my favorites.

The reason they propagate more so 'round yards and houses and things just is because they're one.

And as far as succession of trees in the forest grow in a yard, they're one of the first ones to come up.

[upbeat country music]   - "Is it okay to transplant   my magnolia tree   "that has purple   blossoms on it?

"I forgot the name of it.

"I bought it last year.

"I am afraid the flowers   will die or fall.

"I want it in a location that   I can see it   from my window."

And this is May.

- Well, she can transplant it because it's very, it sounds like a young tree, but wait until it is dormant.

In other words, until the leaves fall off of it in the fall and into the spring and winter.

- Okay.

But yeah, I would would transplant it after the leaves fall off and before the leaves come back on.

- Okay and make sure to get that watered down real good.

- Yes!

and make sure she gets as majority of the root system because it's a young tree you know, the less you can disturb the roots, the better.

[upbeat country music]   - "I just planted   a peach tree   "and I want to know   exactly what to do   "to keep it healthy.

"I've never really gardened.

I tried my hand at all of it."

Thank you, Donald   from Lineville, Alabama.

- Donald get a soil test.

- Get a soil test!

That's the first thing, right?

- That's the first thing to do.

You may already have messed up a little bit, but you might be okay.

But if you've got that peach tree in the ground, okay, this is September.

This is late summer.

- The late summer.

- I wonder when you planted it, you just planted it, okay.

That's your first mistake.

This is really not a good time to plant a peach tree, but you've already got it planted.

You've got it planted, okay.

You don't want to fertilize it.

Do not fertilize it right now but you do want to, depending on... Hopefully you watered it in.

And you probably need to give it a little moisture If we have any dry weather.

We're not seeing a lot of that right now.

Then I would do nothing at all to it, over the winter.

Late winter, you're probably going to want to put a little bit of fertilizer out there.

I would probably at that   time, select my scaffolds.

I'd probably, lower   it, then pop it   at about 20 inches   and select 3   or four evenly spaced   scaffold limbs around it.

And then just kind of back off   and don't do anything until   the middle of the summer.

And then I would I would go in there and if you're going to have water sprouts and everything that have come in there, I'd probably take some of the water sprouts out, but not do a lot if you've selected those scaffold limbs.

I don't know that it, I mean, you're going to have some growth, but you don't want to promote a lot of growth because you don't want tender growth before the hard freezes come in.

- And we do have a video about all of this too.

- Yeah, check the video.

And then, as the tree grows, you know, make sure that you follow a spray program with, you want to control plum, the plum curculio,   the insect and you want   to control brown rot, those   are the two main things   you want to control.

You need, if you don't   control white peach scale,   it will kill your tree.

If you don't control   the peachtree boar,   it will kill your tree.

And so, so just get you a peach spray schedule.

Look at it, study it.

Abide by it.

- Yeah.

Go to your local extension office here.

- Go to your local extension office and they have some mighty good ones down in Alabama.

- Oh yeah.

You can vouch for that one.

- I've spent a few years down there.

- Yeah.

But he's trying it out.

You know, he's really gardening, I'll give him credit for that.

- Good luck to you.

If you fail, go to Chilton County.

Plenty of good peaches in Chilton County.

Guarantee that.

[upbeat country music]   - "How do I overwinter   my mandevillas?"

This is Marsia on YouTube.

So doc, you know anything about mandevillas?

- I do, they're tropical plants.

So they cannot stand, you know,   really cool temperatures,   anything I think below about 45   And they're not gonna look too   good, and definitely you need to move them in before the first frost because they're going to die.

So I just move them in the house, put them in a sunny window and they should be fine until the next spring.

- Okay.

If they're in the ground, can you go ahead and dig those up and pot them and just bring them in the house?

- Yeah, sure can.

- All right.

And something else I would recommend doing too, when you're bringing your plants in the house, flush them out with some water just in case you have some ants or... - Slugs.

- Definitely flush them out.

- Pill bugs.

- Just in case?

I guarantee you're gonna have some critters in it.

- Yeah, you're gonna have some.

- Tree frog.

I brought one in a tree frog one time.

- Yeah.

So yeah, I would definitely, yeah.

Flush it out and yeah, bring it on in the house.

But you said a sunny.

- Sunny window would be like west or southern exposure, you know, 'cause they're kind of high-light plants.

So they might get a little dreary looking in the house during the summer, but they'd probably survive.

- Okay.

How much would you water it?

I would look at the soil, you know, and make sure that it's needing water because I think one of the first things that kills plants in the house is people just take too good care of them with far as the water.

So, you know, or water them religiously once a week.

Well, that doesn't work because you know, they may not need it once a week, especially your succulents and sedums and stuff.

So I just do a visual and if you can stick your finger down in the pot and you know, if you feel in any moisture, down in there with your finger, wait.

- Wait.

Yeah, I like that now.

When should they take it back out for the spring?

- Oh, after the last frost date, which is in this region, 7, it's about 10th, around 10th, fifteenth of April.

But you know, you have to watch the weather.

You need to watch the weather man, because it can be anywhere on either side of that.

So just watch the weather and don't move it out too soon.

[upbeat country music]   - "Do Euonymus scales   kill the shrub?

"I had to remove   most of the leaves   "and water hose with   a strong nozzle,   "the stem and the branches   to remove the scales.

Will this plant regrow,   or is it too late?"

This is Tehano37   from YouTube.

All right Tehano, I can help you with this one because I actually have or had, Euonymus shrubs, right?

Because here's the thing.

The Euonymus scale will   decimate that shrub.

Okay.

It will weaken that plant   because here's the deal.

You have male and   female, Euonymus scales.

The males look like   little cigarettes.

And then the females look like   little oyster shells.

Right?

And they will cause the   leaves to fall because they're   feeding on the sap again,   which weakens the plant.

So you're going   to get a lot of leaves   that are going to fall.

You can cut it back   and it will regrow, but Euonymus scales has what?

Two to three generations a year.

And again, they're feeding on the sap, which you can weaken the plant.

So here's a couple of things you could do here.

You better catch them early.

Right.

When they are in their crawling age.

Right?

'Cause you can   control those with the oils.

So neem oil, horticultural   oil would be fine.

If you're trying to   control those adults,   which are going to be   tough because remember   the female has   a shell.

Okay.

You got to use the systemics.

And dinotefuran, you know,   it's one that comes to mind   that you can use   which the Safari.

So, yeah.

I mean the shrub can   be saved, but yes, make sure that you're going to be treating that shrub early in the year.

So we're talking, you know, in March, June the latest.

So get it, you know, late spring, early summer - Preventative is the key, we're on to something here.

- Right?

Because it will make those, you know, those shrubs look pretty bad and the shrub, will drop a lot of leaves.

- Once the shell is on there, it's gotta be a systemic?

- It's gotta be a systemic.

- Very similar to bark scale on crape myrtle.

- Pretty much, pretty much.

It's gotta be a systemic, you know, to get that kind of control.

But again, you have to answer the question.

It will regrow.

You just have to cut it back.

I've done that to mine, you know, several times It will resprout.

But do know you have to control those scales.

- If you didn't control them and you left them on there, what about the next year or the coming?

- See it's going to further weaken the plant.

I mean, the plant just looks so bad after a while.

It gets those yellow spots, of course, where the scales are feeding.

And like I said, those leaves will start falling off at a pretty rapid number.

- And you should get rid of those leaves.

You got to get rid of those leaves and.

- Just put them in a garbage can or a bag.

- I'll throw them in the garbage.

[upbeat country music]   - "Can I start   applying fungicide   "to my tomatoes as I am   planting them in the ground?

"Or is this too early?

"Also, does applying   fungicide to the tomatoes   when they are   blossoming hurt pollinators?"

This is David on YouTube.

Great last question there.

I liked those.

So let's go with the first one.

So yeah.

Can you apply the fungicide too early?

- Not really?

No, not really.

Okay.

Now, as soon as you plant it, I would go ahead and plant it, cover up the root ball with dirt, spray fungicide on it because you know, one of the main sources for getting the blights is it's splashing up off the soil.

And the first thing you're going to do after you plant it is water it.

- Water it.

- So do that, also putting down mulch will help.

So.

- Yeah.

It's so key fungicides are preventative in nature, right?

So there's always been a problem with blight in the area.

Spray.

Anything to add to that Booker?

- I said like rotate the tomato to a different area in the garden sometimes.

You don't want to only have in the same location in that.

And also try to keep those tomato plants off the ground.

You can do that.

Yeah.

- Okay.

Now let's go to the second question.

Real good question.

So does applying the fungicide to the tomatoes hurt the pollinators, especially when they're in bloom, right?

- Not really.

- Okay.

- If, you know, I would recommend if you're, if you're concerned about that, which you know, it's fine.

You can, you can go ahead and spray when the pollinators are not pollinating.

And so you could spray in the evening, which is probably not preferable or very early in the morning.

And then the fungicide is dry next time the pollinators come around.

And tomatoes also are, are not pollinated by pollinators.

That doesn't mean that they're not going to come because the, you know, the blossoms are an attractive color, so they'll come and visit, but you know, they're not, you don't need to have pollinators to pollinate tomatoes.

- Right.

- Tomatoes, for the most part, are wind-pollinated.

Right.

So you're exactly right.

I usually tell folks who are concerned about beneficials and pollinators, spray first thing in the morning.

Or spray it in the evening.

Let it dry off.

Never spray when pollinators are foraging in the morning.

- Midday or something.

- Right.

Anything else to add to that Booker?

- No, that's good.

So yeah.

And also, like I said, when you try to water your tomato plants try to water just the soil.

Try to keep a lot of the water off of the leaves.

And that'll help a lot on the fungus.

- All right.

And like mentioned before by Peter.

Yeah, mulch.

- Yeah, mulch.

- Break down on that splash effect.

- That helps a lot.

-It helps...tremendously.

- And then, yeah.

And it's also useful, you know, cut, cut the bottom few leaves off the plant because that just gets it up a little bit more, it makes it harder for the splash.

That's right.

There's something else I would like to add, resistant varieties.

Make sure you look for those as well.

Remember, we love   to hear from you.

Send us an 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.

To get more information on any of the questions we answered this week, go to familyplotgarden.com.

We will have all these questions listed on the home page with links to tons, more information about each one.

Also, if you have a gardening question you just can't figure out, go to familyplotgarden.com and click the "Ask us your Gardening Question" banner.

We'd love to help you out.

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]