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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Summer brings harvest, but it also brings a whole bunch of gardening questions.

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 summer, and with it comes lots of plant problems.

Bugs, weeds, and, of course, heat.

We have received lots of viewer questions about these and many other topics.

This week, we're going to spend the whole show catching up on viewer questions we did not get to air because of time.

We start off with a question about tomatoes.

"This year, I lost 80 tomato plants to leaf curl.

How do I get rid of leaf curl and protect my tomato plants?"

And this is Arthur.

So Booker, we'll start with you.

So how do you think you get rid of leaf curl?

- Probably same thing, heat, stress on there, could be heat on there.

And I would check under side the leaf of little mites or some in there.

That could be some of the things that going on with leaf curl on there.

- Anything you wanna add to that Elaina?

- And, and the leaf curl is, is a symptom of stress, they're showing they're stressed.

I think when, when my plants leaf curl, then, I feel sorry for 'em, [both laughing] - I think, but my first thought is they're diseased.

They've got something.

- Right.

- So again, your fungicides, when you're worrying about 'em, you can spray your fungicides.

And, but those are preventative.

- Right, right - If they are actually - Good point.

leaf curling, because they've got a disease at that point, it may be too late.

But as a, of course, you're, it is a good time too, to spray your fungicides because as they're being stressed, maybe from the heat, - Right.

- That's when you have to worry about 'em catching something.

- Okay.

- So use your fungicides and alternate what you use.

- All right.

Those are two good points.

So I, one, I would like to mention, there is a physiological leaf curl, which is actually due to environmental stresses, which is heat, you know, for us.

Of course, you know, do look for mites, - Mites, yeah.

- You know, insect pests, which could be, you know, sucking on those leaves themselves.

And something else, I know that causes leave curl, herbicide drift.

- Mmm-hm.

- Right.

- So that's something else you have to look out for too, as well.

It could be, you know, somebody may be spraying a herbicide nearby, which affects the younger tissue.

So this is a couple of things to consider.

But for the most part, we're probably thinking it's environmental stress.

- Which sometimes you can't do anything about.

- Right.

- What maybe a neighbors spraying.

- Right.

- But you can watch your own drift and also your water runoff.

- Right, right.

- You might be watering the lawn and it's drifting, it's migrating over to the plants.

- Good point.

That is a good point.

- And, a lot of time, on my tomato plants, I like try to rotate those in the garden if I can, to another location, because could be something in the soil that's causing that.

And a lot of time, the disease, like certain diseases on certain plants.

So maybe try to rotate your tomato to another location in the garden if you get a chance.

- Okay, so crop rotation is important.

Resistant varieties would be something else that's important as well.

- Well, and a lot of times your drift too, though, on your herbicides, they'll start to alter how they grow as well.

- That's right.

So I would look for that.

So you'd know in the future, what, you know, if that was the cause of it.

[gentle country music] - "What is the difference between 8-8-8, 10-10-10, "13-13-13, et cetera.

What is the right strength needed for plants?"

And this is Ahneal on YouTube.

- Ohhh.

- That's a good question.

- It is a good question.

- So what's the difference?

- Difference is in the amount of the elements that are present in each one of the categories.

Where when you have organic fertilizer, that's just like, compost, you compost your own material, It's lower than the 8-8-8, - Right.

- So it's just the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that is available for plants to take up in each fertilizer.

Now, as to what is the best one?

There, it, I don't, you can't, it's hard to answer that question.

- Right.

Right.

- Especially without a soil test.

That's, you gotta know where you're starting.

I'll tell you, my vegetable garden wasn't doing well, and I went ahead and soil tested, found out I had was, it was high in phosphorus and potassium and was recommended that I only put nitrogen down.

So I did that for a few years and voila, that's what it needed was just nitrogen.

It didn't need phosphorus, potassium.

- It makes a difference, right.

To get this soil tested.

- Yeah.

- So if you look at that 8-8-8 or triple-8, eight percent nitrogen, eight percent phosphorus, eight percent potassium.

- Mm-hmm.

- Okay.

You have a 1-1-1 ratio.

- Mm-hmm.

The only difference is gonna be how much of each one of these you would apply.

- Right.

- Okay.

So for the 8-8-8, if it asks for maybe a cup for the 13-13-13, it'll probably be 2/3 of a cup.

You know, it'll be something smaller.

- Right.

- Right, so that's gonna be the main difference is how much you're going to apply.

But just remember it's a 1-1-1 ratio.

- Yeah.

- But I always say, let's start with the soil test.

- Yes.

- Good example you just gave us.

- Yeah.

- Right.

- And you know, because you don't know, you cannot tell by looking at soil, what the soil pH is.

- So Ahneal, go to your local extension office, ask to get your soil tested.

Let's start there.

Then you'll get a recommendation based on what it is you're trying to grow.

- Yes.

And they'll let you know what fertilizers to use.

- Yes.

- Okay.

But that was a good question.

- It was a good question.

- Good question.

And again, too, these are all complete fertilizers.

- Yes they are.

Right, 'cause they have nitrogen phosphorus and potassium.

- In all of them.

- In all of them.

Right.

So complete balanced fertilizer.

So usually, you know, for those who don't get their soil tested, you know, the recommendation is use a complete balanced fertilizer.

- Right.

- Like these, but get your soil tested first.

- Yes.

- All right.

Don't guess, soil test.

[gentle country music] "Last summer I put in a crape myrtle.

"I noticed today that there are suckers growing from the "trunk about 10 inches from the ground.

"If I snap off crape myrtle suckers and use some root hormone, will they root?"

And this is Countrygirl3 from Spring Hill, Tennessee.

You like that?

- Yeah.

- Countrygirl3.

- Look at that.

I think I'll be in Spring Hill tomorrow.

- I know that.

So how about that?

So what do you think about that?

- So I am going to give, my first answer's gonna be our legal disclaimer, right.

[Chris laughing] So some of our newer cultivars would still be under plant patent.

So for us to, you know, be completely sure about whether we should be brooding, everything that will root.

- Yeah?

Okay.

- You know, it's good.

It's respect to, you know, breeders, all that.

- Okay.

I'm glad you mentioned that.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Okay.

So with that be said and done.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Semi-hardwood cuttings, pretty common.

- Pretty common.

- For crape myrtle.

- Pretty common.

And I'll tell you something else too though.

'Cause I think Joellen actually did this with a crape myrtle that her dad gave her.

Some of those suckers, if you get it up from the root system.

- Yeah.

It may.

I mean, you may literally, - It could work.

- You may be dividing almost, you know?

- Yeah.

It can work.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

And I have read about crape myrtle, that they may be prolific enough, rooters in some of those cuttings, that rooting hormone might not be 100%-- - Okay.

Good - Essential.

- I didn't know that.

but there's some good information about propagation, especially on woody species.

I always like to, well, I'll admit that I'm a geek, right.

But I still have my plant propagation book from, you know, from college.

- I have mine as well.

Yeah.

- So I always look at all of the details about the rooting hormone level on yeah.

And suggestions there.

- See sometimes keeping those books, it comes in handy, doesn't it?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Comes in handy.

[gentle country music] "If I trim the height of my crape "myrtle by two feet or so from the top, "will this encourage lateral growth?

"I'd like the size of the tree to fill out "or extend further for a little more privacy.

Thank you," And this is Cindy from New Jersey.

All right, so yeah, she wants to cut it to encourage more lateral growth and we're talking about New Jersey.

So what do you think?

- It sort of, depends on what kind of crape myrtle she has.

You know, we don't know how tall it is to begin with.

We don't know if it's 1 that's gonna be 25 feet tall, or 1 that's going to be 10, but typically when you're pruning, it does make things bush out more.

Now, if it's like a tree form behind us here and you take two feet off the top, it's not gonna make this branch down below.

- Right.

- Now if you cut it off at six feet, which we don't want to do.

- Right.

[both laughing] - You're gonna get lots of growth down low.

- Right.

- Even, probably from the base, which you don't want on a tree form.

So it kind of depends, you know, if she's wanting more, be thicker.

If it's one that is more compact form, I wouldn't hesitate giving that a try.

But also, she might just consider adding some more plants in that area, or maybe, you know, even some more dwarf or compact forms and kind of in and amongst those, to fill in at the base.

Or if it's giving lots of shade like this, then you would need to add shade plants underneath it.

And so she could add another layer of plants in the area to give her that privacy that she needs.

- And I mean, that's pretty high north to be, to be growing crape myrtle successfully they're still.

- New Jersey think about that [laughing].

- They're still in the zone there, that's awesome.

- Yeah, that is pretty good.

[gentle country music] "I transplanted this shrub several years ago "to the back corner of my yard when it was about knee high.

"It gets a lot of moisture here and "quite a bit of shade in the summer "from the river birch overhead.

"Can you tell me the name of this shrub?

"I believe it may have the name olive branch or olive bush or something like that, but I'm not certain."

And this is Dixie from Clarksdale, Mississippi.

- All right, so we have a nice picture, you know, from her.

- Yes, it's a nice picture.

- A lot of shade though, from it.

- It is a lot of shade, and you see how the leaves are much wider?

- Uh huh.

- Because, and they're kind of sparse, but they're, guess 'cause they don't get a whole lot of sun.

- Right, right, and she believes it may have the name olive bush.

- So yeah, there's a lot of different things with olive bush name, but the most common one that could, it could possibly be, I would think, would be an Osmanthus.

- See, that's what I thought it was.

Yeah.

Just looking at it.

- Yeah.

I would like to know if it has fragrant flowers on it, but then again, because it's in so much shade, and it has a little bit wider and larger leaves because of that, it doesn't always look like a lot of the Osmanthus that likes sun to be able to bloom.

- Right.

- So she may not have blooms on it, but I'm wondering if it does bloom for her.

- That's what I'm wondering too, because yeah.

She did say it gets a lot of moisture, but yes.

In shade, and of course we know that it needs full sun to get those flowers that are fragrant.

- Yeah.

- So that's what I think that is.

- Yeah.

- You know, cause you look at the leaf, look at dark green color.

- Yeah.

- You know, it kind looks like Osmanthus to me.

- Yeah.

- But yeah, if it does get enough sun it'll have those flowers on there, they will smell lovely - Beautiful.

and you'll know exactly, you know, what you have there.

- Right - Yes.

True.

- So if you can, what, maybe she can, - She could, if she can move it?

Or?

- Yeah.

- No that's, that thing looks pretty big.

- It looks pretty big.

- It looks pretty big.

- Maybe she could just start a cutting of it and put it in the sun.

- Okay.

- You know, use some rooting powder and get it in, a container.

- Okay.

- Or she could bend one of the lower branches down and put a brick over it, or rooting powder and see if she can get another part of it to root, and then dig it and put in the, in more sunny conditions and see if that's what it is.

- Okay, and I also thought, is it possible to maybe limb up the river birch, maybe?

So you can get more sunlight down in.

- You could do that.

- I mean, that may be a bit much, but it's, you know.

- Just depends on, you know, how low it is, but.

- Yeah, okay.

- And the look she's going for.

- Right.

Okay.

So.

- But it is a nice evergreen shrub.

- It is nice, yeah.

It's a pretty good size too.

So I mean it likes it, but we think it needs a little bit more sun, so you can see those flowers.

- Yeah.

- Right.

And so you can smell it.

[gentle country music] "I love boxwood hedges.

"The location where I want to plant them, "my front yard, receives full sun all day long.

"What would be the best kind of boxwood to plant for a hedge?"

This is Annette from Memphis, Tennessee.

So, the best kind of boxwood hedge.

- Hedge.

Well, the catch here is full sun.

- Is full sun, right.

- And that's when I would say, I would prefer a holly hedge 'cause hollies are actually substitutes for boxwoods, the small leaf varieties, the Japanese, like the, the native vomitorias.

- Okay.

- And dwarf vomitorias, and even some of the newer varieties.

But because they don't, boxwoods really don't do great in full sun.

- Right.

- Unless she's got enough, you know, it's gotta be well-drained and there's gotta be enough moisture in the ground, so they don't dry out.

And if you're gonna do that, I would say the Korean variety is probably, if you're gonna, if you're going to put it in full sun, if you wanna try it, [laughing] - Okay.

I would say Korean, but I would suggest hollies in full sun.

- Hollies in full sun.

- Yeah.

- Rather than boxwood in full sun.

- Boxwood, pretty good, morning sun, but see, afternoon sun in Memphis, Tennessee, - It's just, - It's brutal.

- It's just so hot.

I'm afraid that she's gonna get burning on the leaves, and it's gonna be unattractive, and she won't like it.

- Right.

- That's why I think some kind of holly hedge would be a better choice.

- Okay, holly hedge would be a better choice Ms. Annette, yeah again, 'cause we think about the full sun, especially afternoon sun here in Memphis, it's gonna be tough.

And then boxwood too, have shallow root systems.

- Right.

- So mulch it, gotta keep it watered so it can get, you know, established and survive, right, and thrive.

- And, you're right and if it was just afternoons, you know, the late afternoon, that might be okay.

- Right.

- If it had shade the rest of the day, - Right.

- Or if it had shade the first part of the day, or even just a couple hours in the middle of the day, but all day long?

I'm afraid she won't be happy with the way the box would look.

[gentle country music] - "What is the name of this tree?"

And this is John from Olive Branch, Mississippi.

- Just a little ways down the road.

- Just a little ways, just a little piece.

So what do you think that is?

- I'm thinking cottonwood.

- That is a Eastern cottonwood tree, right.

Now here's the thing about Eastern cottonwood.

Some people consider it to be a weed tree.

- Yeah.

- 'Cause you see it all over the place.

- Rapidly growing.

- Short lived.. - I actually think that the blowing cotton is really beautiful, but I can see that some people might find it - I actually like it.

- Annoying, yeah.

- It's pretty cool.

But yeah.

So yeah.

Fast growing, short lived.

Can grow in any soil type.

- Yeah.

- For the most part, has little landscape value though, you know, because the wood is weak, - Yeah.

- Soft and brittle, right, and believe it or not, I can remember reading about Eastern cottonwood in Dr. Dirr's Woody Manual.

[Natalie laughing] And you know what he said about it?

"Impressive in river bottoms."

- Yeah.

- "Should remain there."

- Yes.

It's like why work against nature?

Let them serve their purpose.

- Let them serve their purpose in the river bottoms.

- Yes.

So there you have it John, it's a Eastern cottonwood.

That's what that is.

Right.

I think it's Populous deltoides.

- Yeah.

[gentle country music] "Do European plum varieties pollinate Asian varieties?"

Interesting question.

This is Brian on YouTube.

- And it's a, it's an interesting question, because it would make sense because they're all, you know, plums right.

They're all, but no.

- No, so this is what needs to happen.

You need a European plum variety to pollinate a European plum.

- Right.

- You need a Asian variety to pollinate Asian plums.

- Correct.

- And usually nurseries will tell you, "Well, this is the pollinator for these varieties.

And so you need both of them."

So I would actually contact wherever he got that.

- Yeah.

- And see if they have the same pollinator for that particular variety that he has.

- Right.

'Cause in this instance, you're going to need the same pollinators, right?

- Yeah.

- You're gonna need a European plum for a European plum, Asian plum for Asian plum.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, there's not gonna be any cross-pollination between the European plum and the Asian varieties.

- And, one of the reasons is, they don't bloom at the same time.

- They bloom at different times.

- So that's why they can't pollinate each other, 'cause they're not blooming at the right times.

- Right, yeah, so they don't bloom at the right times of course, you know, at the same times.

And then some environmental factors, you know, - True.

- Play a part in it as well.

So Brian hope that answers your question.

- Yeah.

I'm sorry.

- Yeah.

Sorry about that.

[gentle country music] "I have blooms on my Espalier apple tree "that lost the fruit and the leaves.

"I think it was apple rust.

"How do I control apple rust on my apple tree?

"Don't know the variety.

What should I spray and when?"

And this is John from Northern New York.

Mr. D. So how does he control apple rust on his apple tree?

- Fungicide applications.

- Okay.

- Timely fungicide applications.

If it's cedar apple rust, if you can go out and cut down all the cedar trees [Chris laughing] from all directions for several hundred miles and you might take care of that.

But, but if you follow the spray schedule, according to the Home Orchard, our trusty Home Orchard Spray Guide.

- Or check, at your local extension office there at northern New York, they may have a spray guide for you as well.

- Yeah, they will, I guarantee you, they will.

They've got a Home Orchard Spray Guide up there.

Cornell does that.

I know they did.

- Yeah, Cornell.

Right, right.

- But down here in the South, we, we do a dormant spray with oil emulsion plus copper.

That's a delayed dormant spray.

Then, at bud break, we spray with a fungicide Captan, and then at pink, and I'm gonna show you what pink looks like, that's pink.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Right there first pink.

That's when it's very important for controlling rust at that stage.

And that's the reason I made a big point out of that.

- Right.

But you you'll want to include immunox - Yeah.

- In your spray mix, captan or immunox and it specifies in the notes here.

If cedar apple rust has been a problem in the past, use immunox in this spray mix.

So you use immunox plus malathion or esfenvalerate for the insects.

- Right.

- And then, you spray, this is, and you're not gonna hurt the pollinating insects then because this is before it's busted open.

- Okay, good.

- And then go with you cover sprays when all the petals have fallen off.

That's when you, you go back to again, and immunox plus the malathion or one of the insecticides in your spray mix, - Okay.

- This is a protective treatment.

And when you apply the cover sprays.

That's immunox in our neck of the woods, is what we recommend for rust diseases on apple trees.

- Right.

- Are there rust resistant varieties or?

- There are varieties that are not as susceptible to rust as others.

Yeah, I know Golden delicious is very susceptible to rust.

But there are varieties that have some, that have some resistance, and I would, if you're planting, if you're starting an apple orchard, you make sure that you try to get some varieties, - A new family member.

[laughing] - Get some varieties that.

- You need another tree.

- That's right, get some resistant to rust.

- Yeah.

- Something that's resistant.

I'm sure they, again, have that information in Cornell Extension.

- That's right.

- They will have that.

- And I've got five apple trees in my little orchard and a couple of 'em are, are Golden Delicious.

And they get covered up with rust every year because they have cedar trees everywhere.

And I don't spray 'em, you know, do as I say, [Chris laughing] not as I do.

When I retire, I'm gonna start spraying my apple trees.

- Okay.

- I have two or three varieties that don't have a problem with it.

- Right.

- So it's very, very important.

And I planted the Golden Delicious as pollinators, without even looking without even checking.

'Cause they're good pollinators for, for a lot of the other varieties, but there are, pollinators out there that have resistance to rust.

[gentle country music] "I live in North Carolina "on the South Carolina border and "I have two fruit trees that were planted two years ago.

"They are not in great shape.

"They are failing.

"When should I move my fruit trees, in the fall?

Thank you."

And this is Ron from North Carolina, so.

- Wow.

- Okay yeah, so he wants to know, "When should I move my fruit trees?"

- Well, I have a question.

- Okay.

- Why does he want to move them?

- Hmm, okay.

- I mean, why does he think he needs to move them?

- Yeah, 'cause he just tells us they're-- - I know they're failing, but how are they failing?

Is it, did he plant them and it's gotten shady in that area and there's not enough light for him?

Is it in a low area that's staying too wet?

But either way, - A picture would help, - Whatever - But either way, - Is wrong - But I think he's he's correct, fall - Okay.

- Would be the best time - Okay.

- To move them while they're young.

- Have a location in sight of course.

- Sunny.

- Yeah, Yeah.

Well drained.

- Right.

- Would be good.

- It it'll be good for that, but you can get away with it in the fall.

- Sure.

- I could hear Mr. D. in my head now.

He would, he would say winter.

- Oh, Yeah, winter - He would say winter, - early spring would be a good time to do that.

- True.

- You know, as well.

- I would wait till the leaves fall off of it - Right - Before I would move it.

- Right, which is why Mr. D said winter, because the tree should be what?

In dormancy at that point in time.

- Yeah.

- Right.

Or semi-dormant.

Right.

So yeah.

I think you'd be fine, you know Mr. Ron.

But yeah, we need to find out why the tree is failing in the first place.

- And he could call his local extension agent and have him help come out and help him assess maybe a better location for it.

Maybe so.

Maybe so.

[upbeat country] - "I have been fighting burweed in the yard "for three years now.

"Please help!

"I have used Roundup, "and had the yard professionally sprayed in the spring two years in a row, and still, it is taking over.

The only thing I haven't done is to use a pre-emerge."

- Hmm, I think we might come back to that.

"What do I need to do to get rid of burweed "in my lawn?

"Our yard is four acres, "but the burweed is only in a portion.

"I think the lawnmower wheels may be "spreading the burrs when they dry out.

"I need to get control before we start mowing.

Our dogs would especially appreciate your expertise."

And this is Judy from Ecru, Mississippi.

- Yes.

- So the dogs would appreciate your expertise.

- And any child that's barefoot too.

- Oh.

Yeah.

- Or any person that's barefoot.

- Or any person, any person.

- Yes.

Yeah.

- Burweed.

- Yes.

I have that in my yard.

I have been in my yard as well.

- It's not, it's recent.

It's just in the last year or so that I've had it, so.

- I've had it for a couple of years.

- And I don't know.

It's crazy, but yeah.

Spot spraying with either a broad leaf herbicide or even you could just even dab it with a little bit of Roundup to get rid of the individual plants.

But, - But?

- There's gonna be a weed, a seed bank there already.

And that's not, this gonna keep coming up 'til all the seeds are exhausted.

So best thing would be pre-emergents.

- Let's go back to it.

So, something that, And she hadn't done that yet, Ms. Julie hadn't done yet.

So I would go with the pre-emerge.

I would do a pre-emerge in the fall.

- Yes.

- Dithiopyr, pendimethalin, prodiamine, you know, I would go with those in the fall.

You're gonna read and follow the label on that.

If you have to use a post-emergent herbicide, I would do that in the winter.

- Mm-hmm.

- I would do it December, January.

- Yeah.

- Maybe a little bit of February.

Right, and you could do that with a three-way herbicide.

- If, if you know what is there, if it's there.

- Right.

If it's there, but the pre-emerge, I would do that first.

- Oh my gosh.

I would definitely go with a pre-emerge.

- Yeah.

- But first and foremost, culturally, make sure we are growing a thick stand of grass.

- Yeah.

- So do you have the right grass for the area?

That's first things first.

I can answer that for my own yard, I do not.

- Yeah.

I don't either.

So if you have a thick stand of grass it would crowd out the burweed.

Right, but yeah, in the fall use the pre-emerge.

- Yeah.

- Because if you wait later than the fall to use pre-emerge, it's already gonna start to develop the little burr, and then by that time you have to use the post-emerge, which is the three way.

- Yeah.

- Especially as you get into, you know, the spring.

- Yeah, and you're probably gonna have to be on a pre-emergent cycle.

I mean, isn't it, it's several times a year.

- Right, it's gonna be a couple of times a year, depending on you know, which product you, you know, decide to use, right.

Just read and follow the label.

It will tell you that.

- Yeah.

- You know how many times you need to put it down and when you would need to put it down as well.

- Right.

So Ms. Judy, - Sorry.

- Sorry, yeah but use the pre-emerge.

You haven't done it yet.

- Yeah.

- I'm telling you it's gonna work.

It's gonna work.

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.

Thanks for sending in the questions.

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

We have all these questions listed on the homepage.

Thanks for watching, and keep sending in the questions.

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]