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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Yellow jackets, crape   myrtle, and moonflower,   what do they all   have in common?

They are all viewer questions   we're going to answer   on today's show.

It's the Q & A   how 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.

This week we're going to spend the whole show answering viewer questions.

Every week we get more questions than we can answer on air.

This week we are catching up showing you some of the answers we did not have time to air.

Let's start off with a question about mosaic virus.

"We had a problem with mosaic virus in our garden last year.

"All of the green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers got it "and we ripped them out.

"My first question is how much soil should be removed "to make it safe to plant this year?

"I am thinking about using a fine netting "to keep aphids and whiteflies out this year.

"Are there any other steps that I can take to protect our garden?

"I have read several different suggestions online.

What can I do to keep it   out of my garden this year?"

And this is Tina in   Evansville, Indiana.

- Okay.

- All right.

So we're talking   about mosaic virus.

- Caused by aphids.

- Okay, yeah so insect pests   can be a vector   for this virus.

So how do we keep   the virus out?

- One of the things   that I try to do in that I try to rotate my vegetables sometimes in different areas of the garden with a crop rotation in there.

Then you might want to try to buy a variety that fight that off, they don't get that on there, so, that's what I would do.

I would try to rotate my vegetables this year, I try to do a different location in there and see whether they still get on there, and that's it.

And then you also, you might want just buy, like I said, buy varieties that it don't affect that in there.

Because mosaic virus you see on tomatoes and peppers and beans.

You see it on a lot of time in there.

I don't think it would be in the soil in there.

I think he'd probably need to move a lot of soil out of them in there.

- Yeah, you don't have to remove any soil.

- Okay, I didn't think so.

- Yeah.

So you're exactly right.

So here are a couple of points that I like to mention.

- Okay.

- I always tell people to get virus-resistant seeds.

Okay.

Virus-free seeds.

Resistant varieties, which you talked about, you know, it's something that we'll do.

But here's something that's critical: remove those weeds.

- Okay.

- 'Cause that's where the insect pests are.

- Okay.

- And again, they are the vector, right, for the virus.

So if you can remove those weeds then yeah.

'Cause we know the aphids will be in there and some of your other insects pests.

So yeah get those weeds out of there.

Practice good sanitation.

As you mentioned, crop rotation, something else like that would do as well.

So if you do all of those things-- - You should be able to control that in there.

- You should be able to control it.

Yeah.

You should be able to control it.

- You should be able to control it, don't have to worry about again removing-- - The soil in there.

- You should be fine.

- Yeah, I always look for those resistant varieties, you know, virus free seeds.

- 'Cause you don't want to start spraying a whole lot of chemicals around any vegetable garden if you can help it.

- If you can help it, right.

- Yeah you help it.

You didn't wanna start doing that.

Like I said, I remove the weeds and everything and try to get rid of the problem-- - Right.

- Before we get on there.

[upbeat country music]   - "What is wrong   with my cucumbers?

"They were going   great at first   "and I got one or two small   cucumbers produced, now this.

And this is Ron   from Memphis.

As you can see, they're   like it just died out.

It wilted.

I actually think   that's bacterial wilt.

- Probably.

And I don't think it's coming back.

- I don't think it's coming back, not from that.

- Hopefully he's got more cucumbers and he needs to get rid of that one and take it out and destroy it.

- Yeah.

That's gonna have to come out.

And of course the vector for bacteria wilt is going to be   the spotted cucumber beetle.

- Yep.

- So that means   you got to control.

- You got to   control the beetle.

Attempt to anyway.

- Yeah.

That's   going to be hard.

I mean, how do you   build to do that really?

- They're strong flyers and it's just, it's really, really hard when you're talking about these wilt diseases that it's really, it's almost impossible to, you know, control insects like that.

We don't have, we're not able to use insecticide that have a very long residual and, but plant enough, plant a bunch of cucumbers and then when you see them, you can spray the cucumber beetles and remove the plants that are affected.

Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah.

Because they're going to go from plant to plant.

- He needs to plant those cucumbers all up and down that fence.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That will climb on up there.

But you're right, using the, you know, insecticides is going to be tough.

Like the neem oil, you know, and such, it's going to be tough.

- Yeah.

It's a tough one, I hate wilt diseases.

- Yeah.

They're not very forgiving.

- Yeah, and like you mentioned, you have to take out the whole plant.

- Yeah, yeah.

And get them out and don't put them in your compost bin.

- No!

No.

- You put them in, you know, bag them up and put them in the trash and send them to the landfill.

- Right.

[upbeat country music]   - "I seem to get more than   my share of yellow jackets   "every year.

How can I safely   get rid of them?"

This is Paulette from   Cocke County, Tennessee.

So she gets lot of yellow jackets.

How does she safely get rid of them?

- Well, you know, the interesting thing is that usually in the fall there are, it's the end of the season, so there's a lot of more of them to forage for food.

And what they're going to go for is anything.

Anything that we like to eat, they like to eat.

So sanitation is probably the number one thing to get rid of them.

Is make sure that there's nothing for them to eat.

- Okay.

- Another thing they can do is simply avoidance.

You can't...

When these foraging in the late fall, they don't really care too much about you.

They're not really gonna sting you unless you start messing with them.

So if you start swatting at them, then you're going to get stung and that's not a good thing.

- Not a good thing.

- Of course, you see the Coke cans.

If you're on a picnic and you have aluminum can with a beverage in it, be careful because sometimes they'll land there and go into the lid before you notice this so that you don't want to do that.

Repellents don't seem to work very well.

DEET will help have them avoid you, but don't wear perfumes and stuff when you're hiking and out in nature, because that attracts them.

Traps work some, but if you're going to use a trap and you're trying to keep them away from your yard, put them on the periphery of your property so that they are attracted not exactly to where you are, but away from where you are.

Other than that, trying to get the nest is the best thing to do.

But when you do find the nest, if you can find the nest,   because in the fall, when   they're all out there,   it's very difficult to   find the nest in the fall,   if it's earlier in the summer,   it's easier to find the nest, be careful, you know, try to treat it at night when they're all back in the nest and you can get a hold of them and get the, they say powders are better than sprays for nests, but you know, and don't shine lights on the nest either.

Shine the light away from the nest because they'll be, they'll come out towards the light.

- Right.

That's a lot.

- That's a lot.

Yeah.

But yeah.

Sanitation probably number one way to keep them away.

- Right.

Yeah.

Be careful, yeah, around those yellow jackets.

I know what that feels like to be stung by one so you definitely have to be careful.

And lastly, yeah, I mean, you mentioned the aerosol sprays and the dust and powders and things like that.

Look for the active   ingredient permethrin.

- Yes.

- And that should help.

Read and follow the label.

But that's last on the list.

- Last yeah.

[upbeat country music]   - "Our weeping cherry   is about eight years old   "and has always bloomed   beautifully and been healthy.

"This spring, it had blooms   only on the very top branches.

"Now that's where   the only leaves are.

"The tips of the lower   branches are dry and dead.

"There are no obvious   problems that we can see.

"I'm sure it will   have to come down,   but I'm curious about   what the problem might be."

This is Mimi from   Memphis, Tennessee.

Eight year old.

- Yes.

- The leaves are only at the top.

- Right.

but they're dry and dead at the bottom.

- Yes.

- So they're just curious-- - Well-- - What the problem may be.

- You know, it's a cherry tree.

That's probably the number one problem there.

The list-- - So many problems.

- We have the list of insects, borers and diseases that, shothole disease-- - Cankers, borers.

- Oh my goodness.

But we had a very unusually cold period this winter, and I think whatever was stressing it before may have tried to finish it off with the cold.

I've been observing some cherries in an area of where I live and there's only one of the four or five trees that is alive.

And they've been beautiful, all this to other, you know, the other years themselves.

So I think the cold really, when there were problems with, 'cause cherries have lots of problems, the cold weather just kind of was the, the icing on the cake to finish them off and saying, "Hey, this is just not good."

And they, you know, she can replace it if she wants to, but she's going to have the same problems.

'Cause cherries are just fraught with problems in this area.

- Yes.

Again, cankers, borers, yeah, rots, they're a thin-barked tree, you know, so.

- Sunscald.

- Yes, god.

- You can even name everything, yeah.

- If they're stressed out, they're going to have problems.

- Right.

- So if you're going to get another one, just make sure to keep it comfortable if you can.

- If you can.

- Yeah.

If you can.

- And keep it sprayed for borers and on a regular basis.

- That'll be on the spray schedule, that's for sure.

[upbeat country music]   - "I have a small problem.

"I have a flower box on   the outside of my porch.

"It has an awning over it,   so the rain can't reach it.

"Nothing grows in it except   plastic.

What should I do?"

And this is Keith in   Metz, West Virginia.

So Peter, just a little   small problem, right?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Well, I have a couple of questions.

- So do I.

- Are, are you watering it?

- Okay.

I would think, you know, the rain can't reach it, yes, but you know, things should grow in it if you water it.

But my other question is, what is the soil in that planter box?

It might be worth it to actually, you know, I don't know how big it is.

- Right.

- But to replace some, if not all of it.

You know, if it's a small planter box, you can just dump it out and put new soil in it.

If it's bigger, maybe dig out the top six inches and put in new soil because it could be that there's just no nutritional value in that soil.

- It could be.

It could be.

- Yeah.

- So I actually thought about those same two things.

So I thought about the soil because we don't know the size, right and then, yeah.

- And the soil might not have no nutrients in there, nothing like that and then have nothing grow in there.

- Right.

- Yeah.

So I would have to change the soil out, put some new soil in there.

Just see what's going on with that soil.

- Okay.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

And make sure you water, you got an awning over that, so.

- You might get you a water container.

- You need a water container there, yeah.

- The other thing is, if it's under the awning, I don't know how much sun it gets.

- Yeah, it's probably a lot of shade.

- You know, if there's a lot of shade, you need to be growing shade plants in there.

[upbeat country music]   - "What type of shrub is this   "and when is a good   time to prune them?

"They're 20 years old and   we tried to thin them out   last year and   they look horrible."

This is Joyce.

So what type   of shrub is that?

And I think we know   this shrub well.

- Yeah.

It looks like a dwarf Burford holly.

They don't usually use the   regular Burford hollies anymore   It's always usually   the dwarf Burford holly.

However, dwarf is a   relative term sometimes   because dwarf Burford hollies   can get five to   eight feet 'round,   which is not really a good   size for a foundation plant,   which is why she   has to prune it.

- Right.

- And based on her picture that I see hollies this time of year in the spring, especially in the latter part of the spring, best time of the year to prune a holly because they're starting to get their new growth out so you cut them down and then put a little fertilizer on them, complete fertilizer, like 13-13-13, nothing.

It's going to last all season long rest assured and with the spring rains and stuff, it'll rejuvenate that plant and it'll come back out.

But if she cuts it, when she wants to cut it down, it looks leggy in the picture-- - It definitely does.

- Just foliage up on top.

And I would not be upset at all by cutting off the foliage part to make it shorter and just have bare wood because of the time of year that it is.

- Right.

- Hollies are tough and so it will come back out.

- All right.

So it will come back out.

So, so how low would you cut it?

- I would just cut off, well, I would cut off all that foliage because the problem is the foliage, it's been pruned in a vase shape.

- Yeah you can definitely tell that.

- And so the top is actually shading the bottom part.

So it's not going to be able to you know, come back out because it's not getting light.

- Right.

- So you want to kind of prune shrubs, you know, in a angle, down.

The widest part of the shrubs should be at the base of the ground.

That way light will evenly disperse itself all around the shrub.

So it's just the opposite.

Pruned just the opposite of the way it really should.

So if you cut off that top, the shading, the bottom, then the rest of it will come out.

I know it'll be bare, but don't worry, it's a holly.

It will come back.

[upbeat country music] - "I grow moonflower vines each year "and have lovely blossoms.

"There are always big seed pods that I save, "sadly, they never germinate.

"I've tried layering the seeds in wet paper towels "for several days.

"It's always worked with the store-bought seeds, "but not my homegrown seeds.

"What do I need   to do to get my   homegrown moonflower   seeds to germinate?"

Darlene, Hermitage, Tennessee.

Guess what, Ms. Darlene.

She knows a little bit about the moonflower vines, right, and those seeds.

So why don't you tell us about that?

- Well, it's interesting.

It's from the tropics.

- Okay.

- And in the tropics, the seed is carried in the oceans.

So it's tumbled in the ocean, it's stratified by being tumbled in the ocean where then it lands on shore and populates the area that it lands in.

- Sure, sure.

Of course now the tropics have a much longer growing season than we do.

- Okay.

- And so that's why we get a lot of questions sometimes, "Well my moonflower hasn't bloomed yet", because it takes a long time.

They'd like a long season to be able to bloom and set seed.

And sometimes even when they do set seed, they're not viable because they haven't had that long enough growing season to mature the seeds.

So that might be part of the problem, that they're just aren't viable, so that's why they're not germinating.

Or, I'd even do this with store-bought seeds.

I take either a nail file and actually get that, try to get that seed coat, you know, a little bit thinner so that it'll soak up the water.

And I actually like-- so remember the ocean, they're tumbling in the ocean.

So I always soak them in sea for several days.

And usually the viable ones will sink to the bottom.

And then I plant those.

- Okay so you'd soak the seeds in the water.

- After I've put a nail file on them, or even it's a little bit more dangerous to take pruners and try to take a nip out of them.

So, yeah, I mean either way, but you got to watch your fingers when you do it.

- Watch your fingers.

- 'Cause it's really hard seed and you're just trying to get that through that seed coat so the water can get in there and swell the seed.

- Yeah and that process is scarification.

That's what that's called.

Right.

So yeah once the seeds start to absorb water then it kicks off the germination process.

- Yes.

- Right.

So there you have it.

Be careful, if you're using pruners.

- That's why nail files work really well.

- Yeah nail files.

It just takes a little bit.

- Yeah, just do it.

Make a thinner coat so the water can get in there.

[upbeat country music]   - "I have 13   crape myrtle trees,   "all of them have   these big knots on them   "that the branches   grow out of.

"I have sawwed them   off on several trees   "and they grow back.

"Do I keep cutting   the knots off?

"I really would   like to know   "before I put all   this work in again.

Thanks."

Marie from   Chattanooga, Tennessee.

So Peter, the big knots, right?

They keep growing, right?

- Crape murder.

- Crape murder, crape murder.

- Yeah, so whenever you prune a tree or any other plant, you're saying, you know, you cut it here, you're saying grow from this point.

So what's happening is the crape myrtle is doing exactly what you're telling it to do.

You're cutting it here and then it goes poof, right there and that turns into a big knot.

Especially if you go back and remove all those branches every year, the knots just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Looking at the pictures, those knots are always going to be there.

Seeing how big the branches are that you're cutting.

Now, there is a way that you can get rid of the knots.

It will take several years.

And what you do is, every year, you go in and cut off one of those big branches at the ground.

The plant will respond by sending up suckers because all of a sudden it doesn't have all of the top growth to match the roots, pick one of those suckers or two of those suckers and let them grow.

The next year, go in, remove another one of the big branches right at the ground and let it be replaced by a sucker.

And so over the course of four or five years, what you're going to do is you're going to have the, the true form of the crape myrtle without the knots, because you've removed those.

But if you keep cutting, if you keep cutting the stalks every year, the knots are just going to keep coming back and coming back.

- And that's so unsightly looking.

- Don't look good when you see the kots on there like that.

Like I said, we don't recommend that you do a lot of pruning on crape myrtle unless you just really have a problem with them over your house or your roof or something like that.

So you don't have the ugly knots on there.

- Unless they're in the way.

- In the way.

- And prune it like a tree.

Yeah.

And so, you know, go in and if you don't want this branch, cut it off where it comes out of another branch.

And you can go in and if you want to, in the winter, you can go in and tip all of the branches and remove the seed pods.

But yeah, think of it as a tree not as a shrub.

- Limb them up and over.

- Over, yeah.

- Back to a main branch... - Right.

- Or stem, that's what you should do.

[upbeat country music]   - "This is my Kerr crab-apple   tree I planted a few years ago.

"This is the first   time it had fruit.

"I planned to make   crab-apple jelly   "so I need the fruit to be   healthy, no black parts.

"What should I spray it   with to prevent these   "spots on the leaves   and on the fruit?

"Also, when and how   often should I spray?

Thank you very much."

This is Juliet from   east Memphis, Tennessee.

So this is the first time   she's had a fruit on her Kerr crab-apple tree.

Which is good.

- It is good.

It's good.

- So we congratulate you on that, Ms. Juliet.

Now she wants to know what to spray it with.

- Well I also want to congratulate her for making crab-apple jelly 'cause crab-apple jelly is my favorite jelly, but that is a, that's good.

That is really good.

But the Kerr crab-apple is actually a cross between an apple and a crab-apple.

And it's older than I am.

They did that back in early '50s, but it's a, the what Malus Dolgo crab-apple crossed with a Haralson apple.

- I didn't know that.

- And so follow a regular apple cover spray, and that's simply using a mixture of captan and malathion, you can mix it yourself, or you can get a home orchard spray with those ingredients and go with a cover spray and that should control all of the-- I mean the same diseases attack crab-apple that attack apples.

- Right.

- And, if you follow a regular apple home orchard spray guide, you know, you should be okay.

- Okay, so what do we think is causing the black spots?

- There's, several fungal diseases that could cause that.

Bitter rot is one.

There's white rot   that gets on apples.

Anthracnose, and several,   several diseases that gets on   the leaves and the fruit.

I don't worry as much about trying to identify specific disease on any fruit really, because the cover sprays should take care of all your diseases and the only thing is if it's a bacterial spot or something like that, the fungicides won't help you with that and you've got to do something a little bit different.

But from the way she described it, black spots on the leaves and on the fruit sounds like it's just, you know.

- It's not gonna be that big of a deal, right?

- I don't think so.

I don't think so.

- And this is east Memphis, so yeah, you think about, you know, early in the spring has been wet and cool.

It's been windy, you know, as well, so yeah, I'm not surprised to see black spots and things like that.

- Yeah.

[upbeat country music]   - "What are these   holes in my pine tree?

"Are they caused by bees?

"The holes are fourth   of an inch wide   and about seven   feet up in the air."

Christian in   Twin Lake, Michigan.

- Oh, - So what are those holes?

We've seen those holes before.

- I have some in my yard, yes.

They are from a bird, the sapsucker woodpecker.

Because he wants   those holes,   he comes back   and revisit them   because he'll eat the sap   that comes out of them   and sometimes insects   are attracted to it   and he'll eat the insects too   to get some protein with his,   you know, pine sap.

And I say, get your   binoculars and enjoy.

- Just enjoy, right.

- Yeah.

- And they will not harm the tree right?

- No, not gonna harm the tree.

- Not gonna harm the tree.

So they're just after the carbohydrate-rich sap.

- That's right.

- And then, yeah, occasionally you get insect pests in there and they'd go after that too.

[upbeat country music]   - "My rattlesnake   pole beans sprouted,   "and the first leaves   are pale yellow.

"Could a nitrogen   deficiency show this early?

It is a problem with about   half of the 30-foot row".

And this is Michelle.

Interesting question.

Could a nitrogen deficiency show this early?

- It could.

I very likely could, especially, you know, these, these pole beans are a legume.

And if the Rhizoctonia or the Rhizobium bacteria is present in the soil, you probably won't see that and probably on half that row there probably or possibly assuming the drainage and everything is the same.

You know, there may have been beans there last year, and she's planted these pole beans in an area where there weren't beans last year, if there was corn there, or, and it hadn't been beans there or a legume there for a lot of years, then that can happen.

We planted a soybean plot at Murray State this year and half of it was planted where there had not been any beans for years and years and years, it's been corn and grain sorghum, the other side with soybeans and soybeans are legume.

And to this day, the soybeans are taller where we had soybeans last year.

And normally we recommend rotating crops.

You rotate crops.

That's a good thing and you'll do better, but we did not inoculate those soybeans.

And there's a difference and when they came up, they were just like this, they were little, they were kinda yellow, but, but you know, you don't usually have to put nitrogen on legumes.

You know, normally you don't have to apply.

I mean, they do their own, they get the nitrogen because of the bacteria, it fixes it in them.

But yes, that could very likely be, and they'll grow out of it.

- Right.

- You know, it take awhile, but.

- You have everything else.

You know-- - If everything's the same now, especially the lower, right.

If that, with all the rain that we've got a lot of rain, if that's a little bit lower on that end then it could be, you know, you could have some root rot and some things like that could be creating a problem but-- - Yeah, but it is normal.

And you do see that and you can-- You'll see those pale yellow leaves pretty early in the age of those rattlesnake pole beans, which are good, by the way.

- 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 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]