- Hi, thanks for joining us for the Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South, I'm Chris Cooper.

Sedums have succulent leaves   that can give a different   look to your flower garden.

Today, we're going to learn   about some great Sedum options.

Also, we are spraying   a peach tree.

That's 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.

Joining us today is Joellen Dimond.

Joellen is the Director of Landscape at the University of Memphis.

And Mr. D will be joining me later.

Alright, Joellen.

We're gonna talk about Sedums today.

- Yes.

- Right, and I know you like talking about Sedums.

- Oh, yes.

It's a very large group of plants.

They all have succulent leaves and fleshy stems.

They're found throughout   the Northern Hemisphere   from the Arctic   down to the equator.

And sometimes over the equator,   they're in Africa   and South America in the south hemisphere also.

- Wow, how about that?

Okay.

- So, there's a large group of them.

But you know, with scientific data going on and all the research where we get to really know what plants are made of and how they are related to each other, they've been broken up into several genuses since Carl Linnaeus found them in 1753.

- Oh my gosh.

- Yeah.

So they've been around for a long time.

- That's a long time.

- And they've been a popular crop for a very long time.

Let's see, they like full sun to part shade.

So all of them   like a lot of sun.

And their common   name, stonecrop,   refers to where they're   found in nature,   which is they grow   amongst rocks.

So you gotta kind   of think about that   when you're planting   them in your yard.

That's why they also do   well as container plants, because they like to be well drained.

That's like capitalized, underlined and highlighted, [Chris laughing] you know, well drained, yes.

They do like that.

They're all different kinds though.

Some of them are perennial, which means they come back every year.

Some of them are biannual, which means they live for two growing seasons and then they die.

And some of them are annual, which means they live only one growing season.

So, there's all different kinds that you can find.

They bloom in the summer and in the fall.

And basically, we group them in two different categories: the tall ones and the short ones.

The short ones are usually called Sedums and they're only a few inches tall.

And this is a good example of a short Sedum.

Some of the short Sedums, they're only a few inches tall.

Some of them are maybe only an inch or so tall and up to maybe six inches tall.

So they're very, very, very small Sedums and they grow on the ground.

Also, sometimes you can...

They attach, see the roots, they can root along the stem.

That's why they spread.

So the stems will fall over, attach, and grow roots into the ground and then they just keep going.

So that's how it's easy to propagate them like that.

- I didn't know that.

Yeah, real fine roots too, my goodness.

- Real fine roots, yeah.

They're very easy to break off and attach to the soil and grow.

The short ones, there's a lot of different kinds of them.

Reflexum, which has got spruce-like green foliage, which I think that's what this one is.

There wasn't a tag on it.

But that reminds me of this one, the spruce-like foliage, there's one called Angelina,   which has a yellow   training on it   like Zones five through nine,   so it's a little bit warmer.

I used to have this   planted outside and my garden has gone from full sun to kind of shady, and in the winter, over winter, one winter, it got too shady for it and it was too wet.

So that's why I'm saying well-drained soil.

- Right, I get it, okay.

- Yeah.

Ternatum, Woodland Stonecrop,   Zones four through eight,   Spurium, Two-row Stonecrop,   one with, a far popular variety   that's called Dragon's Blood,   it's Zone four through nine.

And many, many, many others that I can't even...

But those are some of the more popular ones that you see.

The taller ones, go to almost up to two feet.

They still don't get very tall, that are known around here, and they're reclassified in a genus called Hylotelephium.

And probably the most popular one is spectabile,   is the most popular Sedum   with varieties   called Autumn Joy.

Remember we talk about   Autumn Joy all the time,   Autumn Fire, Brilliant.

Those are probably the most   popular Sedums out there,   what most people think of,   and when they think of Sedums besides these small roll growing ones.

Yeah.

And then of course, there is a native Sedum here.

The native one is, it goes with the taller ones.

It's the second category of the taller ones,   that is telephioides,   and it's native to the US,   found Georgia to Illinois   and up to New York.

- So pretty good range.

- Pretty good range, yeah.

And probably rocky   well-drained sites   is where you'll find it.

Now, what have we talked about?

What do you think is the most common problem that people have with Sedums?

It's the disease of rots.

Any kind, stem rots, root rots, and- - From over-watering?

- From over-watering and from soil that is too heavy and stays wet too long.

- Yeah, that makes sense.

- And a lot of times you'll say, "Oh, it grew so fine all during the summer, but over winter, it didn't last."

Winter is our rainy, cold time.

And so, if you're gonna have problems with Sedums, it's gonna be through the winter, in this part of the country.

In Mid-South here, because our soils are very tight and when they get wet, they stay wet and they don't drain well, then you get problems with rot.

And, sometimes that's why people put them in containers.

They do great in containers.

- They look good in containers.

- Yeah.

And they look very nice   and good for the tabletops   or somewhere on your patio.

- I've seen those.

Yeah, in little dishes.

- Little dishes?

- Right.

- And they sell them a lot as indoor plants.

'Cause think about it, if you have a bright, sunny place indoors in a container, how often do most people wanna water something?

They tend to thrive on neglect, it's what I call that.

- That's a good point.

- So, that's why they're very popular as indoor plants also.

- That's a good point.

- There are pest problems with them.

And guess what likes them?

Deer, - Ah!

- Deer, chipmunks, - Geez, Sedums?

- Squirrels.

- Geez.

Voles, my native little voles, yes.

[Chris laughs] And then, they also get bugs, and they'll get mealybugs.

And they'll get snails and slugs, but where are snails and slugs mostly found?

- Here we go, yeah.

- In a more shady environment.

And so, I think when they get mealybugs also, there's not enough air circulation, and it's more shady.

So the plant is under stress because it likes full sun and well-drained area.

And you put it in a garden in a nice organic soil, that it doesn't really, it will grow between rocks.

So, nice organic soil is kind of foreign to most Sedums.

And so you'll get the mealybugs and the snails and the slugs, and scale too.

And that's a sign that the plant is under stress and doesn't like that environment, so move it.

- Move it.

Okay.

Got it.

- Yeah.

Move it.

You can treat it, but I would just move it 'cause Mother Nature kind of takes care of things, especially mealybugs.

I had mealybugs on them 'cause they were grown in a greenhouse, and I've set them outside, mealybugs are gone.

So, sometimes Mother Nature will take care of it when you put it in the right environment.

And when is the best time to plant?

I'd say spring is probably the best time to get it established, because if winter is our hardest time of the year for the Sedums, it's better for them to get well established through the growing season, so plant them in the spring.

And let them get started.

And of course succulents, 'cause there are such big fleshy stems on them, they will actually tell you when they want water.

- Oh, I like that.

- They'll kind of start shrinking, and maybe slightly curling and you'll go, "Oh, you need some water," and then they'll get back to being succulent and turgid again, so, yeah.

So, sometimes they will tell you when they want some water.

And don't over-fertilize them.

- Yeah, so I was gonna ask you about that, so.

- Yeah.

- I mean, do they have to be fertilized?

- Well actually, not really.

But over-fertilizing them will cause them to, especially the Autumn Joys and the taller ones, they bloom in the fall.

So they're gonna send up this large stem with the big seed head on the top.

If you fertilize it too much, that's gonna grow too tall and it's gonna be weak because of over stimulated by the fertilizer.

It won't be a nice short stocky stem for that flower head.

And then when the flower heads get on there and they start to bloom, they may fall over.

So, over-fertilizing is really not good for Sedums.

They thrive on neglect.

- They're good, neglect.

- Neglect, like it.

- I like it.

I thank you, Joellen.

We can tell you like that, appreciate it.

[upbeat country music] Do be careful when you're using weed eaters around plant material.

Weed eaters can kick up rocks and debris that can injure your eyes and your face.

And as you can see, a piece of mulch was actually impaled into this leaf of this Canna, which is why it is always, always a good idea to have on glasses or safety goggles when you're using a weed eater.

Again, you don't want to injure your eyes, you don't want to injure your face and you definitely don't want to injure your plant material.

Be careful folks.

[upbeat country music] Hi Mr. D. - Talk about spraying.

- We gonna talk about spraying trees, right?

- Peach trees, that's right.

Before I get into the actual spraying demonstration, I wanna talk a little bit about safety.

Probably the best thing you can do where safety is concerned first, is to read the label.

And near the top of the label, after it tells you what we've got and the active ingredients and all of that, it's gonna tell you what to wear.

Never will you see on the pesticide label telling you to wear shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops.

They're always gonna tell you to wear a hat, to wear safety glasses, to wear rubber gloves, long sleeve shirt, long pants, and shoes or boots.

And so, that's- - You're ready to go.

- I'm ready to go.

And I'm doing this, not just because of the label, but because I've sprayed enough to know that sometimes the wind changes and sometimes it drifts on you, and I mean, I've gotta go 360 degrees around this tree to get it sprayed.

If there's any wind at all, at some point, I'm gonna be down wind.

So, I want some protective gear on.

If you get some on you, wash it off immediately, just go wash it off, soap and water.

If you need to take a shower, take a shower.

And wash clothes, but- - Is that pretty soon after?

- Especially if it's on your skin, if it gets on your skin, yes, very soon afterwards, you need to go on and get it off of you.

Most of the pesticides we're talking about, all of them are not restricted-use pesticides, so they're not that dangerous for homeowners to use if you follow that label instructions.

Okay.

I've already gotten my sprayer mixed up here.

This tree is about what, eight feet tall, little over eight feet tall, the tallest limb, and it's about eight feet in diameter.

So, that tells me that I'm probably gonna need to mix up about half gallon to a gallon of material to spray.

Now that's important to know, because you don't wanna mix up more than you really need.

You wanna run out when you're spraying, you don't wanna have any leftover because you don't wanna store it.

It can clog up your sprayer, it may become inactivated and not work for you.

So there's a lot of things, you wanna finish up spraying when you- - Do enough to spray it out.

- That's right.

Do enough spray it out.

Because this peach tree still has some blooms on it, I am not going to apply an insecticide in this first spray.

I'm going to only apply fungicide.

I've got a spreader sticker mixed in there too, to make it stick to the limbs.

I'm gonna spray almost to the point of runoff.

I'm gonna direct my spray to the lower and both sides of the leaves if I can.

I'm gonna also go down and spray the base of the tree.

And what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to get brown rot.

Brown rot is the number   one fungal disease   on peaches, plums,   and nectarines.

And it can destroy you if   you don't control brown rot.

So, we've got wind at about four miles an hour, which is good.

- So that's considered to be okay?

- The best is no wind, very little wind.

That's almost impossible to happen.

If the wind's blowing more than 10 miles an hour, ten or fifteen miles an hour, you probably ought not to be spraying.

You probably need to put it off.

You know, if you do spray when you know you're gonna get spray on you, you need a face mask too, use face mask.

You don't wanna breathe any of this stuff and you don't wanna get it on your skin.

- Gotta be careful folks.

- Okay.

Let's get to it.

- All right, let's do it.

- Gimme a little pressure here.

[sprayer pumping] All right, that ought to do, that's good.

- I can hear it.

- A flat fan nozzle is a good nozzle to use when you're spraying fruit trees.

Let's see what we've got here.

[sprayer spraying] This tree is really easy to spray because it's been pruned well.

The center is opened up.

If it had not been sprayed or if it had not been pruned well, it would be almost impossible to get my spray mixture on these leaves.

- That's a good open center.

- It's opened up and I can, it's very easy to get good coverage on this tree.

Let me go on and move on around here.

- That's a great illustration.

- You don't have to spray until it runs off, spray it almost to the point of runoff.

Turn my wand over, spraying the underside.

Wanna make sure I spray the trunk and lower limbs because those fungal spores can attach themselves anywhere.

And now, only I'm using fungicide.

You saw a honeybee fly there.

This fungicide will not hurt honeybees.

You can buy home orchard sprays that are already premixed.

It's very important that you do not use a premixed home orchard spray while the plant is blooming because it already has the insecticide in it.

The fungicide that I'm using is Captan.

I could also use sulfur or   I could use chlorothalonil.

Either one of those   fungicides work well.

As soon as all the petals have fallen off, I'm going to add an insecticide into the mix.

Now, with peaches, plums and nectarines, I have a choice between malathion and carbaryl.

With apples and pears, my only choice is malathion because carbaryl, if used within 21 days after the bloom, will cause apples and pears to abort their crop.

So you don't wanna do that.

Most home orchard sprays have malathion, most of the pre-mixed ones have malathion and most of them have malathion and Captan.

Pretty important to use a spreader sticker.

You can use a commercial spreader sticker, or just use detergent, tablespoon of detergent.

Teaspoon or tablespoon of detergent will do just as well.

- Oh yeah.

Good old liquid Joy or some Dawn will do just fine.

And while you're doing that, Mr. D, you can mention about the orchard spray guide, that can definitely help you out.

- That's right.

The information I've been giving you, all of it came from "The Home Orchard Spray Guide" for the State of Tennessee.

Chris has them in his office.

You can go to UT's website and get them or you can simply Google or use a search engine and enlist "Home Orchard Spray Guide" for whatever state you're in.

If you're in Mississippi or Kentucky, I would encourage you to go to that state's land grant institution.

Now, what I'm doing here needs to be done every 7 to 10 days.

- Wow.

So what if it rains in between one of those, Mr. D?

- If it rains, then that application has been erased.

And you need to, as soon as possible, redo it.

- As soon as possible.

- As soon as possible, redo it.

Because if you wait two or three days, those two or three days, that tree is unprotected.

- Because it's like you always say, right, if you have plum, peaches and nectarines, you're gonna have to do some spraying, right?

- You are, I promise you.

There's nothing that I know of organic that will prevent plum curculio and brown rot.

If you know of something that will, let me know.

And be aware, I've already tried pretty much everything.

If you have something on your mind that you think will work, I've probably already heard it.

I've been doing this for about 35 years.

- Oh, I think you'll know a little something about that.

- Well, I think we've got that one sprayed for now.

It's clouding up, may rain in a little while, and we may need to do this again in a couple hours, but maybe not.

- All right.

Well, we appreciate that demonstration, Mr. D. - Most welcome.

- All right.

[gentle country music] - It's time to start putting in the vegetables that go in after the frost here in the square foot garden.

And this year we are participating in the Tennessee Home Garden Variety Trials.

And so, I have two different bush beans here.

One is the Antigua and the other one is the Dulcina.

We're gonna be trying these next to each other and we'll be creating a report for University of Tennessee as part of this, but, figured we could do it here.

The plan that I have is that we're going to plant the first trial here in these two squares, one of each kind.

Then in two weeks, we'll plant these over here and that'll give the spinach time to mature and get picked.

And then we will plant the last one here.

So we're gonna plant at two-week intervals to kind of spread out the harvest, since bush beans tend to come all at the same time.

With bush beans,   you wanna plant nine   plants to a square.

And so I'm just gonna loosen up the soil here.

And I'm just gonna go ahead and make nine little holes right here.

We'll go ahead and plant this back one, an Antigua.

So we'll just cover those up.

And now we'll plant the other one.

And in two weeks, we'll plant the next set of squares.

[gentle country music] - All right, Joellen, are you ready?

- Yes.

- It's that Q and A segment, these are great questions.

- Very good questions.

- All right.

So let's get to the first one.

Here's our first viewer email.

"Can garlic be started   in a flower pot   and transplanted   into the ground?"

This is Tony on YouTube.

So what do you   think about that?

Was it an interesting question?

- It is an interesting question.

But yes, of course.

Yeah, of course you can.

And the only thing is, if, depending on what the size of pot is, if he gets roots that are circling, just break up the roots to make sure they stop that circling when you plant it in the ground.

- Right.

Yeah.

So that's the only question I would have.

Make sure you had a big enough pot.

And plant at the right depth in the pot.

And then of course, when you transplant into the ground, you wanna make sure you get as much of those roots out of the pot as you possibly can, before you get it in the ground, all right.

Good drainage, good organic material.

So Tony, yeah, go ahead and do that.

Yes is the answer, all right.

Here's our next viewer email.

"Last year I planted six cabbages and six broccoli.

"I used some Shake 'n Feed fertilizer in the holes.

"Then four to five weeks later, "I gave them some more fertilizer, "which I discovered was 12-4-8.

"They produced large leaves, "but no heads or florets.

"Did I ruin my cabbage   and broccoli crop   by over-fertilizing?"

Elizabeth in   Byhalia, Mississippi.

So, Joellen.

- Well, the 12-4-8 bothers me because 12 is nitrogen.

So she is really telling the plant with the nitrogen to grow lots of leaves.

- Lots of foliage.

- And which is what she got.

The middle number four, which is the phosphorus, which it should have been the highest number, 'cause that is what's gonna set fruit and flowers.

So that's...

I think it's the type of fertilizer she used, more than anything.

Plus, I mean, once she fertilized it once with the Shake 'n... Should have been it.

- That's fine enough, right.

- Shouldn't have done anything else.

I think they will do just fine without any more fertilizing, but yeah.

And especially the fertilizer she used with the nitrogen being higher than anything else, that's why she got lots of foliage.

- I agree with that.

The Shake 'n Feed was probably enough.

And then you follow that up, just a few weeks later, really, with 12-4-8.

All right, I think that's a bit much.

So that's why you have no heads, florets, just foliage.

- Just foliage.

- Just foliage.

- The nitrogen produces lots of foliage.

- Right.

So at this point on Ms. Elizabeth, no more fertilizing.

[laughs] No fertilizing, just keep it watered and let's see what happens, right.

Give it a shot, okay.

Thank you for that question.

Here's our next viewer email.

"Four o'clocks take over my flower beds every year.

"I've tried digging them up "or cutting them off as they appear.

What can I do to get rid of   four o'clocks in my beds?"

This is Janetta from   Memphis, Tennessee.

You know about those   four o'clocks, don't you?

- Yes, I had- - They look pretty though.

- They are pretty,   but after a while   you get tired of them and   you want something else.

But by that time you probably have a good seed bank in the ground.

- I'm sure.

[Joellen laughing] - And that's probably what she's dealing with right now.

And I've pulled them and sometimes, those tap roots of those are pretty substantial.

So you don't always get the whole root out of the ground.

And you can use glyphosate of some kind, but you gotta be careful with other things in there.

So you might wanna do some kind of wipe technique or be very careful when you're spraying it.

But see, I like to sponge and I know people have different techniques, but I like the little sponge with the, wear your rubber gloves and sponge some Roundup and glyphosate on there and then just touch the leaves.

- I like that method.

- I know people have done, they wear a plastic glove and then they wear a cotton glove, and dip that one and...

I don't know.

Either way, trying to get some kind of wicking action and I think there are some type of applicators out there that are actually a cotton rope that you can use to wick or to spot spray on them.

So, whatever technique you would want to use.

But that might be what you have to do because the tap roots of those four o'clocks are pretty deep and they will regenerate.

But the more carbohydrates of the roots you get outta ground, and the leaves you take off the surface, the less that there will be in the next time.

- Right.

So at the end of the day, it's gonna be a lot of work, right.

And if you're gonna use a chemical, it needs to be a broad leaf weed killer, or it could be glyphosate, right.

So just read and follow the label on that, you should be fine.

But do be careful, all right.

Do be careful, okay.

Thank you for that question.

All right, Joellen, that was fun.

Thank you so much.

- Yes, it was.

- 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 it today, thanks for watching.

If you want to learn more about Sedums or want to spray your peach trees, we have the information.

Just head on over to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

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

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]