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

I'm Chris Cooper.

There is not much growing in the garden right now, but gardeners have lots of questions as they get ready for spring.

Today we're going to answer a few of them.

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 me today is Natalie Bumgarner, Dr. Natalie is the Residential Consumer Horticulture Specialist with UT Extension.

And Celeste Scott is with us.

Celeste is the UT Extension agent in Madison County.

Thank you for being here today, ladies.

- Yes, no problem.

- This is gonna be fun.

- Yes.

- We've been on separately.

I don't think we've been on this show together.

- We haven't.

- How about that?

- This is the perfect time.

- Yeah.

- Question and answer session.

- This is gonna be good for our lawn Q&A segment.

- I love it.

- All right, so y'all ready for these Q&A?

- Oh, we're gonna try, we're gonna try our hardest.

- They're great questions.

- Okay, good.

- Great questions.

So here's our first viewer email.

"Our crape myrtles have turned black on the trunk and limbs.

"Is there any hope for them?

"They look terrible.

"Should we just cut them down, "or dig them up and replace with new ones?

"Also, if we do replace them in the same spot, how do we keep the new ones from getting this same thing?"

And this is Tommy from Holly Springs, Mississippi.

- Okay.

- So Celeste, we'll start with you.

Do we have an idea what that may be?

- I have a inkling that it might be - Okay, - what we call crape myrtle bark scale.

- Could be.

- So that actually is not a disease, it's an insect pest, and as it feeds on the plant, it secretes honeydew.

And then that honeydew grows a black, sooty mold.

So that's the black that he's seeing on the leaves, on the trunk, on those lower portions of the plant.

And you know, generally it's not life-threatening, especially to like mature crape myrtles, but it certainly impacts their beauty.

So if you are growing them because you love their form, and you aren't as concerned, you know, about bloom, then maybe you wouldn't need to be quite as concerned about that.

But you know, aesthetically, they're gonna have that blackness on the trunks.

So if it were in my landscape, I would attempt to control the crape myrtle bark scale so that you can get full potential in your bloom.

And then you also don't have to battle that black, sooty mold.

And not only will it be on the base of the plant, it's gonna be underneath anything, - That's right.

- That's underneath that crape myrtle, your patio, a bench, you know, statuary, you name it.

Other plants, you know, other shrubbery that are planted in the understory.

So definitely I think that that would be the approach that I would take.

I would not dig them up.

I would not-- - Cut 'em down.

- Cut 'em down.

And you know, if they by chance have already done that, and replanted, well they're just gonna get 'em again.

[all laughing] So I'm thinking treatment with like a systemic insecticide.

- Okay.

- And all of us are gonna have to get better at this treatment, because for West Tennessee, from, you know, south, you all have dealt with crape myrtle bark scale for longer, but it has arrived in Knoxville-- - So it is there?

- Oh yes, yeah.

We are seeing just, you know, crape myrtles that are just covered.

And so, you know, this is a pest that has been moving north and east.

And so, you know, it's not surprising that you have a question from, you know, from Mississippi.

But we're beginning to see it in a much broader, you know, hung out in West Tennessee, then we had those exciting years where it was in Middle Tennessee, and now, you know, - They're on the move.

- Yeah, yeah.

- They're on the move, Mr. Tommy.

And something else I'd like to mention as well, you know, I know we're talking about crape myrtle bark scales, but do also know that aphids - Yes.

- Can secrete honeydew.

- Good point.

- So yeah, check for crape myrtle bark scale, and also check for aphids.

- Yes, definitely check for aphids.

I do feel like it wouldn't be as excessive, - Right.

- with aphid feeding, as you would see the black sooty mold with crape myrtle bark scale.

But for sure check on that.

And also I would like to note, just so that people are aware, that this is an exotic, invasive pest, and so it's not leaving here.

- Yeah.

- You can't, - It's gonna be with us.

- You know, you can't treat your crape myrtle once and expect it to be cured of crape myrtle bark scale.

This is gonna be a continuation of treatments for the life of the plant, to really maintain it at its highest quality.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- And that's the soil systemic drench that you were talking about, right?

- Yes.

- Okay.

All right, Mr. Tommy, hope that helps you out there.

Thank you for the question.

Here's our next viewer email.

"I have several twisted willow plants "planted very close to each other.

"They have been trimmed on top each year, "to maintain the view from my house.

"Year after year, they continue to sprout "all over the trunks, "and on top, they seem to be healthy.

"Can I move my 10-year-old twisted willow trees?

"If it is possible, what are the pros and cons?

"They are gorgeous, and I like to reuse plants and trees "instead of buying new.

Thank you."

This is Terry from Milford, Connecticut.

So we're gonna start with you on this one, Dr. Natalie, but I do wanna say this, could there be some topping going on here?

- Yes.

- Because yeah, he said they're pruned, they're trimmed from the top every year.

So that's the first thing that popped into my mind, so, - Yeah, - Topping is a no-no.

- Well, pruning in general promotes more growth, - Promotes more growth, right.

Which is why you have the sprouts, that he's talking about, so can he move the 10-year-old twisted willow?

- I mean, a 10-year-old willow tree, like that, it would make me concerned that, it would be challenging.

- Okay.

- Now we are talking about a northern area.

- Right, it's Connecticut.

- You know, so, and I guess, I mean if it is a low-risk move, okay, but that could be something that could be very time intensive.

It could also be costly, if they have to hire someone to do it.

So I would be concerned.

- Yeah, me too, I probably wouldn't try to move those.

But you know, he could try propagating, you know, some of those stems if he, you know, I mean everybody likes to be thrifty, and, - Right.

- To prevent you from having to go and buy some new plants for a different area, maybe just take some, you know, soft wood cuttings of it, and get 'em rooted and going in a new place, and then he could do away with them if that, if he so chooses.

- I like that, yeah, 'cause he likes to reuse plants and trees.

That's the way to do that, you know, propagating.

Yeah, 'cause I do think it's gonna be tough for a 10-year-old willow.

- Yeah.

- If you're not gonna be able to get a root ball big enough to get all the roots.

- And then, - without money and machinery.

- Yeah.

Yeah, you think about hiring a tree spade, - Yeah.

- you could have bought a lot of trees.

- Yes.

- Oh gosh, so big.

- For that.

Yeah, and then, I mean, to me, just kind of from a bigger picture, then I think we go back to, you know, plant selection.

- Yeah.

- You know, in the first place.

And so it's much easier to kind of, you know, pick the right size, - That's right.

- Than to try to figure out how to adapt.

- Exactly right.

'Cause he did mention that they were planted close.

- Close.

- Yes.

- Right, yeah, so you're exactly right.

All right, Mr. Terry.

All right, so do your homework on that.

Thank you for the question.

We appreciate that.

- Yes.

- Here's our next viewer email.

This one is interesting, all right.

"How do I control wild violets in my asparagus plot?"

And this is Dr. Tracy on YouTube.

So Natalie, we're gonna come to you on this one.

So asparagus plot, controlling wild violets, which are difficult to control in any plot, in any plot.

- Yeah, in lawns, and landscapes.

- Yes.

- Violets are tough.

- Once they're there, you're just like, - Yeah.

- Yeah.

- They're tough.

- I mean, speaking from, now, not in my asparagus, I would probably be more violent in my asparagus.

But in my lawn, I just enjoy the violets.

- I do as well.

- So, yeah.

So we are talking about a food plot.

- Yes, yes.

- You know, which makes our selections, we have to be careful about that.

So I mean, there is a mechanical option.

We also want to think about the time of the year, and then we want to think about potential chemical options.

We were actually talking about this, like there may be some, - Yeah, some potentials.

You know, our toolbox is so small, for herbicides especially that are gonna control broad leafs in some of our food crops.

- I mean my tendency, when we're talking about food growing areas, especially if they're not that large.

- Yeah.

- You know, most people don't have three acres of asparagus.

- Right.

- And so, I would tend to say if it's not that big, you know, it may be something that you could handle.

- Yeah, maybe hand weeding, - Hand weeding.

- Getting out the hoe, maybe using the hoe.

- Try to use some mulching, to prevent it, - I was gonna say that.

- Once you get it cleaned out.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- A little straw mulch or something like that.

What do y'all think about a pre-emerge?

Could you use a pre-emerge in an asparagus plot?

- Don't see why you couldn't, because asparagus is a perennial crop.

But again, I haven't read like labels.

to see.

- I mean, but so is wild violet.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- You know, in the sense that you've got that storage structure there.

- Yeah, I was just wondering about that, yeah.

If you had to get it down before the spears came up, or anything like that, so you know, just a thought.

But yeah, I would get in there with hand weeding and a hoe, and put down some mulch.

- Yeah.

- That's what I would do, 'cause it's gonna be tough getting in there with a non-selective herbicide.

- Well, and top dressing with some compost, or something like that.

I mean with a perennial crop, like I'm just suggesting that it might be a good time to think about fertilizer application, maybe some compost or an additional organic matter, or we can benefit the, you know, asparagus while we do that.

- That sounds good to me.

All right, so thank you Dr. Tracy.

We appreciate that question.

Hope that helps you out.

Here's our next viewer email.

"Seems to me we could be facing "catastrophic freeze damage "to a wide variety of plants in Memphis.

"If all of these brown shrubs and trees are dead, "it will take years to recover.

"Even if not completely dead, "it seems like we may have to prune dead stems and branches "back to the ground.

What should homeowners do to help these plants recover?"

This is Tim, from right here in Memphis, Tennessee.

And we've gotten several questions like this after the hard freeze here just before Christmas.

So Celeste, we're gonna start with you.

'Cause I'm sure this is a question that you've gotten a lot, - Yes.

- Here lately.

So what do you think about this catastrophic freeze that we had, and the plants.

- Definitely, we have certainly seen lots of damage to lots of plants, that would normally, you know, survive our winters.

You know, with no damage at all.

So that's serious, definitely a concern.

And I just wanna, you know, urge people to be patient.

You know, go out and start familiarizing yourself with your plants.

So what we've been seeing a lot in Jackson was that in some cases, the damage really is only leaf deep, we will say, right?

So different parts of the plant are less cold-tolerant than other parts.

So we'd start with buds, obviously, would be the most susceptible, then leaves, then stems, then roots, right?

So even if we do have some die back on those above-ground portions of the plant, it's very likely that we still have lots of life in the stems, and even the roots of those plants.

So we've been seeing, for example, Camellias, prized Camellias, right?

Their leaves turn brown super quickly.

They are starting to shed those leaves right now.

And if you are curious if you've lost that plant to the roots, or farther, let's go out there and just do a small little scratch on the stems.

And if you scratch towards the end of the stem and you see some green in that growth layer, you know, just shallow, then you still got some life in that plant.

If it's brown, that's not a good sign.

- Yeah.

- You can move farther down the stem, right?

The farther down we go, the hardier those parts of the plants are gonna be.

So you could continue to do that scratch test until you get to a place on that plant where you're seeing some green, right?

And that's gonna kind of give you an indication of, okay, maybe we had a foot of die back, right, on the stems.

Or maybe it's more.

And I don't want people to use that as a tool to help them start pruning.

- Yeah.

- We don't want anyone to do anything, right?

- Right.

- We just need to wait.

- Patience.

- Patience.

Let's wait until we get into the warmer parts of the year, into those growing seasons.

See if buds are pushing out of that wood, new buds to replace those leaves.

And then that is going to be a very obvious visual sign to help people use that as a guide for pruning, right?

The scratch test is just to help satisfy you right now, because you're super worried.

- Your curiosity.

- Yeah, yes.

- You feel like you can do something.

- Exactly.

- Right now.

That's what you can do, right?

Write it down, make a journal, right?

People are gonna be able to learn from this in the future.

And Natalie and some other colleagues of ours across the state have put together a really good publication.

Do you wanna tell them about that?

- Tell us about the publication.

- Yeah, yeah.

So we made kind of a guide that just talks you through what to do right now, which is not much, and what not to do.

Don't go fertilize and hope that it turns green.

- Yes.

- You know, don't over water, but don't let things dry out.

And I also think that, and this is probably something that we'll wanna follow up on as we move through this season.

- Okay.

- Because I think that we want to make sure that we communicate, by April, by May, you're going to know more.

- Yes.

- But don't just turn it off and forget about it, because there are gonna be, for the plants that survive, - Yes.

- There are gonna be steps that we want to take through this season to reduce stress, to, you know, make pruning decisions, and gonna put those plants in a better stead.

Because just because they survived, doesn't mean that they are just gonna be fine, - Thriving.

- Right, thriving.

Yeah.

- That's the word, thrive.

- Yeah, so we wanna make sure, and of course we may already have a couple layers.

It was dry winter.

- Yes.

- Then we had a hard freeze.

So we wanna think about ways that in this coming year or two, we can make the best decisions for long-term plant health.

- Good deal, good deal.

Patience, yeah.

Patience is gonna be key, right?

No pruning, no fertilizing.

And something else that I've been telling homeowners, we are still in winter.

- Yes.

- We are still in winter.

- That's why we don't want you to prune now.

We could have another cold snap.

- That's right, we could - I mean, we don't know - have another one.

- What's gonna happen.

- It's Tennessee.

You don't know what's gonna happen here.

- Patience, patience.

- So let's hold the reigns.

- So hold it.

So Tim, there you go.

Thank you much, and we'll look to see if we can get that publication on our website for you.

All right, I appreciate that.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I'm having a significant problem with root knot nematodes "in our vegetable garden.

"Many galls on the roots, "stunted plants, reduced productivity, et cetera.

"How do I control root knot nematodes in my garden?"

And this is Don from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

So Natalie, can you help us out with the - Yeah, so, - Root knot nematodes?

- Root knot nematodes are tough, right?

And from a home garden perspective, you know, we're talking about a non-commercial setting.

We often will try to use a combination of approaches.

So you could, depending upon if he has a large area, - Okay, all right.

- You may just wanna rotate away from that area.

- Okay.

- And you can use a non-host plant, oftentimes we'll recommend grasses for a lot of those meloidogyne type species.

So that's an option.

Cover crops can fit with some of those, because you could use some cover crops to try to reduce the population.

So that's an option.

From a vegetable perspective, we do have tomatoes, other crops that will have some resistance to, I mean, not every nematode, - Right.

- But some of the most common.

And so if it says "VFN" on that tag, we know verticillium, fusarium, th ose are soil-borne diseases, but the "N" actually stands for nematode.

- Nematodes, how about that?

- Good to know.

- Yeah.

So selection for resistance is an option.

It's in a warm area.

Solarization could be an option.

So I think that, you don't just have to pick one of those.

You can choose more resistant varieties.

You can have longer rotations, you can do a summertime solarization.

It could, - We could do all of those methods.

- It could take all three.

- And then practice good sanitation on top of all that.

- Yeah, I've never had any nematode issues in vegetable areas, but you know, have in ornamental areas, and it's just tough.

And sad.

- Tough and sad.

So those practices should help, right?

Should help.

- Yeah, yeah.

And it may not be a battle that is won immediately.

- Okay.

- You know, it may be a reducing the population, so that you're, yeah.

- Over time.

- So your resistant cultivars have better chance for better productivity, so it can be incremental.

- All right, Mr. Don, patience, patience.

Thank you for that question.

Here's our next viewer email.

Oh, I think Celeste might like this one, though.

How about this?

- Oh my gosh.

- "What to do about aphids."

I like the story, right?

"So in 2016, "my husband mulched our beds with nice black mulch.

"Not long after, I had aphids.

"They demolished my knockout rosebushes so much "that we had to pull them up.

"I had purchased baskets of mixed petunias for years "from the same nursery.

"And it showed out every year until the mulch showed up.

"I haven't bought my annual baskets of petunias since 2020 "because of the aphids.

"I don't think the mulch and aphids were a coincidence.

"What can I do "so that I can once again enjoy my flowers without the aphids showing up and eating my efforts?"

And this is Lisa from Petersburg, Tennessee.

- Tennessee, all right.

- Yeah, so it's a nice little story there, right?

- Good Tennessee story, okay.

- Yeah, what do we think?

Mulch, and then here comes the aphids.

- I have been racking my brain.

I do not see a connection between mulch, and the presence of the aphid.

I'm not denying that they didn't happen at the same time.

- Right, right.

- But I don't think that the introduction of mulch to the landscape, was a catalyst or an aid in any way, for the, you know, blow up in population of aphids.

Now also, it seems probable that, you know, you could have aphid infestations in your petunias, that, I mean, they're a soft, succulent plant, that aphids really love to go for that new succulent growth on plants.

So, you know, it's a definite, you know, probability.

What was the other plant, petunias and, - Knockouts.

- Yeah, knockout roses.

- Knockout roses, okay.

Yeah, so I've seen aphids being a huge issue on roses early in the season when they're developing as well.

But, you know, I think we can control, I think we can do some control for aphids.

And it's gonna look a lot like what we talked about earlier in the session, for controlling those soft-bodied insects.

Just making sure that you can catch 'em early, and examining your plants in those top growth areas where they're the most tender.

'Cause that's where they like to kind of huddle around.

You'll see 'em all around buds, and the tops of the new growth on the roses.

And getting treatment to them, and then following up 7 to 10 days later with another application, to make sure that we are controlling all of those life stages, for when, you know, we've killed the adults on the first dose, and then allowed for those eggs to go on into maturity.

And so we need to hit 'em again.

And I don't know why she's having such an issue with aphids now, when she didn't have the issues before, like that is, you know, the crazy question, has something else changed in the environment?

I don't know.

Is they're a crop, maybe a wheaty crop that they used to love to be on, that's no longer there now?

And so they're trying to find a new host, could possibly be an option.

- I mean, aphids are something that, there are natural predators.

And so I would, you know, just question about, are you spraying hard for something else?

Could we be knocking out some other populations of beneficials that had been an asset?

And the other thing that I would say is, just confirm that it is aphids that we're seeing, whiteflies and the cast skins of aphids sometimes, - Can look similar.

- Can look similar, so yeah.

And under some circumstances whiteflies could be, you know, more challenging.

So just, you know, just make sure.

- Just make sure, okay.

And Celeste, you were talking about controlling aphids, so what would you recommend as a control?

- Well, again, going back to what we talked about before, you could try insecticidal soaps.

We could move to horticultural oils, and then, you know, moving on up the scale to permethrin-based products, would be the best route.

I will caution folks that carbaryl does not control aphids.

And I have people who, - Glad you mention that.

- You know, they, that's kind of their cure-all that they use on everything, - Exactly right.

- In their garden spots.

And that will not be effective on aphids.

- That's right.

Good point, good point.

All right, Ms. Lisa, hope that helps you out.

- Yes.

- I hope that helps you out.

- Good luck.

- Yeah, good luck on that.

- You can keep the mulch if you like it.

- Yeah.

Yeah, good luck Ms. Lisa, appreciate that.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I am designing a cold frame "for my four to eight raised beds "with four-mil clear plastic sheet, "and an automatic vent opener.

"Do you have any advice on building a cold frame?"

And this is Michael from Warwick, Rhode Island.

So Celeste, you know anything about cold frames?

You have any advice?

- Yeah, I mean, I've used cold frames for a number of years.

But I've never gotten fancy enough to use the automatic opener.

- The automatic vent opener.

- Like I'm pretty impressed already with her plans, - It's pretty good.

- her initial plans.

- Yeah, it's pretty good.

So yeah, definitely, in my head I was just thinking, well, they need to make sure that they can be open, 'cause a lot of people don't.

- Yeah, that's what I thought.

understand that you really need to open them, right?

Like during the day, they need to breathe.

That's just one advantage.

Also, making sure that they're big enough to grow whatever crop it is that you're planning on doing in there.

Are you just wanting to keep your seedlings going along until you can bump 'em up?

Or are you, I know some friends who kind of use their cold frames to overwinter some more sensitive ferns, right?

So those have to be a pretty big size to accommodate those types of plants.

So just kind of using some forethought into how they wanna use 'em now, and how they might use them in the future, so that they don't run into an issue with design, but that, yeah, that's just so cool that they're gonna use the automatic openers 'cause I was just like, every day, you know, ugh, open, close, open, close, and then you forget one day, and then like half your stuff dies.

So that's a problem.

- They could be a great need backstop.

Some of them are wax filled, so it's, you know, or it could be electronic.

I mean, there's a variety of options.

So I think, yeah, a good polycarbonate cover that would, you know, last well, and so this is of course a pretty, more northern location.

- Yeah, this is Rhode Island.

- I sometimes like to include something like a soil heating cable, or something that you can combine in your cold frame.

So when you have a protected environment like that, you can start to think about, okay, well what could I add to that that could give me a longer season?

- Oh, yes!

- So I love some gadgets.

- Oh, we can tell.

We can tell.

So again, so a cold frame is used for what?

Why do we need a cold frame?

- Well, it could fall into a couple of categories.

They could be overwintering, or oftentimes it's a way to do some of the things that you would do in a greenhouse, but with less expense.

- Right.

- So it could be, especially if we're talking about cool-season crops, you can start your transplants in there.

Maybe you germinate them indoors, and you get them out under natural light - Natural light.

- Pretty quickly.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- For your warm-season crops, you could be hardening those off in a cold frame, for short season leafy crops, you could be growing them in there, - Gotcha.

- In your spring and your fall season, it's a season extension, I'll tell you.

- Good deal.

Yeah, all right, Michael, hope that helps you out there.

Yeah, automatic vent opener, you like that Celeste, that's pretty good.

That is pretty good.

Oh, I will say one thing about that.

'Cause I've seen this happen.

Make sure that when you're designing or building it, well-drained soil.

- Oh yes.

- Yeah.

- Well drained soil, Michael, that just came to my mind.

All right, so thank you for that question.

All right, Natalie, Celeste, that was so much fun.

- Yes.

- Is it over already?

Oh my goodness.

- That was so much fun, thank y'all much.

Thank y'all much.

- Thank you.

- Good to be here.

- 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 watching.

We answered a lot of questions today.

If you want to learn more about any one of these questions, head on over to familyplotgarden.com.

While you're there, ask us your question.

It might just make it onto a future Family Plot.

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

Be safe.

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