Narrator> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina.

This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina, family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons, a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.

♪ opening music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Amanda> Well, good evening and welcome to Making It Grow.

We're so glad that you could join us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty and I'm a Clemson Extension agent.

And I'm here with my co-host and friend Terasa Lott.

Who is the Midlands District coordinator.

Did I get it right?

Terasa> District director, I guess is the official title.

But yes, that just means I kind of oversee operations in the Midlands area in nine counties, have some wonderful agents, some of which are hosting events to make rain barrels and compost bins available.

Amanda> Okay.

Terasa> Yeah.

So encourage our viewers, if you're interested, to reach out to your water resource agent, whether that's Sumter or across the state and make use of that opportunity.

Amanda> Thank you for telling us that.

And also, I bet you've had fun this summer seeing some of the kids come in for 4-H camp.

Terasa> Oh, it is fabulous.

The excitement on their faces and it brings back memories of when I was a kid and had the experiences going to camp in the summer and really diving into some of the topics that you get excited about, whether that has to do with gardening or robotics, engineering, photography, you name it.

Amanda> Cooking.

Terasa> Yes.

Amanda> Yeah.

They love to cook.

Because then they get to eat what they cook.

Terasa> That's right.

Always get to sample.

Christopher Burtt, you'll have to tell us what counties you have because it's just so widespread, obviously.

How in the world did you do it?

Christopher> So Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester.

And of course, they're some of the fastest growing counties.

But but no, it's a lot of fun and definitely a lot of diverse opportunities within there.

Amanda> And I bet you meet people coming moving down here from all over the place.

Christopher> Tremendously.

I mean, we've got new neighborhoods with 1800 homes coming up all across the tri-county area.

Well, it's quite amazing to see how many people are coming in.

Amanda> Well, I hope that the person in charge of those picks out the turf grass and they don't let the homeowner pick out one that they had up north, because that won't work really.

Phillip> No, ma'am, not at all.

(All laugh) Amanda> Oh my goodness gracious.

Well, and then Phillip Carnley, here you are.

and you're the commercial horticulture agent for Calhoun and Orangeburg.

And I don't know, I'm sure those guys a while back, were really praying for rain.

>> Oh, absolutely.

We've been incredibly dry as of late, and a good rain shower is desperately needed right now.

Amanda> And so many people grow corn.

And as I understand it, corn takes, most plants need an inch of water a week or something like that.

Phillip> You usually that's the standard that we go by for irrigation.

Amanda> But corn needs a lot more, I think.

Phillip> It does need a considerable amount of water, especially right now and in our sandy soils.

So a lot of, a lot of our dry land, what we call dry land corn is worse for where?

Amanda> Ka put!

Phillip> It is.

If it makes it'll be impressive to see.

Amanda> Wow.

And some people do have dry land corn.

It's a fairly considerable.

Phillip> It's a big industry.

Corn in general, whether it's irrigated or dry land.

And we do hold our corn competitions every year.

So we do measure that.

Usually the agronomy agents measure to see the yield on dry land corn versus irrigated corn.

And I've had the ability to go out with my local agronomy agent, Jonathan Croft, and measure a few of those corn contests, and it's impressive to see the difference in yield.

Usually it can range from 100 to 150 bushels to the acre difference in the yield.

Amanda> Gosh, that's a lot.

Yeah, because you still got a plant you've got to spend the money on, you know, running the machinery all over the fields and you've got to buy the seed and put the fertilizer out.

So your just getting it in the ground costs can be pretty high.

Phillip> Oh, yeah.

The fertilizer cost is tremendous because- Amanda> I've heard it's gone up dramatically.

Phillip> Corn is a -even sweet corn is very nit- is a very heavy nitrogen feeder.

So you kind of spoon feed it in a home garden or in a commercial setting if you're growing sweet corn throughout the season to get that good harvest, those larger years and the sweet and the sweet ears, as well.

Amanda> Yeah.

Okay.

John Nelson, the former curator of the A.C. Moore Herbarium at the University of South Carolina, where you were also the fir st Cocky, which is kind of fun.

>> There was before Cocky.

Amanda> Oh, you were the mascot official mascot for the team.

Dr. John> But I want to tell you something, you know, still collecting plants, you know, being a botanist.

And the other day I was like trying to mind my own business.

I'd stopped the car and had my plant press and I was just happily collecting plants, you know, there I was.

It was early in the morning and I was having such a great time.

And there's a man shows up wearing a uniform and a gun and he said, I'd have to stop.

They said, I have to move along.

Amanda> You were on the side of the road?

Dr. John> Yeah.

Amanda> Interesting.

Dr. John> Well, I was in a place I probably shouldn't have been.

(laughing) But it was a different kind of field experience.

Amanda> Okay.

Terasa> Perhaps, that's a lesson for our viewers to always be aware of where you're located when you're collecting plants.

Dr. John> And be on the lookout for botanists, (laughing) on the side of the road.

(laughing) Amanda> Well, I hope that you get something interesting.

Dr. John> I did.

He let me go.

Amanda> Good.

I'm so glad to hear that.

Yeah, because you're still taking a lot of things up.

And I was reading something, John, about people who are trying to figure the plant families and, you know, everything's getting different places.

And it said that people are sometimes going to herbariums or herbaria I don't know which one you're supposed to say.

Dr. John> Herbaria Amanda> And, and getting samples from things that were like 200 years old, they could still get the DNA out of them.

Dr. John> Yeah, the techniques for sequencing has gotten a lot more well, and is not particularly easy, but it works a lot better than when they first started out 20 or 30 years ago.

Amanda> And so that's one of the reasons that we have to learn all these new names all the time.

Dr. John> That's just the way of botanists our making things more accurate.

Amanda> Okay.

(laughing) I like the regular names.

We're supposed to not use common names.

We're supposed to know the scientific names too, But anyway.

la la la la la la.

Anyway, we are going to take you down to Boone Hall Farms and you'll have fun seeing what they're growing there and then Terasa Lott.

I think that you will start us off with viewers' Gardens of the Week.

Terasa> It would be my pleasure, Amanda.

The Gardens of the Week is your time to shine because it highlights photos that you, our viewers, have submitted, perhaps from your yard or garden or a beautiful place that you have visited.

We begin today with Patricia DeHond, or affectionately known as Trish.

She's not an Extension anymore, but she submitted a photo of an arrangement with assorted colors and textures.

It's in the back of her car.

So I was wondering if it was about to be gifted to someone I know.

It always makes me happy to be gifted flowers.

From Jeffrey Harmon, we have a summer collection in little Chicago, South Carolina, and I had to look up- Amanda> Little Chicago?

What?

Terasa> Yes.

It's an unincorporated community in Spartanburg County.

Amanda> Ha!

(Terasa laughs) Terasa> From Jeff and Janice Wyatt, an arrangement with a little bit of everything.

And I really love how it sprawls out and has sort of a rectangular shape.

I think they may have taken some lessons from your arranging capabilities.

Amanda> I'm sure they surpassed me.

Terasa> Mary Crawford sent an evening view of Palmettos and hydrangeas.

So most of our photos come in during the daytime.

But this was a unique view.

And in the evening.

And last but not least, Karen Cutter reports, she and her husband, who happens to be a master gardener, have been quite busy in the garden, as we can see here from their harvest.

So thank you to everyone who submitted photos.

Remember, this is just a random sampling, but you can see additional submissions by visiting our Facebook page.

And when you see us make a post that says call for Gardens of the Week, just post your photos there and it may appear on-air.

Amanda> Well thank you and thank you to everyone who submitted things, as well.

Well, we've had a wonderful time talking and looking at beautiful things.

And I guess now we'll try to tackle some problems.

Terasa> We will.

We're going to try to help Joan.

In Aiken, Joan submitted some photographs and said, I have white fuzzy stuff on a bunch of my plants in the garden.

What is it and how should I treat it?

Amanda> Fuzzy stuff.

Well Christopher, have any idea?

Christopher> So this is a great example of a very common pest.

I'm seeing pretty much all summer.

Amanda> Okay.

Christopher>And it's mealy bugs.

Amanda> Yes.

Christopher> So, mealy bugs are a type of sap sucking insect.

They affect a whole wide range of plants.

And unfortunately, they do, of course, produce this white fuzzy stuff.

It's called flocculence.

It's a really good way to actually know what kind of group of insects it's going to be.

If you see flocculence, it's a pretty good indicator.

For the most part, this is kind of a minor pest.

Again, it depends on kind of how wide.

Amanda> So it's not the worst thing in the world.

Christopher> Yeah.

So how widespread it is.

The problem is, is that flocculence is oftentimes a protective covering, though they will move around a lot.

So some scales will produce it and they won't move, but the mealy bugs will.

But that is a protective covering.

And so if it's a water based insecticide or any other product, it actually will have very little effect.

That flocculence tends to be a protective part of that.

So if you do have one to treat it, you would ask you something that is oil based generally something like horticultural oil.

Of course, this time of year you can't use it.

It's too hot.

Neem oil would be included in that.

And so unfortunately, while it is unfortunate to look at, the best thing to do is just going to leave it be.

If you see a lot of it, you can try to pick off some of it.

Amanda> So you can't squirt this off with a strong hose or anything.

Christopher> You can.

I find that they just come right back.

Amanda> Okay.

Christopher> But again, I find not doing anything, that the spread is fairly minimal.

It does seem to just be very surface level.

Amanda> So there are a lot worse things to have in your garden.

Christopher> Yes, 100%.

Amanda> Okay.

Well, thank you so much.

I hope that will reassure the questioner, hopefully.

Okay, Terasa.

Terasa> Goodness.

My computer's giving me troubles today.

How about we move to St George where Dustin said, I have my vegetable garden set to irrigate twice a week for 5 minutes at a time, but it doesn't seem like enough.

Why is everything still so dry?

Amanda> 5 minutes at a time?

Terasa> Yes.

That might be the problem.

Amanda> Phillip, I gave my dog a bath the other day and it took us about 15 minutes.

to get all the soap on him and off again What do you think is going on?

Phillip> So it's definitely a lack of length of irrigation timing and St George is just south of Orangeburg County and just like Orangeburg they're very sandy.

So I would encourage anybody that is irrigating to right now, especially up that irrigation time and know exactly what kind of emitters or sprinkler, sprinkler system you have, that way you know exactly how much water you're putting out on a per minute or per hour basis.

Amanda> Terasa, I think you did something a while back that showed people how they could just put a lot of stuff out and figure it out themselves.

Terasa> That's right.

So it would be wonderful if there was just a one size fits all, but it does depend on what type of system you're using.

And so if you're using, you know, something that throws out water, so not drip, you we have a video on HGIC about how to calibrate your system.

So it's a, I mean, it's really easy.

You just take a straight side of can.

So if you have cat food cans or tuna fish cans, lay them out and then run your sprinkler for a set amount of time, measure the water.

Amanda> Yeah.

Terasa> And then you'll be able to know it puts out this much water in that amount of time.

So then you can use that to determine if you want to put out half an inch how long you'd have to run or an inch or whatever, and then how much you can apply at one time.

So it can probably speak more to this.

So but some of that will depend on your soil type and whether or not you, you know, it's just going to run off or it's going to run straight through that sort of thing.

Phillip> Your organic material.

in that instance tends to play a large part in how long and how often you irrigate.

On our sandy shores and our beach sand in South Carolina, it just percolates right through.

Amanda> Yeah.

Phillip> And you get a very defined cone shape of irrigation that's narrow and then gradually spreads out in your soil profile, which is not ideal.

You want that soil profile to stay pretty well saturated and even, but not overly saturated.

And that does come back to your your soil type, your soil organic material.

And the parent material as well.

Amanda> I read somewhere that for every 1% increase in organic matter, an acre could hold an extra 22,000 gallons in a week for a week or something like that.

Phillip> I know it's substantial.

Amanda> It was stunning how much difference it could make.

And some of our farmers now are using new ways of reducing tillage and all, which I think is increasing organic matter.

Is that right?

Phillip> It is to a to a degree, and it's very slow but reduced tillage, cover cropping.

We do have in South Carolina our new we had we were on a grant, a climate smart grant and one of the practices is cover cropping between crops specifically and leafy greens.

And that's a way to offset some of these global warming issues.

Carbon, our carbon footprint to kind of reduce inputs of that nature.

Amanda> Because when you're tilling, you're putting all the organic matter on the first and that was carbon sequestration.

And if you could not do that, it might help.

Phillip> Correct?

Amanda> Gosh, it's a complicated thing.

Phillip> It's complicated, but it's fascinating.

Amanda> Yeah.

Well, thank you for explaining it to us.

Okay.

Well, Terasa.

Terasa> Time for another question.

How about...Margaret in Neeses is said I keep hearing about plants called grasses or sedges.

I think I know what a grass is, but someone told me I have nut grass in my lawn.

Is it really a grass?

Can you tell me the difference between a grass and a sedge?

Amanda> Goodness Dr. John.

I think this is right up your alley, a former professor.

Dr. John> Well, I think that Margaret probably has something in her yard that is a species of Cyperus, which is a sedge.

But of course it's kind of hard Amanda> - for nut grass.

You think is what that is.

Dr. John> Right.

Okay.

The common name, nut grass, refers to the, a species of the sedge.

Amanda> Okay.

Dr. John> But you know, it's really important for a botanist or an act or an agent or somebody to see what you know, people are talking about, so all know absolutely what the deal is.

But yes.

Margaret in Neeses, I think, there are grasses and there are sedges.

Now, sedges are plants, herbaceous plants.

Some are annual summer perennials.

They are thousands and thousands of species have sedges.

They have particular stem morphology that would differentiate them from, you know, there's one right here.

Actually, it's from your hat.

Can I pick it up?

Amanda> Yes.

(laughs) I hope you'll put it back in.

So this is a here's an example of a sedge.

And what most people think about sedges.

Amanda> Hold it real still, please.

Dr. John> Is their stems are triangular in cross-section.

Amanda> They used to say sedges had edges.

Dr. John> Right.

Sedges have edges.

Amanda> Usually.

Dr. John> Usually.

And now this is not a very good example, come to think of it, because... the edges are very broad, so it's sort of triangular.

Amanda> And can they often be in places that have a lot more water?

Dr. John> Not always.

A lot of sedges are perfectly happy to be in very dry habitat.

Amanda> Okay.

Dr. John> As I was saying, there's thousands of species of sedges and hundreds and hundreds of genera, as well.

The ones that we have of most economic and our agricultural importance I think are the weeds that are in the genus Cyperus.

And then there are a few others that are related to Cyperus and you guys will tell me... Phillip> Yellow and purple are the two larger agronomic ones that we see that are in the Cyperus genus and they are ranked, I think, in the top three worst weeds in the world.

Amanda> No.

Dr. John> So those are species of as Phillip says Cyperus, which is a huge genus.

Now this is about, by the way, the same genus that gives us that ancient plant called papyrus that they used to make paper out of in Egypt.

Amanda> And wasn't Moses in the bull rushes?

Were the bull rushes, Cyperus?

Dr. John> Probably.

Who knows.

Amanda> Probably.

Dr. John> But the thing about sedges, there's a couple of other things.

The leaves don't they have the leaves that will have a sheath?

Of course, this one doesn't have any leaves on it, but the leaves will have a sheath that's totally intact all around it, whereas a grass will have a leaf sheath that's slit down one side.

Amanda> Whoa!

Dr. John> You can pull the leaf away without tearing anything.

Amanda> Alright.

Okay.

Dr. John> So there's another difference between sedges and grasses.

And I guess this might be kind of hard to fathom.

I guess the fruits are totally different.

So the fruits of a, of a of a sedge are what we call Achenes.

They are pretty interesting little one seeded fruits.

The fruits of a grass, of course, are called grains.

And they're anatomically a good bit different.

Amanda> So corn is a grass?

Dr. John> Corn is a grass.

Amanda> Wow!

You're kidding.

That's fun.

So if people have nut grass in the yard, Philip or Christopher, are there things that you can treat it with that won't hurt your grass if you get the right product?

Or is it really, really hard to get rid of it?

Phillip> It's very tenacious.

And I'll split this with Christopher and I deal with it more in the in the agri-agronomic side.

And so we see it in fields and ditches, and we treat it with a variety of different chemicals that the homeowner usually can't give, or that would have a scorched earth policy.

I will say, as far as other grasses and Chris, what do y'all what do you all.

usually use?

Christopher> As far as turf grass goes, we will see a little bit of yellow or purple, nut sedge, but the big sedge we'll actually see is called Kyllinga.

It's a very short species or genera.

For the most part, It's one of those that will grow kind of in a little bit more compacted soils, a little bit damper soils.

Dr. John> And Kyllinga is a segregate genus within Cyperus.

So you might see sometimes species in that genus are referred to as species of Cyperus, which is just saying.

Christopher> Well there you go, the more you learn, right.

Yeah.

But that's a common one.

And again treatments for that, it's all about the type of turf grass you have.

There are selective herbicides that are going to control just sedges.

But the problem is it is very tenacious and it's likely one treatment is not going to do it no matter what it is.

Amanda> How awful does it look?

Terasa> That's a matter of opinion.

Yeah.

I mean, some people are very tolerant of diversity in their yard and other people want a manicured mono-culture of turf grass.

Amanda> Christopher tells us about things you have.

You said you're happy to have.

Christopher> I'm quite happy.

And I've actually got plenty of Kyllinga.

You know what, it's green, it's a lot brighter green.

So it is a little bit more noticeable when it comes to some of our darker turf grass, but if its in Centipede, most of your kind of standard homeowners are probably not going to know much difference.

Amanda> Okay, well, that's encouraging and Centipede is the easiest grass to have.

Christopher> For the most part.

Amanda> Yeah.

Less water and less fertilizer.

Right.

So I think it's we're all trying to be more aware of the environment and using things I think Centipede probably has a pretty good place for people to consider.

Christopher> Oh yeah.

Amanda> Okay.

Goodness gracious.

All righty.

Well, I think now we're going to go to Boone Hall Farms and they have a new market and always lots of vegetables and now also flowers ♪ melodic music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Amanda> I'm at Boone Hall Farms speaking with Erik Hernandez, who's the farm manager.

And you've got a long history with this place.

>> Yes, I've been here for over 20 years now.

Yes, and I'm loving it.

And I would love working in the farm and, with all everybody, with all the people Amanda> as we came in today, you've got some great, beautiful new buildings down where the.

Just the old farm store used to be.

Erik> Yeah So we have three new buildings.

We have, Willie's Roadside Market.

we got Elizabeth's Flower Shop, and then we got some really nice restrooms with the good water fountain.

Erik> Yes.

Amanda> Well, tell me about Willie's roadside market please.

Erik> Yeah.

So, this, this building was named after Mr. Willie MacRae, which he was, the owner of Boone Hall, plantation.

And, so we were really excited, and, and we also had the other building with, Elizabeth's flower shop, which is named after, Miss Elizabeth, which is Willie's sister.

So we, we were very, happy to honor them with these buildings.

Amanda> A lot of people just don't know how to choose produce.

It's kind of hit or miss.

Your people who work with you, know exactly what to look for in the field.

Erik> So we attempt to like everything that you see at Willie's it's ready, it's ready to be eaten.

And the only, the only advantage that you have, it's it's like, with tomatoes, you can go get a tomato.

that you're going to eat today, or you can get one with a little orange color that you save that one for tomorrow.

Amanda> And I believe that with the watermelons you have a big variety that y'all are growing.

Erik> Yes.

We grow, different varieties of watermelons, seedless, is what everybody wants, so fine.

We got some yellow watermelons.

It's, it's, it's a good we have a good variety of watermelon.

Amanda> I had a lot of fun looking around.

There was some peanut butter that looked like y'all were just making it right on site.

Erik> Yes.

So we made that, here on Willie's, and, we also have honey, that, that's a true local honey.

there, it's, we have some beehives here on the farm.

I worked with Zack Snipes very close.

And then, we came out with this cover crop plant, and, which it helps our bees, it helps, It helps our soil.

And, so we get some really, really good honey.

Amanda> In the store.

I see some things that, I think y'all didn't produce or can or manufacture.

so tell me how those come in.

Erik> Yeah.

So we love to support local.

So we work with a lot of local farmers and local vendors.

we go to the state farmers market and, we get a lot of the produce that we don't that we don't grow, or we're running low on, and we, we have partners like, Kim McLeod, that we get McLeod peaches from and different and other the different fruits from them.

And, so we, we like to support local.

Amanda> Now we're down here where everybody I love seafood.

Is that sometimes available too.

Erik> Yes.

we have our, Willie's roadside market.

we have one of our local vendors, and, yes, it's there daily, so you can go get some seafood and then you can go get some vegetables and then go home and cook yourself a really fresh meal.

Amanda> And, I think y'all really like to include and help people make friends with all the people in this area.

On Saturdays, y'all bring a variety of people?

Erik> Yes, from, craft vendors to ice cream, to different food trucks.

So yes, we, we try to keep it fun at Willie's Amanda> And then, and Mrs. Elizabeth's flower shop.

you've got a wonderful shade cloth over it, and I thought it was fun.

You have things for shade that are grouped together because a lot of people don't know.

Erik> Yes, we have things for shade.

I know they have a lot of tropicals that, the, there's some of the, people's favorites.

And, so, yeah, we've got a variety.

We have, like to say, you can come and get your vegetables or you can go over there and get a beautiful flower to take home, Amanda> And plenty of sun flowers, as well.

Erik> Pretty of sun flowers.

Amanda> And you do actually grow sunflowers, actually, Erik> We do grow sunflowers.

And we grow those for people to enjoy.

If you drive on 17, and your drive gets boring, you look to your right And there's a beautiful field of sunflowers, Amanda> - which is such a happy thing to see with all the development going on.

Erik> Put a smile on their faces.

Also, I know that you're very conscious of water use.

You have black plastic and I believe drip irrigation, which really cuts down on water and humidity problems for the plants.

Erik> We do.

That's one thing, our fresh water, we like to take care of it.

So we, with everything that we grow, it's under, drip irrigation.

And we also, grow other stuff and, plastic where we can help with the weeds and different things.

And also the black cover helps to keep them moist where we don't have to use that much water.

Amanda> So much water.

Yeah.

And also, I know that Jim Westerhold, the new general manager, his career before this was in natural resources in various aspects.

And so y'all are doing oyster shell restorations, which is helping everybody to have clean, an oyster can clean Both> 50 gallons of water.

Yes.

Amanda> So I just think it's stunning the things that y'all are doing the huge commitment to sustainability.

Erik> Yes, we're doing everything that we can to have some good vegetables and a good environment here, Amanda> And I believe that, Mr. Willie made provisions for this property to be put in a conservation easement.

Erik> He did.

Yes.

Yeah.

We've been very blessed that he he left this place to be here forever, for generations to generations.

So we, I think everybody should be very grateful what we have here.

Amanda> And I think it's wonderful that you make everyone feel like this is a place where they can come and make friends and have a sense of family.

Erik> That's right.

Yes.

I even found my wife here.

(laughs) Amanda> Erik, I'm so glad that you came here 20 years ago and that you're still here doing this wonderful work at Boone Hall Farm.

Erik> Thank you.

I love it.

You.

♪ (music fades) Amanda> I came home with some tasty produce from Boone Hall Farms and I enjoyed visiting there.

I think you would too.

So hats, hats, hats.

So, Dr. John, as you said, I've got some I had to ask you what it was.

I had it in the garden.

Dr. John> Cyperus.

Amanda> And then I've got this little purple thing that is, Dr. John> Gomphrena.

Amanda> Gomphrena.

Dr. John> In the Amaranth family.

Amanda> Thank you.

Okay.

And then we usually think of our native honeysuckle as being red, Terasa, but this one's yellow.

Terasa> That one is, I would suspect.

I know there are a few cultivars.

So, Lonicera sempervirens and I think I know of at least two that are available and I can't think, John Clayton and sulphurea.

I think are two that are available with yellow flowers.

Dr. John> And there's a native one that's called Lonicera flava that grows up in the mountains.

Amanda> Okay.

Thank you...anyway.

And then what else?

A button bush, Which is just the most wonderful thing in the world.

It's this, this little thing right here.

And it is a larval food source for a good many caterpillars and Lepidptera and larvae, and it grows on Mary Desportes bank going down towards her pond there.

But I think you can grow it in drier places, as well.

Dr. John> I expect that it's adaptable like a lot of these things.

Amanda> But, if you've got a wet place, it'd be a great thing to put out.

And boy, does it have pollinators on it.

Dr. John> Butterflies.

Amanda> I enjoy having it in my yard.

Anyway, this honeysuckle didn't smell, you know, the invasive honeysuckle.

You kind of know when you're around it, but this one doesn't smell.

Dr. John> You hear that, that story about the man who took his dog to the vet?

Amanda> No, but I bet I'm about to.

Dr. John> Yeah I'm not going to tell you.

You know, it was a true story.

It was in Columbia.

And he took his dog, you know, in my neighborhood.

And he took his dog to the vet.

And he says to the vet, he says, Doctor, my dog is terrible.

My dog doesn't have a nose And the vet turns around and says, Goodness gracious, how does he smell?

And the man says, "Terrible."

Amanda> We had a lot of those when I was in Dr. John's class and we had to laugh, you know, because we were all trying to get a good grade.

Dr. John> Yeah.

Yeah.

Amanda> But many of them are very charming.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Terasa> Of course.

I'm over here.

You know, the dog lover.

And I'm thinking, of this poor dog must have been, you know, malformed.

Amanda> Something happened.

Yeah.

Terasa> It was pretty funny.

Amanda> Yeah, it was.

Okay, well, onto more serious matters Terasa.

Terasa> Oh I almost forgot.

That is really why we are here, isn't it?

Let's see who we can help next.

Brian in Columbia said, I recently saw a video about indoor plants and their ability to filter the air and reduce indoor pollutants.

Is this true?

And if so, what plants are best to get started with?

Amanda> Goodness.

Well, I guess that somebody who has central heat and air.

Unlike me.

Because indoors in the outdoors is all the same thing at our house.

Christopher, what do you think?

Christopher> So this is actually a fairly popular topic that I've had come up multiple times in my career.

And I will say I kind of get the same response when I tell them that in reality you're not going to be able to do much.

So the way you filter your air is you make sure that your central heating and air system is got a good filter on it.

Amanda> Okay.

Christopher> But if you want to, of course liven the house, and plants generally are going to improve moods.

It's going to reduce anxiety.

There's a lot of benefits that plants have.

But as far as filtering the air, the... amount is very, very minimal.

Amanda> Okay.

Christopher> I believe you would have to have one almost every square foot in order to really make much difference.

Amanda> It wouldn't reduce anxiety because you have to water, ...get them in the right place.

Christopher> That's where the question comes in.

What would be a good starter plant?

And in reality, if you don't have pets, the perfect starter plant because it doesn't like a lot of water are snake plants.

So snake plants are kind of one of the perfect also known as mother in law tongue does really well in kind of moderate light, does not like direct light.

Amanda> It's very forgiving.

Christopher> Very forgiving though you do still need to water it, but it's one of those that it's a really good starter plant, and oftentimes it's one of the top ones listed as far as air purification goes.

And so it does have a little bit better qualities to it.

But again, if you're going to start with one, don't necessarily think you're going to make a whole lot of difference, but that would be a good way to start.

Amanda> And, you know, John, when I go to visit my children in Los Angeles, they have - is it sanseveria or is that the fancy name or have they changed that too.

Dr. John> Some of them have had a genus name?

Amanda> Well, let's just say - anyway, they have Dr. John> Close enough.

Amanda> They grow it as something in the yard.

It was all over the place out there.

Dr. John> And they do that in Florida too.

In South Florida, it's easy to grow.

And one thing about sanseveria I mean, even - although I'll kill them ...well, they're easy to grow, except for me.

They make these fantastic flowers when they do bloom.

They'll be really wonderful on a spike, sticking straight up, very fragrant.

Amanda> But that so that would happen if you could have it growing all year outside, maybe?

Or does that?

Dr. John> I don't see why not.

Amanda> Okay.

Well, anyway, it was fun to see it out there and it's pretty dry usually out there in L.A..

Anyway, I thought it was strange to see an indoor plant being used outdoors all over the place, All right, Terasa.

Terasa> Yeah.

I was just thinking over here, I believe Dr. John mentioned earlier in the show about extracting DNA, and you were talking about the classification.

And I think that Herrick actually talked about the reclassification of Snake Plant in one of our previous episodes.

So it's interesting how.

Amanda> And of course, Herrick kind of took over your position there.

Dr. John> Yeah, he knows a lot more than I do.

(All laugh) Amanda> You know...

He does know a lot.

And we are so glad that he comes in.

Dr. John> Yeah, he's a good guy.

Amanda> We enjoy having him too.

Okay.

Very, very good.

Terasa> Yes.

But back to questions.

Right?

So how about we help Dixie in Campobello.

Who said my cucumbers keep producing flowers, but no fruit?

What can I do?

Amanda> Because cucumbers in the summertime are so wonderful.

Do you like cucumber sandwiches?

Terasa> I don't really like it on sandwiches, but I'm happy to just slice it up fresh.

Maybe a little bit of salt and pepper and just eat it that way.

Amanda> And Jinx Farmer's mother had the best cream cheese spread for cucumber sandwiches that she gave us one time.

I just love cucumber sandwiches.

Terasa> I like to put them in some vinegar with a little bit of onion and...

It's kind of a fresh pickle.

Amanda> Well Phillip, this poor person can't have cucumbers in any fashion because they're not getting anything they get in the flowers.

Phillip> Yeah, cucumbers this time of year, especially in this heat, they tend to kind of shut down a little bit.

And a lot of your older varieties are like straight eight are starting to slow down.

And in the near of their cycle.

What that person or this homeowner this case could do is look for one of the Parthenocarpic varieties that self fertile.

Amanda> Come on.

Phillip> We see a lot of those in the commercial production we have in Orangeburg and Calhoun counties where there's thousands of acres of cucumber, which should be in their third or fourth planting right now.

Amanda> Gosh.

Phillip> So I would I would suggest make sure that you have your cucumbers in this instance in a location that's not getting too hot.

Make sure they make sure they're well watered or shaded.

Amanda> Okay.

Phillip> Usually a shade cloth works really well.

If you can get your hands on a small one to kind of reduce the temperature by 10 to 15 degrees.

Amanda> Come on.

That's interesting and it is fascinating to see some of these farms, Terasa, that I've been living there forever and ever and ever.

And and now you'll see these huge fields of cucumber.

Are they growing those for the pickling industry?

They are, they are all pickling cucumbers and they have very strict size requirements, which is kind of neat.

Amanda> Because if you leave- I mean...cucumbers can get kind of out of bounds.

Phillip> And it's very time sensitive on the harvest, as well with cucumber.

In this instance, in these field production settings, we need really good sunny days, which we have had plenty of this year.

And if you get cloudy days, it, it slows the cucumber down.

So you get what we call a split harvest or a split crop.

So you'll have oversized and undersized and just a few right there in that sweet spot for the machine and for the buyer, the pickle buyer.

Amanda> Like Goldilocks!

>> It is like goldilocks.

Just right.

And it doesn't take long for them to get too large of 12 hours or less.

Amanda> Okay, So I used to love to grow cucumbers, but then I would get this mildew on them and there wasn't anything I could use to spray them with.

Is that, and I hear that it kind of moves up from Florida... Phillip> So, we do have a really large mildew problem and it's specifically cucurbit downy mildew.

Amanda> Okay.

>> And it does it travels with the weather and with the heat up from Florida in the early spring and then down in the south.

So we get hit twice a year.

This year we were a little bit early in detection.

We were about two and a half to three weeks early.

Amanda> So there's something that commercial people can use that's not available to commercial?

Phillip> Commercial growers do have a few extra options.

Amanda> I heard it's really expensive.

Phillip> It is very expensive, but the trade off is... downy mildew can work its way through a crop and completely devastate it.

So they have those options available, whereas the homeowner you can replant and it's not as detrimental.

What you can do is promote good airflow.

Some people- Amanda> So get them up on a a trellis, into a trellis?

Phillip> Trellising hasn't been shown to reduce downy.

But it does help reduce your other fungal pathogens, which is quite nice.

Amanda> Gosh Terasa, it's amazing we can never get a cucumber.

Terasa> It really is.

You know, and it probably isn't the case at this particular time of year.

But our extension offices get lots of questions about things in the cucurbit family with this, where they're making flowers but no fruit and they don't realize Amanda> Squash is in that family too.

>> Squash and zucchinis.

They don't realize that there are male and female flowers.

And we need to have both of them open at the same time in order to have pollination occur.

Unless, of course, we're talking a Parthenocarpic variety, which is kind of strange.

And can it can we can get fruit without that traditional pollination.

That's a whole story for another day, I suppose.

Amanda> Oh my goodness gracious.

How do...?

It's, it's wonderful that we have anything to eat sometimes.

Thank you for all you do as a commercial agent helping these people in Orangeburg.

Phillip> My pleasure to help out.

Amanda> Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, Terasa is there something else?

Terasa> I believe there is, Ted in Camden, would like to know, do we really have a native cactus?

He says that he heard that they all- he thought of them as being Western species.

Amanda> You mean something that's here?

Terasa> Yes.

Amanda> Gosh, John, is that...?

Do you have an idea about this?

Dr. John> I sure do.

Oh yeah.

We have cacti, cactuses all over South Carolina.

Every single county.

Amanda> Whoa!

Dr. John> Oh yeah.

Amanda> Can you tell us about some of them?

Dr. John> And they're all... their all native ones.

The ones that.

Well, we have some that are introduced as well.

But the what you generally see growing around homes and highways and everything, fields and such, are species in this genus opuntia or opuntia'.

Amanda> All right.

>> And it's a big genus and it is very well represented out west.

The ones we have here are pretty interesting little guys and mostly known as a prickly pears.

Amanda> Oh my Lord.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They're all over the place.

and some places where it's sandy particularly.

>> Oh yeah, and they bloom.

They're wonderful plants and there's one along the coast now that actually causes problems for some people that are wandering around where they're not supposed to be behind the dunes and such, a little, I can't remember the common name, but it's got spines like crazy.

And it'll jump They're sort of like it's going to jump off the ground into your socks or your flip flops.

A> Well...we had one, And you know, we've always lived in houses that had, you know, porches and railings and all that stuff.

And a lot of times I just hang clothes on the railings.

And there was a prickly pear down there, Terasa and it fell down.

Edward's pants fell down into it.

And I mean to tell you, he put those pants on, and he acted like he was going to have a heart attack.

Because you can't get those little suckers out.

Dr. John> Now there's, there's spines, that's one thing.

But at each node of the pad of a prickly pear, this is why people got to be real careful when you start fooling around with these things, even if it doesn't seem to have spines on it.

They have tiny little eruptions in each one of those nodes that are almost microscopic and they're like spines themselves and they're called glochids.

And those are the ones that you get in your fingers.

They'll be in there all day long.

Amanda> And I guess that's what got in his pants.

We just had to throw them away.

Dr. John> Yeah.

And so wear gloves if you're going to be fooling around with a cactus.

A> So isn't their one now that doesn't have... that people grow, and they can eat it or something.

Well, sure.

I mean, if you get the and there's some introduced ones that are, you know, widely used in Latin America.

Amanda> Oh, Okay.

>> And they will make spines.

And of course, the way they deal with those spines and glochids is to burn them off.

Amanda> Come on.

>>Before they're cooked, you know, in different recipes.

by the way, they're very tasty.

Amanda> I've got it in a jar, but I've never made it myself.

Okay, well, you like to go to different stores now?

They're on Decker Boulevard and all, and I guess you've gotten some out there sometime?

Dr. John> Yeah.

And, you know, closer into town.

Amanda> Okay.

Goodness.

Well, that was fun Terasa.

So, so glad we got that.

Terasa> You ready for another?

Amanda> Yeah.

Terasa> How about Bill in North Charleston, who says the mosquitoes are particularly bad this year?

Yes, I agree, Bill.

Bill has read that there are some plants that you can put in the garden to keep mosquitoes away.

Does it actually work?

And if it does, what ones would be helpful.

Amanda> Well, if that if somebody came up with something that really did that, they could retire and, you know, put everybody else in the world out of business because there's nothing worse than mosquitoes, especially now that we have these daytime biting mosquitoes.

Christopher, what's the story on this?

Christopher> So unfortunately, there's the quick answer is yes, there is a couple of plants that you can try that are shown to have some effects as far as repelling insects.

The bad news is you're probably not going to get much benefit from them just by planting them.

And one of my favorites, of course, is and if you recognize this, then you have a keen eye because this one doesn't have any as a little bunch of flowers there.

But this is the beauty berry.

Amanda> It has those beautiful purple... >> Yeah, beautiful purple berries on it.

Hence the name Callicarpa americana.

But this is one of my favorite native shrubs that frankly, I think every garden really should have.

It's got a nice smell to it.

It's excellent for pollinators.

The birds will occasionally pick at it.

But in reality I find that the bees and caterpillars and all the insects that are supposed to be eating the plants are going to absolutely love this, which is very important for the birds specifically, because again, it's all part of that food chain.

But one of the big things about this and there's been research done is they found anti-microbial as well as repellant chemicals within the leaves.

And so while just planting, it's not going to do a whole lot as far as repelling the insects, rubbing it on your skin.

If you've got a problem area.

Again, obviously do this in small patches, but that will get enough of the Amanda> Whatever's in it.

>> Yeah, whatever's in it, and will actually help not only repel insects, but it is known to also repel horse flies.

Amanda> Come on.

Of course a horsefly bite is the worst.

Christopher> They really are.

And I believe that would include deer flies as well as yellow flies.

Amanda> Doesn't the leaf smell funky when you crush it up.

Christopher> Not particularly.

I mean, it's got a slight fragrance to it.

Amanda> Not overwhelming.

Christopher> I mean, it's in the Mint family, so that family generally has at least some fragrance, though it's newly introduced to the Mint family.

But it's one of those that, again, it does help, at least to a small extent.

So if you've got a couple of these, pick off a few leaves while you're out in the garden.

That way you don't have to get out the DEET.

And you can still- Amanda> Maybe stay out there for five or ten minutes.

Exactly.

Okay.

And then, John, when I was doing my hat, I think I have a member of the Mint family in my hat.

Don't I?

Dr. John> Yes, ma'am.

You sure do.

It's this one.

And that's your mountain mint, which is...

I bet you're going to tell us something about pollinators, about this guy?

Amanda> Well, when I got it, I mean, it was just pollinators all over it.

Yeah.

Dr. John> Really smells.

A> And you've talked about a big kind of mountain mint, but I don't think it's just.

I think we can all have it in our gardens.

Dr. John> Yeah.

Yeah.

There's seven or eight species and the coastal plain.

Easy to grow, I think.

Amanda> Anyway.

And it... now if you want to pass along some to a friend, I think you probably can.

Doesn't it...doesn't it...?

It's not too aggressive but it does spread.

Terasa> Yeah.

I just planted some in my yard so I can report later as to how much it spreads.

But it is, in, I'm not mistaken, it's in the Mint family.

So the Mint family is known to be a little on the aggressive side, but hopefully it's not like I planted Mint to use as an herb, a culinary mint, and I mistakenly planted it in the ground and have since dug it up and put it in a pot.

Amanda> Yeah.

Terasa> It was going everywhere.

Amanda> Yeah.

You have to have a lot of mint juleps and iced tea.

(all laugh) Dr. John> And mojitos.

Amanda> Mojitos.

There you go.

Goodness gracious.

So maybe John could plant in the ground, but he doesn't have ground anymore because he's moved to an apartment.

Goodness gracious.

Well, Terasa, can we help someone else?

Terasa> I am sure we can.

How about Nathan in Beech Island who said there's a weird brown fuzz on the undersides of my tomato leaves?

Is this a disease?

And how should I treat it?

Amanda> Weird brown fuzz.

Terasa> And we do have a picture.

(all laugh) Amanda> Well, Philip, does this sound like the something you've seen?

Phillip> It is.

We're seeing it right now, as a matter of fact, in tomatoes around the state.

And it's kind of different because at first you look if you look at the upper surface of the leaf, look on the very top, that's more photosynthetic.

You'll start to see it yellow and brown out.

So it looks kind of like a mildew or an aphid infestation.

And then you flip, flip that leaf over and on the back is this really ruddy brown rust.

Amanda> Kind of like your beard?

Phillip> A little bit, a little bit duller than my beard.

But it's tomato leaf rust.

It is a fungal pathogen and we see it right now in higher humidity environments.

And this...it's fairly common and it's easily misidentified early as, like I said, either early blight or a aphid infestation or one of these other things or mildew until it starts to sporulate or produce those brown fuzzy spores.

You can treat for it with protective fungicides like Daconil.

Amanda> You spray under the leaves?

Phillip> You would have to spray get thorough coverage, which would be under the leaf on the from from top of plant down to the ground, which can be difficult and a much easier remedy would be to prune your tomato plants for the homeowner and proper spacing.

You want to encourage good air movement That way, humidity is not trapped in the canopy of your tomato, and that will lessen the effect of rust on that tomato plant.

Amanda> Goodness gracious.

So by pruning them, just not having so many branches come out.

Phillip> You don't want to have as dense a foliage.

You want a tomato tree, so to speak, instead of a bush.

So light and airy is the way to go on tomatoes.

And we see that a lot in production for homeowners.

But in field production, we want that nice bush to shield from sun scald.

So so the two worlds are... it's a dichotomy.

They're close but different.

Amanda> And so talk about sun scald a little bit.

Phillip> So sun scald, we see it in cucurbits, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and just like people, I'm red headed.

I'm fair skinned and I scald myself a really quick but tomatoes and peppers are and fruit in general do the same thing.

They're very photosensitive.

And if exposed to too much sun or too high an intensity of sunlight, they do burn, they sunburn or sun scald.

And that ruins the marketability of that fruit.

Amanda> Yeah.

Okay.

Terasa> So we can't go out and put sunscreen on our fruit?

Phillip> Well, you actually can.

Amanda> And kale and clay?

Phillip> Kaolinite clay and watermelons, which is used as a protectant to protect from sun scald.

And it reflects a lot of that adverse UV radiation.

Amanda> And Terasa, where we grow up where my mother and father built the house.

Their backyard had been a kaolin pit.

Terasa> Oh wow.

Amanda> Well, how about that.

Terasa> That's pretty cool.

If you've got that in your garden, you might as well just move.

I mean, red clay, you can.

Phillip> Red clay you can work with.

>> You can't work with that kaolin clay.

Well, we got a little bit of time left, Terasa.

So should we try to squeeze somebody else in?

Terasa> We should.

I think Dr. John might have an interesting show and tell that he can talk about.

Dr. John> Okay, Pretty scary.

Amanda> Whoa.

Terasa> That looks like it should be on a Halloween episode.

Dr. John> A Halloween plant.

So what's going on is this.

Amanda> we could pour water in there maybe.

>> And it used to have water in it, but it's empty now.

But this is a leaf and this is an insectivorous plant.

And it's not related to our pitcher plants, but it's behaving the same way as this leaf has a rather leafy part of the base.

Imagine that.

My left arm is the plant.

It makes this leaf that has a long tendril coming out of the end of it.

The end of the tendril is just incredible.

Amanda> That's a pretty.

>> It's the leaf lamina is tubular and it's got this little flap at the very top, which is like a little lid of this tank.

And look at it, it's got these scary hairs on it, too.

And it, and it's around the edge of the cavity, it looks like raw meat or something.

Amanda> It does kind of >> You can see the little speckles on the inside.

And I believe that these speckles and such are attractive to flies and other kinds of insects.

Now, this kind of plant is called Nepenthes these, as I said, it's not related to our native pitcher plants, but it does.

It's definitely an insectivorous plant.

It can even capture things like little mice.

Amanda> I was going to say- >> -Critters.

Yeah, but it will fill up with- Amanda> And then it dissolves them and gets nutrients >> and gets the goodies out of the critter, that's been rotting inside this tank.

Amanda> Well, thank you.

Dr. John> Grows in the south, southwest Pacific.

Amanda> Okay, well, but you didn't get it there.

Dr. John> No, I got it from my buddies, Eric Shealy and Andy Cabe over at Riverbank Botanical Gardens.

Amanda> They're such good friends.

Well, anyway, I think it's time for us to say good night to you.

And we hope you'll join us next week.

♪ ♪ Narrator> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina.

This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina, family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons, a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.