That plant is poison!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning, everybody, Welcome back. I'm Ron Wilson, and you are
in the garden here on news radiosix' ten WTV and talking about yardning.
It is hot, it is dry, there's no doubt about it.
But I'll tell you what, there'sa couple plants out there that just love
this kind of weather. As amatter of fact, as you're out there
working in your yard and garden,and all of a sudden, a couple

(00:21):
days or a day later or something, you start to break out in the
rash. You say, I neversaw. I wonder which what I did
I get to get a poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak? What
was it? Well, we're gonnafind out because it's time for the Itchy
and Scratchy Show. And the starof the show, of course, is
Dan Bollman. He's the customer servicemanager for Zanfell Laboratories. And Dan,

(00:42):
how many years have you and Ibeen talking about poison ivy, poison oak
and poison sumac? Yeah, sinceshowing Columbus. And I tell you,
I'm just every year. I'm justitching to join you and bring a rash
of information on poison ivy. Hear, Oh, oh my gosh, I
can't stand it. Uh anyway,good to have you back on, I
tell you so, Is it mesince you and I first started talking about

(01:04):
poison ivy? Is it just me? Or do I see more and more
all the time? Well, Ithink there's more of it. I mean,
you know, particularly this year.I don't know about in Ohio,
but in our part of the Midwest, we've had four years of near drought
condition. So now this year wefinally had a lot of rain. Poison
ivy is big. There actually wasa huge study done by Duke University in

(01:27):
the early two thousands where they showedthat the more carbon dioxide there is an
atmosphere, not only does poison ivyget bigger, but the toxin in the
plant becomes significantly more allergenic. Sothe poison ivy's covering more area, and
people who might not have broken outwith their sensitivity level thirty years ago they

(01:49):
are now. I swear I canfind it just about anywhere in anybody's landscape.
It's interesting because a friend of minein Rochester, New York, where
they were out on a walk theother night, set me back a picture
of this poison ivy vine on theside of a tree and there's a hand
up next to the terminal leaf therethe leaves of three and it was the
same size, if not a littlebit bigger than their hand. And I

(02:13):
said, that ain't nothing. Isaid, I still have one that's eighteen
and a half inches long. AndI said, you know, it's crazy
because you don't you would even recognizethose because they're so big. And then
you just find the ones that aredone in the grass that are half an
inch in diameter. How does itdo that? Well, you know,
people really struggle to identify poison ivy, even green industry professionals. The leaves

(02:37):
can be large, like eighteen inches, like you said, they can be
an inch across all shades of green. They can have smooth edges, lobed
edges, and you know, theplant just morphs into whatever it needs to
be for its environment. I mean, it can be a creeping ground vine,
a shrub, or a climbing vinethat goes eighty feet up a tree.

(03:01):
It just kind of just morphs intowhatever it needs to be for its
environment. I swear that stuff becauseit does, and it just it's totally
different. And then you get itin with Virginia creeper the leaves of five
and then it thinks it's really smartbecause he gets in with that, and
of course you it's hard to tellwhich is a three, which is a
five? Uh smart stuff now,Dan, and we got Dan Bowman with

(03:23):
us this morning. We're talking aboutpoison ivy, poison oak, and poison
seu mac And of course go tothe website's one of the best ones out
there, zanfel dot com. Prettysimple z A n F E l dot
com. All kinds of great information, uh, more than even what we're
going to talk about today. Butwe're in Ohio. This is the show
is in Columbus, Ohio, andI go through this with you every year

(03:45):
and you're always my backup on thistalking about poison ivy, poison sumac.
And then all of a sudden peoplebring up I think I broke out.
I think I get into some poisonoak. Is there any poison oak in
the state of Ohio. Absolutely not, There never has been. There's a
species of poison oak that grows onlyon the West coast, and another species

(04:06):
of poison oak that only grows inthe deep South, So Ohio, like
here in Iowa, there's poison ivy. You guys have a little poisoned sumac
in your swamps. But there's absolutelyno poison oak. And people will argue
with you about that till the daythey die. But every time I say,
well, if there's poison oak here, show me a picture of it.

(04:27):
They can never produce it. Yeah, Like I said, I use
you for my backup all the timebecause it's the same thing. It's like,
oh, yeah, we got poisonoak. No we don't. And
of course I said them to yourwebsite and all that. But you know,
and I learned that from you manymany years ago. The fact that
we just literally do not have it. And I think the other point you
brought up, Dan Bowman, isthe fact that poison sumac, if you

(04:47):
get poisoned sumac. I think onetime you said you probably were wearing a
pair of hip waiters and you're walkingthrough a bog somewhere, because that's the
only place that it grows. Yeah, it doesn't grow in in people's yards.
I mean, it might grow onthe edge of a pond, but
it's usually in environments where people don'thang out. I've traveled all across the

(05:10):
US, and when I go around, I'm kind of a geek, so
I look for this group of poisonousplants. I've only seen poison sumac once
in my life in a peat bogin southern New Jersey, and there's many
There's several species of non poisonous sumacthat can go on dry hillsides and in
people's yards, but poisoned sumac onlyin swamps, and it poisoned sumac is

(05:33):
the only sumac that has white berries, whereas the non poisonous sumac has like
a reddish or brownish seed structure andused in ornamental landscapes as well. Many
of the new cultivars that are outthere that could be used too. So
talk with Dan Bowman Zanfell Laboratories ofcourse, z A n f El dot

(05:55):
com. You've heard me I talkabout Zanfel all the time, and we'll
talk about that particul's the product more. But getting some facts out here about
the poison ivy. So it's theoil and the poison ivy that causes us
to break out. Correct, That'sthat's right, poison ivy, poison sumac.
They have this oily allergen that ifwhen you come into contact with these

(06:17):
plants, it absorbs down into yourskin. Bonds with your skin cells and
it unless you wash with regular soapand water within about fifteen minutes of touching
the plant, it gets down inthe layers of your skin and stays stuck
there for about three or four weeks. Your body, your immune system thinks

(06:38):
this poison ivy oil is an invaderlike a bacteria. So when you have
poison ivy oil in your skin,all these white blood cells rush into that
area of skin to attack this poisonivy oil. And that's where all the
redness and itching and blisters and miserycomes from. And how long I mean,

(06:59):
if I did do anything with it, how long is it going to
last on my skin? Well,for a typical mild to modern case,
it lasts about eighteen days. Nowif the caveat to that is, if
it's hot outside and your pores areopen, or if you have a scratch.
Sometimes the poison ivy oil, insteadof just going into your skin,

(07:19):
it can penetrate so deeply that itgets into your bloodstream and then it circulates
internally. That's called the systemic caseof poison ivy And sometimes they can last
four to six weeks. So thatit underscores the importance of knowing what the
plants look like, knowing how toprevent in treats, you don't get one

(07:40):
of these bad, bad cases.Now, can I spread that? So
I'm breaking out right now and I'mkind of oozy on my arm and haven't
do anything about it if I rubthat on somebody else, Do I spread
that that way? Uh? Nope. That's a couple good myths that you
brought up there. Poison ivy isone hundred percent not contagious. Again,
that oily allergen is literally bonded toour skin cells. So you know,

(08:05):
if you're broke out, you couldrub your arm on your somebody else's arm
and you're not going to give thempoison ivy. Likewise, because that oily
toxin is bonded to your skin cells, you can't spread it by scratching.
Now, you still want to notscratch if you can, because there's so
much bacteria in your fingernails. Andthen if you have ouzine or drainage coming

(08:30):
out from that poison ivy rash that'ssimply plasma or blister fluid, that fluid
does not contain the poison ivy toxinand it will not spread the rash and
you know you just killed a wholebunch of people out there saying, well,
I always thought it did that.I was always told it did that,
but you're right it doesn't. Andagain you can learn more about this

(08:54):
on their website at Zandfeld dot com. Gotta take a quick break, we
come back. I want to talkabout so you got it. We're gonna
talk about how to get rid ofthe poison ivy itself. But once it's
on your skin, how do youget rid of it? Well that's where
Zanfell comes to the rescue, andDan's gonna tell us more about that.
It's The Itchy and Scratchy Show withDan Bowman Zanfel dot Com here on news

(09:15):
Radio six' ten WTVN. Welcomeback here in the Garden with Ron Wilson.
Time for part two of the Itchyand Scratchy Shows, turring Dan Bowman
from Zanfell Laboratories. Of course,the product is called Zanfel. You hear
me talking about it all the time. Check out their website Zanfeld dot com.
Z A n f El Dan,I always have people come up to

(09:35):
me and say, you know what, I could roll on that stuff.
I could eat it. I neverbreak out with poison ivy. Are there
folks out there that literally are notallergic to poison the oils and poison ivy?
There are, but it's only abouttwenty percent of the population that are
born totally immune. Now everybody elseit's a matter of how many times do
I have to touch it before mybody will get sensitized. And some people

(09:58):
it's one are two exposures and theystart breaking out as a child. But
all the time people call me aZanfell. They're forty five or fifty five
years old. They've probably been exposedone hundred times in their life, but
they're gardening. They got exposed thatone hundred and first time and it gets

(10:18):
them. And once you break outwith poison ivy, you're sensitized and you
get at the rest of your life. So those you might it's usually men
somebody being macho's like, ooh,I couldn't rule in it. But then
there there could be that much closerto getting it for the first time.
Got it talking with Dan Bowman againfrom Zanfel. So you know, I

(10:41):
guess you can get this oil onyou even though you're not working in the
garden. I mean, your petscan carry the oil, your shoes,
your clothes, your gardening tools.How long does the oil stay active?
One on gardening tools, pets,whatever, And like if I cut a
vine off at a tree and Ilet it die, how long does the

(11:03):
oil stay active in that vine?Well, you know, while the oil
readily absorbs in the human skin,it stays. It's a good point.
It stays on the surfaces of thoseitems and in the dead poison ivy plant
material. Most general articles will saya matter of years. So that's why
it's so important to clean those contaminatedsurfaces. And if there's a dead poison

(11:28):
ivy vine that fell out of thetree, or somebody is choosing to kill
their poison ivy with herbicide, yougot to leave that dead poison ivy plant
material for late at least a yearbefore it would be safe to touch it.
So about a year or so andthen you should be okay. But
you still protect yourself. I wouldsay absolutely, just to be sure.

(11:52):
Yep, you're gonna want to wearyou know, if you're out around poison
ivy, you're gonna want to wearlong pants, long sleeves, even if
it's hot outside. And then,uh, they've shown that the poison ivy
oil because it's such a small molecule, can get through cloth, it can
get through leather, and it caneven get through rubber. But if you're

(12:13):
gonna have if you have to handleit like you're clearing brush, the best
type of glove to wear is aheavy duty vinyl glove. It cannot get
through vinyl. Now, Dan,you at one time, if I remember
talking with you, you used tohave a crew where you actually got would
could get hired, and there arecrews around the United States that you can
hire that literally go in and that'swhat they do is clear out poison ivy.

(12:35):
As a matter of fact, we'reon that's what we're doing right now
today in tre Moyne, Iowa.We're at a house close to downtown Des
Moines and me and my crew aredigging it out of these folks's yards so
they can enjoy their yard without itchymisery. And we we most times we
dig it out by the root systembecause that way it's gone and you don't

(12:56):
have dead poison ivy laying around that'sbeen killed by herbicide and you have to
stay out of that area. Sowe found that just digging it out bagging
it up and holling away is theway to go. And it's kind of
a niche thing. I'm the onlyprovider here in Iowa. So if you
can, if people are interested inthat, go to poisoned dashivy dot org

(13:18):
and there's a state by state listof providers. Really, that's that's that's
pretty cool. So I'm assuming youdo the gloves and all that stuff yourself,
But you know, do be honestwith me. Do you ever wind
up getting a little poison ivy rashhere and there? Sure? I sure
do. Even though we wear vinylgloves and long pants, lung sleeves.
We even wear tiebex sleeves, youknow, when you're ripping it out,

(13:41):
you know, even if you're beingsuper careful, I usually either get a
little on my face, or whenI'm peeling off my ppe, I do
a little touch on my wrist.But because I've got to supply to the
infel, it's no problem. It'sgot I use that and it's gone the
next day, all right. Solet's talk about Zanfel then. So I
am now I'm breaking out. Idid all the stuff the dog gun,

(14:03):
and I still broke out with apoison ivy. I've got the blisters on
my wrists or my hands or whateverit may be. What's so unique about
Zanfell and how do I use it? Sure? Vanfel is a special soap
mixture that where normal soap will removethe oil from the surface of your skin.
Zanfel the scrub that when you washwith it or scrub with it over

(14:26):
the rash, our product penetrates downinto the pores and hair follicles. The
Xanfell the soapy substance that is ourproduct. It magnetizes to the poison ivy
oil and then pulled it out ofyour skin. The xanvil product immediately inactivates
and encapsulates that poison ivy oil moleculeand then he rinse it off with water.

(14:50):
So by removing that oily plant toxinfrom your skin, then your immune
system no longer has anything left toreact to, so you stop itching.
After you use it, your itching'sgone, And for a typical case of
poison ivy, you're healed up inabout a day and a half. Well,
now, how often do I needto do the washing? For a

(15:11):
typical mild to moderate case, youonly have to do it once total and
that's it. You know, whenpeople think of poison ivy treatment, what
pops into their head is calibine lotion, hydrocordizone and a histamine, and all
they do is shut off the itchingfor a little bit. So you have
to repeat them over and over andover again, whereas was zan fell because

(15:35):
you're getting rid of the plant toxinor mild to moderate case once. If
it's a more severe case. Sometimesthe first time the Zanfell is not able
to grab all that oil out ofthe skin. So after the first application
you get three or four hours ofitch relief. Then the oil from the
poison ivy that was trapped deep inthe skin migrates up to the surface.

(16:00):
It makes your itching start back up, so then you just do it a
second time. So basically use itfor the first time and then repeat if
or when the itching comes back.All right, now, I'm going to
be personal here. Sometimes you getit in places you really wish you hadn't
gotten it, and it does happen. Are there restrictions where you can use
Zanfel? Uh? No. Sosince Zanfel is a safe soap based product

(16:23):
that's not it doesn't have any sideeffects, you can use it on your
face, even around your eyes.It's safe to be used in those areas
that you wish you hadn't gotten it. Basically, it's safe to be used
anywhere on the body. And becauseit's a safe product with no side effects
or contraindications, it's safe to beused on children and even pregnant or nursing

(16:45):
women, so folks that you wouldn'twant to put on a heavy duty prescription
steroid. Zantel is a great alternative. Again, if you want to learn
more about it, it's zanfell za n f el dot com. I've
been talking about Zanfel forever. Imean I I garden talks, I talk
about it, and you know there'syou can find it many different places and

(17:07):
I do you still have that onthe website too? Yeah, if you
go to zanfel dot com shows whereto buy and the Columbus, Ohio area,
you can easily pick up Zanfel atMeyer, Walmart or your local independent
pharmacy and all. Like you mentionedearlier. On our brand new website,
we've got an educational resources page withall the information about these myths and facts.

(17:32):
There's just so much misinformation with wivestales and internet lower around this topic.
It's good that there's a place toget accurate information. Yeah, and
it is. I think you guyshave updated. It's great. I was
reading through it again the other night. I mean, you answer a lot
of questions on there, and ofcourse you've got the identification and where it
grows and all of that. Soagain, just to learn more about poison

(17:56):
ivy, poison oak, which isnot in Ohio, and poison in Sumac,
go to their website Zanfel dot comand learn more about it. And
I'm telling you, if you knowsomebody that's breaking out with the poison ivy
rash, this stuff it works.Have you ever, Yeah, I'm sure
this does happen. You ever findanybody that didn't work on you know,

(18:17):
not that I can think of.I've been at for almost twenty years.
If somebody has a really severe systemiccase of poison ivy, yes you're going
to want to go into urgent careand get some prescription steroid therapy like pred
ina zone. But if you doneed the prescription, if you use Zanfel
in conjunction with your steroid prescription,while the steroid is shutting down the inflammation

(18:41):
from the inside of your body,Zanfel will be getting rid of the toxin
from the outside of your body.And it's so good that you bring this
topic up on a garden show becauseI did a study of seven thousand customer
service calls at Zanfel and and peoplethink, oh, you're exposed to when

(19:02):
you're camping or you're hiking. Butninety two percent of my calls from poison
ivy victims, and I ask themwhat they were doing, it's either gardening
or yardwork. People typically get exposedright in their own yard. Yeah,
oh yeah. And like I said, I swear I could go just about
anybody's yard and find it somewhere insome form where there's that little bitty leaf
or the eighteen inch long lead through. It's everywhere, Dan Bowman from Zanfel,

(19:27):
we really appreciate you spending time withus. Always great information. It's
zanfelza NFL dot com. I alwaysget a million emails after this saying what
was the name of that? Again, it's Zanfell And I have one last
question for you. You at onepoint raised a one forty nine pound giant
pumpkin. You still doing that?I sure, I am every year.

(19:48):
I I don't know how I havetime to do that between Zanfell and poison
ivy removal. But yeah, I'man avid gardener. My family is two.
So every year I according to fivehundred square feet in my garden for
one giant pumpkin plant and either takeit to the Iowa State Fair or animals
the Pumpkin Fest. But the partof the country where giant pumpkin growing is

(20:12):
the biggest is probably Ohio. There'sa way off in Barnesville and Circleville,
and I think there's two more ofthem, so give it a shot.
Hey, I get to I havethe opportunity to mc the way off in
Columbus at Oakland Nursery and every Octoberand it's amazing. I think we saw

(20:33):
the world's record squash was there?Yeah, they're they're both. The giant
pumpkin and squash records are up overtwenty five hundred pounds. It is crazy
to see a pumpkin about as bigas a Volkswagen. Oh yeah, it's
crazy stuff. So what's the biggestone so far? There was a new
world record last year for you,for you, oh, for me,

(20:56):
one pounds, So that is thebig one. Yep, that's my that's
my personal best and I'm shooting tobeat that this year. Good. Well,
if you decide you want to takeit somewhere else, come to Ohio.
Well, I one of these years, I'm going to go on and
put my pumpkin on the trailer andwe're gonna go on a road trip.
Sounds good. It's the Itchy andScratchy Show with Dan Bowman from Zanfel Laboratory

(21:18):
z A n f e L dotcom. Dan always a pleasure man.
Stay out of that poison IVY.Oh yeah, thanks everybody, all right,
take care Dan Bowman against Zanfel zA n f e L dot com.
Quick break, We come back.We will continue on at eight two
to one wtv in News Radio sixto ten WTVN talking your Ardening here on
news Radio six y ten and WTVNeight two to one WTVN eight hundred and

(21:44):
sixty ten WTV And don't forget thatthis week is pollinator Awareness Week. You
know, get out the local independentgarden centers. I know it's hot,
but you know, get outside andcheck it out. But you're gonna see
a lot of perennials in flower rightnow. Gives you a great opportunity to
see what they're gonna look like.Get them home. Also, when you're
looking at those perennials, you knowyou'll see a lot of pollinators on them

(22:04):
at the garden centers, and sometimesI want to come home with you.
But it shows you what we'll goafter a lot of those annuals and perennials
and things like that. But itis a pollinator awareness week. It's also
June, of course, is perenniala garden month, and that's why you
see so many great perennials out thereright now as well. So you know,
again as you're out there planting,and you can continue to plant as

(22:26):
long as you can continue to water. I think the only thing I wouldn't
be planting right now is probably grassseed. SAD might be a question mark
as well, but grass seed,I just don't know why you'd want to
mess with grass seed from this pointforward. Let's mess with it sometime we
get into August and September, butotherwise I'm not too crazy about putting grass
seed down this time of the year. SAD may be a different story in

(22:48):
some situations where you can keep thehost to it, keep it really wet
as it gets rooted, in,but boy, I'll tell you grass seed
I don't think is where you wantto go at this stage. A two
to one WTVN Jim, good morning, Good morning. Un Yes, sir,
appreciate your program. Thank you.Two quick questions. If we're trying

(23:12):
to deerproof our trees and with corrugatedplastic pipe, do you have any suggestions
what do you mean as far aswhen to do it, well, when
to do it and what to use. Sure, they're just rubbing the trees

(23:34):
real bad now, they're probably notdoing it right now, correct, Correct,
You'll see them start to You'll seethose bucks in late August still be
starting exactly. So you'll see thosebucks start to do that late August and
into September, and they'll carry thatright on through the fall season. You
know, you'll see rubs even intothe end of the winter season as well.

(23:56):
And so what nurseries will typically doto make sure they're covered, they'll
start putting those on about the firstof August or so, get those on
those trucks to help protect those fromthose buck rubs in case there's an early
surge of bucks moving through size wiseon that PBC. You know, if
you can get the perforated PBC pipe, and it comes in different diameters,

(24:18):
but if you can get into likethat four inch diameter, it's perfect.
And what you're looking to do isyou wanted to sit flat on the ground,
and you want it to come justbelow the first bottom branch, and
that's where you want that. Andthen what you'll do is you just slice
that all the way down and itopens up like a sleeve and you put
it right around the outside of thetrunk diameter or the trunk and you're good

(24:41):
to go. And then in thespringtime, typically by the first middle of
March, you can take those off. You're pretty safe at that point,
take them off and then leave themoff for the summertime, and then put
them back on as we get intothe first of August as well. But
I like that black perforated plastic pipethat works really nicely. Now ron is

(25:02):
the perforated by better than the solidI think so because it breathes. I
like that the fact that you've gotair moving through there. You know,
it's a little more open. Ijust like that because of the fact that,
yeah, it does breathe, andyou'll find it. You'll even find
tree trunk protectors that you can buythrough mail order, solid or perforated both

(25:23):
ways. As a matter of fact, there's another one out there that's actually
a grid work that looks, youknow, like a meshing that is used
so to really allow the trunk tobreathe the sunlight to come through the problem,
and we use it a lot.The only problem I see with that
one sometimes is that if a buckcomes along and tries to rub, sometimes

(25:45):
they'll catch that tip of one ofthose horns in there and they'll pull that
start pulling again and pull it off. I see that happen every now and
then. But otherwise I like thattoo because it does allow it to breathe.
So that's there's many different types.But with the perforateed, you could
maybe leave it on all year.I wouldn't know. I mean you could,

(26:07):
you you could. But what happensis, and I've seen where they've
been left on for a twelve monthperiod, all of a sudden, that
bark starts to look totally different thanthe bark from that point up. It's
a lighter color, you know,it's not quite as coarse. I think
it messes with the bark a littlebit. If you leave them on too

(26:27):
long. I would much rather takeit off, you know, sometime and
like I say, mid March orso, and put it back on in
August. I know it's a pain, but I think it's better for the
tree to do that, to letthat bark, let it expand during the
growing season, let it breathe,and then put that back on for the
winter season. You know what's interesting. I saw a tree this past winter

(26:51):
where they had done the tree trunkprotector. The buck actually got up above
the tree trunk protector and rubbed itlike five feet off the ground. I
said, go figure. Everybody didexactly what they were supposed to do,
but this big buck came through andrubbed up on the tree anyway. Huh.
Hey, Ron. One other questionornamental honeysuckle. There seems to be

(27:18):
aphids on the flowers. Yes,what should I spray with? They love
those. The thing you remember aboutAthos is it probably in another week or
two you're gonna see him disappear.As we get into this heat. Aphid
populations typically have a tendency to backoff and you don't see him as much.

(27:40):
If you need to spray, doit late in the evening, so
the pollinators aren't out there using secticidalsoap. Okay, got it? Okay,
brother, I appreciate your out allright, Jim, good talking to
you, and good luck with everything. Bye, all right, take care.
And you know, in addition tothe tree trunk protectors, if you

(28:02):
have a lot of buck deer movingthrough your neighborhood in the fall and winter
time, excuse me, don't hesitateto spray that and the mulch around it
with a deer repellent. Deer scramsprinkled around the bottom, mill organized scrape
sprinkled around the bottom. Add arepellent to that same scenario, but make

(28:23):
sure you do the tree trunk wrap. That's for sure, physical barrier.
That's much better than trying to justgo with a repellent. But use a
repellent to try to keep it movingon as well, so they don't even
stop and hesitate and take a lookat that tree trunk protector. All right,
quick break, we come back,Tom You're coming up next. Phone
lines are open at eight two toone WTV in here on news radio six
y ten WTVN. Bill biv deVaux, that girless poison. That plant

(28:52):
is poison. He he was didyou get itchy during next segment? Itching
and scratch your show? Have youever gotten poison ivy before? Not that
I recall, surprisingly enough. Wellit's going to get you someday. Someday,
he is so good. Welcome backtalking. You're already here on news
radio six' ten WTVN. Acouple thanks real quick. I'm well,

(29:17):
go back to the guarding phone lineshere. Watering is key right now,
I'm telling you, especially newly plantingtrees and shrubs. I was talking to
a gentleman who's a landscape manager,all right. We were talking about watering
and things like that, and hehad heard me talking about a moisture meter
and how they can be your bestfriend, you know, checking out to
see what's what's dryer, just touchingand physically looking to tell whether you needed
water or not. And he said, you know what, I just planted

(29:37):
a row and I can't think ofwhat it was, but six or eight
or ten, I'm in a row. And he said, I've been in
a soaking of myself by hand,you know, trying to really get him
well soaked and making sure that they'vegot plenty of moisture going through this right
now. And he said, youknow what, I got one of the
moisture meters, and I thought,just for the heck of it, I'll
go through and check each one afterI get down water and to see how
well I've done. He said,I can't believe how different each plant was

(30:04):
when I would use the moisture meter. He said, and there was a
couple plants that I had missed oneside of it and did not get it
wet, that it didn't get saturated, but the other sides did. And
he said, it just showed tome how you know important it is that
you know, even within the samerow planted, the exact same spot,
same location, same soil, sameplants, what he thought was the same

(30:26):
watering procedure can vary within something likethat, and it can, so you
know, again, take your time. Moisture meters can be your best friend.
But we're gonna soak that immediate rootball, soak it, soak and
soak it and the soil around it. But the immediate rootball, gonna let
it dry, let it breathe alittle bit, come back and soak it
again. Gonna be really key.And container plants obviously the exact same way.

(30:48):
Soak them till they are thoroughly soaked. Water's running out everywhere out of
the bottom. Not just actually hadsomebody call one time and said he only
takes about five seconds and the waterstarts to go out the bottom of our
containers. It's because it's running downthe side where there's a gap where they
dry it out. You want tosoak that thing till it's thoroughly soaked and
it'll drain for quite some time afteryou if you really do a good job

(31:10):
at it. But again, wateringis key right now as we go through
this heat and lack of rainfall.Jeez, I hope it rains tomorrow.
Tom Good morning. You're in thegarden with Ron Wilson. Good morning,
Yes I've gone. It's you scratchyour questions and this is jiggers. Yes,
they drive me nuts. So let'sis there grounds prey you can use

(31:32):
for them? You know there arethere are several exicides that can be used
that will help knock the the adultsdown. I guess the kicker is obviously
what the habitat control. They Theylike to be in things that are taller,
so you know a lot of timesyou pick them up where you walk
through taller grass or where it's youknow, the weeds or whatever the growth

(31:55):
is up a little bit higher.They like to get up on top of
that so that they can you know, jump, get onto other things,
kind of like a like a tickdoes. Uh. And they can get
in your grass as well. Soyes, you can suppress them with some
of the sprays. And again Scott'shas a generic when it has chiggers listed.
Trying to think who else would haveone? Greenvy probably does too,
I don't know, but yeah,they do, and you can, you

(32:19):
know, you know, knock downthe You're not gonna get them all,
but suppress them down. But ifif you have a problem every day or
all the time with where you're workingor whatever, one thing you might want
to consider is they do have aspray and I think some chemical company has
this that you can spray on yoursocks, on your pants, you know,

(32:40):
and things like that, and sprayit with this pyrethro and I think
it is and it'll last for acouple of weeks even with the washing,
and actually helps to repel and getrid of chiggers, ticks and other critters
from getting onto your skin. Andit really does work. But it's made
by and there's several of them outthere, and I'm sure uh Camping World

(33:01):
places like that would all have ittoo. But you can actually spray your
pants and it does and socks andit does a really good job keeping them
off of you. So that's anotherway to look at it. You know,
if you can't get out and spray, try the repellents that you can
use on your clothes and on yourselfas well. Thank you, all right,
Tom good talking with you and Stefangood morning. Hello, Yes,

(33:24):
sir h First of all, Ilove your show. Thank you morning.
Thank you appreciate that problem. Myquestion is about by annials. I got
some fox pleasant don't fit him,and I'm trying to wrap my mind around

(33:45):
biennial. They they leaf and rootthe first year, flower, the second
year do they die off? That'scorrect, That particular plant then will die
if it's a bi anial. Firstyear is foliage, second year is foliage
and flour and then they go toseed. So the seed drops and so

(34:07):
when you start these plantings, theway they would come back every year is
that the seeds drop and that's howthey reproduce. Let's use well, that's
in the flower itself. And ifyou leave the flower on there and don't
deadhead it, then the seeds willdevelop. And you want those to mature

(34:29):
so that they drop back down tocome back up and replenish. I use
poison hemlock. We've talked about thatseveral weeks ago. The problem with it
right now is the fact that it'sgone to flower sets the seed now the
seeds have dropped. So what he'lldo now, that's how it comes back
up. So next year when yousee those rosettes coming up in the spring.

(34:49):
The first year it just looks likea little fern. The second year
it shoots up, it bolts,it gets five feet tall, flowers,
seeds, and it starts all overagain. And that's how they stay in
that same spot all the time,is through the receding. So that's the
case where yes, Stephan, youwant them to flour, you want them
to set the seed, and youleave the seed heads on there to go

(35:10):
back and receed. So plann ordo I cut off the plane just as
the stalk or yeah and so Andin the fall, when you're cleaning everything
up, you can actually take tocut that off. There's still seed heads
in there. You can actually sprinklethose and let them drop. We gotta
drop you, we gotta let yougo. I appreciate the call because we
got to take at the top ofthe hour here, so we appreciate the

(35:34):
call. Uh. But yes,sprinkle that around just to make sure the
seeds drop it. They're usually prettygood about doing that themselves as well.
But that's the biennial Foli's the firstyear, bolts and flowers the second year,
and then they reced and that's howthey continue to keep coming back.
Thanks to our callers, thanks oursponsors, thanks of course to La R
Producer, because without all none otherstuff, what happened. Now, do
yourself a favor. It's hot outthere, Get out with your plants are

(35:57):
thirsty, Give them a drink,Join them for a drink. Make it
the best week of your life.See it.