Which cicada broods have emerged this year; plus Park of Roses update

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Morning. Everybody. Welcome. I'mRon Wilson, and you are in the
garden here on news radio six'ten WTVN, eight two one wtv and
eight hundred and six to ten WTVNtalking about yardening. You know what,
uh, and yeah, Joe's hangingon here, but I cannot believe.
Well, let's just going on andI'll comment after I get join. Here's
time with the Buggy Joe boxing board, Joe Boggs as a professor. I'll

(00:20):
have State University Extension, Hamilton CountyAssociated Faculty OSHU, Department of Entomology website
bygl dot OSU dot EEDU. Ladiesand gentlemen, Buggy Joe Boggs. And
what I was gonna say is,Joe, I cannot believe that we are
basically six weeks away from the startof fall. That's amazing. What in
the world has happened this summer?It seems to get shorter every year,

(00:44):
but in fact, you know,I think it's getting longer every year,
right because of our changing climate.It seems like it. I mean,
really it does. And you know, I don't know, as you watch
the insects and on I know,we watched the growing degree days and all
that. But I yesterday caught outthis out of the side of my eye
as I'm driving down the street.Somebody's naked ladies already starting to show some

(01:08):
color. It is, it is, and I just, you know,
I can remember talking about that planttwenty years ago, seriously flowering in late
August, you know, giving ussome nice color in late August, maybe
in the early September. And thenit was like, all of a sudden,
it was mid August into the endof August, and then it was,

(01:29):
you know, I'm starting to seea few of these in flower and
we're talking southern Ohio area mostly,and then you know, it kind of
works this way up. But thenI you know, I don't know,
it just seems to get a littlebit sooner and sooner all the time.
Well, you know, it does, it does. Some things do appear
to be doing that. I mean, it's interesting. I'm gonna be talking
about dog Day cicadas because they're they'rereally out and about. You know,

(01:53):
these are the annual cicadas that wehave every year. And it's interesting because
I was looking at a posting fromlast year and and they seemed to a
bit delayed, very oddly don't knowwhy. However, this year I think
they're I think they're pretty much ontime, you know, and you know,
we started actually hearing them all theway back You and I mentioned this

(02:15):
all the way back forth of Julyweekend. You know, we're starting to
hear them, but you know,they don't really pick up until, you
know, way up into July andyou know August is really being of course,
we're also talking about different species,I should say that, so just
to kind of strip away, youknow, some misunderstanding very quickly, which,

(02:38):
by the way, just just alittle side note, I'm actually doing.
I'm doing a presentation on on cicadas. It's it's for It's on Monday,
Monday afternoon. It's called Empowered MindsLifelong Learning for the Licking County Library,
announced by Zoom. So I'm sureif you got in touch with the

(03:00):
listeners, get in touch with theLicking County Library, they could probably find
out how to sign up for this. But the reason I'm bringing this up
is partially why that presentation is beingdone was because you know, we had
a very weird event this year.You and I talked about it where we

(03:21):
had two different periodical cicada broods emergedat the same time. So we had
a seventeen year brood that emerged.It was called the Northern Illinois brood that
emerged pretty much again in northern Illinoisaround Chicago, and at the same time
we had a thirteen year so theseventeen year Illinois brow took seventeen years to

(03:46):
developed. Coincidentally, we also haveother periodical cicadas that only take thirteen years,
so we had the Great Southern broodthirteen year cicadas. They emerged the
same time. So if you overlaythe maps, pretty much everywhere except for
us we did not have it happen. But that really put cicadas once again

(04:11):
in the news because combined this trulywas one of the largest, you know
emergency of periodical cicada that we see. But those are different than these annual
cicadas we had. Now, youknow, watching the the you know what
was being posted on this neat websitecalled Cicada Menia, and despite its name,

(04:32):
it really does have a lot ofinput from great researchers and so just
watching the reports coming in, theypretty much seemed to be on time,
you know what I'm saying, nottoo early, not too late. So
the reason I'm bringing this up isbecause temperature does play a huge role in

(04:57):
bloom times of plants. Not allplants, but some oh actually quite a
lot. I'm getting kind of I'mpausing because you know, I mean the
horticultures out there say, well,there's some plants that you know that that
day length, you know, playsa big role and all that stuff.
But many of the blooms that wethink of the plants and are you know,

(05:18):
well, temperature is very important.Well at the same time, of
course, you know, the activityof insects. The development of insects because
they're cold blooded, are very tiedto temperature. And of course that little
that's where we get into think calledponology, where you know, we'll look
at the bloom of a certain plantthat coincides with some type of developmental stage

(05:41):
for an insect. But the pointI'm making is is that it's not always
just temperature that drives things. Itcan be moisture. You know, you
and I talked about this briefly lastweek with Japanese beetles that they lay dehydrated
eggs, and the reason is becausethe females can produce a lot more eggs

(06:02):
can hold a lot more eggs becausethey're smaller. I mean think I've always
thought thanking this, we don't dothat. You know, you and I
could have like ten kids at atime, but you had to pour water
on when it come out, right, Okay, I see this as a
far side cartoon. Again, itis it would be a good one,

(06:25):
wouldn't it. Yeah, But butit does. I mean, this is
where things didn't get to be justa little bit confusing for people, because
yes, you know, we're certainlyseeing changes in our climate. You're seeing
some things that are that I mean, we're already starting to see some southern
things that are moving more north right, and then sometimes you know, things

(06:47):
seem to be happening a little earlierthan what we think of. But at
the same time, you know,as I just pointed out, well,
some things this are are clicking alonglike normal. Other things depend on other
environmental support if you will to reallyflourish. You know, our drought this

(07:09):
year, our drought in June delayedsome things. I noticed that you vegetable
gardens, for example, unless peoplewere really watering, and even if they
you know, you know, Ibrought this up several times. I mean,
there's nothing like rain water right toyou irrigate your garden, but it
just seems like you get that rainand all of a sudden it's like,

(07:30):
hey, this is real water yep. So so I don't I'm just talking
to various gardeners, you know,some were seeing things a little earlier.
Others were like, well, no, I'm not getting the tomatoes yet because
of the hot temperatures, you know, that affects the flowers. So I
don't know where I box myself totallyin. I've been waiting for your help.

(07:55):
The whole thing was, you know, are we seeing things accelerate?
And you were saying your point wasdog day cicadas. That's what you were
referring to. Yeah, thank youwere they were they late? Yeah?
Yeah, Well, and then ofcourse the other thing that becomes confusing is
when you have something that goes overa long period of time, and you

(08:16):
know, the dog day cicadas definitelyfit that. You know, they well,
we'll have a you know occasionally andeven thirty years ago, occasionally we
would get you know, a fewsingers in June, late June. It'd
be like what is going on here? But they go for such a long
period of time, you know,unless you're really, you know, paying

(08:37):
attention, you're an entomologist taking dataon them. It's it's easy sometimes to
not really see a pattern. It'sjust well, they're just going for a
long time. Lightning beetles, lightning, you know, do the same thing.
You know, they And again,of course I also need to say
this. My anomology friends are outthere probably groaning saying, Joe, they're

(08:58):
not all the same species. That'strue for lightning beetles as well as annual
cicadas. So that also affects things. And we'll be contemplating it during the
break. Is that correct, Yes, we will, Joe. As a
matter of fact, let's take abreak. Can we come back. We
have more of the Buggy Joe BoggsReport here on news radio six to ten

(09:18):
WTVN. Time for part two,The Buggy Joe Boggs Report. Joe Boggs,
Assistant Professor, Ohio State University.Extension of course to their website bygl
dot OSU dot EEDU, Licking CountyLibrary. Is that on Monday, you're
going to talk about cicadas. Iam Monday. I believe we start at
one o'clock. Like I said,it's called lifelong learning. And as I

(09:43):
said, I'm sure you could.You can get into contact with the Licking
County Library and probably find out howto sign up for this, learn more
about it, learn more about cicadas. Actually, I don't know why I'm
doing this because people will then learnthat maybe, maybe maybe Buggy Joe's a
little crazy. I don't know.I mean, you know, do you
think they're going to learn that fromthis after all those years? Well that's

(10:09):
true. What am I saying?Everybody already knows that anyway, Right,
that's why everybody likes you so much. Well, I'll tell you, well,
we're all a little bit crazy.We should be. I mean,
that's what makes life fun, right, exactly exactly. So, Yes,
it's been a very it's been avery interesting year, very interesting season so

(10:31):
far. You know. I Ijust posted yesterday speaking of things that are
a bit strange. How'd you likethat? I liked it? Yeah.
Well, we I came across Nowthis was in northern Kentucky, but right
across the river from Cincinnati. AndI didn't just come across it. Actually,

(10:52):
our our shared friend Ron roethis arbordoctor based here in Cincinnati, right,
You've had him on the show,and of course it's appropriate that we're
talking about weather and temperature because he'san official observer for the National Weather Service
as well as a master arborus.But any rate, he sent some pictures,
texted me some pictures, and itwas a pinoak just completely covered in

(11:16):
these white these very small white things. And you know, I don't know
about you, but I'm having alittle bit harder time, you know,
looking at the little pictures in atext. It's not it's not an age
related issue, I know at all. No, no, no, that's
our story and we're going to stickto it, right, Yes, But

(11:39):
when I looked at the pictures,I thought, is that some kind of
little cocoon? And they really,I mean, these things really do look
like a little you know, insectcocoon. But there were so many of
them. But then, of course, you know, when I was able
to kind of you know, hesent some pictures I could you know,
make larger, could blow up,and I realized, no, these are

(12:00):
not. These are a type offelt scale. Now felt scales are are
really they're they're very strange. Idon't know how's to put them I put
it. But these are called becausethey're on oaks. I bet you can't
guess what they're called. They're afelt scale on oak oak felt scale like

(12:26):
golly, I tell you, yes, I don't know. But what you're
actually looking at is where the feltscales get their names. The females cover
themselves in this in in in veryvery fine threads of wax that go that
that that are brought together to formthese felt like structures that we call ova

(12:52):
sacs O v I. Ova,of course refers to eggs, and why
they're called that is because eventually thefemale starts producing eggs and she fills the
void between her body and the coveringthat felt like covering. She fills that
void with eggs, so you know, they're like sacks of eggs. Of

(13:15):
course, when she does that,after she produces the eggs, she dies.
And I have some pictures of allthis on the big Old that I
posted bygl And. At any rate, this felt scale is more commonly found.
It's found in a wide band ofNorth America, actually all the way
from the Baa Peninsula in Mexico upinto California, but pretty much across the

(13:39):
southern Statron now I had listed intheir New Jersey, but they don't creep
you know, much further north whenyou talk about like Tennessee or whatever.
And I could not find that thesehave been reported in Kentucky before. But
of course you know, as youand I, No, this was in

(14:00):
Fort Thomas, Kentucky, which isin Campbell County, right across the river
from Cincinnati. And there's actually abig chunk of Ohio that's south of that
northern you know, those three northerncounties in Kentucky. So for all intents
and purposes, we're talking Greater Cincinnatior southeast Indiana northern Kentucky. But these

(14:22):
scales have really been now their nativebut they've been observed more frequently in the
south. So here you have it. You know, I think the tree,
though, may have been infested whenit was planted. It seems to
be pointing that direction. Yeah,I don't think they're creeping north because there
were I think six or seven otherpinoaks that were not infested, So just

(14:46):
one tree in fest right next toeach other. Oh yeah, so I
A. I actually posted a shotshowing going up this driveway you see all
these other pinoaks and then have anarrow pointing at the one that's infested,
so that pattern, and just walkingaround the general vicinity, I couldn't find

(15:07):
them on any other oak trees,even in the woods that were nearby.
Yeah yeah, I get it,I see it. Yeah yeah, yeah
it. So that kind of makesme think that, you know, and
again this is we know this.I mean, you know, you're involved
in nursery production, and you know, every everybody does the best that they

(15:30):
possibly can, and but occasionally,you know, something slipped through, right,
and this is regulated insects, SoI should say that it's not something
like I said, it's a native, but possibly you know, it may
have come out of a nursery that'sthat's further south. However, you know,
it also speaks to the idea thatwell, that may be the case,

(15:52):
but it's certainly doing very well innorthern Kentucky. And I think that's
what we need to be thinking about, is you know, taking a look
around. And the reason the connectorhere is that there's another felt scale that
frankly is really wreaking havoc in thesouth on crape myrtle, and it's called
the crape myrtle bark scale. Ithas almost exactly the same look. It

(16:18):
has about the same life cycle,except the crape myrtle bark scale is not
native. So if you look atthis posting, one reason why frankly,
if you go online like I didand started searching for oak felt scale,
I thought, oh my goodness,I'm going to find a bunch of information,
not a almost nothing, it's justamazing. Well, the reason is

(16:42):
because it would appear and there wasa really neat research project done in eastern
Tennessee on this insect where they hadan outbreak and that outbreak crashed because of
heavy predation by lady beatles. Soit would appear that that perhaps this is
a native that tends to be,you know, suppressed year to year by

(17:06):
natural enemies. However, the crapemyrtle bark scale, being non native,
you know, may have outstripped itsnative enemies. And like I said,
you know it's starting to it isa real problem in the South. And
of course you and I both knowthis. All the way up in the
Columbus area. We're seeing crape myrtlesgetting very big, aren't they. Yep,

(17:30):
absolutely, And you know you're seeingmore and more selections that are Zone
five listed as far as hardiness thedwarf variety. So yeah, we're seeing
them creeping right up right up throughthe state, and so you know,
it brings me it just kind ofcalls into concern that, you know,
as we start having southern plants thatdo better further north, the downside is

(17:56):
we might be having southern insects thatcan do better on those hosts further north.
So there's a little bit of aconnector there. And like I said,
you know, when I was workingon posting this, I actually had
to rely pretty heavily on what's knownabout the crate myrtle scale, because,
as they said, they're pretty closelyrelated. Now one doesn't get on the

(18:17):
other. I should say that theoak felt scale only affects oaks. Crate
myrtle scale, well, it doeshave a little wider host range, but
nonetheless, you know, it onlygets on crape myrtle. But these are
very odd ball insects. They behavea little bit like soft scales and a
little bit like armored scales, andjust like soft scales, and we've talked

(18:40):
about calico scale, magnolia scale,these felt scales tap into flowing vessels,
so they have to pump out alot of honeydew to get rid of the
excess SAPs they are feeding, andof course that creates quite a sticky mess
and looks bad when that honeydew becomescolonized by black soodie mold. So we'll
see what the future holds. Itcould be that we're going to be talking

(19:03):
about some things very different down theroad, right. It could be now.
You know, as I looked atthese pictures yesterday, when I got
this the posting here, I meanthat thing is really covered with them.
We get the tree like looks likeit's in pretty good shape, you know.
That was that was something that struckme. As a matter of fact,
I walked right past that tree becauseI was looking for a tree that

(19:26):
was looking bad. Yeah, becauseit's a lot of scale, and I
I don't well one thing that canaccount for that. It has a reasonably
decent spot, It has a littlebit of a larger It has a pretty
decent area for roots for now,you know, I'm saying it's it's around
a parking lot. So maybe eventuallythe tree gets larger, that could be

(19:48):
a challenge, but for now,it seems to have a pretty decent root
area. And that's important for theseinsect paths. If the trees are stressed,
the impact is going to be greater. Sure, and so you know
that's in fact, we talk aboutthat quite a lot. You and I.
Yep, Hey, Joe, wegotta go. Always great information for
more more good o. Their websitesb y g L dot O, s

(20:10):
U dot E d U and ofcourse uh again that is the uh uh
Licking County Library. It's on Monday. So go to their website and see
where you can sign up. Fromc Jo on his zoom they're talking about
cicadas. Yes, yes, Ilook better on zoom, So I just
say that right. You're gonna haveone tied to a string, Oh yeah,

(20:30):
buzzing around fro You have to catchone? Yes, I might have
to do that. All right,sounds good. Joe, have a great
weekend. We'll talk to you nextSaturday. Great, you have a great
weekend, a great week Take care, Take care buggy, Joe. Boggs
OSU extension again b y g Ldot O, s U dot EU quick
break we come back. Phone linesare open for you at a two one
w t VN here on news Radiosix to ten WTVN. Hey, I

(20:56):
did want to throw out a littlereminder here real quick. Coming up tomorrow,
it's the Western Flora thirty third AnnualGarden Tour. Now think about this,
remember back when the Mara Flora wasin the Columbus back in nineteen ninety
two. Well, that's when theWesternville and a lot of other communities.
Of course, they spruced everything up, started some of the tours and they've

(21:17):
lasted ever since. I mean they'vehad this going every year. So thirty
third Annual Garden Tour the Spirit ofWestern Flora. It's tomorrow, Sunday,
July twenty first, from twelve untilsix in the evening. Artists and musicians
will be found throughout the gardens there. The garden listening looks pretty darn good.
And again it's from twelve until six. For more information to about the

(21:41):
free garden tour in the homes ofwe in Westerville, it's Westernflora dot net.
That's wester Flora dot net and checkit out. But again it's free
and you get an artist and musicians. I think they sometimes had a little
food in there and all that kindof stuff. But be sure and check
it out again. It's tomorrow fromtwelve until six Western Flora Annual Garden Tour

(22:03):
to the gardening phone lines, weshall go Nancy, good morning, Hi
Ron, how are you. Ihaven't talked to you in a few weeks.
I know where you've been. I'vebeen busy. I've been vacationing,
curing poison ivy, which I hada case of and it was awful.
But I'm now better back working inmy yard again. Good good for you.

(22:26):
I wanted to let everybody know,just because we're in the middle of
July, the Parker roses is gorgeous. A week and all of us cannot
believe that these roses are still goingon. I mean, this is normally
the time where they, you know, scale back a little bit right.
That is the most colorful array ofjust beauty. I mean, we have

(22:49):
a lot of annuals perennials, herbs, but the roses are just hanging in
there. It's gorgeously. I don'tknow, you know what. We have
fantastic garden staff there. We haveone hundred. We have one hundred volunteers
who I credit the whole thing tothem. Besides the fact that the weather's

(23:11):
been nice and hot and the factthey get to work with you. I
wish that was the case. Sohow's the party, Hardy. Look?
You made me sound a whole lotbetter than I am. I don't know.
You're a pretty nice lady. How'sthe party, Hardy? Look?
You know what? The party?Hardy has pretty much finished blooming. Okay,
it's about ten feet tall, soit'll come back in September when the

(23:34):
second bloom comes around, which weexpect to be a fantastic bloom. One
of the things I want to tellyou when I ran into you at a
garden center, you recommended Victoria Salvia. I bought that, and I mean
I put it in a bed thatI was ready to give up on in
my own home, and that Ithink that bed knew I was ready to

(23:57):
grass it all in because it's themost beautiful bed in the neighborhood. And
everyone is stopping and asking me whatit is. So I'm staring him to
you. Oh good, I tellyou what. That's an oldie bit of
goodie, been around a long time. As a matter of fact, I
planted it. I always have itsomewhere in our plantings, a clump of
it, And right now I putit in front of a I put it

(24:21):
in front of a black eyed Susanvine, all right, so I had
that in front of it. It'sdoing so well and it's really kind of
stretched out, which I think iskind of neat. But every day I
sit out there and it is absolutelycovered with bees, bumblebees. The butterflies
love it. I mean, thepollinators are all over it. It truly
is a dinner in a show.And it's so I don't do anything to

(24:42):
it. I plant it, watereda few times, and then it's ready
to go. I mean, itjust does his thing. And yeah,
and I think that's why it's stillaround, because it's just so darn hardy,
so tough for an annual. It'sa light blue color, flowers like
crazy. You don't do anything toit. And again, still still around
and still ticking, and I isstill one of my favorites. So I'm

(25:03):
glad you you had you had mentionedabout sometimes yours come back. Yes,
should I like, at the endof the year, cover it with leaves
or anything, or just let itgo. No, I just let them
go. I mean I clean everythingout and it'll be one of the last
ones to go. And and inthe garden, and I've had some them
sit there over the wintertime and thenI've had them die back, and all
of a sudden you see them sproutingback up again. So they're kind of

(25:25):
on that heartiness borderline. If it'sprotected enough, Uh, sometimes they will
come back up in the root system. So uh, it does happen every
now and then. But yeah,it's a it's a tough one. Like
I say, I'm glad you broughtit up, because it's it's it's a
goodie. Well, Parker Roses hasa lot of salvia also, which are
just magnificently purple. All the Yeah, all the salvias are great. I

(25:47):
mean they're all pollinator magnets. Andyou get in all the rock and rolls
of the you know, the rockand Roll series and all and all of
those, the black and blues,the red, the just the old fashioned
red salvias, they're all pollinator.I mean, they all work. And
there's so many great colors out there. And again they're all tough and durable.
Love the sun, take the heat. You can't beat them. You

(26:08):
can't beat them. You have anabsolutely wonderful, wonderful summer, and we're
getting ready for the High State fair. Yes, coming up around the corner.
Somebody was asking me about that theother day and I said, it's
right around the corner here, Soit starts on Wednesday. There you go,
Nancy Walsh are always a pleasure,pleasure agating. The website is Parkofroses
dot org. Be sure and checkthat out. Quick break, we come

(26:29):
back, Bob and Ron. You'recoming up next here in the garden with
Ron Wilson on news radio six bythe way, talking about that Victoria blue
savia. It's an oldy but agood he's been around forever, said light
or blue, very tight flower.But man, the pollinators are all over
that. I just want to mentionreal quick, and we'll go back to
the guarding phone lines where I havethose planeted behind that. I did the
THUMBERGEI the vining and it only getsabout five hours of sunlight, four to

(26:55):
five hours. That salvia does great. That's not giving me much color.
It's more vining anything else. Butin front of that, I have lantana,
we have zenias, and then Ihave tithonia. And between those plants,
they it's just an activity all thetime. There's something buzzing around those
all the time. Now the zenias, you know you're familiar with that,

(27:15):
and what I and again the bluesalvia is victoria. The lantana doesn't matter.
Just I like the color combination,so you could pick any of them.
And Tithonia t I t h On I a Mexican sunflower. It's
absolutely gorgeous. It's an orange flower, probably about two to three inches in

(27:37):
diameter. It's a big annual.Now, this thing gets four feet high,
three feet in diameter, multi stem, pretty good sized leaf, but
it just gets covered with all ofthese flowers. Right now, there's probably
twenty to thirty flowers on it,and I usually go through when you deadhead
those and to encourage more flowers.Obviously, well over the last ten days
or so, I haven't done muchdead heading, been involved with other things

(28:00):
in the same way with the zenias, and what I've discovered of the last
three or four days, all ofa sudden, we have goldfinches showing up,
and I've never seen them in therebefore. Having away with the old
spent flowers on the tithonia and pickingat the old spent flowers on the zennias,
taking those out where the seeds havestarted to form right in the center,

(28:22):
and now the finches are all overit and it's it's really cool.
So now we not only have thepollinators and the butterflies and all the bees
and things flying around all these plants, but now we've got the goldfinches coming
in and feeding on those dead headedflowers. So now the goal is to
leave them. We are a littlebit longer, so we have a good
combination of inflower and out of floweron our tithonia and on the zenias to

(28:48):
take care of the goldfinches, whichI think has been really a bit cool.
But I'm gonna tell you something.Tithonia are commonly known as Mexican sunflower.
If you're not familiar with that,look it up, look at the
orange one. And if your localindependent garden center doesn't grow those or have
those available, bring it to theirattention for this year so that they can
grow them for next year. It'sbig, give a room to grow.

(29:10):
You only need one or two ofthem. But I'm telling you what,
they are absolutely spectacular. The coloris fantastic, and it'll draw in the
appollinators like crazy, especially the butterflies. And now realizing if you leave a
few of the old flower heads onthere finches love it as well. Bob,
thanks for holding on. You're inthe garden with Ron Wilson. Hey
Ron, good morning. It's beena while since we've talked. Yes,

(29:34):
I wanted to thank you for turnbehind the sun followers about six years ago.
I mean, it's been a greathobby. And I go for the
big one pipe peak and the mammothsand all. A couple quick questions one
on mulch for them. I lostthem all early. I always started them

(29:56):
off in containers and with all thatbrain, I think, you know,
maybe root rot. So I gotthe second batch going and uh, so
far, so good. Now thesoil that I put them in and I've
always had great luck with it,there's a lot of clay to it.
So I was wondering, there's acouple of three things I started adding and

(30:17):
was wondering your comments out of specificallythe sunflowers, mushroom compost, spegnam,
peat, moss, and pearlite.I got a great deal and a huge
bag of pearl like, which Iknow is you know, mostly for potting
soil. Met I was thinking about, you know, all three of them,
just to maybe remediate the soil forthem, you know, let's go

(30:41):
to the Paara like. First ofall, I like parallite. It's a
great soil amendment, but I useit mostly in potting soils and containers.
You can use it in the ground, there's nothing wrong with doing that,
but I usually use it mostly forthe for the containers to add for real
good drainage. But that can beusing the soil as well. The oil
compost, the mushroom compost outstanding.As a matter of fact, I've used

(31:03):
mushroom composts both as a soil amendmentbecause you have the organic matters breaking down
a little bit of feeding as well, and I've used it as a top
dressing. She can use it bothways. As a matter of fact,
we used to many many many yearsago, get a mushroom compost in and
use it for both the soil amendmentfor planning landscapes, and then coming back

(31:23):
in and actually putting it on thetop for top dressing a couple months later,
coming back and then maulting it inwith the regular multch whatever the customer's
desire was as far as maulching.But I love that stuff. I mean,
as far as the soil amendment,Spagnum Pete, you can't beat it.
Obviously, great one to amend thesoil with. I know there's a
lot of folks that don't like usingspagna peat anymore because of the bogs and

(31:44):
the issues there and the environment andall of that. And we're you know,
we're probably seeing us getting away fromusing spagnum pete lost like we used
to. But I'll tell you somethingthat's equally as good, I think,
is coconut core co I R.And coconut is a byproduct of grinding up
those husks and then they add thatto the soil to potting. You'll see

(32:05):
a lot in potting mixes. Stillgives you that better draininges, but it
also, just like spagnum pete,helps to hold a little bit of boister
for you as well. So it'sa great soil amendment. You can grow
in it straight if you wanted to, but it's better used as an amendment
so you know, in the ground. As a matter of fact, Scott's
probably about ten or twelve years ago, did a lot of testing with core

(32:29):
as just a straight clay soil amendment, and they were amazing how quickly it
helped to change the structure of theclay soils. I still remember them doing
that research up in the Marysville whencore was kind of becoming a little bit
more popular. But I love that. I love that. So if you
can find core, usually find it. Then compressed bricks. I like doing
that. I'd probably use that overthe spagnum pete. I've pretty much totally

(32:52):
gotten away from spag and peat unlessit's in a potting mix. But the
compost, the core, the spagnumgrain, the vermiculite, parallite, those
types of products are good, butI usually keep those more to the containers.
Okay, one last question. Withall this hot weather, you know

(33:13):
we've been having and you know,lack of rain, you know, I'm
going out, you know, everycouple of days watering, uh and uh.
Anything as far as top dressing,just maybe t pull the moisture in.
You know, I'm watering till youknow, uh, you know,
damps about four inches down. ButI mean it's been brutal with the lack
of rain and sun. With spagam, you know, which is a little

(33:37):
less expensive, would that be adequateas far as kind of a top dressing
just to hold the moisture in.I don't like that because if it dries
out, it's hard to rewet itagain sometimes, so I would use that
as a top dressing. I'd belooking at using like if you got and
I'll tell you this is another greatsoil amendment. Is pine soil condition the
real fine pine finds. That's agreat to me, a great soil day

(34:00):
for a mending, or is atop dressing. It breathes really well,
and you can use it around andyou can use around landscape plants too,
but use it around annuals and youcan use that as a top dressing.
So you put an inch of thataround those plants. It'll really help to
hold the moisture in, allows itto breathe, okay, and that'll break
down and actually you know, getback to the soil as well. So

(34:20):
I personally am not a Sphagnum pede. Again for a top dressing, I'd
rather use the mushroom compost if youwere going to do that, and that
could be used as well. LikeI said earlier, when we used to
do that with a landscape beds,it breaks down quickly. Is the issue
doesn't last all that long. Butthe pine fines the pine soil conditioner to
me is I would say, isa much better choice to use and do

(34:44):
it. Put it around there,and it will definitely help to keep the
moisture in, keep them a littlebit. We won't have to water as
much and keep some of the weedsdown for you, and it helps to
keep the soil a little bit coolerfor you as well. Hey, we
got to go, Bob, appreciatethe call. Coming up next build the
board, We're going to talk aboutnative plants. Why can't you find native
plants out there? It's hard tofind it. Well, Woody Warehouse in

(35:06):
Indiana is really expanding their facility growingnative plants for local garden centers, landscapers,
et cetera, et cetera. We'regoing to talk to Bill Demore about
the production of native plants. We'regoing to feature a couple of them today.
You can go to our website Woodywaarhousedot com. We'll talk with him
more about the availability of native plants, why we're seeing the big increase in

(35:27):
them today, and more and moreand more about native plants here on news
Radio six ten WTVN