Why you're having trouble finding native plants

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning everybody. Welcome back.I'm Ron Wilson and you are in the
garden here on news radio six'ten WTVN talking about yard and can you
believe that we are like six weeksaway from the first to fall Buckeye football
season. I can't believe it Bigten football season, And yeah, that's
crazy stuff. But anyway, asI start to look forward to the fall

(00:20):
season and planting and things like that, you know, we look at this
native plant buzz that's been going onfor quite some time now and getting stronger
and stronger every year. But yetwhen you go out sometimes to the local
independent garden centers, you don't finda lot of actual native plants out there.
And there's probably some reasoning why becausethe availability just isn't all there yet.

(00:43):
But they're working on it. Asa matter of fact, our good
friends at Woody Warehouse in Indiana andtheir website Woodywearhouse dot com is working on
a big time. As a matterof fact, the gentleman who's joining us
this morning has been on our showbefore talking about this and it's just getting
stronger and stronger for him all thetime. I had spent a little time
at the cultivate this week down atthe convention Center, talking about native plants

(01:06):
and all. Actually, we weretalking about what we were going to talk
about today, which it was hisbirthday. It is his birthday today,
and I wasn't going to bring itup, but I'm going to anyway,
So we're gonna have to wish youhappy birthday. And he's a graduate from
Perdue. Was going to bring thatup either because but I'm going to anyway.
So there you go. Build aboar good morning every Saturday. Mister

(01:26):
Wilson. How we're doing. I'mgreat. Are you prepared for the big
birthday party? I am slowly butsurely getting there. So I once I
got up the hook with you,I think it's all steam ahead. All
right, everybody shows up at noon? Correct, that's right, So we'll
get him out, get this outof the way, and yeah, you
can start getting ready to party hardy. Is this a memorable birthday? I

(01:49):
think so. I guess forty isa milestone. That would be a milestone
for you, sir. That's theforties are, and it just gets better,
that's what I hear. Well,the jury still out. We'll see
how that goes. Until you hitfifty that it all falls apart there you
go. Hey, we appreciate youbeing on with this this morning. You

(02:09):
know, you and I have talkeda couple times over the past, and
you know, as this this nativeplant buzz continues to get stronger and stronger
all the time, and rightfully so, we still see some frustrations out there
because of I think because of thelack of availability of native plants being available
in our local garden centers and nurseries. What have you guys seen since you

(02:31):
all started going this direction, Imean you've I'm imagine your numbers and your
expansion has been has been phenomenal overthe last several years. Yeah, it's
pretty crazy, Ron. You know, you take something like Paw Paul that
several years ago, I don't thinkthe nursery was pumping out more than probably
five hundred and seven hundred pawpaw ayear due to many factors including you know,

(02:55):
seed access. I foresee within thenext year that you know, something
like pop Paul will be doing eightto ten thousand popa a year just based
on demand. And so it iscrazy how quickly the tide has turned favorably
demanding more native plants but you know, as you said, a lot of

(03:17):
people go, well that's great,I want them. Where can I find
them? And really the simplest thingis ten of your listeners reach out to
your local independent garden centers and justsay, hey, you know, we
would like to get some native plants. Can you get some ordered in?
And Woody Warehouse is more than ableto connect and get even small orders into

(03:42):
the independent garden centers for homeowners tobuy. Yeah. And we're seeing it
more and more. I mean inthe Columbus area we have three or four
nurseries now that they're just focused basicallyon native plants. So we are we
are seeing that focus turning and churningout more and more. But still there's
no doubt there's still a shortage outthere for for those natives. And like
you said, the paupaw, whowho to thunk it? Huh? I

(04:03):
mean, you know there's a plant. When I was a kid, you
went out with a twenty two andshot these out of the tree so you
could have a few poppaws. Andnow it's becoming one of the most popular
trees on demand for the landscape,but again right for these so it's a
cool tree. You know, andit's uh, and they get the fruit
and all, why not. Butso let's talk a little bit. First
of all, and by the way, I have featured two of your favorite

(04:26):
native plants on our special website atron Wilson online dot com. We'll talk
about those in a second, becauseI know you'd like to promote these,
but uh, and I do too, because they're great, great shrubs for
the for the landscape. But whythen, why is this such a hard
time to get native plants into thesystem, into the getting it out there.

(04:46):
I know you guys are ramping itup and ramping it up, but
still you know it ain't happening.I mean, is it propagation issues?
What's what's the deal? So,you know, really it's the nursery industry
is used to the big boys foruse hundreds of thousands of x cultivar,
the liners, whatnot, and thenother nurseries garden centers buy that product.

(05:09):
In most of the time it isvegetatively produced one way or the other,
and so it is mass produced andis readily available. At Woody Warehouse,
we are collecting seed from basically MidwestProvenance, meaning we're collecting wild type seeds
from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky,et cetera, surrounding states, and we're

(05:31):
propagating that plant from seed. Andthat's great, you get genetic diversity.
But when mother nature doesn't work,when germination for ABC reasons fails, it's
tough to recover because it's not pickup the phone and say who's got the
seed? Because there are not alot of big players producing high volume of

(05:57):
you know, native seed out there, so when we fail, it's usually
so sorry, let's try again nextyear. Wow. So to find the
seeds, you you literally when yousay you, you literally are collecting the
seed because there aren't really any ornot many native plant seed banks out there

(06:18):
to pull from. No, andI don't want to offend our production team,
ron I myself and literally most ofthe time not doing it. I'm
sitting in an air conditioned office typingon a keyboard. But yes, our
production staff right goes out there doesall the hard work. We are doing

(06:38):
a lot more of, especially withshrubs. Trees are another matter. But
shrub seed bankings on site at thenursery, because we bring in genetically diverse
genetics, we establish it in aseed bank and then instead of driving two
hours. We're you know, gettingout on a golf cart two minutes and
we're collecting all the seed we needfor a year. And then you're on

(06:59):
you you are a golf cart comingup to round or the whole number three.
Yeah, that's true, that's true. That's the tough life that sales
lives. Talking with Bill Debori.He is from Woody Warehouse. Our website
is Woody warehouse dot com. Greatinformation. I think it's funny, not
funny, but interesting. How whenyou and I first got together start talking
about native plants and your production andI picked up your brochure at Cultivate this

(07:24):
week at the convention center and lookingat the number of things you grow today
versus several years ago, just thatyour list is phenomenal. You know,
it's sometimes hard, you know,to conceptualize, especially if you're not in
the industry, but you know,we are pulsing out probably in the neighborhood
of three hundred thousand plants a year, certainly at various container sizes and age.

(07:48):
But the way the forecast for thenext couple of years is looking,
I imagine that number is going togo up pretty aggressively just to meet overall
demand, and sometimes you have topinch yourself and go, you know,
is this reality? Because I rememberway back when, when we're just selling
a little bit of this, Yeahyou bring up native plans, It's like,

(08:09):
oh, yeah, okay, whatever, bring a few in. Yeah,
yeah, exactly. Well, letme let me back up for a
second. You know, you're talkingabout this production and growing from seed,
So why do you know obviously fromcuttings. It seems to me that would
be a lot quicker. Why don'tyou grow from cuttings versus growing from seed?

(08:30):
Well, I'd love to say thatwe're all just philosophical and ethical.
I mean, that is obviously abig component of what we do. We
want that genetic diversity. But alaswith things like spice bush, cutting propagation
is just not being reliable for it. The literature doesn't seem to support it
that well. And you know,we've found that to be true. And

(08:52):
so there isn't quote unquote a shortcutor faster way to kind of increase productions.
Man got to do it the oldfashioned way. And when you're growing
something like spice bush from seed,you're talking two years to kind of get
a robust three gallon container, whichis still probably at least a year away

(09:13):
from flowering and starting to show youwhether or not it's male or female.
Interesting. So yeah, so you'vegot the year of the proper just from
seed germination and getting it rooted ina couple more years in the container just
to make it saleable for folks tosell. So you got three or four
years invest in these plants before theycan before you get them out, to

(09:33):
even get them out for the publicto even start to think about buying them.
Yeah. I mean, when you'rethinking about that robust, really nice
looking right three four five foot shrubin your garden center, that is probably
a three four five year old spicebush, because that's on kind of the
slow end of the growth rate forshrubs. Yep. Well, you know,

(09:58):
and again that's you know, ifit doesn't look nice and full and
multi stemmed and all that hard tosell. And I kid it with you
one time, saying about it justlike trying to sell a you know,
a five or ten gallon Kentucky coffeetree. Somebody looks at that and says
one hundred and fifty bucks for thatstick? Are you kidding me? Where'd
you grub? It out from youknow, a great, great tree,
but it is hard to sell.So again, all these factors play into

(10:20):
this whole thing. And that's manyof the reasons if you're questioning why you
it's again trying to get this populary. The the inventory's up when it comes
to native plants in the local gardencenters and of course in your landscape firms,
et cetera, et cetera. Talkwith Bill Debor from Woody Warehouse.
There a website is woodywarehouse dot com. I see you added red buckeye as

(10:41):
a newbie for twenty twenty four.Being a Purdue grad. Do you have
a hard time filling that one inthere? It hurts my heart a little
bit, but you know, asa salesperson, I have to swallow hard
and just move on round. Butyou know, that's a darn nice tree
if you want to talk about it. Just a beautiful large shrub almost a
small under some small tree, right, yeah, and ruby throate at hummingbirds

(11:05):
will love you for that flower.And you know, there's just not too
much out there in the native landscapethat has kind of that crimson red flower.
Yep, it's a good and I'lltell you what. I'm looking at
your list for what you have fortwenty twenty four. Phenomenal again. You
can check this out and just goto the website. It's a Woody Warehouse
dot com. All right, quickbreak, we come back more with Bill

(11:26):
Debor. We're going to talk aboutthe two plants that we've chosen for our
Plants of the week, New Jerseyt Have you ever heard of that?
And of course spice bush one ofthe favorites out there. Everybody's demanding their
spice bush here on news radio sixto ten WTVN. For some reason,
Bill de Boor, I can seeyou with your cell phone in hand,

(11:46):
kind of dancing around to this rightnow, kind of hopping up and down
with your hand in the air,getting ready for that big birthday celebration.
Are you watching me right now now? I'm just in my mind for some
reason, and I visualize that.I don't know why, But anyway,
talk about to Bill de Boor.He is from Woody Warehouse. Woodywarehouse dot

(12:09):
Com is their website. There arenative plant growers and they do a great
job at it, and every yearthey just keep adding more and more all
the time. Let me ask yousomething if I looked at Bill de Boor's
landscape, a little diversity there isit all native plants? Ron I think
my wife and I we put inabout seven hundred container plants within the last

(12:31):
year. There are perks for bothof us, respectively working within the industry,
so we are slowly getting to beour own little diverse arborreedom here.
Cool and speaking of your wife,by the way, probably one of the
nicest ladies I've ever met. Well, I can't disagree with you on there.
How many times you get really lucky. I was going to say,

(12:52):
how that happened? I have noidea anyway, And your parents are very
nice also, And you know,I guess I got it from somewhere you
got it from say, yeah,absolutely anyway, talking with Bill Debor and
talking about native plants. So thisweek, and by the way, looking
at your list here, you know, one of my favorite plants and I
really like this, and it's ahard sell, but if you plant this

(13:13):
thing and put about a fifteen footmalt ring around it and just leave it
alone, you'll absolutely love it.Is Aurelia spinosa Devil's walking stick. I
love that plant. It's a perfectplant for next to your neighbor's property.
Hey, I'm serious. You knowthat when you see I love the look,
the flowering and all it's. Ithink it's a great plan. Like

(13:35):
I said, you plant it onetime. You put a ten foot mault
circle around it so you don't getnear it, and just let it do
its thing. You're being generous atten foot, I think it'll well twenty
plus if you let it. That'sthe start, and then you keep expanding.
But I've always loved that plant anyway, talking about I'll tell you on
that one ron, I think thathas the biggest bloom of any of our

(13:56):
native plants. Yeah, it's likeI can't even compare. It's almost like
a medicine bowl. Not quite thatbig, but it's huge. Birds love
the little purplish droops. But goodnight, that whole thing is armed to
the teeth, so you don't wantto touch it. No, it's a
one time, you know, planit. Get away from it, Stay
away from it and enjoy it throughoutthe seasons. But it's a Raelia spinosa.

(14:20):
If you find one somewhere, becareful. It's it's very thorny.
I like ponsirous too. Not anative obviously, but I like that one.
One is that is another very interestingone that you know, surprisingly you
can stick it in the ground heresomewheers. It gets knocked back, but
it comes back every year. Andmy oldest grandson I had to plan one

(14:41):
for him several years ago. Heabsolutely loves that thing. So I don't
you know, shows you where myfamily's coming from anyway. All right,
so we picked two of your favoritenative plans to talk about today. We
have featured those on our website atRon Wilson online dot com. Used all
your information as a matter of fact, so you can check that out again.
And in the warehouse website is whatdo you warehouse dot com. First

(15:01):
of all, is talk about thatspice push Lindara Benoza, but benzoin that
everybody wants to know more about andto find out there. Yeah, a
great shrub larger than most people kindof typically seeing the industry for a shrub.
It can get a wide range sixto twelve in more sun stays compact

(15:24):
fuller, so I would anticipate moreof that six to eight feet tall and
wide in the shade gets a littlelegier. That's where you'll kind of slowly
over time see it get you know, ten plus feet tall and wide.
But you want to talk about youknow, you got amyr honeysuckle, You

(15:45):
got some of these things you're tryingto eliminate. And you go, well,
what will grow here? Right,that's a great one. It's not
going to be a showy but earlyspring yellow flowers similar to force, just
a lotless showy. Great for pollinators. And then of course now you have

(16:06):
a shrub that is the larval foodsource for the spice bush, swallowtail butterfly.
Yeah, and you can't beat that. And of course it doesn't get
browsed too much by deer, sothey leave it. Leave it alone.
Now, the big thing we alwaysget into and folks don't seem to understand
this. Sometimes it's they come andlook for their spice bush, and of
course I want the female because Iwant the berries that are on the spice

(16:26):
bush. Blah blah blah. Andthen you say, well, unfortunately they're
not sold male and female. Youtake your chances. Why is that?
Why can't you come? Why can'tyou grow them as a male and female
plant? Sure? Well, whenwhen you're a nursery like us, and
you grow from seed, you're talkingtwo to three years, and most people
they want to quick turnover, andso we're slowly starting to meet the demand

(16:51):
for five and seven gallons spice bush, just to have something that's older that
we can say, hey, here'sa male specimen, here's a female,
then we can you know, markthat accordingly. But the problem from seed
is that these things are just tooyoung. They're not flowering for us.
So we just kind of scratch ourheads and go, I don't know.

(17:12):
But once again, unless you havea very very small yard, I bet
you have a spot for four tofive spice bush. And if you're buying
that quantity, unless you get veryunlucky, you're going to get at least
one female in that bunch, gotit? So you know, somewhere down
the road, I would imagine obviouslythe larger size. Yes, if you

(17:33):
can find them in a larger size, somebody's got to grow that male and
female and do it by cuttings.Yeah, we just you know, we
at the nursery have been unsuccessful thusfar, but we are keeping at it
because you know, all these nativespecies that are dioecious. Everybody wants,
hey, I want a per symmetry. But I want male and female.

(17:56):
Hey, I want winterberry, butI want you know, four or five
fe males one male. And sowe are slowly starting to figure out what
we can do at the nursery tostart saying, hey, these are still
non cult of our wild type,but now we've got sex specimens for you,
right, and it's coming folks.But again, like you said,

(18:17):
by four or five of them,there's a real good chance you're going to
get one or two females within thatgroup. Talk with Bill de Bor.
He is from a Woody Warehouse.They are a native plant nursery in Indiana.
Woodywarehouse dot Com is their website.The last one, which I know
a lot of folks don't know about, and I think it was one of
the first ones you ever talked tome about many years ago, was the

(18:38):
New Jersey tea plant. Yeah,and I think you know part of it
when homeowners start to kind of scratchtheir heads and go, you know,
I'm interested in natives, but somethinglike spice bush man, that eight to
ten foot scares me. That's alittle big. I'm looking for something smaller.
And so that golden trying goal,golden range is kind of when you're

(19:02):
in that three to five foot andso that New Jersey tea is really great
because you're talking three by three maxheight and width. You've got something that
wants established. I know you saythis all the time, it's very true.
Even with drought hardy specimens, youhave to establish them before they're actually
drought tolerant, right. But man, once it gets established, you're going

(19:27):
to have a hard time, eventhrough the worst droughts to take them.
That one out, the one caveatis doesn't like wet feet, and so
those roots do not want to sitand poorly drained wet clay. And that's
probably the only thing that'll that'll makeyou unhappy with the purchase of that.
But the real showstopper is you getin summer these white, pseudo fragrant flowers

(19:52):
that kind of like mountain mint,which is a herbaceous native. Is just
it's crazy how many things it attracts. And so if you like watching nature,
you like seeing butterflies and bees andbeetles and everything else that comes to
your planting, that's one that reallyjust kind of rings the dinner bell and
brings them in. And again it'scalled New Jersey t you can learn more

(20:15):
about it at Woodywarehouse dot com.And again, if you go to your
local garden center, you know,and they're not doing very well as far
as native plant selections. There arelocal native plant growers, and of course
there's Woody Warehouse that supplies a lotof folks, a lot of garden centers
and landscape firms and other nurseries aswell with their native plants. Tell me
check it out good. Tell themto go to Woodywarehouse dot com and see

(20:37):
what kind of inventory's out there.Bill Debor, always a pleasure. Good
seeing you this week at the atCultivate, and I do want to wish
you seriously a happy birthday today.And just remember drink one in a glass
of water, Drink one at aglass of water, stage wisdom, kind
of like you've done at a timeor two. Now I've just heard stories

(21:00):
from Steve folks. Okay, that'sfair. There you go. Well,
Hey, thank you so much,Ron, have a wonderful rece of your
Saturday, and I look forward totalking to you soon. All right,
Thanks Bill, happy birthday. Thanksquick you're welcome, quick break, we
come back. Phone lines are openfor you at eight two to one wtv
IN eight hundred and six to tenWTVN. Here on news Radio six ten
WTVN, we are talking yard andhere on news radio six to ten WTVN

(21:25):
eight two to one WTVN eight hundredand six to ten WTVN. And don't
forget we do have our special websiteit's Ron Wilson online dot com where we
post a lot of the bag Obygl postings there from Buggy Joe and his
associates. Uh. And again weI always have a plant pick of the
week and we did choose a spicebush and New Jersey t thanks to the
folks at Woody Wearhouse, So besure and check that out. And I

(21:48):
have asked Bill and we're gonna checkin with other native plant growers as well
to keep you updated on the differentnative plants that are available that are you
might want to consent for using inyour landscapes as you work along and again
and the diversity thing, I'm stilla firm believer in that, you know,
native plants, native ours, whichare you know, propagated. They

(22:11):
pick something out from a native plantthat does a little bit better or a
little bit of a different breeding toget a little nicer shape plant or flour
whatever it may be. I stilllike those the native ars or native selections,
but the diversity of native native selectionsand non natives as well, as
long as they're not invasive, plantsare pollinators and all will enjoy those as

(22:33):
well. So I am still wantof for the diversity. But again I'm
all behind this as far as you'reusing and working in as many of the
native plants as we can as well. And again, like a Billet said
earlier, and I get this allthe time, folks talking about I planted
these plants. They're natives or they'resupposed to be drought hardy, drought tolerant,
and I planted them in they're justdrying up. Well, they planted

(22:56):
them, watered them, and leftthem alone, and you got to get
them a stab first, get themestablished, and then you can start to
back off a little bit because theycan tolerate to drought, but you gotta
water until they get to get themselvesestablished, and then I tell you what,
after the break, I do wantto still bring this up again about
the watering, because I'm continuing toget emails from a lot of folks with

(23:18):
evergreen situations where we know that it'sboiling down to watering situations lack thereof recently
or in the past. And we'lltalk more about that after break, but
right now, Farmer, Jeff,Farmer, Jeff, good morning. Are
you doing buddy? I'm doing goodin yourself. Oh. I got a
few questions for you. Okay,okay, let's start off with let me

(23:40):
just say this. All these peoplewant wild stuff. Why don't you all
go out in the woods and picka couple of small samples and put them
in a pot and raise them up. All That's where Bill go ahead,
yoh, yeah, that's where Billkind of got his start. He loves
the nature and you know and allthat and and and that's why he enjoys
us so much. But you're right, you know, there's there's some samples

(24:03):
out there for us to try aswell. Oh, I mean, like
tan oaks and silver oaks. Tobe surprised. If you water them and
baby them. You put one outin your front yard, it'll be twenty
five feet tall in five years.Yeah, if you water ye. Okay.
As far as Paul Paul goes,I got that mountain the woods because
I go hiking in the woods allthe time, right, I don't know

(24:25):
why anybody would want one of themin their front yard. If you don't
need the fruit. It's a mess. Okay, yeah, I can tell
you that right now. Well,I tell you I stepped on I stepped
on a Paul Paul. My footwas cut like doggy poo on there.
Met love it. But you know, the look of the pawpaw tree,

(24:45):
and not so much just the fruit, but the look of the pawpaw tree,
you know, it gives you moreof a tropical something a little bit
different than what you see with othertrees. And I think that's what's starting
to be more intriguing about it.Obviously, it is a source of food
for the larvae of some caterpillars,and of course, if you do get
the fruit at the end of theyear and you are able to enjoy it,

(25:07):
it is pretty darn good. There'sno doubt about it. It's a
little sweet for me, but Ido I do like it. Yeah,
Okay, on the Okay, mypeach grove, my gals out there picking
peaches already, and I keep tellingher it's not ready, but she thinks
they are. I don't think theyare. She picks them and she puts
them in a bag or sticks themin the cooler of whatever she's got.
I got buckets of peaches all rightnow. I left the house because I

(25:29):
got a little upset wler, andI'm out and I'm in the big city
right now, going to the doctor'sappointing. But when is the best time
for these Why? First of all, why are they looking so darned beautiful
and like they're done? But theyain't done. They're still rock hard.
Well, you know I understand that. Yeah, And again it's the type
of peach that you have, andtiming wise, and sometimes when you're picking

(25:52):
peaches off there, like let's takefor instance, the peach truck to where
that goes through. And of coursethey're they're supplying everybody with peaches right now
when you first get the when theypick them, they know how to get
that just right so that the peachstill is very firm and you know,
almost feels like it is rock hard. You let them sit on the counter
and that's part of the deal fora couple three days, and all of
a sudden they start to soften andripen and they're ready to go for you.

(26:15):
So it's getting that finding that fine, that fine tune of where is
that point? But picking peaches wise, you know, there's a lot of
folks that are getting into picking peachesright now. Uh so they are,
they are there, And again itdepends on the selection that you have growing
in your in your yard and garden, and it's a matter of you know,
trial and error soil. You findout the right timing and the right

(26:36):
field and the look of that peachbefore you go to pick. But again,
in many cases, when you dopick the first it's a little still
a little bit firm, and that'sokay, two or three days on the
counter, and if they'll get better, like you know, three or four,
five days, they should, Yeah, they should, depending on when
you pick them in But if youget them just right, that's the way
to do it. And that wayyou've got them still nice and firm to

(27:00):
last a little bit longer for youas far as storage and all. And
then you go from there. Soshe may be right on as far as
what she's doing there picking those peaches. Well, she's my gal, and
she I don't complain, but I'llget a little mad this morning. I'm
like, what are we doing allthese peaches? I mean, we got
like five gallon buckets, like Igot like fifty gallons that I'm sitting on
the front porch. I'm like hot, and then I'm like take them in.

(27:22):
We got a meat cooler. I'mlike, put him in the meat
cooler. She put them in.Okay, what about my apples? They
are not as big this year.I don't know why. Is it not
enough water? Is it? What'swhat's going on? I mean I have
lots of apple trees. I haveall different kinds of bray burned, golden,
delicious, pink ladies. I gotthem all right, you know,
I got them food ge ones.I even got them funky ones from India

(27:44):
there. I forget what they're called. The ones that are brown. They
look like they're real water when youwhen you eat them, right, moon
moon blows, No, those aremoon blows. That's a bear. That's
a pair. Yeah. So asyou're looking out there, as a general
general rule, they don't look aslarge as they have in the past.
I don't herrigate because I don't knowtoo. I don't want. I mean

(28:04):
they're established trees. Well, Imean yeah, once they're in like that,
you shouldn't have to I mean alot of orcherds won't won't go in
an irrigate either. But obviously thatis that can be weather dependent. Uh.
You know, I don't know,I'd have to, I'd have to
actually to take a look. Idon't have an answer for you on that,
but looking at the way the weatherhas been and some of us have
gotten some good timely rain, othershave been skipped around. But even at

(28:27):
that, and that will influence it, there's no doubt about it. But
you know, I again, whichyou may also take a look at if
they've been producing heavily over the lastseveral years. Yeah, you know,
it takes it takes a lot outof the trees, uh to produce those.
So again, pruning, thinning ofthe apples in the springtime, sometimes

(28:48):
you go through, as you knowand do some pruning ear thinning just to
thin them down a little bit sothat the plant can give enough energy into
the fruits that's left on the treeto give you full size and ripeness in
the flavor in the whole nine yardscan be very important. So pruning,
proper pruning, thinning them out,thinning the fruit out, uh, and
of course a timely feedings can allbe a factor because it does take a

(29:12):
lot of energy out of those appletrees or any of the fruit trees that
produce fruit and not let them becomingevery other or by you know, by
yearly type of a producer, whichsometimes that'll happen. Well, I put
the twenty twenty fertilizer down around thebase of them in the spring. Yeah,
you know that's did. That's agood all purpose. Sometime, farmer

(29:33):
Jeff, and we got to takea break here, but sometime have that
soil testage just to see where youare and let them know that you're growing
apples. Have a tested just tosee where your nutrient levels are and where
the pH level is. All right, thank you, sir. All right,
good talking to you. Quick break, we come back. Phone lines
you're still open for you at atwo to one WTVN here on news radio
six' ten WTVN. Mister JoeWalsh funk forty nine, James Gang,

(30:02):
you have named that tune. Iwent, I went and named that tune.
Great song early Joe Walsh right theretalking you aready in here on news
radio six to ten w tv anda last reminder here the Western Flora thirty
third annual garden tour is tomorrow,Sunday, July twenty first, from noon
until sixth And this has been goingon since. Amya Flora. You remember

(30:26):
Amara Flora. Now Ella, ourproducer is way too young to remember that.
She was just a toddler way backthere, or maybe not even a
round back now, probably not evenaround. But it's been going on ever
since. Thank you, thank youso much. But anyway, this tour
is a fun tour I have Ican honestly say I have never been on
it before, but I've heard somany people say they've had so much fun,

(30:48):
learn so much. Really classy tourbecause they have musicians and artists and
the whole nine yards, ten differentgardens for you to go through and see.
It's absolutely outstanding. From what Isaid, I've seen the pictures and
like I say, heard from folks. But if you want more information,
it's tomorrow. It's the Western Florathirty third Annual Garden Tour. Go to
their website Westerflora dot net. That'sWesterflora dot net and learn more about it.

(31:15):
It's absolutely free and like I said, from all the pictures I've seen,
all I've ever heard, it's agoodie, so enjoy it. And
as Ellis said, there's going tobe a mix of clouds up there to
make it a little bit cooler foryou as well as you go through those
gardens, so be sure and checkit out. Talking your arreading here on
news radio six to ten WTVN Atwo to one w TV is our number.

(31:37):
Lots of emails this week, we'llget into that time now where we
start seeing a few more insects anddiseases. But finally got some reports this
week of some tomato issues. Usuallyby now I've seen tomatoes with suptoria leaf
spot or early blight, and they'rekind of hard to tell apart, but
you can. And again, thesuptoria leaf spot one of the most common

(32:00):
ones, and it doesn't if itmakes a plant look nastier in the heck,
a sergeant to bottom works his wayup, but it usually doesn't affect
the fruit, so you're still goodto go. And I think the thing
to remember is, you know,when you see these show up. A
lot of these diseases at this stagein the game, sometimes it's just too
late to do any spraying for them. You'd have to do it earlier.
As a preventative using your fund side. Sometimes you can spray the new growth

(32:24):
that's coming out, maybe protected fromfuture as we go along to the rest
of the season. But for themost part, you just keep them as
healthy as you can write it out. The fruit will continue to ripe and
it should be good to go anddo. Remember this time of the year.
Also, sometimes you on your vegetablesand all, you'll get some yellowing
at the bottom, especially with tomatoes. I mean, you may not be

(32:45):
a leaf disease. It could bea lack of nutrients, or it could
just be natural sometimes able to shedthose bottom leaves as they're continuing to grow
up. If you look at tomatoesthat have been growing on a greenhouse that
are greenhouse grown, that are inthere for a couple of years, I
mean, they don't just grow themfor one season pitch them out. A
lot of times there's nothing on thebottom um and all the tomatoes and the
foliag your up at the top ofthe greenhouse. So that happens over time.

(33:08):
So don't panic. Keep good moistureto them. They're like good even
moisture right now as we're going throughthis time, as they're really starting to
produce fruit for you. I knowa lot of folks starting to get those
cherry tomatoes and starting to see somegood ripe tomatoes now coming in, so
we start to enjoy them as atomato. George Is said, there's nothing
better, and he's right. Thena fresh bite into a tomato. And

(33:31):
as you pick that tomato, whenyou look and it's got a hole in
it where something's already taken a biteout of it, you can typically either
thank the squirrels and you know,think about the squirrels. They take a
bite and then leave you the rest, right, so they do share.
But also look for tomato hornworms.Finally got my first report of tomato hornworms

(33:52):
this week, so keep an eyeout for those as well. Hard to
see and then when you see them, they're so big, you're like,
how did I not see them?It's crazy, But keep your eyes up
for those as well. We gotabout a minute and a half to go,
so Mark real quick, good morning, Good morning. Ron. Hey,
it's funny you brought up a Maraflora because it's in reference kind of

(34:12):
to an email I sent you.I didn't know if you got it or
not. I sent you a pictureabout Kiwi my mom and dadd had gone
to Mara Flora like a lot ofus and bought some Kiwi plants. And
I just have a question consider orthat? Okay, yeah, sure,
And have I seen it yet?I probably haven't gotten to it yet,
but I will, Okay. Iknow you only get back with me,
So I just wanted you to giveme some ideas on what I need to

(34:36):
do. I think I got amaile so we're not getting anything, and
how to trainsplant it all that stufflike that. All right, Yeah,
I'll get right back to you.But let me. Are you questioning whether
it's a male or female? Haveyou seen it flower? I have not
seen it flower? Okay, becausethat the first thing you usually was something
like that. You know, wewait for it to flower, and then
if we can see the flower,we know we can determine then whether it's

(34:59):
a male or female. So that'sthat's gonna be important. Is it in
the sun or shade? It's inthe shade. That could be another issue.
This thing is binding like you wouldnot believe. Okay, Yeah,
and they will take off like crazy. Yeah, I just need to know
can I transplant it? When doI transplan it? Cool? Yeah?

(35:21):
We can do that this Uh,well, we can do that September,
October or in the spring. Butlet me take a look at it,
Mark, And I appreciate the email, and I will take a look at
it and I'll probably get back toyou mone here tuesday. I'm about that
far behind, no problem. Iappreciate it all the time. That ron
all right, Thanks Mark, goodtalking with you. And I try to
work through as many as I canevery day. Obviously for folks that I

(35:42):
haven't gotten to you yet, Iwill. I'll get to you and try
to work through as much as Ias quickly as I can to get some
answers back to you. And ifI don't call me that way, you
can remind me and I'll go lookfor it real quick and get back to
you. Also talked about the evergreens. I am getting a ton and we
got just a quick thing here evergreens. If you're not getting good range,
I mean a lot of rainfall inyour area, keep watering your evergreens very

(36:04):
important. If you don't, they'regonna just touch start having brown pieces here
and there and there. May notshow up now, but it's gonna show
up four months from now. Andyou're gonna wonder why, and that's the
reason why. All right, keepgood even moisture around those evergreens, very
very important. Thanks to our callers, thanks our sponsors, Thanks to l
our producer, because without Ella,none of this stuff would happen. So
Ella, thank you again so muchfor all that you do to make our

(36:24):
show happen. We really, reallyreally do appreciate it. Now do yourself
a favor. Think about where you'regonna plant those plants, those native plants,
those trees, those pollinator plants.Pamper your worms, keep those beest
friendly and the pollinators friendly. Makeit the best weekend of your life.
See it.