gardening tips for bugs

Skip takes your calls!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
H Garden Line with skip rictor shoes, crazy heresies, gasp you can just
watch him as wosis gas so manygood things to seepbot basic ways, gassies

(00:22):
like gas baby can you did?Doubles back again? Not a sign?
Glasses a gas the sun, beamonof a tree, bring the gasses and
gas can starting you did? Goodmorning, Glad to have you with us

(00:50):
this morning. Welcome to garden Line. We're looking forward to whatever things are
of interest you. What are yourquestions about gardening? What have you what
would you like tried? Is theresomething we can help you with in terms
of diagnosing, identifying, or doyou just like to talk about gardening.
I can certainly understand that one forsure. If you would like to give

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us a call, our phone numberis seven one three two one two five
eight seven four seven one three twoone two fifty eight seventy four. I
am really I'm actually really enjoying theweather that we've been having. I enjoy
a mix of the weather, andyou know, we've got to have times
where it rains, time where itdoesn't some sunshine. Of course, it's

(01:34):
summer. We can gripe about theheat, but it's summer. It's part
of the deal. All we needto do is focus on getting our work
done in the early morning hours,in the late afternoon hours or very late
or I should say early evening actuallyours. Uh. Just always want to
be safe, and I encourage you. I know, when I was a
kiddo, I was pretty invincible.Nothing would kill me. And then one

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day I don't know how I was, but it was up in the teens
or early twenties, I ended upwith almost having a heat stroke from being
out in the sun and just workingand work in those a time where we
were doing a lot of physical workand farm work and different kinds of things.
I overloaded and as a result,it almost knocked me down. Good.

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Heat stroke and heat exhaustion and allthose things are serious, and I
encourage you to know and obey thewarning signs when you see someone or when
you start feeling things, feeling flush. There's just a lot of symptoms of
it. I'm not a doctor,so I won't tell you what they all
are. You can find those outyourself. But when you start noticing things

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just aren't quite right, you needto take care of it. But even
before that, you need to planso that you don't get into that situation
because a lot of those problems sneakup on us. And that's what happened
to me. I thought I wasfine. I mean, just gut up
and go right, you can doit. But well, I tell you
what, it's life threatening, sodon't mess with it. Another thing we

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don't want to mess with is ourskin. Skin damage is cumulative, and
the more you're out getting sun onyour skin. Number number one, it's
there's the danger of long term skindamage that has all kinds of issues that
we have to deal with. Butthere's also the fact that you know it,

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it's cooler to wear a long sleevedcotton type shirt or something else that's
got a good SPF factor because it'sit's actually your Your perspiration soaks into the
materials and then evaporates away, coolingyou off. The sun doesn't actually hit
your skin and heat it up thatway. Uh, And I've made that

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switch to over the years too.What I'm going to get out, even
though it's summer, long sleeve,loose fitting shirt, it just works really
really well SPF sunscreens, making sureyou wear a hat or something if you're
if you have bare skin, you'reears your head, your neck, all
those things. Here, I amlecturing you like your mom. Well I'm
not really, I'm just saying fromone friend to another, Hey, let's

(04:08):
take care of ourselves. We wanta garden for a really long time and
enjoy it. And just something that'skind of been in my mind lately as
things have really heated up and theweather is heated up, so drank plenty
of water. That's another one.It sneaks up on you. All right,
Well you're listening to garden Line.I'm gonna stop the advice that was

(04:30):
unsolicited and we'll just start talking aboutgardening. The fire beds that I have
are I've been taking care of them, putting some nice quality multures down.
Had a shredded mulch that I wasI have been using now for a while
from Nature's Way Resources. Nature's Wayis a wonderful company that really was at

(04:54):
the lead of quality soil care products. You know the mantra stuff before green
stuff. Well, Nature's Way isall about the brown stuff. They're up
there almost a conro up I fortyfive about where fourteen eighty eight comes in.
They're on the east side, justacross the railroad tracks. Real easy
to get to, and the qualityproducts they have, there's just so many.

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I mean, I could spend thewhole hour just naming and describing some
of the mini products that they carry. If you're looking for specific mixes like
for ctrus or for cactus or somethinglike that, they have it. If
you want to grow blueberries or azaleasor something that likes acid loving condition or
acid conditions guardinias Headrangis, they've gota blueberry mix that works great for that.

(05:42):
They were the ones who actually created, in partnership with the Houston Roads
Society, the premium rose soil blendthat's out there on the market, and
it just goes on and on.Anything you need you need some expanded shale
mixed with composts to help create along term loose of that clay soil.
Nature's Way has that they stay,i would say, on the cutting edge

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of how things go in the soilmaking, the compost making, the bed
mix making industries. They take theirtime to do it right, and when
you get a product from Nature's Way, you know that you're going to improve
your soil significantly, or in thecase of mulches, you can go on
the surface that you're going to createa high quality mulch, and that's that's

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some of the material that I've beenusing this past week is some of their
double aged double or native age doubleground mulch. That is an excellent,
outstanding molts. They have many otherreally high quality ones as well, but
that's just one I've been using andI think it works super super well.
Nature's Way is open Monday through Fridayfrom eight to five and Saturday from eight
am to two pm. They're closedtoday, they'll be back open tomorrow as

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well. If you want to givethem a call, it's nine three six
three two one sixty nine ninety threesix three two one sixty nine ninety.
They have some outstanding opportunities to getquality products at a very very good price
right now. Tell them that youheard about them on garden Line. This

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is important. Have your attention justfor a moment here because this is important.
Tell them you heard about it ongarden Line, and you will get
a huge discount on all kinds ofsoil based products there at Nature's Way.
And now's a good time to doit. I realize it's hot outside,
but little early morning work and stufffall planting is just around the corner.

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We're going to be planting starting plantingour vegetable gardens. Actually we kind of
already have a way of tomatoes andwhatnot, but we'll be doing a lot
of vegetable garden planning in September,even late August. Flowers, same kinds
of things. If you're going toput any kind of a woody shrub or
perennial or tree in the ground,there's not a better time than fall.

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But now's the time to get yoursoil red. Get the brown stuff first
and then the green stuff. AndNature's Way Resources can help you get super
high quality brown stuff. And bythe way, that is also their website,
Naturesway Resources dot com. You're listeningto the Garden Line. Our phone
number is seven one three two onetwo KTRH and we're gonna take a little

(08:20):
break here and when we come back, we will go to Mike in Northwest
Houston and kick things off on thephones. Welcome back to guard Line.
Hey, we're glad you're listening thismorning. I hope you have a cup
of coffee or whatever it takes toget those eyes open. And we got
a lot to talk about because wewant you to have a beautiful, beautiful

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landscape. We want you to havea bountiful garden, whether it's vegetables or
flowers or herbs, and it allis available to you. All it takes
is some good information to get youoff on the right foot. Like I
like to say, there's no brownthumbs, there's uninformed thumbs. And we're
here to inform your thumb. Andwe're going to head straight out to the

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phones right now and talk to Mikein northwest Houston. Well, good morning,
Mike, and welcome to guard Line. Hello Mike or Texas State Guardsmen.
Yeah, I'm here. Okay,go ahead, can you hear me?
Okay, yeah. Let me givea quick shout out to all the
state Texas State Guardsmen who are outhelping with the pass out supplies and water

(09:26):
and ice to everybody that suffered fromthe hurricane. The question is because they're
doing good work. The question is, with all the rain and all the
water on the ground right now,is there anything we should do to try
to take advantage of it or tohead off issues? Are we talking about

(09:48):
the context of like a lawn orwhat? Yeah? Like yeah, around
the house? I mean, yeah, not mass We don't Yeah, I
probably misled you with that. Butanyway, just when we get off you
know, when we go off dutyand we go home with all this rain,
is there something we should do totake advantage of it or to make

(10:09):
things better. Well, we gota lot of water on the ground,
right. We don't want to workthe soil when it's very very wet,
especially clay soils that destroys the structure. And then when they dry out,
we got little blocks of concrete inthe ground that are very hard to work
with. But when it's moist,you know, dry, it's hard and

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hard and you don't can't work it. Super wet, you don't want to
work it. But in the middlethere's this sweet spot where it crumbles apart,
and that would be a good timeto do any kind of soil preparation
because you know, we could goback into a drought period for a month,
and if anything you can do toget your beds ready for fall or
for any future planting, take advantagewhether they say make hay while the sunshines,

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well, this is a great timeto be able to do some soil
improvement. As it begins to dryout just to a little bit more so
you would want to avoid that.It's also an easier time when the soil
is moist to pull up weeds whenyou're you know, going to do some
hand pulling, or if you've gotone of those little tools like Grandpa's weeder
that just pulls the pop pops themout of the ground, you never have

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to bend over. When the soilis moist, they come out easy and
it's much less work. And thenit gets dry it's harder to do.
This would be important time to stayahead on mowing because the number one thing
making those that grass grow right nowis the water. As it gets dry,

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grass is going to slow down.But boy, when it gets good
rainfall, it's as if you fertilizedit. The grass really takes off growing.
So stand ahead on that. Thoseare a few things. Look,
I just wondered if there was like, you know, like hey, seize
the moment. Yeah, those aresome of the things I think. I
think also more so than just thefact that we had a bunch of rain,

(11:56):
is where we are on the calendar. And you know that I've said
earlier when I started the show talkingabout vegetable plantings for fall, there's times
when you need to get them inso that you get your crop before the
first frost hits or something like that. And so we want to be watching
those and stand ahead of that.But it's always a good time to build
the soil. Mike, I appreciateyou call a sure, Yeah called before,

(12:22):
I'll call again, all right,look forward to it. Yeah,
that you know, there's all theseadages out there. And someone told me
the other day that I speak inadages a lot, or speak in sayings
a lot and stuff. But it'sa thing that comes to mind, like
right then, you know that makehaywell, the sunshines. He who hesitates

(12:43):
is lost. A stitch in timewill save nine. That they're true.
There's a reason there's adages. They'retrue. I say this about pest control
a lot too. The sooner yourespond to a pest problem, the more
options you have, and the moreleast toxic options you have, and the

(13:07):
more benefits you can do. Solet me give you an example. If
you have caterpillars that are chomping onyour plants, if you jump in there
early on with a square to beton the foliage, they eat it,
they get sick, they die,and it's very effective. The older,
the caterpillars get BT becomes less effective. Plus with each molting they get bigger

(13:28):
jaws and they eat more leaf areaper day. And so you can go
from oh, there's a caterpillar onmy plant to oh, I don't have
any leaves on my plant pretty quick, and so early response is important.
And the caterpillar is just an example. That's true of many other pest issues.
Stink bugs when they're young are muchmore susceptible to a spray. By

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the time they get older, theyhave wings flying around. It takes some
pretty potent stuff, synthetic perithoids andwhatnot to truly knock them down and kill
them. And they're everywhere, andyour sprays aren't as effective because you don't
have a little cluster of them likewhen they hatch out as babies don't hesitate
on things. If you've got littleweeds popping up everywhere, just a slice

(14:11):
of the hoe barely underneath the surface, and you just wipe them all out
with almost no work. Once they'reestablished and got good root systems. Now
you're hacking away at them, they'realready entangled with your plants, are taking
water, they're taking nutrients. Ifyou pull them up, you may be
damaging some of the plant roots aroundthem. You see what I'm saying,
That principle of sooner rather than later, get it done now, and it's

(14:37):
so much better if you're an organicgardener. Especially, this is even more
important because our options, in theorganic arsenal or the organic pest control options
that we have are most effective whenthe pests are very very young, and
you can step in and take actionat that time. So that's just a

(14:58):
little bit of a ti there tothink about. I see a lot of
times, you know, I getcalls from people, a lot of times
when the problem is already so faralong that it's kind of late to do
anything. So the analogy or theexample that I always uses the guy that's

(15:18):
coming home from work at five o'clock. You know, he's hammered from the
day of work, and he's shufflingalong looking down, and he doesn't notice
a problem in his trees up aboveuntil he hears leaves rustling under his feet
that he's shuffling through, and thenhe looks up and sees the problem.
Well, it's a little bit lateto do any good for it, all
right, Well, our phone numberif you'd like to give us a call

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seven one three two one two fiftyeight seventy four. Puerscapes is a It's
an outstanding company when it comes toanything to make your landscape more beautiful,
more effective, make the work thatyou're doing out there much more productive.
And here's what I'm talking about.You need a good design. They can

(16:00):
do that. They can design thewhole landscape or they can just do some
designs for parts of it. Doyou need work on your irrigation system so
those hard earned dollars you're spending squirtingdrinking water on your lawn and plants are
more efficiently spent, most efficient.Most irrigation systems are not designed efficiently and

(16:22):
they become inefficient as heads get misalignedand other issues happen. Peers Scapes can
fix that. Would you like tosee some hardscape perhaps, or maybe some
landscape lighting. Do you have anarea that just is poorly drained and as
a result, plants are not performingthere very well. Peers Scapes can fix
that. They do all of that. Do you have landscape beds that are

(16:45):
blaw and you want them to beup kept and looking at their best?
Hire them as a quarterly maintenance serviceto come in, do some cheese,
seasonal color changes, to do anykind of weeding and fertilizing, check the
area, gation, mulching, iftrimming is needed, to do that,
and they keep them in tiptop shape. See Pierce Scapes does all of that

(17:07):
and much more. Go to thewebsite peerscapes dot com. Look at the
examples of the work that they cando. It is very impressive. Or
give them a call two eight onethree seven oh fifty sixty two eight one
three seven zero five zero six zero. Now it would be a great time
to give Pierscapes a call. Fallis coming and that is an awesome season

(17:30):
to do major renovations in the landscape. Give them a call now, get
on the boards with them. Whatany design work that's needed. You know,
just making sure you're scheduled out thereand have them come out and transform
your place into something beautiful because whenfall comes and the temperatures cool off,
you're going to spend a lot moretime wanting to live outside and enjoy that

(17:51):
landscape. Our phone number is sevenone three two one two fifty eight seventy
four seven one three two one twofive eight seven four. If you'd like
to give us a call. We'lltalk about the things that are most of
interest to you. If you haven'tdone summer fertilization, now's the time to
get it done. You still cando summer fertilization now. I would recommend

(18:15):
a slow release product being my firstoption, and the reason for that is
grass takes up a little nitrogen everyday. It doesn't take up a year's
worth of nitrogen in one week.And sometimes people want to go out and
just dump a bunch of immediately availablenitrogen down and feed the lawn for the
summer, and it doesn't work thatway. Excessive amounts they wash away,

(18:40):
they volatilize the way into the atmosphere. They cause a flush of grass top
growth at the expent of root growth, and none of that is good.
That's a less resilient grass plant togrub, damage to droughts and other things.
Nitrofoss Superturf is the fertilizer that isa slow release. It's a silver
bag by Nitroposs. It will feedyour lawn all the way through the coming

(19:02):
weeks and months, all the wayup until it's time to do fall fertilization.
Nitrofos Superturf is widely available. Likeall nitrofoss products. You're going to
find it in many different places.Ace Hardware Stores, the Plantation Ace out
there in the Richmond area. You'regoing to find it at Southwest Fertilizer down
on businest Runwick and many many otherlocations. DND feed up and tom Ball

(19:26):
carries it easy to find Nitropos Superturfand now's the time to get that down.
We're going to take a little breaknow for the news and I will
be right back. If you'd liketo get on the boards, give us
a call seven one three two onetwo KTRH. Fine. Thanks for tuning
in this morning. We got plentyof things we can talk about when it

(19:47):
comes to gardens and taking care ofgardens and things you know, plans for
all seasons. On two forty nine, which is Tomball Parkway is a long
term nursery, a family operated nursery, one of our independent garden centers.
That the kind we go to whenwe want good information, when we want
quality plants, and we want servicethat is very important when it comes to

(20:11):
garden centers and plants for all seasons. Is that kind of garden center you
know, they've been around since nineteenseventy three. The Flowerty family has been
operating plants for all seasons. Theyare experts when it comes to the plants
that grow here, how to carefor and plant and care for plants here,
and just helping you along the way. If you've got a brown thumb,

(20:33):
walk in there and they'll turn itgreen with good information, with good
guidance. You can bring them samples, you can bring them pictures. Whatever
you need, they will help you. Maybe it's a product that you need
to manage a particular pest. Listen. They've been through decades of answering these
same questions. They know what works, they know it doesn't work. Go
to Plants for all seasons. Fromtheir education to the selection that they have,

(20:59):
the fact that they do liver allkinds of things. They are true
lawn and garden experts. Plants forall Seasons dot Com two eight one three
seven six, sixteen forty six twoeight one three seven six one six four
six. We're going to go tothe phones now and head out to Humboldt
to talk to Lee. Hello,Lee, good morning. I want to

(21:22):
RePOP my orchid, but it's ina plastic container. And I don't know
the particular names of the orchids carts, okay, but it has two shoes
going through the plastic container. CanI cut that plastic container off? And
what do I need to buy toRePOP my ipit? You can cut it

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off. Let me ask this question. Did you get it at like a
grocery store? I got it yourhome depot in Walmart. Okay, all
right, so that tells me whatkind of orchid it is. You've got
a moth orchid and those are theeasiest orchid to grow. And so what
you want to do is you wantto take it out of the old container.

(22:07):
If I don't quite follow the goingthrough the container, but cut it
away however you need to do itto get that orchid free. You want
to cut off any dead roots,and you can see they're shrunken down.
They're not plump and healthy looking.Usually those are lower down on the stem,
the lowest roots, and as thestem grows up, roots keep coming
out of the stem higher and higheron the stem, and save those roots.

(22:29):
You want to pot it up ina good orchid mix. And we've
got some great garden centers that providesome really quality mixes for growing orchids that
are going to be very chunky,like chunks of bark may They may have
a little bit of charcoal in them. They could have some kind of an
expanded shale or haydike kind of material, or clay dried clay balls in them,

(22:52):
anything like that swagn of moss.Those orchids need really good drainage.
You want them to be able toget moisture and hold a little bit in
the mix. But they live onthe outside of a tree in the jungle.
They cling to the barks. Youget wet when it rains and then
they dry out. There's no soggy, wet soil for an orchid, So
make sure you get a true qualityorchid mix for that. And being out

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there in the Humbul area, yougot some ace hardware stores that are going
to have that kind of mix thatyou can use. You're not too far
away from Kingwood where there's worn insouthern gardens. Kingwood garden centers gonna have
those kind of mixes as well,and so that's important. You want to
get a little bit larger pot.You don't need a large large pot,

(23:36):
but i'd bump it up to thenext size pot. And then once you
get it potted up, water itin a few times with a very fertilizer
solution, something that you know,you mix in water to loote down.
It can be organic or synthetic,but a very dilute solution, and just
as you water, do that andit'll give it a little bit of a

(23:57):
boost to get it growing. Makesure you give it as much light as
you can, whether it's in abright window where the sun doesn't hit it
directly, or if you got itoutside in a very very shady area,
that is the key, and it'llstart growing and next thing you know it's
going to be going through its bloomcycle. Again. Well, thank you

(24:18):
very much, because I'm in beginnerit is. I love orchids, but
I've never tried to repot one,but thank you. You pick the right
one that is the probably the easiestorchid to grow, and the more you
work with it, the better youget. And sometimes you know, you
may have one that you lose,but overall you're going to have success.

(24:38):
And you may see them growing andgrowing and or just they're alive and they're
sitting there and they won't bloom,and that's usually because of a lack of
adequate sunlight or not getting They needsunlight, they need indirect light. Excuse
me, I shouldn't have said sunlightin that sense. They need bright indirect

(25:00):
light. They like. They don'tbe at all less than great light area.
If you want the top performance outof them, they'll grow in less
light. They'll sit there, they'llget darker green, but they're not going
to bloom for you if they don'tget adequate light. Okay, okay,
well, thank you very much.All right, Lee, Thanks, I

(25:22):
appreciate your call very much. Thanksa lot. Star of Hope has been
around for many, many years inthe Houston Areia, to be exact,
they just celebrated their one hundred andseventeenth anniversary one hundred and seventeen years.
They're one of the oldest and largesthomeless providers in America. Over a thousand

(25:45):
homeless people, a thousand homeless andnearly homeless men, women and children every
day are helped by Star of Hope. They serve about six thousand meals a
week. They have a van thatgoes out right now, you know,
with the excessive heat and things,people that need help, but they don't
just do handouts. They do that, but they don't just do handouts.
They are about changing lives. They'rechanging lives in a christ centered community that

(26:11):
turns lives, that turns families around, jobs, hope, freedom from substance
abuse, help for the kids,that help in getting back on their feet,
for people that are willing to followthe program and stay with it,
They change lives. I cannot thinkof a better way to spend your dollar
to put your compassion to work thanStar of Hope ministries. You can go

(26:34):
and learn more, and I hopeyou will sohmission dot org. There's ways
you can volunteer, there's things youcan donate, and when it comes down
to donating, you know it doesn'ttake much to provide it everything. Do
you know that for two dollars andeighty cents they can serve someone a meal
two dollars and eighty cent donation?I mean that is that is chicken feed

(26:57):
for us, and yet it's hugefor someone else who doesn't have in needs
and it's trying to make a differencefor them and their family. Star Hope
Missions. I can't recommend it anystronger. Let's go out now to Rose
Sharon and we're going to talk tothe Dennis. Hello, Dennis, Hi,
how are you doing? Hello?Hello? Hello? Can you hear

(27:21):
me? All right? I believewe're going to take a break. Dennis,
hang on if you're there. We'regoing to come back to you when
we get back from break. Butour phone number if you'd like to give
us a call seven one three twoone two fifty eight seventy four play tram
ad Buck Sexton. Can you hopabout the guard line? Good to have
you with us this morning. Wegot a lot of things we can talk
about. One thing I want totalk about is trees that this storm that

(27:48):
just went through was devastating. Iwas talking to somebody yesterday and they were
describing to me in their section ofHouston the trees that they have seen,
the damage that they've seen, andit just it's like a war zone.
Whenever storm's hit, trees are atrisk and proper pruning and care. Proper
begins with proper training, but iteven goes into as a tree is old

(28:11):
or some selective pruning can be helpfulwhen storms come. Whether it's a hurricane
and we're in the start now ofa very what's predicted to be a big,
big, hurricane season, but itcould also be just regular storms that
aren't attached to hurricanes, like theone we had a while back that devastated
so many trees. Affordable Tree ServiceMartin Spoon Moore is a company that can

(28:33):
come out and they can make surethat everything that's possible that can be done
for that tree is done so thatit has the best chance that we can
provide it in getting through these stormswithout serious damage. I can't stress enough
the importance of proper tree care comingin to the storm season that we are
now already into. You can callthem at seven to one three six nine

(28:56):
nine twenty six sixty three. That'sseven one three six nine nine two six
six three, or go to thewebsite aff Tree Service dot com. Aff
Tree Service dot com have Martin SpoonMoore come out. Of course, he
doesn't just do tree trimming. Theydo deeper feeding, They do deeper watering

(29:17):
during drought times. They can alsocome out and advise you as you're doing
any kind of a work around thetree. It is so important to have
a tree service person that knows whatthey're talking about to guide you before you
do damage that is not easily fixable, like putting a trench too close to
the trunk and other things like that. Call Affordable Tree seven one three six

(29:37):
nine nine two six six three.I'm going to go to the phones now
and we're going to head out toRose Sharon to talk to Dennis. Hey,
Dennis, Welcome to garden Line.Hello, Skip. I want to
do a follow up question. Canyou hear me? Yes, sir,
I wanted to I've talked to youbefore about the assassin sting bus and you

(30:00):
gave me good tips on how tosweep them into a bucket of soapy water
and try to get them off ofthe tomatoes. I want to know if
there's something I can do to preventthem from coming to my garden. They've
just moved. They've wiped out thetomatoes, and then they moved onto the
honey dews, and now they're movingonto the watermelons, And is there anything
I can do to prevent them andmake them go to somebody else's garden?

(30:26):
Well, the fast answers know,But there's things that are somewhat like that.
For example, there are crops thatwe call trap crops that they like,
and if you can get those outand get the stink bugs to those.
You can spray them and control themearly on on those crops before then

(30:48):
here comes your tomatoes and now they'removing, oh there to your tomatoes.
So it helps to have a trapcrop. It's not a panacea for sure,
but things like sunflowers, the littlesun they love sunflowers really, any
kind of a grain like that.Pearl millet is one we've used in the
past as a trap crop, butthey come to them like the little sunflowers.

(31:11):
Another one they like a cardoon,the little blooms on cardoons, which
is a thistle looking kind of anartichoke looking plant. They love those.
There are some other plants that youcan use as trap crops, but you
just put them out there and getthem doing their thing early. The stink
bugs when they're coming along there's notomatoes to hit yet, or the other

(31:33):
plants that peach, fruit and otherthings that they like to feed on,
and then you just spray them onthose plants. So it's almost like a
bait station, if you will.For those starbugs. Yeah, I haven't
had problem with these previously, butthe last two years they've come on me
hard and I have them. They'rea problem. Yeah, Well, they
I don't know how you've missed thembefore, because they they're ubiquitous. They're

(31:56):
all around. And I tell Gardner, learn what the eggs look like.
You go online google that, findout what they look like. Learn what
the nymphs look like, because theydon't look the same when they're new hatched
as they do when they're adults.And so once you know what you're looking
for. At those early stages,they don't have wings, and they're easy

(32:16):
to just vacuum or swat into wateror however you want to go about it,
or spray them. They're more susceptibleto sprays at that stage too.
Okay, I thank you for yourtime, sir. All right, good
luck in that battle. I knowthat's a formidable foe. You got your
your sights on there, Dennis.Thank you, Thank you a lot for
the call. Our phone number isseven to one three two one two kt

(32:42):
RH seven one three two one twokt r H. Talking about bugs,
Nitrophis has a product called bug outMax. Bug Out Max is a granule
that you put in your lawn andthen you put a little bit of water
on it to wash the product offthe granule and into the thatch and lawn

(33:04):
surface area where it goes to work. Do you know if you have pets,
they get fleas when they go outin the yard. Those fleas can
actually be dropping off into the thatchof the grass where eggs are laid,
where you can have nymphs that aregrowing, and then they become adults and
the dog runs by or the catgoes by and they hop up on them

(33:25):
and bring them back inside. Sopart of breaking that cycle of fleas and
ticks is dealing with them not juston your pet, but also outdoors in
the thatch, and night Fuss bugOut Max is very effective for that.
Also, chinchbugs here they come.We're about to enter chinchbug season, soid
webworm season, if we're going tohave one this year, is going to
be occurring. It could be occurringstarting now, but it typically comes a

(33:49):
little bit later, but it canreally occur anytime. And if you look
at my garden line schedule, myskip erchter, lawn care, pests,
disease and weed management schedule, you'llsee exactly when to do treatments for these
particular kinds of pests. Night FossBugout Max is widely available, being a
night foss product. You're going tofind it at RCW Nursery. You're going

(34:09):
to find it at the Ace HardwareStoring Kingwater a task Casita. You're going
to find it at Stanton Shopping Centerdown in alvin As well. Night foss
bug out Max for what bugs You? That ought to be the slogan for
what bugs You. You're listening toGarden Line and our phone number is seven
one three two one two kt rhIL. You'd like to give us a

(34:31):
call, we will be happy tovisit with you about the things that are
most of interest to you. Acouple of things I was wanting to visit
about out in my gardens. I'mstill doing planting in the vegetable garden.
I kind of have to do itas I can get around to it,
because it seem to be run arounddoing a lot of other things, like

(34:51):
sitting here doing the radio show,and as I'm getting things planted. First
of all, in this he eat, it helps to have some sort of
a shade over the planting row.You don't have to and I plan oakroh
without shade over the row, forexample, but if you provide a little
bit of shade just to help thosesoil temperatures. It helps the seeds get

(35:14):
going and get started. And whenyou're planting, the most important watering that
you do is before you plant,I want to just pause and let that
sink in. Well, there's noplants, why would I water. Well,
here's why. When you give thebed a good soaking, let's say
a day or two before you plant, that water soaks down inches below the

(35:36):
surface, down into the soil.So then when you put your seed in,
yes, you're going to water itagain. But when it germinates and
sends that root down, it's notdry soil down there, it's already a
bank account of nutrients. Because inthose first days, even the first week
or two, when that seedling isgetting started, if it dries out from

(35:57):
the minute it starts to germinate,if it dries out, it dies,
And so having that bank account downin the soil is really important, especially
in this heat. So preplant watering. Then when you plant a light watering.
For some types of tiny seeds,you want to use a mist because
you don't want to dislodge them andsplash them all over the place. But
that is a secret to getting going. And then of course having a little

(36:20):
shade over the row. If there'sat all a question about it, or
we weigh above germination temperature, ashade over the row will help them get
started. You can just leave iton for a week or two and then
take it off. You don't needto leave it there, but that's important
because if you measure the soil temperaturean inch below the surface, which that's
where seeds are, right an inchor less below the surface. If you

(36:43):
do that, you're going to findthat it is blazing hot. Just like
your sidewalk, and certainly just likethe asphalt. It gets blazing hot on
the soil surface, and that's whereyour seeds are. Give them moisture,
give them a little bit of shade. That's a tip for success starting seeds
out in your summer garden. Well, here we are, I hear music.

(37:05):
That must mean it's time for thetop of the hour news. I
want to remind you that you've heardme talk about these schedules, the lawn
care schedule and my disease past weekmanagement schedule. Those are on my website
at Gardeningwithskip dot com Gardening with Skipdot com. Go check them out,
print them out, carry them withyou when you go shopping because you'll see

(37:25):
exactly what your options are and youshow the folks this is the product I
need, or put them in thegarage so next time you fertilize, you
got them right there to help andguide you. We'll be right back.
Don't miss the Trading Group Show Sundaysat five pm on KTRH seven forty am.
Learn how you can earn a fulltime income as a short term trader.

(37:45):
That's the Trading Group Show Sundays atfive pm. Our question line is
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listening to me right now, Ihave one thing every business needs most attention,
think about it. Wipe and scrollpast stuff all day. But when
we're driving, cooking and working out, we're also listening. That's the magic

(38:06):
of audio. At iHeart, we'rein your next customer's ears while they're living
life and listening just like you areright now. So get your customers to
listen up today using radio, digitaland podcasts. Visit Iheartadvertising dot com.
That's Iheartadvertising dot Com. At wildBirds Unlimited, We've made it easy for
you to enjoy your vacation without worryingabout the birds you lead. The high

(38:30):
seed cylinders are a convenient way tofeed the birds while you're away. Go
to WBU dot com forward slash Houstonto find the store nearest to you.
Don't miss the Trading Group Show Sundaysat five pm on KTRH seven forty am.
Learn how you can earn a fulltime income as a short term trader.
That's the Trading Group Show Sunday's atfive pm. Our question line is

(38:51):
eight eight eight six four six eightyseven eighty seven. We need your help
to protect your right to AM radioin your car. Is always there in
times of need with the key informationfor our community. The overwhelming majority of
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(39:14):
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text a M to five two eighteighty six. Message in data rates may
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Visit your local Lows Today to findall the materials you need. Low's Nose

(39:37):
Recovery, Low's Nose, Community Accidentsand alternates coming up from the Generator Supercenter
dot Com Traffic Center. This reportis sponsored by Wendy's Home of the five
Dollars Biggie Bag. The Wendy's fiveDollars Biggie Bag is a goat of fast
food deals for a lot of reasons. Here are four of them. A
junior rak and cheeseburger, Nuggies,fries, and a drink. It's also
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(40:00):
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US price and participation may vary.Portions of the following program will pre recorded.
This is used Radio seven forty ktr H Houston everywhere. Unnecessarily endorse
any of the products or services advertisedon this program. Welcome to kt r

(40:22):
H Garden Line with Skip rictor It'sshows Basy gas trip. Just watch him
as wakes the spot bases gas bycan you not s gas Sun? Themons

(40:58):
of Welcome to guard Line. Welcomeback to guard Line. Good to have
you with us. If you'd liketo give us a call, ask a
question about gardening. Let's help youhave a more bountiful garden, a more
beautiful landscape. Well, here's thenumber seven to one three two one two
kt r H seven one three twoone two kt r H. Landscaper's Pride

(41:24):
has been making quality products both forin the soil and on the soil for
a long time. Landscaper's Pride,you can think of it as a way
of recycling nature back into wonderful thingsfor our plants. And right now with
the sun blazing down, multch,maultch. Maultch is so important. There

(41:45):
are very few products that the listof benefits is as long as is the
list for mulch. Because maltch helpsprevent crusting of the soil from rain drops
crusting. It prevents erosion of thesoil. It takes the impact of that
rain and lets it percolate right downinto the soil. It moderates soil temperature.
I was talking about that earlier,Very important because soil gets Take a

(42:08):
thermometer out when you have a warm, hot day, stick a thermometer down
in the soil. I'll put iton two inches and just measure how hot
that really is down there. Thatis too hot for roots, that's too
hot for seedlings to germinate up inthe top, especially on the top inch.
Most fixes that, most does otherthings. It decomposes over time to

(42:29):
feed the soil. Think about theforest. Who fertilizes the forest? I
mean, I know there's you know, some parrot poop fallen around, but
what actually is providing nutrients for thesoil in the forest. The trees drop
their leaves, then they drop moreleaves on them, They decompose away,
they release their nutrients. Microbes arecertainly involved in the whole process, and

(42:51):
it just gets better. And soI could go on and on about the
benefits of mulch, and landscaper's pridehas got some quality. Whence they've got
black velvet mult which is a naturallydark colored, beautiful velvety dense multch.
It's not dyed maults it is,but it is a very dark, beautiful
malts. That's why we call itblack velvet. They have hardwood multes,

(43:12):
shredded hardwood, not ground up paletteslike some cheap junk out there on the
market. Is but true shredded hardwoodtrees, organic hardwood based mult is ideal
for walkways and flower beds recreational areas. Then they've got pine bark the most
popular one. It's the slowest perhapsin the decomposition rate, but a lot
of people love pine bark. Ilike the cedar malts, and I like

(43:32):
the cypress moults too. For example, cedar malts that nice aroma that comes
with fresh cedar, and then thebeautiful red streaking that is occurring there naturally
within the product itself. And thencypress molts and nice light color mults that
really stays in place and doesn't tendto wash away at all. Very durable,
very very excellent. All of theseexcellent choices from Landscaper's Pride. Go

(43:58):
to Landscaper's Pride landscapers Pride dot comand there you'll find all the places where
you can buy these and believe me, they are widely available throughout the greater
Houston area. You can also learnmore about each of these products there at
that website. Well, you're listeningto Guardline and we're here to help you
have success in what you're trying todo. So if you get any kinds

(44:21):
of questions we can assist you with. We'd be more than happy to do
that. I want to make aI want to make a point about wasps.
I know when I say the wordwasp, a lot of people cringe
because the first thing we think ofare those paper wasp nests up under the
eaves. But there's many kinds ofwasp. There's little, tiny, tiny

(44:43):
knat size parasitoid wasp, and thisis cool stuff. They lay eggs and
in for example, one type layseggs inside an aphid, and the egg
hatches and consumes the interior body ofthe aphid. The aphid swells up and
get troll luffy and big, andthen the wasp comes crawling out. It's
like watching the movie Alien on anentomological level. Pretty cool stuff. There

(45:07):
are wasps that are predators, andthose paper wasps that we have are predators.
Do you know the number one foodof paper wasps is caterpillars, that's
their number one food. And soif you have a butterfly garden, yeah,
probably not so big of a fanof paper wasps. But if you've
got cabbage and broccoli and you gotloopers on them, if you've got tomatoes

(45:29):
and you got hornworms on them,if you've got anything. The caterpillars are
eating webworms. Those webworms we wentthrough earlier. By the way, I
expect another big return of those inthe next generation of the summer, So
just hang on, stay tuned forthat. But webworms, wasp pull those
back. They estimated I think itwas a group of entomologists in the Midwest

(45:50):
Langrene University entomologists. We're doing anestimate and they figured about seven thousand caterpillars
per season for a good sized paperwasp nest. That is a lot of
caterpillar That's a lot of pest controlfor you. Now, if they sting
you and you're allergic, well that'slife threatening and we don't want to Nobody
wants to get stung, even ifyou're not allergic. But wasp nests,

(46:10):
they are out of the way.Just know that's what they're doing. They're
working for you. So if youget rid of the nest, I certainly
understand that in an area where it'sa threat to you, but consider areas
where they're not a threat. Justleaving them alone because they're out there working
for you. That's what they do. So just a little bit of a
different glimpse inside of wasps, especiallythose paper wasps. When I was a

(46:34):
kid growing up, every summer Igot stung by wasps, and I distinctly
remember one summer, probably because Iwas crawling around in places I shouldn't be
doing things I shouldn't do, butI distinctly remember one summer I had gone
through the whole summer and a schoolwas about to start and I had not
been stung, and it was justlike, yes, I did it.

(46:55):
I did it. That day aball went underneath the bush, I reached
under to get it, and whammo, they got me. So I don't
know if I ever made it tothe summer not getting stung by wasps,
but uh, yeah, that wasmy experience with them. But I appreciate
the work that they do now andjust stay out of their way. Stay

(47:17):
out of their way. Well,if you'd like to give us a call,
our number is seven one three twoone two fifty eight seventy four seven
one three two one two five eightseven four. You know. Sweet Green
is a product by Nitrofoss that isan organic type fertilizer for your lawn.

(47:37):
It's it's very high in the firstnumber, eleven percent nitrogen. It's made
from a base of molasses, andwith microbial activity on the molasses, it's
turned in actually to a fertilizer.Uh. And this fertilizer is very immediately
available, dissolves very quickly, smellswonderful too. By the way that molasses
space. When you put a sugarbased substance of the soil, beneficial microbes

(48:01):
just thrive, especially the bacteria.They love that carbon based material. That's
their food, and so they goright to work on it. That's why
organic gardeners often will use molasses intheir gardening. Well, Sweet Green,
that product becomes available for your grassvery quickly, and I would recommend if
you're going to apply it, sinceit's eleven percent nitrogen, you're going to

(48:22):
want to put about a total ofabout ten pounds per thousand square feet.
Split it in half, but fivepounds now, and then six to eight
weeks from now, do another fivepounds, and by doing that you will
spread that nutrient release out over timeand have very very good results from sweet
Green. Sweet Green from nitrofos,and like all nitrofoss products, very widely

(48:45):
available. You go down to Laporteto Fisher's Hardware on Broadway. They've got
it there. In Angleton Lake Hardwareand Angleton of Alasco. They have it
there are up in Montgomery Gym's Hardwareon Liberty another place where you can find
nitrofoss products such as this sweet green. I was doing some soul prep work

(49:06):
this past week, and a partof part of the job and putting in
a new garden is number one.Getting rid of any noxious perennial weeds that
are very difficult to control. Youknow, if you've got a flower bed
that's already in and it is invadedwith nut grass and bermuda grass is probably
the two prime public enemies number onein two, and I don't know which

(49:29):
is one and which is two,but it's very difficult to get in there
and control those without hurting your flowersand it's our If it's a vegetable garden,
spring things on stuff you're going toeat, you don't do that,
But if you do it ahead oftime, you can do. There's a
lot you can do to control it, both from an organic and a synthetic
standpoint. For most weeds, nut'sedge is a little bit of a bigger

(49:51):
challenge. I don't know a greatorganic solution for nutsedge other than hand digging
repeatedly. Every time it's stix,it's head above soil. You dig down
and get that nut and pull itout. But the bottom line is do
your preps ahead of time to getrid of problems before you begin that soil
building process. And I'll talk aboutthat a little bit more in just a

(50:12):
moment. Right now, we're goingto take a break and I'll be right
back. Every hurricane season is different. It only takes one again. Low
where a friend, there is afriend. Welcome back to Guardline. Good
to have you with us this morning. What do we want to talk about?
You tell me our phone number ifyou'd like to give me a call

(50:32):
seven one three two one two ktr H seven one three two one two
kt r H. So I wastalking about soul prep before we went to
break, and how it's important toget rid of noxious weeds before you put
the plants in. It's much easier, Our options are better. Uh,
it's just better, better, betterin every way. If you've got a

(50:55):
lawn full of weeds and you're aboutto redo it and replant size, now's
your chance. You get out there. You water it to get those weeds
growing. Yes, that's right,get the weeds growing, because then you're
going to kill it, whether youscrape it up, whether you spray it,
well, however you're going to goabout it, you're going to get
rid of them. But most ofthe sprays you use on weeds post emergent

(51:17):
to kill existing weeds work best,if not only, when the weed is
actively growing. When the weed isactively growing, so you want those weeds
to be happy and healthy and growing, and that's when the products do the
most work. If that weed isstressed, drought stressed, or whatever,
the products just don't have the sameeffect, believe it or not. And

(51:39):
so get them going, get thatlawn, get all the stuff you're dealing
with under control before you put thelawn grasp back in. Because once a
lawn is in, now we're havinga little bit of a challenge finding things
that we can put down on theweeds is not going to hurt your lawn,
and that is the whole idea isto avoid damage to the lawn,

(52:00):
but to make sure that we're gettingthings ready to go to put that new
lawn back in. That's kind ofwhat that what that amounts to. I
think that you will you will agreethat when it comes to having a beautiful
and a bountiful garden and whatnot.You do want to have one that you're
not fighting. We nobody enjoys that, right I don't. In fact,

(52:22):
I don't like spray at all.To be honest, my idea of a
great Saturday is not to mess,mix up smelly water, to spray on
stuff. It's to enjoy plants.It's to enjoy nature. To have success.
Well, there's times when we haveto step in and do things,
but let's minimize them. Minimize thosetimes by gardening smarter rather than harder.
I guess you could say, uh, I've told you a lot about Nelson

(52:45):
Water Garden out in Katie, NelsonWater Garden and nursery. Don't forget that
part. And nursery right now ishaving their summer plant sale. They are
having all kinds of fruit trees andshrubs and citrus specifically for example, that
are on a very significant sale,like fruit trees and shrubs normally forty bucks,
now twenty bucks. Citrus, she'sseventy five, now thirty five.

(53:07):
Your boy, there's not a bettertime, and now's a great time to
put that citrus in. Just keepit wet, keep it moist. When
you plant, we take it outof the container, put it in the
ground. Remember the roots are allstill in that cylinder you pulled out of
the container. So keep watering rightthere and just beyond that and keep it
going and it will get well established. And at this opportunity to get a

(53:32):
deal like that, you're not goingto do better than that. That is
awesome. Any kind of products youneed, you know, they carry the
microlife products. They carry asumite andthings like that out of Nilson Water Garden
and nursery take advantage of it.They have sales of roses going on.
There's a really good sale on rosesand on azaleas as well. And I

(53:53):
realize that it's hot outside, butif you plant a plant properly, you
can have very good excess, evenplanting in the summertime. The key is
in your mind to remember where theroots are. You can have moist soil,
but that little roots cellular pumps dryfaster than the water can wick in
from the moist soil around it.So keep the root cylinder moist, not

(54:17):
soggy, not's oversaturated where roots can'tget oxygen, but just moist. And
that's going to require a little amountof daily water right there to keep it
going cushing with the soil around itmoist as well, so that as the
roots expand they can get in.But that's a secret to success on summer
planting, regular watering. I tellpeople. The visual that seems to work

(54:40):
for me maybe it will for you, is imagine that you just took the
pot that you purchased with the plant, and you dug a hole and set
the pot down in the hole withthe plant inside. Where would you water?
Well, of course you water rightthere in the pot because there's not
roots outside the pot, because there'sa pot there to stop it that way,
and you'll water properly with the newplants that you put in in the

(55:04):
summertime. Just always remember that excesswater. Excess water excludes oxygen in a
blazing summer heat, it's as bador worse than not having enough water.
So touch and go. But youcan do it. You can have success.
Nelson Water Garden, by the way, if you haven't been by there
there, you got to Katie onIten and you turn north on Katie Fort

(55:28):
Ben Road and they're just across thetracks a little bit upstreet there on the
right hand side. Their water gardensare outstanding and listen on a blazing summer
day, I think it was it'slike going to the park. You get
your friends, getting the cargo outthere and sit among all those are stroll
among all those water features, hearingthe beautiful sound of water, seeing the

(55:50):
beautiful features too. You're gonna wantto have that in your backyard. I
know I did when I first wentout there. That was the first thing
I thought, is, Okay,I gotta have this because it is so
therapeutic. And you know, whenyou have the sound of water, it
brings birds in more also, andthe birds will find it, they will
show up and they'll be very gratefulfor that. You can get all that
you have them come in and installa feature, or you can just do

(56:13):
it yourself. They're more than happyto give you the supplies and tell you
how to do it if you're doit yourself. For that's another option that
you can take. All of thisis out there at Nelson Water Garden and
Nursery out in Katie Oh. Ihave not told you this about Nelson Water
Garden before, and every time Ithink back on talking about them, I
thought, why did not tell them? You ought to see the indoor houseplants

(56:37):
that they have in that store.They are beautiful. If you want house
plants that aren't just green, thatoffer patterns and structure and different texture in
the foliage and all kinds of things. They have a great selection right in
the big middle of the store whenyou walk in, and they are beautiful,
and I would encourage you to stopby there because you know, summer

(56:58):
is a great season to be takingcare of the house plants in our house,
and that's a way to bring natureindoors. Check out the house plants
that they have. I'm telling youthat the selection is really really beautiful.
You're listening to Guardenline. Our phonenumber is seven one three two one two
kt r H. Seven one threetwo one two kt r H. You'd

(57:21):
like to give me a call,let's do that. Perhaps you have a
sample or a symptom or something youwant identified or diagnosed. You can email
me and if you give us acall in this or call our producer say
you want to send in a photoand then call back. I'm not able
to hand type out responses to allthe emails I get. Occasionally in certain

(57:45):
situations where where that is needed Ido that, but what I ask is
send me the picture. You needto send it ahead of time, then
call on a Saturday or Sunday morningbetween six and ten and we will talk
about it. But it really helpsto have a picture. So many times
someone's describing something, and I tellyou, as an extension agent with texas
A and m Agrolife Extension for thirtyfive years, innumerable times someone would describe

(58:10):
something in a situation to me andthen I would either go to the site
and see what they were talking about, or then they would send me a
picture and it was like completely differentfrom what I had pictured. And maybe
it was me listening properly, maybeit was them describing accurately. But I'm
telling you, a picture helps alot with a diagnosis. And if we're

(58:30):
going to suggest that you have togo spend some money and do some work
to fix the situation, we donot want you wasting your money in time.
We want to make sure we diagnoseit accurately and send you to the
right if it's a product, tothe right product that's going to work effectively
with what you're dealing with. Wehave a flower bed. It's actually a

(58:52):
veggo garden bed, one of thoseup above ground metal. They are coated
and painted and super high quality beds. Our Veggo garden bed is loaded with
flowers. This particular one is anL shape, big L shaped bed that's
loaded with flowers on the patio.So it kind of goes around a corner
of the patio, so as you'rewalking around, you just kind of walk

(59:12):
over there. And my wife lovesflowers, and boy, is it ever
looking good. We've got all kindsof summer tolerant flowers in it, angelonias
and pentas. This sunbelievable sunflower which, by the way, pause them in
it. I need your attention tostep for a second sun believable sunflower.
It's called Helianthus. That's a genusof sunflowers that bogger just grows and they

(59:37):
say it produces a thousand blooms overthe course of a season. It's because
it blooms for so long. Butthey're a little shiny, not shiny,
little bright, attractive sunflowers that arejust happy. I mean, you look
at it and it just makes youhappy. If you like little deal of
tiny cut flowers, it would begreat for that. You can do that.
But anyway, sunbelievable. We gotto keep looking good. Another one

(01:00:00):
that's looking good is pirates pearl littletiny white flowers, beautiful. All right,
well I'm talking about flowers. We'regonna take a little break here for
the news. We'll be right back. The number seven one three two one
two k t r H boards areopen if you'd like to get a good
head start. Welcome back, Welcomeback to guard Line. Good to have

(01:00:22):
you with us. What would youlike to talk about if you have a
question you would like to visit withwith me about uh seven one three two
one two k t r H.Seven one three two one two k t
r H. You know, ACEhardware stores are ubiquitous here in the Houston
area. And what I'm trying tosay is, no matter where you live,

(01:00:45):
there's going to be an ACE hardwarestore somewhere near you, probably more
than one. There's forty of themhere in the greater Houston area. And
when you go into Ace, youknow you're going to find this stuff you
hear me talk about on Guardline.For example, fertilizers. They're going to
carry them all. They've got awide variety fertilizers, excellent, excellent,
selection. You know you're going tobe able to find the tools that you

(01:01:05):
need, for example, hoses,garden tools, do you need in any
kind of specific things like maybe amosquito foger, or maybe you want to
decorate the back patio with some beautifullights or other things. ACE just has
it all. Ace is the place. That's the motto or the slogan for
them. Ace is the place,and ACE is a place for all the

(01:01:27):
things you need. ACE is aplace for your fire and control. ACE
is a place for your mosquito management, whether it's buying the mosquito dunks to
put out in water and shut thosethings down that way, or as I
mentioned, a fog or any otherkinds of things. ACE is the place
beautiful outdoors activities, the barbecues andthings. We just started using our pit

(01:01:47):
again a while back. We'd usedit and the kind of had gone through
some time where we hadn't been usingit, and so here we are back
out again enjoying the outdoors and gettingthe barbecue and done. And boy ACE
can set you up with every aspectof that that you might need. You
can find ACE hardware stores all overthe place by going to the website Acehardware
dot com, Acehardware dot Com andthen find the store locator, tell it

(01:02:12):
where you live, give it yourzip code or whatever, and it'll show
you all the stores that are closeto you. It makes it really easy.
And when you know, when yougo into ACE, you're going to
be greeted with that old fashioned customerservice by people who know what they're talking
about and take you right too whatit is you're looking for so that you
have success, whether you're fixing afaucet or turning your outdoors into a beautiful,

(01:02:34):
beautiful environment to enjoy. ACE Hardwarecan help you with all of that.
We are doing some I was talkingabout soil preparation well ago, and
I was mentioning the importance of gettingrid of noxious weeds before they start to
invade to a point where it's hardto control them in your plants. Well,

(01:02:54):
another thing about soil prep is makingsure you build a swill up so
that when it drains, when itrains a lot, it drains. Well,
that's important. We can't control therainfall, we can't control our irrigation.
Most people over water, especially thelawns, and miswater the lawns.
But when you build up a raisedbed, it you always know that the

(01:03:15):
excess water is going to drain away. When you make soil that is improved
with organic matter and in some casesexpanded shale, you can have that good
internal drainage to the soil. Pluswhen you add organic matter, the microbes
go nuts because they get They loveto break that down and feed on it,

(01:03:36):
and the whole root zone environment isbetter. And I know you hear
it's like a broken record, mixingcompost, mixing, compost, mixing,
compost, But it's true. It'swhat nature does slowly over time. We
just want results now, like thisfall. I want beautiful flowers, so
I can't wait for nature over decadesto improve the soil. I'm going to

(01:03:59):
get some quality composts, mix itin and jumpstart the whole process. But
why is that? And I justwant to talk about that just a little
bit. Number One, it keepsthe soil open. So if you have
a sandy soil, decomposed organic mattercomposts, those little particles act like a
little sponges that whole moisture and holdnutrients sand it just runs straight through.

(01:04:19):
It's like broken glass. The waterand nutrients just wash right through it.
But when you have organic matter andit helps it hold. If you have
a clay soil on the other endof the particle sized spectrum, clay soils
become dense. I mean, youcan make a little bowl a lot of
modeling clay and put water in itand it just sits there like a little

(01:04:40):
pond. Right. It doesn't drainwell at all. In fact, you
know our Houston black clays, inthe absence of roots and organic matter,
just the clay, it takes inwater at about one eighth of an inch
an hour. So if you wantto get an inch in the yard,
you need it to rain one eighthof an inch an hour for eight hours.

(01:05:00):
Now when does it do that?But when you add organic matter to
a clay, that mass, thatsticky gooey doesn't drain. No oxygen getting
very far down in the soil suddenlystarts to become clumps and it becomes what
we call friable. It breaks aparteasy, and you're creating structure inside those
structure that you could see if youlooked under a microscope, for example,

(01:05:21):
or a good handless you can seethat structure in the soil, and that
brings oxygen in the soil. Itmakes water drained through the soil, and
when you bring oxygen down you geta deeper, more extensive root system and
you get more microbial activity. Andmicrobes are doing all kinds of things.
Do you know There are microbes thatare releasing substances that are antibiotics that help

(01:05:45):
fight disease for the root. There'smicrobes that can grab nitrogen out of the
ox out of the soil. Air. Right now, when you're listening to
me, you're breathing about seventy eightpercent nitrogen in the air you're breathing.
Well, that nitrogen does plants nogood until it's in a form they can
use. There are microbes that makeit in a form plants can use.

(01:06:06):
Have you ever wondered how there couldbe giant meadows across America? They're just
beautiful and no one's running through therewith a fertilizer spreader. Well, I
mean, they're not performing like alawn would perform. Mo momo and trapes
across it and all that kind ofstuff. But it's all being done by
microbes and by nature in the soil, and so that is another thing that

(01:06:29):
they can do. There are manyother things. There are microbes that fight
insects. DT is a microbe.It's a bacillis that attacks insects. There
are microbes that fight diseases. There'sanother one, And forgive me for the
long word, but Basillis amila licofacians. Isn't that a fun word how
to impress friends and influence gardeners anyway? That one helps plants fight disease.

(01:06:53):
There And I mean, we couldjust talk for days on all the things
microbes are doing. And you arecreating that environs and your soil when you
add organic matter, when you improveaeration, when you improve the structure of
the soil. So just to saymixing composts isn't just like we're putting a
little fertilizer down. It's like we'rechanging the root zone. And plants live

(01:07:15):
in their roots, and then rootsare happy and thriving. Your plant's going
to be happy and thriving. Andmost of our plant problems are not just
diseases and insects above surface. They'rethe things that are going on to stress
the plant underground. Drought, compactedsoil, poor nutrient levels, poor moisture
levels, too much, too little, and all that. And you can

(01:07:35):
get all that done by just improvingyour soil. Hardline goodhead with us.
As always, we love to talkto gardeners, and I think that's what
we're going to do here. We'regoing to head straight out to full Sure
Texas and talk to Clint. Goodmorning Clint, and welcome to garden Line.
Hey morning, Skip, I gota good one for you, all

(01:07:56):
right. So my neighbor has anentire Permuta lawn. I have an entire
Saint Augustine lawn and we have noseparation, no rocks, nothing to divide
our lawns. He has gone onehundred and ten percent this year and it's
starting to encroach into my Saint Augustine. What or is there anything I can
do in your existing situation? Thereis not a lot you can do.

(01:08:21):
Those two will exist together. Thereare things that benefit Saint Augustine a little
over Bermuda. There are things thatbenefit Bermuda a little over Saint Augustine.
For example, shade. Saint Augustinehas the edge droughty condition stresses. Bermuda
tends to have the edge that there'snot a spray that's available over the counter

(01:08:42):
where you can go in and killone grass without killing both of the grasses,
and that's a challenge. So youknow, I don't I don't know
what to suggest to you on thatparticular one, other than you know,
there's always a possibility of killing theline between you putting a vertical barrier in

(01:09:04):
and then trying that, but youknow the bermuda. You got to get
the barrier down far enough the bermudadoesn't go under it, and then you're
going to have the fact that thoseare both crawling across the top of it,
and so you're constantly edging. AndI just don't think there's a practical
solution. And your question is onethat has been asked a million times because
this is an ongoing problem for folks. Yeah, it was an issue before,

(01:09:30):
so I never really paid much attentionto it. And this year,
like I said, he's really takingsome care of his lawn and it's looking
great, but it's started to reallycome over to mind. And he goes
out there and pulls all the SaintAugustine runners out of his yard because he
hates Saint Augustine. So we're bothkind of in the same position. I
consider the metallic or metal barrier toseparate and dig a little trench. But

(01:09:50):
like you mentioned that, we haveto take care of the top and it
goes under, so yeah, Iguess that's true. Yeah, I would
take more than just that bit edgingmaterial you'd have to get. I don't
know. I've suggested at least eightinches down in the ground to make sure
you're getting underneath that bermuda. Idon't know how far how deep it can

(01:10:10):
go. I'm sure there's variations,but yeah, that's it. If you
ever end up redoing your lawn,call us back. There's some things you
can do up front to kind ofhelp avoid that, but at this point
it's not not very well appreciate itnot very doable. I appreciate it.
Thank you, all right, youtake care. Thanks thanks for the call.

(01:10:31):
Yeah, we need a good silverbullet on that. There there are
for people listening. There are thingsthat a garden, a quality garden,
or lawn care full lawn care servicecan do to help with that. There
are some things that aren't available homeownersthat that can be done. They're very
expensive and so you know, forone person to try to do it,

(01:10:55):
number one, you can't get holdof it. Number two, it's just
to prohibitive to try to do it. But long care, if you've got
a really good long care service,not just somebody somebody that mows and blows
there may be talk to them aboutit. Maybe they can they can help
you with some other options there.RCW Nursery is right there where Tomball Parkway,

(01:11:19):
which is high Way to forty nine, right where it comes into belt
Wagh eight. And you know RCWhas been around a long time. The
Whimson family. Not only do theyhave RCW, but they actually grow their
own trees up in Plantersville. Andso when you go to RCW to get
a tree or shrub, a largeshrub, you're getting stuff that wants to

(01:11:40):
live here. They know what toplant. They don't they're not going to
say you a blue spruce, forexample, for crying out loud. They
know what grows well here, andso you can know that when you get
plants from there, they're going tobe successful. They have an outstanding rose
selection. And I tell you RCWis always having things on sale. Right
now, they've got Cajun Bess twentyfive percent off, fifteen percent off all

(01:12:02):
of their trees. There's other greatdeals there at RCW. If you've not
seen Cajun hibiscus. You need togo. You can go to their website
and or their Facebook page and seepictures of it. RCW Nursery's Facebook page.
In fact, if you had agarden line this morning, I posted
a picture of my Cajun hibiscus I'vegot. You know. They come in
many shapes and form or colors andhues, and they're just beautiful, gorgeous,

(01:12:26):
gaudy. I'll tell you, youhave a yard full of pink flamingos
and one Cajun hibiscus, and noone's going even notice that you had pink
flamingos. That's how gaudy these flowersare. They are absolutely wonderful. I
love mine. Go go look atthe garden line facebook page right now and
you'll see the one who just postedis one that I have that I just
love it. And it's blooming andblooming and blooming. Takes the heat like

(01:12:49):
nobody's business. I have mine anda container, so I have to make
sure and keep it watered. Youput them in the ground. But Cajun
is one of those beautiful types ofmodern hibiscus are just so stunning. Let's
go back to the phones. We'regoing to head out and talk to page.
Hello Page, Hi, Welcome toGardendline. Thank you, thank you.

(01:13:14):
I have snails everywhere, and soI've tried the granules that you put
around, and every time I putthem down, it rains, so that
don't know. They're pot plants.Mostly we don't have any other in the
ground plants. They're all pot plants. Yeah, okay, well I would

(01:13:36):
You're going to need to use abait for them, and there's a couple
of them out there. You justhave to do it for it rains.
But the baits. It's important toget a fresh bait so the snails will
be interested in eating it. It'slike if someone threw food out that was
spoiled in front of you, youwouldn't want to eat it. So the
bait does no good if the snailsaren't interested. Uh. And so what

(01:13:58):
you do is you get a freshbait. There's one called slug O s
l Ego. There's one called slugO, plus there are other bait products
on the market, and you puta fresh one out, sprinkle a little
bit on the surface of your pots, or you can put it in a
little tray if you want to sella little tray in there to have them
crawl in. Just make sure theycan get into it to feed on it,

(01:14:20):
and it works pretty good. Andjust do enough to where you really
get them. There's a thing withsnails page called bait shyness, And what
happens is they get in and theyeat a little bit of bait, but
they don't need enough to kill them. And then maybe the bait is older
and not as effective and they getsick, and then after that, if

(01:14:42):
they recover, then they're not goingto go back and eat that bait anymore.
They've kind of learned their lesson.So you want to use a fresh
bait, get plenty of it outthere, and that is the best way
to manage them. There's cultural things, you know, the wetter you keep
it, the more mulch and organicmatter decomposing and things you have, the
more kind of a problem with slugsand snails you may have. But just
that in and of itself is notgoing to get rid of the snails.

(01:15:05):
You're going to have to do thebait. Okay, So could you also
put it on the ground around thepots. Yeah, that's what we're well
wherever the snails are going to goand If the snails aren't going out around
the pots, then the bait outthere is not going to do any good.
But wherever the snails are, that'swhere you want to put it,

(01:15:27):
and you can just have a littlebait station. Sometimes I'll use like a
little tray like I don't know,jar lid or something turned upside down and
sat down kind of low into thesoil so they can crawl right into it,
and that works pretty good. Butyou can also just drink sprinkle the
pellets right on the ground. They'retypically are pellets, and that that'll work

(01:15:50):
too well. Used there's a lotsorry, go ahead, So I've used
slug I've used Slugo a lot,and okay, you're getting it always rains
or something. So after rains andSlugo is wet, how you're it going
to solve in the dirt? Youhave to clean it out, you know,

(01:16:15):
it'll just dissolve a That's one reasonI like the little trays because you
can set them in and take themout and stuff. But Slugo is an
iron based product, so it doesn'thurt for it to get down in the
soil. There are other products thathave more of a poisoned pesticide type ingredient,
and that there's one called Deadline Deadlinethat is a slug and snail bait,

(01:16:40):
so you can choose. You maywant to try switching to a different
type of product. There is aSlugo plus that not only is a bait
for snails and slugs, but itcontrols certain other insects as well. You
might want to switch to that,to Slugo plus and try it, or
just switch to something else, butjust stay with it. Remember fresh bait.
Get it out there, get itwhere they can get to it,

(01:17:02):
and that's your best bet. Theonly is go ahead. Should you change
it every day? Not every day, but about every week. Okay,
all right, we'll be right back, folks. Thank you very much.

(01:17:24):
Welcome back to the garden Line.Thanks for joining us today. I hope
you're enjoying this beautiful Sunday morning.We're still the cool time of the day.
That's always a good thing to getout enjoy that. A little bit.
Just was talking to some of mydogs. We've got a couple of
Golden Retrievers, and those things loveto hang out with you. It's almost

(01:17:48):
like having a built in stalker.Everywhere you go. They're right with you.
They love to go for a walk, get outside, play just but
mainly just hang out. They're alsogarden dogs. Now. I don't know
if I've told you this before,but our first one, Ellie, the
female, she helped me one time. In fact, I put I posted

(01:18:09):
this to my Instagram account. Along while back. I went out and
planted some I think they were.Yeah, it was purple cone flowers,
plants out in the garden. AndI went inside, got a drink of
water, and you know, justfreshen up, come back outside again.
And when I got opened the door, right there on the doorstep was my

(01:18:30):
echinacious, my purple cone flower.Ellie had gone out and retrieved it because
that's in her name, so Idid not know that's what retriever meant.
I've tried to teach Ellie to retrieveweeds, but she hasn't learned that yet.
She needs to, and that wouldbe very, very helpful. But
she's getting to an age an hourwhere she's not so bad about retrieving the
things I don't want her to retrieve. Now. Her brother Tax is also

(01:18:56):
hanging out, and he's the moreenthusiastic one. We call him our affable
affable knucklehead. That's the best wayI can describe tax. We love that
guy, all right. Well,hopefully it maybe someone out there who is
a dog enthusiast could develop a gardeningdog. Wouldn't that be a great idea
where you go, hey, Rover, go right there. I need a

(01:19:17):
hole that's six inches wide and eightinches deep. I've got some compost over
here. I need you to mixabout an inch of compost in the bottom
of the hole. You know that, wouldn't that be a great idea.
I'd had a lot of money fora dog like that. I don't know
about you, but that's that's theway it goes. Anyway, welcome to
Guardline. We'll drive to have youwith us. You know, soil is

(01:19:40):
what it's all about. And ifyou think about nature a minute, and
it kind of dawns on you thatnobody rakes the forest, nobody bags the
meadow, nobody fertilizes the forest.How does nature take care of plants?
Nature take share plants by taking anythingthat's organic and turning it back into soil.

(01:20:05):
You know, in the meadows,it may be cowpies. In the
forest, it may be deer droppingsor whatever. It may be leaves that
fall on the ground. It maybe branches that hit the ground, and
they all just decompose away. Becausemicrobes are run in the world. I
don't know if you know this,but microbes run the world. And when
it comes to microbes, an organicfertilizer like microlife that's what it's That's what

(01:20:29):
microlife products are all about. Microlifeproducts help the microbial activity in this world.
They help I guess supercharge it wouldbe a good way to put it.
Number One, they're loaded with microbesthemselves. Microlife products have a huge,
longline list of beneficial microbes in them, but they also have the ingredients

(01:20:50):
that is the product itself that helpsstimulate microbial activity. And we have a
lot of good microbes, good beneficial, good fungi, tenel mice seats that
are a good bacteria. They're outthere in the soil. And when you
do something like hu mats plus that'sa zero zero for the purple bag.
It's concentrated compost in a bag.The granules go out in your soil,

(01:21:12):
they work their way down into thesoil and over time, whether you're using
microlife hu mates plus or they're greenbag. The six two four. You're
adding organic granules to the soil andit just gets better and better over time
at night. Nature does not fixthings overnight. It doesn't. It's not
a quick fix thing. Nature buildsand develops. You leave a forest alone

(01:21:35):
and nature will turn it into thebest soil on the planet. We go
in scrape away the trees and startfarming it, not taking care of it,
and we can destroy what nature iscreated, or on the other hand,
we can build and continue to buildtoward that. And that's how microlife
products are based. You can goto Microlife Fertilizer dot org, Microlife Fertilizer

(01:21:56):
dot org, see all their products, see where to get them, and
they're ubiquitous everywhere. You hear metalk about garden centers and feed stores and
Southwest Fertilizer, ace hardware stores,Microlife all of those stores you're going to
ease easy to find it and miniproducts for acid loving plants, for your
lawn, for house plants. Whateveryou want to do, there's a product

(01:22:17):
there for it. But it's basedon the concept that nature knows how to
build soil and we can come alongsidenature and help enhance that process. With
microlife products. You are listening toGarden Line. Our phone number is seven
to one three two one two kt r H seven one three two one

(01:22:39):
two k t r H. Iwas working out, and uh, yesterday,
I said yesterday day before my wife. My wife was repotting some of
her strings and we were getting thoseset up. I was also doing some
things with some other container plants thatI have. I've got I've got several

(01:22:59):
that are in hold. I'm oneof these people I wouldn't tell you to
do this, but he's kind oflike, don't do as I do,
do as I say, you know, kind of thing. But I see
plants I want, I buy them, I bring them home and they sit
on my patio or my porch untilI get a round to it to put
them in the ground. And Ifind that sometimes well, let's just say
that if there was a Society forthe Prevention of Cruelty to Plants and these

(01:23:24):
potted plants have had a phone onthem, I would get reported because I
forget to water or I get busy, and I do this well, trying
to get those things in the groundso they'll be happy. And we've got
some beautiful gingers that are about togo in the ground, some calalilies that
we need to move into the ground. And the first step though, one
reason they're sitting there is because Iknow you don't PLoP a plant into an

(01:23:46):
unprepared plot. I love saying itthat way. It's a tongue twister.
You build the soil first, andthat's what these guys are waiting on.
They're waiting on me to get offthe radio and go outside, dig,
dig some holt, and get thesoil ready to go so they can have
success. But that's the key toit. I don't know if you're a
plant collector like me, but Iam. You can always tell a plant

(01:24:09):
collector. You know, some peopleunderstand design and beauty and organization, and
that's called landscape design, and that'sthat's wonderful. I'm very very supportive of
that. But for a lot ofus, it's kind of more about,
oh, I don't have that cajunhibiscus, I need one of those,
or I don't have that such andsuch tamato plant. So we're always looking

(01:24:30):
for something we don't have. Andwhen you put a landscape together that way,
it's like a bomb went off ina garden center and everything rooted where
it landed. Seriously, if ifyou're guilty of this, you know what
I'm talking about. I'm talking aboutme too. But anyway, just you
got to have a plant. Soyou buy a plant, you get home,
and you go, Okay, nowwhere am I going to put this?

(01:24:51):
If you're that kind of gardener,I feel your pain and I also
know your joy because that is alot of fun. But it does help
to get someone a little bit ofdesign a little forethought. Now's a good
time to do that. Fall plantingseason is coming. Why not right now,
go ahead and get things organized,come up with a plan, get
some help with it if you needto, and let's start redoing beds and

(01:25:14):
building beds and building that designed beautyinto things. You know, turn our
bomb went off in the garden Centerlandscape into something that has a little bit
more organization and design. I thinkit's something we can all do a little
bit better job of. All right, well, let's go out to the
phones. Now we're going to talkto Donna in Beaumont. Hello, Donna,
welcome to guard Line. HIK.My question is I've had a luna

(01:25:40):
rose plant. I think it's inthe high discus family and it's been in
the pot for like two years.I thought it died in the freeze last
winter, but I just kept withplaying and watering it and it came back
and I was so happy. Butlast week and we had lots of brain

(01:26:01):
I think it might have drowned.It just looks like somebody sprayed weed killer
on it. It is just theleaves have all shriveled up. It looks
terrible and I don't know if there'sany hope that maybe it will come back
again, or if I should cutsome of the branches the stands back.
Yeah, okay, Donald, Itell you what. I have to go

(01:26:24):
to a break right now. Ididn't want to get your question, but
hang on. When we come back, we're going to tackle that one.
That's a very very good question.If you'd like to be on guard Line
dolls seven one three two one twokt r H and we'll be right back
to take your call too. Gomeback to guard Line. Thanks for listening
this morning. I hope you're havinga wonderful Sunday morning. Uh, this

(01:26:45):
is certainly going to be a goodday. Any day is a good day.
I think, do you enter itthe right way? When I was
outside a little bit of time.A couple of days ago, I was
outside, just enjoying time outside,just thinking about it. How good it
is to be able to be outand enjoying nature, breathing good air,
you know, even if it's kindof warm in your sweating and stuff.

(01:27:08):
There's just a gratification to be ableto get out and turn your space into
a more beautiful space, a moreproductive space. And I think that we
were meant to be in a garden. I just think that, you know,
for those of you who are gardenersor horticulturists or whatever, you are
absolutely doing the kind of thing thatas human beings we were just designed to

(01:27:30):
do. And I know I'm biased, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
That does not be biased, doesnot mean inherently that you're wrong. So
I think you will agree with that, at least those of you who are
gardeners, and I hope you enjoyit. Let's go back out to the
phones. We were talking to Donnaand Beaumont, and Donna, you mentioned
it was a kind of a hibiscusfamily, some sort of roads. Could

(01:27:51):
you describe the leaf size and alsothe blooms for me, please the bloom
is probably it's like a truly ahigh discus bloom. If I stretch out
all the fingers of my hand,the bloom is big fat, but the
plant don't stay small. It's likemaybe a football. Okay, oh wow,

(01:28:17):
okay. And so these these bloomsare probably either pink, red,
white, or a mix of thosecolors deep pink. Okay, So you've
got a you've got a southern hibiscus. The perennial rose mallow is another name
for it. And those are excellentplants. They like moist soil, and

(01:28:39):
so if it gets dry, theycan turn to toast pretty quick. If
you had significant root damage, youwould also see the same results as being
dry, and that if you don'thave root, you can't take up moisture,
and so that's a possibility. Yousaid that they turned brown pretty rapidly.
Is that correct? Well, Iwas actually I was kind of in

(01:29:00):
and out all last week and itwas raining a lot here in Beaumont,
and I had I had put itone of those little saucers underneath it because
I was having to water it becausebefore that it was really really hot every
day and and it would kind ofget a little wilted. So I bought
one of those little saucers to putunderneath it. But then when it rained

(01:29:20):
and rained and rained, it justsat in the rain. The roots and
everything it was in the rainy,you know, standing and kind of standing
in water. And then I noticedthat what I calmed down and finished with
my project I was working on.Then I, uh, I noticed that
it just was wilting. The leavesare withering up. It just it looks

(01:29:43):
like somebody took weed children and straighton it. It looks very sad.
Yeah, so it's in a container. About how how why does that container
or tall wheel on your car?It it's not that big. Let me,
let me just take a look,get it right quick. Let me

(01:30:05):
if it's not any bigger than thesteering wheel on your car. I think
the container is a little small tosustain the southern rose mellow plant. It
was like, you know, thetop is about I'd say it's probably be
a foot across and it's probably aboutfoot deep. Okay, Well, something

(01:30:28):
has happened in the roots and whoknows. You know, both drought and
excessive water. Southern rose mellow ispretty tolerant of wet feet, and so
I don't think that it's the sauceryou put underneath it. But I guess
it's always possible that some sort ofa root rod or whatever has gotten at
alved. I think it would benefitfrom being moved to a larger container,

(01:30:51):
just because the demands are so highon these plants in summertime. They're pumping
a lot of water, and theonly place that plant can get water is
the soil and the container. Soif you have a cubic foot of soil
versus two cubic feet of soil,the plant that's in two cubic feed is
going to have a lot more moisturebak account to draw from, So that

(01:31:14):
would be one thing I would do. Sometimes I've seen decay take those things
down, and it usually when Ilook into it, it's usually due to
some sort of a decay or awound or a root rot or something like
that at or below the ground level, So you might check around for that.
If you lean the pot over andslid this out of the pot sideways,
don't try to pull it up,just slide it out. Look at

(01:31:38):
the roots around the outside of thecontainer. They should be very nice,
plump, white roots. If whatyou're seeing is shriveled or or looks like
a cigarette filter with the kind ofbrown and black staining gray. That kind
of stuff. That's the sign ofa root rot. And what you would
do is take a I use likean little butcher or something or a soil

(01:32:00):
knife to just cut away the outsidesof the root ball, get back into
some living roots, and then potit back up again. Get it out
of the direct sun because it doesn'thave the roots needed to put up with
the demands a full sun. Butgive it good light but not direct sun,
and try to get it in somefresh saw mix and try to get
it going again, and then youcan move it back out into Okay,

(01:32:24):
okay, thank you, I willtry that. Thank you so much.
Good luck with that, all right, send me a picture if you get
it to recover. Okay, allright, all right, thank you.
Bye. I love those spots.I love Southern rose mallow. That's the
one I was talking about earlier.The Cajun series, the Cajun hibiscus.
Oh gosh, those are so sobeautiful. I uh, there are a

(01:32:49):
lot of gorgeous types of biscus breedersjust keep doing things that is like we
hadn't seen that before and that whenit comes to hibiscus, and I think
it's exciting. You can't get agaudier, more beautiful, more heat tolerant
flower than a good quality tropical hibiscusor the southern rose mello, the perennial

(01:33:10):
one that we were just talking aboutthere with Donna. Excellent choices. Remember
this about the hibiscus, especially thattropical rose mellal. Each bloom lasts a
day. So if you have one, or if you're thinking about getting one,
let me just give you a coupleof little tips here. Each they
produce a lot of buds, anda bloom opens up, stays open through

(01:33:32):
the day, and then toward theend of the day it sort of shrivels
up and it's done. One day, that's what you get. But there's
another bloom and another bloom. There'sall these blooms laying in wait for their
turn in the sun. And soif you take care of a plant,
have lots of branches, you fertilizeit, it looks good. You're gonna
have a lot of blooms. You'realways gonna have blooms on that plant.

(01:33:54):
But each bloom just lasts a day. But if you have one of those
tropical hibiscuits. What you can dois, let's say that you were going
to have a garden party this eveningor any evening. Well, hibiscus balloons
aren't going to look good at thattime of the day. But you could
pick them as they're starting to openup and put them in the refrigerator and

(01:34:15):
leave them. That's right, notin water. I'm talking about. Break
the bloom off. Stick it inthe refrigerator. You do not need to
put it in water. It's notgoing to take up water anyway, and
it will be preserved. And thenthat evening bring it out of the refrigerator
and use it as decoration. Youlay them around a table and they will
sit there looking just like they're ona plant for a long time. They

(01:34:35):
don't just wilt immediately. I mean, I guess if you put them in
the sun, they would. ButI know people that will get like a
fish bowl, you know those oldfish bowl people goldfish in and they'll float
the bloom in there. Just fora unique way to decorate with hibiscus blooms.
But remember, you can have ahibiscus ballooms at night for decoration,
but you got to pick them putthem in the refrigerator early on, before

(01:34:59):
you know, they begin decline forthe day and you'll get several hours out
of those things when you pull themout. I think it's a pretty cool
deal. Hopefully you do too.You are listening to Guardenline. Our number
is seven to one three two onetwo fifty eight seventy four seven one three
two one two five eight seven four. We just had hurricane barrel barrel come

(01:35:20):
through and oh my gosh, didit ever devastate our electrical grid again?
We had the other storms before thatdid people were without power for a long
long time. Quality Home Products ofTexas is a company where you can get
a quality generator such as a Generaicautomatic standby generator, super high quality product

(01:35:43):
there now they have right now,by the way, I should mention this,
it's five hundred dollars off and zeropercent interest for eighteen months. Or
if you've got an old portable generator, you know those kind you drag around,
put gasoline in and go with.If you'll bring your dusty old portable
generator in, they'll give you fiftyone hundred dollars off on one of their
quality generators. Now, this companyis all about customer service. They win

(01:36:08):
award after award after award. Theircustomers rate them incredibly high all the time
because from the time you call themup to pick out a generator to the
time they walk away having done allthe steps and putting it in, taking
care of so much of the workfor you. They then continue twenty four
to seven three sixty five to giveyou service, real service when you call

(01:36:31):
QUALITYTX dot com or the phone numberseven one three Quality, however you go
about it, contact them. There'sa process in getting a whole home generator
set up, but it starts withyou giving them a call. And let's
do that now, because we gota lot of storm seasons still left.
We're going to take a break nowfor the news. I'll be right back

(01:36:56):
Houston's News, Why there were trafficplus breaking news or seven. This is
used radio seven kt R H fiveeverywhere. Welcome back to the garden Line.
Good to have you with us,Glad to be here, Glad to

(01:37:18):
be talking about gardening. Listen,it's early in the morning, and one
of my favorite things to do earlyin the morning is to enjoy the birds
that are in our backyard. WhetherI'm sitting inside looking out watching them,
and yeah, I can hear theirsongs from inside the house. I mean
they really it's a cacophony of birdnoises when when it gets really really early

(01:37:38):
in the morning sun's about to comeup, or going outside and just enjoying
them there and Wallbirds Unlimited can helpyou turn your landscape into that kind of
an enjoyable paradise where you get toenjoy the music of the birds and the
antics of the birds and the beautyof the birds. We have some little
finches that seem to be a speciallyfond of our feeders. The little kind

(01:38:00):
of a reddish color to them.Trying to think of the name of the
finch, but anyway, we reallyenjoy that. And so you can too
go to wild Birds Unlimited and checkout all of the things they have to
offer. WPU dot com, ForwardSlash Houston, WBU dot com Forward Slash
Houston. They're six stores and thereyou're going to find the supplies you need.

(01:38:23):
You may find a bird feeder thatyou like. My favorite is still
that one that's the squirrel excluding feeder, but there's so many other excellments.
I use more than one kind offeeder. Then they have their quality blends
like the Super Blend. If you'regoing to take any kind of a trip
and you need something that'll last outthere, get one of their seeds cylinders.

(01:38:44):
It's packed with seeds and it takesthe birds a little while to peck
on them, and when you comeback, you're still going to have some
available food for the birds still presentthere because they don't just chomp it all
up. It also makes them hangout a little bit longer to try to
get those seeds out, and youget more time to watch them when they're
out there. While Bird's unlimited forwhatever you're looking for, from bird baths
to bird houses, to bird seed, to good information to help guide you

(01:39:09):
on success with birds, and forthat matter, for those of you that
really love birds in the yard andlove to bring them in because you know
that a lot of them help youwith your insect management around the property.
Well, for those of you youneed to know about the Merlin app M
E R l I N like Merlinthe Magician. It's from Cornell University,

(01:39:30):
but it is the most amazing birdapp I've ever seen. I have my
Merlin app. I can walk outsideand I hear a bird singing and I'm
not a bird expert, and Ijust turn on the app and say what
is that? And it listens andit tells me what bird it is.
It gives me a picture of thebird, and it tells me more information.
Is that cool or what? Merlinapp can do a lot of other
things too, But if you're abird enthusiastic, got to get the Merlin

(01:39:53):
app. It's free, by theway, believe it or not. All
right, you're listening to Guardline.Our phone numbers one, three, two
and two k t r H.We're going to head out now to Missouri
City and talk to Dan Dan Springin the garden line. I have a
crate myrtle that was cliented probably fortyone years ago, and uh, it's

(01:40:19):
it seems to be I didn't knowif they had a lifespan, but it
seems to be sending up shoots fromUh. It looks like a crate myrtle
is coming up different places in myflower bed. Does that? Do they
have a lifespan? Well, everyyou know, every living thing essentially has

(01:40:42):
some sort of a lifespan. Butit's not like at a certain you know,
X number of years all CRP myrtle'scroak on you. Uh so I
would they they are quite long lived, and there are some beautiful specimens that
have been a very very long They'vebeen around a very very long time,
so I wouldn't be thinking this isa lifespan. Uh did it? Did
you used to not have the creatmyrtle shoots coming up and now you do?

(01:41:04):
Or has this been something? Yeah? Yeah, I didn't have them
coming up. Now I do.And I thought it might have been that
drought year we had. Maybe itwas trying to say this, so I
don't know. Yeah, well thedrought year did it did damage, but
the coal spells that we had alsodepending on your Missouri city, it depends
on what air part of the areasyou go further north, Especially, we

(01:41:27):
had crepe myrtles that were killed tothe ground by an early hard December freeze
when they weren't ready for winter.Creat myrtles were very hearty, but they
weren't ready for it. So itcould be a number of factors. But
when you look at the plant itself, does it look good still? Yeah,
it's still blooming and uh yeah.So what I've done is I've just

(01:41:48):
tooken a taken a sharp shooter shoveland pulled these out and then planted them
somewhere else. I don't know ifI don't know if they'll survive or not
a bit. They probably would ifthey look Okay, if you do,
if you want them, really wantthem to survive, I'd wait and do
that in early November, and you'llhave much better success with the transplant because

(01:42:13):
it has all winter winter to settlein before it has to face the demands
of summer heat. Moving a mancan be done, but it's it's a
high risk. So these could beyou know, we always have to leave
them. It could be seedlings,because great myrtles can produce viable seed,
and it could be that. Butit could also be boot sprouts. As

(01:42:34):
you're talking about. Forty one yearsago, I pruned it back and I
stuck one of the cuttings into somesoil and it came up six foot tall.
It's been blooming ever since. Wow, that's impressive and I have no
I have no experience doing that.Well. I just think it has to

(01:43:00):
be attributed to clean living and fancyhorticulture techniques. That's the only thing I
can think of. Okay, Well, I forgive you credit for that.
Ran you get thanks for the call. Enjoy that CP myrtles are. They're
very, very tough plants. I'mamazed really and how tough they are because

(01:43:20):
you look at them and I don'tknow, you just wouldn't think that they're
going to be that amazingly resilient.But they are pretty darn tough plants.
But any plant can succumb to anykind of situation if the conditions are right.
Something that to be aware of theworst thing that's happened to crape myrtles
around here is the crepe myrtle barkscale. That is a critter that I

(01:43:44):
believe it came from Asia, whichis where the crape myrtle's from. Uh,
And it gets on crate myrtles.You start to see black everywhere on
the leaves, on the trunk,on things under the crate myrtle. And
it's because crep myrtle bark scale isa soft scale that sucks the sugary juices
out of the plant's trunk and branchesand then it essentially pees out a sugary

(01:44:11):
water because it's not in it forthe sugar, it's in it for other
things in the sap. And whenthat falls. We call that honeydew,
and it's just like if you mixsugar water up and sprayed it on something,
you would see a city mold growon that sugary substance. And that's
what the black is all about.So the black isn't the disease. It's
just the salt of the insect thatwe're dealing with. They're hard to control.

(01:44:36):
They're very difficult to manage. Theygenerally don't kill crape myrtles, but
they sure make them look ugly,and there are different ways to control them,
and there's not a good silver bullettrying to manage them. Some people
will use a soapy brush, asoft brush and wash the black off.

(01:44:58):
They'll spray oil on them, whichfirst you would think, well, oil
would be a good control those brainsecticideson them, but the scale are protected
and we have to go to somepretty significant links to try to control them.
Just remember, they don't kill scrapemyrtle, So I've known people that
just leave them and ignore them.Their number one enemy that I've seen is

(01:45:19):
the twice stabbed Lady beetle, andI just took some pictures of some yesterday.
But the twice stabbed lady beetle isa black lady beetle that has two
red spots on each side, hencethe name twice stabbed. They love creat
myrtle bark scale and if you're notspraying all the time, they're going to
find it. They will not eradicateit, but they will help keep it
under control. What it's time forme to take a little break. We

(01:45:42):
will be right back our phone numberif you want to get on the boards.
We've got a wide open board rightnow, so this would be a
good time. Seven one three twoone two fifty eight seventy four. That's
seven one three two one two fiveeight seven four. It's a complicated I'll

(01:46:06):
tie up. I hate to seewaiting. Welcome back to garden Line.
Hey, we're glad to have youwith us today. Thanks for being part
of garden Line. This is aongoing conversation among friends, right we're talking

(01:46:30):
about the things that are of interestto us as gardeners and ways to have
better success. Uh. You know, we're talking about creameral bark scale coming
through and there are systemic products thatwill go up in the plant and kill
the scale because the scale is suckingjuices out of the plant. So when
you put the poison in the plumbing, those scale or they have access to
it, and something crawling around onthe surface of the plant would not be

(01:46:53):
exposed to it, as opposed toputting a spray on the outside of the
plant. So those drenches are anoption. The problem is that gets into
the nectar and can be a partof the issue that bees have to struggle
with, So we hate to dothat when we don't have to try to
avoid that if possible. Just regulartreatments are available that you can use when
the scale are crawling around as babiestypically March April somewhere in there is when

(01:47:17):
you'll start to see that here inthe Houston area, and those could be
used. Then when the scale don'thave the protective coating, they are the
babies crawling around fixing to set upshop and put on a protective coating.
So that's an option and you canget all those kind of products. For
example, at Southwest Fertilizer. Southwesthas everything that you could possibly need to

(01:47:38):
have success in your garden your landscape. They have the tools, they have
the supplies and secticide, fungicide,herbicide. Certainly fertilizers wide variety of fertilizers.
There knowledgeable staff that can look atyour situation and listen, look at
a picture, look at a sample, talk to you, make sure they
know what to do that, whatis effect, what is happening on your

(01:48:01):
plant, and then select the productthat'll work against it. Is what I'm
trying to say. They're excellent atthat, and they do that and they
have it all. If Southwest doesn'thave it, you don't need it.
For example, new fairly new productby Medina called has to Grow supergrow Plus.
As to Grow supergrol Plus is asixteen zero two fertilizer in a quart
bottle that attaches to a garden hose. It covers four thousand square feet and

(01:48:25):
you can do that in about tenminutes. So you hook it up and
you just go to town and sprayyour lawn. It's going to have the
sixteen zero two nutrient ratio that's anexcellent one for the summertime. It's going
to provide in addition to that,by the way, part of the nitrogen,
about a fifth of it is ina slow release form. It's going
to provide a keylated form of ironto help those yellow spots green up.

(01:48:47):
It's going to provide molasses, whichwe already talked about earlier today, how
molasses helps microbes in the soil.It's going to provide humic acid, and
it's also it also contains the productsthat help enhance growth, like seaweed extract
all By has to grow supergrow plus. Medina product has to grow supergrow plus.

(01:49:10):
And again you can find that atmany places, including Southwest Fertilizer,
which has everything. Let's go backto the phones now. I'm going to
talk to Houston or talk to Justinout here in Houston. Hey, Justin,
Hey, how you doing. Igot a little bit of a problem.
I keep being told that this weedin my yard is like different names,

(01:49:30):
so it's hard to try to findsomething to kill it. Everybody's seen
it if you live in Houston.It looks kind of like sant Augustine,
but it grows faster, and ithas those stocks that come up that bend
over and have like a seed podand their little black seeds and you know,
I stick to your jeans and everythingwhen you walk past them. They're
kind of sticky, you know whatthat is? And I kill it.

(01:49:55):
Yeah, I got your email,and I just replied to it. It's
in that thing where it takes ita minute to send, But if you
were, can you take some photosof it and attach it and send them
to me. We've still got timetoday and i'd be glad to talk about
it on the air. But itcould be one of two or three things,
and I don't just guess, solet me. Could you get me

(01:50:16):
a picture and then let me giveyou a better, more accurate answer,
Yes, sir, thank you?All right, Well you will have a
reply already from me when you getto your phone, hopefully or your computer
action. Actually, thanks. Ifeel free to call back on or I
may just talk about it. Eitherway sounds good. I'm here, all
right, you bet. I appreciatethat very much. Let's go back to

(01:50:39):
the phone's Baytown. We're going totalk to Ronnie. Hello, Ronnie Hello.
My question is about something to replacesome trees that we lost the storms.
There was a fast growing tree thatwas advertised on the radio at some
point, but I didn't get thename. I'm supposed to go about four
or five feet a year. Theydo not reproduce no nuts or seeds,

(01:51:03):
and I'm looking for something like that. Do you any suggestion Okay, I
don't know which one that was,but I do know this almost with that
exception, the phrase grow fast,die young applies to trees. The things
that grow really quick tend to bevery weak wooded and also tend to not

(01:51:27):
live as long or start to fallapart over time. And so I would
rather than looking for something that isthe fastest growing tree out there, I
would decide a couple things. Numberone, do you want it for shade
or do you want it for blooms? And then pick a plant that is
going to grow pretty darn fast,but that really fits that bill really well.

(01:51:50):
So which of which are you lookingyou're looking for shade? Okay,
all right, So one thing thatwould be a good option for shade that's
going to be fast growing is ared oak. Red oaks do very very
well here there. If you've gota good deep soil, A shoe mard

(01:52:12):
type of red oak is good.If you have an area that tends to
be a little bit poorly drained,then the nut tall n u TTL nutall
type of red oak is going toperform well in any kind of soil,
but including the saggi wet type.So red oak would be a good fast
growing You fertilize them, you takecare of them, you make a big

(01:52:34):
mulched area around them where they're notcompeting with grass, and they'll grow fast.
They'll grow fast, but they'll bea long term tree. Another one
would be a Chinese elm. Chineseelms have beautiful gray and rust colored exfoliating
bark, so they're very attractive.I mean even in winter when there's no
leaves in the tree. It's anattractive tree for that reason. And you'll

(01:52:57):
see these around town. If youdo a search on line for Chinese elm,
you kind of see what I'm talkingabout. Those grew very fast and
they also are a good, longerlived tree. Tho those are two examples.
There are others out there. There'sa green ash, not Arizona ash,
but a green ash or a Texasash. Those are both good trees

(01:53:18):
that grow pretty fast as well.So there's three options for you. It
is Thank you, sir, andhave a good day, all right,
Ran, Thanks for call. Appreciatethat. Good luck getting that. You
know, the best time to planta tree is forty years ago. Have
youall ever heard that? You knowwhat the second best time is today?
That's right. You like to seeit that way because it makes a point,

(01:53:41):
you know another I'm just full ofteningsto another thing that I like here,
I've heard that I enjoy it isa society is great When old men
plant trees under which shade they willnever say, in other words, I'm
doing this for the next generation.And that's true, isn't it. I
mean, when you think about thevalue of your home, remember the days

(01:54:06):
when Arizona ash was everywhere, andafter about twenty May eighty thirty years,
they just started falling apart and gotto start over. Can you imagine this
big, beautiful shade tree that someday, whether you or someone in your family
is selling the home, it's justall the more valuable, and you've got

(01:54:26):
to enjoy it all along your way. It makes sense go for stuff that
lasts and that's quality, not justfast. It's my Disney line I call
program. Welcome to KTRH Garden Linewith scip Ricker's just watch him as a

(01:55:02):
world us so many things to see, not a sign. Well, welcome

(01:55:24):
back to your garden line. Goodto have you back with us. As
we start our final hour of theday, start, we're looking forward to
helping you and whatever way you needto have a beautiful garden and a bountiful
garden certainly a beautiful landscape. Allyou have to do is give us call

(01:55:45):
seven one three two one two kt r H. Seven one three two
one two k t r H.And we are going to head straight out
to the phones right now and talkto Alan in sugar Land. Hello,
Alan, welcome them the garden line. Good morning, Skip, thanks for
taking my call. I have aquestion regarding some vinca that have come up

(01:56:08):
from sea. Uh hav them plantingplanting venca in a raised dead last year
and then also some large pots andnow the u this year the siege from
last year's plants started sprouting. Buta lot of them just sprout up maybe

(01:56:29):
uh inch inch and a half andthen they just don't do anything. Is
it a soil issue or what wouldyou think it could be? Are they
turn it well? Are they turningkind of a blackish color and dying?
You know the green? They're green? They're just stunted. Yeah. Well,

(01:56:53):
first I would get a little handtrout, dig one up and uh
look at the roots, wash thesoil off, look at the roots and
are they normal little long, slenderroots, healthy going out in all directions,
or are they rotted? Or doyou see little bumps on the roots,
little knots, like a string ofpearls kind of thing that would indicate

(01:57:14):
nematodes. The bumps the rots wouldindicate a root rot. And then if
everything looks normal, then we're lookingat either some moisture or possibly some kind
of nutrient. But when you hadthe venka there before, it grew well,
right, yes, uh huh,so I would I would tend to
not think it's a nutrient problem becausethe old vinka was happy to be there,

(01:57:36):
so this one should not be thatstunted. Okay. And I had
put a thin layer of compost onthe raised bed, and now some of
them were doing good. They're goingwell, I said. Others they just
kind of sit there dormant. Okay, Well, adequate soew moisture, adequate

(01:58:00):
sow moisture, A little boost offertilizer would be fine. There's no problem
with that. Just moderning. Oh, yeah, that'd be fine, that'd
be great. Scratch it, scratchit into the soil service. Yeah,
sixty four is a good one.Scratch it in a little bit into the
soil surface, throw some mulch overthe top. That's going to do two

(01:58:21):
things. Number one, that microlifeis going to break down or release nutrients
better because it'll stay moist that way. But also you'll be moderating the soil
temperature and the little tender seedlings dealingwith the full brunt of the sun in
the heat. That may be afactor, but I I first would make

(01:58:41):
sure and dig that plant. Diga plant up, wash soil off,
look at it, uh, lookat the roots and if we can.
If you see nematodes, that's awhole another monster. If you see like
bb size or something, or itdepends on the root size, but yeah,
they could be down starting off aslittle as bebes. But as the
roots get bigger, the nematodes getbigger. Sometimes it just looks like a

(01:59:04):
little like a you know, ifI like a giant snake swallowed a rabbit
or an animal, it had thatbump in the middle of it going down
the snake. It's sort of likethat, but there'll be more than one
of them. But in bad casesthere's so many that they're just lined up
and the root looks like the Michelinmanned with all the lumps and everything else.

(01:59:24):
So just look and if you havea question, you can take a
picture of it up close, goodsharp focus, send it to me and
I'll make an assessment of that.I'll be happy to help you that.
One more quick question. I've gotsome cana lily and some caterpillars got out
of there and I've been spraying themwith BT and it seemed to be doing
somewhat good. But how often doI spray the BT only? ET only

(01:59:50):
lasts about a day or two whereit's effective and then it begins breaking down
being a natural product. So ifyou spray BET, you got to get
it out there on the leaves.Cann Of leaves tend to ball up water
and it runs off. If youhave your notice that about spraying them,
your spray doesn't stick to the leafreally well. So you can get a

(02:00:12):
product called a spreader sticker. Soyou know you're out there in the sugar
Land area, you were just ahop, skipping or jump away from a
Southwest fertilizer Bob's got some there spreadersticker type products. Ace hardware stores are
gonna have spreader sticker type products dependingon where you're located. Find the local
one and mix that in the waterand that helps it stick to the cann
of leaves. Spinosaid maybe a betteroption for your cann of leaf roller.

(02:00:38):
That's the caterpillar you're dealing with.They get inside the leaf and you can't
get a spray to them. Spinosidsoaks into the leaf tissue and so you
have to spray it regularly. Butit lasts longer than the BT. But
it also because it soaks in,Like if you spray one side of a
leaf and the caterpillars feeding on theother side or something, they're still going
to get that poison in them.Could you sell that for me? Yes?

(02:01:03):
S p I N O S AD. Spindosid. Now there's a
dozen other insecticides I could tell youto spray that would kill the can of
leaf rollers, some systemic and othersspinosa and BT or two natural organic products
and very low talks. And sowe generally start with those those things.

(02:01:25):
Okay, all right, thank youfor your time, and I have a
big day. All right. Youtake care too. You know, earlier,
earlier, folks, I was talkingabout wasp. Remember I was saying
how paper wasp their number one foodsources caterpillars. Well, I was looking
at some cannons I used to have. I redid the bed and did something
else with it. But I hadsome cannas and I was watching. I

(02:01:48):
could look at the patch and seeright where the leaf rollers were because there
weren't leaves. They'd eating them.And I was watching paper wasp red wasp
in this case, going in tothe pack. I knew what they were
in there for, and I kindof crawled around a little bit and found
them eating, and they had acan of leaf rogram. They were chewing
them up. They were in thereas predators, hunting those little boogers down.

(02:02:08):
And when you see wasp flying aroundyour plants, they're there for one
or two reasons. They're looking forfood. Because they're predators. They're looking
for food, and that food isprimarily caterpillars. Or number two, they're
looking for extra floral nectaries. Extrafloral nectaries. Now, I'll tell you
about those when we come back frombreak, So stay tuned our phone number

(02:02:29):
seven one three two one two ktr H. Welcome back to Guardline.
Glad you're with us today, Veryglad you're with us listening if you'd like
to give us a call seven onethree, two one two five eight seven
four and a right for break.I kind of gave you a little teaser

(02:02:50):
there that I was going to talkabout something a little bit different. We
were talking about the canna leaf rovers. Remember those can of lefros. I
was talking about wasp coming in andthey were hauling them away. Wasp or
predators. They're flying around your plants. One of the things they're doing is
they're looking for some to eat.And something eat usually is a caterpillar.

(02:03:10):
When you're a paper wasp, ared wasp or one of those yellow and
brown striped paper wasps, that's whatthey're doing. But the other thing that
they're doing is they're looking for somethingcalled extra floral nectaries. Extra floral nectaries.
Now, we all know that flowershave nectar. Bees go for that
and butterflies go for that. Butdo you know that plants have other spots

(02:03:31):
on the plant that produce nectar.Most people don't know that these are called
extra floral nectaries. Outside the flowers, there's other places you will find a
little spots along a stem or maybewe're a leaf at the base of a
leaf, like if you were alook at a peach leaf, for example,
it has a little stalk that attachesto the stem at the base.

(02:03:53):
But right at the base of theleaf before it gets right to that stalk,
they're these little orbs, these littlebump those are extra floral nectaries.
You'll see them on black eyed peas, You'll see them on just lots of
different plants, and they bring inThey attract beneficial insects to feed on that.
That's one of the reasons the plantis making them. And you'll see

(02:04:15):
wasps sitting on a stem and they'rekind of just walking around in that area,
just doing something. You're going andwhat are they doing there? There's
no caterpillar there. That's what they'redoing there, And i'd attract them in.
And it's not just the big paperwasps, it's little tiny beneficial wasps
of other types. So extra floalnectaries kind of a cool fun fact.
I guess that's our cool fun factof the day. Well, you're listening

(02:04:36):
to Guardline and I you hear meadvocate for Star Hope Mission a lot,
and it's because I believe in StarHope Mission. Star of Hope has been
around for one hundred and seventeen years, My wife and I are supporters of
Star of Hope because we believe inStar of Hope. I've seen the work
that they do. I've heard thestories of lives that they've changed. You

(02:05:00):
know, there are christ centered communitydedicated to meeting the needs of homeless men,
women and children. They're really theirgoal is not just a handout,
but positive life change. They havestructured programs that focus on things like spiritual
growth or education, how to geta job, life management, a lot
of life skills that people don't justnecessarily have or maybe they weren't taught as

(02:05:23):
they grew up. Recovery from substanceabuse another big part of what Star of
Hope does. You can get involvedcertain you can donate. I can't think
of a better way to put yourcompassion into action by providing donations for Star
of Hope missions. They have anoutreach called Love in Action. It's a

(02:05:43):
van goes out. It distributes thingsto people like right now, water is
a huge thing to people that arehomeless on the street. Hygiene kits they
call them hope bags that contain theoption, you know, things like toothpaste
and little toothbrush and other things likethat. They're providing that. You can
volunteer that way, be a ridealong on one of their Love and Action
vans. You can help assemble Hopebags. You can be part of the

(02:06:08):
upcoming soon they'll be doing the backto school events as well during the holidays,
food baskets. You can sponsor afamily. There are so many ways
to find out the way that bestfits you, but by all means,
do something. Star of Hope isthe place, soohmission dot org. Sohmission

(02:06:30):
dot org learn more about them,hear the story. I think you will
like. I did find it tobe a very compelling and a great way
to put your your your love,your mercy, your generosity into action with
Star Hope. Our phone number isseven one three two one two fifty eight

(02:06:51):
seventy four. If you would liketo give us a call, we'd be
happy to visit with you about thethings that you are interested in in your
guard in your landscape, what iswhat are what issues are plaguing your landscape
that we could help with. We'dbe happy to do that. Nelson Plant
Food is a premier fertilizer company.They have many, many types of products.

(02:07:16):
And when I say that, I'mtalking about lawn products. For example,
they're turf products, a turf Starline outstanding, just outstanding products.
For example, if you are reallyinterested, for example, in a slow
release fertilizer, they've got the SlowRelief turf Star Slow and easy and it'll

(02:07:39):
feed for three to four months.You do it now, you're not con
fertilized again until spring. That's justan example. They have many other products
in the turf Star line as well. They've got the Color Star line.
You know, when you're looking ata color Star products, you're looking at
things that really make blooms pop.Just outstanding blends for your flower beds to
just keep them looking good all thetime. And then they have specialty products

(02:08:03):
for azalia's boogavillias, citrus fruit,avocados, crape myrtles, hibiscus, palms,
plumerias, roses, trees and shrubs, vegetables. You get the idea.
There is a Nelson product for anythingyou're going to want to grow,
and their high quality. I likethe little Color Star and some of the
nutri Stars that come in the containersbecause those containers are refillable. There are

(02:08:26):
several of our garden centers that willprovide a refill spot where you can take
your old plastic container in and geta good deal on a refill because you're
not buying the whole bottle and moreplastic in the environment. That's one of
the things that Nelson does, andso check them out. You can go
to Nelson Plantfood dot comf you wantto learn more about their products, but

(02:08:48):
you're going to find them all overthe place, widely available. For example,
ACE Hardware stores carry Nelson plant Foodproducts. Now you can go to
ACE. What forty Ace Hardware storesaround here? Not hard to find one
of those, So you know you'regoing to find Nel some products near you
and again just widely available. ACEHardware is also going to be the place
where you get all the supplies thatyou need for your garden, for your

(02:09:11):
lawn, for your flower beds,your herb garden, your trees or shrub
your containers. Do you need apotting saw mix, Do you need fertilizer?
Do you need something else to enhancethose plants, to protect them from
pastor diseases, to control weeds?ACE has all of that. Are you
sitting outside trying to enjoy the coolerevenings late in the day and the mosquitoes

(02:09:35):
are eating you alive. Go toACE. They've got the mosquito dunks that
you put in water to shut downthe larvae. They've got a foger machine.
They have all kinds of things tohelp you make your outdoor space more
livable. Certainly anytime fire ants popup. In fact today, later today,
I hope to be able to getout and do some fire ant baiting

(02:09:56):
because I saw two mounds on myproperty. I can't believe that I was
so. I was so they wouldshow up on my property. But that's
allum. This rain brings them tothe surface, and a good quality bait
spread out over an area is agreat way to shut them down. ACE
is the place easy to find.And I mentioned those mosquito dunks. You
know, mosquito dunks are a veryeffective way to kill mosquito larvae. So

(02:10:20):
what you do is you put adunk it covers about ten one hundred square
feet of water about a ten byten area. Or you can break them
up into granules and throw a littlebits in those catch basins under your pod
or in a maybe you got anarea yesterday someone called and they had a
tree with a low cavity where waterwas sitting inside the tree trunk. Throw

(02:10:41):
some mosquito dunks in there, becausethat is mosquito breeding heaven in those little
hollow tree spaces up in the guttersthat don't drain, well, there's a
little sag. Mosquito dunks are avery effective product, again, available at
ACE and many many places, easy, easy to find. Don't harm fish,
don't harm birds, don't harm beneficialinsect like bees, and certainly don't
harm your pets. So you can'tbeat that for an effective product. Let's

(02:11:05):
head out to Richmond and we're goingto talk to Alan. Now. Hello,
Allen, Hey, good morning.I got a couple of quick questions
for you. First one, I'vegot a live oak that has just gotten
way too big for the plot ofland where I live, Like every other
house in our neighborhood, they shouldhave never they had us originally with two
live oaks, and anyway, Iwant to get rid of that, but

(02:11:28):
we have to replace it with anotherhardwood tree. Do you have one that
you like that doesn't get too talland too huge of a canopy? Well?
Are you? Can it be deciduous? Is that okay? As opposed
to evergreen like a live oak?Yeah? Yes, Okay, I don't

(02:11:52):
know how large too large o's foryou. But the Chinese fringe tree,
as yeah, I was looking atthat was nice. Shaggy white blooms.
They do very well in the Houstonarea. Shaggy white blooms. There's so
many of them that you actually geta nice fragrance off the tree in the

(02:12:13):
spring when they bloom. They growa little on the slower side, but
again with fertilizer and care and keepingthe grass away and getting a big mulched
area, you can speed them upconsiderably. But that's a beautiful tree.
I would say maybe twenty feet.I've seen bigger ones. We used to
have a bigger one at the BearCreek Extension office in West Houston before the

(02:12:35):
floods came through and took out theoffice. But that Chinese fringe would be
a nice tree for that. Crapemyrtles, there's some big, beautiful crape
myrtle Some get up to thirty fivefeet tall, like Natchez with the white
blooms. That particular one has abeautiful cinnamon colored bark. But there are
many other other types of crape myrtlesthat will do really well. Okay,

(02:12:58):
yeah, yeah, I like that. I was reading about some other fringe
trees, but I'll definitely check outthe Chinese fringe tree for sure. Yeah.
Well, if you like native plants, there's a native fringe It's also
commonly called grand Sea gray beard.It's native to East Texas. It's not
as showy as Chinese fringe, butit is a native tree, and it

(02:13:18):
does have pretty low blows. They'renot just quite as billowy and white as
is the Chinese French. But eitherway, it's a good plan. Okay,
great. And my other question was, as far as I'm thinking about,
I've got a small area in mybackyard with we have the transformer box
that I just want to put someI was thinking about putting up making a
little wildflower garden. Is now agood time to even consider that or just

(02:13:43):
do I need to wait to thespring or how would that work? No,
I would do it in the fall, for sure. In the fall,
I would I would hold off alittle bit. Now. I mean,
you could plant seeds now, likeblue bonnets cast their seed in the
spring and they're gonna come up inthe fall. They're just sitting there now.
But I would wait, probably untilwe get into September, maybe a
little later in September, and dothe seeding then, because what you're going
to want to do is go inand mow everything down really low, probably

(02:14:07):
rake the area out a little bit, just so you can get sunlight down
to the soil for those wildflower seedsto germinate, and then sprinkle the seeds,
rake them in, scratch them in. Do you know any kind of
a scratching of the soil surface toloosen it up so the seeds fall down
and contact the soil really well,and water it in well. And if

(02:14:28):
you do that in late September,they'll sprop pretty quick and they'll get up
and get going for you for sittingthrough the winter and then coming out in
the spring. Perfect. That soundsgreat. Well, thanks for your help.
I appreciate it. You bet.I appreciate the call. Thanks a
lot. Yeah, I was justjust writing an article for Texas Gardener magazine,

(02:14:48):
which, by the way, ifyou don't get Texas Gardener, you
should. It is an outstanding magazine. I'll tell you a little bit more
about it, and i'll tell youabout the article that I've got coming out
in there that I think you'll beinterested in. As well. For right
now we're gonna take a little break. It is time for the news.
If you'd like to give chrysal callagain. We got a good open board
right now. You could be firstup if you're the first to call seven

(02:15:09):
to one three two one two ktr H seven one three two one two
kt r H and I will beright back claiming welcome back to the garden
line. Hey, it is goodto have you with us. Are glad
look always look forward to talking tofolks about gardening. I can't think of
a better thing to do than tovisit with gardeners about gardening. I found,

(02:15:33):
by and large, gardeners are justgreat folks to be around. I
enjoy visiting with gardeners. I alwaysfind that I don't know, they're just
well, you know, how whatdo people say that they're good people kind
of thing. It's like they're enjoyable. They they picked a hobby that they
enjoy and it's just a it's justa pleasure to hang out. Of course,

(02:15:54):
you got to put up with bragging. You got to put up with
bragging. You know. You tellthem I tomato and it was wonderful.
Oh yeah, well mine was twicethat big in three weeks earlier. So
there, Well, we'll put upwith that. We'll allow a little bit
of bragging on guard line. Nottoo much, it's a little bit.
We're on the phones right now andhead to Austin and talk to Anna.

(02:16:15):
Hello, Anna and Austin. Hion a high skip. I send an
email as Texas zombiing grounds, TravisCounty. There you go. Okay,
all right, I did get yourI got your pictures, as a matter
of fact, I did. Yes. What do you think about that leaf

(02:16:41):
discoloration you know on those eagles andhollis the little specking on the outsides.
It could be something nutritional that ispossible. So a good complete lawn food
that has micronutrients and things in it, that would not be a bad idea.
I think the fact that your hollyhas dropped some leaves Holly's will do

(02:17:03):
that. Any kind of a stressdrought stress is one that we can often
get into. It hadn't been areal drought a year like it was last
year. But when hollys don't getwater, they don't do well. And
I always tell people when you plana holly, count on handwatering it the
first three years That didn't mean youcan't have a sprinkler system. It just

(02:17:24):
means sometimes sprinklers get blocked. Thespray goes out and it hits leaves that
sort of block it, and thenthere are certain parts of the root zone
that don't get that water that theyshould be getting. That's why when you
handwater, you can purposefully go allaround it and do that. So that's
one. Again, it's not beena super droughty year, but something that
could be contributing to the leaf dropsoggy conditions too. If on the opposite

(02:17:50):
is true. Let's say you've gota heavy clay soil, it's not in
a good raised bed, good drainage, excess amount of water, and we've
had a couple of doozy rains thisyear that can contribute as well as can
of course people just overwatering. ButI don't see a lot that concerns me
other than maybe a little nutrition andmake sure that the root zone has adequate

(02:18:11):
water but not too much. Okay, well that's good to hear. I
was worried about a fungus or somethinglike that, so okay, well it's
not This is definitely not a fungus. That's for sure, okay, good,
and the pH of the soil isgoing to be okay. I was
reading something about adding vinegar to wateror whatever. If your pH is not

(02:18:37):
right. Yeah, so don't don'tdo the vinegar. That's happen now,
that's what happens when people who thinkthey know stuff are turned loose online.
We get okay, well this threeyes, okay, Well, I'll continue
to watch the water and certainly dothe as you say nutrition. Okay,

(02:19:01):
well, thank you. I justwas worried that it was on its way
out, all right, man.Let me let me add one thing to
it. I would get some microlifetheir reddish bag. It's for acid loving
plants like blueberries, guardens azalias,all those kinds of plants, and I
would start using that around your hollies. Hollies like a little more acidic environment.

(02:19:24):
They don't have to have that,not to the degree of hydrandua or
blueberry, but it does help them. And microlife acidic fertilizer is going to
release slowly, So follow that abel, sprinkle it out around your holly's,
scratch it into the mulch, becauseyou want that fertilizer to say moist so
it decomposes more rapidly, and itwill feed and it will slowly acidify that

(02:19:48):
root zone over time as you continueto use it. So I think that
would be good. Plus, themicrolife is going to have micro nutrients in
it because it comes from organic materials, so naturally has whatever nutrients we're in
that organic matter. And so ifyou got a little bit of a shortage
of micros, you could do that. You could also put a little bit

(02:20:09):
of azamite out. I don't knowif you've ever used azmite before. Normally
we put it on a lawn,but I would follow the label, don't
overdo it. Any nutrient you needthe right amount, not too much.
And that's true of micros as well. So the azamite, follow the label,
Sprinkle it around your hollies and waterit in really good between all of

(02:20:31):
that stuff. Hopefully they'll they'll bounceback and you'll start to see better growth.
Okay, well, thank you verymuch. I appreciate it. All
right, thank you, I appreciatethat. I appreciate you. You take
care, all right. It alwayshappens this way. At the end of
guard line, we get when itrains, it poors. Here we go
garden. Let's see Karen in Houston. How can we help the day?

(02:20:52):
Karen, Welcome to garden Line.Good morning. I planted a Myers lemon
in my yard last year. Itdid find the first year, but the
new growth this year the leaves areshrivelly and look unhealthy. And I'm not
sure. I've tried mem oil,thinking it might be something microscopic that I

(02:21:15):
can't see, but that's not healthy. Karen, tell me the name of
the plant, Polae again. It'sa Myers lemon tree Myers. Okay,
yeah. Shrivellly is probably an insectcalled citrus leaf miner. It's a little
fly. It lays an egg inthe leaf and the leaf tunnels in between

(02:21:37):
the upper and lower surfaces. Andas it makes all its little squiggly lined
tunnels, if you get up closeand look at them, you may see
some little skinny black thread like linesgoing around back and forth, zigzagging around
through there. That's the leaf minerand it will cause a crinkling of the
leaf as it's growing. It happensprimarily to the new tender shoots that are

(02:21:58):
growing. You can ignore them.They're not going to kill the tree.
You can ignore them if you wantto shut them down. Then whenever you
have new growth, you spray itwith something containing spinosid. And I can
spell that for you while you're grabbinga pen or pencil there. That spinosid
is an organic product that soaks inthe tissue and it'll kill the leaf miners.

(02:22:20):
But you want to spray the newgrowth. No sense spraying the old
dark green, leathery leaves. They'renot going to get leaf miner or if
they had it, it's already gone. So the new growth SPI no sa
D spino sad and that'll do it. And if you want to be extra
sure that's what it is, graba sample, take it to a good

(02:22:41):
quality garden center like we talk abouton garden Line, show them what you
got, put it in a ziplock bag and they'll tell you if that's
what it is. Okay, great, thank you so much. I appreciate
it. All right, you bet, thanks for a call. All right,
folks, we are going to haveto take a little break here at
the top. We got one littlesegment left, and I'll thankful of calls.

(02:23:03):
So those of you on there hangon. We'll get to you.
James, will you be first,and then Greg, and then I think
James Another, James and Lee comingup. We are gonna hop and jump
right out here and see how manyof these phone calls we can catch before
the end of the show. Today, we're going to go to Meadow's place
now and talk to James. Hello, James, Hello. Skip With all
the rain we had, I hadan outbreak of grass burrs in my Saint

(02:23:26):
Augustine. I treated everything with sedgegender and have pretty well killed all those
spots. My question is to improvethe recovery of the area, I had
planned to use some leaf mo compostand then water it in with soil activator.
Is there anything better that I couldapply to help growth recovery in these

(02:23:50):
areas? Those are all just fine. Leaf mo compost about a third half
an inch of it on the surfaceis very helpful. If the soil as
compacted and that's part of the problem, you can do an aerration on it.
But if not, that's fine too. The watering it in as you
described is also a good idea.Hopefully the grass will have time to fill

(02:24:11):
back in and do well. Thereis a product from Medina called has to
Grow super Grow Plus. It's aquart bottle that hooks to your garden hose
and it covers four thousand square feet. It's got a lot of other things
in it in addition to the sixteenzero two fertilizer, and I would probably
use that on those areas and tryjust to try to give it a boost.

(02:24:31):
If it's got any iron deficiency init, it'll help with that as
well. I think that'd be agood way to go about it, or
a real quick thing, though,Greg. I don't know if you've ever
seen my schedules online at my website, but there's a turf care schedule and
a disease, pest and weeds managementschedule. On the second one, you
will see exactly when to apply thepreventative herbicide a barricade to stop grassbirds.

(02:24:58):
And you're going to do that inthe probably let's see where you all right,
you would do that in your area. I would do it in mid
February or late February would be fine, and then I would do it again
about sixty days later to carry iton through the season just to prevent the
grasspers from showing back up again nextyear. Okay, what was that supergrowth

(02:25:20):
you recommend it? Also? Yeah, from Medina has to grow products there
are several has to grow products.This one is called super grow Plus Super
Grow Plus. We'll go to anACE Hardware store. They're going to have
it. An ACE Hardware new youis going to carry that. Okay,
appreciate all the information, Thank you, sir. All right, and download

(02:25:43):
that schedule from Gardening with Skip dotcom Gardening with sk I've got it.
I've been following it most of theyear. Okay, okay, good good,
glad to hear that. Take care, have a good rest of your
weekend. We're going to go nowto Conrad and talk to Greg. Hey,
Greg mor good morning, Good morningto you. I'm done fine.

(02:26:03):
How can we help my daughter aboutFather's Day? Brought me a couple of
those sacks and bechanal and sons,lime and lemon trees. Yes, huh
they're potted trees from lose okay anduh first office. And no, there's
no no directions on how to howto care for it. No no uh

(02:26:28):
planning instructions, no fertilizing instructions.I was wondering what I could use as
a lime tree and a lemon tree, and I was warrant there's any kind
of fertilizer you'd recommend for them.I gotta right now, I gotta ref
bottom and something bigger and fertilizing.There's a lot of things that you can

(02:26:50):
use that'll do well for citrus.Uh. You know, it's not just
certain magic formulas that you have tohave. But I know Nelson Plant Food,
for example, has these little canisters, plastic canisters with a screw on
lid of a centrus type fertilizer.And so you go to an Ace hardware
store, you're probably gonna find itthere. A lot of our garden centers

(02:27:11):
Europe in conro I bet they haveit out at A and A Plants on
the east side of Montgomery that that'sprobably a place you call them to be
sure, but they're going to havesomething like that, and just follow the
label. Just get your a littletea spoon in there and sprinkle it around
and water it in really good toget good growth. The most important thing
on those is to get them ina bigger container than you bought them in.

(02:27:33):
They probably came in a gallon containerbased on what you told me,
Yeah, and so you need themto be in a much bigger container so
that they have soil, a qualitysoil mix. Get your quality soil mix,
and then make sure you keep itadequately moist. That's the biggest challenge
with growing centrus and a container isin the summer, it's pumping a lot
of water, it's thirsty, it'shot, and we just have to make

(02:27:56):
sure that the bank account of soilin that container stays moist. Right,
But it can go in a container. It's got a picture of a of
a container. I guess you getit's not gonna be very big. I
think I said it's gonna plant sevenfeet apart and it'll get like seven feet
tall three feet wide. That'll beI guess that's so I figured the container.

(02:28:20):
Yeah, containers better because you canwheel that container into the garage on
a freezing night. Both the limenright to take a hard freeze. Uh.
So I would get, you know, I would get something probably The
next step could be something about fivegallons of soil about that size. You
can kind of figure it out whatyou want to get a nice pretty container
for that. Uh and then eventuallyyou're gonna get almost up to a half

(02:28:43):
whiskey barrel size a container where you'llneed a little dolly to run it around
the yard and into the garage,right, Okay, but you don't have
to do Okay. My last questionis, like Karen said earlier about her
her lemon tree had like those thosebad leaves on the top of my line,

(02:29:07):
that same line plans doing the sameproblem. And I've had them sitting
side beside, but it's only affectingthe line with those leaves greenfully on top.
Yeah, it's okay, that's justwhere they happen to have landed.
They take they attack all types ofcitrus, but that's a citrus leaf miner,
and I would get spinosid. Andanytime a new flesh of growth comes

(02:29:28):
out, tender new tissues that haven'thardened off and gotten leathery, spray those
with spinocid. I just wanted toI just wonder why gon't want and not
the other sitting side beside, becauseI'm just I didn't replan them yet.
But okay, I I just don'tknow the answer to that. But anyway,
that that that's what you do,all right, Greg, Hey,

(02:29:52):
thanks thanks a lot for the call, much appreciated. We're going to go
now out to Lee and Tomball.Hello, Lee, good morning, three
fig leaves, three fig trees togrowing good one is looking sickly, crinkly,
leaves looking yellow. I just showedyou talk to somebody about spinosa.

(02:30:16):
If I should put that on there? Uh, you said fig right,
I'm barely able to hear you.You can get a little closer to the
phone. That would help, didyou say, fig Yeah, so that
spinosaid, you don't need that forthe figs. It could be different things.
You said, crinkly, the leavesare crinkly. Yeah, leaves are
crankling like they're drying out or something. But the stems look green. They

(02:30:41):
get plenty of water. Water oncein water. Yeah, Well, different
things can affect figs. Figs getnematodes which block the water movement through the
roots, and so even though they'regetting watered, the water and making it
up there and so you're getting theequivalent of drought symptoms, which can be
yellow and of older leaves, browningof older leaves, you know, the
drying up kind of thing. Thatmay be what's going on. Uh,

(02:31:07):
it could. It could also bea disease called fig rust. Why don't
we do this. I'm gonna putyou on hold, and I want you
to send me some close up picturesso I can see that, and then
let's talk about it next weekend andwe can we can figure that out.
Okay, but hang on, Chrisis going to take pick up your call
here as I hang it, hangit out, all right. I'm gonna
go real quick, James, it'salready music playing. But can I give

(02:31:31):
you a quick answer. How canwe help? Yeah, this fall messed
up my old streets pretty bad.How much limbs cannot cut off of it
without hurt them. Any limb that'sbroken, damaged, whatever's got to come
off. So whether you want toprune that much or not, it's kind
of beside the point. It's gotto come off so you can take care
of the tree. Go ahead anddo them on a pruning you need to

(02:31:52):
do at this point. If it'sa damaged limb, anything that can wait
until February. Wait until February.All thank you very much. I will
be back next week