Mosquitos and Webworms

Skip takes your calls all morning long!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Katie r. H Gardenline with skip rictor it's gas. You
just watch him as many people takesthe sepotzy gas not a sorry credits salmon

(00:36):
between welcome, Welcome, welcome togarden line, good morning, good Sunday
morning. Still dark outside. Ifyour neighbor's lights aren't on, go bang
on the door and let them knowthey're missing guard line. They will really
appreciate that a lot. I know, because I always like to be reminded
of things when I'm forgetting. Well, maybe don't do that today. They

(00:57):
may not be appreciative of it atthis point in time. Well, we're
here to answer gardening questions and tohelp you have a beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful landscape, a bountiful garden.Whatever it is you grow, we want
you to be able to do itbetter once you have success with it.
You know, gardening is not rocketscience. It is not sure. There

(01:17):
are things you need to observe andlearn. I think someone who is a
guy that once said that he spenta lot of his life learning to see
things from a plant's point of view. That's a good way to put it.
You know, if you were aplant, what would you want that's
what we got to do. Andit really gets simple too. You know,
you need good soil. That's numberone. Soil is important because it

(01:40):
holds the water and the nutrients thata plant gets. That's absolutely essential.
So if your soil is built ina way and I do mean the word
built that creates excellent internal drainage.Water goes in and it just moves down
through the soil, but then itholds adequate amount of moisture, so you're
not watering day to keep it alive. If your soil is chock full of

(02:04):
a nutrient bank account, and ifyou keep it adequately moist, not soggy,
not dry, adequately moist, thatplant root system is ready for success.
You put that plant in the amountof light that it wants. Some
plants like full sun, and typically, as a very general rule, if
it if it grows roots, fruitor flowers that we're going to eat the

(02:25):
roots or the fruit, or ifit's growing flowers fruit looking at then it
needs as much sun as you cangive it. Six hours is kind of
the magic number we throw out there. Plants don't have a little timer to
see, was it you know,five hours and fifty minutes or they don't
have that, but of course,but good amount of sun for the plant.

(02:46):
Some plants can tolerate shade, buteven shade loving plants have to have
light energy in order to grow andsurvive and thrive. And there's a difference
between staying alive and producing and doingwhat you wanted to do. Can you
grow a tomato and three hours ofsun? Yes you can. Can you

(03:07):
get tomato fruit? No you can't. And why do we grow tomatoes for
the fruit? Of course? Andthe same thing goes to with flowers and
things. So good soil, agood sun exposure, and then of course
picking plants that want to be here. There are some plants that just don't
want to be here. You mayhave a vacation plan to Colorado this summer.

(03:30):
Don't bring back those blue columbines andthe blue spruce and other things you
fall in love with up there.Just leave them there. If you want
a columbine, we got some thatgrow here. It's a different kind of
columbine, very different, very tolerantof our situation. The Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Plants needs tohave a check station at the Texas border,
going every north southeast west everywhere,just to make sure we're not bringing

(03:53):
things that we're going to kill here. That would be a whole nother purpose.
So yeah, learn to see thingsfrom a plants point of view.
That's what it all is, whatit all amounts to. And we give
you little tips on that here ongarden Line, hopefully guide you in the
right way, and you know,most of all have fun. We no

(04:13):
longer live in a hunter gatherer lifewhere if we don't find some food we're
going to starve to death if wedon't chase it down and kill it with
a spear. We no longer generallyspeaking, most of you listening to me
are not just have no idea howyou are going to eat tomorrow. Fortunately,

(04:34):
unfortunately there's there are people in thatsituation. But we don't garden just
to survive. We garden for theenjoyment of it. Now, the benefits
are, yes, you get beautifulflowers. It really does help your sense
of wellbeing. Gardening is like Imean, it is like better than meds

(04:56):
for making you feel encouraged, hopeful, depression, staying healthy, and it
just goes on and on down theline. We get that out of it.
We also get good healthy food.We enjoy eating. But if your
tomato plant only produced one tomato,aside from being disappointed, it's not the
end of the world. We're growingtomatoes and other things because we like to

(05:17):
do it. We like we enjoygetting out there and being part of nature.
And you know, the way Ilike to put it is, as
a horticulturist, I always tell peopleI'm working in the original profession of mankind.
You know, it all started ina garden and here I am still
doing the same thing. And inmany ways you do that as well,

(05:39):
and so our goal is to havefun. So how do we make it
more fun for you? That isone of my one of my goals here
on garden Line is you know,if you go to a nursery and you
find this plant that oh man,and you picture it in your landscape and
you bring it home and you're excitedabout it. I want that hope and

(06:00):
I want that joy and fulfillment andeverything to actually come to pass as you
take it home and you plant it. So how do we help you to
have that success. Don't be afraidif you fail at something. You never
fail at gardening. Unless you giveup, you may lose the skirmish if
you will. That rosebush you broughthome didn't make it. Well, Okay,

(06:23):
let's figure out why and let's tryit again, because you can do
it. Gardening is fun. That'sthe bottom line. That's kind of what
I'm saying here. Your lawn issomething that people, a lot of people
enjoy. They love the beautiful carpetof the lawn. It has many actually
has many environmental benefits, moderating soiltemperatures. We live in an area around
big cities and those are heat islandswhere it really gets hot. Well.

(06:46):
Nitrofoss has their Silver Bag that isa super turf. The super turf feeds
your lawn all through the summer season. It's going to give you three months
plus of nutrition releasing to your lawnand when you then return the clippings,
you're set up until fall when it'stime to fertilize again. You're going to
find superturf, the Silver Bag thenineteen four to ten at RCW Nursery on

(07:10):
I forty five North, not Iforty five on Tomball Parkway. You're going
to find it at the ace anda task Asda or up at the arbor
gate or maybe at Lake Hardware downin Angleton. It's easy to find that
product and it is an excellent product. The way it's designed is to make
the nitrogen gradually available, and thatmatches the way your grass takes up nitrogen

(07:32):
a little bit at a time,day after day overtime. That is why
Nitrofas has the design that it doeson Superturf Nitrofass Superturf, the silver bag.
All right, it's time take alittle break. Our phone number seven
one three two one two KTRH ifyou'd like to get involved, and I'll
be right back. We are hereto talk about the things that interest you

(07:57):
when it comes to gardening. Let'sgo straight out to the phones right now,
by the way. The number ifyou'd like to call in seven one
three k t r H. We'regonna talk now to Gerardo in meadows Play.
Hello, Hey, good morning,Skip. I had a question about
and uh particularly ants on fruit trees. I seem to be losing the battle,

(08:20):
especially with my Asian pear tree.I have ants all over. I've
tried demetrious earth. I'm not sureif I'm pronouncing that correctly. UH have
tangle foot, that's really goofy andsticky. Is there anything I could put
down the uh? Not the antsfrom calling up the tree? And do

(08:43):
you do you feel like they're they'retunneling into the wood, eating eating the
I feel like they're I feel likethey're bringing up a bunch of uh I
hope I'm right, bringing up abunch of a fits and stuff like that.
And it's just it, I don'tknow. It seems like some of

(09:05):
my leaves on the Asian para treeyou're dying and uh, and there's the
ant all over it, and Ijust I'm like, well, I don't
know if there's something I can putdown that I because it's not bar and
a through right now. So yeah, well, in general, you know
answer that there there's a carpenter antthat literally digs tunnels in wood and weakens

(09:28):
trees over time. And then thereare the ants that are up on the
tree because they're farming the aphids upthere, taking care of the aphids and
and uh, basically it's like adairy cow situation. The ants literally milk
the aphids, if you will,by using their antenna. It's kind of

(09:48):
cool, but not not when youhave them all over your tree. I
think the only thing that I wouldsuggest is maybe get a persistent product to
spray on the trunk around on thebase so that they would have to come
down there or to have come upand down and walk through it to go
up in the tree. And thatcould be something containing by fen Thren.

(10:11):
By fen Thren is a synthetic perithroidthat persists out there a good while,
so you're not having to spray itevery week, uh, in order to
get good control. Okay, Andwhere would I get like that at?
Uh? Oh you can. Youcould just go up up the street southwest

(10:33):
fertilizers not far from you and theythey definitely will have that and more corner
of binet and Runwickay. Okay,thank you so much, kid, all
right, good luck with that.Yeah. Answer. It's an interesting thing.
Sometimes there are I said, thoseare the two situations with ants and

(10:54):
our plants that we have. Thatthat sounded interesting, uh, But actually
the fire ants will get in somekinds of plants just to get the moisture
or the protein kinds of material inthem. But for example, ocrapods,
you'll find fire ants that are feedingaround ocrapods and stuff. But in general
ants are not there to attack ourtrees. But I'll tell you what.

(11:18):
They when they start taking care ofa fits, it's a problem. They
literally they will pick an a feedup, carry it up onto a plant,
and set it down. And it'sjust like dairy cattle. Dairy farmers
bringing in cattle on their property.And then they basically use their antenna to
make the ant produce a little dropof honeydew which they feed on. And

(11:39):
so if anything tries to come andget the ants, like a beneficial insect
that would attack aphids, well,the ants are there to protect the cows,
right, and they will. Theywill make it very difficult for beneficial
insects to get in there and getthem. Kind of interesting natural situation going
on. Let's go, I'll tellyou what. Let's go to Oak Forest

(12:03):
and talk to b C. Hello, BC, Hey, how are you
doing. I'm good, I'm good. How are you? Oh? Pretty
good? I loved y'all. SoI'm just my second time wald. Hey
did I call you baby? Yourtree? After the heat waiting last year?
So we end up chopping it down. Anyways, I'm planning some rose
bushes and four rose bushes and threeof one of them on he came up,

(12:28):
Uh, you know they sprouted arose, you know, did his
stay, grew leaves and branches,But uh, I got squirrels, did
it around by other ones? Isthat the reason why they're not coming to
light? No? No, they'resquirrels are not hurting them other than a
little disturbance of the soil. ButI think number one, lots of sunlight

(12:48):
at least six hours very important ifyou're gonna get out of here. Get
that. They get that. Okaynumber two where I'm playing them at this
nothing butts okay, well number two. Then they need adequate water, but
good drainage. If it's just aheavy clay soil and a low spot,
it's going to tend toward the saggywet side and not be good if it

(13:09):
drains. If it's too loose,like a sandy soil, for example,
you're gonna have to water more oftento keep it moist. But water and
sunlight or key? Have you doneany fertilizing on those roses yet? Now
I too, because the soil Iuse was the miracle growd type soil,
and then I put some bulk overthat. But then I use some miracle

(13:30):
grow for the roses. I thoughtthat would help, but nothing. Okay,
Well, if I were you,I would grab Nelson Plant Food has
a couple of things. They've gotsomething called color Star that we use on
all kinds of plants. But theyalso have a rose food and a little
canister, and that is going tobe one that It's pretty easy to find

(13:56):
Nelson products around. But just followthe label, sprinkle some of that around,
and I think I think that Ithink that will work pretty pretty well
for you. Okay, that's greatbecause I was like, it's made like
only one came up and I'm like, oh man, I wonder what's wrong
with the other one. But whatdo I do about the squirrels? Uh?
Well, not much. You knowthat they they're they're gonna do what

(14:20):
they do. And I would say, other than you know that there's nothing
practical in town that you can doabout squirrels. Uh So, I guess
you know. I like him becauseI'd like to see them playing around in
my front yard, But when itcomes to my roses, I'm like,

(14:41):
uh yeah, taking too far deepdown in there. Yeah, I don't
think so. I think they're okay. I don't think there are problems if
you were trying to raise some pecansin the front yard. Yeah, that'd
be a that'd be an issue.But the roses. Okay, all right,
well there you thank you byes.All right, you take care,

(15:01):
bec I was talking earlier about thesilver bag nitrofoss super turf. I always
have to remind myself when when I'mtalking to you about fertilizing your lawn.
I always want to remind you thatit's not just the numbers on the fertilizer
bag that are important. There's alot of nutrients over twenty nutrients. If

(15:24):
plants need to survive and do thevarious processes that they do in order to
survive or produce, if that's whythe plant's there to produce something for you.
Well, asamite is a mind productout of Utah, it's mind out
of the ground, and it's chockfull of all kinds of trace minerals.
And when you apply azamite to yourturf, this isn't the fertilization that you

(15:46):
put on to make it greener andgrow, grow denser and all of that.
It's just putting a bank account ofessential nutrients that are part of the
whole process in there. So,in other words, putting a zinc down
and are putting selenium or all theseother various mineral substances that are essential.

(16:07):
It's not something we do in alarge quantity. It's something we do in
a very small quantity, and azamiteis designed just for that. Now you
can find azmite information at asmite Texasdot com. You can find azamite in
a lot of places. It's widelyavailable throughout the area. Here in Houston,
our garden centers, our ace hardwarestores, a Southwest Fertilizer. You

(16:27):
know, they're the opportunities to findasmite or everywhere. Feed stores. That's
another good example. And another examplewould be ana plants and produce up in
Montgomery for those of you who areup near Lake Conroe area A and A.
That's your hometown garden center, andboyd did they ever have a lot

(16:48):
of really really good products and thingsthat you can find there. I was
just noticing that the gosh, Ican't say kuffia. The kufia ignia also
called a firecracker plant. It's it'sa shrub like perennial dies back to the
ground oftentimes when we have cold weather, but then it comes right back out

(17:11):
and it has these little red tubularflowers that hummingbirds love. In fact,
took a picture of a hummingbird onone a good while back. Just it's
an amazing little tough plant. Theygot that at Ana Plants and Produce things
like Turk's cap, another hummingbird favoritethat is absolutely bulletproof. I mean,
that is one tough plant. They'vegot that. And of course they carry

(17:32):
every single fertilizer I talk about ongarden line at Ana Plants and Produce.
They're on the east side of Montgomeryand so it's real easy. As you're
going across one oh five between Conroeand Montgomery, you pass by them.
Every time you do that, AnaPlants and Produce, I'll go check them
out. And especially if you're lookingat these fertilizers you live up in that
area. They're going to have everyonethat you hear me talk about. Well,

(17:53):
let's see. Our phone number isseven one three two one two ktr
A seven one three two one twokt RH. Give us a call.
Let's talk about the things that areof most interest to you. I want
to give you another reminder heads upthat Nature's Ways Summer sale is still on,

(18:18):
but not much longer. We're abouta week away from from the it
being over. What is the sale. It's thirty percent off most of the
plants, all the way through themonth of June through July first. Now
that is excluding The only thing Iknow of that that excludes is the native
sun perennials. Only native sun perennials. Now, Nature's Way has a huge

(18:41):
selection of Texas native plants, ahuge selection of plants for pollinating. Oh
and also and this, you gotto take advantage of this one twenty percent
discount on all composts, mult andor soil blends. So if you're just
buying composts, if you're buying abed mix, if you're buying mulches,
twenty percent off, that's both baggedand bulk. Either way, you go

(19:04):
and buy it in Nature's Way.That's it. But you have to mention
Garden Line. I'm gonna say thatagain when you call up Nature's Way,
when you go to Nature's Way,tell them you heard about it on guard
Line about this twenty percent discount.Now's a great time to stock up.
Summer's here. It's time to getmulch, all right, And it's time
for me to stop and let thenews be the news. I'll be right

(19:26):
back seven one three two one twoKati, welcome back to garden Line.
What are we going to talk abouttoday? Well, why don't you tell
me that? What is of interestto you? What are you accomplishing in
your yard or what are you tryingto accomplish in your yard or your garden?
Maybe growing tomatoes, grow in somefruit trees. I don't talk about
fruit a lot, and we shouldtalk about it more because there are a

(19:48):
number of different kinds of fruit wecan grow here in the Greater Houston area.
For sure, we are far enoughsouth to avoid some of the worst
of the cold weather that takes outthings like citrus and what and just do
the things a plant wants. Remember, learn to think like a plant.
What does a fruit plant want?Wants good drainage in the soil, It
wants good sunlight. And let's justsummarize this real quick. Whether it's in

(20:12):
your vegetable garden or in your orchard, or if just one tree is your
orchard. When you have roots andfruit, you gotta have sun because think
about a carrot that is lots ofcarbohydrates packed into a root so that we
can pull it up and take itto the kitchen and enjoy it. A
peach, a tomato, a pepper, or a squash. All the fruits

(20:36):
on a plant our sinks. Wherethe plant puts a lot of carbohydrates,
it sends them there to build thatfruit. So when you don't have good
sunlight, you have trouble with rootsand fruit. That just is a normal
thing. Storage roots is what I'mtalking about, like sweet potato, for
example, or a carrot or aturnip. But when you provide it that

(21:00):
you're able to have a really successfulplanting, whether it's vegetables or fruit.
Now, if you have a vegetablegarden and you're going, yeah, okay,
but the trees have gotten bigger everyyear and I don't have as much
sunlight, well that's where you wouldturn to your leafy greens. Now,
it doesn't mean let us wants tobe in shade or spinach wants to be
in shade. It just means thatit doesn't take as much carbohydrate production to

(21:22):
produce a leaf as it does toproduce a root or a fruit. So
your leafy vegetables, if you've gotokay, let's do it. Let me
do it this way. If you'relooking at your garden, and there's one
spot that's very, very sunny,and there's another spot that's not sunny enough
to produce the roots in the fruit. Put your leafy vegetables over there in
the shadier spot. Now, theywould like to be in the sun,

(21:45):
but they can do the shade alittle bit better than the things that produce
roots and fruit. All right,hopefully that makes sense. Our phone number
is seven one three two one twofifty eight seventy four. Seven one three
two one two fifty eight seventy four. I haven't talked about Star Hope in
a good while, and I'd liketo just for a moment. Star of

(22:06):
Hope is a christ centered community thathas been in Houston since nineteen o seven.
That's right. They've been helping thehomeless for now what one hundred and
over one hundred and sixteen years atthis point. They provide lots and lots
of different beneficial services. You know, when someone is having a time of
it, when for whatever reason faultedtheir own or someone else's, it doesn't

(22:30):
matter in terms of Star of Hopehelping. Starf Hope steps in and they
provide him a pathway to put theirlife back together, which certainly helps them,
but also their kids, the childreninvolved in this kind of a situation.
It's just a tragedy, it absolutelyis. It's enough of a tragedy
for mom and dad, but thechildren especially, I think. But you

(22:53):
can't just go from having nothing tosuddenly you're driving to work every day with
great job. There's a process,there's training involved there. In many cases
there's like a substance abuse issue thatneeds to be dealt with. Star Hope
does all that. They serve aboutsix thousand meals a week. They've got

(23:15):
over three hundred beds in the DowntownMen's Center, Women and Women and the
Family Development Center. See I thinkthe one hundred and eighty I believe women
individual women or one hundred and thirtydifferent families. And I've been in there
before. I've seen it. I'veseen everything for providing care for the kids
so mom and dad can learn andwhatnot, to the way they basically walk

(23:38):
someone from wherever they start to aproductive life for them and their kids.
And you know what, to behonest for the greater Houston community as well.
To take someone and turn a lifearound like that is good. It's
good for all of us as acommunity. So Star of Hope kind of

(23:59):
going on and on about it,but it's because I believe in it.
My wife and I support Star ofHope. We believe in Star of Hope.
If you would like to donate tothem, I guarantee you your money
will be well spent and even justlike two dollars and eighty cents provides a
meal for someone in that situation.Go to s o Hmission dot org,

(24:21):
s o H Mission dot org,and I would ask and just really encourage
you to do that. The moreyou hear about the changes they make,
the stories of lives turned around,it's exciting. And I know you're I
know you're a compassionate person and thisis a channel, one of many channels

(24:42):
we have now in our lives wherewe can put our compassion into practice.
You're listening to Gardenline. I'm yourhost, Skip Richter, and our phone
number is seven one three two onetwo k t R H seven one three
two one two k t R h. Ace hardware stores are ubiquitous. They're

(25:04):
everywhere in the Greater Houston area,like forty stores in the Greater Houston areas.
It's not hard to find one.And when you find one we use
that phrase that ACE uses, andthat is ACE is the place. ACE
is a place to get your turffertilization products, your pest control products,
disease control, weed management products.ACE is a place to get those mosquito

(25:29):
dunks we were talking about yesterday withBill. It's the place to get fire
ant control products like baits, forexample. ACE is the place to get
that fogger to turn that backyard patioarea into a little more hospitable place,
at least for a while, sothat you can enjoy it with family and
friends. ACE is a place forall of that and much much more.

(25:51):
Acehardware dot Com is their website.Go to the store locator and you get
a nice little map with red dotsall over it. That is ACE Hardware.
And I really enjoy so much walkinginto ACE Hardware's because you know,
each one's independently owned, and sothe guy that or Galva whatever runs that

(26:11):
Ace Hardware store gets to decide exactlyhow they want that store to be.
You know, do you want afudge bar in your storage? You know
you have fudge bar in hardware store? Do you want to They just have
a lot of cool stuff, lotsof cool stuff. By the way.
Next Saturday, the twenty ninth,it's a week from yesterday. I'm going

(26:32):
to be at the Langham Creek AceHardware. Langham Creek Ace Hardware. Now
Langham Creek is over in the Copperfieldarea. That's northwest Houston, just south
of Cypress. If you've ever beento the Berry Center over there, it's
a little further south than that,But Langham Creek Ace Hardware. Next Saturday,
it's on. If you know whereFM five nine and Barker Cypress,

(26:56):
for example, come together that that'sthe spot. I'll be there from eleven
thirty to one thirty and be answeringyour gardening questions. Bring me some photos
things you want to ask about,bring me some samples, put them in
a bag and bring them over there. And see the store Langham Creek Ace.
The new owners have been in placefor a while now there and they
just continue to take that store betterand better and better. I love going

(27:22):
in. I love to just seeall the different things that they carry there.
So next Saturday, come see me. This, by the way,
is my last appearance for this springseason. I'll pick it up again in
the fall. But if you'd liketo come out to a place and meet
so we can visit. Well,here's here is the last call Langham Creek
as Harbor FM five point nine andBarker, Cyprus there in the northwest Houston

(27:47):
area. All right, I'm gonnatake a break here for some more news
and I'll be back. Here's aphone number if you want to. We've
got to open lines at this point, so if you would like to give
Chris a call and get on theboard, will come to you when we
come back. Seven to one threetwo one two k t RH. We
welcome back to Garden Line. Goodheavy with us, Thanks for listening to

(28:11):
back. We're here to talk aboutthe things that interest you. To have
a more beautiful garden, a morebountiful garden, that is what it's about.
And so if you'd like to giveme a call the number seven one
three two one two ktr H sevenone three two one two kt r H.
Plants for All Seasons is they've beenaround since oh gosh, nineteen seventy

(28:33):
three. I believe this family ownedoperation has really become a fixture. Everybody
in the whole region knows about Plantsfor All seasons because it is a popular
place. And why is it popular, Well, it's because it's because they
provide the kind of plants that wantto grow here. But even more than
that, it's because they provide theadvice and the guidance and the help so

(28:56):
that you can have success. Rememberhow I said gardening is supposed to be
fun, not stressful. Don't worryabout failing at it. Well, when
you go into plants for all seasons, you can take a branch or a
leaf, or a bug and abag, or you can take a photo
and say, hey, look thisis the weed I'm dealing with or whatever.
They're going to point you to theproduct you need and talk to you

(29:17):
about how to do it. Whenyou buy a plant, they'll tell you
how to plant it. If youwant to put a combo planting together,
they'll tell you about how you goabout that and even help you pick out
some plants for that. And now'sa great time too. By the way,
listen, we got three more monthsof hot weather coming up here,
and you should be planting now.Still, it is okay to plant now.
And if you will and get agood heat tolerant flower, which they're

(29:41):
going to have it. Plants forall seasons. If you will do that,
you will find that you have beautyall the way up until it's time
for fall planting for the cooler season. So don't just set out three more
months of blazing heat and maybe notso exciting landscape. You need to provide
that good color that will carry youthrough, and plants for all seasons will

(30:03):
do that. They're on Luetta,or just actually there north of Luetta.
If you exit Luetta going toward Tomballon two forty nine, crossover Luetta,
and they're just right there on toforty nine, the number two eight one
three seven six sixteen forty six.Two eight one three seven six sixteen forty
six. Go by there and youwill be very impressed with the selection and

(30:26):
also with the help that you get. We're going to go out to need
Bill now and talk to Bill.Hello, Bill, Hello, good morning.
I have some I have some oaktrees in my front yard, live
oak trees and the mature trees,but they keep putting shoots out from the
roots, and I can't stop them. Is there any way to stop that

(30:48):
without hurting the tree? Are thereare these shoots coming up fairly close to
the trunk. Yes, Okay,Shoots coming up have to be one of
two things. They're either coming upfrom acorns, being a seed and that
can happen under a live oak.That generally happens just randomly all around,

(31:10):
not just closer mostly closer to thetrunk. Or it can be a root
sucker. And that's the ones yousee. As you get closer and closer
to the trunk, you get moreand more of those, and as you
cut them, it just makes themproduce more. They just like pruning a
limb and getting you know, regrowthfrom pruning a limb. There there's not

(31:30):
a good product to control them.Certainly you don't want to kill them because
you'd be that would translocate into thetree if you sprayed them with something.
I've seen people cut them back asfar as you can. It's be a
little bit of a job. Getit. Get them cut back. Put
a very strong ground cloth down likeyou see in a garden center that they
set plants on that black fabric,and then cover that with a mulch.

(31:53):
And when you cover it with mulch, if especially if it's a little bit
of a heavier multch, not notsomething really lightweight, uh, that can
help suppress them or at least keepthem down a little bit. But there's
not a really good answer to thisbill other than what I just mentioned.

(32:13):
Okay, well, I've tried cuttingthem off, and you're exactly right.
They just keep coming back, evenmore dense than before. There is a
product called sucker stopper. I can'tremember which of the companies makes sucker stopper.
You know, it's Boneyde or HighYield or Monterey or Fertilan or whatever.

(32:34):
But sucker stopper suppresses that kind ofregrowth and so as you as you
spray that that that can be helpful, but you have to follow the label
instructions. Okay, sucker stopper.Okay, thank you very much. Yeah,
what you've got there is a liveoak that is from more of like

(32:54):
a Texas Hill Country original source afterwe get oak motts, because oaks sucker
a lot that type. When youget along the southern Gulf Coast, you
know, Louisiana, Mississippi, allthree there, you see you don't see
as much of that, and it'sbecause that type of live oak that is
native there doesn't sucker so much.That's just a fun fact that doesn't really

(33:21):
help you, but it's just justa fact about why we're seeing that on
some trees and not others. Okay, well I'll give it a try and
see what happens. Appreciate it allright, Bill, Thanks, appreciate your
call. Thank you very much.Let's uh, well, let's go to
another Bill. This time we're goingto go to Jersey Village. Hey,
Bill, good morning. This isBill. I've got some Magnillia trees and

(33:47):
they're this smaller variety. They're ratherold, but need some trimming. Probably
will get a professional to come outand trim the bottom limbs out of the
trees. But I'm concerned, wellwill they be damaged to just be prined
or should we put some sealer onthe wounds after primming. You do not

(34:13):
need to use a sealer on thewounds when you're punting magnolia tree. You
just want to cut the limb.If you're going to remove a limb,
cut it back to where it flaresout to attach to the trunk. So
if you're if you are following alimb backward, it has a fairly consistent
diameter and as you get just afew inches away from the trunk, it

(34:36):
flares out, and so you wantto cut it right where the flare starts
there. Okay, And no printing, say or anything is necessary. Sad
is necessary. And if you wantto have somebody, you want to have
somebody to come in and do itprofessionally. Yes, I've got I've got
several of these trees and it'll it'llbe kind of a big job. Yeah,

(34:58):
you ought to give Martin spoon more. Recall he's with Affordable Tree Service
and tell him your guardline listener.Uh. He stays busy because he does
a good job. People over theyears have been doing this a long time.
Over the years, people have,you know, kind of latched onto
him. Well his number. Letme give you his number and a website
in case you want to take alook at that. Okay, okay,

(35:20):
thanks, thank you very much.It's seven three six twenty six sixty three
seven win three six nine nine twosix six three or aff Tree Service dot
com. Hey ff Tree Service dotcom. All right, all right,
thank you very much. All right, Bill, you take care. Yeah,
Martin right now, he is busybecause after that storm got our attention

(35:45):
just a few weeks ago. Nowpeople are calling to get their trees pruned
and taken care of, because weknow until November we're in hurricane season and
it's just a matter of time beforesome wins come back. This way,
as we learned a few weeks ago, it didn't take hurricane to really do
a lot of tree damage. Andit's just part of nature out there.

(36:06):
But why not get your trees ready? In fact, I can't express enough
the importance of proper tree care comingin to this storm season. So Martin
spoon Moore Affordable Tree aff Tree Servicedot com, give him a call,
go ahead and see when he cancome out. By the way he charges,
he turns like one hundred and fiftydollars to come out, and then

(36:29):
that money you paid for him tocome out becomes part of what you're paying
him to do the job. Inother words, it's not like you lose
the one fifty. It's just hey, it's just a are you really serious?
Do you really want some help here? And when he tells you what
needs to be done, you canharm to do it, and you've already
paid one hundred and fifty for it. I think it's a good way to

(36:51):
do it. Isn't a big placeI wouldn't want to drive all over town
based on people's curiosity. Just comingup at this tree the garden Line.
We're here to answer your gardening questions. If you will like to write down
this number, I courage you todo that. Seven one three two hunch
k t r H. Just anotherreminder next Saturday, I'll be at Langham

(37:13):
Creek H Hardware, which is overin northwest Houston, just south of Cypres,
south of the Berry Center. Ifyou will, John Barker Ciphers and
what's on FM five twenty nine?What was that try to and Spencer Road?
I believe is Yeah, that's aproper name. FMI. Anyway,

(37:35):
I hope you can make them nextSad we'll be right back. Welcome to
kd r H Guarded Line with Rickards. Just watch him as crazy side starting.

(38:27):
Welcome back to garden Line. Welcomeback. Good to have you with
us. The sun is shining.We've got another good day today. Uh,
it's going to be a great daythis afternoon. You got to get
outside, just take care of somethings you need to do in the yard
landscape. We can kind of helpwith that. I'll in fact, i'll
talk here a little bit about someof the things we need to be doing,
and also go out to a gardencenter. Remember it is warm now,

(38:50):
but it is a great time stillto plant plants. All you have
to do is just keep a littlemore attention to keep them watered well when
they're getting a stablish you know,and think about this. When you put
a plant in the ground, theroots are still in that cylindrical shape they
were in the pot. And soif you were to take a pot and

(39:12):
set it right down in the groundand don't take the plant out of it,
just plant the pot and plant,that is how it will be for
a while. After you plant,roots will try to move out, but
you need to think as if thatpot is still there because that's where the
roots are after you plant. SoI don't recommend planting the pot, by
the way, But what I'm sayingis it's going to take time. So

(39:35):
the soil can be pretty moist allout and about, but that whole plant's
root system is having to come outof that original cylinder. And each week,
each month, as we go forward, it becomes better and better established,
and it's less and less needy forus to provide everything it needs.
So when you plant a plant,just remember for a while you're watering it

(39:55):
as if it were still in thepot. I think that's a good way
to do it, maybe in thatarea, but a little beyond that area,
because roots are going to slowly bemoving out. Just a little tip
right there. Uh, other thingsthat we can be doing, by the
way, our phone number seven onethree two one two fifty eight seventy four.
Just a tip on mowing your lawn. There are a few factors in

(40:22):
lawn mowing that really make a visualdifference in your lawn. Did you know
that mowing your lawn is one ofthe key factors in terms of having a
beautiful, attractive lawn or mowing itright. The more often you mow,
the denser your lawn is going tobe. To let the lawn get real

(40:43):
tall and then cut it way back, that's a that's a kind of a
shock, a sat back for thelawn. Of course, it bounces back,
but it looks terrible for a while, Especially things like bermuda grass.
They have most of their green upon top, and when you cut back
into that, it's real sticky,uh like as in sticks looking, and
it eventually greens back up again regularlawn mowing very important. Mowing with a

(41:07):
sharp blade, that's the second one. Mowing with a sharp blade makes a
cleaner cut. And at the tipof every cut grass blade, it's going
to turn brown after you mow,right up at the tip. But if
your lawnmower is dull and instead ofslicing a clean cut, as if you
use scissors to cut your lawn,instead of that, if the ends of

(41:30):
the grass blades are just sort ofshredded, just sort of hammered apart,
if you will, by that dullmower blade, now we have a larger
brown tip on each grass blade.Now why am I on my hands and
knees down in the lawn talking aboutthis? Well, here's why you got
billions of grass blades all over theplace in your lawn. And if you

(41:52):
think of it in a pixelated way, the more brown pixels or tampixels from
those tips that were cut with adull mower, the more of those you
have, it lessens the overall beautifuldeep green uniform effect that we want to
have in our lawns. So italso is easier on your lawn mower to

(42:14):
have sharp blades as well. Somow regularly and mow with a sharp blade.
And then finally the height the morethe shorter you cut your lawn,
the more often you mow your lawn, because when you mow, you cut
off a third of the leaf blade. That's the goal is a third.
So let's say you want to mowyour lawn at two inches high. When

(42:37):
it gets to three inches, youcut off that third one inch, and
now you're back two. That's howthat works. So the shorter you cut
your grass, the less it hasto grow before it's time to mow again.
If you moved all the way upwith say Saint Augustine, especially in
a little lower light area, andyou're cutting it let's say three and a

(42:57):
half inches high, well, thenand it can grow a lot more before
it's time to cut it again.You see what I'm saying. So golf
course greens remote every day at avery very tiny, little low cut that
they do. That's what makes themsuch a wonderful playing surface is the regular,
regular mowing. So mowing is important. Have a good sharp mower and

(43:19):
set it so that you are cuttingat the right height and then the right
frequency and all of that with asharp blade. That that's your mowing tip.
That's how your lawn mower makes yourlawn more beautiful and greener. It's
not just a matter of keeping itfrom becoming a jungle. It's a matter
of building a dense carpet that youthe kids can play on, that you

(43:42):
enjoy walking across as part of theoverall painting a landscape around your home.
Our phone number is seven one threetwo one two fifty eight seventy four.
If you'd like to give a skullseven one three two on two five eight
seven four if you are anywhere outin the Katie area, in fact,
if you're anywhere West Houston area,the folks at Nelson Nursery and Watergarden have

(44:07):
really built a destination garden center outin Katie and it's just a hop,
skipping or jump outside of Houston.Well. In fact, I think Houston
ate Katie a good while back,as big cities tend to do. Nelsonwatergardens
dot Com is the website. Butwhen you go there, take a friend
because you're going to enjoy it andit's okay to hang out a while.

(44:30):
In fact, you can just thinkof it as therapy. I want you
to go over in Nelson Watergarden andNursery, and just go where they have
waterfalls and those disappearing fountains. Youknow, they're the ones that invented that
large, tall, beautiful container wherethe water spills over the side and recirculates.
Just go sit there and just enjoythe sound of water. Number One,

(44:51):
you're gonna want that for your ownhome landscape. We had put a
water feature in our landscape a yearago. It's just a nice to sit
out and just listen to it.And that also is attractive to birds.
They hear that too. Anyway.Nelson Nursery and Water Garden one of a
kind plants. They have pots,they have fish, they have fountains,

(45:13):
and they have expertise to help youhave success. But you got to go
see it. You got to gosee it. See what I'm talking about.
You go to Katie Turn North onKatie Fort Ben Road and there you
are just a rocks throw down thestreet. I wanted to say a few
words. I don't talk about houseplants a lot on Guarden Line, but

(45:35):
pretty much everybody has one buy andlarge and a lot of people struggle with
their houseplants, so they feel likethey're just not doing good. The number
one reason that I see house plantsstruggling is a lack of light for that
species. Now, every species ofplant that we bring into the house has

(45:57):
different light levels that it needs.There are plants that can take very low
light, and that would include thesense of area, which is also called
mother in law's tongue. The zzplant is a great low light plant,
and the one they call closet plantas if you could grow it in the
closet, which is an exaggeration.Spathophylum is an excellent plant for low light

(46:22):
areas. Then you have plants thatare going to have to have more Any
houseplant that blooms is going to haveto have a lot more light than that.
A lot of the herbs that wehave can take shade, but not
that much shade, and they're goingto struggle along. But getting the plant
in the right exposure is important.And just remember our eyes adjust to the

(46:43):
light, and so you may lookat something and go, well that that
ought to be enough light. Well, go stand outside in the sun for
a while looking around, and thenwalk in the house and look at that
area until your eyes make the adjustment. It's like, yeah, they're not
much light here. At all,and so making sure they get adequate light
because light produces food. It's thefuel for the plant. So you take

(47:07):
all these these nutrients that are beingtaken up, light shines on the leaves.
The leaves make carbohydrates. And wetalk about fertilizer like plant as plant
food, and I get that.That's all right, you can call it
that. But the real food forthe plant is when that fertilizer is turned
into carbohydrates and all the other thingsthat the plants make out of the nutrients.

(47:29):
That is important. You cannot makea plant and super low light grow
better by fertilizing it or watering it. It has to have light first.
But when you do, you wantto make sure that you give them the
adequate nutrition. And there are alot of great fertilizers for doing that.
That you keep the plant moderately moist, moderately moist. I see a lot

(47:52):
of house plants that die because theywere overwatered. And root rot is a
bad thing. Two things promote that. Number one, you've got a soil
mix that may be a little toomucky, a little the particles are small.
There's lots of lots of organic matter, and our potting soils uh,
and it just sort of gets mucky. It doesn't have good oxygen down in

(48:14):
the root system versus one that's alittle bit looser, and in the internal
drainage is a little bit better.So water adequately, water often enough to
keep it going, but don't overwater them. So the light and the
watering are the main two things Isee where people struggle with their houseplants.
Also, just know some plants donot like to sudden changes. If you

(48:36):
have a little Fcus tree in thehouse of fiddlely fig or or the other
types of Ficus, the common ficus, uh, and you move them from
low light to highlight or highlight tolow light, gonna they're gonna drop leaves
or you're gonna see sunburn on theleaves. How that works? All right,
let's take a little break here ournumber seven one three two one two
KTRH. I'll be right back.A welcome back to line. Good to

(49:00):
have you with us. Here wego on another hour. Well in the
middle of they are almost if youare looking for an excellent source of all
the things that I talk about whenI say bron stuff before green stuff.
Ciena moltch down south of Houston.Cena Molts down south of Houston is by

(49:22):
the way. They're on FM fivetwenty one, just near Highway six and
two eighty eight down north of Roe. Sharon Well cnmals dot com. Go
to that website you can find them. You can find out a lot more
about the products. But they're goingto have the stuff that I call brown
stuff. And what is that.Well, that would be composts. That
would be the mulches that go ontop of the ground. That would be
the bed mixes. That would bethings like, for example, the veggie

(49:45):
mix that you get from Airloom Soils. They have that down there at Cienamulch.
They also have brown stuff. Interms of the soil. All the
fertilizers I talk about on guarden Line, all of them they end. Then
they have an excellent selection down there. So when you drive into Cenamalts or
when you call them up, theydeliver within about believe twenty miles for a

(50:07):
small fee. If you go andcome home with the good stuff they have,
your plants are going to hit theground running. That's how that works.
And Ciena Maltch they don't they don'ttake short cuts. They don't mess
around. They provide quality products fortheir customers, and if you listen to
people who go their talk, youknow they are in love with Ciena Malts

(50:28):
because of all those kinds of things. Cienamultch dot com. That's the website
on FM five twenty one. Nowthey're closed on Sundays, but they're open
Monday through Friday till five and Saturdaysfrom seven thirty in the morning until two.
So check them out. Get thebrown stuff right and you will have
much more success than otherwise. Let'sgo now out to Mike in surfside.

(50:52):
Hello Mike, Hello, Skip,how are you doing today? I'm well,
sir, what's up? I gota couple real quick questions. One
is a gut some tomato plants leftover from the from the summer, from
the spring. Is it worth keepingthose things alive or just go ahead and
replanting it fall, you know,Mike, Uh, It depends on the

(51:13):
condition of them. If they areloaded with spider mites and leaf diseases and
everything like that, I think Iwould get all that out of there,
with all the you know, allthat mass out of there and replant What
kind of what I was thinking?What I have done? Before though,
is take the end of a tomatoshoot, cut it off where it's about
I say, eight inches long somethinglike that, and then take it inside

(51:37):
and just swish slash it really vigorouslyin water to wash off any spider mite
or things like that, and thenput it. You can put it in
water to root, or I'd likebetter to put it in a in a
growing medium like a potting soil witha lot of pearl lighte in it.
You can get that thing rooted,and now you've got a brand new plant

(51:57):
that you've taken from the end.It's the exact same variety you took it
off of, and you could justplant it out in the ground once it
gets a good root system on it. So that would give to get all
those old plants and spider mites andleaf diseases, spores and everything, get
them out of there, get itall cleaned up and ready, because July
is a great time to plant tomatoesfor fall. Second questions, real quick,

(52:22):
I also raise bees. What isa if you can think of one,
a high pollen producing plant that growsat this time of the year and
this extreme heat, well, asyou know, there's not a lot blooming
right now in the bees need thatpollen and I can't. I don't know
if there's anything out there that thatproduces pollen at this time of year.

(52:44):
Well, when you're talking about asa bee keeper, you need you need,
you need an acre of flowers andthings to provide plenty for the bees.
But around our landscapes some popular beeplants. The African blue basil is
unbelievable pollinator attractor in the landscape.I see honey bees on a lot of
different things. There's one called melalucathat is a little shrub with kind of

(53:09):
a silvery green leaf and a pinkflower through. Pretty they like that.
At my house we got some Mexicanheather as lining a driveway and I'm telling
you, they love the flowers onMexican heather. That's another one. There
are just a lot of different kindsof plants that bees like. Later in
the summer, we're going to seethe coral vine start to bloom. That

(53:34):
is a vigorous vine that produces hugeclusters of pink blooms and bees all pollinators
loved that one as well. Youknow. V Text is one that used
to say v Tex was a beekeeper'sfriend because it's blooming at a tough time.
And Kramerless a while back at TEXAand M they did a study in

(53:55):
college station on all the bees thatwere coming back to the high there as
part of one of the researchers inentomology, and they found the number one
pollen bees were coming home with wascrape myrtle pollen, which tells you that
that crpe murder, which blooms forabout ninety days in the summer, that
is an important plant for sustaining bees. Oh. Absolutely, Yeah, this

(54:17):
time of year, there's not alot there's really no vegetables out there going.
These love to get the pollen fromthe vegetables, right, something,
man, They've got to be somethingelse they'd really like. This is just
kind of a supplement their rather theirregular diet. Get them something little extra
for summer. Yeah. Monarda iscalled bee balm, and for very good
reason. They love they love Monarda's. They there's a wildflower that's a Monarda

(54:42):
type plant that they love as well. But anyway, yeah, that was
a great recommendation. I could goon and on. There's a lot of
plants, but you know what Iwould do, And I was out at
Arbrogate Nursery just the other day andwalking through they have so many kinds of
plants. Our landscapes full of plants. You can walk through and what where

(55:04):
are the bees? What are theyon? And you know that it's it's
a simple way to go about it. But as you go to a garden
center, look at the bees.I did the same thing of plants for
all seasons over on two forty ninea good while back, and it was
just interesting because the bees know theflowers are there, and so they're gonna
they're gonna go for their preference ifthey have a choice. All right,

(55:28):
appreciate your recommendation, Skipp, thanksso much. All right, Mike,
thank you. Good luck with allthat. Our phone number is seven one
three two one two fifty eight seventyfour. You know, we we had
that heck of a storm a whileback that knocked out power, and that
can happen. It doesn't have tobe hurricane season, but that it doesn't
have to be caused by a hurricanefor that to happen, because that storm

(55:51):
we had wasn't a hurricane. Whatdo you do? You got a freezer
full of food, you've perhaps youwork from home, and you have to
have internet all the time to haveaccess. What do you do well,
You get a generator, but notjust any generator, and especially not just
any place. A Generac generator isa high quality product. Quality Home products

(56:13):
will sell you a Generaic generator,But I want to tell you it's everything
that goes with that that makes QualityHome the absolute best place to go.
Here's what I'm talking about. Theytake care of you. They walk you
through the process. Number one,just making sure you buy a generator that's
adequate for what you're trying to accomplish. Number two, getting the permits necessary

(56:36):
to put that there at your house. They work on that. They don't
just tell you go do that puttinga slab out there, They actually do
that as well, getting the generatorset up. And then once they walk
away and you're ready to go,you've got this generator that's ready to come
on when the power goes out.Once they walk away, that's when the
service begins. And that's why they'vewon the Pinnacle Award for the Better Business

(56:57):
Bureau eight times. That's why there'sfourteen thousand and five star reviews. It's
that twenty four to seven, threesixty five customer service. Go to Quality
TX dot com, QUALITYTX dot comor dial seven to one three Quality.
WHOA, yeah, home grown tomatoes. Nothing's like a homegrown tomato, that

(57:20):
is for sure. We obsess overtomatoes. Tomatoes the queen of the vegetable
garden. And you know, Ialways say that tomato is the number one
vegetable that makes the phone ring hereon garden Line. Nobody ever calls me
about their core Robbie. I don'tknow why, but anyway, tomatoes.
What would a gardening year be withoutsome really great new tomatoes and things?

(57:45):
We just can't live with that likethat? All right, Well, let's
go talk to Joyce now out inCyprus. Hey, Joyce, Yeah,
good morning. I just had acouple of sunshine lagustrums planted yesterday, and
I've had conflicting information on how oftento keep them watered, you know,
for a while while they've just beenfreshly planted. Okay, here's what will

(58:07):
help you to think this way.Imagine when they planted them, they set
the whole pot in the ground,where would all the roots be well still
in the pot, right, Andwhen they plant them, the roots are
all quote still in the pot,meaning they're still in that cylinder shape that
came out of the pot. Now, week by week, month by month,

(58:29):
the roots reach out further and further. It becomes better and better established,
where we almost don't water it atall. Nature takes care of it
pretty much. But early on it'sas if it was sitting in a pot
above the ground, which means thosethings are getting watered every day in a
small amount. So you want towater in that cylinder area where the roots
are a small amount. You candig down and feel the soil. You

(58:51):
can tell, but just by feelingabout three inches deep, is it wet
or is it dry? Or isit in between? Just don't overwater them,
but know that they will go completelytoo dry fast because the roots are
so confined. Still Okay, yeah, they didn't plant them very deep.
They kind of build up, canthink of a word to describe it,

(59:13):
but kind of a pile around thebottom of them. They didn't put them
in too deep. Is that areapoorly drained? Does it tend to stay
wet or something not? Particularly?Okay? Well, you know I'm not
there looking at it, so Idon't know what else to say about that,
but I can tell you this,Those plants are using water every day,

(59:37):
especially when it's hot and the sunis shining, and you just take
them out. And like I said, each week, each month, less
and less is dependent on you.Early on, it's it's all dependent on
you. So every day, alittle bit, a little bit. Maybe
what size pot with it was likea gallon pot tree gallon? Three gallon?

(59:58):
Okay, I would put about probablya half gallon of water, maybe
a gallon around them. You coulddo that. That probably is the best
amount. I guess, all thingsconsidered, Okay, okay, thank you

(01:00:19):
very much, you bet, ThanksJoyce. I appreciate that a lot.
Listen to Medina's new product. Haveyou heard about the new one, super
Grow Plus. It's one of thehas to grow products and you probably have
used has to grow or has togrow for lawns. Well, this is
has to grow super grow plus.And it is a really nice formulation number

(01:00:40):
one. It's sixteen percent nitrogen.It's a sixteen zero two fertilizer. It
comes in a court bottle that youhooked your garden hose, so it'll cover
about four thousand square feet and soyou can do your line in about about
ten minutes or so. Just walkingthrough the lawn real quick with that on
the end of the hose. It'sgot the about about a fifth of the

(01:01:01):
nitrogen is in a slow release form. It's got iron and achilated form.
That's very important. So if youwant to green something up, nitrogen and
iron are two of the primary thingsthat we see needed when something is lacking
good green color. It's got molassesin it, it's got humic acid in
it, it's got seaweed extract init. This is a great formulation.

(01:01:24):
So super Grow plus sixteen zero twofrom Medina. It's widely available now.
Stores are carrying it, and it'sjust simple and easy. Makes it very
very easy to take care of yourlawn and have success, which, as
we say all the time, that'swhat we want is for you to have
success. Let's go to Sugarland nowand we're going to talk to Greg.

(01:01:44):
Hello, Greg nice, how areyou doing. I I have a question
now, when should I start seedingmy newly planted trees. They've been in
for about a month now. Andonce you got start feeding those trees,
you know, I would say providingthem a little bit of nitrogen, especially

(01:02:08):
in small amounts over time, youcould begin that now if they've been in
that long, they also have avery confined root system still, you know,
it takes time for the roots tomove out of the original roots cylinder
and fully filled the soil. SoI would focus my feeding within the branch
spread of the tree. So imaginethe trees is an umbrella. Where does

(01:02:31):
the water drip off the umbrella?That's that's the drip line we call it.
And you know, primarily fertilized insidethat area. Okay, and so
missing nitrogen. Yeah, yeah,I'll tell you, Greg, there are
products for trees and shrubs out thereon the market and they're good. Just

(01:02:52):
because I always have lawn fertilizer onhand for my lawn. That's what I
use on my trees as well.And easy. There's nothing wrong with doing
that. Uh So, Yeah,I mean I could Ncrophos and Nelson they
both have you know, products thatare geared toward you know, woody ornamental.

(01:03:14):
Wow. Yeah, okay, allright, all right, and thank
you, all right. Thanks Inthe trees, you know, the number
one thing to make trees grow fast, let me not do that. I'm
not gonna do the number one.I'm going to do a series of important
things. How about that, planningthem right, making sure if they got

(01:03:38):
circling roots, those roots are cutso that then they move out into the
soil readily, and and by theway, they will do that. One
time I was, uh, youknow, working with Beverly up at Arborgate,
and she had some trees in there. Uh always do uh, And
I got permission to take one upout of the pot and do some root

(01:04:00):
running on it, put it backin the pot, and then come back
in two weeks and look at it, and there were already fresh new roots,
white roots, just coming out frombehind those cuts. It's just like
if you pri in a branch,what happens You get ref sprouting. That's
what happens in the ground. Numberone, cut those roots, that's important.
Step number two, of course,plant it correctly, but provide adequate

(01:04:23):
water. And number three would benutrition. Those three combined are what is
going to produce fast growth when youplant a tree? What is the what
is the goal? How soon canI hang a hammock in this thing?
Right? In other words, Igot to get it growing well. Of
all those things. Of all thosethings, more so than fertilizer, adequate

(01:04:44):
consistent water is very important. Ayoung tree has a confined root system.
You know, an established live oaktree or big old whatever kind of tree,
red oak, whatever, whatever youhave in your landscape. Established,
they've got roots two and a halftimes a height the tree in all directions,
so they have a huge bank accountto draw from. The new trees
you put out don't and so providingregular water and small doses the very opposite

(01:05:09):
of what our long term goal is. Providing regular water and small doses initially
is important because when they go intodrought, even if it doesn't kill the
tree, it causes growth to slowdown or shut down, and then when
it gets water it can grow again. So, more so than even fertilizer,
is good consistent water, especially duringthe first I'll say five years of

(01:05:32):
the tree's life, with each yearbecoming a little less critical than the one
before. The first year is wegot to be all in for that one
year two, you want it togrow fast. When we go into summer
it hadn't rained in two weeks,give it a good soaking, and then
year three and to year five wereBy year five we're probably not worrying so

(01:05:54):
much about water to sustain the tree. But that's important. That's how you
do it. If you want tohang a hummockfast, you gotta cut the
roots that are going in circles beforeyou plant planet right, and then make
sure it gets adequate water, andthen of course some fertilization as well.
Well, you're listening to Gardenline.I'm your host, Skip Richter. Our

(01:06:14):
phone number here is seven one threetwo one two k t r H seven
one three two one two k tr H. Well, yesterday I had
Zach Buchanan, and you know thisweek has been a week of the pollinator
week. And I'm gonna when wetake I'm gonna take a break here,
but when I come back, I'mgonna talk a little bit about the pollinators.

(01:06:36):
Just hang on seven one three twoone two k t R HILL.
Be right back on your Houston commuteon news Radio seven forty and also on
all your streaming devices here kt rH anytime anywhere with the free iHeartRadio app
in the app store or KTRH dotcom. If you own your own home,

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We're up to twelve times faster thanVerizon at and T and T Mobile
and existing customers could even get upto triple the speech. All right,
it is summertime, right, can'tdo summer without the beach boys. Welcome
back to Garden Line. I amyour host, Skip Richtor, and we're
here to answer gardening questions or justif I'll even allow you to call and
brag on how many tomatoes you grewlast year? How about that, because

(01:08:30):
that's important. You know, thegoal is always to have the earliest and
the best tomatoes on the block.All right, well we'll do that.
Seven one three two one two kt r H. That's the number I
was talking about yesterday. Zach A. Buchanan from Buchanus Native Plants in the
Heights. He came by and wewere talking about pollinators because this was Pollinator

(01:08:51):
Week. Pollinators we pollinator Week,and I think it ends today. I
believe it is the last day ofit, but anyway, it doesn't matter.
Week is pollinator Week in the gardenbecause pollinators serve such an important role.
They number one. Our food supplyis by and large thanks to pollinators

(01:09:12):
that in the cases of fruits,for example, vege, certain vegetables,
we wouldn't have them if it wasn'tfor the pollinators that are helping take care
of things. But you know,whether it's bees like honey bees or bees
like native bees, a bumblebee,a leaf cutter bee, there's a lot
of different kinds of solitary dwelling beesand are pollinators that are important. And

(01:09:34):
the more you provide in your landscapean array of blooms that continue through this
season. So if one plant's goingto like wimp out by summer, then
let's have a summer plant that's bloomingall summer take over for it. The
more you build a landscape like that, the more success you're going to have
in atracting pollinators and becann as nativeplants. They've got a just an unbelievable

(01:09:59):
selection and of natives. They havenatives. If you want something that is
native just Texas in general, ofcourse they got that. But if you
want something native just to the greaterHouston area, they specify that particular division
as well. You can go tosee them at Eleventh Street in the Heights,
six eleven East eleventh Street in theHeights, or you can go to
the website, which I'd recommend youto do that. You do that and

(01:10:23):
you sign up to receive their newsletterinformation. Buchanansplants dot com. Buchanansplants dot
com. They have been serving Houstongardener since nineteen eighty six. Right there
in the Heights. They have allthe fertilizers that I talk about on garden
Line and many many other helpful products, including a beautiful gift shop that is

(01:10:43):
always a good idea when you're lookingfor a nice little gift for somebody.
Buchanans Native Plants in the Heights.Pollinators. We had a call earlier people
ask a guy was asking about bees. How to you how to you know,
support the bee? That was Mike, they called him, and you

(01:11:05):
know, we were just it gotme thinking about what are the plants that
bees like the most? So whileback I started compiling a list of be
favorites. But here's the thing.Bees are not all in agreement as to
what the favorite plant is. There'sactually a bee that's called a squash bee,

(01:11:27):
and it it literally its love isto plant is to pollinate cue curbets,
is to visit ce curbet flowers forthe nectar and the honey. That's
what it focuses on. Have youever thought about that? Do you have
squash bees? At your house.I don't know, maybe you do.
They are around here. Uh thatthere's the leaf cutter bee. And there's
just a lot of different kinds ofbees and they each have their prefectly So

(01:11:50):
making a list for bees is alittle bit of a challenge, but I
think we need to put something likethat together. They already exist. If
you're interested in learning more about pollinatethe xerx Sees Society. Uh, and
I was gonna spell it, andthen I realized I would butcher it if
I did. But it's xe rcees. Am I spelling that right?

(01:12:11):
X e r cees the xerk SeesSociety. Yeah, that's right. They
focus on pollinators and it's xerxees dotorg. Go there. Look at the
material they have. It is amazingthe kind of material they have. Maybe
you're interested more in a flower gardenfor butterflies, we can do that.

(01:12:32):
Remember when you're planting a butterfly garden, you want to plant things for the
children and the parents. So whatdo I mean by that, Well,
a monarch. We use monarch.That's a familiar one for everybody. Milkweeds
are an example of something you plantfor the children, for the larva,
the monarch, lazyego, milkweed,and there we go. It's it's larva

(01:12:56):
has something to eat. Then thingsthat the adults can feed on. That
would be the nectar from the flowers. And there's plants that are very attractive
to butterflies. A Zac and Italked about some yesterday. There are a
number of different plats depending on thebutterfly you want to attract. So with
monarchs we think of milkweed. Withthe goff frittlary, that's the orange butterfly

(01:13:16):
around here, passion vine very popular. There is a pipe vine, swallow
tail, and number of different typesof pipe vine that you can plant.
But that particular butterfly that's with thelarva feed on. So if you plant
it, they will come. That'sa good way to put it. And
if you want to attract butterflies,learn a little bit about them, find

(01:13:40):
out what kinds you like, andyou can attract. You can plant the
things that are going to be popularwith that and as I said, if
you build it, they will comeand it just gets better and better over
time. One of my favorite beeplants is African blue basil. Now it's
not really blue, but anyway,it is a basil. I suppose it

(01:14:03):
has some culinary uses. I've neverused it in a culinary way. I
kind of like the genobe s basilsand for making pesto and things. But
the African blue makes a really goodsized bush. I don't know three feet
even possibly, I guess four feetin width and height and time. But

(01:14:23):
when we get toward the end ofsummer, that bush is loaded loaded with
bees because it is a very importantsource. They love that. They love
that plant. Now, bees loveall kinds of basil flowers, but just
the stature and the growth of thatplant is amazing. So we could go
on and on about other kinds ofplants. I think I mentioned earlier that

(01:14:45):
my Mexican kufia is always a beefavorite. The flowers are not huge,
not a lot to write home abouton the standard type of Mexican heather,
but the bee find them and theylove them. They love that. I
was talking earlier about the importance offinding the right products and taking care of

(01:15:09):
the lawn, and no matter what, you need, any kind of fertilizer,
any kind of pest control, diseasecontrol, weed control. Bob Patterson
Southwest Fertilizer go there. Talk toBob, talk to Aaron, talk to
the team there. They're experts.You can bring them a picture, they
look at it. They're on Bessinout corner of Bessinet and Renwick in southwest
Houston. I would recommend you gothere if you've never been. Hey,

(01:15:32):
it's air conditioned in there, Agood time to go. They have unbelievable
selection and knowledge. Oh my gosh. The last thing you need, and
you've got a weed or something,is to just start buying stuff that someone
at a store that doesn't know whatthey're talking about. Just set here,
go use this, and they don'tknow what they're talking about. They do

(01:15:54):
it. Southwest Fertilizer. You'll getit right the first time. That's that
tie work. All right. We'regonna take a little break for the top
of the hour in the news.If you would like to get on the
boards with Chris my producer seven onethree two one two fifty eight seventy four,
give us a call. You're rightback. Welcome to kt r H

(01:16:26):
Garden Line with Scip Richard. It'scrazy. Just watch him as a world
may well. Welcome back to gardenLine. Let's hop in here and get

(01:16:47):
this hour rolling if you would like, if you have a gardening question seven
one three two one two k tR eight. Seven one three two one
two k t R eight. We'regonna head straight out to Katie and talk
to Dwyane. Hello, Dwayne,good morning, Skip. I've got I
sent you some pictures. So I'vegot a plumb tree that it may be

(01:17:08):
fire blake, but I want toget your opinion. And I've got some
sap seeping out of some of thelimb areas, and I wanted to see
what your thoughts were on it.Oh okay, yeah, that does not
look like fireblight to me. Wellthat's good. What did you say?
What type of tree? So ifyou look down in those pictures, there's
one or two of those pictures thatI sent you that's got some sap,

(01:17:29):
it looks like sap kind of seepingout of right around where the branches or
where the one of the branches comingout of the main trunk. Okay,
oh yeah, I see that.Okay, Well, a lot of things
can cause that just by wounding thetrunk. So it could be like a
kinker where the trunk has a diseasein it that is an infection in it

(01:17:54):
if you will. That causes theplant to bleed the sap out. It
could be an insecting on it inthere plums did you say plum tree?
It is a plumb. I don'tknow if that's a bruiser or a methley,
but it's either a brucher or methleyplumb. Okay, yeah, I'm
seeing the leaves now. Yeah.They can be really prone to leaking sap
as campeaches their cousins. Okay,And so I would just watch it,

(01:18:17):
you know, give it the regularcare, adequate moisture not too much,
and moderate fertilizer not too much.It's not going to need a whole lot
of fertilizer. It looks like tome that it's growing at an adequate pace
too, So that's kind of whatwe're looking for as a moderate rate of
a growth. That tip burning.I think maybe it got dry for a

(01:18:41):
little while, or it possibly somesort of a chemical used around the tree
could have been There's no nothing goesback there except fertilizer. I don't I
try to keep it. Okay,Well, I'm not using organic on the
fertilizer, but I don't put anytype of pesticides or anything in the backyard
around any of that. No straightyeah, okay, Well, and this

(01:19:01):
is something that happens every It seemslike it's every summer. I do fight
this. So maybe it has todo with the heat. I don't know
if that's something that's prone for theplumbs. Well, I'll tell you this,
Dwayne, diseases do not know wherethe tips and margins of the leaf
are. They land where they landand infect where they land, and so
disease bacteria and fungus is more ofa random thing. When you see the

(01:19:26):
tips and margins, that means eitherwater isn't getting to that spot, or
if you use fertilizer, assault typefertilizer and you overapply it, it's flowing
along and as the leaf is transpiringwater out, it's leaving the fertilizer salts
behind. So we can get tipand margin burn from an excessive fertilization.

(01:19:49):
But that's about it. That's aboutthe only things I can think of that
would do this. Okay, well, thank you, sir. I appreciate
it all right, Good luck withthat, Thank you. Good our phone
number seven one three two one twofive eight seven four. I've talked about
pier scapes before and it's I amvery impressed by Peerscapes. And here's why.

(01:20:15):
First of all, right, Iwant you to write down this website
and I want you to go thereand look at it. It's Piercescapes dot
com. Pierscapes dot com. Lookat the work that they do. Do
you need a hardscape put in theback. Do you need a perhaps area
that doesn't drain well to drain well? They can fix that. Is your
irrigation system not in good shape,it needs some evaluating and repairing, they

(01:20:41):
can do that too. They alsodo quarterly service for your beds. So
if you have a bed that youwould like somebody to come once a quarter
and weed it and do any trimmingthat's necessary, fertilizing is needed, make
sure the irrigation's working, and maybeperiodically a color change, like hey,
the Panzies don't like summer, let'sput in a summer color. They do

(01:21:02):
all that. You can sign upfor the quarterly maintenance. It works really
well. But no matter what youneed in your landscape, I mean,
we're talking about landscape lighting, we'retalking about pathways, just anything in the
way of hard escape. They specializein that. And certainly in designing.
If you'd like to have them comein and really create a showplace for you,

(01:21:24):
they can do any level of thatthat you want. Piercescapes dot com
here's the number two eight one threeseven oh fifty sixty two eight one three
seven oh five zero six zero.Give them a call or especially go to
that website and look at the work. I think you'll be as impressed as
I have been. In Chani Gardensdown in Richmond is one of those destinations

(01:21:49):
showplaces. You know, if you'veever been there, you know what I'm
talking about. If you haven't,well, I got something for you to
do then this afternoon in Janet GardensRichmond dot com. That's the website Enchanted
Gardens Richmond dot com. They're onthe Katie Foster side. So if you're
down in Richmond Rosenberg area, youhead north and they're on FM three fifty

(01:22:11):
nine FM three fifty nine. Itis a beautiful mersery. It's really an
unforgettable experience to go. You're goingto find every kind of plants you want.
You're gonna find people that know whatthey're talking about to help you.
They are experts at putting together combinationplanters. You ought to see some of
the things that they put together there, and they just have everything you need.

(01:22:33):
You can bring your samples in forsome expert advice, put them a
little plastic bag. Walk in thereand say, hey, what is this?
What do I do about it?And they can help you with that.
They carry all the fertilizers I talkabout on garden line. They're open
Monday through Saturday eight to five andon Sundays from ten am to four pm.
So, as I said, that'ssomething for you to do. Remember

(01:22:55):
it is not too late to beplanting just because things have warmed up.
No, take advantage of anytime youcan pull aside to get some beautiful summer
color planted. Maybe it's a hangingbasket, maybe it's a flower bed,
maybe it's starting a shrub or arosebush. In general, now's the time.
Get that done. Don't wait weget I get impatient with plants.

(01:23:20):
I you know, you buy them. I know what this thing's going to
look like when it grows up.Oh my gosh, it's going to be
gorgeous. But right now, especiallyif it came out of a four inch
pod, it's like, okay,that's a little bitty thing, let's go,
let's grow. So but that's whywe got quality fertilizers. Speaking of
a quality type fertilizer, nitrophoss issweet green is a natural type fertilizer.

(01:23:45):
It's based on molasses with microbial activityto create an eleven percent nitrogen eleven percent
that is high for an organic typeproduct. Eleven percent nitrogen product that will
really green up your lawn. AndI would say right now, if you
were going to use a sweet green, first of all, it smells wonderful.
That's why they call it sweet green. If you're going to use that,

(01:24:06):
I would put it out now ata moderate rate, and then keep
returning your clippings, and probably acouple of months from now, maybe let's
say we get into I don't know, sometime in August, you could put
another application out to carry you oninto the fall season when you do your
fall fertilization. Now, it's anitroposs product, So you're going to find

(01:24:27):
it in a lot of different places. D and Defeat up there in Tomball
will carry it. Fisher's Hardware inBaytown will carry it. Plants and things
out in Brenham, Jim's Hardware,Montgomery It's easy to find Sweet Green and
other nitroposs products, and I thinkthat this one will be interesting. I
was joking the other day that itsmells so good that you want to take

(01:24:47):
the long way home from the storejust so you can enjoy the smell a
little bit longer in the car.All Right, that's exaggerating a little bit,
but I love the smell. Ourphone number if you'd like to give
us a call seven one three twoone two KT right seven one three two
one two k t r H.I. I had Bill Stingle from Mosquito

(01:25:15):
Dunks on yesterday. I hope youwere able to hear that. I want
to talk a little bit about mosquitos. We're gonna take a break here,
but when I come back, Iwant to talk a little bit about mosquitoes
and how how this product works,as well as some of the other things
we can do for mosquitoes. We'llbe right back. Welcome back to Garden

(01:25:35):
Line. We are hoping here today. I love I love upbeat music,
just especially or kind of mid morninghere. It's time to get going here.
That's enough coffee for me today,and I'm ready to hit a head
out of here after the show andget some actual work done this afternoon.
I don't know. I say work, it's not work for me. It's

(01:25:58):
play out in the lands ape somethings I want to get planted. We're
gonna go first to Northwest Houston andtalk to Malcolm. Hello, Malcolm,
Hey, good morning, Skip.How you doing. I hope you're doing
well. I am. I've gota small problem in my Saint Augustine yard.
I've been following your schedule and myyard's looking really great. But my
tree drafted a bunch of acorns,and I've got little acorns trees sprouting up

(01:26:23):
everywhere, hundreds, maybe thousands ofthem. Okay, can I do you
know if you if it's just mowthem, they tend to kind of go
away when they're a little tiny ceiling. They just if they can't get good
leaves up there to capture sunlight thatthat little ceiling doesn't have a great wet
to to. There's not a sprayfor them. I mean, well,
there are sprays that kill them,but I don't recommend doing that on a

(01:26:45):
long Well, that's fine, it'sI just didn't know if that was the
case. I didn't want them toget stronger in the roots and then up,
I'll never be able to get ridof them. So that's right,
I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. Yeah, keep keeping mode. And
I mean, if you end uphaving to kill something like that, you're
gonna have to be very selective andhow you spray so you don't hurt your
lawn too. Yeah. No,that sounds like Mowen's the answer. Man.

(01:27:08):
I appreciate it. Thank you verymuch. All right, Malcolm,
take care. Appreciate your call verymuch. Start of Hope. I was
talking about Star Hope earlier. Thatis a place that and the name is
so so appropriate. That is aplace that brings hope to people. And
I'd like you, just just fora moment, just kind of go with
me on this. Maybe you've gota mom that has kids that is alone

(01:27:33):
now and for whatever reason, she'slost her job, maybe living in a
car. How do you take somebodylike that and set them on their feet
where they're self sustaining and there's afuture for those children. Well, here's
what you do. You bring themin, you give them a place to
eat, You take care of thekids with some daycare so mom can learn
get some job skills. Whatever ifsubstance abuse is part of it. Provide

(01:27:57):
help with that too. No Hopehas the whole pathway kind of laid out
for people that are willing to takethe time, stick around and do it
for them to have a new life. And you don't hear the stories of
people that have been through Star ofHope and now have a wonderful part of
our community, contributing people leaders inthe community and in their areas. We're

(01:28:18):
talking about hope, and I knowyou have a compassion about you. This
is a way to put that compassionto work. It doesn't take much.
You know, about two dollars andeighty cents, I think is what it
takes to provide a meal for people. But Star of Hope, let me
give you the website shmission dot org. Shmission dot org. You need to

(01:28:42):
learn more about it. My wifeand I support Star of Hope. I
completely believe in Star Hope and Icannot think of a better group in terms
of using money to get the mostout of every single dollar. That's what
they do at Star Hope. So, Sohmission dot org come out. We're
going to go now and talk toLee. Haylee, how you doing.

(01:29:04):
I'm fine. I talked to youyesterday about my yard. I have some
orchids that I bought about three monthsago and they were boomed out. How
can I get them to reboom?Did you get these at a at a
garden center or a grocery store?Where did you I bought them at home

(01:29:27):
depot? Okay, those are calledmoth orchids. That's why I'm asking where
it's moth orchids. Moth Orchids arethe easiest ones for us to grow in
our homes. When they finish blooming, you can cut the bloomstalk off if
you like, and you want togive them a lot of light, but

(01:29:48):
not direct sun. So if yourmoth orcid is looking deep emerald green,
chances are it's not getting enough lightdeep deep green. It's almost like it's
packing more chlorophyll in the leaf totry to capture the light little light that
it's getting so good sunlight. Occasionallyyou repot them, and that would mean

(01:30:11):
pulling them out of their container.You know, they typically are going to
be in a real chunky mix.It may be sphagnum moss in the mix,
or maybe chunks of wood, butthat's how they grow in nature.
They grow on the side of atree and tree bark, grabbing onto tree
bark and cut off any roots thatare damaged or dead and just move them
into a new pot. It canbe a little bit larger pot. And

(01:30:36):
make sure you use something that's notlike potting soil. You want a good
chunky orchid mix in our garden Centerselbows, and then begin watering them with
a dilute, very fertilizer solution,not the full label rate. I'm talking
about just a little bit. Andas you water them with that, it'll

(01:30:58):
encourage new growth and they will gothrough other bloom cycles. I've got some
that I've had for years and unfortunatelysome that have really been neglected by me,
and I'm always surprised they stay aliveand with us a little bit of
care, I actually get reblooming onthem. And I think that's the best
thing in the world. Well,when the home people have that fertilizer or

(01:31:21):
Walmart, I have no idea.I don't. I just don't. What's
your name of it? You knowwhat you could use? You could use
a number of different things. Microlifehas an orange bottle. It's a quart
bottle, it's orange and it's it'sa seven to one four. I think

(01:31:42):
my brain just lost that last numberseven to one for it's a microlife product.
I use it on houseplants a lot. But when you use that,
you're not going to burn the roots. It's not salt based. But just
use it dilutely. Read the labeland then I would even go lower than
the label on the rate that you'reusing it when you water. Okay,
Okay, there's a lot of productsout there though, I mean, we're

(01:32:03):
just talking about just a slight amountof nutrient to help it out. Well,
I appreciate the value. Can growAfrican balance myself, so I love.
Yeah, I just take a leafand stick it in the soil and
let it root. Isn't that cool? That is really it's amazing. Yeah,

(01:32:24):
hey, Lee, thanks for thecall. I appreciate that very much.
Okay, bye, bye bye.The Landscaper's Pride folks have twenty plus
products that help you have a successfulgarden of a successful containers, successful take

(01:32:44):
care of that brown stuff like Italk about all the time. Right now,
I want to talk about their mulches. Though. Mulch is very important.
Mulch blocks sunlight from hitting the soil, which means weed seeds can't get
a start, and that's important.Mulch moderate soil temperature, which is critical.
Listen on a summer day ninety fivedegrees the sun baking down on the

(01:33:06):
soil. That soil gets so hot. Roots can't live up there near the
surface. When you have a malt, it stays moist and it stays cooler,
and that's important. How about theirblack velvet malts, a naturally dark,
dark colored mult that is just beautifuland it's not dyed. They have
hardwood mulches, which is a shreddedmaterial from hardwood from trees and things.

(01:33:29):
It's a recycling of that. Theyhave pine bark multch, which is the
most popular product they have. Theyhave a cypress mulch that is very durable.
It kind of sticks in place too. It's not likely to float away.
In fact, it won't flow away. Cyper smultch, cedar multch made
from whole cedar logs topped up,has a real nice aroma as you put
it out, and a beautiful kindof a natural red streaked color. All

(01:33:51):
those are good mulches, and allthose are from the folks at Landscaper's Pride,
and you can find them all overthe place. Just go to Landscaperspride
dot com and you'll see the many, many, many places that carry their
products. I'm gonna head out nowto talk to brother Daryl. Hello Daryl,
Good morning, Skip. How areyou good? Hey? I got

(01:34:15):
a question. We got a figtree last year. I think it's it's
a Celeste fig. We've got itlast year and the summer heat just almost
completely decimated it. But this yearit's come up. Well. It's very
green, but a lot of thebuds, a lot of the the immature

(01:34:36):
figs have some just like a brownishcolor to them, like they're not maturing.
Is there anything that I could puton there? Or I would think
that they should have started to,you know, ripen by now. Yeah.
Sometimes sometimes figs just take their time. A lot of different varieties that

(01:34:58):
ripening at not all the same time. I don't know on the brownish and
I almost have to see a photoof it to know for sure that any
kind of a scarring on the surfaceof a fruit like a fig can create
a brownish kind of an area.It's like a surface, it's like the
plant tried to heal having damage tothe surface. That's a possibility I'm not

(01:35:23):
aware of a disease that causes brownishareas on the fruit of a fig.
I'm sitting here trying to think throughis there anything, and I'm not aware
of it. We know the I'mjust going to say that, I know
that. You know, we've beenvery cautious about, you know, not
watering it because you know, overwateringtons to turn the leaves brown and the

(01:35:44):
die off. Yeah. Absolutely,well, figs are pretty tolerant of a
range of things. But you knowwhat, let's do this. If you're
if you would like me to helpyou further, I'm going to put you
on hold and have my producer Chrispick up the phone and he will give
you an email where you can sendme some photos and if you could get

(01:36:08):
up really close so we can reallysee exactly what's going on. Maybe a
picture of the whole tree, butsome stuff that's up closed. I'll take
a look at it and see ifI see anything that's not coming to mind
right now. Yeah, that'd begreat because we really wanted to start producing.
We love our figs, you bet, you bet. I appreciate that.

(01:36:30):
All right, Well, thank youappreciate the call very much. I
certainly do. Let's see carry in. I'm gonna hold you till after break
so we have time to handle yourspecific call. Have you been to our
CW Nurseries. They've got some reallyincredible sales going on right now, and
on trees and shrubs and things likethat. You know, they grow their

(01:36:50):
own they have outstanding quality and theyonly grow stuff that's gonna be here.
I mean they've been doing this Ithink nineteen seventy nine when the Williamson family
opened up RCW Nursery and it's stillthe family that runs it. They're right
there where Tomba Parkway comes Ato beltWay eight. They have a selection of
any kind of thing you would wantto plant. But I just want to

(01:37:12):
brag on their woody ornamentals, theroses, and the shrubs and trees.
They are really set up to helpyou have success with that as well.
We're gonna take a little break.We'll be right back, all right.
A little billy Joe Shaver there playeda big part in Texas country music.
Welcome back to your guardline. Goodto have you with us. I'm gonna
head right to the phones here.We're going to head out to Montgomery and

(01:37:33):
talk to carry in Hello, carryin good morning, Skip. I am
calling because I could use some adviceon my yard. It's only two years
old, and so we planted itright before that real dry weather the drought,
I guess, okay, and sofor two years in a row,
I ended up with take a rootrot, pulled a bunch of the grass

(01:37:55):
out, or best it treated withfun So I'm doing everything, but there's
areas it just still look like Ineed to do something to help move them
along, to help with recovery.So when you look at them, is
it that the grass is then isit or the areas? Is the grass
yellow in some of those areas orwhat are you? Yeah? Yellow and
then just not thriving. Okay,well, uh, it could be a

(01:38:20):
number of things. If you havetake all root rot, which sounds like
you do still, then anything youdo to help the grass thrive is helpful.
You know. It's one thing tospray the grass with the fund side
to kill the take all. Thatcan be done, but it's not as

(01:38:42):
effective as we would like it tobe. Just it's important. By the
way, if you go online togardening with Skip dot com. My schedule
is online. I don't know,have you seen that by any chance.
Yeah, yeah, I've done that. I've used the fund and I'll treat
it again. Okay, well,because I have the fungicides and the timing
all on there all right, Sowhat else is in your control is if

(01:39:04):
it's a clasoild's kind of compacted airrating core aerating pulling the cores out,
compost top dressing over the top ofit, providing adequate watering and a healthy
Saint Augustine lawn can operate on notthat much water really, but when it
has take all root rot, nowit has less roots, So how is

(01:39:28):
it going to take up water?So it's important to water in regular doses
somewhat frequently. Instead of that likeonce a week or so, you're probably
are going to need to water acouple times a week in small classes to
help that plant not dry out becauseit doesn't have the root system that it
needs. And in the process,of course, some fertilizer is helpful.

(01:39:51):
I would say this would be agood time to bring in something that is
a hose end sprayer, you know, Medina supergrow plus hooks up to your
home. I would try spraying thaton the area because it's got iron in
it, which that's why your grassis yellow. Of course, the nitrogen
and then a lot of other goodthings, and you're kind of a follier
feeding it when you do that.And I would try that on it.

(01:40:15):
And then again when we get towardthe fall season, that's when we start
treating for takeoll for the most effectivetime to spray for it. Okay.
And that when you said to douse the compost top soil. Can I
do that now or do I needto wait? You can do that now.
It's a compost top dressing. Ohsorry, top dressing. If you

(01:40:38):
can find a leaf mold compost,you're not that far away from Nature's Way,
which is over on Interstate forty fiveat south of Conra. There they
have a leaf mold compost. Theycan deliver a bunch of it, or
you can run over there and getit if you got a truck or trailer.
But that would be something that Ithink would be good to do after
you do the core aeration, okay, okay, and then obviously helpful to

(01:41:01):
keep treating the weeds because it's thinning. Put another pre emergent down. Yeah,
you know, hold off on thepre emergent. Here's the trade off
the pre emergence. If you don't, if you're not careful with how you
apply them, they can affect theability of that turf to form roots.
It's called root clubbing, and thesame way that it prevents a weed seed

(01:41:24):
from germinating successfully, it prevents thegrass runner from dropping a root down in
the soil effectively. And I seepeople over use those all the time.
They're affective products. They can workwell. But right now, we got
a patient that's very sick, andso I don't want to add any other
challenge to what that grass is goingthrough. If you had a really good,

(01:41:45):
healthy loan, I wouldn't worry aboutthis, but I would hold off
on the pre emergent right now.You may end up with some weeds,
but we need to get that grasshealthy and then we can deal with weeds
and other things. Okay with theplacement. Would that help at all?
These are my uh yeah, longerterm though. Right now I'm concerned about

(01:42:08):
getting some healthy roots in the ground. Uh and uh, maybe kind of
circumventing the root system with that folierapplications of the supergril plus I was talking
about, Kay, you know,it's kind of like we're it's like a
patient in the hospital. You know, if they can't eat, then they
get the IV right to keep themgoing right. And we're looking kind of

(01:42:29):
at an IV approach right now foryour lawn. Uh and once roots are
down, then lots of good fertilizersto use for that. Okay, okay,
understood, Thank you so much.I appreciate your help. All right,
Carrion, Thanks, I appreciate yourcall. We're going to go now
to Alan and Tom Ball. Hey, Allen, Yes, Hey, how
are you. I'm good, I'mgood. How can we help? Yeah?

(01:42:51):
I had two questions. I havea garden, a decent sized garden,
but it's kind of overrun with nutsledge and I've been it than a
sprain some of the things on it. And I was wondering if there's some
solution you might have to help meovercome that. Is this a vegetable garden?
Yes, So the options are notreal great, but here's what they

(01:43:16):
are. One of them is handdigging. Every time you get a chance
to work the soil, you kindof learn what those little dark, wiry
rhizomes look like and the little nuts, which are also very dark, and
you just pull that out or ifyou get out there and you see,
I have a bed of okra thatplanted kind of laid, it's coming up,

(01:43:36):
and it's got a nutsedge plant,about three of them in the whole
bed, and so I'm going tohead out there and just get down there
and get those out of there ratherthan try the chemical treatments on those.
But there are some products at work. Round up does not work that well
on nut seeds, and so it'snot something that you would use unfortunately.

(01:43:57):
I mean, you can use itin a vegetable garden, but it's not
going to be as effected the thingsthat are made for nutsedge, like sedge
hammer and sedge ender. There's there'simage is another one. Most of those
I don't believe have a label foruse in the vegetable garden. So uh,
that kind of leaves us without option. Some people will put that on

(01:44:18):
a sponge applicator and they will goin and just wipe it right on the
nutsedge plant. I use the lowg I use the little grabber tools.
You get a jar off the shelfwith U and instead of the little suction
cups or whatever's on the end ofit, I put a couple of sponges
on there with a plate behind them, and I just keep it hanging in
the garage because I can squirt whateverI need to put on a plant,

(01:44:41):
a weed to kill. I've squirtit on the sponge and then I just
you don't even have to bend overit. You just you just squeeze the
grip. It grabs both sides ofthe plant and you pull up. It
wipes it only on the nut sedge, so that you can't get less chemical
than that. Okay, yeah,so I saw that. You know,
it said not for vegetable garden theimage, and so if you contain it

(01:45:03):
to the blade of the nut sledge, then it should be okay. Well,
Allan, I'm not gonna I'm notgonna be able to say yes or
no on that it When when alabel says this is how you apply it,
I'm not going to say do somethingthat's not on the label. That
is kind of that's up to you, that's on you and whatnot. And

(01:45:24):
I just, yeah, I don'twant to do an outside that's recommendation.
But I was just talking about waysto avoid putting a lot of chemical into
the soil or around your plants,and things like that. Yeah. Otherwise,
just kind of hand pull it upand try to get as much of
the nuts and everything as I can. Always follow. I've got a long

(01:45:45):
fork weater that I put down inthere, and so because if you pull
on it, it'll break off,and the nut's still there. And that
nut has about seven buds on it. So when you pull the head off
a nutsedge growth, it just it'sanother one right out. That doesn't phase
it at all. So that's whyI say get the nuts out. Okay.
Then my other question was weed.Alan, I'm gonna have to I

(01:46:11):
have to stop you there. I'mrun past a break here. I'll put
you on hold. We'll come backto you right after the break and Stephanie
Leake City, you are up afterAllan all Right's welcome back to the garden
Line. Good to good to haveyou with us today. We're gonna head
right back out to the phone phonesand talk to Alan Allen. I think
you had some dove weed, isthat right? Yeah? Yeah, that's

(01:46:33):
just kind of taking over in variousspots in my yard. And I've been
right now, I've been hand pickingit out, but it just kind of
gets ahead of me. Okay.Uh a couple of things you can do.
There's a cinnamon based weed killer.And if you go to you know,
a good garden center Europe and theTamboul area, So you got some
great choices. You got the arborgateand you've got plants for all seasons both

(01:46:56):
close to you, and they're goingto carry that. Just say I want
a center based you sprinkle it onthe doveweed if it hadn't rained, just
kind of turn on the water enoughto wet the surface of the weed so
that stuff sticks and then you sprinkleit on and I mean it just shrivels
it and turns it black real quick. Now that comes in a small container,
and so treating if you got abig area of doveweed, that's gonna

(01:47:18):
get a little expensive and tedious todo that, but that's that's an option.
That's a natural option. You canuse. The herbicide Celsius also will
work on doveweed. I'm told thatat least that's on their label. So
Celsius herbicide like the temperature, okay, and that's probably something I can spray

(01:47:40):
on the yard or okay, yeahyou would you would apply it for weed
control. I do it early inthe morning. It's not as damaging to
your Saint Augustine as a lot ofthe broad leaf weed control products are.
When the temperatures above the mid eightiescelsius. You can get up in the
early load nineties and it's okay.But I still would do it early in

(01:48:01):
the morning. That's just the bestway to go about it. Okay,
Okay, Yeah, Hey, thankyou very much. You've got good luck
with that. Sure like that callvery much. Uh. The Nelson Plant
Food has so many different great products. They got the color Star line.
Uh, it's just it's so it'sso effective if you've got flower beds and

(01:48:27):
you want to see them pop withcolor. Color Stars and excellent, excellent
option for that. If you've gottropicals, they have a nutri Star Plumeria
that covers all kinds of tropical typesof plants. They've got the rose food,
which is also very very effective.They have a boog and Villa food,
which I would say, just thinkof vines. Use a boog and
Villa food on anything that's like avine, the Great Myrtle food on anything

(01:48:49):
that's woody ornamental, especially a blooming, a blooming woody ornamental. Nelson Plant
Food Also, if you haven't doneyour Slow and Easy for summer, that's
the one that's going to last youall the way up until fall. Application
Slow and Easy excellent product, asare all of them from Nelson Plant Food
and easy to find too. Wantto head out and now to League City

(01:49:11):
and talk to Stephanie. Hello Stephanie, Why yes, I have a question.
You've got a tree in my backyardwhen I was out there yesterday and
I noticed that the bark is pealingon it. It's not all the way
up the tree, but it's agood ways up the tree. Is that
a watering issue? It's peeling?Are we talking about like a splitting of

(01:49:34):
the bark? Are we talking aboutit curling up like coming up away from
the tree? Curly nut? Curlynut? Yeah? Do you know what
kind of tree it is? Ihave no idea. I know you're going
to ask you that. The factthat it's curling up makes me think that's
a natural exfoliation of that tree.Crag mercer and it's kind of a reddish
bar. Does this tree flower?No, it's or flowered. Okay,

(01:50:01):
well, we can do a coupleof things if you would like. I
can put you on hold and getmy producer to give you an email to
send me pictures of the whole tree, a close up of the leaves and
a close up of what you're seeing, and that'll get you the most accurate
answer. Right now, I'm leaningtoward thinking this is a natural exfoliation of

(01:50:21):
the tree, but my hands aretired terms of being accurate with that.
The rest of the bark up thetree is just a gray colored, uh
colored bark. But yeah, I'lltake some pictures. I think maybe that'll
help. Yeah, let's do that, the whole tree, show me the

(01:50:42):
leaves up close so that I canidentify it for sure, and then show
me that bark situation that you see. All Right, I'm gonna put you
on hold and Chris will pick upand give you that email. Thank thanks
Stephanie for the call. Appreciate thatvery much. I had Bill Stingle on
yesterday. We're talking about mosquito dunks. That's it. That's his product.
The Summit Solutions is the name ofthe company. But mosquito dunks are that

(01:51:04):
disease of mosquitos that you put outthere in water and it dissolves slowly.
It takes about a month for adunk to fully dissolved. But as it
does, it's releasing a bacteria intothe water that is like BT. You
know BT. We use it forcaterpillars, well, caterpillar. BT will
not kill mosquitos and mosquito. BTwill not kill caterpillar, just a different

(01:51:28):
strain. The mosquito one was discoveredactually in Israel years ago. That's why
it's BT Israeliensis. There's your nerdyalert for the day. But mosquito dunks,
you can crack them up. Youcan toss them into any little small
area where water stands and keeps itgood. I know a guy that he
has a rain barrow by the houseand he doesn't have it adequately covered so

(01:51:50):
they didn't get bugs and mosquito larvain it. But he just throws a
dunk in there unlets it float inthere, and that's how he handles them.
Works really, really well. Youknow with mosquitos now, getting ahead
of them is important. You gotto keep them from having water to grow
up in. A mosquita lays anegg and if it is even a capful

(01:52:12):
I said that right, a capfulof water a mosquita can the egg can
hatch the larvae can live and itcan turn into adult. So that's what
we're up against. That's why checkyour gutters for drainage, check the catch
basins under your plants to make surethere's not standing water. Check the bird
bath that you have. Just switchthat water out every few about once a

(01:52:36):
week ought to be pretty much enoughusually, but you may have to go
a little more than that. Butanyway, and then when you got a
bunch of water, put a dunkin there and take care of them that
way. You will find that intime, by you being very careful and
not letting there be standing water anywherearound your property. And then when you
do have water, putting the dunksin them, you can control at least

(01:52:59):
the mesquite that are coming from yourproperty. Now some fly in from elsewhere.
Well, then we're just gonna haveto go to other measures like a
backyard foger, so that you know, right before you go out and sit
on the patio you can get alittle bit of a break from the mosquitoes
for a little while. With that. I know what kind of a mess
they are. You know, theyhide in the foliage of your shrubs during

(01:53:20):
the day. They like to dothat and then they come out when the
temperatures are a little more moderate.So sometimes people will even spray the foliage
of their shrub in order to geta product on their sol in the squita
lands, it's taking care of itall right. Well, we're putting another
hour in the books, one morehour ago on guarden Line today. So

(01:53:43):
you got some calls you want tocall about now it would be a good
time to do it. Seven onethree two one two KTRH Remember next Saturday.
My final appearance of the spring season. Langham Creek Ace Hardware. Langham
Creek Ace Hardware. It's out therein the Copperfield area of northwest Houston,

(01:54:05):
so it's south of Cypress. Justgo down Barker Cypress Road where it comes
into FM two excuse me five twentynine FM five twenty nine Barker Cypress Suscial
call Spincher. That's right what we'retalking about. And I hope you'll come
out. I'll be there from eleventhirty to one thirty night Saturday. Welcome

(01:54:30):
to kt r H Garden Line withSkin Richt. It's crazy. Just watch
him as so many bird Thanks tosee block crazy ways s side. Welcome

(01:55:13):
back, to garden Line. Goodto have you along with us today on
a great day, beautiful day outsidethis afternoon would be a great time to
get out there and get a littlegardening done, maybe some garden shopping.
Hey, have you been to EnchantedForest? That's outside of Richmond. In
fact, if you're in Richmond andyou had toward sugar Land, it's off
to the right Enchanted Forest FM twentyseven fifty nine. That's the road twenty

(01:55:36):
seven fifty nine. Enchanted Forest isa destination nursery. It's the kind of
place you go to and you justwant to hang out a while because it's
so much fun. I've been talkingabout pollinators earlier and butterflies earlier, and
one thing I always think about whenI think of the Jennet Forest is they
have got the best selection of boththe larval food source plants and the blooming

(01:55:58):
plants that I've in a long time. They even the funny thing here,
they even if you buy a plantit's got a little caterpillar on it,
you can take it home. Sothat's kind of like your sour dough starter
to get go into it. That'syour your starter. You're going to raise
that caterpillar at your house into abutterfly, and so it's kind of gives
you a head start. I guessthat's one way to look at it.

(01:56:18):
They have an excellent selection of everykind of plant you might need. It
is still a great time to plantherbs, and oh my gosh, they
have an excellent herb selection. Whetheryou create an herb gardener, put herbs
in a container. Herbs are reallyversatile. They've got that beautiful color plant
summer color. You know, Isaid, we have three months of hot
weather coming up here, and whynot plant something right now, get it

(01:56:43):
established, get it going so thatyou have beauty all through the rest of
this summer season. Heat tolerant.It laughs at our Houston summer. That
is the kind of plant we need, because I don't laugh at our Houston
summer, but our plants do.Our plants can, at least if they're
that tough. And chenn Us outin Richmond again, Uh, they're on
FM twenty seven fifty nine out inthe Richmond area. You can go find

(01:57:06):
them online, you can give thema call, you can however you want
to go about it. Just goand check them out. Enchanted forest,
beautiful, beautiful, place our phonenumber if you'd like to give us call.
Now be a good time. Kindof got open open lines here,
uh seven one three, two onetwo fifty eight seventy four. So you've

(01:57:30):
got a question and you don't wantto wait till next weekend, this'll be
a good time to ask it.Ace Hardware stores are everywhere. You hear
me talk about forty Ace harder storesaround the greater Houston area here. And
it's easy when you go to ACEto find anything you need. Right now,
it's barbecue season. Oh my gosh, go to the barbeque section and

(01:57:51):
just look at everything they have.It's amazing. Uh, it's a good
time to be fertilizing the long stuff. You haven't done that this summer.
They've got that. You have fireants, they've got the products to control
them, or mosquitos, whether themosquito dunks I was talking about, or
a fogger, or however you wantto go about it. They are loaded
up with everything you need. That'swhy we say ACE is the place.

(01:58:14):
Ace is the place for a wonderfulsummer, and I would say summer outdoor
living. They have some nice stringsof lights, those little ambiance lights you
string around you seem like in abeer garden or something, a little string
of glowing lights around, Well,why not for your patio. Wouldn't that
be a really cool outdoor thing.Ace is a place. Acehardware dot Com

(01:58:35):
is a website. Look at thestore locator, find the store near you,
and when you get in there,you're gonna find everything you hear me
talk about on garden Line, LikeNitrofoss bug out Max. Now that's an
insecticide from Nitrofoss. You put it. It's a granular, You put it
down on your lawn and water itin and just just to dissolve. Get

(01:58:55):
that chemical off the granules and intothe lawn. It's gonna last a long
time. In fact, they lastall summer. It's very persistent, so
it keeps going. So later ifsodweb worms show up or chinchbugs show up,
you've already got a product in placeto manage them. And ACE Hardware
stores, i mean all over theplace are going to carry products like Nitroposs
bug out Max. For example,the Tascacita Ace and the Kingwood As have

(01:59:20):
it. The Kdace Hardware has gotit. The ACE Hardware down in Oh
gosh, my brain just went blank. Sorry, say it again. Plantation
ACE are right down in the RichmondRosenberg direction. They've got it as well,
so nitro foss bug got Max getahead of them. If you want

(01:59:41):
to do that. You can findwhat you need at ACE Hardware. Go
now back to the phones and weare going to go to Spring and talk
to Bill. Hello. Bill,heyde Morris. You have got a couple
of live oaks about twelve and seventeeninch calipers, and they've got roots on
the surface of the ground. I'llcall them layer roots. I don't know
what they are, but they arelarge roots. And what do I do

(02:00:08):
about them? Can I cut themat or cover them with dirt? What
do I need to do? Andwhat causes it? Yeah? You know
the roots are really important to theplant, not only for bringing up water
nutrients, but for anchoring the plant, make it more storm tolerant if you
will. I hate to cut roots. They say you can take a root
out a year. That's a realrough estimate. And if you can avoid

(02:00:33):
cutting them, I would do that. You can bring some soil in as
long as you don't do too much. Don't do like three or four inches
of soil, maybe an inch orso and sprinkle it around there and then
do it again, you know,several months from now, do another inch
or so and gradually bring the soillevel up to the top of those roots.
That would be one option right there. If you wanted to turn that

(02:00:58):
area into like a mom to bed, that would be another good option.
Then the roots being on top,it's not a problem at all because you
have beautiful mulch all around them.You can even plant some things that like
that much shade around it too,So that's another option. What causes it,
you know, people say they usethe phrase come to the surface,

(02:01:20):
like, my roots are coming tothe surface. Well, their roots do
not migrate upward. What happens isthey get bigger in diameter. So when
that route that you're seeing now wasthe size of spaghetti, and it was
let's say it was two or threeinches below the soil surface. As that
spaghetti becomes golf ball size, youknow, softball size and so on,

(02:01:44):
well, it's pushing in all directionsand there's no resistance above it. So
as it's getting bigger, it's pushingupward and just the soil falls away.
And also erosion will expose roots asthe water moves across that area. So
that nation of the route just gettingbigger, and the fact that erosion can
take the swell away or the twomain reasons we see for that. So

(02:02:09):
the best solution is to be tocover them up. Let's get that cover
them at one time. Yeah,if you're going to use the maltch,
you could use about three inches ofmults out there, and I think that
would be fine. You you know, after you see a couple of seasons,
like we get into winter or something, you could add some more molts
again. Another to just keep bringingthat level up higher. Wonderful. Thank

(02:02:33):
you so much. I appreciate you. Yeah, Bill, And the reason
that I said on the on thesoil just an inch is roots are very
needy for oxygen and they grow ata level where they get good oxygen.
So when we bury them significantly deeper, that's the problem that we run into.
I just want to tag that on. Just keep that in mind.

(02:02:53):
These things are so big, they'reabout four inches in diameter. Yeah,
well they're going to get bigger andso that would be the time to rethink,
replan that area of the landscape.Thanks thanks for the call, sir.
I appreciate that a lot. I'mgonna have to run to break here.
Tom in Kingwood, you will bethe very first up when we come
back from break. You know,it's not every day that you get to

(02:03:15):
listen to music where the lyrics orshould be do be doo bee doo wop
wop. That was before my time. Yes, there was such a thing
as before my time. Oh gosh. Wild Birds Unlimited is the place where
you can get anything that you needto have success. You know, with
birds in your backyard. They thefolks that know what they're talking about.

(02:03:36):
For example, now is nesting season. I was talking to somebody at Wildbirds
and they were telling me, yes, we're still in nesting season. And
this I didn't know this, butbaby cardinals. You know, cardinals have
kind of an orange beak, butwhen they're young, when they're babies,
they have black beaks. Isn't thatinteresting? They turn orange as they grow.
Okay, fun fact there you gowith the price of admission. We

(02:04:00):
have the nesting super blend. There. That nesting super blend has got protein
and calcium. It's very important whenbirds are raising a group of young for
example, sunflower chips, peanuts,dried meal worms, bark, butter bits,
safflower tree nuts. That sounds likea snack for me, except for
the dried mealworm part, although Iwould be willing to try one. But

(02:04:24):
the birds really thrive on that andwhen they molt. This nesting super blend
is important because most birds are goingto mot once a year, sometimes two
or three times. But when theyshed those old feathers, they kind of
hang around a while because they're notreally good. It's just flying anywhere they
want to go, so they tendto kind of take cover, fly a
little bit less, and having anice reliable food sources good. You need
to grab one of their seed cylinders. Though the seed cylinders are tightly packed

(02:04:47):
sellar. It looks like a bigcandle made of seeds. Actually it's easy.
It lasts a long time because ittakes a while for the birds to
get those seeds out of there.So maybe you're going to go on a
vacation or trip out of town,set up a seed cylinder. You don't
have to worry the birds. You'regonna have plenty the whole time you're gone.
Another reason I like those, though, is because because the birds have

(02:05:08):
to sit down and not just graba seed and fly away. They kind
of have to pick them out ofthere. You get to see the birds
for a little bit longer, Soa little bit longer enjoyment. All from
wild Birds Unlimited. Hey the website, find the one near you WBU dot
com forward slash Houston WU dot comForward slash Houston. We're gonna go now
to Kingwood and talk to Tom.Hello Tom, and thanks for waiting.

(02:05:30):
Yes, third, good morning.I'm going to Actually got two questions I
missed when I tuned in. Imissed the pill or whatever you put in
water for mosquito. Yeah, okay, it's called mosquito dunks. Mosquito dunks
by Summit Solutions. They also makea granular form. I think it's called
mosquito bits. But it looks likeif you remember the cereal grape nuts.

(02:05:55):
That's kind of what it reminds meof. Little charts like that, either
the dunks, which are like littlemini doughnuts that float on water, or
the bits. The bits are kindof nice because if you just need a
little bit here and there, youcan break a dunk apart and do that.
But if you just need a littlebit, or maybe you want to
scatter them through a very large wetarea. Well, with the bits,

(02:06:16):
you can get that instant coverage ina bigger area than a dunk would give
you. Either way, you're goingto control your mosquito larva. They will
not be able to reproduce there inthat water. Okay, where can you
buy that ACE hardware? Ace Hardware'shuh, you're out there. You've got
K and m Ace hardware there inKingwood. If you want to run over
to Porters, there's j and Our'sACE Hardware. Another good ACE hardwristore Up

(02:06:38):
and Porter. Those are both reallyclose to you. Okay, great,
And my other question is I've gota web in my tree and I know
you've been. It looks like everybodyin Kingwood has one. Yeah, but
I sprayed at once. Do youhave to spray it again? No?
Those caterpillars, they have a lifecycle, a little tiny white man lazy

(02:07:00):
eggs. They hatch out, theyfeed and get bigger and bigger and bigger.
Once they hit about an an inchor so long, then they're ready
to form a pupa and create anothermoth like a butterfly would do. So
at this point in time, chancesare you don't have a lot of active
feeding ones, but if you getup close and look, you can tell.

(02:07:21):
So it may be a little lateto control this first generation. But
if I'm wrong about that and you'vegot young ones, then you need a
spray that gets on the foliage insidethe web where they're feeding. Some people
break the web up with a longstick, strong stream of water, but
you got to get that on thefoliage so they eat it. And there's

(02:07:43):
some very effective products. BT workspretty good on them. The spinosid works
pretty good on them, and thena wide variety of synthetic products that can
be sprayed and used for the samething. Okay, thank you all right,
Tom, good luck with that.Appreciate your call. Oh webworms.
So just a reminder, webworms arecalled fall webworms because their main worst generation

(02:08:13):
of the year is in the fall. We get an early spring gen or
not an early spring, we geta spring generation. In early summer,
we may get another generation, andthen that third one in the fall.
In our area and our latitude northsouth here in the KTRH listening area,
we have about three generations of webwormsa year, and then that can vary.

(02:08:33):
But so what's going to happen isnow all those webworms that we're everwhere.
There's a lot of moths that canlay eggs, and we have another
and then again in the fall it'sthe worst one. So just be watching
for them now that you know they'reout and about. Unless they were just
devastated by wasps and all the otherbeneficial insects and things that are out there,

(02:08:56):
they're going to be back, andso be ready to go. When
you first see the first sign ofwebbing, that's the time to get out
and start spraying that foliage with something. It could be organic or synthetic.
Both of them will kill ball weborm. Caterpillars start spraying that so that when
they start eating that, you getit to them. And those two organics

(02:09:16):
I mentioned BT and spinosa. Theyounger the caterpillar, the better they work.
If you let that caterpillar reach almostthe age to make a cocoon,
then it's not gonna be as effectiveat all. So the earlier on is
very important. And also another reasonit's important is if you wait until half
the leaves on a tree are gone, and I saw shrubs and trees that

(02:09:37):
had no leaves this year. Ifyou wait until then, well the damage
has been done. I mean,why kill a caterpillar? There's nothing else
up there for them to eat?So early, early, early. They
say that the best pest, no, the best fertilizer is the footprints of
the gardener. Have you ever heardthat? What does that mean? That

(02:09:58):
means you're out there taking carry yourplants on a regular basis, You're watching
them and it just makes them grow. Right to have that kind of care,
Well, i would say the bestpest control is also the footprints of
the gardener. When you go outin your garden. If you wait until
the webworms have thirty percent of thecanopy of a tree, that's late to

(02:10:20):
get a start and to really dothe tree the good that you could be
doing it by preventing the loss ofall that foliage. Trees are resilient.
Webworms typically do not kill trees.They to folio them. The trees refoliate.
But after what we went through,to have another one or two of
those, and I'm not predicting that'sgoing to happen, I'm saying it could
happen, and to defoliate again andagain that is not good for the trees

(02:10:45):
at all. So they're resilient.They can bounce back but hey, let's
not make them over and over again. Hopefully that makes a little bit of
sense. Micro Life fertilizers come inmany, many forms. I was talking
to someone earlier about the orange label, the Microlife with the orange label.

(02:11:07):
It's a liquid and I've used thaton my houseplants for a very long time.
It's not just made for houseplants.It works on any kind of plant
you want to put it on.But it works really well. I think
it's called Biomatrix. That's the name. Biomatrix, a seven to one three
fertilizer. But Microlife also has OceanHarvest, which is a fish based fertil

(02:11:28):
They have super Seaweed, which isthe green label. Ocean Harvest blue makes
sense water blue, Ocean Harvest greenlabel, super Seaweed Seaweed's green green label.
Isn't that easy? Makes it easyto do. They have a lot
of other products. You can getthe humants plus both in the purple bags
to put on your lawn, whichI'd recommend you do to help especially if

(02:11:48):
you have a clay soil, tohelp build some soil structure over time.
And then they also have it ina liquid form, the humans plus and
that's purple as well. Just afew things for Microlife. You can go
to Microlife Fertilizer dot com and findout about all these products and where to
get them. But I can tellyou this, I see Microlife pretty much

(02:12:09):
every garden center. I go intoevery Ace hardware staurant. I go into
Southwest Fertilizer, Bob carries it downthere. And then the feed stores.
We love our feed stores here ongarden Line and Microlife I see it in
them as well. So it's nothard at all to find. Let's head
out now to Missouri City and we'regoing to talk to Josh. Hello,

(02:12:31):
Josh, Hey, it's Missouri State. I'm the guy up near Houston,
Missouri. Oh you're near Houston,Missouri. That is yep. I called
you a while back about Greenbrier andit's been very effective what you told me.
Thank you? Well, I youknow, what do they say,
even a blindhog finds an acre andever now and then, well, what's

(02:12:54):
about a squashbug problem up here?Now? I've spent probably twenty hours just
in the last weak or so pullingleaves with squash bug eggs off and burning
them. What else can I do? This is getting ridiculous. I think
you're talking about the vine borer,right, squash vine No, No,
they're actual squash bugs. They're notthe squash vine borers. They're the little

(02:13:16):
little the little squash beetles, littlegray black things that are grayish brown.
Yeah, okay, yeah, Wellyou know here, here's a fun fact
that is the only insect that Iknow of where the name of the insect
and the recommended control method are thesame. Squash bug two bricks boom,
You got it. I'm not jokingaround about your dilemma up there. Uh,

(02:13:41):
those hemipdra piercing sucking insects like stinkbugs, leaf footed bugs, and
squash bugs. A lot of thelower talk simple products we have don't work
that well against them. You're goingto have to shift over to either.
You might have some help with pyate, which is an organic product, but

(02:14:03):
a lot of times it's not thateffective on them. Stepping up to the
next level would be synthetic parrethroids,which will kill them. But I had
a squash patch once then had abunch of them in it, and basically
I just would water the mulch andthey'd come crawling up out of the mulch
and then do a lot a lotof hands smashing. If you've got a

(02:14:24):
sizeable squash patch, that's probably notpractical. But no, I've probably got
one hundred and fifty plants and they'reon almost everything. Is that allowed in
Missouri? Can you have that many? Well? I went a little overboard
this year and put in about aquarter acre of guard vegetables. Josh,
hey, I have to run forthe news break. I'm gonna put you

(02:14:46):
on hold. If you want tohang around and talk, we can do
that. Otherwise. I hope thathelped, and thanks for the call.
We'll be right, We'll be rightback. All right, little Megan trainer
this morning, Oh popping song therereally moving along. I let's say here,
Well, first, let me giveyou the phone number seven one three
two one two U ktr H ifyou'd like to give me a call.

(02:15:07):
Uh, this is our last halfhour of guardenline this weekend, and if
you've got some questions now, itwould be a good time. Seven one
three two one two ktr H.Makes it easy. Uh. Back at
my place, we're doing a numberof different things in the landscape and I
love getting out and moving things aroundand it just reminded me that for a

(02:15:31):
lot of people, they look ata landscape as a permanent thing, and
while it could be, in general, landscapes are constantly in evolution. Uh,
maybe you planted a shrub that you'rehaving trouble now keeping below the level
of the window, or from scrapping, scrapping on the eaves of the house.

(02:15:54):
So whatever, Maybe it's a plantthat develops disease issues, or maybe
just end up wanting a new oneto go there, something different. You
know, when I was growing up, the shrubs that we had, we
didn't have as many dwarf options,and in many cases we didn't have as
much colorful foliage options like you startto see right now. And there's a

(02:16:18):
lot of good ones out there.It doesn't matter what kind of shrub it
is. There's always breeders that areworking and improving them. So maybe that
shrub needs to be pulled out.And I know you think, but it's
been there for twenty years. Welldo you like it? Do you like
it where it is? Would youlike something different there? There's nothing wrong
with that. It's just like,think about the inside of your house.

(02:16:39):
Do you ever just go, youknow what this place needs painting, or
let's rearrange this furniture, or yousee what I'm saying. That's our landscapes
too, and enjoy yourself out there. I mean this is to have a
nice new look. I'm working rightnow on a stone patio and behind my
house we got a little satio area. But we're putting some flat stone hardscape

(02:17:03):
in there, not cementing it inour soul moves around a lot and anything
you put in as seamount is goingto crack. But just going to have
some decomposed granite in between the stones. But it would be a real nice
outdoor sitting area. It's underneath abig old cypress tree, a real beautiful
area. I think. Really lookingforward to getting it out there. So
that's a new thing. We decidedthis is what we want to do because

(02:17:26):
we love to have people come overand enjoy, you know, the evenings
outside in the in the landscaping garden. What would you like to do different
or what do you think may needsome upgrading. Don't be afraid to do
that. It is okay to dothat. There's nothing wrong with taking a
perfectly healthy plant and replacing it.If that makes you happy, that's what

(02:17:48):
you want to have the goal thatyou want. So there's like glossy Abelia
as an example, the old glossyAbelias. There's one type and it got
big. Now we have many typeskaleidoscope and some with white in the foliage
as well, and there's just alot of options. So keep your eyes
open and don't be afraid to enjoyyourself and be creative. We're going to

(02:18:11):
go now to Montrose area and talkto Teresa. Hello, Teresa, Yes,
hello, how can I help?So? I've got a mature shape
sago that is actually planted in theground. It's really big. It's lasted
through the freeze or several of thefriezes, right, and it is now

(02:18:31):
starting to yellow, not in spot, but all the whole palm frond.
So I don't know what to dofor that. Interesting just to check.
Have you done any kind of weedcontrol anywhere around that plant? I have
not, no, right, Idon't know that it's a root problem.

(02:18:52):
Something's wrong in the roots, andI don't know exactly what that would be.
Sego's are pretty tolerant of a rangeof soul moisture conditions. They like
it moist, but it could bea root rot that's going on in there.
To be honest, I would haveto go research what root rot would
attack segos if any do. I'mnot run across a root rot problem on

(02:19:13):
segs before. But something is goingwrong in the plumbing system from the root
tips all the way up to thetop and for it to turn yellow.
That's not a lack of nitrogen.It's not a lack of iron. If
a leaf was green and turned yellow, that's not a lack of iron.

(02:19:33):
If it's a new leaf developing yellow, it could be. But what you're
describing there, I just keep itkeeps leading me down to the roots to
wonder what's going on down there?Gotcha? I mean, we've had so
much rain or lots of rain andthe new rain, lots of rain and
the new rain, so I didn'tknow if that was something that was going
on. Was a pretty tolerant ofthat. You see so many around the

(02:19:54):
Houston area that just looked fine,aside from the freezing that we've had so
bad recently recent years. Let mejust ask one other thing. When you
look at those yellow fronds, ifyou look under the underside of them,
is there a white material underneath orare so we're going to eliminate psychad scale,

(02:20:18):
which can also cause a yellow inthe leaves. Okay, well,
I'm not sure what to tell youother than just provide normal care. If
it is a root rot, thenyou could lose the whole plant. But
a lot of times segos, iffor whatever reason the top collapses from freeze

(02:20:39):
or whatever, they will often sendlittle puffs up, little babies up around
the sides from the base of thetrunk. So you maybe have to cut
the top out, but hopefully theplant would continue going if you're interested in
keeping it right. I do seenew growth in the center areas, and
I've pushed on the trunk and it'snot squishy, so I didn't know if

(02:21:03):
that made a difference. And it'son an incline, so I'm surprised if
it would be, you know,staying in water, so I have to
research it. Yeah, you saidin the center areas, so it's I
was picturing that every frond on theentire sego was yellow, but you have
green. You the little baby onesthat are coming out of the center,

(02:21:28):
the little teeny tiny, you know, little three inch guys, they are
green. Are you talking about Okay? I just want to make sure I'm
understanding this right. You're talking aboutnew friends coming out of the center,
the baby French. Are we talkingabout a baby, the new baby,
the new baby Froz. Those oldones did that. But if they're coming

(02:21:48):
out green, you ought to beokay. This yellowing is not how it's
been. You've had good green inthe past, and this sounds like it
happened somewhat suddenly. Uh just ithadn't been that way a long long time.
So uh I think I would justcontinue to carry your giving it and
be ready to cut those o onesoff as you get new foliage up there

(02:22:09):
to capture the sunlight. All right, gotcha? Okay, thanks, thank
you, good luck with that.I appreciate that. We're going to take
a little break. If you wouldlike to call and get on for our
last segment, here's your chance.Seven one three two one two kt R
eight seven one three two and twokat R H. Welcome back to Guardline.

(02:22:31):
Good to have you with us here. We are launching out in the
last segment of the day. I'mgoing to head straight out here to the
phones. By the way, ifyou like call, do you have a
little bit of room If you wantto not delay too long. We're going
to go to Alvin and talk toDennis. Hello, Dennis, Oh,
good morning. How are you doing. I got a question quick and easy
to answer. It concerns tomato plantsgrowing in the autumn season of the year,

(02:22:56):
or this time anyway. Recently purchaseda couple of tomato plants from all
localized will say to say, homedepot an, you know, but I
have them in the ground and theyare growing. They actually are growing pretty
good, but I'm not getting blossomson it like I think I should.
And of course they kind of lookingunhealthy, you know, I mean just
looking at them, they just they'rekind of like, so, what what

(02:23:20):
could I be doing that would perhapsenhance their growth? Okay? Well,
adequate so moisture. A new planthas a limited root system, and so
it's going to need some time tohave the type of root system that can
be resilient. That's that's large andextensive, if you will, And so
that that would be one thing.Probably the most important thing is keeping it

(02:23:43):
adequately hydrated. Fertilizer is always agood idea, and with tomatoes, we
have a number of excellent products thatwill work well they got good nitrogen levels
to keep stimulating new growth. Now, it's not a bad time to get
a tomato in for a fall fallharvest. Are slicer tomatoes, they don't

(02:24:05):
like to set when the weather startsto heat up, and so it's going
to be way into the fall beforethey're really setting. Again. We need
to get a break in the inthe heat. Those little cherry tomatoes and
grapes, those set better in theheat, and so you you may get
some fruit off that before we evenget to fall. Okay, well,
you recommend like products like Miracle Grow, would that be a good choice or

(02:24:30):
just that's not one. No,that's not one that I that I would
recommend. There. I say thisa lot, but I be honest with
you. I use blond fertilizer inmy gardens a lot. And Okay,
Nelson's has a really good quality plantfood for tomatoes. In fact, they
have an organic plant food for tomatoes, and so you could go with something

(02:24:52):
like that. It comes in abig old clear jar with the screw top,
and you could do that. Butwhen you're getting the nutrients out there,
with a pretty good amount of nitrogen, especially, that's going to stimulate
the growth and they're going to dofine for you. Great. So you
advice. You can go hunting forvegetable fertilizer, or you can just make

(02:25:13):
it easier in yourself and use whatyou got, which most people have land
fertilizer because they have a lot fertilizer. Yeah, good advice. Thank you
very much for your advice, andI'm going to try that all right now,
Dennis. I don't know how muchyou listen to Gardenline, but we
do have a rule here that myadvice is free, but I do expect
to be paid in tomatoes. Sojust bring half of your fall crop and

(02:25:35):
leave it at the station and we'llcall it even. Okay, I could
do something like that, Yes,sir, you could. That was very
careful. I know, I understand, I understand. Sure, thanks a
lot. We're having fun here.Thanks, thank you. You have a
good time, that is for sure. Yeah, yeah, that's right.

(02:25:56):
Nutrients. You know, we wethink nutrients as making plants grow, but
nutrients help plants grow. Like ifyou put nitrogen on the soil, it's
not like it makes that plant growfaster. It's if the plant gets adequate
nitrogen, it can and will growfaster. So think about it that way.

(02:26:18):
That's why I like the bank accountanalogy for nutrients and soil. Your
soil is a bank account. Andwhether we look at it as a bank
account or as as a storeroom ifyou will, when you need something,
you go to the storeroom and youget it out of the storeroom to use
it, okay, or a bankaccount you make a withdrawal. Well,

(02:26:41):
if our bank account has all ofthe twenty plus nutrients that plants might be
or will be needing in it,then you're going to that plant's not going
to go hungry. It's going tobe able to continue to do the things
it does take up the nutrients ithas. And so that's that's important to
build that bank account. So whileyes, when you put nitrogen on your

(02:27:01):
lawn, it makes a long growfaster, but that's why it's because you're
you're making a readily available form,and nitrogen is a very volatile nutrient.
Nerd alert here, I'm nerding outa little bit, but I think it's
important to understand this. Nitrogen canvolatilize as a gas and go away.
It can wash away, it canit can literally just be carried away very

(02:27:24):
easily with a good rain, uh, you know, down into the soil
and it changes forms a lot inthe soil. There's there's several different forms
nitrogen takes in the soil as microbesdo their work on it. So it's
not unusual to have a temporary nitrogendeficiency. And we can fix that by

(02:27:45):
in small amounts continuing to provide somenitrogen now a lot of the other nutrients.
It's more the bank account where youjust build it up and if you
if you got it now, you'regoing to have it next spring. It's
still there, you know, butwith nitrogen especially and to a degree of
potassium, is that way as well. Let's go to West Houston. Now
we're going to talk to Steve.Hello, Steve, Hello, Skip,

(02:28:09):
is that you? This is megood Well, I just want to say
I know it's in the show,but I think you are the greatest choice
of the successor to Randy. I'veheard you on his show and other places
before, and I go back,I can remember Bill Zach and Ben Old
Dag Bob Bob flagg Is, JohnBurrow still with us. I have I

(02:28:35):
do not know the answer to thatone. I don't Yeah, I hope
not. I hope. I mean, I hope so, I hope he
is doing well. What was thename of that weed you've talked about with
it, It's a strange name withthe mimosa like leaves chamber bitter, chamber
bitter, and that's it. Andwhen you look at the little mimosa lee

(02:29:00):
underneath that leaf petial, you knowhow a compound leave, well, even
like like a pecan leaf, it'sit's a compound leaf with a little stem
that holds leaflets as you go downthe stem. Well, on mosta weed,
it's a little tiny weed. Uh. It has a little seed bloom
blooms and seed underneath there. It'sreally strange the way it blooms. It

(02:29:22):
is. And I've got I've gotit beaten down pretty good, but it'll
come back up. My main questionis I've got a bed with some hybrid
teas and it's been a long termbed used for that. It was looking
pretty scraggly. I put down somerose soil and some compost and then topped
it with munch and I've used inthe past. I never want to use

(02:29:46):
that, uh, you know,that weed cloth, because it just tears
and it's a mess. I've gotweeds. I mean they're they're they're growing
every Okay, I mean it's justI've weeded three days ago and that's full
again. Okay, Well, Steve, I just want to let you know
I've got about about a minute herebefore they start playing the music for the
end of the show. If it'sif it's annual weed, mult keeps the

(02:30:09):
seeds from being able to sprout andestablish always keeping a good thing. Mult.
If it's a perennial weed like nutsaid, or like bermuda grass,
you're gonna have to go down anddo something to kill that weed, uh,
in order to have it translocate downin the weed and truly killed the
weed. Because go ahead, I'mthinking about time. One last question.

(02:30:31):
I do have some low n eyedweed beater, but I was hisitant to
use that in that bed. AndI also have some barricade. Okay.
Barricade is a barricade is a preemergent that prevents the seeds from coming up
the weed beater. You better checkthe label on that to see if you

(02:30:52):
can even use it in that bed. Thank you, Thank you so much
for your time. I'll check thatout all right. Well, thanks for
coming, Steve. I appreciate you. That's a nice way as far as
I'm concerned in the show. Andtake care all right, don't forget next
Saturday. What's next Saturday. I'mgoing to be at Langham Creek Ace Hardware
and Langham Creek Ace Hardware is overwhere five twenty nine also called Spencer Road

(02:31:16):
and Barker Cypress come together in northwestHouston, just south of Ferry Center,
south of Cypress and whatnot. I'llbe there from eleven thirty to one thirty.
We're going to be giving away someproducts, the reps from Microlife,
from micropost Boat. I'm going tobe there providing a free product, and
I'll be there to answer your gardenthe questions and last time I'll be doing

(02:31:39):
it until this fall. I callthis Disney Latin. I have a better
chance of not killing something if Iget the plants from Rbardie. I very
rarely have anything die that I buyhere, as opposed to blows or home
Depot. You know, half thestuff I buy ends up dying. And

(02:32:00):
you're going to find varieties of plants, trees, shrubs that you're just not
going to find that those other gardencenters and ever,