March 21, 2026 • 39 mins
The warm weather this week is ideal for gardening. Garden expert Teresa Watkins, host of Better Lawns and Gardens, answers your gardening questions, shares a seasonal "Dirty Word of the Day," and offers advice on best management practices for gardeners.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Good morning, Welcome back to the second hour of Better
Lawns and Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. I'm
Teresa Watkins. I am a landscape designer, I garden author.
I love consulting on horticultural and gardening issues, and I
love taking your gardening questions. And this is our is
(00:29):
all about you. One triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text me at two
three six eight zero. And we always start off with
the dirty word of the day, and it's very apropos
today for spring. And now it's time for the dirty
word of the Day on Better Lawns and Gardens with
(00:51):
Teresa Watkins. Today's dirty word of the day is Frondensis
frondensis and I'm gonna spell it for you f R
N D E S C E n CE frondensis. In botany,
fordensis refers to the process or period of putting forth
(01:14):
leaves as a tree or plant in spring. It is
a specific phase in a plant's growth cycle, typified by
the emergence and developing of new leaves. First used in
eighteen thirty five through eighteen forty five, the term originates
from the late Latin word forrudentia derived from frods are
(01:35):
meaning to become leafy or to put forth leaves. It
is an essential phenomenon for plant health and growth, indicating
the commencement of photosynthesis after a dormant period. Common Florida
deciduous trees that experience Fordensis at this time of the
year are beach crape myrtles, cypress trees, elms, people, oak leaf, hydrangea,
(02:02):
and river birches, just to name a few. So when
you're going by a tree and you're seeing the new
leaf growth coming out, like the new leaves on the
cypress trees, then you can say that you can tell
someone that it's going through from Densis f R O
N d E s C E n CE for dnsus.
(02:26):
Isn't that a great word.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It's very great. Yeah, yeah, it's it.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Is long for dentsus. It is. And so we're taking
your gardening questions. If you missed the first hour, you
can go back and listen to it on iHeartRadio on
just google Teresa Watkins and Better Lands and Gardens, and
you can find it on your app, or you can
listen to it anywhere where you listen to podcasts. Just
(02:51):
Google Teresa Watkins and Better Lawns and Gardens, and you
can find it also to our art and Bloom garden tours.
We are already working on twenty twenty seven. Some exciting
places to go to.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I kind of preview, but there we go.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
But we have our Revolutionary Garden Tour coming up and
then our Best of English Gardens and the Chelsea Flowers
Show in May. But June we still have some availability
in June for our Newport Flower Show, Wow and Martha's Vineyard.
It is a fantastic tour. We get to go to
(03:27):
the Gilded Age mansions. They're little cottages, but they're huge
palatial mansions. And then we're taking a trip to Martha's Vineyard.
We're going to have a fun time there. And then
we're going into Boston for the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum.
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And some of these are ones that you won't ever
be able to see again.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, the Revolutionary Garden Tour has for the two hundred
and fiftieth birthday of the Organ Station, but no, that's okay,
but we still have availability. In July. We are going
to one of my favorite garden spots, the Buffalo, New
York the garden Walk Buffalo Garden Tour, and we also
go to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, fabulous, fabulous
(04:12):
garden tours. And when you think of Buffalo, New York,
and when you think of the Hudson River Valley or Newport,
Rhode Island, you don't think of seeing plants that are
tropical or that are going to grow here, but there are.
I mean, you get so many great ideas and a
lot of my landscape design inspiration comes from seeing gardens
(04:34):
and other places with the plant combinations. So we have
a great time. In August, we are going to France
and we are going to private chateaus and Paris and
just some beautiful, beautiful palaces. And then in September we
are going to the Brandywine Valley Chanticleer Longwood Winter there
(04:56):
and private gardens of some of my good friends, Gunny
Rose Carrie, who has a beautiful Northview garden. She has
such great books on bulbs and gardening. She is a delight.
And we are also going to have dinner with Frederick
law Olmsted and that's going to be fascinating. So then
(05:17):
and then in October we have the Ethereal Gardens of
New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yes, and said those that do not stress, because Tom
McCubbin will be filling in for Teresa, so we will
still have live shows unless it's like the holiday weekend,
then we will do a best of it.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
He is coming in and we're gonna have doctor Gary
Bachman on too as well. And uh, Lance Walheim, he's
it was a regular, very much a regular. He retired,
but he hasn't stopped. He has a great book coming
out and Tom will be talking to him over the
next few weeks. So I will be here, yes, I
will be here and uh, but then Tom is going
(05:56):
to fill in when I'm away, and that's a lot
of fun. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yes, Steph, we do appreciate it. And also it is
now after eight o'clock and what does that mean. That
means that you're already late to Peterson's Nursery and getting
your roses. But that doesn't mean they don't have any left.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
They had a hundreds and hundreds of them, so beautiful ones.
Look for Coco Loco, Oh it's gorgeous. My favorite is
Double Delight. Oh, so fred and Double Delight. And then
also to perfumes, just anything with fragrance roses were just wonderful.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And they let you sniff the flowers too.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
They do they let you sniff them. And I want
to say thank you to everyone who came out and
was at the talk at Peterson's Nursery last week. I
had a great time meeting everyone. The twins weren't there,
but you know, I loved beating it and I got
to meet Beverly and also Many and Ira came out
(06:50):
and it's just a lot of fun. If it's Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lads and Gardens, I'm Teresa Watkins
from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. This is Florida's talk
and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens.
(07:23):
I'm Teresa Watkins, and we're taking your gardening questions this morning.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood and it's just
lovely outside, great spring break weather and a great week
for gardening. And if you'd like to give us a
call regarding your plants, A one, triple eight, four, five, five, two,
(07:44):
nine six seven.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
My thing is is that if you are not going
outside and enjoying this weekend, then why are you in
the state of Florida. Yes, why are you here, whether
it's a vacation or living here are why? It is
the weather, our sister stations having their their big rock. Yes,
actually it's starting here shortly at the Central Florida Fairs,
the Earthday birthday event. I think it's like their twenty
(08:06):
six year I think not a brow they had to
take two years randomly off. But anyway, so yeah, so
that's that's where I'm heading too after this. But yeah,
if you aren't going outside in Florida, neither plant plants
or just enjoying the weather, then why.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
No, exactly. You know, being out is so good for you.
It is good for your you know, you know the
way you feel your emotions and getting out there. And
it's great exercise too as well. Yes, and so it's
wonderful one triple eight four five five, two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero and
let me know what you're doing out there. So I
(08:43):
wanted to talk about another insect that we see a lot,
and you may not know what it is, but it's
called a leaf minor and a leaf minor there's two.
There's a vegetable leaf minor. And I'm not going to
give you the Latin names because it doesn't do you
any good. But there's also an American serpentine leaf miner.
(09:03):
And when you're thinking serpentine and you're thinking about that
kind of curvy, meandering serpentine path, that's what you see
in the leaves. And this is you know what it is.
And so when you see the leaf miner's path on
your leaf, well, you know what, it's too late. That
(09:25):
insect that was laid in the upper portion of the
leaf has already pupated and then left. It ate its
way out of the leaf and it's now flown away
to attack another leaf. So leaf miners are present year round.
They're usually more abundant in March through June. So we're
(09:47):
seeing them lay their eggs now and they like to
lay their eggs on new growth. So if you have
citrus trees that have started to spread out new leaves,
then this is a time that you need to take
care of the issue and you need to use a spray.
The NEME eighty five spray oil, the cold press spray
(10:08):
oil that's new out is an excellent, excellent remedy to
prevent the leaf miners from getting in and so they insects.
Even with this winter that we had, this harsh winter,
there's still going to be here and they winter over.
And which is really interesting in Spanish needles the Biden's
(10:33):
album which is a native we consider it a weed,
but it's also a flower. It's a great butterfly tractor,
but it is also a host plant for leaf miners
to to a winter over in the in the weeds,
so that was interesting. They host range. They have so
(10:54):
many different vegetables and plants that they can go after,
beans and celeries, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, squash and tomatoes, and
then also to citrus trees, your fruit trees. And what
the damage they do is is they puncture the leaf
(11:15):
and that's how they go ahead and lay their eggs.
But leaf mining that when you see that little serpentine trail,
it reduces the photosynthesis and causes leaf desiccation, leaf to
dry out and drop. It also serves as it also
can be a pathway for fungal and bacterial diseases to
(11:40):
get through. So you know, while as a rule when
you see the leaf miner it's only one or two leaves,
you don't need to do anything. But if you're having
a serious issue with leaf miners attacking all of your leaves.
One comes from a moth. Okay, it comes from a moth.
Don't have your night lights out, okay, so turn your
lights off at night. You don't want to attract moths
(12:02):
to your yard. And then also to spray the new
growth every six to eight weeks. Spray the new growth
of leaves that comes out with neem eighty five. Okay,
it's a new a product on the market from Summit
Responsible Solutions is great. But also to when you use
a same pesticide over and over again, insects can become resistant.
(12:27):
So change it up. Use you know, one pesticide one
time and then the next time use a different pesticide
that will take care of the same insect. But change
it up because using the same one over and over
again can cause resistance. So that is leaf minor and
uh and you see it frequently here one triple eight
(12:49):
four five five two nine sixty seven, or you can
text two three six eight zero. So Patty and Fort Lauderdale,
She says, Camellia leaves covered in black and white particles.
What is it? And is it bad? Well, it is
a symptom of your problem. It is sooty mold and
(13:10):
you either have t scale or some type of scale
on your camellia. And what you need to use is
a broad spectrum insecticide fund and that has also fungus
properties on it too as well. You can use summit
name eighty five, but you need to use it to
(13:31):
prevent and control infestation. And when you have scale, you
can't use a fun side on it. You can't just
use soap, insecticidal soap on it because that little scale,
it's covered in a little shell and that keeps it
from getting harmed. So when you use the oil okay
on it, then the spray oil on it, it covers
(13:56):
that shell and smothers them and it does kill them. Now,
once they're dead, the scale doesn't go away. So you
may have to clean and wipe your leaves off or
spray them off and you'll get that sooty mold off.
It'll just flake off, or you can get the insect
and you just wipe away. So here's how you tell
if your scale is still alive, because it will still
(14:18):
stay on the leaf, but it may be dead. Okay,
So you take this scale with your fingers and you
squish it and if it's brown, comes out of it. Oof,
it was still alive. Okay, but you if you squish
it and it just flakes away, that it's dead and
you don't have to spray it again. But if it
was still alive, you want to do a second application.
(14:39):
Let's go to Simmy. I can't see the first name. Diane, Diane.
Let's go to Diane and case Simmy. Good morning, Diane,
how are you?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
It's good morning, a great love. With this wonderful sleeping
weather we've.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Had lately, it's been wonderful, Yeah it is. How can
I help you?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Hun?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
You mentioned, you know some I wanted to do a
grapefruit tree, but I thought we still had greening.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
We do, okay, so here's here's my thoughts on it. Okay,
we do still have citrus greening. The lemons and limes
don't seem to be as they are able to still
grow and their fruit is still delicious, and so it's
important to make sure you're fertilizing correctly. Citrus used to
(15:28):
live seventy five eighty years. One hundred years a citrus
tree would grow and produce fruit. Now they're only we're
getting them, and they're only living, you know, between five
and seven to ten years. Okay, So if you do
get you can't get a grapefruit tree, make sure it's
sort of it's doesn't have citrus greening on it, that
(15:48):
it certified citrus greening free. And there are some nurseries
that do sell them, okay, that are citrus free guaranteed.
You know not to have it, and then you go
and eventually it may get it, but you know, enjoy
the fruit while you have it. So I would just
I would get one. And grapefruit does seem to be
(16:11):
a susceptible to it. It might change the fruit taste,
but you'll have it for five or six years and
it'll be just fine.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Okay. But then after that it can be a good
shade tree.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
It could be a good shade tree. Possibly you know
that it starts to lose its leaves and decline, but
you know so, so don't pay a lot of money
for it. I know it needs you want it to
be certified citrus greening and that may be more expensive,
but then it's going to last a little bit longer.
But we still have the scillids in the state the
vector that spreads the citrus greening. But you know, to
(16:46):
the University of Florida and so many universities are doing
research on producing you know, fruit, citrus fruits that are
going to be resistant to citrus greening, so that'll eventually happen.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Good good, Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
I love your show.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Thank you so much. I love the ruby red grapefruits.
So see what you can do. And if you want
nurseries that carry citrus free, citrus greening free citrus trees,
email me and I'll send you their their their addresses
and stuff that you can get them from. Thank you
so much, Diane. I appreciate that's a great call. Okay,
(17:23):
so let's see. So just in time with for the
Peterson's Nursery rose sale that's going on. Had a question,
what should I be doing for my roses now? Well,
if you haven't pruned them yet, usually we prune them
in you know, late January, first part of February. But
if you haven't pruned them red, you want to remove
any dead or damaged canes, open up the center of
(17:45):
the of the roses so that it has good air circulation,
can get good light. And then you want to make
sure that you are fertilizing with a slow release fertilizer.
And I like to use uh Bioadvanced Rose fertilizer that's
three and one where it takes care of the disease
(18:05):
issues in roses fertilizes and then also takes care of
the insect issues. I like using it. Use a slower
lease fertilizer. Follow the instructions on the label things that Bloom. Okay,
so let me just give you a little bit of
advice here on this. So if you have a plant,
shrub or tree that is older than seven years that
(18:32):
is evergreen, that does not produce flowers or fruit, and
it looks good, it's doing fine even after the wintertime,
there's no need to fertilize it. But if you have
a shrub, plant, tree flower that is younger than seven
years that has flowers and you need flowers to have fruit,
(18:54):
that is deciduous, it loses its leaves or it's getting insectssues,
it doesn't look good, it's not producing, then you need
to fertilize it on a regular basis. Okay, So you
need to go out and really assess your garden. Assess
your plants to see if you should be fertilizing now.
(19:15):
Also too, never fertilize before rainstorm. You always want to
fertilize after a rainstorm, not only because you want your
plants to be hydrated, you want your turf to be hydrated,
but you don't want to cause storm water runoff. And
when you put fertilizer down before rainstorm, it will flow
off of your yard and not be any of effective.
(19:35):
You've wasted your time and money. We'll be back with
more of your gardening calls one triple eight four, five
five two nine sixty seven. Now you can text me
two three six eight zero from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios.
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
This is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to
(20:04):
Better Lawns and Gardens. Let's take your phone calls one
triple eight four or five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero. Let's
go to Polly in a Vito. Good morning, Polly, how
are you?
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Good morning?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
I'm gonna make this quick. Thank you so much for
your show.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
I've got a lawn. I know I'm a little behind,
but it's filled with weeds. It's Saint Augustine. I live
in O Vito, and I got some atrozine. I've been
given so much advice I don't I even know where
to go at this point. But I got four percent arozine,
the high yield. But I also got the spectrocide one
you hook onto your hose, h And I put some
of the high yield down on the side of my house.
I'm afraid I'm gonna destroy my Saint Augustine. And I
(20:47):
thought it would work quickly, but I was looking it
up and it says it's going to take a while.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Is it okay to put it.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Over the whole on? And then to go ahead and
do my spring feeding? Do I have to wait because
it's gonna get too hot?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, it's gonna end. Yeah, No, no, okay. So I
take a deep breath and uh, you're fine. Uh? And
so have you already put the addressine down on your plant?
When did you are your turf? When did you do that?
Speaker 6 (21:11):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:11):
I did it on the side of my house three
days ago because I just wanted to test it. But
obviously it looks it seems like it's not gonna show
me any results until okay.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So, so addressine is going to take Yeah, it's going
to take a couple of weeks to work, but it's
going to go. The root is going to absorb it,
the lead, you know, the turf is going to absorb
the addressine and it's going to cause it to die.
So do not do anything. Yet. It doesn't have a
burn agent in it, so that's usually most herbicides take
weeks to work, and people are impatient, and so when
(21:43):
the companies add a burn agent to it, it makes
you feel good because you, oh, I killed it, but
you really didn't. It's going to still take the same
amount of time to kill. It's still going to take
weeks for the herbicide to work. So you can go
ahead and use it right now if you want. That's
not a problem, and you don't have to fertilize your
Saint Augustine lawn. Uh, you know probably in about three
(22:05):
or four weeks. I would wait and do it, you know,
two to three maybe even four weeks before in between
the herbicide and the fertilizer.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Isn't it going to be too hot at that point? Like, no, ninety.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
No, no. What you want to make sure though, is
that your your lawn is is watered before you do it. Okay,
follow the instructions. It will not, you know. So it
has to the grass has to be growing really well
for the herbicide to work.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Growing.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
I mean it's coming out of its ugly free spot.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, it's still a little too and that okay. So oh,
I'm so glad you said that. So do you live
on a lake?
Speaker 4 (22:45):
No?
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Okay, okay. So dollar weed is an aquatic plant. It
only grows in lakes, shorelines, and uh areas that are overwatered.
How often do you water your lawn?
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (22:58):
Gosh, I sure I'm safe. I haven't had it on
in three weeks and I turned it. I usually water
once a week on. We're only allowed to water on
Saturdays in my house. Number okay, and I do it
once a week at the very most. And since we
had a bunch of rain last week, I turned it off.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Okay, excellent. So when you do water, how often do
you water? I mean how long? I'm sorry, I mean
how long do you water?
Speaker 5 (23:21):
To My irrigation guy set it to split water. It
goes off at three in the morning for like ten
minutes for four zones and then another ten minutes two
hours later. Wow, I know you say water later?
Speaker 6 (23:37):
Yeah, yeah, morning.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
So how old is your turf? How long have you
lived there or how have we went with?
Speaker 5 (23:43):
Well, I've lived here thirty years, but we resought it
about I don't know, eight years ago.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Okay, Super, you're watering too much. Okay, so go ahead
and water for thirty minutes in the morning between five
and ten am. And that's all you need to water
a week, right now, that's all you need to water.
So your lawn is getting stressed from being with the
humidity and the heat and even the cold temperatures. Now
(24:09):
for the stress from the winter, but as we go
into the summertime that's three o'clock in the morning, watering
is not good, okay, And so it's going to cause
disease issues. It's going to allow the weeds to germinate.
This it's just going to stress the grass out. Water
for thirty minutes twice a week, okay, in between five
and ten am, and know the herbicide. You can go
(24:33):
ahead and do that. Now, that's good. It's when the
herbicide doesn't work when temperatures are over eighty five degrees.
So you want to do your herbicides in you know,
end of February March, first part of April, and then
you don't use them in the summertime. And your fertilizer
you use it when the grass is growing, and that's
in you know, late March, first part of April. So
(24:54):
you're fine.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Okay, So if it's over ninety I can still put
down myertilizer in three weeks.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yes, yes, sure, not a problem, not a problem. Now,
you don't want to over you don't want to overfertilize,
so do it according to the label.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
Yeah, I'm just using iron plus fertilizer that comes from
Lukes's Nursery, So I don't it doesn't have any weed
killer in it.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I do it.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
No, not for it.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
No, that's fine, that's fine. But you want to make
sure that you're using a balance fertilizer too. What's the
analysis on it?
Speaker 5 (25:29):
It's iron night plus. I mean I don't. I mean
I could go get it, but you don't have time
to wait.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So okay, Well email me and let's just stay in touch. Okay.
Speaker 5 (25:38):
Yeah, and I am just so you know, I am
only watering twenty total minutes. Yes, but see twenty total
minutes once a week.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Right, but in the winter time that may be too much.
But it's also your lawn may not need that much.
So I don't know how much water you're putting out
in that twenty minute. So you're doing it for ten
minutes at three and ten minutes at you know what
you say? Five or five?
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Yeah, so and sixteen two twelve, sixteen to twelve.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Okay, that's not bad. That's good. Okay, that's a that's
a good fertilizer.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Okay, okay, so just wait, yes, okay, and it's gonna yeah,
hopefully it'll work. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
We can only we're on water restriction. We can only
water once a week now.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Now you're only allowed to water twice a week. So
you're allowed to water twice a week now.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
My water bill says once Seminal County water.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
But well, let me let me check that out, okay,
because no, we get to change it. Yeah, check it out.
You may be able to water twice, I'm sure you.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Call yeah, call your city, just a double check.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
No way, I understand. Yeah, she should call and check,
but she she'll be able to water twice a week. Okay,
great question, Thank you so much. Bye. She was so sweet,
wasn't cheap, Polly? Yes, let's go to John in Melbourne.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Good morning John, Good morning Teresa, and thank you for
taking my call.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
You're welcome.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
My lovely wife bought me an ord a small little orchid.
It has two ballooms on it. Oh, and I'd like
to plant it in a stack one that I have
attached to the tree to make it a nice local point.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Sure that would be lovely.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
I tried it once before and it died because I
think the stack one is getting too much sun and
that may have affected it. But I don't know. There's
just an open spot that I have packed with stagnum,
and I just want to know what do you think
I should do?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Okay, so is it getting any water? Because we've been
in a drought for two years? When was the last well?
Hang on, John, John, this is an important question. We're
going to be back with more of Better Lags and Gardens.
I'm Teresa Watkinson. This is Lorda's Talk and Entertainment Network.
(28:08):
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you'd like
to sign up for my free newsletter in your backyard.
You can go to my website which is www. Dot
she s h e hyphen dash hyphen Consulting dot com,
she dash Consulting dot com or she Hyphenconsulting dot com.
(28:32):
You can just look up Teresa Watkins in your backyard
too as well, and it will come up and it
comes out free. It'll be out next week, and it
has such things in it as my Plant to the Month,
my landscape design tips, Lizzie's Garden Adventures, which is a
lot of fun turkey adventures, and then what to do
(28:53):
in your yard each month, and then also landscape malpractice,
how to know when to fire your landscaper. So you
get a lot of great information in there that's going
to help you garden here in Florida. Let's go back
to John. John, thank you so much. I'm sorry for
the interruption. I came up on a hard break there. Okay,
So let me ask you, so your stag horn does
(29:14):
fine in the tree.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
Well, I have two stag worns Terusa. The ones on
the east side under an oak tree it's beautiful and
big and robust, and the ones on the west side
underneath the magnolia, which is kind of weak. That's the
one I had it planned in because it has an
open space in the middle of the stagworn where I
can pot it.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Uh huh.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
The other one's white, crowded with all the fronds, and
I don't even know if I even see it if
I try.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
To get it in exactly, the orchid's a little too small. Okay,
So now when your orchids, so your orchid, your stackhorn fern,
excuse me, your stackhorn fern gets its water and nutrition
from the air. It's not that you have to water it.
So I'm concerned that it didn't get any The orchid
needs to get the water too as well, and the
(29:59):
stag maybe taking it all up and it doesn't allow
the stackhorn or the orchid to grow. Does that make sense?
Speaker 6 (30:06):
Yes, I understand that. And I was water in it
because it has spagnum and it holds the water, so
it doesn't have to have a free from water.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Okay, that's good.
Speaker 6 (30:15):
My question is when I potted it, I kind of
buried it down in the spagnum with the roots of
the orchid, you know, up and above it, so it
could get the air. But it still didn't seem the work.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Okay, So how do you know it died? Did it
stop blooming or did it just turn brown or the
roots weren't even getting any water.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
Well, it kind of fumbled around in there, and I
would have to re potted in there because it wanted
to get out at seeing and it started to get
these black spots and the leaves yellow before I knew
it was just nothing.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Oh, okay, all right, so it may have gotten too
much water. Okay, so it made so just normal rainfall.
I would water once a week when you put this
new in. Okay, don't overwater it, and don't you can
water the roots. I just wouldn't get it on the leaves.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (31:08):
Should I wait until the blooms which are on it
now are off and then turn back to the note
of the spike?
Speaker 1 (31:14):
No, no, go ahead, and you can pot it in
there now. Can you see it when it's in the magnolia.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
I can see it when I go out into my arm,
but I have it in the house.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Now.
Speaker 6 (31:23):
Just enjoy it for a little while.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Okay, I would just enjoy a little while. When it
stops blooming, then you can go ahead and put it
out there.
Speaker 6 (31:30):
Okay, just kind of work it down into the spag
and that's in the.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Right but I wouldn't bury it too deep, Okay, So
I want to be able to see the leaves above
the stag horn.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
I got you and sunlight, and sunlight.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Doesn't need any sunlight. So if it's in the shade
of the canopy of the magnolia tree, it should be
just fine.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
I'm going to try and work that out one more time.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, try it again and see how you do, and
then just use a when you're watering it. I would
use a very diluted solution. So if it says to
use one cup to a gallon of water, then I
would do a third cup to a gallon of water,
and then just fertilize it each time. Fertilize the roots
for it each time you water. Okay, you should be
(32:13):
able to do it. This time. We've gone through a
bad drought, so it might have been either not watered
enough or too much. But if you got the black spots,
that's telling me too much. Okay, thank you very much, enjoyed.
Let me know how you do hunt. Let's go to
Jance and Altamont. Good morning, Jans. How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (32:32):
Yes, good morning, Teresa. How are you.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
I am great. Thank you for calling Janie, thank you
for calling in.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
It's wonderful to listen to your program. We heard it
early this morning. And our question, well, our situation is this.
We had two beautiful buginviilias in the back of our
yard that are about fifteen feet high and then bloom
tremendously and our we're great hiding places, nesting places and
feeding for our birds in the backyard. No, we lost
(33:01):
it during the frost this past you know, Okay, thanks
to girls. Huh, all everything fell off. There's no green
on it anymore. I stamped a few branches and they
seem to be dead. Do you think that it is
they are really dead all the way.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Or can they Okay? So how tall is it?
Speaker 4 (33:22):
They are about fifteen feet tall.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, I think it's still alive. Okay, So it may
only be alive six feet up. Maybe the whole fifteen
feet is not alive. But I would cut it down
and again look at it for the next couple of weeks.
Don't do anything for two weeks. Look to see if
you see new leaves coming out the bottom.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
Okay, I will do that. But also the other side
of the question is what can we replace them with
him it doesn't come back. That are that are more
manageable than the Boogaphelia, that will give food, shape, shade,
and nesting.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
First, that are that are kind of drought free armandrought tolerance.
And because you know, sprinklers don't give you a lot
of water, and it doesn't rain a lot here every day,
so you know they don't get a lot of water.
They get about three quarters of a lot of sun.
(34:20):
They're not in the sun. What plants can we do
that will attract the birds and the butterflies.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Okay, so you can plant shrubs and trees. So let
me just say drought tolerant. All plants are drought tolerant
in the right place. So you got to make sure
you're planting the right plants. I would say, if the
boogam bill is not alive, to try pineapple guava. Pineapple
guava has a beautiful silver leaf. It gets to be
about twelve feet tall, and it has fruit on it.
(34:49):
It will attract birds. The mocking bird thats pollinates pollinates
the fruit, and it has beautiful flowers on it. It's
got a silvery green leaf and the flowers are pink
and red and white and they're just gorgeous. So a
pineapple guavtry would be lovely.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Okay, that sounds terrific. And any other suggestions, uh.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Then you can always do t olives. You can do camellias. Uh.
And then also, uh, you know your your viburnums and
your lagustrums are really great to shrubs for for birds.
And then also cliera c l e y e r
a has beautiful flowers on it too as well.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Okay, I'm sorry the verbina.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Did you say no cliera clara c l as in
lady e as in edward y as in yolk and
then e r a cleiera.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Oh that's very good. Okay. And you mentioned too before
this that I didn't.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Get camellias I think is one of them. And potocarpus
laugustrum and viburnums augustrum laugustrium and viburnums, and any holly
tree will be a great choice. Any holly like a
mary nel holly would be fine.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Okay, great holly tree. That sounds wonderful. That's terrific trees,
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
That's a lot of work, oh well, enjoy, enjoy, thank
you so much for calling in. Let's go to Jerry
in Citrus County. Jerry, good afternoon. You're going to end
our show there. So how can I stack Greg? So
we still have Greg?
Speaker 2 (36:35):
What about the nematoids?
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Hi, Jerry, how can I help you?
Speaker 3 (36:40):
I I was wondering how you can prevent the nematode
in like the roselle, yes, oprah and that type of thing.
Speaker 6 (36:47):
Is there some gimmicks out there?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
There are no gimmicks out there at the University of
Florida really hasn't found a good you know, uh insecticide
for nematodes or a nemocide for it. They don't really
work well. I would say Jerry that you want to
make sure because in Citrus County you have really sandy soils.
Is to have a lot of organic material in it. Compost.
Keep adding composts to your soil.
Speaker 6 (37:12):
Well, just keep adding it.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yes, keep adding it to fill it in.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Because black cow something like black cow, well.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Black cow is manure, and yes, you definitely want you
can add black cow, but you can also buy bags
of composts too. So buy a bag of compost and
a bag of manure black cow manure and mix it
together and put it in the ground, and I would
do that once a year.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Okay, that's actually really good, Thank you, Jerry. I appreciate that.
When we also have Greg who had a pear tree.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Question, okay, and so he had a pair core question.
It wasn't blooming, okay. So there's some reasons why your
pear tree is not blooming. One of the things, especially
since it's twenty years old, one is not getting enough water. Two,
it is not getting enough fertilizer. You're going to have
to fertilize it four times a year, okay, and you
(38:01):
want to make sure you put down the proper amounts.
So depending on the size, you may have to add
one to two pounds each time you fertilize. So make
sure you're fertilizing enough. And you wanted to make sure
you're putting the phosphorus in it, that it has a
high phosphorus middle number fruit tree fertilizer. And then three,
you may be pruning it at the right wrong time
(38:22):
of the year. If it's never been pruned and it's
not vase shaped, it may not produce fruit well. And
then for it's not enough sun. You may you may
have it in a two shady area. So those are
the different reasons. He's got to fertilize it on a
regular basis every three months with a slow release fruit fertilizer.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
All right, the jacksticks real quick?
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Oh okay, so he's fertilizing with sticks that I don't
recommend that use a granular slow release fertilizer. All right,
Thank you so much for calling. Thank you for all
the phone calls today.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Rock our listeners are the best. You guys, Lizy.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
We do such a great job. Thank you for handling
all of the events. Good down to Peterson's Nursery for
the rose sale and we'll see you next week at
the Florida wilaf Or Wildflower Festival in DeLand. This Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
If you missed any of the show, I want to
recap any of the other shows that we've had. Go
to Better Lawns dot com. Better Lawns dot Com.
Good morning, Welcome back to the second hour of Better
Lawns and Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. I'm
Teresa Watkins. I am a landscape designer, I garden author.
I love consulting on horticultural and gardening issues, and I
love taking your gardening questions. And this is our is
(00:29):
all about you. One triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text me at two
three six eight zero. And we always start off with
the dirty word of the day, and it's very apropos
today for spring. And now it's time for the dirty
word of the Day on Better Lawns and Gardens with
(00:51):
Teresa Watkins. Today's dirty word of the day is Frondensis
frondensis and I'm gonna spell it for you f R
N D E S C E n CE frondensis. In botany,
fordensis refers to the process or period of putting forth
(01:14):
leaves as a tree or plant in spring. It is
a specific phase in a plant's growth cycle, typified by
the emergence and developing of new leaves. First used in
eighteen thirty five through eighteen forty five, the term originates
from the late Latin word forrudentia derived from frods are
(01:35):
meaning to become leafy or to put forth leaves. It
is an essential phenomenon for plant health and growth, indicating
the commencement of photosynthesis after a dormant period. Common Florida
deciduous trees that experience Fordensis at this time of the
year are beach crape myrtles, cypress trees, elms, people, oak leaf, hydrangea,
(02:02):
and river birches, just to name a few. So when
you're going by a tree and you're seeing the new
leaf growth coming out, like the new leaves on the
cypress trees, then you can say that you can tell
someone that it's going through from Densis f R O
N d E s C E n CE for dnsus.
(02:26):
Isn't that a great word.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It's very great. Yeah, yeah, it's it.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Is long for dentsus. It is. And so we're taking
your gardening questions. If you missed the first hour, you
can go back and listen to it on iHeartRadio on
just google Teresa Watkins and Better Lands and Gardens, and
you can find it on your app, or you can
listen to it anywhere where you listen to podcasts. Just
(02:51):
Google Teresa Watkins and Better Lawns and Gardens, and you
can find it also to our art and Bloom garden tours.
We are already working on twenty twenty seven. Some exciting
places to go to.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I kind of preview, but there we go.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
But we have our Revolutionary Garden Tour coming up and
then our Best of English Gardens and the Chelsea Flowers
Show in May. But June we still have some availability
in June for our Newport Flower Show, Wow and Martha's Vineyard.
It is a fantastic tour. We get to go to
(03:27):
the Gilded Age mansions. They're little cottages, but they're huge
palatial mansions. And then we're taking a trip to Martha's Vineyard.
We're going to have a fun time there. And then
we're going into Boston for the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum.
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And some of these are ones that you won't ever
be able to see again.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, the Revolutionary Garden Tour has for the two hundred
and fiftieth birthday of the Organ Station, but no, that's okay,
but we still have availability. In July. We are going
to one of my favorite garden spots, the Buffalo, New
York the garden Walk Buffalo Garden Tour, and we also
go to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, fabulous, fabulous
(04:12):
garden tours. And when you think of Buffalo, New York,
and when you think of the Hudson River Valley or Newport,
Rhode Island, you don't think of seeing plants that are
tropical or that are going to grow here, but there are.
I mean, you get so many great ideas and a
lot of my landscape design inspiration comes from seeing gardens
(04:34):
and other places with the plant combinations. So we have
a great time. In August, we are going to France
and we are going to private chateaus and Paris and
just some beautiful, beautiful palaces. And then in September we
are going to the Brandywine Valley Chanticleer Longwood Winter there
(04:56):
and private gardens of some of my good friends, Gunny
Rose Carrie, who has a beautiful Northview garden. She has
such great books on bulbs and gardening. She is a delight.
And we are also going to have dinner with Frederick
law Olmsted and that's going to be fascinating. So then
(05:17):
and then in October we have the Ethereal Gardens of
New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yes, and said those that do not stress, because Tom
McCubbin will be filling in for Teresa, so we will
still have live shows unless it's like the holiday weekend,
then we will do a best of it.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
He is coming in and we're gonna have doctor Gary
Bachman on too as well. And uh, Lance Walheim, he's
it was a regular, very much a regular. He retired,
but he hasn't stopped. He has a great book coming
out and Tom will be talking to him over the
next few weeks. So I will be here, yes, I
will be here and uh, but then Tom is going
(05:56):
to fill in when I'm away, and that's a lot
of fun. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yes, Steph, we do appreciate it. And also it is
now after eight o'clock and what does that mean. That
means that you're already late to Peterson's Nursery and getting
your roses. But that doesn't mean they don't have any left.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
They had a hundreds and hundreds of them, so beautiful ones.
Look for Coco Loco, Oh it's gorgeous. My favorite is
Double Delight. Oh, so fred and Double Delight. And then
also to perfumes, just anything with fragrance roses were just wonderful.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And they let you sniff the flowers too.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
They do they let you sniff them. And I want
to say thank you to everyone who came out and
was at the talk at Peterson's Nursery last week. I
had a great time meeting everyone. The twins weren't there,
but you know, I loved beating it and I got
to meet Beverly and also Many and Ira came out
(06:50):
and it's just a lot of fun. If it's Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lads and Gardens, I'm Teresa Watkins
from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. This is Florida's talk
and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens.
(07:23):
I'm Teresa Watkins, and we're taking your gardening questions this morning.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood and it's just
lovely outside, great spring break weather and a great week
for gardening. And if you'd like to give us a
call regarding your plants, A one, triple eight, four, five, five, two,
(07:44):
nine six seven.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
My thing is is that if you are not going
outside and enjoying this weekend, then why are you in
the state of Florida. Yes, why are you here, whether
it's a vacation or living here are why? It is
the weather, our sister stations having their their big rock. Yes,
actually it's starting here shortly at the Central Florida Fairs,
the Earthday birthday event. I think it's like their twenty
(08:06):
six year I think not a brow they had to
take two years randomly off. But anyway, so yeah, so
that's that's where I'm heading too after this. But yeah,
if you aren't going outside in Florida, neither plant plants
or just enjoying the weather, then why.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
No, exactly. You know, being out is so good for you.
It is good for your you know, you know the
way you feel your emotions and getting out there. And
it's great exercise too as well. Yes, and so it's
wonderful one triple eight four five five, two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero and
let me know what you're doing out there. So I
(08:43):
wanted to talk about another insect that we see a lot,
and you may not know what it is, but it's
called a leaf minor and a leaf minor there's two.
There's a vegetable leaf minor. And I'm not going to
give you the Latin names because it doesn't do you
any good. But there's also an American serpentine leaf miner.
(09:03):
And when you're thinking serpentine and you're thinking about that
kind of curvy, meandering serpentine path, that's what you see
in the leaves. And this is you know what it is.
And so when you see the leaf miner's path on
your leaf, well, you know what, it's too late. That
(09:25):
insect that was laid in the upper portion of the
leaf has already pupated and then left. It ate its
way out of the leaf and it's now flown away
to attack another leaf. So leaf miners are present year round.
They're usually more abundant in March through June. So we're
(09:47):
seeing them lay their eggs now and they like to
lay their eggs on new growth. So if you have
citrus trees that have started to spread out new leaves,
then this is a time that you need to take
care of the issue and you need to use a spray.
The NEME eighty five spray oil, the cold press spray
(10:08):
oil that's new out is an excellent, excellent remedy to
prevent the leaf miners from getting in and so they insects.
Even with this winter that we had, this harsh winter,
there's still going to be here and they winter over.
And which is really interesting in Spanish needles the Biden's
(10:33):
album which is a native we consider it a weed,
but it's also a flower. It's a great butterfly tractor,
but it is also a host plant for leaf miners
to to a winter over in the in the weeds,
so that was interesting. They host range. They have so
(10:54):
many different vegetables and plants that they can go after,
beans and celeries, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, squash and tomatoes, and
then also to citrus trees, your fruit trees. And what
the damage they do is is they puncture the leaf
(11:15):
and that's how they go ahead and lay their eggs.
But leaf mining that when you see that little serpentine trail,
it reduces the photosynthesis and causes leaf desiccation, leaf to
dry out and drop. It also serves as it also
can be a pathway for fungal and bacterial diseases to
(11:40):
get through. So you know, while as a rule when
you see the leaf miner it's only one or two leaves,
you don't need to do anything. But if you're having
a serious issue with leaf miners attacking all of your leaves.
One comes from a moth. Okay, it comes from a moth.
Don't have your night lights out, okay, so turn your
lights off at night. You don't want to attract moths
(12:02):
to your yard. And then also to spray the new
growth every six to eight weeks. Spray the new growth
of leaves that comes out with neem eighty five. Okay,
it's a new a product on the market from Summit
Responsible Solutions is great. But also to when you use
a same pesticide over and over again, insects can become resistant.
(12:27):
So change it up. Use you know, one pesticide one
time and then the next time use a different pesticide
that will take care of the same insect. But change
it up because using the same one over and over
again can cause resistance. So that is leaf minor and
uh and you see it frequently here one triple eight
(12:49):
four five five two nine sixty seven, or you can
text two three six eight zero. So Patty and Fort Lauderdale,
She says, Camellia leaves covered in black and white particles.
What is it? And is it bad? Well, it is
a symptom of your problem. It is sooty mold and
(13:10):
you either have t scale or some type of scale
on your camellia. And what you need to use is
a broad spectrum insecticide fund and that has also fungus
properties on it too as well. You can use summit
name eighty five, but you need to use it to
(13:31):
prevent and control infestation. And when you have scale, you
can't use a fun side on it. You can't just
use soap, insecticidal soap on it because that little scale,
it's covered in a little shell and that keeps it
from getting harmed. So when you use the oil okay
on it, then the spray oil on it, it covers
(13:56):
that shell and smothers them and it does kill them. Now,
once they're dead, the scale doesn't go away. So you
may have to clean and wipe your leaves off or
spray them off and you'll get that sooty mold off.
It'll just flake off, or you can get the insect
and you just wipe away. So here's how you tell
if your scale is still alive, because it will still
(14:18):
stay on the leaf, but it may be dead. Okay,
So you take this scale with your fingers and you
squish it and if it's brown, comes out of it. Oof,
it was still alive. Okay, but you if you squish
it and it just flakes away, that it's dead and
you don't have to spray it again. But if it
was still alive, you want to do a second application.
(14:39):
Let's go to Simmy. I can't see the first name. Diane, Diane.
Let's go to Diane and case Simmy. Good morning, Diane,
how are you?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
It's good morning, a great love. With this wonderful sleeping
weather we've.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Had lately, it's been wonderful, Yeah it is. How can
I help you?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Hun?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
You mentioned, you know some I wanted to do a
grapefruit tree, but I thought we still had greening.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
We do, okay, so here's here's my thoughts on it. Okay,
we do still have citrus greening. The lemons and limes
don't seem to be as they are able to still
grow and their fruit is still delicious, and so it's
important to make sure you're fertilizing correctly. Citrus used to
(15:28):
live seventy five eighty years. One hundred years a citrus
tree would grow and produce fruit. Now they're only we're
getting them, and they're only living, you know, between five
and seven to ten years. Okay, So if you do
get you can't get a grapefruit tree, make sure it's
sort of it's doesn't have citrus greening on it, that
(15:48):
it certified citrus greening free. And there are some nurseries
that do sell them, okay, that are citrus free guaranteed.
You know not to have it, and then you go
and eventually it may get it, but you know, enjoy
the fruit while you have it. So I would just
I would get one. And grapefruit does seem to be
(16:11):
a susceptible to it. It might change the fruit taste,
but you'll have it for five or six years and
it'll be just fine.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Okay. But then after that it can be a good
shade tree.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
It could be a good shade tree. Possibly you know
that it starts to lose its leaves and decline, but
you know so, so don't pay a lot of money
for it. I know it needs you want it to
be certified citrus greening and that may be more expensive,
but then it's going to last a little bit longer.
But we still have the scillids in the state the
vector that spreads the citrus greening. But you know, to
(16:46):
the University of Florida and so many universities are doing
research on producing you know, fruit, citrus fruits that are
going to be resistant to citrus greening, so that'll eventually happen.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Good good, Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
I love your show.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Thank you so much. I love the ruby red grapefruits.
So see what you can do. And if you want
nurseries that carry citrus free, citrus greening free citrus trees,
email me and I'll send you their their their addresses
and stuff that you can get them from. Thank you
so much, Diane. I appreciate that's a great call. Okay,
(17:23):
so let's see. So just in time with for the
Peterson's Nursery rose sale that's going on. Had a question,
what should I be doing for my roses now? Well,
if you haven't pruned them yet, usually we prune them
in you know, late January, first part of February. But
if you haven't pruned them red, you want to remove
any dead or damaged canes, open up the center of
(17:45):
the of the roses so that it has good air circulation,
can get good light. And then you want to make
sure that you are fertilizing with a slow release fertilizer.
And I like to use uh Bioadvanced Rose fertilizer that's
three and one where it takes care of the disease
(18:05):
issues in roses fertilizes and then also takes care of
the insect issues. I like using it. Use a slower
lease fertilizer. Follow the instructions on the label things that Bloom. Okay,
so let me just give you a little bit of
advice here on this. So if you have a plant,
shrub or tree that is older than seven years that
(18:32):
is evergreen, that does not produce flowers or fruit, and
it looks good, it's doing fine even after the wintertime,
there's no need to fertilize it. But if you have
a shrub, plant, tree flower that is younger than seven
years that has flowers and you need flowers to have fruit,
(18:54):
that is deciduous, it loses its leaves or it's getting insectssues,
it doesn't look good, it's not producing, then you need
to fertilize it on a regular basis. Okay, So you
need to go out and really assess your garden. Assess
your plants to see if you should be fertilizing now.
(19:15):
Also too, never fertilize before rainstorm. You always want to
fertilize after a rainstorm, not only because you want your
plants to be hydrated, you want your turf to be hydrated,
but you don't want to cause storm water runoff. And
when you put fertilizer down before rainstorm, it will flow
off of your yard and not be any of effective.
(19:35):
You've wasted your time and money. We'll be back with
more of your gardening calls one triple eight four, five
five two nine sixty seven. Now you can text me
two three six eight zero from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios.
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
This is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to
(20:04):
Better Lawns and Gardens. Let's take your phone calls one
triple eight four or five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero. Let's
go to Polly in a Vito. Good morning, Polly, how
are you?
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Good morning?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
I'm gonna make this quick. Thank you so much for
your show.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
I've got a lawn. I know I'm a little behind,
but it's filled with weeds. It's Saint Augustine. I live
in O Vito, and I got some atrozine. I've been
given so much advice I don't I even know where
to go at this point. But I got four percent arozine,
the high yield. But I also got the spectrocide one
you hook onto your hose, h And I put some
of the high yield down on the side of my house.
I'm afraid I'm gonna destroy my Saint Augustine. And I
(20:47):
thought it would work quickly, but I was looking it
up and it says it's going to take a while.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Is it okay to put it.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Over the whole on? And then to go ahead and
do my spring feeding? Do I have to wait because
it's gonna get too hot?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, it's gonna end. Yeah, No, no, okay. So I
take a deep breath and uh, you're fine. Uh? And
so have you already put the addressine down on your plant?
When did you are your turf? When did you do that?
Speaker 6 (21:11):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:11):
I did it on the side of my house three
days ago because I just wanted to test it. But
obviously it looks it seems like it's not gonna show
me any results until okay.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So, so addressine is going to take Yeah, it's going
to take a couple of weeks to work, but it's
going to go. The root is going to absorb it,
the lead, you know, the turf is going to absorb
the addressine and it's going to cause it to die.
So do not do anything. Yet. It doesn't have a
burn agent in it, so that's usually most herbicides take
weeks to work, and people are impatient, and so when
(21:43):
the companies add a burn agent to it, it makes
you feel good because you, oh, I killed it, but
you really didn't. It's going to still take the same
amount of time to kill. It's still going to take
weeks for the herbicide to work. So you can go
ahead and use it right now if you want. That's
not a problem, and you don't have to fertilize your
Saint Augustine lawn. Uh, you know probably in about three
(22:05):
or four weeks. I would wait and do it, you know,
two to three maybe even four weeks before in between
the herbicide and the fertilizer.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Isn't it going to be too hot at that point? Like, no, ninety.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
No, no. What you want to make sure though, is
that your your lawn is is watered before you do it. Okay,
follow the instructions. It will not, you know. So it
has to the grass has to be growing really well
for the herbicide to work.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Growing.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
I mean it's coming out of its ugly free spot.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, it's still a little too and that okay. So oh,
I'm so glad you said that. So do you live
on a lake?
Speaker 4 (22:45):
No?
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Okay, okay. So dollar weed is an aquatic plant. It
only grows in lakes, shorelines, and uh areas that are overwatered.
How often do you water your lawn?
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (22:58):
Gosh, I sure I'm safe. I haven't had it on
in three weeks and I turned it. I usually water
once a week on. We're only allowed to water on
Saturdays in my house. Number okay, and I do it
once a week at the very most. And since we
had a bunch of rain last week, I turned it off.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Okay, excellent. So when you do water, how often do
you water? I mean how long? I'm sorry, I mean
how long do you water?
Speaker 5 (23:21):
To My irrigation guy set it to split water. It
goes off at three in the morning for like ten
minutes for four zones and then another ten minutes two
hours later. Wow, I know you say water later?
Speaker 6 (23:37):
Yeah, yeah, morning.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
So how old is your turf? How long have you
lived there or how have we went with?
Speaker 5 (23:43):
Well, I've lived here thirty years, but we resought it
about I don't know, eight years ago.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Okay, Super, you're watering too much. Okay, so go ahead
and water for thirty minutes in the morning between five
and ten am. And that's all you need to water
a week, right now, that's all you need to water.
So your lawn is getting stressed from being with the
humidity and the heat and even the cold temperatures. Now
(24:09):
for the stress from the winter, but as we go
into the summertime that's three o'clock in the morning, watering
is not good, okay, And so it's going to cause
disease issues. It's going to allow the weeds to germinate.
This it's just going to stress the grass out. Water
for thirty minutes twice a week, okay, in between five
and ten am, and know the herbicide. You can go
(24:33):
ahead and do that. Now, that's good. It's when the
herbicide doesn't work when temperatures are over eighty five degrees.
So you want to do your herbicides in you know,
end of February March, first part of April, and then
you don't use them in the summertime. And your fertilizer
you use it when the grass is growing, and that's
in you know, late March, first part of April. So
(24:54):
you're fine.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Okay, So if it's over ninety I can still put
down myertilizer in three weeks.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yes, yes, sure, not a problem, not a problem. Now,
you don't want to over you don't want to overfertilize,
so do it according to the label.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
Yeah, I'm just using iron plus fertilizer that comes from
Lukes's Nursery, So I don't it doesn't have any weed
killer in it.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I do it.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
No, not for it.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
No, that's fine, that's fine. But you want to make
sure that you're using a balance fertilizer too. What's the
analysis on it?
Speaker 5 (25:29):
It's iron night plus. I mean I don't. I mean
I could go get it, but you don't have time
to wait.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So okay, Well email me and let's just stay in touch. Okay.
Speaker 5 (25:38):
Yeah, and I am just so you know, I am
only watering twenty total minutes. Yes, but see twenty total
minutes once a week.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Right, but in the winter time that may be too much.
But it's also your lawn may not need that much.
So I don't know how much water you're putting out
in that twenty minute. So you're doing it for ten
minutes at three and ten minutes at you know what
you say? Five or five?
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Yeah, so and sixteen two twelve, sixteen to twelve.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Okay, that's not bad. That's good. Okay, that's a that's
a good fertilizer.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Okay, okay, so just wait, yes, okay, and it's gonna yeah,
hopefully it'll work. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
We can only we're on water restriction. We can only
water once a week now.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Now you're only allowed to water twice a week. So
you're allowed to water twice a week now.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
My water bill says once Seminal County water.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
But well, let me let me check that out, okay,
because no, we get to change it. Yeah, check it out.
You may be able to water twice, I'm sure you.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Call yeah, call your city, just a double check.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
No way, I understand. Yeah, she should call and check,
but she she'll be able to water twice a week. Okay,
great question, Thank you so much. Bye. She was so sweet,
wasn't cheap, Polly? Yes, let's go to John in Melbourne.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Good morning John, Good morning Teresa, and thank you for
taking my call.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
You're welcome.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
My lovely wife bought me an ord a small little orchid.
It has two ballooms on it. Oh, and I'd like
to plant it in a stack one that I have
attached to the tree to make it a nice local point.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Sure that would be lovely.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
I tried it once before and it died because I
think the stack one is getting too much sun and
that may have affected it. But I don't know. There's
just an open spot that I have packed with stagnum,
and I just want to know what do you think
I should do?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Okay, so is it getting any water? Because we've been
in a drought for two years? When was the last well?
Hang on, John, John, this is an important question. We're
going to be back with more of Better Lags and Gardens.
I'm Teresa Watkinson. This is Lorda's Talk and Entertainment Network.
(28:08):
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you'd like
to sign up for my free newsletter in your backyard.
You can go to my website which is www. Dot
she s h e hyphen dash hyphen Consulting dot com,
she dash Consulting dot com or she Hyphenconsulting dot com.
(28:32):
You can just look up Teresa Watkins in your backyard
too as well, and it will come up and it
comes out free. It'll be out next week, and it
has such things in it as my Plant to the Month,
my landscape design tips, Lizzie's Garden Adventures, which is a
lot of fun turkey adventures, and then what to do
(28:53):
in your yard each month, and then also landscape malpractice,
how to know when to fire your landscaper. So you
get a lot of great information in there that's going
to help you garden here in Florida. Let's go back
to John. John, thank you so much. I'm sorry for
the interruption. I came up on a hard break there. Okay,
So let me ask you, so your stag horn does
(29:14):
fine in the tree.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
Well, I have two stag worns Terusa. The ones on
the east side under an oak tree it's beautiful and
big and robust, and the ones on the west side
underneath the magnolia, which is kind of weak. That's the
one I had it planned in because it has an
open space in the middle of the stagworn where I
can pot it.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Uh huh.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
The other one's white, crowded with all the fronds, and
I don't even know if I even see it if
I try.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
To get it in exactly, the orchid's a little too small. Okay,
So now when your orchids, so your orchid, your stackhorn fern,
excuse me, your stackhorn fern gets its water and nutrition
from the air. It's not that you have to water it.
So I'm concerned that it didn't get any The orchid
needs to get the water too as well, and the
(29:59):
stag maybe taking it all up and it doesn't allow
the stackhorn or the orchid to grow. Does that make sense?
Speaker 6 (30:06):
Yes, I understand that. And I was water in it
because it has spagnum and it holds the water, so
it doesn't have to have a free from water.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Okay, that's good.
Speaker 6 (30:15):
My question is when I potted it, I kind of
buried it down in the spagnum with the roots of
the orchid, you know, up and above it, so it
could get the air. But it still didn't seem the work.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Okay, So how do you know it died? Did it
stop blooming or did it just turn brown or the
roots weren't even getting any water.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
Well, it kind of fumbled around in there, and I
would have to re potted in there because it wanted
to get out at seeing and it started to get
these black spots and the leaves yellow before I knew
it was just nothing.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Oh, okay, all right, so it may have gotten too
much water. Okay, so it made so just normal rainfall.
I would water once a week when you put this
new in. Okay, don't overwater it, and don't you can
water the roots. I just wouldn't get it on the leaves.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (31:08):
Should I wait until the blooms which are on it
now are off and then turn back to the note
of the spike?
Speaker 1 (31:14):
No, no, go ahead, and you can pot it in
there now. Can you see it when it's in the magnolia.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
I can see it when I go out into my arm,
but I have it in the house.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Now.
Speaker 6 (31:23):
Just enjoy it for a little while.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Okay, I would just enjoy a little while. When it
stops blooming, then you can go ahead and put it
out there.
Speaker 6 (31:30):
Okay, just kind of work it down into the spag
and that's in the.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Right but I wouldn't bury it too deep, Okay, So
I want to be able to see the leaves above
the stag horn.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
I got you and sunlight, and sunlight.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Doesn't need any sunlight. So if it's in the shade
of the canopy of the magnolia tree, it should be
just fine.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
I'm going to try and work that out one more time.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, try it again and see how you do, and
then just use a when you're watering it. I would
use a very diluted solution. So if it says to
use one cup to a gallon of water, then I
would do a third cup to a gallon of water,
and then just fertilize it each time. Fertilize the roots
for it each time you water. Okay, you should be
(32:13):
able to do it. This time. We've gone through a
bad drought, so it might have been either not watered
enough or too much. But if you got the black spots,
that's telling me too much. Okay, thank you very much, enjoyed.
Let me know how you do hunt. Let's go to
Jance and Altamont. Good morning, Jans. How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (32:32):
Yes, good morning, Teresa. How are you.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
I am great. Thank you for calling Janie, thank you
for calling in.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
It's wonderful to listen to your program. We heard it
early this morning. And our question, well, our situation is this.
We had two beautiful buginviilias in the back of our
yard that are about fifteen feet high and then bloom
tremendously and our we're great hiding places, nesting places and
feeding for our birds in the backyard. No, we lost
(33:01):
it during the frost this past you know, Okay, thanks
to girls. Huh, all everything fell off. There's no green
on it anymore. I stamped a few branches and they
seem to be dead. Do you think that it is
they are really dead all the way.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Or can they Okay? So how tall is it?
Speaker 4 (33:22):
They are about fifteen feet tall.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, I think it's still alive. Okay, So it may
only be alive six feet up. Maybe the whole fifteen
feet is not alive. But I would cut it down
and again look at it for the next couple of weeks.
Don't do anything for two weeks. Look to see if
you see new leaves coming out the bottom.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
Okay, I will do that. But also the other side
of the question is what can we replace them with
him it doesn't come back. That are that are more
manageable than the Boogaphelia, that will give food, shape, shade,
and nesting.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
First, that are that are kind of drought free armandrought tolerance.
And because you know, sprinklers don't give you a lot
of water, and it doesn't rain a lot here every day,
so you know they don't get a lot of water.
They get about three quarters of a lot of sun.
(34:20):
They're not in the sun. What plants can we do
that will attract the birds and the butterflies.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Okay, so you can plant shrubs and trees. So let
me just say drought tolerant. All plants are drought tolerant
in the right place. So you got to make sure
you're planting the right plants. I would say, if the
boogam bill is not alive, to try pineapple guava. Pineapple
guava has a beautiful silver leaf. It gets to be
about twelve feet tall, and it has fruit on it.
(34:49):
It will attract birds. The mocking bird thats pollinates pollinates
the fruit, and it has beautiful flowers on it. It's
got a silvery green leaf and the flowers are pink
and red and white and they're just gorgeous. So a
pineapple guavtry would be lovely.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Okay, that sounds terrific. And any other suggestions, uh.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Then you can always do t olives. You can do camellias. Uh.
And then also, uh, you know your your viburnums and
your lagustrums are really great to shrubs for for birds.
And then also cliera c l e y e r
a has beautiful flowers on it too as well.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Okay, I'm sorry the verbina.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Did you say no cliera clara c l as in
lady e as in edward y as in yolk and
then e r a cleiera.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Oh that's very good. Okay. And you mentioned too before
this that I didn't.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Get camellias I think is one of them. And potocarpus
laugustrum and viburnums augustrum laugustrium and viburnums, and any holly
tree will be a great choice. Any holly like a
mary nel holly would be fine.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Okay, great holly tree. That sounds wonderful. That's terrific trees,
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
That's a lot of work, oh well, enjoy, enjoy, thank
you so much for calling in. Let's go to Jerry
in Citrus County. Jerry, good afternoon. You're going to end
our show there. So how can I stack Greg? So
we still have Greg?
Speaker 2 (36:35):
What about the nematoids?
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Hi, Jerry, how can I help you?
Speaker 3 (36:40):
I I was wondering how you can prevent the nematode
in like the roselle, yes, oprah and that type of thing.
Speaker 6 (36:47):
Is there some gimmicks out there?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
There are no gimmicks out there at the University of
Florida really hasn't found a good you know, uh insecticide
for nematodes or a nemocide for it. They don't really
work well. I would say Jerry that you want to
make sure because in Citrus County you have really sandy soils.
Is to have a lot of organic material in it. Compost.
Keep adding composts to your soil.
Speaker 6 (37:12):
Well, just keep adding it.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yes, keep adding it to fill it in.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Because black cow something like black cow, well.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Black cow is manure, and yes, you definitely want you
can add black cow, but you can also buy bags
of composts too. So buy a bag of compost and
a bag of manure black cow manure and mix it
together and put it in the ground, and I would
do that once a year.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Okay, that's actually really good, Thank you, Jerry. I appreciate that.
When we also have Greg who had a pear tree.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Question, okay, and so he had a pair core question.
It wasn't blooming, okay. So there's some reasons why your
pear tree is not blooming. One of the things, especially
since it's twenty years old, one is not getting enough water. Two,
it is not getting enough fertilizer. You're going to have
to fertilize it four times a year, okay, and you
(38:01):
want to make sure you put down the proper amounts.
So depending on the size, you may have to add
one to two pounds each time you fertilize. So make
sure you're fertilizing enough. And you wanted to make sure
you're putting the phosphorus in it, that it has a
high phosphorus middle number fruit tree fertilizer. And then three,
you may be pruning it at the right wrong time
(38:22):
of the year. If it's never been pruned and it's
not vase shaped, it may not produce fruit well. And
then for it's not enough sun. You may you may
have it in a two shady area. So those are
the different reasons. He's got to fertilize it on a
regular basis every three months with a slow release fruit fertilizer.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
All right, the jacksticks real quick?
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Oh okay, so he's fertilizing with sticks that I don't
recommend that use a granular slow release fertilizer. All right,
Thank you so much for calling. Thank you for all
the phone calls today.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Rock our listeners are the best. You guys, Lizy.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
We do such a great job. Thank you for handling
all of the events. Good down to Peterson's Nursery for
the rose sale and we'll see you next week at
the Florida wilaf Or Wildflower Festival in DeLand. This Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
If you missed any of the show, I want to
recap any of the other shows that we've had. Go
to Better Lawns dot com. Better Lawns dot Com.
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