July 4, 2026 • 39 mins
Garden expert Teresa Watkins is joined by Dr. Bryan Unruh, UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center. Dr. Unruh provides benefits of soil testing annually. Teresa answers gardening questions on timing of apple trees, propagating Dracaena arboreas, Gerbera daisy not blooming, , Dirty Word of the Day is naturalized, pruning leggy azaleas, and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
From the summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome back to the
second hour of Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
I'm a horticulturist, landscape designer, garden author, and I am
so glad you're joining us today. You can check out
our Facebook page Better Lawns and Gardens and our website
Better Lawns dot com for more information. Good morning, Brook.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good morning, Good morning. How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I am good. You're doing a great job this morning.
And good morning, Lizzie.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And you are doing a great job this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Sitting here watching. Yes, thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
And so we are going to be taking your gardening
questions at the bottom of the half hour. You can
give us a call one triple eight four five five
two nine sixty seven, or you can text me at
two three six eight zero anytime and we'll get to
it when we take a break. But right now, it's
time for the dirty word of the Day on Better
(01:09):
Lawns and Gardens with Teresa Watkins. And the dirty word
of the day is naturalized. Naturalize means to be planted
without a pattern. This is the process of becoming or
the state of being established in the wild so that
the growth and reproduction is possible without human intervention. Naturalization
(01:31):
is the process of transforming a cultivated landscape, such as
a lawn, into a more natural landscape. Natural landscapes feature
native plants arranged to mimic naturally occurring habitats such as forests, wetlands,
or meadows. Naturalization requires research, planning, and hard work, so
(01:52):
not to be confused with abandonment. So just because it's
all weedy and tall grass, that's not naturalization. You want
to make sure that your right site conditions are for
your plants, appropriate for your native plants and your non natives.
But that is without a lot of care. They grow
(02:13):
without a lot of human intervention. Now, the abandonment, which
is one way to naturalize an area, we don't want
to do that. When you're talking about hoas or communities.
You want to make sure that it is correct for
your community. Naturalized landscapes can be a source of exotics
taking over and crowding out natives, so make sure when
(02:36):
you're designing and researching a plant, make sure that it
doesn't have a trait or tendency to crowd native plants out.
So the dirty word of the day is naturalized and
I love doing this. I love creating habitats in a yard,
meadows where the flowers come and have different seasons, but
(02:58):
you can have color every year. But for some some landscapes,
it may be a tendency for not to roto till
the earth. You don't want to bring up too much
dirt or disturb the dirt because that's going to bring
the weed seeds up. So we are going to be
taking your phone calls and I have also too. That's
(03:19):
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven.
At the end of the half hour, you want to
write that down one triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text two three six
eight zero. So Howie in Peterson's Nursery in Lakeland, he
texted that he will have onion sets in mid to
(03:41):
late September, so you can look for them.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Then there you're Jerry here listening.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Jerry, yep, yuh. Jerry can go ahead and get that
right there at Peterson's Nursery. So thank you Howie for
that update. I certainly do appreciate it. And then also
too Linda. In eight B she said her pears are overloaded,
and she was happy to see deer late in the
evening come by and lighten the lower branches before they
(04:08):
break off with so many pears. That's wonderful, great harvest.
I bought a long handled picker so I can enjoy
the ones out of their reach. That's a smart move,
very good. Now her Anna en Dorset of apple trees,
and this is a gardening question that she discussed in
(04:29):
the first We discussed in the first hour. They're going
to ripen on the tree, Linda, So I would just
wait for that and see, you know when they do that,
and it should be some time before the end of
the fall October November. And if you're going to get
apples and develop the annas and the dorsets, then they
will be ripened. Then end of November will be just
(04:51):
about right, especially with those freezes and blooms and freezes
and blooms. So also too, what can you be planting
this time of the year. So for vegetables, you're wanting
the heat of the vegetables, boneato, calabasas, cherry tomatoes, the
everglade tomatoes, ochras, southern peas, seminole, pumpkins, sweet cassavas, sweet
(05:16):
potatoes and yard long beans. Then also, this is the
time of the year to start your transplants, planting your
seeds of egg plants, peppers, and tomatoes so that you
can go ahead and transplant them in mid to late
August or September. This is a time get your seeds now,
(05:36):
because they're really not going to be available, especially all
the popular varieties of tomatoes and peppers and egg plants,
if you wait too much longer than August to get them.
So we are going to be talking to doctor Brian
Unru with an exciting update of a product that's been
on the market for a while. I'm excited to see
it from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. If it's Saturday morning,
(06:00):
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens, I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
(06:28):
to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins. Doctor Brian
Unru is the Associate Center Director and Professor of Turf
Grass Science. Doctor Unru leads a team of scientists and
graduate students of the working on real world solutions for
today's turf grass managers, which benefits homeowners in the long run.
Studies include water quality and quantity concerns like drought and water,
(06:54):
nutrient leaching and runoff, pest management, and new turf grass
cultivar development. Doctor Andru works at the University of Florida
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, West Florida Research and
Education Center in Jay, Florida. He joins us right now
to talk about a new exciting update of a smart
gardener and tool. Good morning, doctor Brian. How are you?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I am great, how are you this morning?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
It's I am wonderful. Thank you so much for joining me.
I will tell you that when I first heard about this,
I was very excited because over the last twenty years
it's been an issue for a lot of people with
their soil test kits, and so tell us let's start
at the beginning. How does testing the soil help homeowners?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Well, plants have required, you know, essential nutrients, and those
nutrients are typically in the soil, and so we take
a soil test tells us what nutrients are in the soil,
or maybe more importantly, what nutrients aren't in the soil,
which then dictates what fertilizers we use to make sure
that we grow healthy plants.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
It just makes sense. And so how does the soil
test kit work?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
For the new UFI US branded Soil Test Kit is
really simple. To open the package up. There's customer care
card in there. You can this little QR code walks
you through the various steps. Watch a little video on
how to properly take a soil test. Actually you know
how to dig up the soil, because that's a really
(08:29):
key piece. Put it in the little brown bag, stick
it in the mailer, drop it in the mailbox. Off
it goes to the lab. A few days later, you
get an email and there you go. There's the results.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's great. And so how often should homeowners test the soil?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
You know what, as the landscape ages, the you know,
things kind of level out a little bit. But as
the landscape is young and immature, especially like in new developments,
I think the frequency should end US Department of AGS
is take a soil test on an annual basis. So
I think that's a pretty good place to start.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
That's every year. And so that's important because you know,
I know that people are just used to going out
and in the springtime putting down a fertilizer, you know,
fifteen zero fifteen or sixteen four eight and doing it
again in September and October. But it may not need
that that nitrogen or you know, phosphorus or potassium.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Right, That's exactly right, and that's one of the things
that's kind of exciting about this whole process, especially you
mentioned nitrogen. Now, we don't soil test for nitrogen at
the present time, and that's because nitrogen is really dynamic
in nature and so it's constantly changing forms and availability,
and so at present soil testing for nitrogen is not done,
(09:51):
although there's some cool research going on in that realm.
But phosphorus is a big one for us. Phosphorus is
you know, one of the elements of impairment. In other words,
it can cause environmental problems if there's too much of
it out there or if we're applying too much. And
out of the key piece of this soil test kit
is it comes back with accurate phosphorus recommendation. So that's
(10:15):
that middle number on the fertilizer bag. And if soil
test comes back, sole test report comes back and says
there's not a need for fosters. We want to make
sure that fertilizer that goes on the ground has a
zero in that middle number exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
That's very important. So this is an exciting partnership. So
Christina Warner mckinnis, she is the CEO of Agritech. She
is the producer of the new University of Florida IFIs
Soil Test Kit. Briefly, can you tell us the background
the history of Ms. Mckinnis and her company.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
You bet so. She's a fifth generation farmer and in
this part of the Warner family and the Warners have
been providing, have been in agriculture for over one hundred years,
and they're one of the largest sod producers in the US.
And so she's part of that that family network and
Agritech UH basically is the company that that that is
(11:11):
part of that group and she is She's just been
great to work with and and those are stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That that's important. I love the legacy of farming and
agriculture in the United States. It's so important to keep
that going. And so what kind of locations where can
you use the University of Florida Soil Test.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Kit, So really about anywhere that has soil UH. Now
the you know, you think about it. You know obviously
the landscape of the yards, the raised beds, gardens, there's
you know, fruit trees, you know, there's all these in
the The key is when when the test is taken.
(11:52):
You want to accurately uh indicate on that when when
you when you fill out the form the online is
to where this soil is coming from, because that then
dictates the recommendations that come down the line. And so
if you're doing a backyard titris, you want to make
sure that you select backyard titries. But I did say
(12:13):
anywhere that there's actually soil. A lot of times we
use potting soil, which is actually generally soil lists, and
so you're going to get some weird results if you
start testing soil less media running it through a soil
test process. So we want to avoid anything that has
(12:33):
potting soil or artificial media such as that.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Oh that's good to know. So how many feet? How
many test kits should one homeowner buy for their yard?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
So we generally say, you know, one kit's good for
about ten thousand square feet, which is larger than most
folks lawn. But I think it's important to really dial
in and differentiate. So you have an area in the landscape,
you know, say the front yard or the backyard, or
what area is performing much different than the other. I
think it makes most sense to test those areas separately,
(13:13):
because if you just take soil from the front yard,
salt from the backyard, put it all together, you're going
to get to get an average of what's happening out there,
which may not give an indication.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I had a case of years ago where there was
the uh paul that came into do you know the
front yards doing terrible, the backyards doing great? Pulled up
you know, satellite image and realized, you know, the backyard
is fill soil because it's there's a bulkhead and it's
up against the lake. Yes, so the soils were very dissimilar.
And so in that situation, you know, they had done
a soil test, but they had just done one from
(13:43):
the whole lawn, which averages the fill soil with the
native soil, and so anywhere that it's dissimilar or to
their problem areas, and it could differ in as much
as ten feet right, Oh yeah, I mean, and that's
you know, most of the time we're girling landscapes on
the on the on the soil that the bulldoz are
flattened out, you know, after the after the house was built,
(14:07):
and and so anywhere that you've got, you know, dissimilar conditions,
it's important to test those areas separately.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
That's that's very good, thank you. So how much are
the soil test kits and where can someone get them?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Sure? So, the test kits are twenty nine to ninety
five and that includes everything that you're going to need,
including the prepaid shipping. And so when you open the
kit up, there's a white envelope up in there and
there's a little brown bag. The brown bags what you're
going to put the soil in, and then you drop
that bag into the prepaid mailer and then off it
(14:45):
heads to the lab. Bill test kits are available in
all sixty seven county extension offices here in Florida. You
can go to soilkit dot com, back slash Florida and
then they are now on Amazon. So if you go
to Amazon and the search window, they're just typing University
of Florida Soil Test and it'll pop up.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And that that's a great price because so many times
we get landscape companies they will charge or we buy
lots of fertilizer and put down and if this, if
they get the soil test kit and they pay that
twenty nine what was the.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Price again, twenty.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Nine ninety five, If they pay that, they may not
have to buy all of that fertilizer or pay a
landscape company to fertilize.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Is that no, Right, that's a fact. That's an important pase.
So once then the results come back, you get an
email back. There's a new interface, so it'll get three
sixty five and you're going to see all kinds of
information there and you know the recommendation to the interpretation
what's there? What what was determined from the actual test,
(15:57):
and then they'll come with some recommendations and and I
think some people find it very surprising that there are
times when when no fertilizers actually needed, especially as a
landscape ages.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That that's it's so important. And so how long does
it take to get the soil test kit back from
the University of Florida lab.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
So I'll just draw a distinction here. So the soil
the UF branded soil kit is not going to the
UF lab, and we can will differentiate that.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Okay, okay, Supernation.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, it's going to a national lab and so typically
you know, put soil in the mailbox, off it goes.
It's typically two to three days after the lab receives
the soil, then you would get the interpretations. I draw
a distinction between, you know, kind of the u F
lab and the not. The UF lab is still there,
(16:49):
it's still doing what it has done for years, and
it's still available. It is a slower process in the
results that come back from the UF soil test Lab
are quite a bit more difficult to read, which is
and understand, which is one of the reasons that we've
(17:10):
launched this new process.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
And it is so much easier to understand. So I'm
very excited. Doctor unrud too. Go ahead and say Agritech
is offering a promo code that they could use to
take five dollars off of the soil test kits. So
that would mean the test kit is twenty four ninety five.
Tell us about that and what the code is.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So, yeah, for the listeners this morning, if you go
in and use the promo code UF now uf n
OW get five bucks off. That's good here for a
few weeks. And it's just a promo code to get
you to try out the new soil test kit and
(17:54):
save a few dollars in the process.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
That's great and I will be posting that on our
Facebook page. So I think this is a great opportunity
to find out you somebody out there may not even
have to And I think it's going to be a
lot of people that are not going to have to
fertilize and pay that expense and and create a little
bit more you know, environmental pollution from fertilizers if they
(18:16):
get the soil test kit and they may not have
to do anything.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
That's a fact, you know. And I like to use
a lot of medical illustrations. You know, it's kind of like,
you know, you know, what vitamins are you lacking or
what nutrients are you lacking? And so most of us,
especially to get a little bit older, we have to
go to the doctor and they'll do a blood work up, right,
and so then they get the results back and they'll
tell you, hope, your sugar is a little high, your
cholesterol is perfect. The same thing with soil tests. It's
(18:44):
important to know what is there and then interpret that
and that's where this process really is helpful. Thank you
know exactly what products that need to be put out.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Wonderful doctor Henruth, thank you so much. We're going to
be back with more of Better Lawns and Gardens. It's
Saturday morning. This is where you are. I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
(19:24):
to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you know someone who
loves to garden or has a question, please let them
know about Better Lawns and Gardens. Tell them to call
in with their garden questions so I can help them too.
And please contact your local radio station or iHeart affiliate
and let them know you want to hear Better Lawns
and Gardens exactly. I think that's would be a good
(19:45):
idea that's on your to do list this week. Call
me at one triple eight four five five, two nine
sixty seven right now, or you can text at two
three six eight zero. And if you missed any of
today's show, you can hear Better Lawns and Gardens on
Better Lawns dot com, iHeartRadio, iTunes, anywhere where you listen
to podcast, Amazon or on audio Boom, and you can
(20:07):
find Better Lawns and gardens on Facebook. Let's go to
Gloria in Melbourne. Good morning, Gloria. How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Good morning. I have a little gem magnolia that i'd
like to top and put trim back. When is a
good time to do that? And well I hurt the
tree in any way? Yes, I'll hang up and I'll
listen to you.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
On Okay, Okay, that's fine.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Also give the botanical name of a trumpet shrubby you
talked about chicklet.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay. I definitely will thank you so much, Gloria. Okay,
so she talked bye bye hunt and so the topping
of magnolia tree you never want to do, Okay, So
don't do that. You can prune it back, but I'm
kind of wondering why you want to prune it back.
If it's in a wrong location, that's understandable. I'm kind
(20:55):
of sad to see that. But they really don't need
prune golden little gem mcgnolia is they grow in a
really pretty conical shape and there's no reason to prune
them back at all. Definitely do not want to top
the tree. So I would cut back any branches. You
can do that at any time that are extending out
beyond where you want them. You can keep them, you know,
(21:17):
a little bit smaller if you want to keep them pruned.
Do not cut back. Gloria, thank you so much, and
I will get the orange trumpet bush is a esperanza,
So it's called chick lit. Orange esperanza is the name
for it. And you can find that just google it
and you can get it at proven Winners or ask
(21:38):
for it at your local nursery. So it's just a wonderful,
wonderful bush for it if you love butterflies and pollinators.
So let's go to our text. So let's see the
jill from Sebastian. Good morning. Now that the mango season
is winding down, when is a good time to prune
and feed? And I don't know if I mentioned it,
(21:58):
so I'm going to say it again. This is the
second hour, so I might have mentioned it in the
first time. But you can always prune fruit trees after
you harvest the fruit. And now is a good time
to fertilize, So mid season, summertime, it's you know, recommended.
Right now you can go ahead and fertilize. Do gerber
(22:19):
daisies only bloom for a few months I have one
that I had in full sun and it bloomed beautifully
but wilted badly every afternoon. So I moved it not
to get as much sun, and it hasn't bloomed since.
Caroline tallahassee well, Carol, My question is one is it
in a pot or was it in the ground? And two,
(22:42):
just because plants wilt doesn't mean they're getting too much sun.
It could mean that they may be getting overwatered and
that the roots are bloated. So there's a couple of
different reasons why it would wilt, and one of them
could be overwatering or not enough watering. So I would
(23:02):
it's it is a full sun plant, it can take sun,
and if it's in the shade, it's not going to
bloom well at all and could could could die. So
it is considered an annual here in Florida, and so
we plant them in the spring and summertime and sometimes
through the fall. But uh, it does have a blooming
(23:24):
season which is spring and summer, and it could go
dormant and then come back again next year as well.
So I would make sure that you know where it is.
If it's in the ground, put a little sign there
and see, but I kind of want you to move
it back to the full sun. Carol, all right, and uh,
you don't have to apologize. Just go ahead and just
(23:46):
move it back and it'll get that sunlight and it'll
start blooming again. You may also want to fertilize it
too as well, and give it a little boost with
a slow release blooming fertilizer. That will be great one
triple eight four five five two ninety sixty seven. Or
if you would like to text two three six eight zero,
we will grab it right away and give you a call. Linda,
(24:09):
and she did not give me her location, but she says, hello,
is it too late to prune my leggy azaleas? And
she says, I know the best time is right after blooming,
but that time has passed and it has passed, so Linda,
yet it is kind of late. You do not want
to be cutting your camellias. I was looking at camellias
(24:31):
that I installed in a landscape design this week, full
of blooms everywhere. There was like ten five to ten
blooms per shrub, and there's more coming on. This is
a time when those spring blooming ornamental shrubs are putting
on blooms, you don't want to prune them. But your
leggy azaleas, you know, you can prune off the long,
(24:56):
longer branches that are sticking out that you know and
being so obvious, you can clip those back. But uh,
I would just take a pruner and just cut that
one branch off if it's just really super leggy. But
I wouldn't cut any other part of the shrubs. So
I don't want you to do an overall pruning Linda
to the plant. And so you want to wait and
(25:19):
do it again after the blooming season next spring twenty
twenty four. So if you're not cool with not if
if you're cool, I mean with not having any blooms
next spring, you can cut it back. Millions do and
they just don't realize that's why they're Azalea is never bloom.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Oh that's okay, And that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Now.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
You know when you see a shrub and all the
blooms are in the inside and you're looking at and going, wow,
there's four or five blooms on the inside, they're not
on the outside. You're cutting it too much. Oh, okay, okay,
And so azaleas only need to be cut once a year,
and that's right after they bloom, whether they're an early bloomer,
a mid bloomer, or a late bloomer. So somebody chiro
(26:00):
Oh Cairo, Georgia, says good morning. I have two dressina arboreas.
They are more than twenty or twelve feet tall? Twelve
feet tall? Can I top them and root the tops?
I would say that you can top them, and yes,
stick the roots into a pot, put it into the shade,
(26:23):
keep it moist, not over water, but keep it moist,
and it should provide you two more new dressinas. They're
really easy to root. I would do it now. I
wouldn't do it later on in the year because we're
coming up into the cold season, unless it's not a
patio or you take it inside for the winter. The
drossinas are very tropical, and yeah, go ahead and top
(26:47):
them off. That's a great way to do it. Hawaiian
ties too as well, and you can just just top
them off, cut diagonally and then stick it in the
ground and or in a pot with potting soil and
it will root. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to
better lawns and gardens, I'm Teresa Watkins from the Summit
(27:07):
Responsible Solution Studios. This is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
(27:31):
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
and if you have a gardening question, this is a
perfect time to get it answered. One triple eight four
five five two nine sixty seven. I would love to
hear from you or if you would like to text
me two three six eight zero, just like our listener
in Cairo, Georgia just did. And I just want to
(27:54):
elaborate on that dressina. So drosinas are there's so many
different varieties. The arboretus has a really thick trunk and
so when you are cutting it back, you can take
you want to cut back at least six to eight
inches with at least two make sure you have two
fronds on it, two leaves on it to keep it going.
(28:17):
And so you can use root, you know, hormones on
it to go ahead and make sure it doesn't get
a disease issue and kind of stimulates root production. But
you can cut it up into several different six to
eight inch pieces. You don't want to cut a whole
twelve inch piece. I mean, you know a three to
four foot piece. So that's what that's what I wanted
(28:40):
to correct and just make sure you understood. So I
certainly appreciate it. Let me know how it goes for you,
and it will, it will, It will root for you
pretty easier. And so right now we can be also planting,
you know, all kinds of different herbs. And even during
the summertime there are herbs that will I'll handle the heat,
(29:02):
but you can also keep them in the shade going.
And we have our herb expert here, Lizzie. How are
your herbs?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
She's trying not to laugh.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
So she kind of warned me about mint last year
when I told her I was becoming a little obsessed
with mint and like lemon balm, and you know.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
You just say, I just want mint everywhere I did.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
Well, I got it, I got it. The stuff grows underground.
I don't know if you know this and if that's
an actual fact, but the stuff grows underground is popping
up on other sides of my my beds and stuff.
And I'm like, well, it smells nice and chocolatey here,
So I mean there's a benefit to it.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Well, like you have girl scouts in the yard, right.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Honestly, because I've got I've got every mint. I will
almost every man and there's a whole bunch, but I've
got I have sweet mint, i have pepper mint, I
have chocolate mint, which you gave me, and I have
pineapple mint.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yes, and what do you use them in?
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
In the garden?
Speaker 1 (29:56):
So you get this edible mint and you don't use
them put it like your ice cream. So you know,
like when you're you're you're you're feeding Shrek, and you know,
you just give him a bowl of ice cream right right,
and just and just put mint on the side.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
I mean, I know I was born and raised in
the South, but he knows how to get up his
chair and fix his own bowl.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
So that was a that was that was a running fight.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
When my mother in law when she was alive, She's like,
you don't fix his plate for dinner.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
I'm like, uh no, I don't.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
But that's a good idea. So yes, I can use
the mint there, I can use it in some tea or.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
There you go. So our listener in Georgia just maybe
maybe it's a different listener, like I can't see, but uh,
it's not Cairo, Georgia. It's kro Georgia. So thank you
for the correction. I certainly appreciate it, and from now
on I will do that. And and it isn't Beaufort.
That's just out there to my husband is listening, and
(30:50):
it is not Beaufort. It is Beaufort, all right. So
good morning, Teresa, Bill from Orlando. I've planted some basil
and the leaves curled and have not grown. What happened?
I don't know, Bill, Why are they curling? Is it
in full sun? Are they getting enough water? I would
(31:10):
have to see a picture to actually know. Is it
an insect? Isssue? Do they have white flies?
Speaker 5 (31:17):
So is it actually making a full leaf that's curling,
because my one, that's not sweet basil, but it's regular basil. Yeah,
it does kind of do a little bit of a
curvature to.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
It, right, and so and sometimes it could be just
the you know, the heat and everything from the summertime.
Basil doesn't really appreciate the heat as much as rosemary
or oregano in time. And so I would have to
see a picture Bill to know. But just check the soil,
make sure it's getting enough water. And I'm not saying
(31:48):
that you're not watering enough, but just make sure that
the soil stays moist, and then check for insects. Kind
of look underneath the leaves and see if you see
any little white insects and things like that. So how
long has it been in the ground. If it's been
in the ground all winter, this is the second year
you've had it, go ahead and toss it if it's
(32:11):
not doing well, and just start over with new new
herbs in this, in this and they fall.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
That's a good idea. I like that.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
You know, people try keep trying to keep them going
for years and years or seasons and seasons and let
it go, babe, let it go.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
Well, my basils actually turning it into a tree. And
actually it's it's it's it's it's trunk is like as
around as my finger. And I'm like, so they turn
into trees.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
This is stuff to know.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
But yes, no, I think that, yeah, that basically, yeah,
that's and that makes sense. A little bit made it
too much water. We've had quite a bit of rain.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
We've had quite a bit rare. If you've had your
irrigation on anytime in the last two months, you've overwatered
literally grass, landscape plants, can get by with you know,
one and a half inches of rain a week and
they will be just fine. S. I know, we got
to say putable water and so, you know, and it
(33:02):
really happens a lot with you know, people that have wells,
they don't realize how much they're water and because they're
not having to pay for it and me, yeah, and
so they overdo it. And you know, everybody thinks it's Florida,
it's hot. I'm hot, gotta drink lots of water. So
we've got to give the plants lots of water.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Lies.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Yeah, all lies myth Yeah, not do not do that.
And so so here we've learned today you don't have
to overwater. You may not have to fertilize.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
That was good. I really like that.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I mean, what is I mean everybody just thinks we
have to fertilize every spring and every fall, and some
people are fertilizing more than that, and you may not
have to. Now I'm not talking about fruit trees, I'm
not talking about flowers or your hanging baskets. I'm talking
about your actual turf. And if you find out that
(33:56):
you have enough nutrients in your soil already, and this
is Florida, and yes, we have sand, but we also
have nutrients and minerals in that sand, and so you
could save a lot of money. I would like to
see the landscape companies that maintain yards on a weekly
basis to as one of their services, provide a soil
(34:19):
test before they fertilize.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
That's a good suggestion maybe to make them to say, hey,
would you guys be interested in maybe doing a soil test?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
And then how much was that soil.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Test twenty twenty nine ninety five? But with the promo
coupon UF now you get five dollars.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
Off, okay, and that would be good to maybe offer me,
like I'm willing to order this. Would you mind testing
the soil before you fertilize if you pay for it?
Speaker 2 (34:44):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
That's what they need to do, and so we recommend
soil testing before fertilizing anytime. And that's what people need
to get into the habit of starting to think you
don't have to do things automatically, and so it's important
that's gonna help us protect our water supply from quality
because when we put fertilizer down and a lot of
(35:06):
people put the fertilizer down before the rain. Oh, here
comes the rain. It's gonna rain this afternoon, and then
they think, oh, I got to get the fertilizer down.
Never fertilized before a rainstorm.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Why is that, Teresa?
Speaker 1 (35:18):
And it's because when you fertilize before a rainstorm, the
rain comes down in such hard amounts. It comes down
so quickly that it washes that fertilizer off and into
your storm water drains. And so if you've ever fertilized
and you said I fertilized it, nothing happened. It may
be because you fertilized before the rainstorm and it washed away,
(35:39):
and you wasted your money and you wasted the fertilizer.
And now our water's polluted.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
And we're in the season of downpours, not just rains,
like solid downpour.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
So Florida gets between fifty and fifty five inches fifty
eight inches of rain a year, and mostly during the summertime.
Do you know how much seminal Can County.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Had last year?
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Sixty eight inches of rain last year.
Speaker 5 (36:05):
They're overachievers, y'all need to take it down a notch
in Sinal County.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
And so you know, when we talk about that high
water bill. No reason to water You want the you
want your roots of your turf and your plants to
push down deeper and when you're watering often. Right now,
we're only supposed to be watering twice a week if
we don't get any rainfall, and there's no reason to
do that. We've had plenty of rain and so we
certainly appreciate doctor Brian Unruf from the University of Florida,
(36:35):
and kudos for getting that new updated soil test. It's
very good. When so we want to thank the Warner
Family Farms and Agritech just for combining and partnering with
the university to get that out. That's very, very important,
very important, and I'm so pleased to see it. So
get your coupon remember uf now for ordering that kid,
(37:00):
and then you might not even have to fertilize this fall.
That's great, just saying save your money.
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Yeah, and also make sure you get our website w
FLA Orlando dot com. There's a contest page on there.
We're getting away all kinds of cool things, like Monday
through Friday, starting at nine am, we're giving away one
thousand dollars. You just have to enter the keyword at
our website or on the iHeartRadio app. That's WFLA Orlando
dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
That's wonderful. The Pladium Festival July twenty eighth and twenty ninth.
We want to thank Clay Wallace for coming on and
talking to us and hybridizing all those beautiful kalladiums. It'll
be a fun day. You will be able to buy
kalladiums when they're not available in the store, and so
you can go ahead down there in Lake Placid. I'll
be posting this on our Facebook page and you can
(37:46):
listen to it wherever you hear podcasts, and so we
certainly do appreciate it. I want to thank all of
our texters and callers for listening. We have the best
audience here in four percent best and so thank you.
Thank you Brooke for producing the show. You did a
great job today, Well done, well done, and Lizzie, thank
you for being here. As always, it's wonderful. From the Summit.
(38:09):
Responsible Solution Studios, maker of organic mosquito bits and mosquito
dunks and organic year round oil spray. I'm Teresa Watkins.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better lawns and gardens.
And this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network ACTS, ten
(39:02):
p
From the summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome back to the
second hour of Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
I'm a horticulturist, landscape designer, garden author, and I am
so glad you're joining us today. You can check out
our Facebook page Better Lawns and Gardens and our website
Better Lawns dot com for more information. Good morning, Brook.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good morning, Good morning. How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I am good. You're doing a great job this morning.
And good morning, Lizzie.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And you are doing a great job this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Sitting here watching. Yes, thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
And so we are going to be taking your gardening
questions at the bottom of the half hour. You can
give us a call one triple eight four five five
two nine sixty seven, or you can text me at
two three six eight zero anytime and we'll get to
it when we take a break. But right now, it's
time for the dirty word of the Day on Better
(01:09):
Lawns and Gardens with Teresa Watkins. And the dirty word
of the day is naturalized. Naturalize means to be planted
without a pattern. This is the process of becoming or
the state of being established in the wild so that
the growth and reproduction is possible without human intervention. Naturalization
(01:31):
is the process of transforming a cultivated landscape, such as
a lawn, into a more natural landscape. Natural landscapes feature
native plants arranged to mimic naturally occurring habitats such as forests, wetlands,
or meadows. Naturalization requires research, planning, and hard work, so
(01:52):
not to be confused with abandonment. So just because it's
all weedy and tall grass, that's not naturalization. You want
to make sure that your right site conditions are for
your plants, appropriate for your native plants and your non natives.
But that is without a lot of care. They grow
(02:13):
without a lot of human intervention. Now, the abandonment, which
is one way to naturalize an area, we don't want
to do that. When you're talking about hoas or communities.
You want to make sure that it is correct for
your community. Naturalized landscapes can be a source of exotics
taking over and crowding out natives, so make sure when
(02:36):
you're designing and researching a plant, make sure that it
doesn't have a trait or tendency to crowd native plants out.
So the dirty word of the day is naturalized and
I love doing this. I love creating habitats in a yard,
meadows where the flowers come and have different seasons, but
(02:58):
you can have color every year. But for some some landscapes,
it may be a tendency for not to roto till
the earth. You don't want to bring up too much
dirt or disturb the dirt because that's going to bring
the weed seeds up. So we are going to be
taking your phone calls and I have also too. That's
(03:19):
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven.
At the end of the half hour, you want to
write that down one triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text two three six
eight zero. So Howie in Peterson's Nursery in Lakeland, he
texted that he will have onion sets in mid to
(03:41):
late September, so you can look for them.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Then there you're Jerry here listening.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Jerry, yep, yuh. Jerry can go ahead and get that
right there at Peterson's Nursery. So thank you Howie for
that update. I certainly do appreciate it. And then also
too Linda. In eight B she said her pears are overloaded,
and she was happy to see deer late in the
evening come by and lighten the lower branches before they
(04:08):
break off with so many pears. That's wonderful, great harvest.
I bought a long handled picker so I can enjoy
the ones out of their reach. That's a smart move,
very good. Now her Anna en Dorset of apple trees,
and this is a gardening question that she discussed in
(04:29):
the first We discussed in the first hour. They're going
to ripen on the tree, Linda, So I would just
wait for that and see, you know when they do that,
and it should be some time before the end of
the fall October November. And if you're going to get
apples and develop the annas and the dorsets, then they
will be ripened. Then end of November will be just
(04:51):
about right, especially with those freezes and blooms and freezes
and blooms. So also too, what can you be planting
this time of the year. So for vegetables, you're wanting
the heat of the vegetables, boneato, calabasas, cherry tomatoes, the
everglade tomatoes, ochras, southern peas, seminole, pumpkins, sweet cassavas, sweet
(05:16):
potatoes and yard long beans. Then also, this is the
time of the year to start your transplants, planting your
seeds of egg plants, peppers, and tomatoes so that you
can go ahead and transplant them in mid to late
August or September. This is a time get your seeds now,
(05:36):
because they're really not going to be available, especially all
the popular varieties of tomatoes and peppers and egg plants,
if you wait too much longer than August to get them.
So we are going to be talking to doctor Brian
Unru with an exciting update of a product that's been
on the market for a while. I'm excited to see
it from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. If it's Saturday morning,
(06:00):
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens, I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
(06:28):
to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins. Doctor Brian
Unru is the Associate Center Director and Professor of Turf
Grass Science. Doctor Unru leads a team of scientists and
graduate students of the working on real world solutions for
today's turf grass managers, which benefits homeowners in the long run.
Studies include water quality and quantity concerns like drought and water,
(06:54):
nutrient leaching and runoff, pest management, and new turf grass
cultivar development. Doctor Andru works at the University of Florida
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, West Florida Research and
Education Center in Jay, Florida. He joins us right now
to talk about a new exciting update of a smart
gardener and tool. Good morning, doctor Brian. How are you?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I am great, how are you this morning?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
It's I am wonderful. Thank you so much for joining me.
I will tell you that when I first heard about this,
I was very excited because over the last twenty years
it's been an issue for a lot of people with
their soil test kits, and so tell us let's start
at the beginning. How does testing the soil help homeowners?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Well, plants have required, you know, essential nutrients, and those
nutrients are typically in the soil, and so we take
a soil test tells us what nutrients are in the soil,
or maybe more importantly, what nutrients aren't in the soil,
which then dictates what fertilizers we use to make sure
that we grow healthy plants.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
It just makes sense. And so how does the soil
test kit work?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
For the new UFI US branded Soil Test Kit is
really simple. To open the package up. There's customer care
card in there. You can this little QR code walks
you through the various steps. Watch a little video on
how to properly take a soil test. Actually you know
how to dig up the soil, because that's a really
(08:29):
key piece. Put it in the little brown bag, stick
it in the mailer, drop it in the mailbox. Off
it goes to the lab. A few days later, you
get an email and there you go. There's the results.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's great. And so how often should homeowners test the soil?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
You know what, as the landscape ages, the you know,
things kind of level out a little bit. But as
the landscape is young and immature, especially like in new developments,
I think the frequency should end US Department of AGS
is take a soil test on an annual basis. So
I think that's a pretty good place to start.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
That's every year. And so that's important because you know,
I know that people are just used to going out
and in the springtime putting down a fertilizer, you know,
fifteen zero fifteen or sixteen four eight and doing it
again in September and October. But it may not need
that that nitrogen or you know, phosphorus or potassium.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Right, That's exactly right, and that's one of the things
that's kind of exciting about this whole process, especially you
mentioned nitrogen. Now, we don't soil test for nitrogen at
the present time, and that's because nitrogen is really dynamic
in nature and so it's constantly changing forms and availability,
and so at present soil testing for nitrogen is not done,
(09:51):
although there's some cool research going on in that realm.
But phosphorus is a big one for us. Phosphorus is
you know, one of the elements of impairment. In other words,
it can cause environmental problems if there's too much of
it out there or if we're applying too much. And
out of the key piece of this soil test kit
is it comes back with accurate phosphorus recommendation. So that's
(10:15):
that middle number on the fertilizer bag. And if soil
test comes back, sole test report comes back and says
there's not a need for fosters. We want to make
sure that fertilizer that goes on the ground has a
zero in that middle number exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
That's very important. So this is an exciting partnership. So
Christina Warner mckinnis, she is the CEO of Agritech. She
is the producer of the new University of Florida IFIs
Soil Test Kit. Briefly, can you tell us the background
the history of Ms. Mckinnis and her company.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
You bet so. She's a fifth generation farmer and in
this part of the Warner family and the Warners have
been providing, have been in agriculture for over one hundred years,
and they're one of the largest sod producers in the US.
And so she's part of that that family network and
Agritech UH basically is the company that that that is
(11:11):
part of that group and she is She's just been
great to work with and and those are stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That that's important. I love the legacy of farming and
agriculture in the United States. It's so important to keep
that going. And so what kind of locations where can
you use the University of Florida Soil Test.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Kit, So really about anywhere that has soil UH. Now
the you know, you think about it. You know obviously
the landscape of the yards, the raised beds, gardens, there's
you know, fruit trees, you know, there's all these in
the The key is when when the test is taken.
(11:52):
You want to accurately uh indicate on that when when
you when you fill out the form the online is
to where this soil is coming from, because that then
dictates the recommendations that come down the line. And so
if you're doing a backyard titris, you want to make
sure that you select backyard titries. But I did say
(12:13):
anywhere that there's actually soil. A lot of times we
use potting soil, which is actually generally soil lists, and
so you're going to get some weird results if you
start testing soil less media running it through a soil
test process. So we want to avoid anything that has
(12:33):
potting soil or artificial media such as that.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Oh that's good to know. So how many feet? How
many test kits should one homeowner buy for their yard?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
So we generally say, you know, one kit's good for
about ten thousand square feet, which is larger than most
folks lawn. But I think it's important to really dial
in and differentiate. So you have an area in the landscape,
you know, say the front yard or the backyard, or
what area is performing much different than the other. I
think it makes most sense to test those areas separately,
(13:13):
because if you just take soil from the front yard,
salt from the backyard, put it all together, you're going
to get to get an average of what's happening out there,
which may not give an indication.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I had a case of years ago where there was
the uh paul that came into do you know the
front yards doing terrible, the backyards doing great? Pulled up
you know, satellite image and realized, you know, the backyard
is fill soil because it's there's a bulkhead and it's
up against the lake. Yes, so the soils were very dissimilar.
And so in that situation, you know, they had done
a soil test, but they had just done one from
(13:43):
the whole lawn, which averages the fill soil with the
native soil, and so anywhere that it's dissimilar or to
their problem areas, and it could differ in as much
as ten feet right, Oh yeah, I mean, and that's
you know, most of the time we're girling landscapes on
the on the on the soil that the bulldoz are
flattened out, you know, after the after the house was built,
(14:07):
and and so anywhere that you've got, you know, dissimilar conditions,
it's important to test those areas separately.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
That's that's very good, thank you. So how much are
the soil test kits and where can someone get them?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Sure? So, the test kits are twenty nine to ninety
five and that includes everything that you're going to need,
including the prepaid shipping. And so when you open the
kit up, there's a white envelope up in there and
there's a little brown bag. The brown bags what you're
going to put the soil in, and then you drop
that bag into the prepaid mailer and then off it
(14:45):
heads to the lab. Bill test kits are available in
all sixty seven county extension offices here in Florida. You
can go to soilkit dot com, back slash Florida and
then they are now on Amazon. So if you go
to Amazon and the search window, they're just typing University
of Florida Soil Test and it'll pop up.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And that that's a great price because so many times
we get landscape companies they will charge or we buy
lots of fertilizer and put down and if this, if
they get the soil test kit and they pay that
twenty nine what was the.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Price again, twenty.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Nine ninety five, If they pay that, they may not
have to buy all of that fertilizer or pay a
landscape company to fertilize.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Is that no, Right, that's a fact. That's an important pase.
So once then the results come back, you get an
email back. There's a new interface, so it'll get three
sixty five and you're going to see all kinds of
information there and you know the recommendation to the interpretation
what's there? What what was determined from the actual test,
(15:57):
and then they'll come with some recommendations and and I
think some people find it very surprising that there are
times when when no fertilizers actually needed, especially as a
landscape ages.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That that's it's so important. And so how long does
it take to get the soil test kit back from
the University of Florida lab.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
So I'll just draw a distinction here. So the soil
the UF branded soil kit is not going to the
UF lab, and we can will differentiate that.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Okay, okay, Supernation.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, it's going to a national lab and so typically
you know, put soil in the mailbox, off it goes.
It's typically two to three days after the lab receives
the soil, then you would get the interpretations. I draw
a distinction between, you know, kind of the u F
lab and the not. The UF lab is still there,
(16:49):
it's still doing what it has done for years, and
it's still available. It is a slower process in the
results that come back from the UF soil test Lab
are quite a bit more difficult to read, which is
and understand, which is one of the reasons that we've
(17:10):
launched this new process.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
And it is so much easier to understand. So I'm
very excited. Doctor unrud too. Go ahead and say Agritech
is offering a promo code that they could use to
take five dollars off of the soil test kits. So
that would mean the test kit is twenty four ninety five.
Tell us about that and what the code is.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So, yeah, for the listeners this morning, if you go
in and use the promo code UF now uf n
OW get five bucks off. That's good here for a
few weeks. And it's just a promo code to get
you to try out the new soil test kit and
(17:54):
save a few dollars in the process.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
That's great and I will be posting that on our
Facebook page. So I think this is a great opportunity
to find out you somebody out there may not even
have to And I think it's going to be a
lot of people that are not going to have to
fertilize and pay that expense and and create a little
bit more you know, environmental pollution from fertilizers if they
(18:16):
get the soil test kit and they may not have
to do anything.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
That's a fact, you know. And I like to use
a lot of medical illustrations. You know, it's kind of like,
you know, you know, what vitamins are you lacking or
what nutrients are you lacking? And so most of us,
especially to get a little bit older, we have to
go to the doctor and they'll do a blood work up, right,
and so then they get the results back and they'll
tell you, hope, your sugar is a little high, your
cholesterol is perfect. The same thing with soil tests. It's
(18:44):
important to know what is there and then interpret that
and that's where this process really is helpful. Thank you
know exactly what products that need to be put out.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Wonderful doctor Henruth, thank you so much. We're going to
be back with more of Better Lawns and Gardens. It's
Saturday morning. This is where you are. I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
(19:24):
to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you know someone who
loves to garden or has a question, please let them
know about Better Lawns and Gardens. Tell them to call
in with their garden questions so I can help them too.
And please contact your local radio station or iHeart affiliate
and let them know you want to hear Better Lawns
and Gardens exactly. I think that's would be a good
(19:45):
idea that's on your to do list this week. Call
me at one triple eight four five five, two nine
sixty seven right now, or you can text at two
three six eight zero. And if you missed any of
today's show, you can hear Better Lawns and Gardens on
Better Lawns dot com, iHeartRadio, iTunes, anywhere where you listen
to podcast, Amazon or on audio Boom, and you can
(20:07):
find Better Lawns and gardens on Facebook. Let's go to
Gloria in Melbourne. Good morning, Gloria. How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Good morning. I have a little gem magnolia that i'd
like to top and put trim back. When is a
good time to do that? And well I hurt the
tree in any way? Yes, I'll hang up and I'll
listen to you.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
On Okay, Okay, that's fine.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Also give the botanical name of a trumpet shrubby you
talked about chicklet.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay. I definitely will thank you so much, Gloria. Okay,
so she talked bye bye hunt and so the topping
of magnolia tree you never want to do, Okay, So
don't do that. You can prune it back, but I'm
kind of wondering why you want to prune it back.
If it's in a wrong location, that's understandable. I'm kind
(20:55):
of sad to see that. But they really don't need
prune golden little gem mcgnolia is they grow in a
really pretty conical shape and there's no reason to prune
them back at all. Definitely do not want to top
the tree. So I would cut back any branches. You
can do that at any time that are extending out
beyond where you want them. You can keep them, you know,
(21:17):
a little bit smaller if you want to keep them pruned.
Do not cut back. Gloria, thank you so much, and
I will get the orange trumpet bush is a esperanza,
So it's called chick lit. Orange esperanza is the name
for it. And you can find that just google it
and you can get it at proven Winners or ask
(21:38):
for it at your local nursery. So it's just a wonderful,
wonderful bush for it if you love butterflies and pollinators.
So let's go to our text. So let's see the
jill from Sebastian. Good morning. Now that the mango season
is winding down, when is a good time to prune
and feed? And I don't know if I mentioned it,
(21:58):
so I'm going to say it again. This is the
second hour, so I might have mentioned it in the
first time. But you can always prune fruit trees after
you harvest the fruit. And now is a good time
to fertilize, So mid season, summertime, it's you know, recommended.
Right now you can go ahead and fertilize. Do gerber
(22:19):
daisies only bloom for a few months I have one
that I had in full sun and it bloomed beautifully
but wilted badly every afternoon. So I moved it not
to get as much sun, and it hasn't bloomed since.
Caroline tallahassee well, Carol, My question is one is it
in a pot or was it in the ground? And two,
(22:42):
just because plants wilt doesn't mean they're getting too much sun.
It could mean that they may be getting overwatered and
that the roots are bloated. So there's a couple of
different reasons why it would wilt, and one of them
could be overwatering or not enough watering. So I would
(23:02):
it's it is a full sun plant, it can take sun,
and if it's in the shade, it's not going to
bloom well at all and could could could die. So
it is considered an annual here in Florida, and so
we plant them in the spring and summertime and sometimes
through the fall. But uh, it does have a blooming
(23:24):
season which is spring and summer, and it could go
dormant and then come back again next year as well.
So I would make sure that you know where it is.
If it's in the ground, put a little sign there
and see, but I kind of want you to move
it back to the full sun. Carol, all right, and uh,
you don't have to apologize. Just go ahead and just
(23:46):
move it back and it'll get that sunlight and it'll
start blooming again. You may also want to fertilize it
too as well, and give it a little boost with
a slow release blooming fertilizer. That will be great one
triple eight four five five two ninety sixty seven. Or
if you would like to text two three six eight zero,
we will grab it right away and give you a call. Linda,
(24:09):
and she did not give me her location, but she says, hello,
is it too late to prune my leggy azaleas? And
she says, I know the best time is right after blooming,
but that time has passed and it has passed, so Linda,
yet it is kind of late. You do not want
to be cutting your camellias. I was looking at camellias
(24:31):
that I installed in a landscape design this week, full
of blooms everywhere. There was like ten five to ten
blooms per shrub, and there's more coming on. This is
a time when those spring blooming ornamental shrubs are putting
on blooms, you don't want to prune them. But your
leggy azaleas, you know, you can prune off the long,
(24:56):
longer branches that are sticking out that you know and
being so obvious, you can clip those back. But uh,
I would just take a pruner and just cut that
one branch off if it's just really super leggy. But
I wouldn't cut any other part of the shrubs. So
I don't want you to do an overall pruning Linda
to the plant. And so you want to wait and
(25:19):
do it again after the blooming season next spring twenty
twenty four. So if you're not cool with not if
if you're cool, I mean with not having any blooms
next spring, you can cut it back. Millions do and
they just don't realize that's why they're Azalea is never bloom.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Oh that's okay, And that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Now.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
You know when you see a shrub and all the
blooms are in the inside and you're looking at and going, wow,
there's four or five blooms on the inside, they're not
on the outside. You're cutting it too much. Oh, okay, okay,
And so azaleas only need to be cut once a year,
and that's right after they bloom, whether they're an early bloomer,
a mid bloomer, or a late bloomer. So somebody chiro
(26:00):
Oh Cairo, Georgia, says good morning. I have two dressina arboreas.
They are more than twenty or twelve feet tall? Twelve
feet tall? Can I top them and root the tops?
I would say that you can top them, and yes,
stick the roots into a pot, put it into the shade,
(26:23):
keep it moist, not over water, but keep it moist,
and it should provide you two more new dressinas. They're
really easy to root. I would do it now. I
wouldn't do it later on in the year because we're
coming up into the cold season, unless it's not a
patio or you take it inside for the winter. The
drossinas are very tropical, and yeah, go ahead and top
(26:47):
them off. That's a great way to do it. Hawaiian
ties too as well, and you can just just top
them off, cut diagonally and then stick it in the
ground and or in a pot with potting soil and
it will root. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to
better lawns and gardens, I'm Teresa Watkins from the Summit
(27:07):
Responsible Solution Studios. This is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
(27:31):
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
and if you have a gardening question, this is a
perfect time to get it answered. One triple eight four
five five two nine sixty seven. I would love to
hear from you or if you would like to text
me two three six eight zero, just like our listener
in Cairo, Georgia just did. And I just want to
(27:54):
elaborate on that dressina. So drosinas are there's so many
different varieties. The arboretus has a really thick trunk and
so when you are cutting it back, you can take
you want to cut back at least six to eight
inches with at least two make sure you have two
fronds on it, two leaves on it to keep it going.
(28:17):
And so you can use root, you know, hormones on
it to go ahead and make sure it doesn't get
a disease issue and kind of stimulates root production. But
you can cut it up into several different six to
eight inch pieces. You don't want to cut a whole
twelve inch piece. I mean, you know a three to
four foot piece. So that's what that's what I wanted
(28:40):
to correct and just make sure you understood. So I
certainly appreciate it. Let me know how it goes for you,
and it will, it will, It will root for you
pretty easier. And so right now we can be also planting,
you know, all kinds of different herbs. And even during
the summertime there are herbs that will I'll handle the heat,
(29:02):
but you can also keep them in the shade going.
And we have our herb expert here, Lizzie. How are
your herbs?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
She's trying not to laugh.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
So she kind of warned me about mint last year
when I told her I was becoming a little obsessed
with mint and like lemon balm, and you know.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
You just say, I just want mint everywhere I did.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
Well, I got it, I got it. The stuff grows underground.
I don't know if you know this and if that's
an actual fact, but the stuff grows underground is popping
up on other sides of my my beds and stuff.
And I'm like, well, it smells nice and chocolatey here,
So I mean there's a benefit to it.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Well, like you have girl scouts in the yard, right.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Honestly, because I've got I've got every mint. I will
almost every man and there's a whole bunch, but I've
got I have sweet mint, i have pepper mint, I
have chocolate mint, which you gave me, and I have
pineapple mint.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yes, and what do you use them in?
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
In the garden?
Speaker 1 (29:56):
So you get this edible mint and you don't use
them put it like your ice cream. So you know,
like when you're you're you're you're feeding Shrek, and you know,
you just give him a bowl of ice cream right right,
and just and just put mint on the side.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
I mean, I know I was born and raised in
the South, but he knows how to get up his
chair and fix his own bowl.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
So that was a that was that was a running fight.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
When my mother in law when she was alive, She's like,
you don't fix his plate for dinner.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
I'm like, uh no, I don't.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
But that's a good idea. So yes, I can use
the mint there, I can use it in some tea or.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
There you go. So our listener in Georgia just maybe
maybe it's a different listener, like I can't see, but uh,
it's not Cairo, Georgia. It's kro Georgia. So thank you
for the correction. I certainly appreciate it, and from now
on I will do that. And and it isn't Beaufort.
That's just out there to my husband is listening, and
(30:50):
it is not Beaufort. It is Beaufort, all right. So
good morning, Teresa, Bill from Orlando. I've planted some basil
and the leaves curled and have not grown. What happened?
I don't know, Bill, Why are they curling? Is it
in full sun? Are they getting enough water? I would
(31:10):
have to see a picture to actually know. Is it
an insect? Isssue? Do they have white flies?
Speaker 5 (31:17):
So is it actually making a full leaf that's curling,
because my one, that's not sweet basil, but it's regular basil. Yeah,
it does kind of do a little bit of a
curvature to.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
It, right, and so and sometimes it could be just
the you know, the heat and everything from the summertime.
Basil doesn't really appreciate the heat as much as rosemary
or oregano in time. And so I would have to
see a picture Bill to know. But just check the soil,
make sure it's getting enough water. And I'm not saying
(31:48):
that you're not watering enough, but just make sure that
the soil stays moist, and then check for insects. Kind
of look underneath the leaves and see if you see
any little white insects and things like that. So how
long has it been in the ground. If it's been
in the ground all winter, this is the second year
you've had it, go ahead and toss it if it's
(32:11):
not doing well, and just start over with new new
herbs in this, in this and they fall.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
That's a good idea. I like that.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
You know, people try keep trying to keep them going
for years and years or seasons and seasons and let
it go, babe, let it go.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
Well, my basils actually turning it into a tree. And
actually it's it's it's it's it's trunk is like as
around as my finger. And I'm like, so they turn
into trees.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
This is stuff to know.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
But yes, no, I think that, yeah, that basically, yeah,
that's and that makes sense. A little bit made it
too much water. We've had quite a bit of rain.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
We've had quite a bit rare. If you've had your
irrigation on anytime in the last two months, you've overwatered
literally grass, landscape plants, can get by with you know,
one and a half inches of rain a week and
they will be just fine. S. I know, we got
to say putable water and so, you know, and it
(33:02):
really happens a lot with you know, people that have wells,
they don't realize how much they're water and because they're
not having to pay for it and me, yeah, and
so they overdo it. And you know, everybody thinks it's Florida,
it's hot. I'm hot, gotta drink lots of water. So
we've got to give the plants lots of water.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Lies.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Yeah, all lies myth Yeah, not do not do that.
And so so here we've learned today you don't have
to overwater. You may not have to fertilize.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
That was good. I really like that.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I mean, what is I mean everybody just thinks we
have to fertilize every spring and every fall, and some
people are fertilizing more than that, and you may not
have to. Now I'm not talking about fruit trees, I'm
not talking about flowers or your hanging baskets. I'm talking
about your actual turf. And if you find out that
(33:56):
you have enough nutrients in your soil already, and this
is Florida, and yes, we have sand, but we also
have nutrients and minerals in that sand, and so you
could save a lot of money. I would like to
see the landscape companies that maintain yards on a weekly
basis to as one of their services, provide a soil
(34:19):
test before they fertilize.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
That's a good suggestion maybe to make them to say, hey,
would you guys be interested in maybe doing a soil test?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
And then how much was that soil.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Test twenty twenty nine ninety five? But with the promo
coupon UF now you get five dollars.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
Off, okay, and that would be good to maybe offer me,
like I'm willing to order this. Would you mind testing
the soil before you fertilize if you pay for it?
Speaker 2 (34:44):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
That's what they need to do, and so we recommend
soil testing before fertilizing anytime. And that's what people need
to get into the habit of starting to think you
don't have to do things automatically, and so it's important
that's gonna help us protect our water supply from quality
because when we put fertilizer down and a lot of
(35:06):
people put the fertilizer down before the rain. Oh, here
comes the rain. It's gonna rain this afternoon, and then
they think, oh, I got to get the fertilizer down.
Never fertilized before a rainstorm.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Why is that, Teresa?
Speaker 1 (35:18):
And it's because when you fertilize before a rainstorm, the
rain comes down in such hard amounts. It comes down
so quickly that it washes that fertilizer off and into
your storm water drains. And so if you've ever fertilized
and you said I fertilized it, nothing happened. It may
be because you fertilized before the rainstorm and it washed away,
(35:39):
and you wasted your money and you wasted the fertilizer.
And now our water's polluted.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
And we're in the season of downpours, not just rains,
like solid downpour.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
So Florida gets between fifty and fifty five inches fifty
eight inches of rain a year, and mostly during the summertime.
Do you know how much seminal Can County.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Had last year?
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Sixty eight inches of rain last year.
Speaker 5 (36:05):
They're overachievers, y'all need to take it down a notch
in Sinal County.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
And so you know, when we talk about that high
water bill. No reason to water You want the you
want your roots of your turf and your plants to
push down deeper and when you're watering often. Right now,
we're only supposed to be watering twice a week if
we don't get any rainfall, and there's no reason to
do that. We've had plenty of rain and so we
certainly appreciate doctor Brian Unruf from the University of Florida,
(36:35):
and kudos for getting that new updated soil test. It's
very good. When so we want to thank the Warner
Family Farms and Agritech just for combining and partnering with
the university to get that out. That's very, very important,
very important, and I'm so pleased to see it. So
get your coupon remember uf now for ordering that kid,
(37:00):
and then you might not even have to fertilize this fall.
That's great, just saying save your money.
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Yeah, and also make sure you get our website w
FLA Orlando dot com. There's a contest page on there.
We're getting away all kinds of cool things, like Monday
through Friday, starting at nine am, we're giving away one
thousand dollars. You just have to enter the keyword at
our website or on the iHeartRadio app. That's WFLA Orlando
dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
That's wonderful. The Pladium Festival July twenty eighth and twenty ninth.
We want to thank Clay Wallace for coming on and
talking to us and hybridizing all those beautiful kalladiums. It'll
be a fun day. You will be able to buy
kalladiums when they're not available in the store, and so
you can go ahead down there in Lake Placid. I'll
be posting this on our Facebook page and you can
(37:46):
listen to it wherever you hear podcasts, and so we
certainly do appreciate it. I want to thank all of
our texters and callers for listening. We have the best
audience here in four percent best and so thank you.
Thank you Brooke for producing the show. You did a
great job today, Well done, well done, and Lizzie, thank
you for being here. As always, it's wonderful. From the Summit.
(38:09):
Responsible Solution Studios, maker of organic mosquito bits and mosquito
dunks and organic year round oil spray. I'm Teresa Watkins.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better lawns and gardens.
And this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network ACTS, ten
(39:02):
p
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