In the second hour of Better Lawns and Gardens, garden expert Teresa Watkins and Heather Stickney from Summit Responsible Solutions discuss whether mosquitos will be a problem this Spring.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome back to the second hour of Better Lawns and
Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is a wonderful call in gardening show. I
love helping people with their gardens. I'm a landscape designer, horticulturist,
consultant and we have plenty of time today for you
to call in with your gardening questions. But right now
(00:31):
it's time for the dirty Word of the day. And
now it's time for the dirty Word of the Day
on the Better Lawns and Gardens with Teresa Watkins, and
the dirty word of the day is diapause d ia
pa u s as in sam e. Diapause is a
(00:51):
state of suspended development that allows mosquitoes to survive in
unfavorable environmental conditions, particularly during winter or dry Diapause is
a physiological state characterized by low metabolic activity. It is
a survival strategy that many insects, including mosquitoes, use to
(01:11):
endure harsh environmental conditions. During diapause, mosquitoes exhibit reduced processes
such as decreased reproductive activity and increased resistant to extreme temperatures.
Mosquitos typically enter diapause in response to environmental accues such
as shortening day length. As autumn approaches and days become shorter,
(01:35):
mosquitoes prepare for diapause by slowing their metabolism and storing
energy reserves. There's temperature changes. Cooler temperatures signal the onset
of winter, prompting mosquitoes to enter this dormant state. Then
there's also obligatory diapause. Some mosquito species automatically enter diapause
(01:57):
at a specific developmental stage, regardless of the environmental conditions.
And then there's facultative diapause. Most mosquito species can enter
diapause based on external cues such as changes in daylight
and temperature, allowing them to adapt to varying conditions. Then
there's population dynamics. Diapause plays a crucial role in the
(02:20):
seasonal population dynamics of mosquitoes. It allows them to survive
periods when food and water are scarce, ensuring they can
emerge and reproduce when conditions approve. In summary, the mosquito
diapause is a critical adaptation that enables these insects to
survive adverse conditions drafts. So, Lizzie, diapause, we are still
(02:44):
going to have mosquitoes, and I am so glad that
we are having heather sickna. She's going to be on
in a few minutes and she's going to tell us
what's going to happen this year? Are we going to
get mosquitoes?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Hopefully she'll have us good news.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
For us, keeping my fingers crossed.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
If not, it sounds like she may have a solution
to help us with.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
That is so true, So we're gonna be talking to her.
It'll be good to have her back on. She is
in Ohio and the weather is still a little cool there,
but it's warming up. Spring is happening up north too
as well, and all the temperatures. You'd like to get
our newsletter one triple eight four five five two nine
sixty seven, or you can text two three six eight zero.
(03:25):
You can go to my website which is www dot
she dash or she hyphen Consulting dot com. Also too,
our first two garden tours are sold out, the Revolutionary
Garden Tour and our Best of English Gardens, and also
the Chelsea Flower Show is sold out. But we have
(03:46):
so many more nice, wonderful, exciting garden tours. The Newport
Flowers Show, the Gardenwalk Buffalo in New York. Do you
know we have a really good listening audience in Buffalo,
New York. I love this, Yeah, and so good to
everyone up in Buffalo. And so we're going to visit
them in July for their huge event and also go
(04:06):
over to Canada to the Niagara Falls side and experience
the gardens over in Canada. And then we are going
to France, the artiste Gardens of France, and that's going
to be lovely Brandywine Valley, which is our palatial Gilded
Age mansions along the Brandywine Valley in Philadelphia. Just a
(04:29):
wonderful time of the year to go. And also visiting
our friend Jenny Rose Carey at Northview Gardens. And we
are going to have visitors, historic visitors on the trip.
So that's going to be a lot of fun. Like
so Frederick Lloyd Olmsted nice and he is the famous
architect who designed all of these wonderful parks in the
(04:50):
United States. And then we have a fun celebration of
gardens in New Orleans right during the Halloween seasons. It's
going to be a wonderful the ethereal Gardens of New Orleans.
So If you'd like more information, just check it out
art and bloomgardentours dot com and let me know what.
(05:11):
We'd love to travel with you. Tony and I we
have such fun, you know, uh organizing these tours and
going to the places that I love to go to
and enjoy, and I know you will too. So we
are going to uh be taking your garden questions. What
can you be planting as far as herbs go right now?
(05:32):
Annas and basil, bay, laurel and boridge, carterman and sherville,
chives and coriander, costumary and dyl fennel. Dylan Fennel are
wonderful for butterfly gardens, ginger and lemon, balm, sweet marjoram,
Mexican tarragon, mint in pots, please mint in pots or regguedo, rosemary,
(05:53):
sage time and watercrest. So Harold asked about using a
pre emergent, and I have to say the time for
using it is over. We apply pre emergence in late
January early February when it's still cool, so that as
it starts to warm up and with five days of
warm temperature, the weeds are starting to you know, emerge,
(06:17):
and so times for pre emergent is over. You don't
you know, just be wasting your time on it. Also,
I have a really big request for landscape maintenance companies
and for homeowners. Do not edge your garden beds with
weed killer herbicides. That is such a bad way to edge.
(06:39):
It affects the shrubs, it affects the trees, and affects
your turf. It is not a good way to edge.
We have electric edges and you've got the edging the
handspade that can do that. But edging with weed killers
will damage your plants on your property. Also, it's time
(07:00):
to check for chinchbugs. We have them year round. Practically,
I think they're a little bit going dormant with the winter.
But you can check for chinchbugs by using a handheld
vacuum cleaner. Just go around to an area that seems
dead and empty the filter trap on white paper to
find any live chinchbugs. If you have more than fifteen
(07:21):
to twenty chinchbugs, you need to put down apest to side.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens,
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Guardens. As national sales
(07:44):
manager at Summit Chemical Company. Heather Sickney brings more than
twenty five years of experience in the lawn and garden industry,
specializing in effective pest management for all her solutions for
customers as soon as spring arrives in Perrysburg. I know
Heather loves to plant her container garden and to enjoy
(08:04):
it through the summertime, so she humorously refers to herself
as not possessing a green thumb. But I think she
probably does a great job. Good morning, Heather, how are you?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Good morning Teresa. I'm doing well. Thanks, How are you?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I am great? Perrysburg, Ohio. It seems a little warm there.
What's going on right now?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, so right now the sun is out and they're
telling us we're going to be up into the seventies today,
we might hit seventy degrees. So wow, changed from the
winter weather. Yes, Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to
get some rain a little later. But I'll take it.
I'm not going to complain.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
No, send it down here to Florida, and I know
it's coming down here, so we're expecting it next weekend.
So that's glad. So Heather, we just had the worst
winter in twelve years, breaking century old temperature records. Will
there be any relief to Florida so that we don't
have mosquitoes?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
I wish it were that easy. Unfortunately not. You know,
you typically stay above fifteeded breeze in Florida, and so
mosquitoes are really able to breed and feed all year long,
and so it's very unlikely that you will completely have
them eliminated for this season.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Oh my god, So, Heather, we have millions of New
Floridians who are stunned by the winter temperatures. And I
think that they just think winter took care of all
those pests. But where do mosquitoes go in wintertime?
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Then?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Where where do they hide?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
They like to hide in things like tree bark, leaf litter,
logs and barns and sheds. You might even find them
inside your homes. So they definitely look for shelter when
things get cold and they're around.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah, and so they could last the two to three
days hiding and then when it warms up, they go
back to their old ways.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Correct, that is correct?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Okay, So when should we start preparing for a miss?
When should we start seeing them?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Really? Now is the time in central Florida. March is
when you will start to see mosquitos, and now's the
time to get ready for them.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So we lost a lot of bromeliads, and you know,
people think that they're, you know, kind of havens for mosquitoes,
which they can be. And so what can homeowners do
for their bromeliads to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in them?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, so mosquitoes look for water. The female mosquitos look
for water to lay their eggs, and that pup shape
in the bermeliad will collect enough water for a mosquito
to be able to deposit her eggs. The best way
to eliminate the larva that results from that is to
use something like Sunet's mosquito bits. Sprinkle those over the
(10:48):
bromeliads the land and the standing water in the plant,
and the BTI in that product will do its job
to kill the mosquito larvae that develops.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
So tell us about and so what is the benefits
of BTI.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
BTI is a soil borne bacterium, so it is a
biological control and it is a bacterium that is really
only toxic to mosquito larva and fungus net larva it's
virtually harmless to anything else, so you can use it
in the bird bath. It won't harm the birds or
(11:27):
any wildlife that may come to drink out of the
bird bath. You can use it in the animal watering trops.
It's a very effective control for mosquito larva and for
fungus net larva, but again non toxic to other species.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
That is fabulous. It is a really great product. So
how long does mosquito bits or mosquito dunks how long
do they last in the water.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They're formulated a little bit differently, so mosquito bits are
formulated to release the active ingredient BTI very quickly. Because
of that, we recommend reapplication every seven to fourteen days.
Mosquito dunks are formulated to float on the water service,
so if you have again a bird bath or an
(12:12):
ornamental ton, you can float that dunk. It will control
mosquito larva for thirty days or more. It releases product
or it's bacterium over time. So seven to fourteen days
for bits, every thirty days for dunks.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
That's that is great. I mean, it works fabulously. So
what other Summit Responsible Solution products do you recommend for outdoors,
because does this mean we're going to still have more
outdoor insects.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Unfortunately, yes you will. And I know you've had a
lot of frost damage because of the brutal cold temperatures
in Florida. That makes plants very susceptible to soft bodied insects,
things like aphids, spider mite, soft bodied insects that attack
the plant because they're in the process of recovery. Right,
(13:03):
we recommend something like our year round spray oil to
help control those pests and even some fungal disease.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
That's a great product too. So how often does that
need to be.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Applied really depending upon conditions you want to apply. When
you see an active infestation, it's a spray oil, so
the product itself has to make contact with the pest
to suffocate them and eradicate them. So as you see
an active population, that's when you want to apply.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
So we have Easter coming up, and so there's going
to be a lot of family events going on and
people being outdoors, especially with the great weather we have
here in the spring in Florida. So what would you
suggest for right before an event? Is there anything that
they can spray or use around their house their yard
to prevent any kind of insects.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Absolutely, make a mosquito and that barrier product, which is
a promethn based spray that is ideal for helping to
control adult populations of mosquitoes, nets, ti, leaves, really any
type of nuisance pest that you might want to eliminate
in your backyard prior to enjoying it. That product is
(14:22):
applied every thirty days roughly, depending on conditions.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Oh, that's a good way to do it.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah, absolutely, it's a great it's a great product. They
will control everything from ants to mosquitos again, leaves, nets,
anything that might be a nuisance.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
That's wonderful because you don't I mean, when you're getting
ready for an event, you're having to do all these
things at the last minute. And so they could do
this a couple of weeks ahead of time and it'll
all be over with before the party starts and there's
no bad smells or anything like that.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
Right, that is correct.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's virtually odorless. You always want to use caution, apply
according to labeled directions, but people often ask, you know,
can we be back in the area where it's treated.
Rule of thumb is always to apply a product and
allow it to dry and it's safe to be back
in the area for yourself, your kids.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Your pets.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
That's great. So right before you came on before we
had a commercial because some Responsible Solutions is a wonderful sponsor.
We so appreciate you advertising on our show. But they
talked about Meme eighty five. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Niam eighty five is a new product for us. Mem
Oil is not new to the marketplace, but NIME is
a cold press theme product that is new for us
and for us as a product offering, it is a
if you think of it, it's sort of like an
olive oil. The meme seeds are crushed and pressed to
(15:52):
extract oil, and within that oil is a compound called
as a direct in, which, in addition to the oil
being a suffocant that kills insects, that as a directin
has some insecticidal properties to control insects as well. So
it's a little bit better, I would say, then maybe
(16:13):
a hydrophobic extractive mem oil that doesn't have that as
a direct and compound and does a great job in
terms of controlling a wide variety of insect pests as
well as some fungal disease, and then if you have
nematodes or mites, it will control those as well.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
That's wonderful. Now it's also organic and can be used
on edibles. What about citrus trees? What will that? Will
it be good on citrus trees?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yes, it can be used just about any type of plant.
So it's a wonderful product, a very all purpose type
of organic product, I would say wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
So now where can people go and find your products?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Our products are available in a wide range of stores,
certainly in local London garden centers and hardware stores. We
sell to some mess merchants as well as big box
stores and online.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
So that's great. They can also go to your company.
What is your website?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Our website is Summit Responsible Solutions dot com.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Excellent. So now what are you going to plant in
your containers this year?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
I actually have a couple of packets of speed, so
I'm going to try to start in the next couple
of days. Here, I've got some zinias and then some
moss rows that i'd like to see if I can't
have some success with this year, so go for color.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I think that will be beautiful. Zenias and moss rows
you have lots of color. Xenias were the first flower
that I was taught to draw. So Lizzie, I'll show
you how to draw them when we can get through. So, Heather,
thank you so much. I so appreciate you coming on
some Responsible Solutions. I can't say good enough things about them.
It is a great environmental product.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
We appreciate all the support. Thank you so much for
having me.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
All Right, have a great spring on. You'll be on
in a couple more weeks. We'll talk more about Summit
Responsible Solutions products. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Thank you. Bye.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
She is so sweet and I absolutely love their products.
They're amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I know that they are a sponsor of the show. However,
they're not a sponsor of Lizzie. I'm okay with that.
My thing is is I buy them and I feel
comfortable putting them around the Turkey area to help with
the mosquitoes and our property or two and a half acres.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
So I love them.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I recommend them to people who use them, And like
I said, it has nothing to do with them being
a sponsor. It has to do with I absolutely love
the Summit Responsible Solutions. I feel comfortable with my dogs
being outside.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
And your grandchildren, your grand bret yep, there you go.
I call them grand breads.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Too, thank you as you should, as you should, and
other people they have grandkids. I don't. I have grand brats.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
We are going to be back with your gardening questions.
One triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven.
You can give us a call. We'd love to hear
from you, and you can also text your messages. We
won't read them all eric, but we will laugh. Well,
we'll laugh, we will, but well we'll read your gardening
(19:20):
text messages two three six eight zero. If you're in
the gardening area, we'd love to hear from you. One
triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven From
the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins. This is
Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better Lawns
(20:00):
and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins'd love to have your gardening questions.
You can help somebody else by your question. You never
know who needs to know it too as well. One
triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven. Or
you can text two three six eight zero and we
will get to your gardening messages. Let's go to Beth
in Orlando. Good morning, Beth, how can we help you?
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Good morning, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I am concerned.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
About my staghorn being in my west facing tree, and
I just want to know after I uncovered it from
the cold weather, I just wanted to know, can I
feed it something? Does it need to be twelve shout
of your sure?
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Oh, no need? Okay, So you can fertilize it. So
it's kind of difficult if you wanted to use slowerly fertilizers.
You can throw up or pour, you know, get on
the ladder and just kind of pour some some slower
release fertilizer like ozma code into it, you know, anything
that has nitrogen phosphorus potassia. But then you can also
(21:01):
put a liquid product and spray a liquid product on it.
Fish oil you can put in uh, you know, fish
fertilizer uh, and or liquid fertilizer. You can just spray
it with liquid fertilizer and that will that will help
it to as well.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
And I can just find this at a garden shop.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Sure, and yeah, the fish Yeah, the fish oil you
can find anywhere.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
Yes, okay, all right, Well I hope it helps.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
It will it will, they'll recover that. It'll take about
six months, but it'll recover.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
Okay, Well, I thank you for your information. Thank you
so much.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You're welcome, Beth, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
She was a perfect example of you missed a little
bit of the conversation. You have a question, and she
added to the question. So you know, I always throw
out there there is no dumb question because Lord Lord
gave my my parents and my siblings grace, and my
co workers grace. So yeah, there's no dumb question. There's
no repeating yourself just in hey, call them asked because
(21:59):
you know, I know when some amiss something, So thank
you Beth exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
And you know, fish fertilizer is kind of expensive and
you have to use a lot of it, but I
would just dilute it and use half of the recommendation
and then just water it in. And watering is going
to be a good issue. We can go up to
two times a week watering. You don't need to though,
if your landscape's getting by on once a week watering,
(22:24):
save the water and your landscape will be much better
off with the less you water it. Uh, So you
don't necessarily need to do that. I'm also too right now,
you know it's the weather. Warm weather's here. Let's go
ahead and get rid of all of the damage that
we're seeing out in the yards.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
Going.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
I'm driving through communities and I'm still seeing shrubs and
palm trees that have still got all their brown fronds
on them.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
And so you want to make sure we're taking care
of those. So cutting your shrub by one third is
not going to stress the plant out too much. And
then for you prune, water your landscape well and then
water it afterwards, okay, and you can hand water it,
you know, both times, and so you don't have to
face the restrictions. Also to this is the time of
(23:12):
the year to complete pruning of your bush type roses
and prune your climbers when the spring blooms fade. You
don't cut your climbers until after they have bloomed, so
be careful of that. Also to the cool weeks, the
cool season is over, no pre emergence. Yeah, not necessary
to put it down. Let's go to Rick and Vieira East.
(23:35):
Good morning, Rick, how can I help you?
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Hello there, I have a question on my orchards. Okay,
do they need like a chill time? They seem to
bloom better after the hot weather when it goes down,
then opposite when in the spring, So I mean, do
they need something like a chill time?
Speaker 1 (23:59):
So I will tell you just naturally orchids will bloom
when there's a twenty degree temperature change. So in the springtime,
when it warms up to twenty you know, twenty degrees more,
they're going to start putting out blooms. And then in
the fall when the temperature drops about twenty degrees November December,
they will start to put out blooms. So if your variety,
(24:22):
your species is one that blooms twice a year, you
can do it with the temperature changes.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Okay, I just wondering if that was something because I'm
looking around.
Speaker 7 (24:34):
I'm like, okay, the Pepco flowering gardens, they have thousands
of mortgage's, Like, Okay, I wonder if the winter temperatures
that we had screw them up or make them all
(24:54):
blooe more.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It makes them, it makes them bloom more when you
get those you know, when the temperature starts warming up.
So they time International Flower Festival just at a great
time when it's just prime for orchids blooming, all.
Speaker 5 (25:07):
Right, so I'll have to make sure I leave them
out when it gets chili and bring them in when
it gets real cold.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Well, we're talking about twenty degrees. I wouldn't put them
out when there's when it goes below fifty, okay, But
when it goes from fifty sixty degrees up until seventy eighty,
then that's the twenty degrees. And then when they're eighties
and nineties and it dips down into the sixties, that
would be the other twenty degree temperature change, right, okay,
(25:32):
wonderful question. And also, don't forget to fertilize too. Fertilizer
is very important.
Speaker 5 (25:38):
When do I fertilize when they start to bloom or before?
Speaker 1 (25:41):
So I would you know, just as the temperature starts
warming up, so I would start to fertilize them in February,
late February, first part of March.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
Okay, okay, sounds good.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Thank you so much, Rick, appreciate it. And so we
have a lot of great questions here. So let's see.
I good morning, girls, I have a twelve foot Clusia hedge.
This is Claire and Vera, and I love the name Claire.
That's so pretty and it says I have a twelve
foot clusia hedge that is total brown. How far down
should I trim it?
Speaker 7 (26:14):
So?
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Colusions have been very popular here in central Florida for
the last three or four years, and there are lots
of them around. But they are very very strictly zone
eleven ten and eleven and they cannot take freeze of
any kind temperatures below fifty degrees and so we saw
(26:35):
a lot of damage on clusions. You can cut it down,
cut all the dead off, okay, so let's see, Claire,
I would say, just cut off the brown and then
scrape the cambium, scrape the stems and see where the
green starts, and then you can cut them down that
(26:55):
so if it's dead, it's dead, So you can cut
those off. I would say probably if it's twelve foot tall,
I would cut it down to six foot tall and
go from there. And that's just kind of an estimate.
But you may come down a little bit further if
they've been damaged even more. Okay, not a problem, don't
worry about it is that they will recover. Lauren from
(27:16):
Bartow she said, thank you for your terrific program. Thank you.
She says she has a mature broggedon avocado that seems
to be killed by the recent frost. All the leaves
are brown and the sky is gray. Right, So Lauren
from Bartow, hang on, I've got a heard break here
and then we will get to more text messages. If
(27:36):
it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens,
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
(28:07):
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you'd like
to give us a gardening call one triple eight four
five five two nine six seven, or you can text
two three six eight zero. So we had Laura from Bartow,
and she had she has a Brogdon avocado that seems
to be killed by the recent frost. And Brogdon's are
really cold hardy. So that's how damaging. That's how strong
(28:31):
the winter freeze was. That is even beyond what our
normal cold tolerant plants can handle. All the lives a brown,
twigs or brittle and easily break off. She said, I'm
so sad to lose this fruit tree and fruit. Is
there any hope that it'll come back is So what
should I do now? Trim it back, fertilize anything, Yes,
so you want to, I think it'll be just fine.
(28:52):
I think if it's a mature avocado, it will recover. Okay,
So go ahead and cut back all the dead on it,
and then go ahead and fertilize it. And depending on
the size of maturity, if it's if you don't say
how tall it is, but if it's about fifteen to
twenty foot tall, you're gonna have to put a couple
of pounds down a fertilizer. Read the label, but make
(29:15):
sure you're putting enough fertilizer down. Just putting a couple
of cups on a mature of a codda tree is
not gonna help it. So read the label, find out
the exact amount how many pounds you need to use
on your mature trees, and then that'll be fine. You
may not get fruit this year, but you should get
fruit next year. Not a problem. So Lauren, let me
(29:36):
let us know how your avocado tree does. And then,
so what should you be doing right now? Early March
is tomato right now? Pepper and eggplant planting time. You
can still plant seeds or you can put transplants in
the ground. That'll be fine also too. You want to
make sure you know, people are still cutting their crape
(29:57):
myrtles and they're hacking them back. I've seen some really
good uh pollarding going on where they're cutting them back properly.
Anything that's smaller than your pinky, the width of your
pinky that is going wonky, it's going in a wrong direction,
or it's getting too close to another large stem, go
(30:17):
ahead and cut those back. You can do that anytime
of the year, but right now, cutting off the the
seed pods and then bringing it down to a height
you can take a couple of you know, uh, one
to two feet off of it if it's a really
tall one uh. And then any suckers that are coming
up out of the ground when we hack back the
crape myrtle, when we cut it off so so so severely,
(30:41):
that's going to cause it to sucker more. And we
don't want to do that. So cut off any stems
coming up that are that are really small, smaller than
your pinky. Leave three to five large stems, you know,
trunks coming up out of your crape myrtle. Crape myrtles
aren't a tree with a single trunk. They're a shrub.
And so when you stress them out by hacking them
(31:04):
back severely cutting them to cut, you know, straight across,
that's going to stress it out and it's going to
sucker more. Let's go to Karen in VIIa East. What
can I how can I help you?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Hun?
Speaker 8 (31:18):
Yeah, I have a starfruit that we've had for about
oh probably five years. Got it as a baby, didn't
have much on it. This year had like forty fruit.
Just before the freeze all the fruit off. Oh good,
And it's only about five feet tall. Okay, But and
so because it's my prize little baby, I covered it
(31:41):
and I wrapped the root or the bottom of the stem.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
And.
Speaker 8 (31:48):
It has a few deadly leaves left on it, but
the rest have blown off, and I mean it looks dead.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
Do you think I've lost it?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Or again, I don't know. I'd like to see a
picture of it. But go ahead and scrape it. Take
a fingernail file jack, you know, one of the knives
of small knives, and or your fingernail and just kind
of scrape the stem the trunk of the tree and
see if you see any green. If you see green,
it's still alive. It just may take a while to recover.
(32:20):
So I would start at the top of that five
foot and work your way down, see where the green starts,
and you can go from there. It should recover.
Speaker 7 (32:29):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (32:29):
And how about my carry mango. It's huge, I've had
it for twenty years.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Mangoes got whacked, didn't they? Oh my goodness. I mean
the mangoes look so bad. I think. You know, if
they're mature, if it's a large one, it'll recover too
as well. You just may not have any fruit this year.
Speaker 8 (32:47):
Yeah, sad like after the hail.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Yes, exactly, exactly. Yeah, so let me know how it
does though.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
Okay, all right, I shouldn't prune the mango, right.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I would wait and see a couple more weeks to
see if these leaves drop, but if not, I would
go ahead and start cutting it back. I think I
think they're going to start as if the warmer temperatures
are here, they're going to have to start dropping their leaves.
I'm praying they drop, but if not, go ahead and
cut it back and see what happens. Okay, one last thing, sure, egors,
(33:23):
they got whacked too, didn't they? Oh my goodness? Yeah,
go ahead and cut the dead off. Cut the dead off.
Is it a dwarf fix or is it a regular zora? Yeah,
go ahead and cut all the dead off, and it
should it should recover.
Speaker 8 (33:36):
Okay, and I I lost like half.
Speaker 6 (33:38):
It looks like it.
Speaker 8 (33:39):
I lost like half of my high biscuits.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
What is it a standard? Is it? It's a variegated one. Yeah,
go ahead and again, just cut all the dead off.
The dead is never going to recover. So everybody with
dead shrubs, go ahead and cut them all off, and
uh then look at it and in August we can
cut them back again if we need to. But cut
just all the dead off, cut everything that's dead. Okay, Okay,
(34:06):
there you go, Thank you so much.
Speaker 8 (34:07):
Care my husband's on it.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Hi. There you go, good for you, all right, take care,
bye bye, Let's go to Robin Christmas. Good morning, Rob,
how can I help you?
Speaker 4 (34:16):
Good morning. I've got a tomato plant that I've baby through.
This is his second year and I've noticed a bunch
of webs on it and spring it with a fun side.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
But it seems to be getting worse.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Right, and I don't know what to do to Okaya,
So a fungicide is for disease control. It does not
affect insects. Okay, So what you need to do is
put a pesticide on it. You can use the name
oil eighty five that we were just talking about and
spray that on it. Follow the instructions, okay, and or
(34:52):
you can use any pesticide for edible vegetables and plants.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Hight, awesome, I've got an em oil.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Okay, you're welcome, thank you. All right, Yeah, good, good questions.
So it's important to identify what you have first and
know that fungus or fungicides and copper treatments and things
are just going to be for diseases. They're not going
to affect the insects. And that's what's so good about
the chemicals on the shelf. Just because it's a chemical
(35:21):
doesn't mean it's bad. That they've gone through strict testing.
They know exactly what it will do in the environment,
and that's why the label is so important. Follow the label.
We're taking a lot of these chemicals off the market,
not because they are bad, but because we can't control
how people use them. And when the label says only
(35:43):
use once a year or only use twice the year.
People are putting it down every month and it's showing
up in the water supply, you know, and it's doing
damage to our plants. And so you want to follow
the label instructions. Even they're safe when used according to
the label. And that's very important because you want to
be safe. Yes, one triple A. Oh, I want to
(36:04):
say too. We're coming up to the end of the program.
If you want to get the newsletter, please go to
my website she dashed Consulting dot com. She dashed Consulting
dot com, or just look up she consulting Teresa Watkins newsletter.
It will come up and it's free and you can
go ahead and get on it and you don't need
to miss anything there. And then also to Facebook listy,
(36:28):
we definitely want them to go through. If twenty people
today would go on our Facebook page and like it,
that would be so appreciated and grateful. And then share
with your friends and neighbors all these new Floridians moving down.
Let them know, you know where they can get correct
and accurate gardening information. That's important. And we'd like to
(36:49):
thank Heather Stickney for coming on today and she is
fabulous summit Responsible Solutions go there that new meme eighty five.
I'm very excited about that, and I'm going to be
recommending that everywhere also too. This is the time of
the year before the hurricane season gets started, before you
leave to go back up north, have your trees checked.
(37:11):
And you know, this is a good time when a
lot of the leaves are down and you can look
at the whole shape of the tree and see where
it can be trimmed back and properly. So word of
mouth is a great company tree company, and we do
appreciate them too.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Yes, well, and you have to think about how much
how I mean, we had a lot of winter damage,
a lot of freeze damage. So definitely do not wait
till the last second, which means you need to call
and go ahead at your appointments and now to have
your trees.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Checked exactly because when we start to have storms, and
last year we didn't have any God blessed with it,
you know. But so what did we have. We had
the major freeze of the suntury, you know, so we
didn't escape the weather trauma. And so thank you very
much to all of our text messages. We please, we
just are so appreciative of everyone who listens to the show.
(38:01):
Welcome to our listeners from Texas. We have lots of Texas, Tennessee, Georgia.
Big a shout out to doctor Gary Bachman and Katie.
It's good to see them. And wherever you're listening to
Better Lawns and Gardens, Singapore, China. We have a lot
of people in China, Australia, Australia and we love hearing
(38:22):
from you. And if we can answer your gardening question,
just let me know. I will do my best yes
day and I appreciate it so big. Thank you. Check
out the Florida Wildflower Festival which is coming up and
Peterson's Nursery. My talk next week, color My World at
eleven thirty in Peterson's Nursery in Lakeland. Check out Quality
Green Specialists to the Wildflower Festival. It'd be great. It's
(38:45):
Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm
Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
If you have a.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Question for Teresa, you can text hearing the week.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
You can text in the middle of.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
The night to two three six eight zero two three
six eight zero.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
It will not bother us.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
We'll catch it whenever we come back in the studio,
will said Teresa. And then we'll answer it the next Saturday.
Welcome back to the second hour of Better Lawns and
Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is a wonderful call in gardening show. I
love helping people with their gardens. I'm a landscape designer, horticulturist,
consultant and we have plenty of time today for you
to call in with your gardening questions. But right now
(00:31):
it's time for the dirty Word of the day. And
now it's time for the dirty Word of the Day
on the Better Lawns and Gardens with Teresa Watkins, and
the dirty word of the day is diapause d ia
pa u s as in sam e. Diapause is a
(00:51):
state of suspended development that allows mosquitoes to survive in
unfavorable environmental conditions, particularly during winter or dry Diapause is
a physiological state characterized by low metabolic activity. It is
a survival strategy that many insects, including mosquitoes, use to
(01:11):
endure harsh environmental conditions. During diapause, mosquitoes exhibit reduced processes
such as decreased reproductive activity and increased resistant to extreme temperatures.
Mosquitos typically enter diapause in response to environmental accues such
as shortening day length. As autumn approaches and days become shorter,
(01:35):
mosquitoes prepare for diapause by slowing their metabolism and storing
energy reserves. There's temperature changes. Cooler temperatures signal the onset
of winter, prompting mosquitoes to enter this dormant state. Then
there's also obligatory diapause. Some mosquito species automatically enter diapause
(01:57):
at a specific developmental stage, regardless of the environmental conditions.
And then there's facultative diapause. Most mosquito species can enter
diapause based on external cues such as changes in daylight
and temperature, allowing them to adapt to varying conditions. Then
there's population dynamics. Diapause plays a crucial role in the
(02:20):
seasonal population dynamics of mosquitoes. It allows them to survive
periods when food and water are scarce, ensuring they can
emerge and reproduce when conditions approve. In summary, the mosquito
diapause is a critical adaptation that enables these insects to
survive adverse conditions drafts. So, Lizzie, diapause, we are still
(02:44):
going to have mosquitoes, and I am so glad that
we are having heather sickna. She's going to be on
in a few minutes and she's going to tell us
what's going to happen this year? Are we going to
get mosquitoes?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Hopefully she'll have us good news.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
For us, keeping my fingers crossed.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
If not, it sounds like she may have a solution
to help us with.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
That is so true, So we're gonna be talking to her.
It'll be good to have her back on. She is
in Ohio and the weather is still a little cool there,
but it's warming up. Spring is happening up north too
as well, and all the temperatures. You'd like to get
our newsletter one triple eight four five five two nine
sixty seven, or you can text two three six eight zero.
(03:25):
You can go to my website which is www dot
she dash or she hyphen Consulting dot com. Also too,
our first two garden tours are sold out, the Revolutionary
Garden Tour and our Best of English Gardens, and also
the Chelsea Flower Show is sold out. But we have
(03:46):
so many more nice, wonderful, exciting garden tours. The Newport
Flowers Show, the Gardenwalk Buffalo in New York. Do you
know we have a really good listening audience in Buffalo,
New York. I love this, Yeah, and so good to
everyone up in Buffalo. And so we're going to visit
them in July for their huge event and also go
(04:06):
over to Canada to the Niagara Falls side and experience
the gardens over in Canada. And then we are going
to France, the artiste Gardens of France, and that's going
to be lovely Brandywine Valley, which is our palatial Gilded
Age mansions along the Brandywine Valley in Philadelphia. Just a
(04:29):
wonderful time of the year to go. And also visiting
our friend Jenny Rose Carey at Northview Gardens. And we
are going to have visitors, historic visitors on the trip.
So that's going to be a lot of fun. Like
so Frederick Lloyd Olmsted nice and he is the famous
architect who designed all of these wonderful parks in the
(04:50):
United States. And then we have a fun celebration of
gardens in New Orleans right during the Halloween seasons. It's
going to be a wonderful the ethereal Gardens of New Orleans.
So If you'd like more information, just check it out
art and bloomgardentours dot com and let me know what.
(05:11):
We'd love to travel with you. Tony and I we
have such fun, you know, uh organizing these tours and
going to the places that I love to go to
and enjoy, and I know you will too. So we
are going to uh be taking your garden questions. What
can you be planting as far as herbs go right now?
(05:32):
Annas and basil, bay, laurel and boridge, carterman and sherville,
chives and coriander, costumary and dyl fennel. Dylan Fennel are
wonderful for butterfly gardens, ginger and lemon, balm, sweet marjoram,
Mexican tarragon, mint in pots, please mint in pots or regguedo, rosemary,
(05:53):
sage time and watercrest. So Harold asked about using a
pre emergent, and I have to say the time for
using it is over. We apply pre emergence in late
January early February when it's still cool, so that as
it starts to warm up and with five days of
warm temperature, the weeds are starting to you know, emerge,
(06:17):
and so times for pre emergent is over. You don't
you know, just be wasting your time on it. Also,
I have a really big request for landscape maintenance companies
and for homeowners. Do not edge your garden beds with
weed killer herbicides. That is such a bad way to edge.
(06:39):
It affects the shrubs, it affects the trees, and affects
your turf. It is not a good way to edge.
We have electric edges and you've got the edging the
handspade that can do that. But edging with weed killers
will damage your plants on your property. Also, it's time
(07:00):
to check for chinchbugs. We have them year round. Practically,
I think they're a little bit going dormant with the winter.
But you can check for chinchbugs by using a handheld
vacuum cleaner. Just go around to an area that seems
dead and empty the filter trap on white paper to
find any live chinchbugs. If you have more than fifteen
(07:21):
to twenty chinchbugs, you need to put down apest to side.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens,
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Guardens. As national sales
(07:44):
manager at Summit Chemical Company. Heather Sickney brings more than
twenty five years of experience in the lawn and garden industry,
specializing in effective pest management for all her solutions for
customers as soon as spring arrives in Perrysburg. I know
Heather loves to plant her container garden and to enjoy
(08:04):
it through the summertime, so she humorously refers to herself
as not possessing a green thumb. But I think she
probably does a great job. Good morning, Heather, how are you?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Good morning Teresa. I'm doing well. Thanks, How are you?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I am great? Perrysburg, Ohio. It seems a little warm there.
What's going on right now?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, so right now the sun is out and they're
telling us we're going to be up into the seventies today,
we might hit seventy degrees. So wow, changed from the
winter weather. Yes, Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to
get some rain a little later. But I'll take it.
I'm not going to complain.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
No, send it down here to Florida, and I know
it's coming down here, so we're expecting it next weekend.
So that's glad. So Heather, we just had the worst
winter in twelve years, breaking century old temperature records. Will
there be any relief to Florida so that we don't
have mosquitoes?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
I wish it were that easy. Unfortunately not. You know,
you typically stay above fifteeded breeze in Florida, and so
mosquitoes are really able to breed and feed all year long,
and so it's very unlikely that you will completely have
them eliminated for this season.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Oh my god, So, Heather, we have millions of New
Floridians who are stunned by the winter temperatures. And I
think that they just think winter took care of all
those pests. But where do mosquitoes go in wintertime?
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Then?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Where where do they hide?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
They like to hide in things like tree bark, leaf litter,
logs and barns and sheds. You might even find them
inside your homes. So they definitely look for shelter when
things get cold and they're around.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah, and so they could last the two to three
days hiding and then when it warms up, they go
back to their old ways.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Correct, that is correct?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Okay, So when should we start preparing for a miss?
When should we start seeing them?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Really? Now is the time in central Florida. March is
when you will start to see mosquitos, and now's the
time to get ready for them.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So we lost a lot of bromeliads, and you know,
people think that they're, you know, kind of havens for mosquitoes,
which they can be. And so what can homeowners do
for their bromeliads to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in them?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, so mosquitoes look for water. The female mosquitos look
for water to lay their eggs, and that pup shape
in the bermeliad will collect enough water for a mosquito
to be able to deposit her eggs. The best way
to eliminate the larva that results from that is to
use something like Sunet's mosquito bits. Sprinkle those over the
(10:48):
bromeliads the land and the standing water in the plant,
and the BTI in that product will do its job
to kill the mosquito larvae that develops.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
So tell us about and so what is the benefits
of BTI.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
BTI is a soil borne bacterium, so it is a
biological control and it is a bacterium that is really
only toxic to mosquito larva and fungus net larva it's
virtually harmless to anything else, so you can use it
in the bird bath. It won't harm the birds or
(11:27):
any wildlife that may come to drink out of the
bird bath. You can use it in the animal watering trops.
It's a very effective control for mosquito larva and for
fungus net larva, but again non toxic to other species.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
That is fabulous. It is a really great product. So
how long does mosquito bits or mosquito dunks how long
do they last in the water.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They're formulated a little bit differently, so mosquito bits are
formulated to release the active ingredient BTI very quickly. Because
of that, we recommend reapplication every seven to fourteen days.
Mosquito dunks are formulated to float on the water service,
so if you have again a bird bath or an
(12:12):
ornamental ton, you can float that dunk. It will control
mosquito larva for thirty days or more. It releases product
or it's bacterium over time. So seven to fourteen days
for bits, every thirty days for dunks.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
That's that is great. I mean, it works fabulously. So
what other Summit Responsible Solution products do you recommend for outdoors,
because does this mean we're going to still have more
outdoor insects.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Unfortunately, yes you will. And I know you've had a
lot of frost damage because of the brutal cold temperatures
in Florida. That makes plants very susceptible to soft bodied insects,
things like aphids, spider mite, soft bodied insects that attack
the plant because they're in the process of recovery. Right,
(13:03):
we recommend something like our year round spray oil to
help control those pests and even some fungal disease.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
That's a great product too. So how often does that
need to be.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Applied really depending upon conditions you want to apply. When
you see an active infestation, it's a spray oil, so
the product itself has to make contact with the pest
to suffocate them and eradicate them. So as you see
an active population, that's when you want to apply.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
So we have Easter coming up, and so there's going
to be a lot of family events going on and
people being outdoors, especially with the great weather we have
here in the spring in Florida. So what would you
suggest for right before an event? Is there anything that
they can spray or use around their house their yard
to prevent any kind of insects.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Absolutely, make a mosquito and that barrier product, which is
a promethn based spray that is ideal for helping to
control adult populations of mosquitoes, nets, ti, leaves, really any
type of nuisance pest that you might want to eliminate
in your backyard prior to enjoying it. That product is
(14:22):
applied every thirty days roughly, depending on conditions.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Oh, that's a good way to do it.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah, absolutely, it's a great it's a great product. They
will control everything from ants to mosquitos again, leaves, nets,
anything that might be a nuisance.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
That's wonderful because you don't I mean, when you're getting
ready for an event, you're having to do all these
things at the last minute. And so they could do
this a couple of weeks ahead of time and it'll
all be over with before the party starts and there's
no bad smells or anything like that.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
Right, that is correct.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's virtually odorless. You always want to use caution, apply
according to labeled directions, but people often ask, you know,
can we be back in the area where it's treated.
Rule of thumb is always to apply a product and
allow it to dry and it's safe to be back
in the area for yourself, your kids.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Your pets.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
That's great. So right before you came on before we
had a commercial because some Responsible Solutions is a wonderful sponsor.
We so appreciate you advertising on our show. But they
talked about Meme eighty five. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Niam eighty five is a new product for us. Mem
Oil is not new to the marketplace, but NIME is
a cold press theme product that is new for us
and for us as a product offering, it is a
if you think of it, it's sort of like an
olive oil. The meme seeds are crushed and pressed to
(15:52):
extract oil, and within that oil is a compound called
as a direct in, which, in addition to the oil
being a suffocant that kills insects, that as a directin
has some insecticidal properties to control insects as well. So
it's a little bit better, I would say, then maybe
(16:13):
a hydrophobic extractive mem oil that doesn't have that as
a direct and compound and does a great job in
terms of controlling a wide variety of insect pests as
well as some fungal disease, and then if you have
nematodes or mites, it will control those as well.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
That's wonderful. Now it's also organic and can be used
on edibles. What about citrus trees? What will that? Will
it be good on citrus trees?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yes, it can be used just about any type of plant.
So it's a wonderful product, a very all purpose type
of organic product, I would say wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
So now where can people go and find your products?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Our products are available in a wide range of stores,
certainly in local London garden centers and hardware stores. We
sell to some mess merchants as well as big box
stores and online.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
So that's great. They can also go to your company.
What is your website?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Our website is Summit Responsible Solutions dot com.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Excellent. So now what are you going to plant in
your containers this year?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
I actually have a couple of packets of speed, so
I'm going to try to start in the next couple
of days. Here, I've got some zinias and then some
moss rows that i'd like to see if I can't
have some success with this year, so go for color.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I think that will be beautiful. Zenias and moss rows
you have lots of color. Xenias were the first flower
that I was taught to draw. So Lizzie, I'll show
you how to draw them when we can get through. So, Heather,
thank you so much. I so appreciate you coming on
some Responsible Solutions. I can't say good enough things about them.
It is a great environmental product.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
We appreciate all the support. Thank you so much for
having me.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
All Right, have a great spring on. You'll be on
in a couple more weeks. We'll talk more about Summit
Responsible Solutions products. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Thank you. Bye.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
She is so sweet and I absolutely love their products.
They're amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I know that they are a sponsor of the show. However,
they're not a sponsor of Lizzie. I'm okay with that.
My thing is is I buy them and I feel
comfortable putting them around the Turkey area to help with
the mosquitoes and our property or two and a half acres.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
So I love them.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I recommend them to people who use them, And like
I said, it has nothing to do with them being
a sponsor. It has to do with I absolutely love
the Summit Responsible Solutions. I feel comfortable with my dogs
being outside.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
And your grandchildren, your grand bret yep, there you go.
I call them grand breads.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Too, thank you as you should, as you should, and
other people they have grandkids. I don't. I have grand brats.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
We are going to be back with your gardening questions.
One triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven.
You can give us a call. We'd love to hear
from you, and you can also text your messages. We
won't read them all eric, but we will laugh. Well,
we'll laugh, we will, but well we'll read your gardening
(19:20):
text messages two three six eight zero. If you're in
the gardening area, we'd love to hear from you. One
triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven From
the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins. This is
Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better Lawns
(20:00):
and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins'd love to have your gardening questions.
You can help somebody else by your question. You never
know who needs to know it too as well. One
triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven. Or
you can text two three six eight zero and we
will get to your gardening messages. Let's go to Beth
in Orlando. Good morning, Beth, how can we help you?
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Good morning, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I am concerned.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
About my staghorn being in my west facing tree, and
I just want to know after I uncovered it from
the cold weather, I just wanted to know, can I
feed it something? Does it need to be twelve shout
of your sure?
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Oh, no need? Okay, So you can fertilize it. So
it's kind of difficult if you wanted to use slowerly fertilizers.
You can throw up or pour, you know, get on
the ladder and just kind of pour some some slower
release fertilizer like ozma code into it, you know, anything
that has nitrogen phosphorus potassia. But then you can also
(21:01):
put a liquid product and spray a liquid product on it.
Fish oil you can put in uh, you know, fish
fertilizer uh, and or liquid fertilizer. You can just spray
it with liquid fertilizer and that will that will help
it to as well.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
And I can just find this at a garden shop.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Sure, and yeah, the fish Yeah, the fish oil you
can find anywhere.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
Yes, okay, all right, Well I hope it helps.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
It will it will, they'll recover that. It'll take about
six months, but it'll recover.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
Okay, Well, I thank you for your information. Thank you
so much.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You're welcome, Beth, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
She was a perfect example of you missed a little
bit of the conversation. You have a question, and she
added to the question. So you know, I always throw
out there there is no dumb question because Lord Lord
gave my my parents and my siblings grace, and my
co workers grace. So yeah, there's no dumb question. There's
no repeating yourself just in hey, call them asked because
(21:59):
you know, I know when some amiss something, So thank
you Beth exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
And you know, fish fertilizer is kind of expensive and
you have to use a lot of it, but I
would just dilute it and use half of the recommendation
and then just water it in. And watering is going
to be a good issue. We can go up to
two times a week watering. You don't need to though,
if your landscape's getting by on once a week watering,
(22:24):
save the water and your landscape will be much better
off with the less you water it. Uh, So you
don't necessarily need to do that. I'm also too right now,
you know it's the weather. Warm weather's here. Let's go
ahead and get rid of all of the damage that
we're seeing out in the yards.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
Going.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
I'm driving through communities and I'm still seeing shrubs and
palm trees that have still got all their brown fronds
on them.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
And so you want to make sure we're taking care
of those. So cutting your shrub by one third is
not going to stress the plant out too much. And
then for you prune, water your landscape well and then
water it afterwards, okay, and you can hand water it,
you know, both times, and so you don't have to
face the restrictions. Also to this is the time of
(23:12):
the year to complete pruning of your bush type roses
and prune your climbers when the spring blooms fade. You
don't cut your climbers until after they have bloomed, so
be careful of that. Also to the cool weeks, the
cool season is over, no pre emergence. Yeah, not necessary
to put it down. Let's go to Rick and Vieira East.
(23:35):
Good morning, Rick, how can I help you?
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Hello there, I have a question on my orchards. Okay,
do they need like a chill time? They seem to
bloom better after the hot weather when it goes down,
then opposite when in the spring, So I mean, do
they need something like a chill time?
Speaker 1 (23:59):
So I will tell you just naturally orchids will bloom
when there's a twenty degree temperature change. So in the springtime,
when it warms up to twenty you know, twenty degrees more,
they're going to start putting out blooms. And then in
the fall when the temperature drops about twenty degrees November December,
they will start to put out blooms. So if your variety,
(24:22):
your species is one that blooms twice a year, you
can do it with the temperature changes.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Okay, I just wondering if that was something because I'm
looking around.
Speaker 7 (24:34):
I'm like, okay, the Pepco flowering gardens, they have thousands
of mortgage's, Like, Okay, I wonder if the winter temperatures
that we had screw them up or make them all
(24:54):
blooe more.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It makes them, it makes them bloom more when you
get those you know, when the temperature starts warming up.
So they time International Flower Festival just at a great
time when it's just prime for orchids blooming, all.
Speaker 5 (25:07):
Right, so I'll have to make sure I leave them
out when it gets chili and bring them in when
it gets real cold.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Well, we're talking about twenty degrees. I wouldn't put them
out when there's when it goes below fifty, okay, But
when it goes from fifty sixty degrees up until seventy eighty,
then that's the twenty degrees. And then when they're eighties
and nineties and it dips down into the sixties, that
would be the other twenty degree temperature change, right, okay,
(25:32):
wonderful question. And also, don't forget to fertilize too. Fertilizer
is very important.
Speaker 5 (25:38):
When do I fertilize when they start to bloom or before?
Speaker 1 (25:41):
So I would you know, just as the temperature starts
warming up, so I would start to fertilize them in February,
late February, first part of March.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
Okay, okay, sounds good.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Thank you so much, Rick, appreciate it. And so we
have a lot of great questions here. So let's see.
I good morning, girls, I have a twelve foot Clusia hedge.
This is Claire and Vera, and I love the name Claire.
That's so pretty and it says I have a twelve
foot clusia hedge that is total brown. How far down
should I trim it?
Speaker 7 (26:14):
So?
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Colusions have been very popular here in central Florida for
the last three or four years, and there are lots
of them around. But they are very very strictly zone
eleven ten and eleven and they cannot take freeze of
any kind temperatures below fifty degrees and so we saw
(26:35):
a lot of damage on clusions. You can cut it down,
cut all the dead off, okay, so let's see, Claire,
I would say, just cut off the brown and then
scrape the cambium, scrape the stems and see where the
green starts, and then you can cut them down that
(26:55):
so if it's dead, it's dead, So you can cut
those off. I would say probably if it's twelve foot tall,
I would cut it down to six foot tall and
go from there. And that's just kind of an estimate.
But you may come down a little bit further if
they've been damaged even more. Okay, not a problem, don't
worry about it is that they will recover. Lauren from
(27:16):
Bartow she said, thank you for your terrific program. Thank you.
She says she has a mature broggedon avocado that seems
to be killed by the recent frost. All the leaves
are brown and the sky is gray. Right, So Lauren
from Bartow, hang on, I've got a heard break here
and then we will get to more text messages. If
(27:36):
it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens,
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
(28:07):
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you'd like
to give us a gardening call one triple eight four
five five two nine six seven, or you can text
two three six eight zero. So we had Laura from Bartow,
and she had she has a Brogdon avocado that seems
to be killed by the recent frost. And Brogdon's are
really cold hardy. So that's how damaging. That's how strong
(28:31):
the winter freeze was. That is even beyond what our
normal cold tolerant plants can handle. All the lives a brown,
twigs or brittle and easily break off. She said, I'm
so sad to lose this fruit tree and fruit. Is
there any hope that it'll come back is So what
should I do now? Trim it back, fertilize anything, Yes,
so you want to, I think it'll be just fine.
(28:52):
I think if it's a mature avocado, it will recover. Okay,
So go ahead and cut back all the dead on it,
and then go ahead and fertilize it. And depending on
the size of maturity, if it's if you don't say
how tall it is, but if it's about fifteen to
twenty foot tall, you're gonna have to put a couple
of pounds down a fertilizer. Read the label, but make
(29:15):
sure you're putting enough fertilizer down. Just putting a couple
of cups on a mature of a codda tree is
not gonna help it. So read the label, find out
the exact amount how many pounds you need to use
on your mature trees, and then that'll be fine. You
may not get fruit this year, but you should get
fruit next year. Not a problem. So Lauren, let me
(29:36):
let us know how your avocado tree does. And then,
so what should you be doing right now? Early March
is tomato right now? Pepper and eggplant planting time. You
can still plant seeds or you can put transplants in
the ground. That'll be fine also too. You want to
make sure you know, people are still cutting their crape
(29:57):
myrtles and they're hacking them back. I've seen some really
good uh pollarding going on where they're cutting them back properly.
Anything that's smaller than your pinky, the width of your
pinky that is going wonky, it's going in a wrong direction,
or it's getting too close to another large stem, go
(30:17):
ahead and cut those back. You can do that anytime
of the year, but right now, cutting off the the
seed pods and then bringing it down to a height
you can take a couple of you know, uh, one
to two feet off of it if it's a really
tall one uh. And then any suckers that are coming
up out of the ground when we hack back the
crape myrtle, when we cut it off so so so severely,
(30:41):
that's going to cause it to sucker more. And we
don't want to do that. So cut off any stems
coming up that are that are really small, smaller than
your pinky. Leave three to five large stems, you know,
trunks coming up out of your crape myrtle. Crape myrtles
aren't a tree with a single trunk. They're a shrub.
And so when you stress them out by hacking them
(31:04):
back severely cutting them to cut, you know, straight across,
that's going to stress it out and it's going to
sucker more. Let's go to Karen in VIIa East. What
can I how can I help you?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Hun?
Speaker 8 (31:18):
Yeah, I have a starfruit that we've had for about
oh probably five years. Got it as a baby, didn't
have much on it. This year had like forty fruit.
Just before the freeze all the fruit off. Oh good,
And it's only about five feet tall. Okay, But and
so because it's my prize little baby, I covered it
(31:41):
and I wrapped the root or the bottom of the stem.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
And.
Speaker 8 (31:48):
It has a few deadly leaves left on it, but
the rest have blown off, and I mean it looks dead.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
Do you think I've lost it?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Or again, I don't know. I'd like to see a
picture of it. But go ahead and scrape it. Take
a fingernail file jack, you know, one of the knives
of small knives, and or your fingernail and just kind
of scrape the stem the trunk of the tree and
see if you see any green. If you see green,
it's still alive. It just may take a while to recover.
(32:20):
So I would start at the top of that five
foot and work your way down, see where the green starts,
and you can go from there. It should recover.
Speaker 7 (32:29):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (32:29):
And how about my carry mango. It's huge, I've had
it for twenty years.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Mangoes got whacked, didn't they? Oh my goodness. I mean
the mangoes look so bad. I think. You know, if
they're mature, if it's a large one, it'll recover too
as well. You just may not have any fruit this year.
Speaker 8 (32:47):
Yeah, sad like after the hail.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Yes, exactly, exactly. Yeah, so let me know how it
does though.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
Okay, all right, I shouldn't prune the mango, right.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I would wait and see a couple more weeks to
see if these leaves drop, but if not, I would
go ahead and start cutting it back. I think I
think they're going to start as if the warmer temperatures
are here, they're going to have to start dropping their leaves.
I'm praying they drop, but if not, go ahead and
cut it back and see what happens. Okay, one last thing, sure, egors,
(33:23):
they got whacked too, didn't they? Oh my goodness? Yeah,
go ahead and cut the dead off. Cut the dead off.
Is it a dwarf fix or is it a regular zora? Yeah,
go ahead and cut all the dead off, and it
should it should recover.
Speaker 8 (33:36):
Okay, and I I lost like half.
Speaker 6 (33:38):
It looks like it.
Speaker 8 (33:39):
I lost like half of my high biscuits.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
What is it a standard? Is it? It's a variegated one. Yeah,
go ahead and again, just cut all the dead off.
The dead is never going to recover. So everybody with
dead shrubs, go ahead and cut them all off, and
uh then look at it and in August we can
cut them back again if we need to. But cut
just all the dead off, cut everything that's dead. Okay, Okay,
(34:06):
there you go, Thank you so much.
Speaker 8 (34:07):
Care my husband's on it.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Hi. There you go, good for you, all right, take care,
bye bye, Let's go to Robin Christmas. Good morning, Rob,
how can I help you?
Speaker 4 (34:16):
Good morning. I've got a tomato plant that I've baby through.
This is his second year and I've noticed a bunch
of webs on it and spring it with a fun side.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
But it seems to be getting worse.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Right, and I don't know what to do to Okaya,
So a fungicide is for disease control. It does not
affect insects. Okay, So what you need to do is
put a pesticide on it. You can use the name
oil eighty five that we were just talking about and
spray that on it. Follow the instructions, okay, and or
(34:52):
you can use any pesticide for edible vegetables and plants.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Hight, awesome, I've got an em oil.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Okay, you're welcome, thank you. All right, Yeah, good, good questions.
So it's important to identify what you have first and
know that fungus or fungicides and copper treatments and things
are just going to be for diseases. They're not going
to affect the insects. And that's what's so good about
the chemicals on the shelf. Just because it's a chemical
(35:21):
doesn't mean it's bad. That they've gone through strict testing.
They know exactly what it will do in the environment,
and that's why the label is so important. Follow the label.
We're taking a lot of these chemicals off the market,
not because they are bad, but because we can't control
how people use them. And when the label says only
(35:43):
use once a year or only use twice the year.
People are putting it down every month and it's showing
up in the water supply, you know, and it's doing
damage to our plants. And so you want to follow
the label instructions. Even they're safe when used according to
the label. And that's very important because you want to
be safe. Yes, one triple A. Oh, I want to
(36:04):
say too. We're coming up to the end of the program.
If you want to get the newsletter, please go to
my website she dashed Consulting dot com. She dashed Consulting
dot com, or just look up she consulting Teresa Watkins newsletter.
It will come up and it's free and you can
go ahead and get on it and you don't need
to miss anything there. And then also to Facebook listy,
(36:28):
we definitely want them to go through. If twenty people
today would go on our Facebook page and like it,
that would be so appreciated and grateful. And then share
with your friends and neighbors all these new Floridians moving down.
Let them know, you know where they can get correct
and accurate gardening information. That's important. And we'd like to
(36:49):
thank Heather Stickney for coming on today and she is
fabulous summit Responsible Solutions go there that new meme eighty five.
I'm very excited about that, and I'm going to be
recommending that everywhere also too. This is the time of
the year before the hurricane season gets started, before you
leave to go back up north, have your trees checked.
(37:11):
And you know, this is a good time when a
lot of the leaves are down and you can look
at the whole shape of the tree and see where
it can be trimmed back and properly. So word of
mouth is a great company tree company, and we do
appreciate them too.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Yes, well, and you have to think about how much
how I mean, we had a lot of winter damage,
a lot of freeze damage. So definitely do not wait
till the last second, which means you need to call
and go ahead at your appointments and now to have
your trees.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Checked exactly because when we start to have storms, and
last year we didn't have any God blessed with it,
you know. But so what did we have. We had
the major freeze of the suntury, you know, so we
didn't escape the weather trauma. And so thank you very
much to all of our text messages. We please, we
just are so appreciative of everyone who listens to the show.
(38:01):
Welcome to our listeners from Texas. We have lots of Texas, Tennessee, Georgia.
Big a shout out to doctor Gary Bachman and Katie.
It's good to see them. And wherever you're listening to
Better Lawns and Gardens, Singapore, China. We have a lot
of people in China, Australia, Australia and we love hearing
(38:22):
from you. And if we can answer your gardening question,
just let me know. I will do my best yes
day and I appreciate it so big. Thank you. Check
out the Florida Wildflower Festival which is coming up and
Peterson's Nursery. My talk next week, color My World at
eleven thirty in Peterson's Nursery in Lakeland. Check out Quality
Green Specialists to the Wildflower Festival. It'd be great. It's
(38:45):
Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm
Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
If you have a.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Question for Teresa, you can text hearing the week.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
You can text in the middle of.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
The night to two three six eight zero two three
six eight zero.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
It will not bother us.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
We'll catch it whenever we come back in the studio,
will said Teresa. And then we'll answer it the next Saturday.
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