The Family Plot - February 24, 2024

- Hi, thanks for joining us for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South. I'm Chris Cooper. Our vegetable garden can provide food, but it can also leave a gardener with lots of questions. Today, we are answering some. It's The Q&A Show, next on The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South. - (female announcer) Production funding for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South is provided by the WKNO Production Fund, the WKNO Endowment Fund, and by viewers like you, thank you. [upbeat country m

usic] - Welcome to The Family Plot, I'm Chris Cooper. Whether it is problems with peppers, disease that wipes out your crops, or soil issues, there always seems to be a puzzling problem in the home vegetable garden. That happened to some of our viewers last season, and they sent us their questions. Today we're answering them. Hopefully our answers will help you too. Let's start with a question about leeks. [upbeat country music] "My leeks are growing well, I think." [Celeste laughs] "What should

I do to get them "to fully mature with thick stalks? "I thought about using hay to shade them. "Will this work? When should I expect them to be ready for harvest?" And this is Brian from Powell, Tennessee. So, if you know anything about leeks, leeks are, Celeste, - No, I do not. - Related to onions. I actually know some folks who grow leeks. - Oh, good, I'm gonna let you carry this. - At Shelby County Community Gardens. - I'm gonna let you carry on this leek situation. - So, the thing about the

leeks is going to be this. I'll answer the last question first, right? So we're look at about 100 to 120 days to full maturity. - Okay, that's a long, that's a long time that you gotta be watching these leeks grow. - That's a long time. So this is what one of those gardeners told me. And I listen to these seasoned gardeners who've been around for a while, right? So he uses transplants, okay? So when he plants them in the ground, he plants half of the leeks in the ground. Half of the leek transp

lants in the ground. So you have a half in the ground, half up top. - Okay. - As it starts to grow, guess what he does? He uses the soil to hill up the area around the leeks. - Around it. Okay. - Right, which allows for more growth and also for blanching, right? Blanching is good for nutrition. - Okay, that helps what, turn it white? - Helps to turn it white. - Okay. - So that's what it's for, right? So this is what a couple of those gardeners like to do, and it seems to work. - Seems to work. -

It seems to work. - So it sounds like his thought about maybe using hay... - So using hay? - Could work to help blanch? - I think it could work, right. But you're going to be doing some hilling up, that soil up against the leeks themselves, right? Which allows for better growth, - When you said the season was so long, so 120 days. And then he was concerned about them not like getting really thick stalks. Maybe they're just not mature enough? - They're not mature enough. - To have those. - Maybe

they're not mature enough. I mean, that's something to think about, right? Because again, you got to be patient. And I'm sure they probably have some varieties that are probably early. You know, your probably 60, 80 days, or something like that, but for the most part, the ones that I know that grow in this area, pretty much 100 to 120 days. And these folks have been growing them forever, right? - Yeah. - But that's the method they use, and it seems to work. But yeah, patience is involved. So yo

u're right, maybe he's just not letting them mature enough. - I'm going to branch out and try some leeks. - Try some leeks. I bet you had it before and didn't realize you were eating leeks, right, but they are good. All right, so, Brian, thank you much for that question. We appreciate that. Yeah, so using the hay we think could work. - Yeah. - Right? But you definitely have to hill up the soil around those leeks, right? For full maturity. [upbeat country music] "My okra plants were producing goo

d fruit regularly. "But now the flower buds don't even open. What is going on?" This is Saul on YouTube. Booker, I know you like okra plants, don't you? - Man, but I'm just surprised about the okra plant. We had the okra plant in our yard, didn't nothing happen to it. It just stayed... I mean, we want something to happen to my okra plant. To pick it... - Tough to pick. - It's hard, but... Could be heat in there, cause them to do that in there. But, but okra plant is a really little tough plant f

or me in the landscape and in your garden. So, I don't know. - Yeah, Alainia, it's probably heat stress? That's what I'm thinking about. Because yeah, anytime we have hot, dry weather, and the temperatures here specifically in Memphis have been above, you know, of course 90 degrees. So yeah, the flower production is gonna decline, you know, just due to heat, right? What you can do though, you can actually cut that okra plant back above the soil line 6 to 12 inches, right? You can get a fall crop

. - Fall crop. - Fall crop, right? - So there's bad news and good news. - Yeah, so it's bad, it's good news. - The bad news, you can't do anything about the heat. But the good news is, you can look forward to fall. And it's going to cool off eventually. - It is. - If we could just even get the nighttime temps up, you know, whereas 80 degrees, 90 degrees at night, it's still there under a lot of stress. - Right, because yeah, the plant is steady working twenty-four hours a day when the temperatur

es are so warm at night. They don't get a chance to [exhales] - Breathe. - It'll get better. - Yeah. - It'll cool off. - Let them cool off now, yeah. - It can't cool off like that. So, that's what I think that is, environmental stress, which is going be heat stress, right? Which is going to cause the flower production again to decline and almost shut off. - Like I said, we've been staying hot at night. - Yeah. - It's not getting a break. The plant's not getting a break. It is hot in the daytime,

hot at night. So that's problem. - It's working itself to death. - Working itself to death. It can't hardly, it can't survive in there. If you do water your okra plant, try to do early the morning time in there. But that's a tough little plant, though. - Yeah, so consistent watering, you know, as well. But yeah, just look forward to a fall crop though. - That's good. - That's what I would say. - And yeah, you shouldn't be able to kill it. - No. [everyone laughs] - It'll make it through. - It'll

make it through, yeah. [upbeat country music] - "What's a collard green plant that resists bugs?" And this is Joe. Wouldn't we all like plants that resist bugs? [everyone laughs] So, so Lee what you think about that? Is there a collard green plant that resists bugs? - I don't know of a collard green plant itself that would resist bugs, or a variety that would resist bugs. I don't think that has been developed yet. - Yeah, maybe we need to get on that, right? [everyone laughs] Ms. Kim, what do y

ou think about that? - That would be great. - Wouldn't that be great? - Yeah, yeah. Maybe they can, you know, the genetics, they can breed that into it. But I think the insects adapt. If you change, they change. - They change too, yeah. It would be nice to have a collard green plant that could do that. But yeah, we know what the cabbage looper, the cabbageworm, the harlequin bug, the aphids. - Yeah. - Oh, they're going to come. They're going to come, for sure. - Just plant enough for them, I gue

ss. - Just plant enough, oh yeah. Plant your Flash, your Champion variety of collard greens, you'll be fine. - Right. - You'll be fine. So what is the best way to treat, like you had aphids, you know, in your collard greens? - You could use some of the horticulture oils, would be a good way to try to control. - Sure, sure. And if you, you know, for the cabbageworm, the cabbage looper, Bt. - Bt, right. - Javelin, DiPel. Just read and follow the label. You know, give them the stomach ache. They go

away, they die. But yeah, that'd be interesting if we could... - Yeah. - Yeah, breed a collard green plant that could resist bugs, Joe. So, we'll get on that for you, all right? [upbeat country music] "I planted Peaches and Cream corn", which is good. - I love it. - "I bought at the local "feed store and not one came up. "I planted it again and again, the same thing. "What's going on? "I have grown corn there before. I put triple-10 down first." And this is Richard from Greenville, Tennessee. T

he corn is not coming up. It's not coming up. He's seeded, it's not coming up. - I feel your pain. [Chris chuckles] Because, you know, you think, well, I can start planting warm-season vegetables after the middle of April. - Mm? - Because it's time. - It's time. It should be time. - But the weather this spring, and the last few springs, has been cold. And I did that mistake. I said, oh, I wanna get ahead 'cause I wanna get corn growing. So I planted seeds and it was too cold and they, they did n

ot come up. And it was Peaches and Cream too. - Peaches and cream is good. - Yeah. - If the soil is too damp and too cold... - Too damp and too cold, yeah. - The seeds will not germinate. - It won't, it won't. You got to wait 'til the soil temperature is at least 70 degrees. Corn likes it warm. - Corn likes it hot, yeah. [Chris chuckles] Yeah, definitely have to have, you know, warmer soil temperatures. - And it can't be wet. - And it definitely can't be wet. - I mean, it can be moist but not we

t. - Yeah, just rot out the roots. - Yeah. - So again, if it's cold, the soil is damp, [Chris makes buzzer sound] - And, what happened is they probably rotted in the ground before the temperature was correct for them to germinate. - Probably, yep. - So that's what I'm thinking happened. - That's definitely what I'm thinking happened. So you're going to have to plant a little later, Mr. Richard. Yeah, wait 'til that soil warms up, you know? Seventy degrees or more. - Just make sure it's well drai

ned first. And, if he's planted there before, I'm hoping he's rotating his crops too. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - So he's not planting corn in the same place every year. - Yeah, yeah. - Because I don't plant, I have square and I just, every few years I move the corn around. - Right. Now that's a good point. There's something else I like to mention too, using the triple-10. Is that according to the soil test? - Yeah, I was gonna say, make sure you need a soil test because I, my garden wasn't doing well

and I got a soil test. And I realized, all I needed was nitrogen. 'Cause the other phosphorus, potassium were very high. - Yeah. - I didn't need that. So all I needed was nitrogen. And once I did that and stopped putting, you know, other products on there, the garden did a lot better. - Yeah, it makes a difference. Yeah, it definitely does. I mean, we say it a lot, but we mean it because it does, you know, make a difference. - It helps. - pH is all about nutrient availability. So yeah, make sur

e you get that soil tested, Mr. Richard. But yeah, we're thinking yeah, cold... - It's too cold. - Damp soils. - And too wet. - Yeah. This has been a very unusual spring. The last couple of years, like you mentioned. - Yeah, it has. [upbeat country music] "Hi Chris. "Every year we plant tomatoes, yellow squash, and cucumbers. "They seem to always have a limited growing season "of about three weeks. "Tomatoes and cucumbers grow the first part of July, "then wilt and die after three weeks of beari

ng. "I just put down three yards of certified composts "and I tried to get indeterminate plants. "Also, I'm keeping up with daily watering "in the hot days, but careful not to overwater. "What's up, and how can I extend the production season "up to frost if possible? Many thanks." And this is John from Columbia, South Carolina. So it's good that he's trying to grow all these different vegetables. But here's the thing, Celeste, tomatoes and cucumbers, they will wilt and die. So what do we think a

bout the tomato first. - Okay. - Then we'll talk about the cucumber. - Let's go tomatoes first. So, from the picture that we saw, this looks very similar to a blight, called early blight. - Yes. - That we see on tomatoes. And it's a little confusing because it's called early blight, but it doesn't always happen early in the season. - Right, right. - And they're like, it can't be early blight. We're in July. And I'm like, don't get caught up in terminology. - Yeah, you're exactly right. - So that

's just what we call it. It is soil borne. So like water, when it rains, it can splash up from the soil onto the bottom leaves. You'll start seeing death happening on those leaves nearest the ground on the plant. And it'll work its way up. And there's a small degree of this. It's gonna happen eventually on the tomatoes. A lot of people call that firing up. - Yes, I've heard that. - Looks like they've been fired up from the bottom, you know. But we certainly don't want this disease to take out yo

ur plants that early in the season before they've had time to really produce a good harvest for you. So, the best way to manage that is to start early before any signs of foliar damage really are showing with preventative applications of fungicide. The fungicides that are available to homeowners are not curative in nature. So, once you see signs of disease on the bottom, we'll say, two sets of leaves, you can count on those leaves falling off. - Yes you can. [chuckles] - But when you spray it wi

th the fungicide, you're protecting the leaves that haven't already been exposed to those fungal spores. - Good. - So, that would be my best recommendation for that, is just start early with a plan to have preventative fungicide sprays on your tomatoes every two weeks. - And something else? - According to label. - Yeah, according to label. And something else I'd like to add to that, mulch. - Yes, oh that would be good. That's gonna help prevent splash up. Yeah, definitely, use a mulch of some so

rt. - Okay, so what about the cucumbers? What do you think about that? - The cucumbers, while it looks similar, 'cause they're both wilting and right? And turning yellow and drying up. That is being caused from a completely different situation. Most likely feeding from cucumber beetles that has vectored bacterial wilt to those plants. Super common. - Yes. - Nothing that this person is doing wrong. Cucumber beetles are in our environment. I've even was telling you earlier, been noticing them on a

ll kinds of plants in my garden. Not that they're hurting my flowers, but I'll be out there working around and I'm like, "What's that cucumber beetle doing over here?" [Chris laughs] The garden's over there. - Yeah. - But, definitely we need to spray to control those cucumber beetles so that we don't vector that disease and get the decline, early decline of our plants. - Yeah. - Yeah, those would help. - Those would definitely help, yeah. - So just do some scouting. - Scouting... - Scout around,

make sure that you know what you're looking for as far as insects go. So that you know how to time your applications. - Exactly right. And something else I'd like to mention as well, how about resistant varieties? Could there be some resistant varieties out there for your tomatoes? - Yeah, there certainly can. So, when you buy a tomato plant and you look at the tag, it'll have all these strange capital letter, look like acronym abbreviations. And those stand for a variety of different diseases.

So, you know, TSWV is Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus. EB is early blight. - Yeah. - LB, late blight, and it goes on and on. There's lots of diseases of tomatoes. But certainly check those tags and see if you know that you've been struggling with early blight, see if you can find one that has some resistance with that. [upbeat country music] - "I'm thinking this is a cucumber beetle, "but I'm not sure. "It is really destroying my garden. Would you know a non-pesticide way to get rid of them?" And thi

s is Mike from Buckley, Washington. So thank you for that picture, Mike. That's a good picture you had there. Is it a cucumber beetle? Oh yes. - Yeah. [Chris laughs] - Oh yes, okay. But how would you get rid of it? Non-pesticide way. [Joellen claps] - I would like smash it. [Joellen laughs] I'd pick it off and I would smash it. - You would smash it? - Yeah, because you know, a lot of the... You can use pyrethroids and stuff like that, but you have to actually get them on. - You got to contact th

e beetle. - Yeah, the contact. And sometimes you don't see them. - Yeah. - Because the problem is they'll bite the vegetable and then they transfer the wilts. - Yeah, the bacterial. - The bacterial. The bacterial wilt and oh my goodness. - And when that happens... - That's what just... Everything's gone, yeah. It's a downhill from there. So I don't, you know, other than that, the pyrethroids. - Yeah, you can do the pyrethroids. That neem oil, but again, it has to be there for you to contact it.

- If you have neem oil and you don't want to smash it, you can just chase them around and spray them. - Spray 'em. - But, I mean, contact insecticides are probably the least lethal way to do that. And they're hard to catch. - Right yeah, 'cause they, you know, they can move pretty rapidly and they can fly. - Yeah. - So those would be pretty tough to use. But there are non pesticide ways to control. There's a couple other things, right? So you can use floating row covers. - Oh, that's true. - Rig

ht, so you can cover the plants. But then the thing about it is you have to remove the row cover once the plant in bloom. - That's true. - So they get pollinated. - 'Cause you want the bees to pollinate it. - Right, so you want them them to get pollinated, so that's the thing about the floating row cover. Something else that you can do is you can plant late. How about planting later? - Yeah. - Okay. Or how about a trap crop? Just how about that. So you just plant something else, you know, and ju

st let them have at that while you have this over here. - Yeah. - So that's something else you could do. Or resistant varieties? - Wait, yeah, and... - If there are any out there, - And you can have-- - Do a little research. - And then you can have the cucumber beetle can bite them and they can have that the the plant that it's biting is resistant to the bacterial wilt. - Yep, at least you have a plant. - At least you have your plant and your fruits and stuff. - Yeah, so I mean those are some of

the things I would consider, you know, if you, you know, don't want to use neem oil, the pyrethroids... - Or touch them. - Yeah, or touch them. But the floating row covers, something's good, resistant varieties if you can find that. Trap crop, you know, let 'em eat something else or just plant later. You know, 'cause by the time the larva matures, becomes an adult, that's early in the season. So they'll find some else to eat. - Yeah, yes. - And then you can have, you know, what you need in your

own garden there, Mike. So, thank you for that question. And if you have any other questions about that, yeah, do check with your local Extension Office there. They may have some publications. - Yeah, and they may have... - Can help you with control. - A good timing for him also. - Exactly, they sure may. [upbeat country music] "What is this stuff growing on the bottom of my tomatoes?" And this is Jerome from Millington, Tennessee. So what you think about that doc, on the bottom right? - Yeah,

yeah. - We all grow tomatoes. - Yeah, he had a picture. - He had it, so yeah. - So, I think we all kind of agreed after we saw it, that it was blossom end rot. - Yeah, blossom end rot. - Which is really, really common. You know, especially with our up and down water and rain and you know? So, that's a problem that is only remedied with regular watering and making sure you've got the pH right. - That's right, exactly right. - So the calcium can be uptake- 'cause there's a lack of calcium. - Lack

of calcium, yeah. I would recommend mulching. You know, as well, to help regulate, you know, soil moisture. - That's true. That would be a good, yeah. - For sure, anything you wanna add to that Mr. John? Yeah, this is, yeah, definitely common. - No, definitely common. I think you covered it. - Oh, and it's not just tomatoes. You know, you can get it on squash and watermelons. And cucumbers and all kind of things. - You sure can. - But typically, I think most commonly, people realize that's what

it is on tomatoes. - On tomatoes, and it's the lack of calcium when that fruit is starting to develop and enlarge. [upbeat country music] "We live near farm fields. "Is there anything you can do to protect garden tomatoes from farm herbicides?" And this is Clarence from Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. Get that question a lot around this way. Especially in the Millington area. - Yeah. - So, I'm sure you're very familiar with some of those questions. - I am, I am. And you know, I've worked in the industry

. - I know you have. - I've worked with farmers and I work with homeowners. And I have a sister, Charlotte, lives over in Caruthersville, Missouri, and she's unable to grow tomatoes. She's not been able to grow tomatoes for the last several years. My suggestion is to talk to the farmer. See if you can identify, see if you can identify where, which farmer. And if you know which field it's coming from, go talk to the farmer and just tell them that you like to grow tomatoes. And it may affect the c

rops that he plants close to your house. - Okay. - He may completely change so that he's not using one of the herbicides that is very, the tomatoes are very susceptible to. They may do that. He may offer to pay you for the tomatoes if you've lost some. And I know Clarence is probably not interested in that. He's probably not interested in being paid for them. He just wants to be able to grow tomatoes. Most people like homegrown tomatoes. But, that's the first thing I'd do. I'd go talk to the far

mer and, you know, it doesn't have to be a confrontational situation. Just say, hey, you know, he probably knows him. They're probably friends. They may go to church together. - Right. - Just say, "Man, you know, "I sure am having trouble growing tomatoes now for some reason, I don't know what the problem is." And, and you know. But that's the best way to handle that. - I like that. - Talk, communication, and see if you can work something out. - Right. I'm with you. Yeah, if you just communicate

, you know, with the farmer, maybe that helps. - Yeah, it may change. He may simply, you know, will plant something else there where we won't have to use one of those products. [upbeat country music] - "I want to transplant my strawberries to a raised bed. "I then got concerned about freeze risk. "How long before a frost do I need to move my strawberries?" And this is Kevin from Paola, Kansas, Mr. D. So he wants to transplant those strawberries, right, before the frost. - Before the frost. - Bef

ore the frost. - And, you know, and strawberries are perennial, so they can stand cold weather. They kind of go dormant in the wintertime. In Paola, Kansas, I would look around and try to figure out when the commercial guys are planting their strawberries, and that's when I would transplant mine. And it may be four weeks before the average killing frost or something like that. Give them a little chance to have some root development. The commercial guys are just planting crowns. And they're not p

utting, you know, live plants out there. They are live plants, but they're just the strawberry crowns. So that might, you know, be a little factor. You may want to go a little bit earlier. I don't know. So this is not something that's typically done, you know, most of the time. You might want to consider getting some strawberry crowns and putting 'em in the raised beds and leaving these alone. You know, I don't know how many you're talking about doing. You may have better luck, you know, startin

g out with crowns rather than a whole plant. - Interesting. - I've had a lot of bad luck transplanting whole plants. The larger they are, the harder they are for me to get to live when I'm planting a bare-root plant. And that goes for trees, shrubs, or anything. If I go with a small one, you know, I have a lot better luck than I do with a large one. So, I don't know. That's just kind of a different kind of question. But, you know, four weeks. Two to four weeks before killing frost, you know, if

you've done them. That'll do the trick for you. - Hopefully, she can dig enough soil with the roots that she's transplanting, so that will be less of a shock for them to transplant also. And, you know, and mulch it, when you get done. - Mulch it, yeah. - I would say water it. Make sure you get it watered in - Water it in, good. - And mulch it - Mulch it. - More contact, that's right. - And, see what happens. - See what happens. [upbeat country music] "We love fresh peppers and our Hungarian hot

jalapeños "and sweet Italian peppers did well. "But the habaneros took so long to mature "that we lost most of them to the frost. "Some of that was probably due "to a very cold, wet spring. "How can I improve their yields? I took these pictures right before the first frost." And this is Eric and Sharon in Pasco, Washington. - Oh. - Okay. - So we had to think about that, Washington right? - Yeah, so. So it is true that our bells, our jalapeños, we're gonna be able to get to fruiting sooner on tho

se. So a lot of those hots, you know, we may have a longer season. So, I would think about it in terms of, you know, a range of, can we get in earlier in the spring, right? So they referenced a cool wet spring, which actually we experienced here in Tennessee. It was cold. - Quite often, yeah. - 2022 was the latest that I ever got in to the spring season. So are there things that can help you get in earlier? Raised beds that drain faster. You know, so some of those sites may be able to give you a

little bit of a window. The other thing is, and when I think about hot peppers, especially ones that you're probably not gonna use in a huge volume. You don't need that many plants. Maybe this is a container option. It would allow you to get in early. You could protect later in the season to get a longer growing season. I know some hot pepper aficionados who will overwinter their peppers so that they have a more mature plant starting earlier. - How about that? - These are, obviously. these woul

d be folks with greenhouses and things like that. - I thought you were gonna say crazy pepper people. - Well, I mean, I wouldn't call any vegetable enthusiast crazy. - Crazy, right. - But... [everyone laughs] There are ways that you can extend that growing season. I think containers would be one of the things that I would go to. - Okay, that's good. Celeste, anything you wanna add to that? - Nope. Nope, we're good. - Yeah, we let those crazy vegetable... [everyone laughs] - Crazy pepper people.

[everyone laughs] - Nah, that is good. So Eric and Sharon, thank you for that question. Yeah, Pasco, Washington, right? Yeah, so containers. - Yeah. - There's your option there. Appreciate that. - Growing earlier. - Yeah, early. Yeah, I do like that. I like that. Remember we love to hear from you. Send us an email or letter. The email address is familyplot@wkno.org, and the mailing address is Family Plot, 7151 Cherry Farms Road, Cordova, Tennessee 38016. Or you can go online to familyplotgarden.

com. That's all we have time for today. Thanks for sending in the questions. They keep us on our toes. If you want to find research-based information to help you in your garden this coming year, head on over to familyplotgarden.com. We have well over a thousand videos, and with each one, links to Extension publications from all over the country. Thanks for watching, I'm Chris Cooper. Be sure to join us next week for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South. Be safe. [upbeat country music] [ac

oustic guitar chords]