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♪♪
-From the splendid studios of WLVT
in the shining city of Bethlehem, PA,
it's time for another endearing hour
of chemical-free horticultural high-jinks
"You Bet Your Garden."
I'm your host, Mike McGrath.
This show marks the 20th year of continuous episodes
of "You Bet Your Garden" on Public Broadcasting.
It's also the first show from our new headquarters
at WLVT in the Christmas City.
Our musical director Kenn Kweder
is here live to help us celebrate.
We'll also speak with Umar Mycka,
the man who gives poison ivy a rash
by clearing proprieties of tons of the allergenic vines,
explain why chemical fertilizers make flea beetles fat and happy,
and, yes, take your fabulous phone call questions,
comments, tips, tricks, suggestions,
and amazingly adroit assertations.
-♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah
-So, pull up a chair, cats and kittens,
because it starts right here, right now.
Hey, welcome to the first episode
of "You Bet Your Garden,"
coming to you from the fabulous studios
of WLVT in Bethlehem, PA.
That was my good friend Kenny Kweder
and his partner Mark Teague
playing us on live,
because this show is also our 20th anniversary.
We got a lot to get done.
We have my good friend Umar here,
the poison ivy expert.
Going to tell us the best and safest ways
to get rid of that nasty vine
and tell us stories of taking tons out of people's landscapes.
And we're also going to tell you why
flea beetles love chemical fertilizers.
That's a lot to do.
We'd better hop right to your fascinating phone calls.
The new number -- 833-PBS-WLVT,
which means 833-727-9588.
Neve, welcome to "You Bet Your Garden."
-Hi, Mike. Great to be on your show.
-I'm glad to have you
on our very first show out of Bethlehem.
It's very exciting.
Where is Neve?
-I'm right off next to Valley Forge National Park
in Chesterbrook.
-Oh, okay. Very good.
You got a lot of deer to help you
do your gardening and pruning.
-[ Laughs ] Yes, for sure.
-What can we do you for?
-Okay. So, this question that I have
is about the very popular houseplant Kalanchoe.
I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right.
-Okay.
-But my husband gifted me one last year in July.
And it flowered twice for me.
And then, I put it out on the deck this spring.
And it, surprisingly, did very well,
and it has suddenly bloomed a lot.
But -- but it is not flowering again this year at all.
-Okay. Well, are you saying
it flowered last year but not this year?
-Yes. And it has become much bigger.
It is almost four times its size now.
-Well, they're going to do that, you know.
-Yeah. And it looks very beautiful,
but I don't know how to make it bloom now.
-Well, you know, it might not be be anything you did
or could have done.
This was a wretched summer, by all accounts,
in Southeast Pennsylvania, the Mid-Atlantic states.
I mean, we got something like 127 inches of rain
in June alone,
and all the plants got waterlogged.
There really wasn't a lot of sun, and there --
when there was sun, it was too hot.
What do you typically do with this plant
when you bring it back inside for the "winter"?
-Last year, I had kept it inside, and it bloomed twice.
And then, I just put it out this summer.
-Mm-hmm. Well --
-So, I don't know what to do when I bring it in.
-Okay, so, here's the basic rules
for bringing plants in from the outdoors.
You get a garden hose or a pressurized sprayer,
and you set the nozzle to its strongest setting.
You want, like, a laser beam of water.
You cradle the plant with one hand,
and then, as best you can, you really soak it down.
You get the undersides of the leaves,
you get into all the little nooks and crannies and crevices.
Then you move the plant to another place,
and you do exactly the same thing the next day.
And then, you might even want to wipe down the rim
to make sure there's no insects
trying to get in on that little plant pot part.
And then, it should be safe to bring the plant inside.
And you say it bloomed inside for you
really well the first year, right?
-Yes. -Okay.
So, I would put it back in -- you know, easy-peasy,
put it back into exactly the same conditions.
Now, if you don't see buds forming,
go out and get a -- a natural fertilizer,
a liquid fertilizer,
something with very low numbers on the label.
Every fertilizer label has three numbers, called the NPK numbers.
You don't want any number to be really above six.
You want to feed this really gently,
and you want the middle number to be the highest.
That is the -- the fruiting nutrient.
That's the one that's going to give you
the most -- the most flowers.
Now, you don't want to overfeed it,
but it sounds like -- I'm presuming you haven't fed it?
-No, I haven't done anything. -Okay.
-I just added some compost to -- when I put it out.
-Oh, that's excellent. Good job. Good job.
But it -- it probably had a lot of fertilizer in the soil
when you -- when it was first bought for you.
And now, if it's that size,
it could probably use a little boost.
So, just a gentle organic liquid fertilizer
designed for houseplants
with the middle number higher than the first and the third.
And, really, that's all you should have to do.
It sounds like the plant is basically healthy,
and that's 90% of the issue.
-Yes. Great. Thank you very much.
-My pleasure. Good luck to you.
-Thank you. -And thanks for being on.
-Yeah. -Bye-bye.
-Bye.
-1-888-PBS-WLVT is our new number.
Actually, that's all letters.
The new number is 833-727-9588.
And you can call that number any time.
David, welcome to "You Bet Your Garden."
-Hey, Mike, how are you?
-I am just ducky today, David. How are you doing, sir?
-Doing good, thank you.
So, I am in Colmar, Pennsylvania,
in Hatfield Township outside Philly.
-Very good. What can we do for David in the Mar of Col?
-So, I have two about 40-year-old pin oaks
growing in the front of my yard.
And from the ground come these mushrooms,
and it's been a -- a tremendous number of mushrooms this year.
And they seem to fall, like, in line with the roots,
and I just -- I'm not sure if they're good for the tree,
bad for the tree, or what -- what actions I should take
to try to get rid of them or possibly treat the tree.
-Well, mushrooms generally are attracted by dead wood.
A lot of times when we have mushrooms popping up out of a lawn,
it means somebody had a tree taken down
but they left the roots in the ground.
The roots are decomposing,
the mushroom is helping that move along.
Sometimes it's construction debris.
People -- the contractor just buries all the wood,
and then you're going to have mushrooms growing out of that soil
for like 10 years.
Now, how do these pin oaks look, in general?
-The trees seem to look good. The canopy is pretty full.
There are -- maybe one of the two trees has --
has maybe a branch with some brownish, orangish looking stuff
on the bark,
which I'll get trimmed and cut off this fall.
-Very good. Actually, winter. Wait till winter.
-Winter? -Yeah.
-Okay. -Yeah. See, if you trim --
if you trim branches like that in the fall,
the tree will respond with new growth.
That can be damaged severely in the winter,
so you want the tree to be sound asleep in --
in the winter or even early spring,
as the tree is emerging from dormancy.
That's another safe time. -Okay.
But the trees look -- seem to be healthy.
-And has there been any injury to the roots?
Um...
-Well, they -- The roots stick close to the surface.
It's a -- it's a heavy clay soil.
The -- the trees are surrounded by lawn, no ground cover.
-Mm-hmm. -I haven't treated the lawn in years,
since I've -- since I've been there,
with any kind of artificial fertilizers
or anything like that.
So, the roots are close to the surface, and it --
they look like they've been probably struck by a lawnmower
a few times. -Oh, okay.
-But they've been -- They've scarred over,
and so, they're at or below the surface.
-Okay. So, here's what's going on.
When the lawnmower strikes the roots,
it chips off little pieces of wood.
Those pieces of wood are dead.
Fungal spores in the environment
are going to land on that dead wood,
they're going to grow mushrooms,
and that is the "fruit" that uses up the energy in the wood
to transform the wood back into more soil.
In this kind of a situation, what you want to do
is get a nice, big load of compost.
And starting about, oh,
six inches away from the main truck of the tree --
you want to be where the root flare begins,
you don't want to cover any bark --
spread an inch or two of compost out in a circle,
until the roots are no longer exposed.
That way, you won't be banging into them with the lawnmower.
And if I'm correct
and it's just little chippies of wood in there,
it really won't take long for the mushrooms to decompose them.
So, I would suggest you not do anything,
although if you want to be clever, in a good way,
we had such a wet year in your area,
that it would not be unwise
to dust that area first with some wood ash
and spread it around where the mushrooms are.
Mushrooms like this are going to need acidic soil
to really thrive.
The wood ash is highly alkaline.
It's the equivalent of liming your lawn.
The calcium carbonate equivalency of lime and wood ash
is very close to the same.
But people are desperate to get rid of their wood ash,
so there's no reason to buy anything.
So, spread some wood ash, cover the roots with compost.
That won't hurt them.
Although, aboveground roots are very healthy for a tree
if nobody's banging into them,
but still, they become a problem,
the tree could be harmed over time.
So, cover 'em with compost.
I don't think the mushrooms are going to come up next year.
-How thickly should I put the -- the wood ash down, like how...?
-Oh, not -- not that much. Not that much.
Maybe do a couple of cups for the whole tree.
-Perfect. Thank you very much. -All right.
Well, thank you, David. Take care.
-Thanks, Mike. -Bye-bye.
833-PBS-WLVT is our new phone number.
Yes, I know those aren't numbers,
and I hate going looking for those letters on my phone.
So, I'll tell you it translates to 833-727-9588.
Please call that any time.
If we're not around, leave us a message,
and we'll get you on the air.
Like Carol. Carol, welcome to "You Bet Your Garden."
-Well, thank you, Mike. I'm excited to be with you.
-I'm excited to have you, Carol. Where are you excited?
-I'm excited at 7th and Pine.
-That's a great neighborhood down in the true Old City.
What can we do for Carol in -- on Pine Street?
-Well, I have a miniature peach tree that needs to be moved.
I have a glorious fig tree.
And it's gotten so big
that every time I go by my little peach tree,
I hear, "Help!"
-Oh, just give it some figs and tell it to grow up, Carol.
-So, what shall I do?
-How -- how are you doing on getting peaches from this thing?
-This year, I -- I only had five peaches,
and they were very small and hard.
And when I picked them, they gave me a raspberry.
-[ Laughs ] Well, that's good.
Peaches and raspberries go very well together,
especially over top of vanilla ice cream.
So, peaches have a fairly long taproot.
They are not easy to move.
This is truly the Old City.
7th and Pine was laid out in the 1700s.
Most people don't have large backyards,
if they got one at all.
So, do you really have a place to move it to?
-Well, I want to move it to a very large pot that I have.
-Are you going to bring that pot in
if we get a really severe winter?
-No. -Okay.
So, your fig tree
has probably suffered winter damage some winters,
but not during mild winters, correct?
-Well, yeah. Five years ago,
when we had that -- that awful cold spell,
it did die down to the ground. -Exactly.
But because its roots were in the ground
and it's a super-hearty plant, it grew back from the roots.
If you get a year like that with a peach in a pot,
it will die back to the ground, as well,
and it will also stay dead.
-[ Laughs ] -So, you know,
this is one of the hardest things in horticulture.
But there are times
when we as gardeners have reached the point
where we have everything we possibly can in the ground
and it's time to do some culling.
-Uh-huh.
-It would be difficult, if not impossible,
to move the entire tree, say,
to give to a friend out in the suburbs
or something like that. -Well, it -- it's a mini.
-Right. Well, you mean it's a dwarf.
-No, no. It's a miniature fruit tree.
-How -- how miniature is it, Carol?
-Right now, about 4 1/2 feet tall.
-Okay. -And -- and they --
they are supposed to be able to grow in pots.
-Okay. Yeah, but what they don't tell you
is that's in -- that's down in the Carolinas,
that's in -- that's in a place without a real winter.
Now, I presume you're in a courtyard and you're protected.
But again, this tree has a long taproot going into the ground.
And that makes trees very difficult to transplant.
If you really want to do this, I would ixnay the existing tree,
get another one,
and set it up in a big pot in a protected corner.
That would give you your best chance,
'cause, otherwise, you'd have to take cuttings
and root it to a different root stock.
You know, sometimes, it's best to cut our losses.
And one of the things gardeners are worst at is --
is getting rid of plants that aren't in the right place.
-I know.
-So, my advice would just be to buy it again, cut it down.
Do you have a fireplace?
You know anybody who has a fireplace?
-I have fireplaces, but they don't work.
-Oh, okay. If you know anybody, seriously,
who has a fireplace or a woodstove,
when that wood dries, it's incredibly sought-after.
Applewood and peachwood will scent the entire house
if you just throw one branch on to the rest of a fire.
-Wow. -But that's my honest advice.
It wouldn't survive the move.
If you really like the tree, get a new one,
get a great container for it, put it in a sunnier spot,
and everybody's going to be happier.
-Well, of course, I'm going to try to move it anyway.
-Okay. Well, good. Good.
Send us pictures. We love a good laugh.
-Okay.
-All right, Carol. Good luck. -Okay. Thank you.
-Bye-bye. -Bye-bye.
-Yes, we will take more of your fabulous phone calls.
We'll also reveal why flea beetles
love when you use chemical fertilizers.
But now, it's time to welcome our very special guest,
an old friend, Umar Mycka, the poison ivy horticulturist,
who is here to tell us not only his great adventures
in attacking tons of poison ivy in single landscapes,
but also have some good tips for homeowners
who just have small amounts that they want to clear.
Umar, welcome back to "You Bet Your Garden,"
and a special welcome for the first "You Bet Your Garden"
from Bethlehem, PA.
-Garden on, Mike. Great job.
-Thank you, Umar.
Now, you got your start at the Philadelphia Zoo,
but not as a horticulturist.
-Yeah, horticulturist and groundskeeper at Philadelphia Zoo, yes.
-Okay, so, I'm wrong already, ladies and gentlemen.
Let's mark that time.
Under one minute, I've already made my first mistake.
You can place your bets now. Vegas takes us.
All right, but how did you get --
So, getting rid of poison ivy was part of your job.
-Yeah.
Yeah, it's an invasive plant,
and we wanted to get rid of it,
and I got rid of it mostly by getting it on my skin
and carrying it out like that.
So, then I had to get a little bit smart
and figure out some better tricks.
-Now, it occurs to me, Umar,
that clearing poison ivy at the zoo could be quite exciting.
What if it's in where the gorillas
or the tigers or a rhino is living?
-Yeah, that's a real challenge,
and the -- the biggest challenge is dealing with the keepers,
to get them to okay everything, close all the doors,
lock 'em up, make sure the padlocks are on.
And then -- then you get about --
about 20 minutes until the zoo opens.
You have to be finished before the zoo opens.
-Yeah. You think? -Yeah.
-"Hey, guys, I thought you said the gate was going to be locked."
-Yeah. That's a real problem.
-Now, is there anything special about the zoo,
that it had a bigger poison ivy problem than other places?
Or it was just you had this time table
and these animals who would like to play ping-pong with your head?
-Well, we're on a fly zone.
We're on one of the bird migrating fly zones.
And also, the zoo being an animal habitat,
so we had a lot of fruiting plants,
a lot of apples, a lot of things that birds really relish.
So, when they came to eat those things,
of course, they're very generous
and want to leave what they can give,
which is the seeds, which are in their gut.
-Mm-hmm. -Those often include poison ivy.
-Right, and when they poop out poison ivy seeds,
they not only drop the seed back onto the ground,
but they fertilize it, as well. -Yep.
Double -- It's a -- It's a double benefit.
-Did you have any zoo animals
that actively ate the poison ivy?
-Sometimes squirrels got after the poison ivy.
But, oftentimes, they're --
It's not something that's available to them to eat.
-You know, because we hear about goats
being used to clear poison ivy and other invasive plants.
Although, we should point out right now
that poison ivy is a Native American plant.
It may be considered invasive and problematic,
but it's not foreign.
-No, not at all. Not foreign.
-And I know it occurs all throughout North America.
Are -- are there poison ivy variants throughout the world?
-In -- in Asia, in -- in East Asia, Japan, China,
and then Western China and Korea.
And then down further south in the tropical areas
in Java and Borneo,
at the tops of the highest mountains, it'll grow.
-And were these plants, do you believe,
taken there by migratory birds?
-Yeah, over the millennium, yep.
-When you left the zoo, you formed a company.
You call yourself the Poison Ivy Horticulturist.
And as I told you the first time I met you,
you have the best website name in the history of the Internet.
Idontwantpoisonivy.com.
That was a good one. -Thank you, Mike.
-Do people ever call you for small jobs,
or basically, do they call you when half of the landscape,
including the house and driveway, is poison ivy?
-From one plant to 50 plants,
that it -- it -- it all depends on the sit--
the placement in the landscape.
So, it can be very --
It can be a very troublesome plant with just one.
-And you have a crew of five?
-Yeah, we're nine now, yes. Crew of nine.
-Okay. So, business is good. -Yes, it is.
-Now, you have removed from home landscapes
some impossible-to-imagine tonnage.
-Yeah, the largest single weight of one plant
was in Haddonfield, New Jersey, 930 pounds.
That was just one poison ivy plant.
It was a 25-year-old plant.
-And was that going up the side of a tree?
-It was growing up the side of a chokecherry
and then reaching out and grabbing a second chokecherry.
-Oh, man.
I know you brought your tools of the trade.
And I want to show this, bring it over to me,
because you have this hilarious little way
to identify poison ivy.
Can I give you a constructive criticism?
-Please. -Why is it cute?
It shouldn't be cute.
You even call it "Hapili."
And Hapili stands for Human and Poison Ivy Leaflet Interface.
But you have underneath, the "Leaflets three resemble me."
'Cause you want kids to think it's got a head and two hands.
-Yes. Yeah. -Right?
This should be Mr. Yuck, you know.
-Yeah, yeah. Appreciate that.
-More like it.
So, when you go in, do you --
do you spend the first time doing an evaluation?
-Sometimes it's necessary.
Sometimes the clients are ready to go.
Sometimes we get the call,
and we -- we quote them a range of a price,
and they're like, "Can you come today?"
-[ Laughs ]
-And sometimes we can.
-And are your guys all in space suits, Hazmat suits?
-No. We -- we -- we started out in full Tyvek suits.
But we've -- But there was two problems with them.
One problem is they're very hot. -Yeah.
-The other problem is,
I don't care what size Tyvek suit you're in,
when you're in a Tyvek suit, you're the Hulk,
and you're just ripping it to shreds.
-That would seem good.
-Yeah. Well, it's -- it's just that -- it's just that --
-Hulk smash poison ivy.
Puny ivy.
-We found that if we wear heavy gardening clothes
and the Tyvek sleeve, which will come up to the elbow,
double -- double gloves, and that's sufficient.
-You have one of those. -Yes.
-May we see it? -Yes.
-Would you put it on?
And then, when you get back to the shop,
what do you do to wash those clothes?
-The Tyvek sleeves are discarded after each job.
Or sometimes at lunchtime, when they take them off,
they'll get rid of them.
That's the --
The Tyvek sleeve really takes the bulk
of the -- of the poison ivy resin.
And by the end of the day --
-You're not going to ask me to turn my head and cough, are you?
[ Both laugh ]
-The gloves go on.
And then the Ty-- the sleeves.
Now, these have been specially modified,
because the Tyvek, it gets sewn, but --
And that poison ivy resin is so small
that -- that the amount that can give a person a rash
is equivalent to one-half of a grain of table salt.
-Mm-hmm. -So in order to make it a little bit more safe,
we've put a piece of Tyvek tape over that and modified it...
-Okay, let's see it on.
-I'm try-- Okay. Here, one side is --
-We're hoping he has used these before.
There we go.
-And then, there's a little piece of...
-A thumber? -A thumber here, yeah.
-Okay, cool. -That'll go on.
To hold it...
Of course, I'd be wearing long sleeves
and have my sleeves rolled up. -Yeah.
So, can people -- you don't -- Oh, wow.
And then another glove on top?
-And then, the nitrile glove goes on top.
Now, that's -- that's what I call --
-This is safe horticulture. -This is good protection.
This is a way to make sure you go out in the summer --
I mean, in the spring, you don't know
whether there's anything there that's going to be allergic.
It's a good precaution the first time.
-Now, do we throw away the nitrile gloves?
-The nitrile gloves, it depends on how brave you are.
-Mm-hmm. -The nitrile gloves can be saved.
They can be washed. -Right.
-And -- -What do they cost?
-They cost about -- They're about $1 a pair.
-Okay. In the trash. -Yeah.
-In the trash.
-And when you're taking them off,
you have -- you have a -- the nitrile glove underneath.
-And the white glove has never touched anything.
-Right. -So, the white glove is safe to remove those.
-Mm-hmm. -And you don't pick up poison ivy.
-Right. Now, some people prefer --
I'm one of them -- who'll prefer,
instead of the nitrile next to the skin,
a very thin cotton glove.
These are called factory gloves. -Mm-hmm.
-And these -- this'll go on --
-Actually, I use those when I look at
rare comic books and baseball cards.
-Okay. That's great.
And what I -- I prefer this,
because my hands get real sweaty,
and then my nails start to crack,
and after a couple weeks, that's --
-People don't realize, that's one of the problems
with respirators and dust masks and stuff
is, you know, you heat up real fast.
-Yeah. -Now, can -- can we go out
and find these in Better Garden Centers this sec?
-Right now,
the only place that you can find these is on my website.
-Okay, which is idontwantpoisonivy.com.
-Mm-hmm. Yeah. -Okay.
-But you can -- Of course, you can find the nitrile gloves,
you can find the --
-But you can't find the sleeves. -You can't find the sleeves.
You can buy them on that famous online websites.
They're not going to be modified.
-The one named after the river?
-Yes The big -- the big river.
-Okay, so, this is what a homeowner would use.
-Yes. -And do you agree with me
that before you proceed to pull poison ivy or anything else,
you really soak the soil to loosen up the roots?
-It's great to do that.
I find that, when the poison ivy is rooting,
the main thing, the main point
is to get out those runners
and the nodes in between those runners so --
-'Cause the runners can go quite a distance.
-Yeah, I pulled one the other day in North Jersey,
it was 30 feet long. -Yeah.
-And, so, if you come in
and -- and if there's a small root,
like a -- like the size of a spaghetti
or the size of a thread... -Mm-hmm.
-...that root can be cut off.
As long as you get the node, that root is not going to grow.
-But what does the node look like?
-The node is --
Well, if you imagine where -- where the -- the ru-- the --
the vine or the runner is running,
every place that it stops and sends up a new leaf,
that's a node. -Okay.
-So, it's a tiny, little fist.
Imagine your fist. -Right.
-So, your arm, and then your fist is a little --
a little bulkier --
-So, you got to get everything out that's not a straight line.
-Everything. Yeah, you get the straight line, and you get that fist.
And anything, any little roots in the ground,
don't even bother with them.
You don't have to dig all those up.
They're not going to regrow.
It's just, they're going to regrow from the node.
-It's the node that will regrow.
-Yes. -Okay.
That's important.
Now, you brought us a couple of your favorite tools.
These are for large-scale work?
-Well, these we use in poison ivy, but I recommend --
-But this looks like something Hawk Man would carry.
Isn't this the...saber or something?
-Yes, it is. Yeah.
And this is -- You know, the Japanese are great for...
-Garden tools. -...garden tools,
and they have a sickle for every --
every vegetable, and everything --
-You're telling me this is a poison ivy sickle?
-This -- well, this is what I call it.
Now, I call it -- I call it the weeding fist.
-Okay. -That's my name for it.
-Sounds like Bruce Lee talk, yeah.
-Right. So, when you have it
and you're working in your garden,
you're working with a trowel, you're working with your shears,
you're clip, clip or you're dip, dip, with this, you're rip, rip.
-Mm-hmm. -You're ripping everything out.
It's got a cutting edge on one --
on the side here, it's serrated,
and it's got a sharp cutting edge here.
You cut this way, you cut this way,
and the good thing about this is,
what you would be working in your garden,
it takes you about two hours to do,
you'll do with this in 20 minutes.
-And where do you get these?
-These you can buy from that famous site
on the big river site.
-Right, right, on the Internet.
-Yeah. And you can also get these out on my website, too.
-Okay. May I see?
-Yes.
Growtech.
Growtech is a supplier.
That's who I buy it from, the supplier.
-Right, except it's all Japanese here.
-Yeah.
-Oh, man. This is a deadly piece of work.
-It's -- it's a great -- it's a great tool.
It'll -- it'll deal with -- -I'm going to take this
the next time I go to the Electric Factory late at night.
This'll be good.
And that looks to me like a poacher's spade.
-A poacher's spade? Yeah. -Yeah,
we call it a poacher's spade
because when you were starving to death
and your landlord wouldn't let you hunt on his land,
you went out late at night with a spade like that
and you dug up a rabbit warren.
And you ran away with the rabbit real fast.
-Mm-hmm. -And the poacher's spade was
the -- the spade that would open up the ground real fast.
-Right. -Kind of *** a rabbit on the top of the head,
if you wanted to. -Right.
And that's what I use it, too, for, Mike.
You -- That's a great -- a great explanation.
This is -- this is when you're in your yard
and you only have 45 minutes till the soccer practice.
-Mm-hmm. -You need something which is going to --
-And you see the foot thing's here,
the foot pass, where you put your foot up there.
They are invaluable when you're digging in your garden.
Now you're digging with your legs instead of your arms.
-You're digging with your legs,
and all the power is coming right here.
So, with a big, regular shovel, those big shovels that we use,
they were really invented
when there wasn't a lot of machinery to unload ships
and unload railroad cars,
and there were gangs of men who did that.
Now, this is more of a --
this is a modern type of a thing or like the poachers used.
You've got to get in and you've got to get out quick.
That's when you need something like this.
-I only use a standard shovel to move compost around
or to dig a new planting hole.
Everything else, I use a poacher's spade.
I have four different sizes. -Okay.
-They're great tools. -Yeah.
-So, Umar, in addition to everything else,
you run a poison ivy conference.
You've been doing this for many years now, right?
-Yes. This'll be -- 2019 will be the seventh conference.
-And it'll be in March. -Yes.
-And how many days does it run?
-It runs for -- Well, it runs for two days now.
-Okay. And you train other people like you
to become poison ivy horticulturalists?
You're kind of investing in your own competition?
-Yeah, I love to. I love competition.
I think competitions make --
If competition wasn't good for business,
Rite Aid wouldn't be across from Walgreens.
-[ Laughs ] Well, it's very good.
I mean, there should be a poison ivy horticulturalist
in every state in the nation.
-Yes, that's very true.
-So your next conference is March 2019,
and you always hold them at the Philadelphia Zoo.
-Yes. This'll probably be the last one
at the Philadelphia Zoo, this one coming up.
So, if you want to -- -So, come on,
you can learn how to get rid of poison ivy
and wait till the tigers get fed.
-That's right. -All right.
And all this information can be found at idontwantpoisonivy.com.
Umar, thank you so much.
It's always a pleasure to chat with you.
And thank you for being on the first show
from the Christmas City.
-Mike, all the best luck up here in Bethlehem.
-Thank you.
In just a little bit,
we'll get to the Question of the Week,
explaining why flea beetles
love when you use chemical fertilizers,
and a great song from Kenn Kweder and Mark Teague
that expresses all my feelings
about my move from Philadelphia to beautiful Bethlehem.
But, first, a couple more of your fabulous phone calls
at 1-833-PBS-WLVT,
or 833-727-9588.
You can call either one. They're the same thing.
Valerie, welcome to "You Bet Your Garden."
-Thank you. Glad to be here. I love your show.
-Oh, thank you so much, Val. It's good to have you here.
Where is Val?
-I'm in Nashville, Tennessee. -Exc--
-But my question concerns Stratford-upon-Avon
in jolly old England. -Oh!
You are so lucky
that I was actually in Stratford back in the '70s
and absolutely loved it.
That was one of the most unique places in England.
-So, you may have --
you may have done exactly what I did a year ago,
which was to steal a mulberry berry
from Shakespeare's tree at the new house --
his new, final house in Stratford.
-Uh-huh. -I took the berry in my hand,
back to my hotel, I preserved it.
I read something on the Internet about soaking the berry
and then taking the seeds out
and keeping them in a moist piece of filter paper.
-Okay, so -- -So I got them over legally,
they sat in my refrigerator for a year,
then I planted them early this summer, and they came up.
-Okay. -And things looked pretty good until a silkworm,
or at least a caterpillar of some sort,
got to one of them and ate it down entirely.
-Oh. Mulberries were planted around the country
in great numbers for the burgeoning silkworm trade.
-After I had my little run-in with the silkworm,
I got worried about them, and I brought a few of the pots in the house.
-Okay. -And they continued to grow,
and I went to a plant shop and said,
"What should I feed my mulberry?"
And he said, "Buy this nitrogen..."
Nitrogen? Is that what it is? -I hope you didn't do it.
-I did, and then I heard you on the radio the very next week
saying, "Never feed nitrogen to a fruit plant."
-Yeah. -So, I'm calling to see, what should I feed them?
-Well, first, you should go back and yell at the guy
and take the nitrogen back to him.
Right now, see, these are plants
that need to experience a winter dormancy.
-Okay. -So, you were probably good to bring them in to protect them.
But this is not the time to feed them.
They're gonna go dormant.
This would be like the equivalent
of having a rack of lamb while your bed is being made.
You know, you really don't want to do that.
-Okay. Okay. -And these are strong plants.
So you have a spot outside where you want to replant them, right?
-I'm not sure.
I'm gonna keep them in the pots for a while.
I might give one to the university to plant
since it was Shakespeare's mulberry tree.
-If you're going to keep them in the pots,
you have to plant the pots. -Oh.
-They have to be outside with the roots underground.
-Okay. For the winter, they have to be outside?
-Yes. They have a chilling requirement,
like apples and peaches. -Okay.
Oh, thank you so much. This is so useful. Okay, good.
-So, if you want to put them in the ground,
pots and all, that's fine.
Makes them easy to lift out the next year.
The only thing you're gonna "feed" them is,
you're gonna mulch them with an inch of compost.
-Just compost? Okay. -Yeah.
These things grow wild in the woods, they're never fed.
-Yeah. -They fruit like mad.
Your guy is crazy. -Well, that's interesting.
They're kind of ugly, and they're all over Nashville.
-They're not even a one-season plant, Val.
-Oh, they aren't? -No.
They just sometimes have great fruit.
-Oh. But in Shakespeare's yard,
it looks more like a tree than a bushy weed.
-It's 300 years old!
-Right. But can I make mine look like a tree?
-Yeah. Live for 300 years.
-Is there any kind of pruning that you would suggest
once they get a little bit bigger?
-Hey, we got to keep these things alive
before we start getting fancy, Val.
-Okay, well, then I'll call you again later.
-You're gonna put them in the ground
with the roots underground, either potted or unpotted,
you're gonna spread some compost around them,
and then you're going to get some BT, Bacillus thuringiensis.
You don't have to remember that. -Okay.
-You just want the organic caterpillar killer.
-Oh. -Brand names it's sold under
include Dipel, Thuricide, and Green Step.
-Okay. -But if you just remember the letters "BT"
and you want the BT for caterpillars,
before the silkworms even emerge next year,
just spray the leaves of the plant
every couple of weeks the BT. -Okay.
-It doesn't harm anything else in the environment,
but it'll kill the caterpillars as soon as they start chewing.
-Perfect. Thank you so much. This is great.
-And then, they'll put on a lot of biomass every year.
Just keep feeding them compost.
-Okay. Will do. Thank you so much.
-All right. Good luck, Val. -All right. Take care.
-Bye-bye. -Bye.
-1-833-PBS-WLVT is our new phone --
Well, it's not a phone number. It's phone letters.
You want to make an easy phone call, make it 833-727-9588.
Susanne, welcome to "You Bet Your Garden."
-Hello. How are you?
-I am just ducky today, Susanne.
How are you doing? -I'm doing great.
-And where is Susanne doing great?
-In West Chester, Pennsylvania.
-Excellent. A beautiful, horsey, country area
just outside of Philadelphia.
-Yes, it is. Yep.
-What can we do for Susanne?
-So my question is,
I have had a vegetable garden for about the last 20 years,
and I'd say the last ten,
we turned it into a small raised-bed garden.
It's about 20 feet by 20 feet.
And it was doing fine for a while,
and then it was not doing fine.
So, I sent my soil samples off to get tested,
did what they told me to do about two years ago,
and since then, I would say it's been declining.
So, this year, everything I planted was lush and beautiful,
and then, just, everything died.
-Okay. -Except for my basil,
my parsley, and my zinnias. -Okay, good.
I think you should go into farming of those three crops.
No.
Okay, so you say you turned your garden
into a raised bed of 20x20?
-Yes. -That's not a raised bed.
That's a raised area,
but you're still walking around the roots of your plants.
To be a true raised bed,
the individual beds can't be wider than 4 feet.
Now, they can be 40 feet long, but they c--
-Oh, no. They're not wider than 4 feet.
I mean, it's a 20x20 garden, but they're separate raised beds --
-Okay. All right, good.
What terrible things did Penn State tell you
to put on your garden?
-They just -- The only thing they really recommended
was that I put the 10-10-10,
the nitrogen, phosphate, and pot ash.
-Right. Yeah. Exac--
That's so great, too, because there's no plant in the universe
that wants all three nutrients in equal amounts,
but people just love the math of those things.
-Mm-hmm. -Is your garden still getting good sun?
-It does. It gets sun.
I would say the sun starts to hit it
around maybe 10:30, 11:00
and then pretty much all day.
-And the plants that are not doing well?
Tomatoes, peppers, cukes, zucchini?
-Well, what happens is -- Yes.
I planted all of those things, and what happens is,
I got maybe six cucumbers, and then they died.
I got two zucchini, and then the plant died.
My acorn squash, butternut, spaghetti squash, tomatoes,
everything looked great, started forming the fruit,
and then just died.
-And what do you mean by "just died"?
-Meaning stopped producing. The tomatoes, definitely.
I listened to you a couple weeks ago,
and I think they have some sort of wilt,
because, definitely, the lower leaves started turning yellow.
-Okay. So, what you got to do there --
very important --
is find a spot where tomatoes have not grown for three years
and try next year's tomatoes in there.
-Okay. -Okay.
Now, this past summer is no indication.
You realize you got torrential rains,
you got four or five times as much rain as you needed,
ten times as much as you wanted.
And, you know, even in the best raised-bed gardens,
the plants never had their feet dry out.
People understand the concept of "plants need water,"
but it's the advanced gardener who understands
that they need to dry out between waterings,
or their roots are gonna rot.
You know, same thing if we put our feet
into a bucket of water in May
and didn't take them out till the end of September.
They wouldn't be very attractive in strappy high heels.
And neither are your tomatoes.
So, next year, put a good inch or two
of fresh yard-waste compost on the surface of the soil,
not composted manure, real compost,
and rotate the tomatoes,
and consider that this year was a tough year for many gardeners.
Flat-earth gardeners got nothing, you know,
because their beds were just constantly
overrun with grassy weeds and flooded.
So, you know, it's not the year to judge things by.
No more of the chemical fertilizers.
They're just adding salts to your garden.
-Well, one more question.
I have a sugar maple tree
that's about 15 feet away from the garden.
Is that a problem? It has a very large canopy.
I cut a lot of it back so that it's not shading the garden.
But is that stealing nutrients from the soil?
Is that creating a problem?
-The roots that go underneath your garden plants
would be competing for water and nutrients with your --
with the plants in the garden.
But if you've gotten the shade problem fixed,
one tree should not be that much trouble.
And by utilizing compost instead of chemical fertilizers,
you make a wide array of different nutrients
available to your plants.
Plus, you probably have no choice, right?
-Right, right. -So you do the best you can.
-Right. Okay.
-All right? -Persevere and keep trying.
-Absolutely. Compost is the answer to everything.
I don't care what the question was.
-How about the mushroom soil that's so popular around here?
-It's okay.
Make sure it's fully aged, has no smell and no heat to it,
and use half as much as you would yard-waste compost,
'cause it's very strong.
-Okay.
Wonderful. All right.
-All right? -Hopefully, I can call you back
and tell you my garden's doing wonderfully.
-Oh, we hope all our gardens do wonderfully next year.
Enough rain, all right?!
-I agree. I agree.
-All right, Suz, good luck. -All right.
Thank you so much.
-All right, bye-bye. -Bye-bye.
-All right, as promised,
it's time for the Question of the Week,
which we're calling
"Flea Beetles Love Chemical Fertilizers."
Amy in Augusta, Georgia, writes, "I'm a beginning gardener.
We planted three tomato plants in May, and they flourished.
However, come August, we noticed hornworms and flea beetles.
I made a homemade pesticide of soap, cayenne pepper,
garlic, and water and sprayed it on my plants in the evening."
Okay, so there's a lot going on in this e-mail.
So, I'm gonna interrupt Amy right now to warn everybody --
Never spray your plants with water
or anything else in the evening.
You don't want plants, especially disease-prone plants
like tomatoes, to stay wet overnight.
It's an invitation to illness.
The only acceptable time to spray is in the early morning,
when the sun's rays will quickly dry off the leaves.
And now, back to our exciting story.
Amy continues that the spraying, quote,
"Seemed to help a little bit with the horned warms,
but we continued to see more on the plants.
We then started seeing flea beetles,
and that's when we started wondering
if the tomatoes were okay to eat
and how to get rid of these pests!"
She concludes her first e-mail with, "Please help.
I have a love -- no, make that an obsession -- with tomatoes.
Please tell me if it's okay to eat a tomato
that was infested with insects.
And we would like to have an even bigger garden next year
but not if all these bugs are gonna come to dinner."
Well, flea beetles are very common pests of eggplant.
They make it a difficult crop for home-gardeners to grow,
including me.
But I've never seen them on tomatoes.
Hornworms, the larval form
of the gigantic and impressive sphinx moth,
are the largest and hungriest caterpillars in North America,
and they are well-known foes of tomatoes.
The basic tactic here is to look for missing parts of your plants
and large deposits of their "frass"
at the bottom of the plants.
Then you run your hands up and down the plants
until you find something soft that isn't a tomato,
and then you squish it.
Yes, it is safe to eat the good parts of fruits
that have been insect-attacked.
Heck, if you accidentally eat a flea beetle,
that just means you got some extra protein in your diet.
Oh, Amy also asked
if flea beetles were a danger to her pets,
and that answer is no.
They do hop like fleas, but they're true beetles.
Now, my next step was to ask Amy our standard questions --
Are you growing in raised beds or flat earth,
how do you water, what do you feed, et cetera?
She replied, "We would like to start a bigger garden
next year in raised beds,
but right now, we're growing in planters.
As for feeding, we," quote,
"'sprinkle' Miracle-Gro on the plants once a week,
and I water them once a day in the evening.'"
All right, so there are three obvious stressors here.
Why stress stress?
Because stressed plants are more attractive to garden pests
than happy, healthy plants.
A plant that's watered correctly and fed appropriately
has the power to resist insect attack
either through the development
of naturally-occurring chemicals that repel pests
or, in the incredible case of sweet corn,
the ability to -- [ Clears throat ]
or, in the incredible case of sweet corn,
the ability to generate pheromones
that actually call beneficial insects
to their aid when they're attacked.
This is perhaps the coolest superpower in the plant world.
Plants that are weakened by incorrect watering
and fed with cheap, explosive chemical fertilizers,
not so much.
They're like somebody who over-imbibed
and is now staggering down the wrong street in the wrong neighborhood
with $20 bills spilling out of their pocket
as they vainly search for a handkerchief
they're gonna need real soon.
They are likely to un-- [ Clears throat ]
These -- [ Clears throat ]
They are likely to attract unwanted attention
that will give them a worse outcome
than a couple of flea beetles.
Okay. Here's the three stresses.
Containers -- containers need to be large for tomatoes.
17-inch pots with good drainage
and only one tomato plant per pot.
The pots should contain what's professionally called
the soil-free mix --
AKA potting soil or seed-starting mix.
You'll have to go to a real garden center
or order by mail to find the right kind,
but make sure the mix does not include chemical fertilizers,
which may be the only kind of mix
you'll find in the big-box stores.
Watering -- or, as we say in Philadelphia -- wartering.
Watering every day guarantees problems.
Plants want an inch of water or rain,
preferably rain, once a week.
Yes, once a week.
If you water plants every day,
their roots will stay at the very top of the soil.
If you soak them deeply -- it takes several hours
to deliver an inch of water to a garden --
and then let them go dry for several days,
they'll develop deep roots to follow the receding water,
and deep roots make for healthy plants.
And finally, food.
I know as much about Miracle-Gro as a kosher rabbi
knows about cuts of pork,
but even I know that you don't sprinkle the nasty stuff.
You dissolve it in water and then use it
to slowly weaken and kill your plants.
Chemical fertilizers are combinations of elements
that are highly explosive,
and they're present in their salt form,
and neither explosives or salt are good for your plants.
The only "miracle" here is that people continue
to fall for this nonsense.
Feed your soil, not your plants.
Make sure their growing medium is rich with compost,
and your insect invasions will be few.
Okay, take it, boys.
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-♪ If I leave here tomorrow
♪ Would you still remember me?
♪ For I must be traveling on now ♪
♪ 'Cause there's too many places I've got to see ♪
♪ 'Cause if I stay here with you, girl ♪
♪ Things just couldn't be the same ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm as free as a bird now ♪
♪ And this bird you cannot change ♪
♪ Oh-h-h-h-h-oh
♪ And this bird you cannot change ♪
♪ And this bird you cannot change ♪
♪ Lord knows, I can't change
-All right, for those of you who wondered how I feel
about the move from Philadelphia to the Lehigh Valley,
there's your musical answer.
Thanks, guys.
Keep on playing,
'cause I hope our listeners enjoyed our interesting advice
about those nasty flea beetles.
And luckily for them, the Question of the Week
appears in print at the Gardens Alive! website.
To read it over in detail, just click the link
for the Question of the Week at our website,
which is still and will forever be youbetyourgarden.org.
Gardens Alive! supports the "You Bet Your Garden" Question of the Week,
and you will always find the latest Question of the Week
at the Gardens Alive! website.
Yikes, my new producer is threatening
to shotgun my eggplants
if I don't get out of this studio!
We must be out of time.
But you can call us any time at 1-800-PBS-WLVT.
That's 1-800-727-9588.
Or send us your e-mail, your tired,
your poor, your wretched refuse
teeming toward our garden shore
at garden@whyy.org.
Please tell us where you live. I'm on the other side.
Please tell us where you live over here, too.
We need your location. We really do.
You'll find all this new contact information
at our website, youbetyourgarden.org,
where you'll also find the answers
to all your garden questions, audio of this show,
and our podcast.
Kenn Kweder always plays our theme song.
Today he played it live and is free as a bird right now
with the magnificent Mark Teague.
Gentlemen, thank you so much for coming in
to help us celebrate our 20th anniversary.
Our chief content officer is Yoni Greenbaum.
Our Social Media Director is Amanda McGrath.
Check out her fine work and stay current
with what's happening with the show every day
at the "You Bet Your Garden" Facebook page.
Ron Rushe is our director of underwriting.
Our marketing madman is Jim Macdonald.
Andrea Cummis makes all the equipment work,
and our big kahuna is Tim Fallon.
I'm your host, Mike McGrath.
It's been a wild ride from Philly to Bethlehem,
but it already feels like home to me.
So whether you're listening, watching,
or turning the crank on an old Mutoscope machine,
I'm happy to say that I will see you again...
next week.
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