Gardening Gifts

Skip answers callers questions all morning and gives some ideas for gifts to give the plant lover close to you.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Kat r H garden Line does notnecessarily endorse any of the products or services
advertised on this program. Welcome tokt r H garden Line with Skiff Richter.
It's crazy gas trip. Just watchhim as so many good things to

(00:28):
sept Bazy, Well, good morning. We are glad you are listening to
garden Line this morning. We alwaysare. This show is about what are
you interested in? What are yourquestions You're struggling with trying to get seeds
to come up, or maybe aplant outside turning yellow leaves falling up.

(00:51):
What what kind of questions do youhave? Let's talk about those today our
phone number. You know, it'seasy, It's really easy. I just
want to make before I go there, I want to make a point that
when you are when you're wanting tolisten to garden Line at other places and
other times, or maybe when youare trying to let's say, go back

(01:14):
and remember something I said on theradio, or maybe you missed the show
and you just want to go backand hear it, see what you might
have missed. You can go on, you can go to your app and
you can listen to garden Line podcastafter the fact. It's really easy.
To do. You can go toyour i heeartmedia app or other apps you
might have, and either way youcan go back and listen to past shows.
Don't forget that that's there. We'realso available, by the way,

(01:38):
We're also available if you are interestedin listening live from your computer. That's
another option as well. Well,let's head out. We're going to start
right off at the phones. Todaywe're going to go out to sugar Land
and talk to Patty. Hello,Patty, good morning, Skip. How
are you. I'm doing well?Thank you? What can we do today?
Okay, my lemon tree, I'vehad it about a year. It's

(02:01):
about three feet tall. It wasgreen and doing really good, and it
seemed like after the rain, Istarted noticing yellow leaves and I mean it
looks like it has good drainage.We got it up on some you know
rocks, I mean, you know, to keep it off the ground.

(02:21):
So it was out in the weatherwith the rain. So I'm thinking something
happened. I don't know what.Well, it probably water issues with a
lot of different kinds of plants cancause the yellowing and drop of the leaves,
typically after it gets moisture. Idon't know. Most people have had
Apothus ivy indoors at some point intheir life. If you let those get

(02:44):
dry and then you water them,suddenly the plant perks up, but the
old leaves turn yellow, I wantto fall off. So I think that's
probably related to the water. Itcould have been too wet, could have
been too dry, poorly drained.I don't know the exact situation where that
plant is growing, but I thinkit's a water related Yeah, it seemed

(03:05):
that way because my high biscus,all the leaves are the tips of them
are all black, and it wasall green until the rain, and so
it's kind of we're hoping we'll justdry it out and it'll be okay.
Yeah, yeah, the hibiscus soundslike some sort of a city mold has
grown on those. I don't youknow. Just check it over real good.
Make sure you don't have a wholelot of aphids or scale or some

(03:27):
other sort of insect that's affecting.Okay, all right, okay, all
right, thank you you you aswell, Patty, thank you very much.
If you are looking for a tree, and you should be looking for
a tree, this is the seasonto plant trees and shrubs and woody vines,
a lot of other things too,but it gives them the biggest head

(03:49):
start. And Verdant Tree Farm canhelp you do just that. They have
a wide variety of trees, ahuge, huge farm, lots of different
species, so you can pick theone that suits you best. Can visit
with them too, kind of geta consultation, maybe take some pictures of
your property in just to show,hey, what do you think would do
well right here? And they canhelp you. The website's Verdant Treefarm dot

(04:11):
com. They have locations all overthe place. There's one in Paarland on
Broadway Street in West Houston. Outon Barker, Cyprus. There's also a
Verdant Tree Farm in the Heights whereYale comes into it in. One of
the things I like about the Verdantis you go there and you walk through
and pick the tree you want.They'll tag it and they'll bring it to

(04:33):
your house and it's a turnkey deal. They'll plant it for you. And
they do offer a one year warrantyon the trees that they plant. For
sure, you can understand why theywouldn't want to warranty the trees. Maybe
you or I plant, but anyway, that's a good deal too. It's
kind of a little bit of agood guarantee that things are going to go
well. Planning it right's important,and Verdant Tree Farm knows exactly how to

(04:57):
do that. Whether whether you wanta palm tree or citrus tree or whatever
burden is. It's easy, easyplace, easy place to find what you're
looking for and to have a goodturnkey job. I was putting up Christmas
lights the other day. Well actuallyI and my wife put a garland up

(05:17):
over the fireplace and some you know, had some lighting in that and lighted
light, a wreath that's been letand some other things. And every year,
you know, I go in andI'm tangling around trying to get lights
at work or fine lights and thingslike that. If you've ever been in
that situation, I want to suggestthat you consider Ace Hardware stores and a
little feature that they have. Theyhave before they have Christmas lights and boxes

(05:41):
of all sizes and colors and everything, but they also have something called custom
lights by the foot and you justhave to go in there and talk to
them about how that works. Butwhat I need to get now is one
that goes across the eaves of thehouse. We put some lights up there
and that way because I always findmyself, you know, trying to I
can't. I don't have a lightthe right necessarily the right length or size

(06:03):
to cover what I'm looking for.You do the lights by the foot and
you got what you need. It'sreal easy. Now. They have all
the other things, garland, wreaths, anything you want to decorate for Christmas.
You could say that ACE is aplace now also for Christmas lighting and
decoration needs. And of course whileyou're in there you want to grab some
things for your lawn and your garden. They've got every kind of supply you

(06:25):
would need, from fertilizers to insectdisease, weed management issues, all that
kind of stuff is covered there atACE Harbor. And by the way,
they're all over forty of them nowin the greater Houston area. Just go
to Acehardware dot com and do thestore locator find your location. There's a
lot of ways that you can getinto an ACE without having to drive very

(06:47):
far. You're listening to Garden Line. I'm your host, Skip Richter,
and we're here on a Sunday morningto talk about the things that would be
of interest to you and me aswell. I'm going to do a little
bit of that. I always liketo offer a few little things maybe you
hadn't thought about, or that youmight find interesting. The cool season flowers

(07:10):
are still just growing really, reallywell. We've got such mild temperatures that
everything is doing well right now.It's easy, easy to grow this time
of year compared to what we justcame through. And I think people don't
try enough of the cool season colorin their beds. It really brights the
landscape up. You know, wintercan get a little bit bleak, trees

(07:31):
have lost their leaves, and Idon't know if there's just a different look.
The lighting is even a little different. If you bright brighten those areas
up with annual color, that isa fast and easy way to do it.
Everybody knows about pansies. Those arenice in a container or maybe viewed
up close, we can see allthe different colors. Then they are the

(07:53):
violas, which gives you some reallyunique color ranges. I actually like the
viola a little more than the pansy. And here's why. Pansies have bigger
blooms, but when you get arain on them, they don't tend to
hold up as well as Viola's do. That's that's one thing. And Viola's
I can pick some solid faced blooms, solid color face blooms. So if

(08:13):
I wanted to mix and say,use a light blue with a yellow,
or you know whatever combination maroon witha white, there's one whatever combination you
want, you you you have morecolored options to be able to do that.
I'll talk a little bit more aboutcool season color when we come back.
In the meantime. Our phone numberis seven one three two one two
five eight seven four. Welcome backto garden Line. Give us a call

(08:39):
if you got a question. That'swhat we're here to talk about. Seven
one three two one two five eightseven four seven one three two one two
kt r H. That's another wayyou can dial it. I was talking
about cool season color, and uhI mentioned pansies and violas. Of course,
those are like one of the mostcommon famous I guess, if you
want to put it that way,plants for the cool season in a wide

(09:01):
swasp of America because they're so cold, hardy. Other good plants, though,
Dusty Miller is a silver foliaged plantthat really sets off especially colors like
blue, and it really works wellwith that, And that's an option there
are. There's something called stock.Most people have not grown or heard of
stock before, but stock has afaint fragrance. Would it be a baby

(09:26):
powder. It's a real faint kindof fragrance like that that I think is
kind of nice. Stock does quitewell in moderately cold weather. You know,
we go down to the teens andit's kind of a little bit of
trouble probably. Let's see. Anotherexample would be snapdragons. Boy, they
come in so many colors and types. I mean, you talk about the
rainbow snapdragons have got it. Youcan buy short bedding plant size snapdragons.

(09:50):
You can buy very tall cuckflower typesnapdragons. That works well. I like
a listen. It's a white bloomingplant that looks I describe it like a
lava flow. Is it a vine, No, it's not a vine.
Is it a bush? No,of course not. But it spreads out
slowly, kind of like a lavaflow, you know, and it goes
It'll go right over a container andit's just a solid wall of white flowers.

(10:13):
There's a pink version, kind ofa lavendery version out there. White
is the most common color, andit works so well in a container,
and that's that is just a mustto have something trailing over the sides,
like a really beautiful, beautiful coolseason container. But I do like a
list of a lot, so it'sanother one that attracts or it provides nourishment

(10:35):
for beneficial insects like little parasitoid waspsand others. So those blooms are serving
more than one purpose. And itsfragrance is a little bit like honey.
I think, I know you needquite a bit of it around. I
mean, it's not one of thosethings that just fills the air and knocks
you down with fragrance, but itdoes have a nice, nice, pleasant
fragrance. Other things, you know, when we get into the cool season,

(10:58):
we have our ornamental cabbage and kale. Those are both really foundational because
it almost doesn't matter how cold itgets. There about as cold heart as
you can get. And they doreally well. If you have ornamental kale,
especially the kale, I like tolet it stay in the spring for
a while and send up its tallbloomstalks. You know, with little air,

(11:20):
a little small yellow blooms all overthe place, hanging in the air.
It's a really beautiful, beautiful littlefeature of the plant. And those
are some examples of cool seasoned colorplants that we have. There are other
plants out there. Cycloman is onebeing used a lot as an indoor decorating
plant now during the holidays. Butyou want to keep it out in bright
light, not full sun, justbright light, maybe a little morning sun.

(11:43):
It does exceptionally well in that way. I think Cyclomans are beautiful red
and pink and the white blooms thatthey have, So just take care of
make sure they don't dry out.But on the other hand, don't stay
soggy. They're not very big funfans of that wet feet. Very few

(12:05):
plants are. Those are some examplesof cool season color. Go to your
you know, mom and pop gardencenter and ask them about what they have,
because they're going to have a bunchof things that I ain't gotten to
on the on the air here today. But make your outdoors bright. You
can do it. You can linebeds with these. Just to remember this
when you're dealing with a dark areasuch as maybe you've got a some shade

(12:31):
or just the lower lower winter lightlevels that we sometimes are experiencing just because
the sun's traveling lower. But anyway, if you put white in a in
a white in a dark area,it brightens it up. So some white
flowers along a bed in front ofshrubs where it's just not a whole lot
of light there, it brightens itup. Aztec grass, this is not

(12:54):
a holiday plant, I mean acool season plant. But aztec grass has
its white striped foliage and you canput it down a pathway and it's just
like runway lights. It just takesthe eye right down that pathway. Really
cool. So don't forget don't forgetwhite, especially in areas that are a
little darker that you can use,but why not brighten it up. Another
thing to the eye just thinks ofmust is some cool seasoned containers, beautiful

(13:18):
containers. I talked about a listof spilling over the side of a container.
We can also if we can protectit a little bit, we can
grow the ornamental charts and they makea nice upright plant in the middle of
a container as well, the onethat they call rhubarb. It's red veins
and red petiols. And then there'sthe bright lights that just has a range

(13:39):
of different very subtle light colors ofblooms, not real bold in the color,
but still beautiful. Nonetheless, thereare other foliage plants I mentioned Dusty
Miller that does well. But justcreate. Create some containers where you can
just decorate and if they don't lookgood, just roll them around to another

(14:00):
location, do what you need todo to them while they're recovering, put
something else in their place. Itmakes it easy to keep those what can
be sometimes a dreary winter day bright. Anyway, just some things to think
about. You know, the Starof Hope. You've heard me talk about
them before, and I just sobelieve in what they do that I cannot

(14:24):
think of a better way to providefunds that are helping somebody in a way
that changes their life and their children'slife long, long term. And Star
of Hope is all about that.With your support, we're talking about hundreds
and hundreds of Houston homeless people willcall Star of Hope home for this Christmas.
In addition to they have the longterm recovery programs that helps with employment,

(14:48):
education and life skills. For example, they serve more than five thousand
meals a week, so for twodollars and eighty cents you can provide a
meal, and I cannot think ofa better way to provide your money.
To put your compassion to work,because I know that you want to help
people and sometimes you wonder, wellis this a good cause or not.
I'll tell you this Star of Hopeis an absolute good cause, no moment

(15:13):
of hesitation on that. I've seenthe work they do. I've I've talked
to them in depth about the differentprojects and things. It is is a
great place. Shmission dot org.Shmission dot org. You should give You
should really give them a call andsee you can volunteer there. But you
also just provide them funds to helpthem do what they do, and boy

(15:35):
did they ever do a lot.You're listening to Gardenline. I'm your host,
skip Rickter. Our phone number isseven one three two one two fifty
eight seventy four seven one three twoone two five eight seven four. I
knowe Buchanans had their big shin digyesterday, the holiday open house. I
hope you all had a good time. I was by there the day before

(15:56):
just watching all the prep going ongetting ready for that. But Buchanans is,
as you know, those of youwho went to this shindig yesterday.
It is just absolute. By theway they call it holiday open house.
I just like the words INDI.But they are loaded up with great Christmas
trees, beautiful trees, absolutely beautifulbeautiful. If you want color, you

(16:18):
know point sett as I mentioned cycloin a minute ago. If you want
decorations, you know, something fromtheir gift shop. Oh my gosh,
that is you just need to walkin and just see what I'm talking about.
All kinds of good things there atthe gift shop at Buchanans. You
know, they're located on Eleventh Streetin the Heights and their website Buchanansplants dot
com. When you go to theirwebsite, you need to check out some

(16:41):
of the things that they offer.They have a text club where they will
provide information of things coming up andgoing on. You can sign up to
be a Buchanan's VIP Insider, butat least make sure and get that newsletter
and check it out because it's veryvery educational and you'll always know what's going

(17:02):
on if you can. It's plants. We are talking about different kinds of
things related to gardening this morning,and I was out the other day.
I have two golden retrievers, andthey have discovered squirrels and birds they have

(17:22):
and their happy place is sitting atthe window basically trembling, waiting to go
out and chase that squirrel that justtaunts them running across the fence. But
anyway, we were out there,I was taking care of some of the
bird feeders that I have, andmy favorite feeder, by the way of
all is wild Birds Unlimited. It'sa squirrel proof feeder. Just to ask
them about their squirrel excluding feeder,and it works really really well. Of

(17:48):
course I have several different projects orproducts like that, but taking care of
the birds getting them fed, andI always when I'm doing that, I
always think about the fact that whensomeone sells you a bag of bird seed
that's full of red bebes, that'sjust some generic thing that most of which
is probably going to go on theground. The birds are not going to
eat it. And it's just true. When you buy wild bird seed,

(18:11):
you get seed the birds eat.They even have special blends for different groups
of birds maybe or different times ofthe year, like suet when we're entering
the cool season now, so it'seasy to find what you need there and
I can tell you this. Everytime I go in. It's like a
kid in a candy store. Thereis so many wonderful things like feeders and
houses and just on and on.Just go in ask them your questions.

(18:36):
They are excellent, excellent at helpingyou find a way to have success.
And the beauty and the enjoyment ofbirds in the backyard. I know I
enjoy I enjoy ours a lot.We have a mocking bird. We used
to have one when we lived inConroe, that was Conroe Willis area.
It was like the mocking bird wason crack at about six in the morning,

(18:59):
before there was a day light anywhere. This bird would sing. In
fact, the one when we livedup there would even in the night start
singing. And I don't know whatwas wrong with that bird, but boy,
he serenaded us, whether we likedit or not, day and night.
We had one at the house.The other day in the morning,
is still dark outside and he's justsinging like crazy. So someone's got to
explain that one to me. Butanyway, I guess he wants to be

(19:22):
earlier than the early bird to getthe worm. If you have been thinking
about getting a generator, I wantto tell you about a company and a
and a brand that you need tolook for, and that's Quality Home products
and it's generating generators. Quality Homehas a promotion now a holiday blowout ten
percent off your generator up to twentyfive hundred dollars off. Go in and

(19:47):
talk to them. There is areason they've won the eight times eight times
the Better Business Bureau Award of Excellence, winner of the distinction specifically for customer
service Quality Home Quality. Excuse mequality seven to one three qualities. The
phone number qualitytx dot com is thewebsite. Check them out. Welcome back

(20:11):
to garden Linem. Glad you're withus today and we hope you will give
us a call. Let's talk aboutthe things that interest you at seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour. The folks at Microlife Fertilizers have
created such a great blend of Imean a blend, such a great mix
of different product options from drig granularmaterials to liquid materials. Just an example

(20:34):
of that is there. I callit Blue plus Blue. It's the fertilizer,
the dry fertilizer that is is avery excellent product for use in any
kind of situation. But now thatwe're in planting season. It's one that
you can utilize with your transplanting.It's called Microlife Ultimate eight four six,
and again that's the blue bag.They also have Microlife Ocean Harvest, the

(20:59):
Blue bottle. That is a fishbased fertilizer stuff that you can apply as
a folier feed if you'd like todo that. You can apply it as
a drench to the roots. Butwhen you're doing planting, consider this Microlife
Ultimate eight four six. And thereason I mentioned that is you're not going
to burn the roots with it.It's not salt based and it is going
to naturally decompose. You do nothave to put it right around the roof.

(21:22):
Just mix it in with the soiland the bed you're making and then
dig the home plant. It's reallyeasy to do and plants will respond to
that kind of nutrition and being organic, it's going to be released as microbial
activity works on the particles and turnsthem into the wonderful nutrients that that plant
is wanting to grow. You canfind Microlife information at Microlife Fertilizer dot com.

(21:45):
I'll tell you where you can findit, and also more about these
products I'm talking about We're going togo now to friends would and talk to
Charle. Hello, Charle, Hey, good morning. We've got a couple
of acres that used to be acitrus orchard until the last two winners,
and so now we have just emptyspace and I'm thinking about turning it into

(22:06):
grass or a filler, such asthe hay that you see with the large
bales of hay or I just readin the paper yesterday about a new grass
that's called Southeast Texas Native Seed Mixthat's supposed to be able to go with
the drought or the flooding. Yes, well, someone called about that and
I'm not familiar with it, butI'm trying to look into it. Okay,

(22:30):
Okay, you said it was SoutheastTexas Native right, uh huh,
Okay, that's what it says,Southeast Texas Native Seed Mix. Okay,
Okay. So when you're saying bales, you said, this is just like
two or three acres, I believeuh huh huh. It's going to be
a little small to do hay bailingon for someone to come in with the
equipment and all that. It's notworth it on that size. What kind

(22:56):
of seed do they put for thatkind of hay. Well, that's a
bermuda grass. Often it can bethere are many other grasses that can be
even planted and bailed for hey,around here, bermuda is a really common
one. So okay, So doyou have a way to mow this?
Probably we do. Okay, Well, if you if you're able to mow

(23:18):
it, you can do a bermudafield. But I don't know if that's
really what you are looking for.When I'm kind of trying to picture this
situation, maybe some of the nativegrasses would be a better way for you
to go. And there's there's anumber of companies that will sell native grass
seed for various regions, and youmay want to try establishing that. Then
it's more of a natural prairie look. It just kind of depends on the

(23:41):
aesthetics and if there are any rulesin the neighborhood is to what you mean?
Right, No, not here.What I'd like is to make it
a native looking it used to havenatives in there also, So just do
you have a name of a grass, well a name of a company,
because you're going to want to blend, Yeah, you want to blend native
American seed. Native American seed isin Junction, Texas, Okay, other

(24:06):
side of San Antonio, and justgo online. They have a catalog and
you can talk to them and say, hey, I live in this region,
what would you recommend and talking aboutany pros and cons and stuff.
Okay, Charlee, And as faras as far as the Southeast Texas native
seed mix, that may very wellbe a good one. I just I
just don't know, So I'm notgoing to comm out until I feel better

(24:26):
about what I learned about it.Okay. Yeah, I just saw it
yesterday and I thought, oh,maybe this is something we could do.
All right, all right, thankyou, thank you you too. You're
listening to garden Line and our phonenumber is seven one three two one two
five eight seven four seven one threetwo one two fifty eight seventy four.

(24:48):
If your landscape has really suffered throughthis year and you just really need some
renovation done, or maybe you're justlooking at your landscape going, you know
what I'd like to I like tospruce things up a bit around here.
I like a different look. Thefolks at Pierce Pierce Scapes, they absolutely
have the ability, the training,the certifications, everything from designing to installations

(25:12):
to I mean what do you need. Do you need an area that drains
poorly drained better? Do you needlandscape lighting? Do you want some hardescape
and a patio type thing or awalkway for example. They can do all
of that. They can make sureyour irrigation system is working properly, and
that's important, very important. Whateveryou need, I mean, they do

(25:33):
it all. It's really amazing andthe kind of work they do is also
amazing. If you want to seeit, just go to piercescapes dot com
piercescapes dot com or call them twoeight one three seven oh five zero six
zero. Easy to get a holdof them and take some pictures of the
place, your place, you know, some different angles and things. Make

(25:55):
sure you know it's framed well sothey can kind of get an idea what
it looks like, and they canmake suggestions as to what you may want
to do. Maybe it's a simpleaddition of some beds, maybe it's a
total backyard makeover. Priscapes can handleit. They can do it. I
was talking about cool seasoned color alittle bit earlier and the importance of containers.
Remember with containers in the winter time, we don't have the water as

(26:18):
much because it's not so hot,the demands are down, but we do
have to water. But when youmake a container larger number one, you're
able to put more plants in it. So you can create that combo container
that is so so attractive if youmake it a little bit larger like that.
Also, when you need to movethem in, you can just slip

(26:40):
a dolly under the lip of thepot, put a strap around the pot
tied to the dolly on each side, so when you tilt back, the
pot stays with you. And it'svery easy to transport things like that.
So maybe I have citrus in acontainer. Maybe it is a color container
of some flowers I mentioned charred earlier. It's going to get down in the
low twenties charts and truck so youcan you can easily just take it into

(27:03):
the garage. I think that's agreat way to go, and it allows
you to have versatile beauty and thecool season we need that those days can
get a little bit dreary. Rememberthat. One little last thought is when
you have these houseplants that want tobe outside, like rosemary, and it's
a little Christmas tree inside, nowjust remember to put it out as often

(27:25):
as you can, as much asyou can because it needs the sunlight to
stay healthy and strong. We're goingto take a break. Our phone number
is seven one three two one twoKTRH. Well, good morning on a
good Sunday morning. You're listening togarden Line and we're here to answer gardening

(27:45):
questions. So if you'd like togive us a call, our number is
seven one three two one two fiveeight seven four seven one three two one
two fifty eight seventy four Quality Feed. But they're located in kind of a
north central part of downtown Houston.That's a lot of directions. They're on
Luzon Street eighteen thirteen Louson that's nearthe intersection of Equipment and Alesion. They're

(28:10):
open Monday through Friday nine to six, Saturday nine to four, and today
from eleven thirty to four pm.Qualityfeedco dot com is the website and you
want to check them out. Ithink that it's one of the great old
time feed stores been around along asit's like nineteen twenty eight and Ken and
Chris they've been I think over thirtyyears now. They've been actually running the

(28:33):
place. I used to go toit when it's in the other location,
and now that it's on Luzon Street, it's still just as cool as it
ever was. They have really createda place where anything you need for your
lawn and garden, they got thesupplies for it there, like fertilizers,
insecticides, fungicides, pesticides, thingslike that great old time seed rack back

(28:55):
from the day's early days of thestore nineteen twenty eight, heirloom seeds stocked
in it. So that's kind ofcool. Do you need backyard chickens?
Do you need things to feed yourbackyard chickens or watering or other equipment?
Kind of they've got it all andthey get chickens in all the time.
So anyone thinking about doing that,quality feed is a place you need to
go. They really have everything thatyou need quality feed. You know.

(29:21):
I love old time feed stores andit's just I don't know, there's just
something about it that's just kind ofcool. And when you when you walk
into a place like that, it'salmost like you want the floor to creek
or you want there to be Ijust every time I go into an old
time feed store, you know,it's just it's I love the setting.
It's a lot of fun, Alot of fun to check out. You're

(29:45):
listening to Guardenline and we're here toanswer your question. So if you like
to give us a call it sevenone three two one two fifty eight seventy
four. We'll be glad to visitwith you about that. I want to
remind those of you that the Obayule Ball is that's a fundraiser that's coming
up soon and if you want togo, you gotta get tickets ahead of

(30:06):
time. You get your tickets atOBA online dot org slash register. That's
OHBA online dot org slash register.It'll be Thursday, by the way,
this Thursday, December seventh, fromfive thirty to nine thirty pm. There'll
be a lot going on. They'regoing to have a magician and a fortune
telling and a little string group calledthe v C Strings. There'll be cocktails,

(30:29):
a delicious dinner, and they'll dotheir slident auction. Because this is
a fundraiser. OBA presents the Oldthe Mule the Lone Star yule Ball.
Why is that our Lone Star Yu'llBall fundraiser? And so the to cap
off the day or the evening,Shake Russell, legendary Texas singer songwriter is

(30:49):
going to perform and you don't wantto mess that. That is excellent again
OBA online dot org slash register ifyou would like to sign up discussing the
colors and containers and you know thewinter, what does best and and what
are some options that we have.I just I just am trying to inspire

(31:11):
you a little bit. Something Iwas thinking about. Another option is,
you know, Vego makes some smallrolling containers that you could plant a like
a citrus tree or something else thatmay be a little coal tender and and
then just move it in, wrollit right in into the garage or wherever
you have that's protected. So that'sthat's another way to do our containers.

(31:34):
As a county agerlife Extension agent,I get a lot of phone calls about
whatever is happening at that time ofyear. People, you know, they
call in and they want to know, you know, why is this dying
or what's going on? It's thelawn and I have to think about what
time of year it is. Andthat's why I made the chart that I
have, the lawn care chart.It's my lawn care guide that talks about

(31:57):
fertilizing all the options, tells youexactly when. Also I have a pest
disease and weed management for the samereason. And for example, you wouldn't
need to treat for chinchbugs now.They're not going to be a chinchbug problem
in the weather we're having right now, but there's times a year when we
do. And that's on that chartand it's free. It's going online to

(32:21):
my website. It's gardening with Skipdot com and you can find them there
along with other updated information. Ihope that you will check that out because
we put it together hoping that itjust makes it easier for you. You
know. I know not everybody listensto garden Line every hour of every show,
and you can miss things, butwhen you print those out, you've

(32:42):
got your answer right there in frontof you. Makes it makes it really
really easy. You are listening toGuardline, I'm your host, Skip Richter,
and if you want to call in, our phone number is seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour. We're coming out pretty quick here
on a another break for the news. At the top of the hour,

(33:04):
I did some water dry Anyway,what I want to have you thinking about
because in two hours from now,in the eight o'clock hour, we're going
to have someone from the Post TraumaticStress Disorder Foundation of America PTSD Foundation of
America, and I want you tojust be thinking about what do you know

(33:27):
about PTSD. Just kind of ponderthat a little bit. And when you
hear about what the Camp Hope programthe PTSD Foundation of America has done and
accomplished, it is absolutely amazing.And so we're going to take the eight
to nine hour and talk about that. If you'd like to give us a
call about anything related to that thatyou want to ask a question, then

(33:51):
just please dive right in, becausewe were here to kind of shed some
light on something that I think isextremely extremely important. And when you see
programs that are doing a great jobof helping people, that is inspiring and
it makes you just want to bepart of it, that's for sure.

(34:13):
The RCW nurseries are there still going. I was looking at some of the
social media stuff the other day thatis pretty hilarious. At RCW Nursery dot
com. That's the website you canfind out more about them, but it's
the nursery at Tombo Parkway in abouta eight They are open Monday through Saturday
eight to five and Sunday ten tofive and they have a selection of all

(34:35):
kinds of plants. But when Ithink of RCW, I think about the
fact that they grow their own treesup in Plannersville, and they have a
great selection of trees and again,cool season, gotta plant those woodies.
They have one of the biggest selectionsof roses you ever find. I mean,
it's amazingly long list. But anythingyou need is going to be there,
and if they don't have it,they'll find a way to get it
for you, and that is reallyimportant. Knowledgeable staff, friendly folks at

(35:00):
RCW Nurseries RCW nurseries dot com.We we're about to take a break here
to make way for the news.If you'd like to give me a call
seven one three two one two fiftyeight seventy four when we come back,
Kyle, you're gonna be the firstone up. Katie r H. Garden

(36:23):
Line does not necessarily endorse any ofthe products or services advertised on this program.
Welcome to Katie r H. GardenLine with Skip Rictor It's crazy you
watch Trip just watch him as well. Welcome to garden Line. Thanks,

(36:51):
We're glad you're with us this morningtalking about the things that interest you.
Our phone number is seven one threetwo one two fifty eight seventy four.
Now when the weather gets cooler,varmints like to move into our house.
We used to live in a housein another city. We had squirrels and
rats both that got up in theroof. It's like, how do they

(37:12):
get up there? Well, theygot they got up there and they're doing
significant damage. McGrath Pest Control canhandle that. It doesn't have to have
six legs. Mike can handle thingswith four legs or Scott excuse me,
Scott can handle things with four legsvery very well. Also, you can
go to the website metgrafpestcontrol dot comor just call Scott two eight one four

(37:35):
six' nine eighty two forty.What do you need? If it's termites,
if it's mosquitoes outside, if it'scockroaches in the house, whatever it
is, that's what McGrath pest controlsabout, and you're going to appreciate the
service. They schedule a time andthey show up on that time. That's
why they're so highly related rated excuseme on the different review sites. With

(37:58):
McGrath, it's kind of a moderntechnologlogy and technique with old fashioned customer service,
and that is what we're looking forin any kind of a service industry.
Right, you want people to showup, you want them to do
it right, you want a fairprice, you want them to know what
they're doing. Well. I justdescribe McGrath pest Control. It's one of
the reasons they were a curator's pickfor the best pest control companies in Houston.

(38:21):
Congratulations Mike on that. By theway, I'm going to head out
now to Kyle in Port and husHey, Kyle, Hi, good morning.
How are you doing. I'm well, thank you terrific. I'm calling
the phone behalf of my mother.She has a very large old oak tree
approximately twenty feet away from her house, right in front of her front door.

(38:45):
We need to put a sidewalk in. We need to make well me
back up. The roots of thetree are growing near the surface and have
spread and in so much that wecan't put a sidewalk in for guts,
and we're concerned that our foundation mightget cracked, okay eventually, So how

(39:08):
do we cut the roots back withoutkilling this beautiful tree? You know?
And when the stakes are that high, Kyle, I'd bring someone in to
do it because they can assess it. There's a lot of factors. Roots
go out in all directions, butnot always the same amount of the root
zone is in any is in allthe different directions. In other words,

(39:30):
roots could be growing primarily developing inan area where there is more dependable moisture
or whatever it is. And sowhen you look at the tree and you
think, well, I'm going tocut this root or that root, and
how many can I cut, it'svery gray. It's a very gray area,
and that's where you need a professionalarbist to be to be able to
do it. I always tell peopleif you're going to do anything around a

(39:52):
nice valuable tree, get an arbustin there to take a look first before
any damage gets done, and theytell you what you can can cut the
In fact, they can do itfor you if you want the job done.
But even just a consultation, Iwould recommend you heard me talk about
Affordable Tree Service before Martin Spoon Moore, that's probably the one that I would
call. Just have them come outand take a look and see his number.

(40:15):
His number, by the way,Cole is uh seven to one three
six nine twenty six sixty three Ithink I would go that route if were
you. And what is his name? Martin spoon More And it's affordable tree
service. While you're right, yeah, while you're writing it down. The

(40:35):
website is a f ftree service,dot Com a f f tree service.
You know, even if I wereout there looking at it, I would
be, well, you know,let's bring in a sort of or you
know, somebody really is is morescheduled, Yeah, because uh, you
know, though you can do permanentdamage to a tree just by not really

(40:58):
knowing what you're doing. I tookone look at it and realized it was
above my pay grade. Yeah,that's a smart that's a smart man.
I agree with you, and Iappreciate your advice very much. I have
a wonderful day. Thank you.I appreciate that. Okay, bye bye
bye bye. That's funny. Yeah, when it comes to jobs where you

(41:24):
yeah, it's over your head,recognize that and just get somebody in there
to do it. Somebody knows whatthey're doing. And you know, when
when you're looking at a valuable treelike that, you just don't want to
mess around with it. Speaking oftrees, tree hugger sprinklers are the best
insurance you can buy for a youngtree you've just put in or in its

(41:45):
first five, six, seven yearsof life even uh. And the reason
is you put them around the tree, and if you've got that first hot
summer coming, you can water rightthere where the roots are when you when
you've planted real close to there,that's where the roots still are, and
then gradually turn it up more andmore to water a larger area as the
tree gets older and older. Andthen when we go into a summer drought,

(42:07):
you don't have to waste water byrunning the whole system to water your
tree. You can just focus onrescuing those trees with a tree hugger sprinkler.
And it's as simple as that.Tree Hugger Sprinkler dot Com is the
website. You're going to find themall over the place, everywhere. It
seems like every time I walk intoa nursery or feed store or wherever,

(42:27):
they're going to have a tree huggersprinkler on hand. And that's a good
thing, be a good gift toyou. I would say stocking stuffer,
but that would be a very unusualstocking to hold a tree hugger sprinkler.
You're listening to Garden Line our phonenumber seven one three two one two five
eight seven four seven one three twoone two fifty eight seventy four give us

(42:50):
call. Let's talk about the thingsthat are of interest of interest to you
if you are interested in tomato growingand pretty much any vegetable gardener. Tomatoes
is kind of like the it's thebig queen of the garden. I guess
people always are calling about tomatoes comparedto green beans or squash or co robbie

(43:12):
or something else, and it's justa passionate deal for people to see if
they can grow the perfect tastiest tomato. Well, if that's you, the
Texas Tomato Lover's Conference, you needto check this out now. The Tomato
Lover's Conference is going to be atthe Anti Grows Imporium up in Independence,
Texas on Saturday, January thirteenth,right in the big middle of January.

(43:35):
Saturday, January thirteenth, there's goingto be talks on growing tomatoes with the
young family, mastering container grown tomatoes, the best varieties for twenty twenty four.
That's one worth here in too,and then eight step to success in
grafting a tomato. I'll also givea talk on the ten Commandments of Tomato

(43:58):
Success at the Texas to meatal Oversconference. You need to call them to
get registered because it is a limitedspace two five four eight four eight ninety
three ninety three, or just emailSally at Texasgardener dot com. Sally at
Texas Gardener dot com. I hopeto see you there. I'm looking forward

(44:20):
to it, that is for sure. We're going to take a little break
here and we will be back injust a moment. The phone number is
seven one three two one two fiftyeight seventy four. Welcome back to garden
Line. We are glad you're withus this morning talking about things related to
gardening. Uh. You know,gardening goes indoors too. If you have

(44:42):
a house plant, I would say, I'm going to call that gardening because
you're taking care of it, youare finding the right conditions for it to
thrive in. And when COVID hithouseplants suggest it's like people became crazy over
houseplants. I mean everybody, everybody. It seemed like, was you know,
buying this or that kind or here'ssome new thing you've never had,

(45:06):
And boy, did plants get kindof weird. And expensive in some of
these online forums, like the stringof plants, string of pearl, string
of dolphin, string of heart,string of turtles, all those kind of
things. They just it was nuts. I saw a little cutting and it
had a little pearl. It wasa string of pearls. I want one
little two little nodes actually with onelittle pearl on them, and it was

(45:30):
going for like nineteen dollars. It'slike you have to root it yourself.
And that was kind of crazy.And the more obscure a plant was,
the more unknown, the more valuableit is. And that has continued even
after even after we kind of gotpast the brunt of the COVID issues,

(45:51):
it just seems to keep going.We continue to see interest in house plants,
and we got a lot of greatplaces where you can get good house
plants around here. But I justwant to remind you that to have success
with them, what you want isto put them in the conditions that they
like. So how much light dothey like, how much what temperatures do

(46:13):
they like, and what about wateringand the soil mix and whatnot. It's
easy to have success if you takecare of light, the soil moisture,
not too much, not too little, and the temperature being within the range
of that particular plant. So minego outside sometimes during the summer. Certain
houseplants the Thanksgiving Thanksgiving cactus, Christmascactus, those two definitely are spending their

(46:39):
time outside just rejuvenating a little bitduring the summertime. They're inside now with
their bloom buds. But it's notthat hard to have success with houseplants.
You can do it. You justtake it a step at a time.
Buy your houseplant from one of ourgreat mom and pop nurseries that know what
they're talking about, that can directyou to plants based on your description of

(47:00):
where you want to put them.They'll have the best chance of being successful.
And then when you have issues,you go back to that nursing and
talk to them about can you helpme with this? That's what they're there
for. That's what they're there for. We love feed stores here on Garden
Line and League City Feed. Thatis a real easy win right there.
I mean, we're talking about aplace that's been around for forty years.

(47:22):
Remember what I said about liking theold time feed stores. It's been around
for forty years and it's now runby Wes and Madison. The Thunderberg family
started it again forty years ago inan Okra patch for crying out loud.
It's on Highway three, a fewblocks south of ninety six. So all
of you and all those neighborhoods downthere from Elkamina, Reale, League City,

(47:45):
Lamark all through the region, thisis your hometown feed store. And
they carry the best products that youneed, premium premium products for your pets
as well as backyard chicken needs,and then the fertilizers I talk about,
as well as a great selection ofpesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Here's the
phone number for League City Feed twoeight one three three two one six one

(48:08):
two. Now they're open until sixpm on Monday through Saturday, so you
have time after work to swing bythere, check it out or grab some
feed for the critters around your place. When I was talking about earlier,
we had these two golden retrievers andthere they now are very What is it

(48:30):
obsessed with squirrels, I guess iswhat they like the thing about I mean,
I've put this in social media before, but think about my goldens.
They don't understand what to retrieve andwhat not to retrieve. When Ellie was
a pretty young puppy, she wentwith me out in the backyard and tagged
along as I planted plants, littlefour inch pots along side of a bed.

(48:53):
I'm going to decide to get drinkof water, whatever. And came
back out and there was a littlefour inch pot on my back doorstep,
four inch plant rather that she hadretrieved. And so I think we need
to know how the dog shows haveall these different groups of dogs, the
hunting group, the whatever. Weneed a gardening group. But first we

(49:14):
need to train some people, somedogs, how to garden and help us.
They sure could help dig a hole, but this retrieving thing, I
need to give them a good talkingto. That's not working out very well.
If you're planting plants, and Ihope you are this fall, because
fall is the best season for planting, always remember when you're going to water

(49:35):
them in, put a fertilizer solutionaround the roots, and if you want
to take it up. A notchhas to grow six twelve six. That's
got the nutrients in it, butit also has seaweed extract, it's got
humic acid, and it has amedinosol activator all in there. I mix
it in water and just drench itover the plant when I plant it.
And when I say a plant,it could be little four inch herb,

(49:58):
it could be a tree, abig old tree that we're planting. It's
got roots and it's trying to getestablished, and so we want to give
these plants a boost, and hasto grow is a great way to do
it. Has to grow six twelvesix, do it when you plant,
and do it twice more about aweek apart, and that seems to be
a pretty good schedule. After that, you can kind of back up and

(50:20):
do your other kinds of fertilizing tothose plants to kind of build the soil
and to carry them through season afterseason. Or you can just continue to
use a has to grow on them. You can use it as a folio
feed and it won't won't burn yourplants. Our phone number is seven one
three two one two fifty eight seventyfour. I'm going to go out now

(50:40):
to Spring Branch and we're going totalk to gud Hello, Judy, good
morning, good morning. I've plantedsome knockout roses back in March and they
are growing tall, but hardly anyroses on them. Wondering should I fertilize

(51:01):
them, cut it back or what. Well, we do a winter pruning
on rose bushes in general, andthen their biggest bloom season starts, you
know, March April. The springtime carries on in waves like knockout or
bloom continually in waves going through thesummer, and then October is another big

(51:21):
great time to get the roses goingand looking good. As far as them
not blooming yet, I think it'sprobably a combination. How long ago did
you say you planted them about MarchMarch? That is a little bit strange.
I think you probably need to beefup the feeding of the roses.
Are the plants looking fairly healthy rightnow? Yeah, they look healthy,

(51:45):
they're just spiny looking. How muchlight? How many hours of sunlight do
they get? Do you know?I would say about four? Okay,
Well, you're you're kind of ona low end there to get good bloom
production. Fortunately. I don't knowif there's anything you can do to add
to that four hours, you know, cut off some limbs or something,

(52:07):
but four is a little low forgood success with roses. You you may
get a few blooms on them,but that's just now the rose bush itself
will grow, but as you said, in low light, they get a
little bit on the spinley side andtwiggy side. Have you noticed any issues
on the foliage of the plant anyjust colored? They look fine? Yeah.

(52:30):
I did hit them, yes,when they bloom, follow the bloom
back to the first leaflet with fivefirst leaf with five leaflets on it,
and cut it back to about okay, that's called dead headings. Taken it
out now. You don't have to. I mean people all the time they
don't. And on shrub roses whenyou're kind of just sort of shearing them

(52:52):
back a little bit, you're gonnaend up cutting off the old dead blooms
anyway. But that's a nice tidyway to go about it. And you
recommend the fertilizer for that. Yeah, you know, a good quality balanced
blend is going to be it's goingto work. Well. We have rose
type fertilizers, you know, thecompanies of Nelson's Nitropossa has like rose type

(53:17):
fertilizers. And then you've got ifyou want to go organic, we've got
things like the Microlife fertilizer, andthere's some other organics out there as well.
But you could put those down andwater them in, and I like
to just use all my roses.I pretty much just use law fertilizer.
To be honest, if your phosphorusis a little low, then you need

(53:37):
something with more phosphorus than lawn fertilizer. But in general, we're just stimulating
growth because when you have growth,then you have more terminals where you can
have ballooms. So let me explainthat if you have one shoot, you're
going to have a bloom at theend of that shoot. But when as
you prone, you get more terminals, and then as you fertilize and stimulate

(53:58):
more growth, then it's able tocreate more roses. And well that's some
good information. Thank you so much. All right, Judy, thank you
very much. I appreciate I appreciateyour call. If you're looking for where
do I go to get a rosefertilizer, for example, we're just visiting
with Judy about that. Well,how about an ACE hardware store. They're

(54:19):
all around you. I mean there'sforty of them here in the Houston area.
You can buy all your fertilizers andplant needs there. But right now
you need to be considering the Christmaslighting because did you know that ACE is
a place for all holiday decorations.We're talking about indoor and outdoor lights.
We're talking about the swag, youknow, the the garland and the wreaths

(54:39):
and all the things like that.And when you're at an ACE Hardware,
just ask them about custom lights bythe foot. That is a really cool
thing. They'll explain how it worksand you will be thinking, why didn't
somebody do this before? But AceHardware forty stores, acehardware dot Com find
the store nearest to you at theirstore locator. Well, gosh, we're

(55:00):
Nicky's already back in the rim.You just walked out by five minutes.
It seems like it, doesn't Itseemed like it. Absolutely. We're going
fast this morning. Look how clearthe skies are. We're in the front
of a big window. Oh yeah, and it had been really kind of
foggy very early, and now wecan see all the buildings. Someone was
complaining about the cold to me theother day, and it was like,

(55:22):
do you do you remember how manymonths of absolute hell we went through this
summer? Yeah, I think Iwould like to freeze to death for a
little while, just to balance itout. I'd forgotten all about that.
Yes, we did go through veryhot times, very brutal, very difficult,
and our plants suffered a lot outdoorplants. But right now they're doing

(55:43):
really good. Well. I tellyou what. We're going to turn it
over to Nicki in the news.Our phone number is seven one three two
one two fifty eight seventy four.And when we come back, Donald,
you'll be our first up. Welcomeback to garden Line. We are talking
gardening today and whatever the topic isis up to you. I mean,
I'll come up with my own here. I got several things I still want

(56:05):
to go over and discuss, butyou tell me what you want to talk
about. Seven one three two onetwo five eight seven four. Hey Greenpro
greenpro dot net. That's the website. Green Pro is a company that I've
talked about in the past. Theycome out and they do deep time aeration
where they pull the core out ofthe soil properly. Very very good equipment

(56:29):
to do what you just can't dowith a little rental operation. Uh you
know, you go somewhere and tryto do your own corporating. This does
a better job. It goes downdeeper, it pulls the core out very
well. And they know how todo it, and then they follow with
a compost top dressing. They cando that now this time of the year.
If you've lost some areas of lawn, if I've had a number of
callers that are renovating their lawn,gonna have to replant some things. Do

(56:51):
that? Have those have those folkscome up from green Pro and they can
also do kind of a spreading ofa topsoil to fill in the low areas
so that you're ready to go whenyou're ready to plant your grass. And
so that's another service that they canprovide by Greenpro. Again it's greenpro dot
net, greenpro dot net. Havethem come out and take a look and

(57:14):
tell you what they can do tomake your lawn and landscape just much more
successful. We're going to go nowto Northwest Houston and talk to Donald.
Hello, Donald, Hey, howare you. It's all logod morning,
Good morning. I'd like to talkabout pumpkins. I'd like to talk about
tomatoes. However, I have afifty foot pine tree thirty two years old.

(57:36):
It's been architecturally planted, thank goodness, about twenty five feet away from
the house in the front lawn.It's straight up. It's really nice looking.
I've had it cleared, you know, the branch is cleared for find
out. However, the roots thatare growing, some of them are growing

(57:58):
toward the house. We're two orthree inches around, And I guess previous
to me being there, somebody hadcut a chunk out of it to stop
it from growing, like a twelveor fourteen inch piece, just cut it
out so wouldn't grow into the foundation. What didn't hurt the tree. But
the roots are above ground all aroundthe tree, and you can't walk across
the front lawn without falling a tripand on them. And I don't know
how lawn cutter guys even do it. Yeah, how do I get them

(58:21):
top of those roots off? Well? First of all, when I'm talking
on the phone to someone and Ican't picture the tree in the exact setting
right. So just to want youto be extra careful when you start taking
roots away from a tree. Itaffects the structural strength of the tree,
first of all, but it canalso take away a lot of that tree's

(58:43):
ability when you overdo it to getwater and nutrient. So don't take too
much out if you're trying to takea root out you might want to have
an arborist come out take a lookat it and make the suggestions. But
another alternative would be to bring somesoil in and just an inch or two
and here and there where you needit and kind of bring the soul level
up around those roots just a littlebit. Well, you don't want to

(59:06):
put like four inches of soil overthe whole thing that that'll damage the tree,
but a little bit here and therecould help. Does that sound I'm
sorry, Go ahead. It's afairly large area, and it's the whole
circumference around the tree, and theroots extend above the ground. That's not
the whole root, it's just thetop of it. I want. I
thought about having a stump grinder guycome and just just clean the top of

(59:29):
the root off. Don't dig theroot out, clean it off, just
smooth it off, like you knowwith the stump grinder. Yeah, the
car run it or something so itwouldn't rot, and then it would be
smooth and the root would still bethere. Well, it will still rot
and then over time again there's youryour anchorage of the tree that's getting compromised.

(59:52):
Is that that would rots away?You know, I've seen people do
that. The trees do survive it, but I don't know. I don't
know that it's the solution of whatyou're looking for. Yeah, what about
just taking off let's say the rootis four inches around or five maybe I
don't know. I'm not digging underneaththem to find out, but they're pretty
brown up on the above the ground. What about just taking like an inch

(01:00:15):
off the top just to smooth itoff. See, you don't have this
big lump that just step on anew trip over it. Right, You
can't roll the trash can over itbecause it's all bumpy enough. Yeah,
I see, So I picture whatyou're saying, and yes, that would
that would make it a little smoother. But you're opening the interior wood up
to decay. When you do anyamount once you've gone past the dead outer

(01:00:37):
bark, you're making a wound onthe tree and the process. I don't
think an arborist would go for that. I mean, you could hire someone
to come out as a consultation andsuggest some things that they see as options
for you, but other than cuttinga root or trimming down a root,
as you said, which either oneI'm not roll a big fan of,

(01:00:58):
and especially as many as you're andhave to do this too on that tree,
it's just bringing in some soil.If I did cut just the high
part, just the top part,like you know, the nub of it
off where it's where it's really stickingout, what would you suggest I could
put on it? If I cutlike a twelve inch slice and only a
half inch just to smooth it off, what would I put on it too?

(01:01:21):
I know about tar, but what'sthe good thing to put on it
to seal it up? Yeah,we just don't recommend printing paints anymore in
general. What happens is you putsomething over it, and yes, it
coats it initially, but then thosecoatings crack or they peel back or something,
and now you have moisture being heldinto the wood instead of being able

(01:01:42):
to air dry, you know,after a rain, and that just increases
the problem. I never thought ofthis, But what about leaving it alone
and putting the sod all around ontop of it? Just cover it with
sod squares and that would smooth outand the roots would be underneath the side.
They still get water. It's goingto be very hard to get sod
to grow there, just because theamount of wood in the soil, and

(01:02:05):
I don't think that's going to besuccessful. And really, you know,
sod just has about what a halfinch of black play. It's got a
lot of nerds, so it's notreally going to raise the level. I
mean it look like it because thegrass is there, but you won't see
what you're about to trip over,right, Yeah, anyway, that's that's
my two cents worth. If youwant to talk to Martin an Affordable Tree
and see see if they'll come outand just do a lookover and give you

(01:02:29):
some other options, maybe being onsite, some other things come up.
Would you tell me his phone number? Yeah, let me, It'll take
me just one second here, sure. His phone number is seven one three
six twenty six sixty three seven onethree six nine nine twenty six sixty three.

(01:02:50):
Or the website is aff Tree Servicedot com. Just tell him we
spoke on the air and I feellike he might be able to do a
better on site assessment. And thefirst name of the company again, Affordable
Tree Serve. Yeah, okay,Martin Spoon Moore, All right, man,
well good luck with that. Allright, Thank you so much,
you bet, thank you. Iappreciate that very much. Let's see your

(01:03:15):
week. Gosh, we're at theend of another segment. Our phone number
seven one three two one two fiftyeight seventy four. I'll be right back.
Welcome back to Garden Line. Soglad you're with us today. We
are talking gardening, and of coursethat's what a gardening show does, right
and but we talk about what you'reinterested in if you have a question and

(01:03:36):
want to give us a call sevenone three two one two five eight seven
four. Those of you in Kingwoodknow already you've got two of the best
garden centers in the world right outthere by you, and that's Kingwood Garden
Center and Warren's Southern Garden. Kingwinis still having their twelve Days of Christmas.
That's November twenty fifth through December sixth, so it's ending this week.

(01:03:59):
But their day where you get youknow, thirty forty percent off. There
are days where you buy one getone free. I mean, it's a
really cool deal going on. Andboy do they ever have a really good
gift shop. I love seeing justthe amazing things that they have in the
gift shop. A good place togo for your holiday gifts. By the
way out at Warren's Garden Center fullof color, lots of color out there

(01:04:20):
that the Christmas trees are there.I mean, it's what you would expect
of a quality garden center. Now, on the sixteenth and seventeenth of December,
they're going to have an event calledCookies with Santa. Yep, Santa's
going to be out there. Goto there, follow them on Facebook.
Just go find more in Southern Gardenson Facebook and there's a little code there

(01:04:42):
where you can reserve your spot.And that's December sixteenth and seventeenth. We're
going to head now out to AshrabForest and we're going to talk to Nick.
Hello, Nick, here you goodmorning. Yes, so I sent
my neighbor re had a pine treecut down because of pine beetle I think

(01:05:04):
was what it's called, did anumber on his tree. He had it
completely removed, and his consultants,while doing that looked across the street at
one of mine and saw a branchthat appeared dead and thought it might be
an indicator of the same issue.So far, it doesn't seem to have

(01:05:26):
taken over any more of the tree. However, what makes this tree unique
is that it is grown at thebase together with an. I think it's
an oak tree, and I thoughtif I were to have to remove this
pine tree, and it's again abouttwo three feet in diameter, the oak
tree is a good to three feetin diameter, how is it possible to

(01:05:53):
remove? I mean they're conjoined literallyat the final probably three feet of their
base. Yeah, I don't knowif they've grown together enough, it's going
to be really difficult to get oneout without injuring the other one. But
that's where you get an arborist inthere, like Martin spoon Moore that knows

(01:06:15):
how to do it, and theyknow what the limitations are with the cannon
can't be done U sounds like thoseare both big beautiful trees. By the
way, your pine tree does nothave beetles. If you're not seeing globs
of sap up and down the barkand or or sawdust coming in and falling
so you see it catching in thebark pieces as it falls down the trunk,
you don't have You don't have pinebark beetles. But I don't see

(01:06:36):
that now. Yeah. But butsomething to watch for is that big dead
limb up there. We call thosewidow makers for a reason. When they
come out. You don't know whenthey're going to fall out. That's a
that is a hazard, a significantthreat, and so I just want to
watch for things like that and getsomebody in there to take that out.

(01:06:57):
If so, if I remove that, obviously I know it improved my safety.
Does it help the health of thetree. No, it doesn't dead.
When you remove dead I mean it'syou, You're just you're not affecting
the health the life of the tree. It's not clipping your fingernails, you
know, it's not. It doesn'taffect. It's not a wound on you.
You're just taking the dead material off. And so, yes, it

(01:07:21):
wouldn't help. No, I wasgonna say, I how urgent it is,
but I would I would be realcareful with it. Yeah, yeah,
okay, well all right, wellI appreciate this information. All right,
thanks very much, good luck,Hi, thank you, take care
lobby. Our feed store and tomBall is D and D Feed. We

(01:07:44):
love feed stores here on Garden Line, and D and D Feed is about
three miles west of Highway two fortynine, So as you head out west
on twenty nine to twenty about threemiles, you'll see D and D there
on the left. They've expanded thispast summer a couple of times. They've
gotten now bulks seed available where youhave a little scoop and you can just
scoop out the amount you want,real economical way to buy seed. By

(01:08:04):
the way, they have quality dogfood and quality livestock food. I mean,
it's it's the kind of place whereyou go. Of course, it's
a feed, so they're going tohave feed, but it's also a place
where you go for the fertilizers Irecommend on garden Line for the pest control,
pest management, weed management kinds ofthings. They've got all of that

(01:08:25):
there at D and D Feed.Again, they're three miles west of Highway
two forty nine on twenty nine totwenty, just outside Tumble D and D
Feed. I was driven by therethe other day and looking they're always getting
new plants into outside. They doa lot of that, and you can
just see all of these, youknow, top rank fertilizer before you even
get in the door. They're therethere. You're listening to garden Line and

(01:08:49):
our phone number is seven to onethree two one two five eight seven four
seven one three two one two.That is the way you get a hold
of us. Coming up next hour, we're going to have David Malsby from
the PTSD Foundation of America and CampHope in and we're going to talk about

(01:09:13):
the issue of PTSD and what thefolks at the PTSD Foundation of America and
Camp Hope are doing to help theveterans that have served our country. I'm
looking forward to that. That'll bejust a little bit around the corner here.
I am always impressed when I gointo Southwest Fertilizer, and the reason

(01:09:38):
is you walk in and the amountof product that they carry and the variety
of product that they carry is it'slike none other. Like I say,
if Southwest doesn't carry it, youdon't need it. And I'm serious.
Any kind of fertilizer anything I recommendon garden Line and more are there at
Southwest Fertilizer. They have an eightyfoot wall of tools. If you need

(01:10:02):
an insecticide, a fungicide, ora weed killer, and it could be
synthetic organic, they have it all. They have it all there. You
bring a problem in like a plantsample or a photo, they take a
look at it and they point youat the right product. Just go to
Southwest Fertilizer dot com. They're onthe corner of Bissinet and Renwick and hey,

(01:10:24):
it's gift buying season. And ifyou've got a gardener in your list
it doesn't have a kneeling bench,go buy and ask Bob show me the
kneeling benches, because that tool changemy gardening life. Anyone north of forty
for sure, needs to get anice kneeling bench. It helps you get
up and down, it flips over, and it is a bench you can

(01:10:45):
sit on and work on in thegarden. Is one of my favorite tools
that I have. And I wakeup not in the prenatal position the next
morning because when you turn me looseto get up and down and up and
down eight hundred times. Yeah,the next morning on a rough but not
with my kneeling bench. So anyway, Southwest Fertilizer Southwest Fertilizer dot com,

(01:11:05):
you are listening to Garden Line.Our show is here to help you have
a more successful garden. The wayI like to put it is a more
beautiful garden and a more bountiful landscape. And that is exactly what we are
about here. If you are interestedin giving us a call, we'll be
coming back here in a minute frombreak seven one three, two, one

(01:11:25):
two five eight seven four. Let'slet Josh get you on the boards.
But I want to remind you thatthe next hour we're visiting with David Malsby
of the PTSD Foundation, and sowe're going to take calls related to that.
If you've got a gardening call,then just hold on and when we
get to the nine to ten hour, we'll be back taking those kinds of

(01:11:46):
gardening calls. I want to remindyou that my lawn care schedule that is
that is a schedule. It's amulticolor PDF. You can download it from
my website skip Gardening with Skip dotcom gardeningwith Skip dot Com. It tells
you how to fertilize. It givesyou organic options, and it gives you

(01:12:09):
synthetic options. It talks about aerrating the soil using a trace mineral and
when you might want to do that. It talks about mowing, how to
properly mow, and that is oneof the most important things in having a
beautiful lawn is regular mowing with asharp blade that is very helpful, makes
it look so nice and uniform andmakes good density. When sunlight hits a

(01:12:31):
so on Nature Plants a week.When you create a dense lawn, you
block the sunlight. It also talksabout watering while you're there online look at
some of the articles that I putup so far. We don't build a
lot more up when we get pastthe first of the year. But also
you'll find my lawn pest disease andwe'd management schedule. So when do you
treat for chinch bugs? When doyou treat for soid web words? When

(01:12:56):
might you want to be looking forgray leaf spot or large patch brown patch
in the fall season? How abouttake all root rot? It's all on
the schedule. When it comes toweeds, when would you apply a pre
emergent and what are options that aresynthetic or organic that might be helpful for
managing weeds? When do you needto use a post emergent? When do

(01:13:16):
you not want to use it?You see what I'm saying. One little
schedule. Actually these are two sheetsnow that I'm talking about, and it
just makes things so so much easier, and it's free. Katie R.
H. Garden Line does not necessarilyendorse any of the products or services advertised
on this program. Welcome to Katyr h Garden Line with Skip Ricter.

(01:13:41):
It's so crazy just watch him asa world. Welcome to the garden Line.
We're glad you're listening. We're backto talking about gardening topics right now.

(01:14:01):
I'm your host, Skip Richter,and our phone number if you'd like
to call, is seven one threetwo one two fifty eight seventy four.
If you're up in the Montgomery area, Ana Home, Ana Plants and Produce,
that's your hometown garden center. Andboy do they ever have everything that
you might need for gardening. That'sjust what they do. Uh. They

(01:14:24):
have coming up today at coming uptoday, coming up at noon today the
annual free Santa Festival at the gardenCenter there in Montgomery. Now it's your
opportunity to get group photos. Bringthe kids and do this. You can
take them with Santa and Missus Clauseout at the Ana Plants and Produce.
They also have a While you're there, you got to pick up some of

(01:14:45):
their holiday color. The point setis the ranges of colors are amazing.
That the Christmas cactus, Thanksgiving cactusthing, oh gosh, they look so
good. But also grab some ofthe fertilizers. We talk about some of
the products that you might need fortaking care of your landscape. They got
it all at a NA Plants andProduce. They're just on the east side

(01:15:09):
of Montgomery on one five. Asyou're heading toward Conroe. We're going to
go now out to League City andtalk to Susan. Hello, Susan,
good morning, Skip. Hey.Thank you for having that talk about PTSD.
I'm a big believer of Camp Hope. I donate to them regularly,
and my husband is a veteran,so we appreciate all the work. Well,

(01:15:30):
thank you for doing that, Susan. I appreciate that. I have
a question though. I have adishwasher that we only use for like three
months, and we replace it becausewe want to upgrade it, and I
cannot give that thing to anybody.Do you think I can donate that to
any of the organizations? Yeah,I don't know. You would have to
contact them and ask them. Hedidn't go into anything like that, but

(01:15:58):
you're interested. He had a questionand I have for you please is I
have two beautiful gardenia bushes. Theyare in container. They are about six
week tall. They were doing greatthe summer, dark green leaves, big
beautiful flowers. But within the lastthree four months, I mean weeks or
so, they start dropping leaves.They the leaves turn yellow, they dropping.

(01:16:21):
Is that normal? It can benormal. Fluctuations in moisture and other
things can cause that. I don'tif you've ever had apotheos ivy indoors and
you don't water it for a whileand then you water it, the leaves
turn yellow and fall up, andit's like after you you rescued it with
water. But it's just part ofthe process on that plant. I suspect

(01:16:43):
i'd say ninety nine percent chance you'retalking about older leaves, not the new
leaves at the end of the shoots, and correct that plant can it can
grow new leaves and they'll be okay. Just kind of watch the sow moisture
level. It needs the drain well, but it also needs to stay moist.
Guarden are not a drought tolerant plan. And so that's what I mean.
Yeah, I wouldn't fertilize it rightnow though we're going into the cooler

(01:17:08):
season. Just hang on and youcan do some fertilizing later coming out of
the season. If you want todo okay, you just answer my next
question. Thank you so much.I appreciate your help. All right,
Susan, thank you. I appreciatethe call very much. Hey, do
you live out in Mount Bellevue.Your hometown feed stores Texas feed Stop.
That's right, it is there.It's easy to get to if you're on

(01:17:28):
Iten. You just go a fewminutes north of Iten on Highway one forty
six and right on the right handside there. They are right and it's
a family oriented feeds are in thesense that they make you feel like family.
You walk in there, that you'regreeted your help. Brian and Hope
Roads have created a really great environmentthere and they carry everything you'll need,

(01:17:48):
all the fertilizers. I talk aboutissues with pest, well, they've got
everything you can imagine, as wellas diseases you can in summertime. We
got those mosquito dunks we need toget and protect and some mosquitoes they've got
that. They have lots and lotsof products and they carry the bags out
for you in that old fashioned way. If you live in Baytown, this

(01:18:09):
is your hometown feature you just minutesaway from Texas Feed Stop. Again,
it's a few minutes north of itownon Highway one forty six in mont Bellevue.
Let's now go out to Caro inspring am I saying your name right?
Yes? Thank you? Huh question. I got my eight twelve sixteen

(01:18:29):
furlizer the fung aside the barricade,didn't get it down. Okay, what
should I do? Well? Ifyou walk out, Yeah, if you
walk out and look, you maysee some little tiny weeds that are germinated
already and growing. You know,maybe that you kind of miss the boat
there. So you could do oneor two things with it. You can

(01:18:50):
go ahead and put it down,knowing that additional weed seeds will be germinating
in the cool season and so you'dcontrol that. Or you could wait and
at this point now just go aheadand put it on in early February,
early to mid February to protect againstthe warm season weeds that'll be germinating at
that point in time. You kindof now you're talking about the barricade.

(01:19:11):
Coreer. Yeah, the barricade.You've kind of caught me in between seasons
here, and you can really doit either way. I think of his
mind, I'd probably just wait andput it on in February because you're gonna
need it then anyway, okay.And then the fertilizer for the grass.
I'm just for the grass we're talkingabout, or is that right? Yes?
Okay, so that would be applied. Do not apply too much,

(01:19:35):
now you can. If you've gota fall type fertilizer lower nitrogen numbers than
our spring and summer fertilizers, youcan apply it now. Just kind of
go in a moderate level with it, not too much. If we have
some nice, decent, mild temperatures, your grass will continue to take up
moisture nutrients and it just helps itbuild strength in the winter and then coming

(01:19:59):
out of the winters. So yes, you could go ahead and do that
if you've got it on hand.Now, what I bought was the one
that's eight twelve sixteen. Yes,that's Nitrophoss's Fall Special and uh so that
would be fine to put down rightnow. Again, just don't don't overdo
it, and right, I gotit. Yeah, okay. We're not
trying to make the grass grow,We're trying to strengthen it so it can

(01:20:24):
make carbohydrates basically, yes, sir, okay, Well, I appreciate it,
and I really enjoyed the program.On the Veterans program. Was wonderful.
Thank you, happy, thank you, bet, thank you, Carol.
I appreciate that. Well, we'regetting close to our first little break
here in this hour. I amgoing to be coming back and we'll get

(01:20:45):
right to your calls when we comeback, and the number is seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour. If you would like to give
Josh a call, we can certainlytake care of that. Hey, if
you are interested in uh, holdon just a minute, I pulled up
the wrong thing here. Well,I tell you what, we're close enough
to break. I'm just going towait and save that one until we come

(01:21:08):
back. I do want to talkabout some of the things that are two
dues for now out in the gardenand the landscape, and so in just
a moment we'll start doing that.If you have any gardening questions in the
meantime, seven one three two onetwo kat rh or if you want to
dial it out by number fifty eightseventy four. We look forward to talking

(01:21:29):
to you. Welcome back to GardenLine. We're glad you're listening today.
If you'd like to call phone numberseven one three two one two five eight
seven four. Hey, last weekI talked about Santa and Missus Claus coming
to the arbor Gate and due toincleminent inclement weather, they've had to move
that forward. And so here wego. Here's your opportunity. Next Friday,

(01:21:50):
December eighth, from one thirty tofive pm, they'll be there.
Come get your picture made. Andhopefully you've behaved yourself way this year,
so there's not a bunch of coal, right and that how that works well
Arbigate. When you're there, youneed to pick up all of the other
things that you need for your lawnand garden. And by the way,

(01:22:12):
if you grow vegetables, garlic isin there. They've got some onion bundles
still in there as well, andgo ahead and get them in. Don't
wait any longer. While you're there, you are going to find so much
in the way of decorations, beautiful, beautiful wreaths and both. The gift
shop is just it's it's turned intoChristmas time. For sure. You need

(01:22:33):
to go buy and check it outand then pick up their one two three
system. The soil, the compost, the molts, all organic and for
anything that has roots. The soilwhat I say, soil and compost,
not molts, soil and compost andfertilizer. Yeah, the organic four four
to three fertilizer. I forgot thatone, but pick it up because when

(01:22:54):
you're going to plant, you needto use the brown stuff before in order
to make the green stuff happy.And so that's what we're talking about at
Arburgate. We're going to go nowout to Brazoria and talk to Larry Hello.
Larry Hello. I have some pandy buds, they call them little
tiny things, and I was thinking, I was wondering if I could plant

(01:23:15):
them now. And I have aquantt hat I can put them in where
they would never freeze if it gotdown to freezing, and see if they
you know, I had to starton them so in the spring I could
transplant them where I want. Andthese are pa and ees like the flower
right, Yes, okay, wellthey don't do well here, but you

(01:23:39):
got them, and you ought togive them their best chance. And to
give them their best chance, youwould put them in a very very bright
shade area, a little morning sun, but definitely not the hot, blazing
afternoon sun. P and E's arebeautiful perennials in the midwest northern north of
us. Our heat is really difficultfor them to cope with. Well,

(01:24:01):
I think I got a good placewhere it's partially shaded and they'd have the
best chance. All right, thereyou go, yep, do you think
do you think it's a good ideato plant them now and keep them from
freezing through the winter and then thathave maybe a step head start on the

(01:24:23):
spring when I transplant them where Iwant them. That's worth that's worthwhile.
It's definitely worth a shot. Seewhat you can do. Just don't don't
peonies can take freezing. I meanthey again, they look further north.
They survive the winners every year.It's just yours are in a container,
right, and so you also don'twant the top to die down. You're

(01:24:44):
saying you want to be able tokeep it through the winner so it's stronger
coming out. And I think thatmakes sense. Okay, Well, thank
you very much. All right,Larry, thanks for the call. I
appreciate that very much. You know, Nelson Plant Food. Nelson Plant Food
is doing this thing I've talking aboutit where forever bag of carbo loads sold
this fall, they'll do a twodollars donation to Randy's memorial scholarship Randy Lemon

(01:25:06):
Memorial Scholarship for every bag now.Carbo Load is both a fertilizer designed for
the fall application to strengthen the plantsin the winter and to make them come
out stronger in the spring. Andit's also a pre emergent herbicide. So
put it down watered in with abouta half inch of water, because you've
got to move the fertilizer into thesoil, and you've got to move the

(01:25:28):
pre emergent herbicide down into the soilsurface as well, because that's where it
does its work to prevent seeds.But Nelson's many places easy to find all
the great Nelson products. Carbo Load'sthe one I'm talking about now, though,
and that's the one that comes tothat two dollars bag donation to Randy's
scholarship. We're going to head nowout to pair Land and talk to k

(01:25:51):
Hello. Okay, good morning Skip. I have just a comment really about
kudos to I went yesterday to checkon I have. I purchased Craig Myrtle
back in the spring and they weredoing work in our backyard in my subdivision
and I couldn't have it planned itthen went by to kind of check on

(01:26:14):
it and to see if they Iheard you say yesterday that they were having
a sale up to fifty percent off. So I went in to check because
I've been looking for a couple ofVitex trees there that I've had my eye
on. And they said, well, the sale ended yesterday the day before,
and I said, well, Iheard it on the radio on the

(01:26:35):
Garden Line show. And he said, well, we have to honor that
if it was on the radio,and he called to the pit guy and
he said, yes, go aheadand do that. So I got two
Vitech trees at a very good saleprice. And they checked Mike, who

(01:26:57):
was at the head that he talkedto set call back, and he said,
I checked on her record, andyou know, he said, I
think we're going to go ahead andcontinue to sail through December. Oh wow.
So verdant is and I dealt withTrey very kind, very accommodating,
very very willing to do everything justright. So I got the two Vitecs

(01:27:20):
trees that I've been waiting for,and I'm going to get them all three
planted on December twelfth. There yougo, well, that just sounds like
a happy ending for everybody. Ireally was. I'm always glad to hear
positive comments about these folks that aresponsors, because we chose our sponsors carefully
and we do want them to bethe kind that provide the service and the

(01:27:43):
quality products and everything, and weknow that that's verdant anyway. But yes,
it's good. The one other littlething, if I have a chance,
I went into Friendswood. I dealwith Friendswood Hardware and Garden Center,
and they are no longer Friends withHardware. They are garden Emporium okay,
and they have turned all into agarden center. It's beautiful. They have

(01:28:05):
some of the neatest gift shop itemsand gardening things and decorations ever. Thank
you, thank you and your call, and thank you so much for your
program. I love it. Youtake care. It's the holiday season and
ACE is a place for all yourChristmas lighting and decoration needs. It's indoor

(01:28:27):
stuff, outdoor stuff. Do youneed some garland? Do you need wreath
to put on the door? Doyou need lighting? Oh my gosh,
they've got box lighting and every kindyou can imagine, the bulb sizes,
the shapes, the colors, theeverything. And they also have something called
custom lights by the foot, andyou just got to go by there to
see how this works. But itis what it sounds like. Custom lights

(01:28:48):
by the foot. You can createa lighting strand that fits your situation.
How long does it need to beand so on. Just go by and
ask the folks at Ace Hardware.Go to Ace Hardware, look at the
store locator and you can find oneof the forty stores in the Greater Houst
scenario that is near you. We'regonna now go to Alvin and talk to

(01:29:09):
Frank. Hello, Frank, Hey, Skip, I'm calling about a live
oak tree that I have out front. It has some black meldew, like
a black mildew about midway up thetrunk and going up into the branches of
the tree. Okay, No,the picker woods had been hitting that thing
and going after it above all theother trees. Okay, things like it's

(01:29:32):
sick. What do you recommend?Does the tree itself look okay from a
distance the amount of foliage and thecolor of the foliage. Yes, it
looks okay, but it's not.It's not progressing in growth as fast as
the other ones around it. Okay, Well, you know the black stuff
is just a sooty or material,or it could be a lichen of some

(01:29:57):
sort, just real dark. Iwould worry about either one of those.
That is not the problem. Youmight dig down around the base of the
tree with a little hand trowel orget a water hose to blast out some
of the soil and look for aroot going around the trunk that might be
embedded into the trunk. Sometimes thisis underground, you don't really see it.

(01:30:18):
Sometimes it's right at the surface.But as that happens, the tree
will continue to declimb because it's beingcut off from its root supply of water
and nutrients. I don't know thatthat's what's happening, but that's one thing
that could happen. Other than that, I would say, next spring,
let's get some fertilizer on it,wash it in really good, and just

(01:30:39):
see if it responds to that.Okay, wait to spring to fertilize.
Don't fertilize at this time for it. I mean, you can put a
little bit down now, but oaktrees are not going to be actively growing
in the winter, and so wouldI would wait until the early spring and
get it done at that time.What about these fertilizer spikes. Yeah,

(01:31:00):
will you hammer around or do yourecommend those at all? No? No,
I don't. That tree has aroot system that goes way out beyond
the branches in all directions. Andwhen you put a spike in, you're
putting a fertilizer in one tiny locationspot. And yeah, some roots will
benefit from that. But if youwant to make your tree healthier, fertilize
the whole area. If there's alawn under it, when you fertilize your

(01:31:23):
lawn, it's helping that tree too, because there are roots all through the
soil, not just where you mightput a spike. Plus plus spikes are
a somewhat expensive way to go aboutfertilizing. I got you, Okay,
thank you very much for your information. You're very informative. Thank you great.
I appreciate your call very much.Let's uh tell you what Let's go

(01:31:45):
now out to John in Santa Fe. Hey, John, good morning,
and thank you for your show.Sir. I have Russells sprouts that are
about a put in a half tall, and something's eating the leaves. What
put on it? Have you lookedaround the plant to see if you can

(01:32:05):
find the culprit I'm my best guessis that it's a caterpillar. That's the
most likely by far. When youturn a leaf over, you may see
them they kind of almost sure thecolor of the leaves sometimes, but you
may stand underneath. They'll eat holesin the leaves, and for small plants,
they'll even eat almost a whole leafup when it's a little bitty leaf.

(01:32:28):
Bacillus thuringiensis is an organic spray.It's a disease of caterpillars. It's
a type of bacteria that doesn't hurtanything else, doesn't hurt ladybugs and grasshoppers
and other things, but it doeskill the caterpillars. And you have to
spray it where they are feeding andbecause they have to eat it, and
so you kind of spray upward fromunderneath, and that'll do a pretty good

(01:32:50):
job of controlling the caterpillars. Youmight put just a few drops of soap
in it to kind of help thatspray stick to the leaves, because Brussels
sprouts and other coal crops can bea little a little bit on the slick
side where water just boils up andor balls up and roll off. Yeah
s a fact exactly. There.You go huh, but check first,

(01:33:15):
just to make sure it's caterpillars.But that's what I would do. That's
about as low tox as you canget. All right, What about seven
dust? Seven dust will also killthem. You can get it on.
When they eat seven dust, itwill kill them. It lasts quite a
while out in the environment, andso we always say wash your vegetables,
especially when you're using something that's sopersistent as that. Okay, okay,

(01:33:40):
how long how long does the sevendust last? Okay, I'm trying to
calculate. Okay, some little Brusselssprouts. Yeah, oh no, no,
no, not that long. We'retalking a week or two out there
in the garden. Yeah, itdoesn't break down the BT. You're going
to need to spray it maybe twicea week until you've got those caterpillars shut
down. But anyway, don I'mgonna have to take a break here.

(01:34:03):
Thank you very much for the call. I appreciate that. Our phone number
seven one three two one two fiveeight seven four. Welcome back to garden
Line. Glad you're listening today,and here is a phone number if you'd
like to give us a call.This is the last half hour of the
show this weekend, and so thiswould be a good time to give us

(01:34:24):
a call seven one three two onetwo five eight seven four. If I
have any questions we can help with, We're more than happy to do that.
Uh. Star of Texas is oneof the best causes that I can
think of in terms of where shouldyour money go? Where? Where?
How do you help Star of Hope. Let's say Star of Texas. That's

(01:34:46):
a stock show. By the way, for those of you who live in
the Austin area, Star of Hope, thank you for Josh. Star of
Hope is doing just amazing work here. We're talking about huge numbers of people
that they bring in and they changeyour life. It's not just feeding them.
They do feed them, but howabout training, how about caring for

(01:35:10):
the kids while mom is learning aboutthings so she can go out and get
a job, or while dad is. Star Hope is absolutely the best organization
I know of when it comes todealing with the homeless folks around Houston and
providing life change. Not just foodfor a day, but your donations can
help them serve more than five thousandmeals a week to the residents for just

(01:35:33):
two dollars and eighty cents, youcan provide a meal and that's pocket change.
Consider supporting Star Hope. My wifeand I do, and I find
that it is one of the mostworthy organizations of our funds because every dollar
you give changes somebody for the better. It's absolutely just the stories and the

(01:35:56):
stories you hear coming out of StarHoarpe just amazing. And I've been there,
visited with residents before there, butit's just an amazing place. S
o Hmission dot org. S ohmission dot org. We're gonna go now
to pair Land and talk to KevinHellokevin, Hey, good morning, Skip.
I know this question has been askedmany at times, and I'm sorry

(01:36:20):
for re asking it, but whatis the deal this year with all of
the acorns there? It's kind ofa perfect storm thing. Coven acorn oak
trees. They have a certain cyclethat they produce acrons on, some some
just like every two years and someannually. Uh. And when you combine

(01:36:41):
that with the fact that certain yearsare just heavy mass years. The mast
is the term they use for theacorn production or just heavy mast years,
and this is one of them everywhere, and it's interesting. It's not just
here in Houston. I have amother in law in the San Antonio area.
Driving up her driveway is like runningover bubble wrap. I mean,

(01:37:03):
all the acorns that are on thedriveway. It's just crazy, crazy amounts.
Yeah, it's it's not. It'snot a sign of a problem though,
So don't worry. Don't worry aboutthat. Just don't run. Don't
run barefoot through the yard for justa little while here. Okay, thank
you very much for the question.Yeah, we've we've had that one a

(01:37:27):
lot. But uh, you know, it's just part of what do we
call it, the vicissitudes of naturemaybe affecting that. I think that's probably
a big part of it as well. Have you been out to enchanted forest
that's in the Richmond are In fact, if you're if you're in Richmond and
you're going on fifty nine towards sugarLand, it's going to be off to

(01:37:49):
the right, off to the right, and enchanted forest isn't enchanting place right
now. They've got their fresh Christmasgreenery, and I'm talking about fresh wreaths
and swags and garland and really qualityfresh cut Christmas trees, beautiful gargeous trees,
absolutely and feel that a wonderful pinetype smell in your house. That

(01:38:12):
evergreen smells so so nice. Saturdayyesterday was a great day out there.
Today is a great day out thereagain. Anytime you go out to Enchanted
Forest, you just you enter anenchanting world where they have everything, everything
that you possibly could need. Theplants right now are outstanding. The decorations

(01:38:33):
for outdoors or outstanding. You knowwhen I'm talking about house plants are holiday
plants. I usually am talking aboutpoints that is and Thanksgiving cactus, Christmas
cactus. I've forgotten to talk aboutone, and that's in theorium, and
theorium is it's a green leaf plant, but the top the spath where the
equivalent of the bloom up on topis beautiful red. And you just have

(01:38:57):
to go out and Enchanted for Ushas got a great ply of them.
Check out the etherium. I shouldhave included that in the holiday list as
well. We're going to go nowout to Montgomery and talk to Jen.
Hey, Jen, hi, Ihave I just need some general information on

(01:39:18):
lawn cair for the winner. Okay, I do have some brown patch I
noticed I have I think I havea raccoon or somebody that is digging up.
I think I have moles. Okay, I'm I don't know what to
do for the winner. Yeah,well, the large patch of brown patch

(01:39:42):
if the if you've already got abunch of circles, there's no spray that
makes the circle go away the spray. Wait a minute, it's not it's
not circles. It's just like awhole area of brown. We're kind of
like dead grass, don't I don'tknow that it's brown patches, brown patch.
I'll the circle circular, not alwaysa perfect circle, but it tends

(01:40:03):
to be more circular than I think. What you're looking at is gress.
It just got stressed from summer drought. It could have been maybe killed outright
by drought, but it also couldbe a disease that often follows up stress
like drought in Saint Augustine lawns andsome other species. And that's called take
all root rot, and it justkills the plant. As the name implies,

(01:40:25):
it takes all by killing the roots, and the plant just doesn't survive
that disease. Now is the timestill when you can do some things about
it. But most importantly I thinkat this point in time would be a
spring application of something to prevent thatdisease from occurring. Diseases are always better

(01:40:47):
to prevent than to try to cure, and that would be the time.
Call me back in the spring,or just go online and look at my
schedules. If you go to gardeningwith skip dot com, the schedule is
there and it tells you for takeall root rot when the application times ideally
would be Okay, okay, nowthis is this is what my neighbor told

(01:41:10):
me to wait. But in themeantime, should I be watering or you
should not have to water your lawnin the winter? Hardly after water that
demands are super low. We doget some rain, the evaporation has decreased
significantly, and I mean, ifwe go through I don't know, three
weeks no rain and we are gettingsome warmer temperatures, maybe a little a

(01:41:33):
little water would be fine. Butin general I do not ever water in
the winter myself. You don't,okay, Okay, one more thing,
what about I have like I havemoles or okay, hey, hey,
jan you got a bunch of questionsand I'd like to help with them.
I'm going to put you on hold. We're going to take a break and
when I come back, we'll continuethis call. The phone number is seven

(01:41:56):
one three two one two five eightseven four. Be right back. Welcome
back to Garden Line. We're enteringour last segment for the weekend. We're
here ever Saturday and every Sunday fromsix am to ten am, so you
can listen in if you'd like togive us a call. Our phone number
is seven to one three two onetwo five eight seven four. A while

(01:42:17):
ago, I was talking about EnchantedForest and the ethereum and whatnot that they
have in You know, they alsohave a great supply of cycleman by the
way, and that is just whetherit's putting it in containers, using it
to decorate indoors. You got toget it back out in the sun between
between activities. But it's a greatplant too. And to get to Enchanted

(01:42:39):
Forest you just go out of Richmondnorthward sugar Land. But it's FM twenty
seven fifty nine. That's the roadthere on twenty seven fifty nine, and
really do go check it out becauseit is an enchanting place for sure.
We've been talking to Jen out ofMontgomery and I think we're going to continue
that right now. Hello, Jen, Okay, Hi, I'm in my

(01:43:00):
car on my way to shirt soI'm fine. Okay, So I have
some I think you're grubs, andI've had some holes in my backyard and
my neighbors said, possibly I haveher breadcold or something like that. So
okayot grub grub away or whatever itwas. Okay, it says I only

(01:43:24):
put it down in the spring.Okay, so I should just wait on
that. Yes, yes, buthere's what you need to do. My
schedule at gardeningw skip dot com tellsyou when the grub applications need to be
We do an earlier grub application forthe young larvae near the surface that have
hatched out from the junebugs in ourfeeding, and then we can go a

(01:43:46):
little bit later and do one.But it's a little bit different product approach
when we go through those two.But it's all there on the schedule.
You don't have to remember it.You just go check it, check it
out, print it out for yourselfand tell me. Tell me again what
skip gardening with skip that's me gardeningwith skip dot. Yeah, that's just

(01:44:10):
on my computer. Yes, Andwhen you get there, you're going to
scroll down and you're going to seesome really interesting articles that have dealt with
stuff through the year. But you'realso going to see these two charts that
are multi colored for fertilizing and managingpest weeds and diseases. Okay, all
right, super well, I alwayslisten to you, and I never all

(01:44:32):
of a sudden I'm realizing I've gotsome problems. All right, Well,
that's why we're here just so rightnow, I'm just gonna forget to do
anything, right, I think so. I think based on what we're seeing
the little holes in the yard,it could be just armadilla's pushing their noses
in around. It could be skunk. There's a lot of different critters that

(01:44:53):
can do that. Yeah, yeah, okay, I know what it is.
But okay, thank you very verymuch. All Right, you're welcome.
Thank you very much for your call. Jan Let's see, we have
got a clear board here. I'mgoing to get in close to kind of
time to go out, so Ithink we'll make a few more comments.
I've got some things I wanted totalk about that I didn't get to today,

(01:45:17):
and one of them is gardening gifts. This is a perfect time to
get a gift for the gardener.In your life. In fact, I
would put it this way, thisis the perfect time to give garden related
gifts to everybody that is around.And here's what I mean. Gardeners love
plants, right, Gardeners love tools. It's easy to shop for a gardener.

(01:45:38):
For some other folks that aren't intogardening, they probably would love to
have a house plant. You goto a gathering during the holidays and you
want to take a hostess gift,well, those ethereums I was talking about
would be a great choice, aswould cyclemen for example. But there's a
lot of good options out there forthat. And for people that you know
just aren't into plants at all,the bird feeders and the bird houses and

(01:46:01):
the different things they have at Walbertswould be a great gift as well,
because who doesn't enjoy watching hummingbirds righton the outside. And I just think
that this season gives us so manyopportunities to really provide some really cool stuff
to the folks in our life andhelp them be a better gardener. By
the way, remember when you givesomebody a plant, like I say,

(01:46:23):
a rose bush, for the restof the time they're there at that house,
they're going to remember you. Everytime they see that rose bush,
that's the rose bush it So andSo gave me. That means a lot.
If you've got an elderly person inyour family or life and you also
go buy and plant it for them, that's just an extra gift. So

(01:46:44):
something to think about. Let's headout to Galveston. Now we're going to
talk to Bill. Hello. Bill, Hi, got a question for you
about citrus trees. I've got citrustrees that have curly leaves on on their
green but they're curly, and I'mtrying to figure out what's causmic that is
caused by the citrus leaf miner.It's a little fly creature that lays an
egg in the leaf and a andnot a caterpillar. A fly larvae,

(01:47:09):
which would be technically a maggot,eats through the insides of the leaf tissues
between the upper and lower surface.You'll see their little trails as well as
a little thin black line which isthem pooping as they go along, thank
you very much. And the foliagecurls up, it gets silvery looking,
white looking, it just curls up. It They they are focused on the

(01:47:30):
new tender leaf tissue, so theold leathery already fully developed leaves that that's
not what they go after. Soyou can use sprays for it. Sprays
containing spinosid s P I N OS A D. Spinosid soaks into the
leaf tissues. So oil won't helpor not OLNM oil can help, but

(01:47:54):
I would rather than do a knemoil. I would do the asid direct
in form of name. When yougo to a garden center and you see
name products, there's two forms.One is the oil and the other has
this long word as a direct andas the ingredient that is extracted from the
name plant, and that will soakinto the tissues and do a very good

(01:48:15):
job against leaf feeding creatures as well. But one last thing about the leaf
miner. Once the tree is establishedand doing good, leaf miners just don't
really bother a lot. You havea young tree in every shoot that's trying
to grow is suffering from them.I get it, But in general,
you don't have to always spray citrus. If you can put up with it

(01:48:36):
not being quite as attractive, you'restill going to have plenty of leaves that
come out and support the bloom productionand fruit production. Can you spell that
thing? I'm supposed to get aZ A D R A C H T
I N yes, sir, thatis it. Now, that's the en.

(01:49:00):
If you want to go the nameway Spinosa, it is s P
I NO S A D. That'sgenerally what I recommend. But I think
alternating between the two would be wisebecause some of these insectorcides you can get
bugs building up resistance to them.So it's always good to switch things out
a little bit. How often doyou do it? What's the week and

(01:49:23):
switcher the switch? You could dothat or you could I mean you switch
in seasons even if you want.But yeah, if you got them both
on hand and you switch out betweenthe two, just remember all you got
to spray is a tender new growth. That's what's got the that's the target,
and so don't worry about spraying allthe old leathery leaves. Okay,

(01:49:44):
thank you so much. All right, Bill, thank you. I appreciate
that very much. Well, herewe are, end of another gardenline day.
Thank you for listening. Appreciate that. I hope you'll get out today.
The weather is awesome, it looksbeautiful. Be a good day to
out and do some of that shoppingfor friends and family. It'd be a
good day to get out and justsee some of the cool stuff that we

(01:50:06):
have at our local garden center.Some of our other suppliers we talk about
have the product maybe to get thoseChristmas lights you've been planning on getting up,
or the swag and the other decorations. It's a good time for all
of that, and I hope thatyou have a really blessed weekend. We
look forward to talking to you again. We are going to be continuing to

(01:50:28):
answer gardening questions and talk about thingsthat are current with the season as we
go through week by week. Thatis really important, So anytime you have
a question, feel free to justgive us a call. It's Saturday mornings
and Sunday mornings six to ten.I'll talk to you next week.