Hi, thanks for
joining us for

"The Family Plot:
Gardening in the Mid-South."

I'm Chris Cooper.

There are several ways
  to propagate your plants.

We'll take a look at using seeds
  and cutting to get new plants.

Also, in the spring, the grass
  comes up but so do the weeds.

We'll let you know how to cut
  down on your weed problems.

That's just ahead on..

"The Family Plot:
  Gardening in the Mid-South."

(female announcer)
  Production funding for

"The Family Plot: Gardening in
  the Mid-South" is provided by

Good Winds Landscape and Garden
  Center in Germantown since 1943

and continuing to offer its
  plants for successful gardening

with seven greenhouses
  and three acres of plants

plus comprehensive
  landscape services..

[soft music]

[theme music]

Welcome to
"The Family Plot."

I'm Chris Cooper.

Joining me today
is Kim Rucker.

Kim is the greenhouse and
  cutting garden manager at the

Dixon Gallery
  and Gardens.

And Booker T. Leigh is here.

Booker is a U-T Extension agent
  right here in Shelby County.

Thanks for joining me.

Glad to be here.

Alright, Kim.

We're going to talk
about propagation.

So, here's the first question.

What is propagation and
why do we need to propagate?

Well, propagation.

If you're like most gardeners,
once you get the gardening

fever, you just want to
acquire more and more plants.

And when you learn to propagate,
it's a skill set that you learn.

Plus, it's a way to
get new plants without..

It's economical.

So, you want to
get us started?

(Kim)
  Sure.

There are several
ways to propagate.

The easiest, to me, one
of the easiest is to seed.

It's very economical.

It's a quick fix.

You get plants
fairly quickly.

A lot of people are interested
in vegetable gardening now.

So, it's very easy to
seed your vegetables.

There are basically
two types of seeding.

Direct seeding or in situ,
which means you take your seeds.

You go out in the yard and you
plant them in your prepared bed.

A lot of your
vegetables, you can do that way.

Especially if they have --
the plant is going

to have a tap root.

Those don't usually
transplant real well.

So, you want to
start those outside.

The other is
indirect seeding.

And usually what that involves
is seeding in to a container of

some sort.

And then you usually end up
transplanting at least once or

twice before you actually move
it in to the spot where you are

going to grow it on.

We do a lot of indirect
seeding at the Dixon.

And so, basically what I do with
the indirect seeding is this is

our seeding tray.

And I've got little cells.

We put a
special mix in there.

It's basically
just a soil mix.

It's a little looser.

And we put
one seed per cell.

And that's just because
it's easier to transplant.

So, you don't
have to divide them.

And we do
quite a few.

And usually the
seeds we're using,

the germination
rate is really high.

So, we know if we need 40
plants and I seed 42 seeds,

I'm going to get
at least 40 plants.

A lot of that depends on
your germination rate.

Let me ask you
this before you go.

So, can a homeowner
get these seed trays?

A lot of times you'll see them
in the big box stores and they

come in a big flat.

This has actually
been cut in half.

And then it'll have
a dome on the top.

Sometimes they'll already have
the soil in them and it'll have

a little tray that
holds water on the bottom.

That's what
this tray is for.

We actually seed in to dry mix
and then pour warm water on to

the tray and let it
soak up from the bottom.

You don't want to water on top
of this because your seed is

going to wash out.

That's good to know.

That's real
good to know.

Once they get..

These are
some seedlings.

It's Aquilegia or
Columbine that we seeded.

And these were actually
seeded on January 23rd.

But these are..

We call these plugs.

And what we do..

Once they get their
second set of true leaves,

what we do is we just kind
of squeeze it like this.

And then I usually
take a bamboo stick.

And you just poke up the
bottom and it just pops out.

And there's your plug.

Sorry, I'm making a mess.

And then you just move
that to the next sized pot

and you grow them on.

That's actually the
  pink flowers down there.

Those, actually..

The seed is about the
  size of a grain of pepper.

It's very tiny.

And then in 12 to 14
  weeks, that's what I have.

So, and that's
  another important thing,

the seeding.

You need to decide when you want
your plant and then count back

the number of weeks that it
tells you on the package that it

takes for the plant
to get that size.

So, with the snap dragon
there, we actually seed those.

We want them about
the first of February.

So, I count back
12 to 14 weeks.

And that's usually
the end of October,

first of November.

That's when I seed it.

Usually a month later,
I can up-pot it to the

first small pot.

And then we move them
in to the big gallons.

And then it's very
important for us for timing.

Because I want the flowers for
the arrangements in the museum.

So, I have to have them
on a certain schedule.

It's pretty neat.

Can we get
to the cuttings?

On the cuttings, there are
several ways to vegetatively

propagate something,
which basically with that,

you're going to get
the identical plant

that you're
working with.

And there are
several ways to do this.

You can do stem cuttings
with herbaceous plants.

That's real good
for your annuals.

My mom always kept
Coleus in the window sill.

She would save them
from the season before.

And you just
take a cutting.

And what I do is we call
this the mother plant.

And we keep several of these
and we take cuttings off of it.

But you just
find a stem.

And you want it
not real flexible.

That means it's
the newer growth.

But you want to get it
back just a little bit

to where it's
not real stiff.

What I usually do, you
can take it off here.

And you'll usually hear as
much as feel a little snap.

And you can
do it that way.

It's really best to cut
because you end up tearing.

But the next..

It's really very
easy to do this.

You can either root it by
dipping it in hormone and then

sticking it in soil.

Or with these, I like
to start them in water.

It's just easier.

It's quicker.

But you just take your
leaves and strip them off.

And then you want
several leaf nodes.

One, two, three.

Down in to the water
or in to the soil.

So, that's what.

And then this is what you
get in about two weeks.

And then you
just stick that.

Two weeks.

(Chris)
  And that's just in water.

That's just in water.

We usually set it
in a window sill

where it gets
indirect light.

Good light
but indirect light.

And then we just pot
those in to a soil mix.

The other that's
kind of an herbaceous.

There's also semi
hardwood and hardwood cuttings.

The box wood, we
don't do a lot of those.

We do it more for demonstration
and just what we call playing.

You usually use the
past year's growth.

And what you do is you find a
stem that's the same thing.

Not real hard.

It's somewhat
woody but, you know,

it's not like this
major stem here.

But what you do is
you just stick it.

Cut it off.

Use good, clean clippers.

We like to clean them
in between with alcohol.

We want to make sure
we get a clean cut, as well.

And then you
do the same thing.

You want to take
your leaves off.

And you want
several nodes.

And then what I like
to do with hardwood,

with semi-hardwood cuttings..

And a lot of these depend
on the time of the year.

Usually May, June, July.

You've had that first
flush of new growth.

And it's starting to
get a little bit hard.

It's not quite so tender.

And then I just take
a rooting hormone.

There's also
liquids you can use.

You can buy
them anywhere.

(Chris)
  So, the homeowner
  can readily get..

There is one called Root
Tone that you can find

at most any
garden center.

So, what you do..

I don't like to dip in to that
because if this is diseased,

you're going to contaminate
your whole container.

So, what I do is pour
it in to a little cup.

And you can..

It's not necessary to wet this
because it's going to stick.

It's just a real
fine powder.

And I put it in there
and knock the excess off.

And then what I've done,
I've got potting mix in there.

And then I generally put
a small layer of sand.

And then I put
more potting mix.

And then you can
just poke it in there.

(Chris)
  Now what is the sand for?

The roots seem to grow off
that in to that fairly easily.

Plus, it kind of
holds a little moisture.

And then this
is kind of short.

But he's in there.

He's peeking out.

Generally what I will
do is water it once

really well after that.

And then we have a mist house
which keeps the humidity up.

But most home owners don't
have their own mist house.

So, you can put it in a zip
lock bag and seal it and put it

in good, indirect light.

And then that'll
kind of keep it moist.

And usually they root in in
maybe two to three months.

We appreciate that.

That was a
good demonstration.

I'm pretty sure the homeowners
are going to love that, as well.

So, thank you much.

(Kim)
  You're welcome.

(Chris)
  There are a number of
  gardening events going on in the

next couple of weeks.

Here are just a few
  that might interest you.

[theme music]

Alright, Booker.

We're out here.

We're in the lawn area.

And I see all of
these weeds, man.

So, why do we have
these weeds out here?

(Booker)
  A lot of times we don't
  have weeds in our soil because

sometimes the soil that we have,
  the compact soil can cause weeds

to grow.

But also, if your neighbor has
weeds and they're cutting the

grass and everything,
weeds can get in to your yard

by the seeds blowing.

And also,
water and rain.

It washes
the seed down.

A lot of times we let our grass,
our weeds go to seed and then it

blows by wind.

But we can't manage
that weed though.

We can't
manage those weeds.

One of the things we can manage
a weed by putting a pre-emerge

down early in the fall of
the year or the early part

of the spring.

It controls a lot
of weeds in there.

And also, with a
thick, healthy turf.

If you get a
thick, healthy turf,

it'll move a lot of
those weeds out of there.

Because weeds are
looking for space.

Looking for space
and everything.

And weeds can
grow anywhere.

They can grow in
any kind of soil.

You got to try to maintain that
soil and try to keep the weeds

out of there.

Weeds destroy
a pretty lawn.

You know that and
you know how it looks.

Controlling those weeds and get
you on a good spray schedule.

You know, spray you a broad
leaf weed killer of some kind

on there.

There's a
pre-emerge you can put down.

But getting those
weeds under control

is the most
important thing.

You can kind of manage
those weeds a little bit.

Managing is the most important
thing because you're probably

going to have
some weeds.

You might have a few.

And then a lot of times you can
pull those weeds out of there.

When you pull the
weeds out of there on,

like, a moist day or something,
a lot of times you get all that

tap root and
they'll just go away.

And it takes some time now.

It's going to
be some work.

No doubt about that.

Trying to pull
them out of there.

Let me ask you this.

So right now,
I see moss.

Why do we
have the moss?

(Booker)
  See, moss likes shade.

They like acid
  soil sometimes.

And a lot of times you have
  moss where water kind of stands.

You know, you've got an
area that water kind of stands

in your landscape.

You might going to
have some moss there.

You know, a lot of people,
you've got to try to get rid of

the problem first for
the moss to go away.

You got a lot
of shade, might need

to clean your
trees up some.

If you got compact soil
where the water stands,

need to make sure you get
the water to drain better.

So, there's a lot of things
you can do to get rid of moss.

But if not, I have seen some
folks let moss just grow

and take over.

And it looks real nice.

Might not try
to fight with it.

You don't
have to cut it.

Just keep the
leaves off of it.

Keep the
leaves off of it.

I've seen one
lady water her moss.

She wanted it to stay there
because it looked real good.

But you want
to control it.

It got a
little small area.

You probably can control
that some by aerating,

getting the
compact soil good.

I might add just a little
sand across the top of it.

Let it drain for
them to drain better.

A lot of things you can
do to control that moss

on a small area.

You got a lot of
trees around there.

And folks
love a tree.

They don't go out there and cut
the trees down and try to get

rid of the
moss and everything.

And the clover
you have in there.

Yeah, we got white
clover here, as well.

And white clover, of
course, is a legume.

It's an indicator of
  your soil fertility.

And got a
little probe here.

You can also do a soil test in
there to see it in to your soil.

Because you don't want to go
out there and just start adding

fertilizer and
lime to it.

You might
not need that.

But do your soil test
  where that moss is located.

You might want to get it from
  four or five different places in

that area and get it tested and
  just see what you have in there.

And so, that's a thing you can
do to control that moss and help

control those weeds.

Also, it makes it
look good, too.

But I kind of
like a little moss.

It actually
looks pretty good.

And something else
I see down here, too,

Booker, is Nutsedge.

And you know how
  tough Nutsedge is.

You know, it's considered to be
  the world's worst weed because,

you know, it can
actually tolerate dry soils,

as well as
moist soils.

So, that's why it's
considered to be a tough,

tough weed.

Those underground tubers
move around so you pull it.

It's hard to
control in there.

And another thing we
see that's out here now.

They just had
the yard sprayed.

I wonder what they
were spraying it for.

What weed do you think
they were spraying it for?

Probably broad
leaf weed killers.

And sometimes you might
have it mixed together,

a broad leaf weed
killer with a pre-emerge.

Trying to get some of your
summer weeds from germinating

and coming in there.

People always call and
say why they lawn green.

They spray their lawn and
their lawn begins to turn green.

But it could be
that's like an indicator,

a dye that can tell so
they don't overlap a lot.

That's why you see all those
color in there a lot when they

put the broad
leaf weed down.

And also, they might put a
pre-emerge mix in there.

You have just a few weeds in
your lawn and there's not a

whole lot of weeds in there in
different locations and your

Bermuda grass is
still completely dormant,

you know, you can
spray around there.

Okay.

But you do that to make
sure that it's dormant.

You might want to go down there
and look in to and make sure

it's not green at the
root system coming out.

But you can spread it around
there and get rid of a lot of

those weeds in there.

And a lot of things
that we're seeing now,

you may be
seeing big ones.

It's winter
annual weeds.

But they're going to die later
on when it gets real hot

and everything.

They'll die.

But they'll come
back again next year.

Yeah, especially if
they go in to seed.

Because again,
managing that turf,

that really good, thick
turf, cutting your grass

at the right height.

You want to keep that
  grass, Bermuda grass,

probably about
  two-and-a-half inches tall.

Zoysia would be
  about the same length,

two-and-a-half
  inches tall in that area.

And your Fescue
  is a little taller,

especially during
  the summer time.

it's not doing a whole lot of
growing during the summer time.

But you want to keep it tall
to protect those root systems.

Because it gets hot.

But keep that to
manage that turf,

keeping that grass.

And last time, we talked about
having a sharp mower blade.

Cut your grass in
different directions.

All those things help
control weed problems.

Getting that
good, thick turf.

All these are
cultural practices.

Our last resort is to spray,
to spray any chemical there.

But we don't want to do a lot of
chemicals in there because that

can cause problems.

And a one of the
things you want to do,

again, is getting
that soil tested.

Like I said,
get that soil test.

And then when you
do spray chemicals,

read the label.

Read the label.

And, you know, don't do
more than they said to do.

Do what they say.

And don't do less.

Do the right amount and
cover the area they want to say

to cover.

Let me ask you this.

We get this question
a lot at the office.

Is it tougher to control
weeds in Fescue lawns?

A lot of times it could be.

It might be really thick grass
like Bermuda or Zoysia grass.

You might have a little more
weeds get in there sometime.

You'll see it more.

Fescue grows
all year long.

Especially in the winter time,
you might have just a little

more grass in there, too.

And another thing, you might not
be able to spray on Fescue lawns

what you can spray on
Bermuda and Zoysia grass

because of that.

So, you can do that.

Those are things you might
want to look at in there.

But moss and weeds are
going to be a problem.

If your neighbor has weeds,
you might have some in there.

They're going to blow in.

Like you said about wind,
rain, something like that.

Like you said, you have a lawn
service that could bring them in

from another lawn on your
mower blade and everything.

And I'm glad
you mentioned that.

If you're using a lawn service,
make sure those guys blow off

the lawn mowers because it
might have weed seeds on,

you know, that mower
blade, on the wheel, on them.

So, they need to blow off
that equipment before they go

to the next yard.

Because they might
take weeds in your yard,

cut my grass and then
they'll be in my yard.

You want to make sure
that they're cleaning off

their equipment.

A lot of times they
could be on a schedule.

You know, they're
scheduled to cut your grass

and have a little rain.

And your grass is
still kind of wet.

And they ride
across there cutting it.

That could add a little
compact to your soil.

Just be very
careful with that.

Some of your weeds are actually
what indicates if your soil

is compact.

Yeah, there's lot
of things there.

But manage those weeds,
get them under control.

You can take care of it.

Do you have
weeds in your yard?

No, no weeds in my yard.

I might have one or two.

What I do when it's real moist,
I go out there and pull it up.

Put it in a little
bag and then put it

in the
garbage thing there.

I have
very few weeds.

Weeds don't
be there though.

You might spray it but you
don't have weeds sometimes.

You don't have weeds because
how many times do you cut

your yard again?

Twice a week?

Twice a week.

Alright, Booker.

We appreciate that.

(Booker)
  Thank you.

(Chris)
  Remember, we
  love to hear from you.

Send us a letter or an e-mail
  with your gardening questions.

Send your e-mail to
  Familyplot@wkno.org.

The mailing address is
  Family Plot..

7151 Cherry Farms road
  Cordova, Tennessee 38016.

Alright, here's
our Q and A session.

Miss Kim, you jump
in there with us.

Alright?

Here's the first
viewer question.

Billy writes: I will be buying a
  Red Delicious and a Granny Smith

apple tree soon.

I like Granny Smith apples.

Which size tree will
  bear fruit sooner,

a dwarf or a full
  orchard size tree?

Well, Billy, that would be
your dwarf tree because it will

actually bear fruit in
the second or third season.

And then your orchard size fruit
tree will bear usually four or

five on out.

So again, it'll be
your dwarf size tree.

And dwarf, you know, trees
are good for the home owner.

I like dwarf because they
stay real small and it's easy to

harvest your
fruit off there.

So, that's one of the
good things about dwarfs.

And people don't realize a lot
of plants come in dwarf size.

And they're
usually doing that.

I like dwarf trees.

Easy to maintain.

So, you're going to have
to spray your fruit trees.

So, it'll be
easy to spray.

Of course,
easy to prune.

Easy to harvest.

Easy to harvest,
like Booker mentioned.

The only thing about
a dwarf tree is this.

You're going to
have to stake it.

Oh yeah?

Yeah, because
they're a little weak.

They're going to only grow about
30 to 40% of the size of a full

orchard size tree.

But yeah, if you stake
it up, it should be fine.

If you stake a tree, you want
to be sure you give a little bit

in the wind.

You don't want it real tight
because it might break off.

Dwarf is
good though.

Alright, so there
you go, Mister Billy.

Here's our
  next question.

I bought some native persimmon
  tree and mulberry seeds and want

to plant them on
  some cleared land.

I want to start the
  seeds directly in the soil.

Can you give
  me some pointers?

Miss Bonnie,
she says thank you.

And guess what,
Miss Bonnie.

We just happen to have
Miss Kim Rucker here today.

And so, Kim, we're going to
let you have first crack at this

question since you
are a propagator.

Well, those are
both native species.

And generally animals
eat the fruits, wildlife.

And it goes through their
digestive track and then they

deposit the seed later
after it's been through there.

Both seeds
are very hard.

So, you need to soak them for a
good three to four days before

you actually plant them
is what I understand.

And also,
you need to..

They need a
cold stratification.

So, you need moist,
cold stratification soil.

So, a lot of people will
put them in moist sand,

put them in the
refrigerator for 60 to 90 days,

about three months, and then
pull them out and plant them.

And then you want to plant
them usually in the spring.

So, you can plant in the fall
but I think the seeds have a,

you know, once that
ground starts warming up,

it tells them to get going.

Let me
ask you this.

So, do you think they have a
pretty high successful rate as

far as germination goes?

I think with the
Mulberry, it's..

You're going to get anywhere
from 12 to 50% germination.

The Persimmon, I think, is
probably a little bit higher.

But you have
to be patient.

It's going to be ten
years before you get fruit

and that's minimum.

Usually it's, you know, 25 years
before you get a lot of fruit on

a Persimmon.

So, get started.

Alright, Booker.

I would probably recommend
starting them in a container.

That's probably
a good thing.

You might want to
do that for a while.

Because you do plant
right in to the soil,

you need to put a cage
around it so you'll know

where they're located.

Because it might be a
while before they germinate.

So, you won't just guess.

Where did I
put those seeds?

Here's our
next question.

What is the correct way
  to top seed grass seed

and does it work?

And we just so happen to
have a grass man today.

So, Booker, what do
you say about that?

One of the things if you have a
little small area that you can

over seed or put
some seeds down,

one of the things the seeds
need to come in contact

with some soil.

You just can't over seed
on top of other grass.

You need to get you a rake or
something and try to smooth it

out and get some
contact with some soil.

Also, you need to put some soil
out there and let those seeds

come in contact with that
soil when you sow the seeds.

You've got to have at least some
soil to come in contact with.

You can over seed.

And one of the things you need
to know with grass when you over

seed is when
can you over seed.

You know, Bermuda grass you
might over seed that in May.

Fescue lawn, you might want to
over seed that in September.

So, let us know what kind of
grass you're fixing to grow.

I say Bermuda grass.

That's a warm
season grass.

Fescue is a
cool season grass.

They grow during
that part of the year.

So, know what
grass you have.

Then over seed
during that time.

But it needs to come in
contact with some soil.

Contact, that's the key.

Alright, that's
from the grass guy.

[laughter]

Alright, here's
our next question.

I was pruning my maple tree
  and noticed these eggs on one

of the branches.

What are they and should
  I do something about it?

And this from Peter.

This is an egg
mass of Katydids.

Katydids are, you know, close
  relatives to grasshoppers

and crickets.

You've probably
seen them before.

They're about a
  couple of inches long.

They have the real
  long, thin hind legs.

And they actually
  sing to each other.

So, they rub their
  forewings together.

(Kim)
  I think that's a mating call.

Beautiful song there.

But yeah, these are..

I wouldn't worry about
doing anything with those.

You know, of course they're
going to hatch this spring,

of course.

And they will eat
the leaves of some of

your deciduous
plant material.

I don't see that to
be a major problem.

It's not going
to kill the tree.

So, I wouldn't worry about
trying to spray anything or

nothing like that.

You know, so those
are your Katydids.

And if you look at
that egg mass again,

I mean, those
things look like scales.

And the female usually
does lay her eggs on stems.

You know, stems or
twigs and leaves.

And again, they will
hatch this spring.

And you'll
have little nymphs.

And, of course,
the nymphs will start eating

and then they'll molt.

And they'll become the
Katydids, maturing Katydids.

So, there you have it.

Alright.

Well, Booker, Kim,
we're out of time.

That's all we
have time for today.

Thanks for watching.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Be sure to join
us next time for

"The Family Plot:
Gardening in the Mid-South."

Be safe!

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