Everything Fruit Trees with Dr. Tim Hartmann

I know it's eight outside, but you stand up, you look at the work you've done, the accomplishment, and there is that is a good thing. It feels so good. You know, for years when I was in my main career of my life Agrolfe Extension County horticulture agent with Texas a and named Agrolife Extension. You know, you go to work like any job, and sometimes at the end of the day you look back and you go, what did I do today? I know I pushed papers around and talk to people. But what did I do today?

And with gardening, you can see what you do today. I'm going to be doing some planting later today and I'll go outside. I got the beds already, I keep mulch on them, and I put those seeds in the ground and just sit back, or put the transplants in the ground. I say, back and look at it, and

it looks good and it gives you hope. And when you put a seed in the ground and you know you're going to get something from that, a flower of fruit, a vegeable, whatever you're growing, there's an accomplishment that anyway. I think that's a great thing. I do want to talk a little bit about the lawns right now. Our lawns are growing fast, and I mean they are. If your lawn, if your soil is moist, your lawn is growing fast. And so we need to make sure and

mow as regularly as we can. The more often you mow, the better it looks. It's as simple as that. Now, someone a turf specialist, told me that one time. He said, the most important single thing you do to your lawn is mow it regularly. And I thought, come on man. I thought you'd say water, fertilize something else, but those are all important. But mowing regularly creates the densest, most beautiful turf, just like hedging a hedge regularly creates the densest,

most beautiful hedge. So as simple as that, I've noticed out and about in the lawn there's still a little gray leaf spot out there. We're going to be heating up enough and kind of growing our way out of that.

But there's a product by night Frog can used called Eagle And one of my family members has a yard that has a lot of gray leaf spot in it because they're putting a new turf in and watering it, you know, twice a day for a while, once a day for a while, and all that water created a lot of gray leaf spot opportunity and there it goes. So Eagle Turf shuts it down. It's a systemic. It also works on other diseases too. You can use it on the other things that plague your lawns, whether it's

Saint Augustine or another type of grass. You're gonna find night Foss products places like Plantation, Ace Hardware in Richmond Rosenberg and i FM three fifty nine Langham Creek Ase Hardware, which is raped by Copperfield in the north west part of Houston. FM five twenty nine RCW Nursery on Tomball Parkway and head down to Angleton Inclute. You got to show a couple of lake hardwares there that both carry night foss products as well. We're going to run out

to the phones real quick here and talk to Beth. Hello, Beth, welcome to garden Line. Congratulations on being the arderbird.

and for what you like, how they perform. But you can't go wrong with contender.

out there. They have Medina fertilizer products and supplement products as well. Of course, they got high quality feed of all types, including for pets, high end lines like Origin and Victor Star Pro Diamond, those kinds of things. But when it comes to anything to control pest weeds and diseases at your house, they're going to have you covered for that too. They do a very good job of keeping a wide variety of things. I'm most surprised when I go in there and seeing all the different things

that they carry. Go to a break here in about one minute. Woody and Kingwood, you'll be our first when we come back. I just don't have enough time to give you the time you need right before we go, So we're gonna take a little break and I'll come back and start with you when we come back. If you're looking for a beautiful landscape, don't look any further

than Piercescapes. I talk about them all the time, and I keep telling you the same thing, and that is go to the website pierce Scapes dot com or give them a call. Two eight one three seven oh fifty sixty two eight one three seven fifty sixty. They can do anything you need done, from a complete new landscape to some renovation. You want to add lighting, you want to fix the drainage, You want to get your irrigation working right. You want somebody to come out and quarterly.

Come out quarterly to your place and get those beds looking good, get the weeds out, replenish the mults, make sure irrigation's working well on them. Replace some flowers went seasonally as we need to do that. Piercescapes dot com two eight one three seven o five zero zero. We'll be right back. Just a ride welcome back. Good to have you here with us on garden line this morning. If you are planning on doing some soil work, and I hope you are, because I'm doing soil work twelve

months out of the year just about. I mean it'd mean every day I'm doing it. But I'm always when I pull out a maybe I had tomatoes growing and I pull them out, playing something for the fall or something else. I'm always working on the soil. And Cienamulch is a place that you go where no matter what you need, they're gonna have it there. Everything for as we say, do the brown stuff before the green stuff.

That's the place to go. Sanamulch is on Highway or on FM of five point twenty one, kind of over near Highway six and two eighty eight south of Houston. Just go to the website Sienna Mulch dot com cinamals dot com. You'll find mulches. You'll find all kinds of quality mults by the way, lots of bed mixes and other things including sand and gravel. If you're putting out a little stone patio, they've got it. They'll deliver within about twenty miles the location and before you head out

the door. Just make sure you grab some good quality fertilizers that I talk about here on garden Line, from Microlife and from Nelson's and from Medina and from Nitrophoss. They've got azemite as well, including products by the back from here heirloom soil if you want to just get a small amountain sanemals. All right, let's head out. We're going to go to Kingwood now and visit with Woody this morning. Hello Woody, Welcome to garden Line Point Skip.

My problem with maples these red maples and others. The branch angles are so narrow, and so you really have to watch it as you train it to make sure you don't have these real narrow vs. Because those are not strong in a storm. As that tree gets older and it presses bark against bark and you don't have a good attachment. So with good training you can do a red maple, but that, in my opinion, is one of its shortcomings.

a tree for somebody else. I'll enjoy it in the meantime. That works really well. If you're listening to Guardline good heavy with us this morning. If you I mentioned earlier that you know I get out and I do planting. Just all kinds of stuff going on this week. If you want to pick up some quality plants and you're in West Houston, Neilson Nursery and Water Gardens is a place you need to go. Nelson's always has good quality stuff. You know how they specialize in water gardens. I mean

they're nationally famous for that. But they also carry a wide variety of plants, some gorgeous pottery, absolutely gorgeous pottery, and everything that you might need if you learn for a gift plant. But I have some nice little indoor house plants that are just beautiful and perfect to give us a gift or grab two and keep on yourself. There you go, what's going on now? Up there is their ding Dang Sale. Did you know they have a

sale called the ding Dang Sale. It is on Saturday, June twenty eighth, which happens to be today, and all their clearance items, all kinds of things that you can pick up. Just go buy and check it out. It is one of the best opportunities, I think for you to pick up some really cool stuff. If you've been thinking about putting some containers on your patio. Boy. They have an excellent selection of containers. By the way, if you want to get there, head out I ten West.

When you get to Katie Fort Ben Road, out Katie turn north and it's just upstreet a little bit there. West Houston's full service destination garden center. I would say Nelson Nursery and Watergardens if you want to go to the website Nelson Watergardens dot com. You're listening to garden Line if you'd like to give me a call. Number is seven to one three two one two five eight seven four seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four. I'm gonna get Ty Strickland from fix my

Slab on the air here. We're going to have him a little bit later sometime in July, uh and I want to pick his brain about foundational issues because a lot of you know, we got the black clays here in the Houston areas even named after us. It's called Houston black clay. That's the soil scientist's name for it. The the clay shrinks and swells, you know, it gets wet and it swells, it gets dry, shrinks and it

directs havoc. That's where you see these sidewalks that are heaved up, and and that and and some tree roots. That's way he cracks in the in the driveways and it affects our slabs too, and ties. He's the expert, and I do want to get him on to talk about the details of this, what people need to know, what they can look for and things. He's been doing this twenty three years. He's an expert. If you want to check, check his website out in the meantime, fixmiyslab

dot com. It's fixmyslab dot com. His phone number two eight one two FI five forty nine forty nine. It's been here his whole life. Nati Fewstonian, fifth generation Texan. I guess the thing I like most about uh well, I don't know if it's the most, but a lot about the company. It's something anytime you're going to hire somebody to come to your house to do anything, you're gonna want these three things. And these three things describe fix my slab and ty Strickland. That's on time, fair

price fixed right, on time, fair price fixed right. That's what we want. So anyway we're gonna get him in here and I'm gonna pick his brain. If you got some questions. When I have these guests in, you're welcome to call in on the topic that they are talking about. Today. I'm going to have starting at the eight o'clock hour, someone from tex A and M Horticulture Department who is a fruit specialist. We're gonna be talking about fruit trees

for your yard and all kinds of things. You got some questions you want to call in for well eight o'clock. We may run all the way to ten on that one, but we'll be glad to take your questions on those things. The summer days are a little slower and I try to cover as many of the different topics as we can. I know a lot of you have enjoyed some of the guests that we've had, and so that's what we're

going to be doing here in the summertime. Tey, what, let's's run out to Kingwood again and we are going to visit with Howard. Hello, Howard, welcome to garden Line.

one you can do that. You just got to keep it mode down so it doesn't because it will get taller. But it makes a decent lawn. They use it in Florida for lawns quite a bit. My hey, BAJE like the mission b.

And it's tough. It's tough, all right, Hey, yeah, I am too.

really well. And if you are a collector of plants and you like things, you want something for a very wet area, or you need something for a shady area, or you want something that just bowls people over with gaudy color. Mos Nursery's got that and more. M AA S Nursery dot com. M aa S Nursery dot com two eight one four seven four twenty four eighty eight two eight one four seven four two four eight eight. Better yet, go down and visit them. It's eight acres

to wander around. It is a family owned operation, has been for a very long time. I love going down to Mos Nursery. Take a lottle break for the news here and I'll be back. Good morning, and welcome back to the garden line. Good to have you with us. Hey, if you got a gardening question seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four, or simply K t

r H. Makes it really easy. I was outside yesterday with a friend and we're walking around just I don't know, standing over in an area kind of where actually where we put our trash cans to roll out of the road and little secluded spots like that are always mosquito magnets, you know, you go around to. But it was a time of day toward the end of the day too, and I just I just noticed I wasn't getting bitten by mosquitos, and it's like, that's wonderful. That is a

good thing. Best Bros. Is the one that provides the mosquito buckets that I use, and it basically they come out and they service them. But you need to you need to give them a call and find out more about these things. They are great. I mean they attract the mosquitos in the mosquitos lay eggs. The eggs never become adult mosquitoes, and the mosquitos when they do that, they carry with them stuff. And one of the things they carry with them keeps mosquitos from growing in another location.

These are things that aren't going to hurt your birds and fish, and you know, all kinds of things like that. One of them is a disease that kills the mosquito itself, which I think is the best thing for a mosquito to die, along agonizing death from a fungus. That's my idea of a happy thought for those of you who don't like mosquitos, you know what I'm talking about. If you want to get in touch with the pest Bros for other things, you know, fire ants out in the yard,

termite protection. They can do a ten year termite protection around your house. It's a little trench and it's just the minimum amount of concern. You know, you got your pets out there. You don't want to nuke everything with insecticides. They know how to do it, they know how to treat effectively, they know how to do it in a safe manner, and they cover other things. You know, if you've got rodents outside, they're causing a problem. If you've

got cockroaches inside, they'll cover you on those things. Thepestbros dot Com. The pestbros dot Com two eight one two oh six forty six and give them a call to eight one two oh six forty six seventy. Let them come out and take a look at your place. Make it, you know. And I don't want to say mosquito free, because in nature there's no such thing as past free. Okay.

I can have a yard where I don't think I have any fire ins, and almost a sudden one day I walk by and there's a firet mound over there. And it takes a whall to do that. But you can do that. But mosquito's down to a level where you hardly notice them here and there. Because that's just great. My neighbor told me the other day that they've had less mosquitos in their yard as a result of my buckets over there, and that's true. I got a couple of buckets that are on our shared line, so they're

even benefiting from it. Boy, if you could get a whole neighborhood to do that, we might get close to mosquito free from that as well. Have you ever been to Enchanted Forest, it's down there in if you're in Richmond Rosenberg area and your head up fifty nine or sixty nine, it's down twenty seven fifty nine.

its leaves, the berries are just gorgeous on it. They have turk's cap. I've got turks got in my yard. It is a hummingbird magnet. They love that and sun shade. It is Unfazed Texas native wonderful plant. Of course. They have it down there while you're there. If you need to do some things to create a more type of soil. They carry microlife s acidifire fertilizer, they carry a rosa from nature's way, and and they just know how to provide you with the plants that are going to do

well here. I love it every time. I go by the way. You know, it's getting hot out there. When you go to Enchanted Forest, you're going to stroll through the shade of some big old trees that I just think that's wonderful and I enjoy getting to shop around the place. Still good time to plant herbs, and they've got them Enchanted Forest, Richmond, TX dot com. Go check them out. Last time I was down there, I was just amazed by the pollinator plants that they have. So many.

If you want to attract butterflies, they'll sell you the things that the adults come to. They'll sell you the things that the larva feet on. So you're raising baby butterflies right there on your property, and they oftentimes even have a larva or two around. They'll let you take it home. You can take them home on those plants and get your own It's kind of like a sour dough starter, right, get your own starter going on on those. I was mentioning that I'm gonna do some planning this afternoon.

Something else. I'm gonna be away from the house a little bit and I've got to do some preparations for that. And I've got some plants that they need to be watered more often, and with me around, that's fine. But when I'm gone, I don't, I can't do it. I'll typically get a kiddie pool, a kitty waiting pool, you

know those things I'm talking about. And when I had that, I will take that pool, put about maybe maybe two inches of water, and depends on the plants that I'm setting in there, and I set them in that pool, and that's a quantity of water in a wide area, and it wakes up from the bottom of the plants. And so I can be gone for two weeks and you know they'll be getting dry by the time I get back because the water level drops. But that really

works well. The only thing you need to do is throw some mosquito dunks in there, or I say some throw a mosquito dunk in there, because it'll float and release the disease of mosquitoes keeps the larvae from growing for like a month. Those of you who heard us last week, I talked to someone from a mosquito dunks and kind of picked their brains on all of this. But if you have a little waiting pool, those are cheap, cheap, cheap. Buy them at any kind of store that sells cheap stuff.

The addition of a mosquito dunk will allow you to be gone. I would say two weeks. If just watch your plants. A little four inch plant will be drowning in two inches of water, but a taller one won't. But anyway, this will work. Just don't forget to do the mosquito dunks. You can buy them anywhere. They got them at feed stores, they got them at the garden centers I talk about all the time. Ace hardware stores have mosquito dunks. Wherever you want to go, You're going

to find plenty of opportunities for that. So there's a little tip for those you're planning on going on a vacation. Be gone a little bit. That's a great way to do it. Phone number is seven one three two one two k t r H seven one three two one two kt r H. Also, need to get out and put new bird seed in the feeders. I looked out the other day and it's all gone. They just cleaned it out, and they like it. Because I'm using the Wildbirds Unlimited Nesting super Blend, and this is one designed

by wild Birds Unlimited. It's sold only at Wildbirds Unlimited it's got really cool stuff. They love, you know, sunflower chips, dried mealworms, Oh my gosh, they love those, bark butter bits, sap, flower tree nuts. It's it's got the calcium in things. Birds are still nesting, by the way, so keep on feeding it. There's six wild Birds Unlimited stores in the Greater Houston area, so you can go to this website WBU dot com forward Slash Houston. WBU like wild Birds

Unlimited WBU dot com Forward Slash Houston. If you are over in Kingwood on Kingwood Drive, if you're in clear Lake on Eldrado Boulevard. In Parland, there's one on East Broadway in West Houston on Memorial Drive, in Southwest Houston on bel Air and then up in Cypress on Barker Cypress. It's easy to find a wild Bird's Unlimited store. They carry the best blends of seeds that are stuff birds want to eat, not stuff they're going to kick on

the ground. Take a little break here and we'll be back if you'd like to be first up seven one three two one two k t RH Welcome back to guard Line. Good to have you with us. If you are looking for a place that has every kind of supply tool you name it, that you might need. It's Southwest Fertilizer. And I don't care where you live, It's worth a trip over there. It's been in Houston lawn and garden tradition since nineteen fifty five, long time, because

they do it right. Every fertilizer that you hear me talk about, is it Southwest fertilizer. And then some when you talk about weed control products, when you talk about insect controls, when you talk about fungicide, and you may be hearing that going well, I'm organic, okay. The largest organic selection in the greater Houston area that I've ever seen. It is huge, huge, ninety foot wall of tools. You know, Felco, Corona quality brands like that. You hear me talk about

the garden kneeling bench or kneeling seat. They've got that you want to make my weed wiper. They got the little tool you used to make the weed bay. They have it all. And you can carry a problem in there on a picture.

And I need to know whether that's dangerous to the tree and we should remove it, or it's harmless.

trimming it is easy. You just cut it all at the bottom and then everything above that's going to die. If somebody wants to pull out some of it that is at the base that's brown, because you don't want to see the dead jasmine, you can do.

at the Arborgate. Now they're a mile and a half west of two forty nine on twenty nine to twenty, just west of Humble. I'm always talking about preparing your soil. They've got bags of their one two three completely easy system, and that's a food that feeds anything with roots, a fertilizer, a soil for any application, and a compost that improves any and all soil. And the soil and the compost both have some expended shale in them as well, which

is a very longer term benefit to the clay. You can buy the last to the soil and the compost by bulk and they'll deliver it to you wherever you live. Just give them a call there at Arbrogate, talk to them. The Arborgate is a place to anybody who's garden here for two minutes has already known about and been out there. Remember they got that nice parking lot in the back. And whether you're looking for landscape, bling or a plant that laughs at our Houston summers, they're going to be

able to get you covered there at Arburgate. They take time to walk through with you It's just a great place, great place to visit. I love it. I always love it, and I do swing by there because there's always something new coming in. I just don't think I've ever been there where wass not a shipment in the back being unloaded of plants. Someone called a while ago from Livingstone talking about the storm, the hurricane that came through and

what the damage that it did. Affordable Tree Service is who you need to call, not after the hurricane, but now it's hurricanes. See is here and is your is your yard ready? That's what you need to know. A top heavy tree, a weak limb can turn into really major damage. Don't wait until it's too late. You're want to protect your home. You want to protect your trees and themselves. You do in order to break apart your

fences and God forbid your neighbor's home. And Affordable Tree Service is our garden line recommended arborist for this area, and they have been for a very long time because they have decades of experience. Martin Spoon Moore give them a call seven to one three six nine nine twenty six sixty three seven one three six nine nine two six six three. If you want to go to the website see all the services they offer a fftree Service dot com and they do anything you're gonna need, printing,

deeper feeding, pests, disease control, stump grinding. If you're gonna do any kind of construction around a tree that can that is a potential for great damage to a tree, called Martin having come out there and look at it, advise you and they know what to do. But do it before the problem, whether the problem is construction or a hurricane. And it's time. We're there in the season. Affordable Tree Service seven to one three six ninety nine two six six three. They will take care of it

and make sure it's done right. Well, let's see here. I'm about to hear some music in my ears because we're hitting the top of the hour. We'll be back with your calls if you'd like to be first up when we come back. Seven one three two one two KTRH. Seven one three two one two KTRH. Remember during the eight o'clock and probably nine o'clock hour, we're going to have doctor Tim Hartman, who is a fruit specialist with texas A and m Agrolife Extension. Term's a friend. I'm

going to work with for many years. Come in and talk to us about backyard fruit. So if you got a fruit question, that'd be a great time to call. We'll have him here for a couple hours. Uh, just give us a call. You are wanting to plant fruit, If you've got fruit that's having some issues, let's let's talk about it. Between Tim and and myself, we probably put our heads together and and tackle whatever kinds of questions you might have. Looking forward to that. It's been

a while since I've seen Tim doctor Hartman. There you go, all right, go get you a cup of coffee. That's what I'm about to do. Alrighty, we're back. Hey, thanks for thanks for tuning in this morning. We always appreciate the opportunity to visit with you about gardening. You'd like to give me a call about that, and you can do so at seven one three two one two k t r H seven to one three two one two k t r H began as Native Plants has some events that's going on. I want to just let you

know about these. And you know how I always tell you to listen to Garden Line with a pen and paper nearby so you can write some stuff down on let's see on July the nineteenth, creating the Garden of your Dreams. They're gonna have a free class on creating the Garden of your Dreams July nineteenth. On August second, there'll be one on starting a cut flower garden. You want to go to this one because this fall you could start your cut flower garden. On August sixteenth, they'll

be growing fall tomatoes. The one on raised bed gardening on the twenty third, and one on starting Texas Native Plants on August thirtieth. Then you know Buchanan specializes in natives. They are, you know, just the leader when it comes to that. You're not gonna find a bigger selection in natives anywhere than Buchanna's plants as well as experts that know about them. You can give them a call seven one three eight six one fifty seven two. You can

give them a call there. All right, just go see him a little eleventh Street in the Heights, by the way. The website you need to write this one down and bookmarket Buchanan's Plants dot com. We're going to go now to Richmond, Texas and talk to Linda. Hello, Linda, Welcome to garden Line.

I haven't been in there. I usually don't do that because I need people that are and what we're talking about. So if you go out to uh Richmond Rosenberg UH area Ace Hardware is find triclop pere, find a product with that. Now, what's gonna somebody cut that off? Cut it off again, but not until you got the triclopere right there. And taking a little like a little sponge

paint stick. If you go to you know, like you said, home depot, you go to home depot and get those little sticks in the paint department that have a sponge on the end. That's that's what you want. And you're going to put the triclo piers straight, not cutting it and not spraying it. You're going to dab it straight onto the fresh cuts that you make. So let's just say this gets cut off within an hour. You need to be putting the tricle pair on there just so. Okay,

you're wait too long and it's not as effective. So anyway, dab it on and it'll move down in the plant and it'll work. Now you may have another resprout, but you can dab it on again. It's not hard to do. Put the minimum amount of pesticide out there in the environment.

talking about hackberry coming up along the fence line. Because the birds spoop the seeds out there, it works.

apples and pears and everything else he had. He is on Elizabeth Street. It's an Alvin, Texas address, but he's actually located in between Alvin and Santa Fe And so you just head down six and you're gonna end up turning south and to Elizabeth Street. Once I can't say the number one even seven Elizabeth Street south of Highway six between Alvin and Santa Fe. Go check him out, all of you down there in those areas, like I'll go on Arcadia and Alta Loma and Hillcrest and certainly

Santa Fe and Alvin. This is your hometown garden center seven one three six three two fifty two ninety seven one three six three two fifty two ninety. By the way, he carries that three sixty tree stabilizer I talk about all the time as well. So there, he's a great guy too, has a lot of fun, and you will enjoy shopping. I've had more than one person tell me how much they enjoy shopping there. I was talking about ACE Hardware just a second ago with Linda, and you

know ACE Hardware's are all over the place. Let's just well, if you go to ACE Hardware Texas dot com, Ace Hardware Texas dot Com, and you can find all the ones that are in the Greater Houston area. And when I say Greater Houston, I mean all the way down to Corpus and all the way over to Orange and everything. They got you covered. So League City, ACE on West

League City Parkway is an example. You go up to Porter Jnr's ACE on FM thirteen fourteen out in Lake Conroe one oh five West Highway one oh five West, there's Lake Conroy's Hardware, Rockport, Texas. Hello, all of you listening from Rockport, Rockport ACE on State Highway thirty five North, Hardware City on Memorial Drive on the west side of Houston. See what I mean. They're everywhere, But there's a lot more than that. Whether you need quality tools, if you

need fertilizer for the summer fertilizing we're doing. If you need pest control, if you need gardening gardening tools as well as well as quality hand tools for building and fixing stuff, They've got you covered at ACE Hardware. I'm gonna take a little break and we'll be right back with your calls. Alrighty, welcome back to guarden Line. Good have you with us this week. By the way, if you don't follow me on on Facebook, it is a gardener. It's garden Line. My name is garden Line on Facebook.

You should because we post stuff up there that is I think very helpful and informative. Just yesterday I posted something pictures of a plant my daughter she has a little ficus, it's the Fiddley fig ficus, and it was like pale yellow and it wasn't looking good and it wasn't growing, and I was afraid that thing, maybe it's got root rides, can die. I gave her some Medina has to grow six twelve six plant food. I got

little sample bottles. They give those out, a little tiny sample bottles, and it just said put this in the water and watered a couple of times, you know, a little sample bottle made made two gallons of it. So she made it and watered it with it and did it again. And I posted the pictures and it's the before and then twice over the course of about a month, the after, and it is. It's obviously helped. It's a turning darker green and it's already putting out new growth.

And Medina has to grow six to twelve six is a great plant food period. I use it a lot, and when we come to transplanting, because at hyphosphorus you had a really good boost for your root system there. But this product at bottom lines, it works. It's got the six twelve six nutrients and it it also has Medina sol activator humate humic acid which helps the sole structure and the seaweed extracts too. It's it's a concoction that really works. And so follow me on a Facebook

a garden line. Follow garden line on Facebook and check it out. I think that you'll see it's pretty amazing. I was like, man, I got to post this thing. This is cool. Medina products are available everywhere. You know, you go to feed store, you go to an ace hardware store, you go to a garden center, you're not gonna have trouble finding Medina products. And there's a whole bunch of them. Someone had sent me a question about a lawns and with some photos, and the lawn just

is not doing good. It's struggling. It's I don't know. They tell me they're fertilizing it. You know, they're watering it and stuff, but it just kind of, I don't know, it's just thin. And when it's thin, you get weeds. And nobody wants weeds, and nobody wants to have to put out all the products to control weeds. If you can avoid having to do that, well, BMB churros Well. I told the person that I call me, is you need to get it corrated and then have accomplished top

dressing put down on it. It really does work. And BnB turf Pros they're the ones down south of Houston. They cover the area from Sugarland and Missouri City on the northeast east end all the way down Highway six and over across forty five to Dickinson and League City Pairland Friends with all those communities they cover. BB turf Pros in the website, there's not an end. BB Turfpros dot com. Bbturfpros dot com. Take a look at what

they do. They really are about. I've talked to them a number of times about a different things, but bottom line is they are about making sure the customer is happy. And it's because it's a relationship to them. They want to ensure your satisfaction and they do a great job. Prices start around five hundred dollars depending on the yard size.

Not far they have to travel because it is a bulky process, but compared to putting in a new lawn, if you've got some good grass in there, let them come to a compost top dressing a corporation and you will see some good results. BB Turpros dot com. We're gonna go out now to Deer Park and talk to Alan. Hello, Alan, welcome to garden Line.

Gardeningwithskip dot com, I'm recommending silver releases. So you mentioned nitrophas, the silver bag, Nitrofos superturf is the one that you're going to want to go go with super turf will give you about Yeah, it'll give you like four months of feeding, so it'll carry you all the way up into your fall fertilization, which is going to be in October. But go with the super turf and it gives you a gradual feed and you don't just get a flush

of growth and you're mowing a lot. And when you overfertilize with nitrogen, it means the grass has less roots, which is a weird thing, but that's how it is. So switch over to the superturf now. And yes, yeah, if it you know, if it's looking great and everything, you don't have fertilized as much. But if you're trying to get it and give it a boost, that's very important.

You know, these folks, they've lived here, they've gardened here, They've answered ten bazillion questions from customers helping them have success. I've been in so many many times, and you walk in, you look around, and I can tell you that they carry products for what you need done. They do from the fertilizers to pest and weed and disease control to really quality tools. They've got a lot of new tool a new tool wall section that has really quality tools.

Can you buy once and there are a lifetime tool to take care of them. Now, right now, you're going to find some beautiful plants for summer, some dazzling color, and you're going to find plants for shady areas. Whatever you need, it's there at Plants for All Seasons. Just remember when you go in, if you've got a photo or a sample, you can take it in and they'll diagnose it for you and point you in the right direction if you if you would like to have that

kind of assistance. Plants for all seasons dot com two eight, one, three, seven, six, sixteen forty six. You are listening to Garden Line. I'm your host, Skip Richter, and we're here to help you have a bountiful garden and beautiful garden, beautiful landscape as well, and as I like to say, and the most important part,

more fun, more fun in the process. I was talking to somebody the other day and we were talking about weeds and lawns, and you know, what one person's idea of a beautiful lawn is and what another's isn't always the same. Some people want perfect green lawns, as if it looks like AstroTurf out. I mean, it's just solid green, not a weed insight. Other people know that certain kinds

of weeds are food for bees. I had a lady on Doctor Wrangel the other day on the show, and we were talking about bees, honey bees and the things they like. And I'm telling you there's a lot of the lawn weeds, not all lawn weaeds, but some that attract honeybees. And for some people that is a plus. Okay, Now I know some of you are going I don't understand that. Well, a lot of things I don't understand too, But however you want to do it. That's a fun

thing about gardening. It's between you and the hoa. Let me just say that, make the front yard look good. In the backyard, do what you want to do. But if you want perfect gardening, perfect gardens and everything, you can do that. We can advise you. You can do that. It's easy to have success. And when you just get good information, that's the most important part. Like I like to say, you don't have a brown thumb, you have an uninformed thumb. And if you'll call in the garden line,

we will inform your thumb. And then suddenly the landscape, the garden, the orchard, everything just looks a lot lot better and we can do that. Happy to do that, but to each his own U. There is a German phrase yeadis tirkin sign pleasirkin. Why am I saying that every creature has this pleasure? And boy is that true

with gardening. Go have fun, don't feel like you got to do it a certain way and all this and you know, if I talk to them in one time that was worried about their flowers and are these colors going to go well together. Do you like them together? Land them? I don't care where they are on the color wheel. You do what you want. Have fun in your garden. There you go. I just gave you permission to do whatever you want to do in your guard. It's it's let it make you happy. Let it be

fulfilling to you. For me, it's therapy, and it's a lot cheaper in therapy too. By the way, Houston Powder Coaders is the biggest powder coder here in this region. They're up there in North Houston. If you send them a picture of your metal, your outdoor metal, furniture or decorative or any outdoor metal that you want to get a powder coat on. By the way, powder coating is way better than painting, they will send you a quote. Sales at Houstoncoders dot Com is the email, or just

go to their website Houston Powdercoders dot com. Houston Powdercoders dot com. If your stuff's a little not so great, maybe it's a little rusty, or maybe bolts are falling out that are holding it together, or the straps, you know, the straps and sling fabric and everything on. Some kinds of furniture. They can fix that up and when you get back, it's going to be like new. Over one hundred collars that you get to choose from. Here's the

website Houston Powdercoders dot com. Here's the number two eight one six seven six thirty eight eighty eight two eight one six seven six thirty eight eighty eight. They do free pick up and delivery in the Greater Houston area as well. Oh well, I'm looking at the clock and the clock says time for the news at the bottom of the hour here, So we're gonna go ahead and

do that. We'll be back with your questions. If you'd like to be first up, give my producer Alejandro call and we will get you on the board and talk about the things that are of interest to you at seven one three two one two kt r H seven one three two one two kt r H. When I come back, I want to talk a little bit about using combinations of plants to have beauty around the landscape or to have bounty if you're growing vegetables around the landscape.

So don't let me forget. I want to spend a little bit of time on that as well as your calls appreciate the fact that you're listening to your guardline. By the way, this morning. I love talking to gardeners. That and sitting in my gardener my two happy places that I enjoy and so appreciate you listening, and we do not take that for granted. All right. Nelson Plant Food has a number of different products, and I want

to tell you about the turf Star line. Turf Star is several fertilizers that are in the Turf Star line, but the Slow and Easy is the one that I want to talk about right now. I was just talking to somebody about drag out your fertilizing. Don't dump it all on you know, all the nitrogen at one time on your summer lawn. Slow and Easy does that for you. You put it down now and it's going to feed you all the way up to your fall fertilization. It's

got great nutritions. There are some substances in it that help us sidify the soil as well, which when you get that pH if it's a little high, you start to see that yellowing in your grass, you know, the light yellowing in the green and yellow striped grass blades. That's ourn deficiency bringing the pH down slowly over time, can help grow yourself out of that situation. Very good nutrient supplies of carbon for microbes. It's a good product.

Turf Stars Slow and Easy from Nelson Plant Food. You're going to find these products everywhere. While you're there shopping for your lawn, you need to pick up a couple of their specialty products. They have a Palm and Ornamental grasses product that's in the Nutri Star line Palm and Ornamental Grasses, and they have a boog and vill you one too. Whatever kind of plant you're looking for, that Nutri star Line is going to carry the probably a fertilizer with your plant's name on it, and if not,

one that goes very well with your plant. I use the boot and Billy on several other different species as well because it works very very well. And you can refill the jars two in about a dozen places around town, which is economical and keeps from throwing that plastic in the environment. Let's go to the heights. We're going to talk to Ron this morning. Hey, Ron, welcome to garden Line.

it down a little bit. The main thing is don't let it get it, get a start, and pull it back and stay on it pulling it back.

But you spray that with round up and it won't kill it. I'm telling you it won't kill it. Some crazy crazy thing anyway. RCW Nursery is having a sale right now. By the way, I didn't want to forget to tell you that, twenty five percent off of crate myrtles. And they've got all kinds, you know. Creat myrtles are red. Great myrtles are write and pink and lavender. They have the purples, they have different sizes. You go out there

and you say, look, I've got it. I need a crepe myrtle, and I need it to be just twelve feet high, no taller than that, or I want a big one to make a shade tree. Natchez is a good one for that, by the way. But they've got them, and again, twenty five percent off's a good sale. And can you plant a great myrtle in June. Yes, you can. You're just gonna want to water it regularly at the base and it will establish. People plant all through the year.

They can do that. While you're out at RCW two, by the way, check out their other color still got boom and Ballos. They've got the out the shrub rows of Sharon is another name for it. It looks outstanding. Listen, we got plants that can look good, and we just need to plant the ones that can. You know, the gold Star Esperanza looks good even in the heat. We have the Pride of Barbados. It looks good even in the out At RCW they got the Cajun series of

hibiscus that are outstanding even in the heat. RCW Nurseries, by the way, is where Tamball Park went and Beltwegh eight come together. RCW Nurseries dot Com, RCW Nurseries dot Com. Let's now head out to sugar Land and we're going to visit with Craig. Hello, Craig, Hey, good morning, Skip.

it just popped stuck out of the ground again. And for those kind of weeds, you're going to have to use some sort of of a product that is effective I think what I would suggest, and I'm not seeing the situation. I don't even really know what weed we're talking about. But if you will go on my website Gardening with Skip dot Com and look at skip'sweed wiper,

I tell you how to build one. It's real simple, and then you can put products on there that will kill those broad leaf weeds but won't kill the good plants because you're not getting them on the good plants. It's a little like two sponges that come together and

squeeze the weed leaves. Take a look at it. I also have a publication on herbicides where if you're looking at a grassy weed, if you're looking at a broad leaf weed, if you know if those kind of things, it tells you what product to use on that weed wiper. That's the best way I know. You've been out pulling and pulling and pulling trying to get them all. If you can get a product on there, have it translocated down, it'll work for you. I use it in my beds

as well. But Gardening with Skip dot Com is the website. Look for the weed wiper and look for the list for for the herbicides to put on it okay, all right, and you're in Sugarland, so you just drive up to Southwest Fertilizer Besson that and runwick and Bob's got the little tool that you used to build a weed wiper. Once you get one, you're gonna use it a lot. I keep mind hanging in the grab it all the time. I got to run for a break. Thank you, appreciate

your call, sir. All right, folks, we'll be right back. Welcome back, Welcome back to Garden Line. Folks. Good to have you with us. If you'd like to give me a call. By the way, it's seven one three two one two k t r H. Those of you down in League City or that whole area Clearlakes, Elkam into Reale Baycliff, Lamart, Dickenson, San Leon, that that whole region down there. Your hometown feed store is League City feed It is in League City, of course, on Highway three,

just a few blocks south of Highway ninety six. So that's where it's located. Now you just need to go, and when can you go, Well, Monday through Saturday nine am to six pm, so after work you swing by there close on Sunday. By the way, if you want to get m call two eight one three three two sixteen twelve. Now why would you go, Well, it's old fashioned service. It's that old time feed store service. Carry the bags out for you. This is the third generation

in the Thunderberg family is running this store. That's what I'm That's what I'm talking about. If you need anything to control weeds, pest and diseases, they have an excellent selection. And if you're looking for fertilizers for your garden and your lawn, they have the nitrofoss line, they have Microlifeline, they have Nelson Plant Food Line. You're going to find soils by the bag from Heirloom Soils there, so you can just swing by there and pick that up again.

They're on Highway three, a few blocks south Highway ninety six. League City Feed two eight one three three two sixteen twelve. Two eight one three three two sixteen twelve. I was at my yard the other day and notice that I had a fire at Mount popping back up in there. I thought I had those guys under control. Well you never get them completely forever gone night Fiss has a product called fire ant Killer, And you know, normally I would say use, use baits here and there through the

year to suppress the fire ants. But what if you've got a mount and you need to get rid of it now, Well that it's not going to work that fast on it. Fire ant killer from Nitrofuss does. It is a very effective you know, just you've got a party tomorrow and you want to knock those out. This is what you're going to need to use. Fire Ant killer from Nitropos and night Fuss products are available all over the place. I know Hiden and feed On Student

or Airline has it. All the Fissures hardwares in Pasadena, Laporte, Mont Bellevue and even Baytown they carry it. Stanton Shopping Center down there in Alvin. For those of you who are up in the Cypress area, you've got M and D Cypress and Langham Creek Ase Hardware too, all carry night Foss products. You're listening to the guard line and we're here to try to helpe you have success. That's kind of my goal in doing this. If you want to give us a call, I'm about to the next hour.

We're going to have doctor Tim Hartman, who is a horticulturist, a fruit specialist from Texas A and m agrolife extension on the show. And if you've got fruit tree questions, give us a call on that. I'm going to try to focus on fruit trees for these for these next couple hours. But this is your chance to pick his brain. You want suggestions for planting a fruit tree, you want you dealing with a problem on a fruit tree. He can help you with all those things. If you walked

in my attic. I went up in my attic the other day and oh my gosh, I thought I was gonna melt, you know, like a wax candle up there is so hot. Arctic insulation solutions can help cut down your bills. You know, the thing runs all day practically trying to keep up. There's a lot of ways they help. They've got foil radiant barriers that can go in the roof, the ceiling of the attic rafters and thirty degrees or

more get that temperature down. They have fiberglass insulation that they can blow in, or they can do any kind of insulation you need up there, and it really makes a difference. And then going in and sealing those holes around like your light fixtures and switches and plugs and things. Hot air can leak through that and does leak through that, and that can make a big difference. One study they did is that just like having an open window in a room and closing it, that's the difference it makes

Solar Attic fans another thing. Just go to their website. If you're like me, you can't spell Arctic. There's a C in the middle that I keep forgetting about a rc TIC Houston dot com Arctic Houston dot com eight three, two five, eight six, twenty eight ninety three. Give them a call right out here to Liberty, Texas now and visit with Jason. Hello, Jason, Welcome to garden line.

I got two seasons of it. We made good oranges, and then it froze when we had a twenty twenty freeze or whenever that hard freeze was okay, Well, it died all the way down to the root system, and then it came back up. It was like eight or ten feet tall. Never seen a blossom on it that year, Never seen a blosom on the next year. And then we had that other breeze and it killed it back again, and now it's like eight or ten beats all again. I haven't seen a blossom. My question is I'm gonna

have to wait another fourteen years. So that's how long it took for the fort to ever produced any fruit from the time we planted it.

So if you died back to like an inch above the graft, if you protect the graft, then it is going to re sprout with wood that can that is already ready to be able to bloom and set.

and so you can give us a call. Between the two of us putting their heads together here, I bet we can come on answer for you if you're thinking about planning fruit. If you got a fruit problem that uh, you know, like we just had that call on oranges, Uh, that that started from a seedling. That's a that's a

great question. So feel free to give me a call seven one three two one two k t r H. I just want to ask that let's keep it fruit for these next couple hours, uh, and then I'll be back again tomorrow morning with your calls on whatever you want to call and talk about. At the seven or six o'clock and seven o'clock hour and the nine o'clock hour. I have a guest at eight o'clock tomorrow, so anyway, thanks for being a listener. We'll be right back.

You want to ask us some questions about fruit growing, maybe what to plant or you know, we just went in to break from that last one talking about an orange tree that came up from a seed and didn't produce for a long time, and so we're we're happy to take all those kinds of questions. Seven one three two one two kt r H. You know, I talk all the time about brown stuff before green stuff, brown stuff before green stuff. In other words, prepare the soil

before you plant the plants. And if you do that, you are gonna have the best chance at success. And Nature's Way Resources has built a tradition about creating the best compost products, the best mult type products. They've got it all. There a great selection.

off deal on Fridays on bulk compost. That is a good deal, whether you go there and get it, whether you have them deliver it, or whether you buy it buy the bag in area stores. Nature's Way Resources products will help you take care of that brown stuff. So the green stuff is happy. I like to say the plants hit the ground running because they're in good soil. Well, doctor Hartman, Tim, I'm gonna call you Tim today. Please welcome to garden Line. It's good to have you.

there's you've kind of got a spectrum in there. But especially in Houston, where it's humid, it's rainy, you definitely want to closed eye.

I love those. They're the non astringent types that don't pucker your mouth so much. But that's another one, not really pest and disease issues or that you're having to spray for now.

fruit begins with the Z but size of it. There you go, the genus of there's one and there's a precimon publication and it talks about varieties. In these publications talk about how to perunem and how to plan them and take care of them. And they're all free. So Aggie, Horticulture website Fruit section. Uh, everything we're going to talk about today, you're going to find good information like that

on there. I got to take a little break here for some paying the bills, as I say, and we will be right back with doctor Tim Hartman and your questions at seven one three two one two kt R. H's welcome back to Guardline folks. Good to have you with us. Hey, we have doctor Tim Hartman, who's associate professor in the horticulture department here at Texas A and

M and a statewide fruit specialist. So any kinds of things fruit, that's what we're going to be talking about for the rest of this hour and next you'd like to give me a call and ask him a question. Seven to one three two one two kt R h seven one three two one two k t R H. You were talking about per Simmons before we went to break. The one thing that I forgot to mention, which is why I like to recommend persons, is they are ornamental.

The foliage turns beautiful fall colors. I mean you have to drive to the northeast to see colors pretty as at oranges. Yeah, that is true. The other thing is the fact that they occurred a time of year when we don't have a lot of fruit ripening and so the holiday baking and whatnot. I love per Simon bread. Well, what would be another fruit? You know, you were talking about figs, We talked about per Simmons. What's another one that you would recommend for people kind of getting started

or wanted to try. Yeah.

is that they're very precocious. They come into fruit very quickly. You can have fruit certainly by the second year. By the third year you should be looking at a full crop already. They can be grown in containers. I've grown them in you know, half whiskey barrel size twenty five gallon pots. We have a lot of varieties out there too. I want to give a mention to Steven Yannick. Steve and Yannick, one of my colleagues here at A and M, is a program specialist and actually working on his PhD

in blackberries. He's down in the Hallettsville area, not too far away, and he's doing a lot of variety trialing. But if you're not familiar, we do have a lot of varieties of BlackBerry. We've got thorn less varieties. We also have from the University of Arkansas what we call primo caine fruiting blackberries.

that replace it. Only these primo canes, these first year canes are only vegetative. Well, we get to throw that out the window with some of these primate cane fruiting varieties Primark Freedom, Primark Traveler, Primark Horizon, Primark forty five again from University of Arkansas. And the idea is that you can actually get a crop early on. Usually I would say in your area, Primark Freedom is going to be ripe late April, pretty pretty early. But then you

can potentially get another crop. Uh here in College Station, it's going to be around July fourth or so, and then sometimes another crop or two in the fall. Now, you can't count on those additional crops because sometimes it's too hot, the fruit don't set, they're not very good. But I mean I've there have been years where I pick blackberries all the way from late April into November where there was not a two week break in between there.

of different techniques. Commercially, what's done most commonly is going to be a cleft graft, where some people refer to it as a top wedge. I've seen a lot of nursery producers that will actually graft them in a very young stage a few months old seedlings. As soon as they start to get a little bit stiff, just coming

right out of the pit, you can graft that. Shoot my experience though, when you're selecting that graft wood, and again you'd want to get it from a tree that is producing a known variety that's going to of course you'll be able to propagate that variety, but you'll also have something that is matured and will start flowering and fruiting very quickly. But anyway, selecting that wood, I like

to get wood that's a little bit stiffer. From my experience, if you're using cyan wood, a graft wood on avocado that is kind of so green and really kind of flaccid and suck doesn't work too well. So I like to kind of go back and get stuff that's a little bit older. But but yeah, cleft graft is probably one of the oldest uh graphs out there, and the Bible talks about grafting Roman's eleven. I always picture that being a cleft graft. Of course you can find lots of videos on that.

sealed off so it doesn't try out. And then I like, if I'm not using like a plastic butting tape, I actually like to use is like a rubber band strip to to really get a little more tension on there, just to help bind it better.

much graft citrus any time of year. Spring is always a nice time as long as it's not too hot. You don't want to be doing it when you're you know, up well up into the nineties or one hundred degrees.

Let's see, I have probably thirty seconds before break, so I'm gonna ask you another question, but you can call in and ask any kinds of fruit related questions you want of doctor Hartman. I'm sure he will have the answer. I learned something from him every time I talk to him, and fruit is so much fun. I'm going to pick your brain about some of the types of centa s when we come back, if we can do that, Doc Harmon,

I just planted a satsuma and a blood orange. I know blood orange is a little far north, but anyway, we'll talk about that. Welcome back to garden Line seven three two one two k t R H. I'm visiting with doctor Tim Hartman from Texas A and m Agrilife Horticulture Department about all things fruit. If you want to give us a call that related to fruit, here's the here's the opportunity. We'll call it the stump the chumps and see if you can. If you can can stomp

us with the fruit. I shouldn't challenge you like that. I know people out there that will make up a question about Okay, we're going to go now to out to Houston and talk to Joshua. Hello Joshua, Welcome to garden Line.

just I don't know if I should. If it's protection from the winter time, they say they freeze, and I don't know if I should just put them in a bigger pot and be able to try to put them in a place where I can wheel them in, or if I can plant them and put them, you know, close to a building to protect them and know what I just got you.

Because they're from seeds? Okay, So I just want to offer I'm going to turn this over to you, Tim, but when we've had two now that are planning avocados seeds from the grocery store that is not a super hardy avocado, and the kind that we recommend here, the smoother skins types are pretty hardy, but on any kind of a fruit, even ceteras, where you know, we could

have one of those winners. When we get into the cool season and the cold is coming, mound up a bunch of soil or compost around the base of that plant, even like a foot or more high, and you don't want to leave it there. We don't like multi volcanoes but it will protect the graft, and even if it freezes down to that, you still have your tree that will take off growing like crazy. So the question is again a seeded avocados in a pot going to be grafted.

Where would you plant them? And would you recommend trying to grow them in a pot?

lot of that gumbo soil. You have got a plant on a mound or raised bed that is really going to pay off, all right, if it's avocado or something like that, a citrus that you want to protect from from the cold. Putting it on the south side of a structure like a house can also help.

especially and good sunlight. Like you said, what are some tips that you would give people for choosing planting or growing peach tree?

They need a certain number of hours, depends this various by variety, by species, and if they don't get that chilling, they are not going to be able to flour and produce a good crop. Okay for you in your area, especially the Houston are your child is going to be getting enough chilling. Well, guess what on peaches, we fortunately

have a lot of options for you. Doctor Dave Byrne peach longtime peach breeder Texas A and M who has just retired, has developed about forty varieties of peach and nectarine. Most of these are low chill. We have varieties that are even as low chill as one hundred and fifty hours.

six square area about a foot high. And yes, that means you would probably need to bring in some soil or at least kind of scrape it together. This can be done, you know, like you do a vegetable garden, raised bed with lumber, or you could just simply have it mounded and gently sloping down pitts.

it right. Go out and set your fruit tree on the ground and then bring in soil all around it up to the top of the fruit tree soil. Okay, So that what does that end? Up being that ends up being that that picture's mound, you know, and then and then you've got it the right. Now, you're not going to put the bed that way. You're going to create a bed and then dig a hole. But you want to dig the hole into the soil that the

fruit tree is going to be growing in. And don't put compost in the hole, don't put a bunch of especially fast release fertilizer in the hole. Just just give it its best chance. But get those roots up out of the sagi wet for the best results.

have you with us today. Hey, if you are looking for quality organic products you can use on your plants, I won't tell you about two liquid products from Microlife. The Biomatrix is an orange label. It's a seven to one to three organic product that high nitrogen. Is good for your house plants, especially because you know, basically a foliage plant. And I use it online as a water and it works. Another one is Ocean Harvest. That's a blue label. It's a four to two three and it's

a fish based fertilizer. Now I would use that one outside. You can use either one outside because it has a little bit of a fish oder, so if you have family cats, they're gonna have an opinion about that. But the Ocean Harvest blue labe as that's melly. It's just I prefer to use that one outside. But it works so well, and I can tell you a number of different plant pots that I've put it in that and

the results that I've gotten from it. And Microlife products are as easy to find as anything in the world. You can go to Microlifefertilizer dot com to find places you can get them and to learn about some of their other products. But always keep a couple of those jugs on hand because you need to give a real quick watering in of something and it works. Doctor Hartman, Doctor Tim Hartman is my guest today. We're talking about all kinds of things related to fruit, and we're going

to go to the woodlands and talk to Karen. Hello, Karen, welcome to garden Line.

you a little teaser, don't go away. If you've got friends that are interested in fruit, tell them to tune in the garden Line. If you want to give me a call seven to one to three two one two kt RH. We might talk about golden kiwi's who knows what that is? How about pineapple, guava? There's another one. We're going to get into some not so common fruit yet and yes, the quick answer is you can grow

some of this stuff here. All right, all right, well, I just want to remind you that, uh when for the rest of today we're gonna be talking with doctor Hartman on fruit trees. I'll be back with just regular calls in the morning. We hear from six am to ten am. You can listen to garden Line on the radio. You can also listen to garden Line on the app, the iHeartMedia app, and I know people that do that. That way, you take your phone with you out in the garden. You could be right now you could be

in your garden. I won't say pulling weeds. I know you don't allow weeds in your garden. You could be in your garden harvesting flowers and beautiful things. Listening to garden line. You see a bug, take a picture, email it to me and live from your garden. Is garden line. That's how that would work, all right. I'm not hearing music here in my ear, and I think we're about at that time. I see, okay, there we go. Just

looking at my clock a little bit wrong. I want to remind you that OBA Palooza is coming up on August second, Saturday, August second. If you guys follow Joe Gardner, Joe Lample, he is outstanding. He's going to be speaking, given two talks there. I'll be giving a talk there myself on beneficial in a key ingredient and sustainable landscapes, all kinds of good organic information here now, it's at the United Way on wad Drive, the United Way of

Greater Houston. If you want more information, go to OBA online. That's HbA online dot org. Slash register that's how you can register and find out more information about it. So there you go. Hope to be able to see you on Saturday, August second for the Obapalooza. I Love it Oba Police eight a m. Before pm. All right, all right, folks, we're back here we go. We are with today. I've got as a special guest doctor Tim Hartman, Assistant professor in the horticulture department at Texas A and M, but

also state wide statewide fruit extension specialists. So if there is a fruit out there is he has probably either grown it. Every time I talk about some of these, go yeah, I got three of those at my house. Tim. One of the things I appreciate about the work you have done is being willing to jump out beyond just the peaches, plums, apples, pears, basics of fruit, and look at some of these other fruit that are quite unusual. And I'd like you to talk about that because you've

actually done the research on some of these. Let's start with pineapple guava. That's a plant people plant for a hedge, and it's a beautiful hedge. The flowers are edible, with the pink flowers almost a cotton candy kind of fluffiness to them. Not that sweet, but you can grow it here. But if you just go down this store to buy a pineapple guava and you get two or three of them, they may not fruit well. And why is that and how would you tell somebody to have success with pineapple guava.

of them out there. One that we really like, and it's fairly easy to find, as easy as a pineapple guava variety is going to be defined, which is not super easy.

hardening off, and that's important. So we could have a not hardened off guava even down south where it doesn't get as cold, but then a good hard cold could come through.

I've heard there at Kroger. I tasted them when I was in there's a red one now.

call them cut zoo. Don't worry, they're not invasive like that.

were not ready. They were going full throttle, full steam ahead. That plant wasn't conditioned and it got hit by an early hard freeze and killed to the ground.

that the weak or the really young trees. And so just trying to keep your tree as healthy as possible.

it's rodents, rats or mice. Is there anything that you guys can recommend that I can keep that from happening? I bet I had one hundred flowers, Yeah, two lemons.

So if you wanted to try dealing with it like a rodent problem, getting rid of rodents, that might help you might. Yeah, so that'd be a shot. And that's that's a shot from the hip.

They are a high input crop, and so we do typically if we're really trying to maximize production, we'll do a cover spray every ten to fourteen days, a fung aside and insect aside. Now you don't have to do that, but again that's if you want maximum yield and fruit quality and everything. Yeah. Paches have a list of enemies, including a plumb curculio, which when you open that fruit you'll find a little worm inside the extra protein. Yeah, extra protein for you. The stink bugs will get on

them and mess with the fruit. We've got leaf diseases and other things. But if you're up there in the Brenna mar you can talk to your AGR Life Extension office picture too. Yeah, and you could also send me a picture if you want to do that. Yeah, I can pass that along. Make sure, in fact, if you could do it in the next fifteen twenty minutes, we'll take a look at it here live on the show today.

We'd like to visit with doctor Hartman about fruit. Hey, welcome back to Guardenline. Good to have you with us. You would like to give us a call. I'm visiting with doctor Tim Hartman, who is an assistant professor tex A and M Horticulture Department and state wide fruit specialist, and we're talking about every kind of fruit you can imagine, entering all kinds of calls about fruit questions. Uh, and I'm going to go straight to the calls. We're going

to head out to Brazoria and talk to Liam this morning. Hello, Liam, Welcome to Garden Line. Patty skip.

there on the front page. You will see in the section of all the stuff on fruit trees there's something

called the inlay and four flap graph methods. And so if you got a seedling and plant it, just get a pecan somewhere, plant them in a pot, do several pots so you make sure you get one out of it, and when they get up to a certain size, you could then take a bud i mean a stick off of your pecan tree in the winter and graft it onto the seedling tree that you plant, so you could propagate it that way, but you need to watch the videos and take some time. It's not super easy to do.

But it's very doable. I've done it myself. Okay, Well thanks all right, sir, you bet, thanks, thanks for the call. Appreciate that. So we were talking about the golden kiwis a minute ago, and a question I had was about the chilling hours. You know it with so many fruit, that's very important, and so what about those chilling hours on that? Where can you plant golden kiwis around?

Dragon has done the best for us. It's an Auburn University variety, but it needs at least seven hundred hours to bear. And so you know you're looking at being pretty far north, you know, probably toward I twenty and of course then you got that cold hardinessue cold heartiness issue. I still think dragon Golden Dragon and it's a female. They're separate male and female plants. You would need the male c K Dash three, also known as meteor. That's the mail the pollenizer that goes with it. I still

think those are the best for Texas. Now we are testing some lower chill varieties. We think they only need about three to four hundred hours. Unfortunately, they're not available to the public yet, but maybe that'll hopefully that'll change in the next several years.

grow something in the house. Doctor Hartman and I were just talking a while ago about, you know, in the backyard you can do all kinds of things that are not practical commercially, and so I just want people to not go away thinking, oh, I live in Huntsville, I'm going to plan an avocado tree. Well, no, don't do that. Go to the store. They have avocados there. Now back to the phones to Marty in Fairfield. Hey Marty, welcome to Guardline.

plants primarily need nitrogen. We also want to fertilize pretty early in the spring and then not really fertilized after after June. We're talking about acclamation hardiness. We want those plants to kind of slow down after June, not be really juicy going.

in pollination, and it does shrivel up. Now, sometimes when we have rainy weather, like we've had a lot of here, and when the bloom falls off, it's like a little wet wound on the end of the fruit and you'll get a disease that called chow and offer a rot that actually starts to rot into the fruit. But just the shriveling itself.

Tim Hartman. He is a Associate professor in the Department of Horticulture at Texas A and M, and state wide fruit specialist. He deals with commercial fruit growers all over the state and does a lot of research both in college station and elsewhere, looking into hey, can you grow pineapple gava here? What's the best variety? And on and on. We've talked about some of that already, and so it's been a great opportunity to have you as a resource.

I appreciate that very much. Any other tip that you might give a home fruit grower in general about having success or it could be about a specific fruit, or just in general, because people go they spent a considerable amount of money on a fruit tree, and then we don't want them to and disappointment. You mentioned importance of sunlight and importance of drainage.

white roots coming right out of that cuts. Don't be afraid to do it, but that's important if you wanted to establish well.

in the sun. So roots and fruit in the most sun and leafy greens, if you've got to shove something in the shade, they'll take it. But with fruit, we have some that do, okay. I've seen some citrus in a little bit of shade, or maybe a fig tree and a little bit of shade.

it two days, you got it. You definitely need to raise good for.

here's the thing. Subpruit requires pollinators, and some don't. Peaches don't, and figs don't, and per simmons really don't need it.

each other. They swap pollen and they will set fruit. And even varieties like Anna is a self fruitful apple, Methley is a self fruitful plum. Even these self fruitful varieties, in these crops that normally need cross pollination, they will set better. Actually you'll get more fruit generally, like when blueberries get larger fruit if you get that cross pollination. Okay, And of course you need the insects to move that pollen around.

back on guard Line six am tomorrow morning. I'll be there with a cup of coffee. Will you show up. I hope you will be there from six to ten. Remember, you can listen on the radio, you can listen on the iHeartMedia app either way, and we'll be wide open for questions during the six and seven o'clock hour at least