Gardening Gifts

Kat r H garden Line does not necessarily endorse any of the products or services advertised on this program. Welcome to kt r H garden Line with Skiff Richter. It's crazy gas trip. Just watch him as so many good things to sept Bazy, Well, good morning. We are glad you are listening to garden Line this morning. We always are. This show is about what are

you interested in? What are your questions You're struggling with trying to get seeds to come up, or maybe a plant outside turning yellow leaves falling up. What what kind of questions do you have? Let's talk about those today our

phone number. You know, it's easy, It's really easy. I just want to make before I go there, I want to make a point that when you are when you're wanting to listen to garden Line at other places and other times, or maybe when you are trying to let's say, go back and remember something I said on the radio, or maybe you missed the show and you just want to go back and hear it, see what you might have missed. You can go on, you can go to your app and

you can listen to garden Line podcast after the fact. It's really easy. To do. You can go to your i heeartmedia app or other apps you might have, and either way you can go back and listen to past shows. Don't forget that that's there. We're also available, by the way, We're also available if you are interested in listening live from your computer. That's another option as well. Well, let's head out. We're going to start right off at the phones. Today we're going to go out to sugar Land

and talk to Patty. Hello, Patty, good morning, Skip. How are you. I'm doing well? Thank you? What can we do today? Okay, my lemon tree, I've had it about a year. It's about three feet tall. It was green and doing really good, and it seemed like after the rain, I started noticing yellow leaves and I mean it looks like it has good drainage. We got it up on some you know rocks, I mean, you know, to keep it off the ground. So it was out in the weather with the rain. So I'm thinking something

happened. I don't know what. Well, it probably water issues with a lot of different kinds of plants can cause the yellowing and drop of the leaves, typically after it gets moisture. I don't know. Most people have had Apothus ivy indoors at some point in their life. If you let those get dry and then you water them, suddenly the plant perks up, but the old leaves turn yellow, I want to fall off. So I think that's probably related to the water. It could have been too wet, could have

been too dry, poorly drained. I don't know the exact situation where that plant is growing, but I think it's a water related Yeah, it seemed that way because my high biscus, all the leaves are the tips of them are all black, and it was all green until the rain, and so it's kind of we're hoping we'll just dry it out and it'll be okay. Yeah, yeah, the hibiscus sounds like some sort of a city mold has grown on those. I don't you know. Just check it over real good.

Make sure you don't have a whole lot of aphids or scale or some other sort of insect that's affecting. Okay, all right, okay, all right, thank you you you as well, Patty, thank you very much. If you are looking for a tree, and you should be looking for a tree, this is the season to plant trees and shrubs and woody vines, a lot of other things too, but it gives them the biggest head

start. And Verdant Tree Farm can help you do just that. They have a wide variety of trees, a huge, huge farm, lots of different species, so you can pick the one that suits you best. Can visit with them too, kind of get a consultation, maybe take some pictures of your property in just to show, hey, what do you think would do well right here? And they can help you. The website's Verdant Treefarm dot com. They have locations all over the place. There's one in Paarland on

Broadway Street in West Houston. Out on Barker, Cyprus. There's also a Verdant Tree Farm in the Heights where Yale comes into it in. One of the things I like about the Verdant is you go there and you walk through and pick the tree you want. They'll tag it and they'll bring it to your house and it's a turnkey deal. They'll plant it for you. And they do offer a one year warranty on the trees that they plant. For sure, you can understand why they wouldn't want to warranty the trees. Maybe

you or I plant, but anyway, that's a good deal too. It's kind of a little bit of a good guarantee that things are going to go well. Planning it right's important, and Verdant Tree Farm knows exactly how to do that. Whether whether you want a palm tree or citrus tree or whatever burden is. It's easy, easy place, easy place to find what you're looking for and to have a good turnkey job. I was putting up Christmas

lights the other day. Well actually I and my wife put a garland up over the fireplace and some you know, had some lighting in that and lighted light, a wreath that's been let and some other things. And every year, you know, I go in and I'm tangling around trying to get lights at work or fine lights and things like that. If you've ever been in that situation, I want to suggest that you consider Ace Hardware stores and a

little feature that they have. They have before they have Christmas lights and boxes of all sizes and colors and everything, but they also have something called custom lights by the foot and you just have to go in there and talk to them about how that works. But what I need to get now is one that goes across the eaves of the house. We put some lights up there and that way because I always find myself, you know, trying to I

can't. I don't have a light the right necessarily the right length or size to cover what I'm looking for. You do the lights by the foot and you got what you need. It's real easy. Now. They have all the other things, garland, wreaths, anything you want to decorate for Christmas. You could say that ACE is a place now also for Christmas lighting and decoration needs. And of course while you're in there you want to grab some

things for your lawn and your garden. They've got every kind of supply you would need, from fertilizers to insect disease, weed management issues, all that kind of stuff is covered there at ACE Harbor. And by the way, they're all over forty of them now in the greater Houston area. Just go to Acehardware dot com and do the store locator find your location. There's a lot of ways that you can get into an ACE without having to drive very

far. You're listening to Garden Line. I'm your host, Skip Richter, and we're here on a Sunday morning to talk about the things that would be of interest to you and me as well. I'm going to do a little bit of that. I always like to offer a few little things maybe you hadn't thought about, or that you might find interesting. The cool season flowers are still just growing really, really well. We've got such mild temperatures that everything is doing well right now. It's easy, easy to grow this time

of year compared to what we just came through. And I think people don't try enough of the cool season color in their beds. It really brights the landscape up. You know, winter can get a little bit bleak, trees have lost their leaves, and I don't know if there's just a different look. The lighting is even a little different. If you bright brighten those areas up with annual color, that is a fast and easy way to do it. Everybody knows about pansies. Those are nice in a container or maybe viewed

up close, we can see all the different colors. Then they are the violas, which gives you some really unique color ranges. I actually like the viola a little more than the pansy. And here's why. Pansies have bigger blooms, but when you get a rain on them, they don't tend to hold up as well as Viola's do. That's that's one thing. And Viola's

I can pick some solid faced blooms, solid color face blooms. So if I wanted to mix and say, use a light blue with a yellow, or you know whatever combination maroon with a white, there's one whatever combination you want, you you you have more colored options to be able to do that. I'll talk a little bit more about cool season color when we come back. In the meantime. Our phone number is seven one three two one two five eight seven four. Welcome back to garden Line. Give us a call

if you got a question. That's what we're here to talk about. Seven one three two one two five eight seven four seven one three two one two kt r H. That's another way you can dial it. I was talking about cool season color, and uh I mentioned pansies and violas. Of course, those are like one of the most common famous I guess, if you want to put it that way, plants for the cool season in a wide

swasp of America because they're so cold, hardy. Other good plants, though, Dusty Miller is a silver foliaged plant that really sets off especially colors like blue, and it really works well with that, And that's an option there are. There's something called stock. Most people have not grown or heard of stock before, but stock has a faint fragrance. Would it be a baby powder. It's a real faint kind of fragrance like that that I think is

kind of nice. Stock does quite well in moderately cold weather. You know, we go down to the teens and it's kind of a little bit of trouble probably. Let's see. Another example would be snapdragons. Boy, they come in so many colors and types. I mean, you talk about the rainbow snapdragons have got it. You can buy short bedding plant size snapdragons. You can buy very tall cuckflower type snapdragons. That works well. I like a listen. It's a white blooming plant that looks I describe it like a

lava flow. Is it a vine, No, it's not a vine. Is it a bush? No, of course not. But it spreads out slowly, kind of like a lava flow, you know, and it goes It'll go right over a container and it's just a solid wall of white flowers. There's a pink version, kind of a lavendery version out there. White is the most common color, and it works so well in a container, and that's that is just a must to have something trailing over the sides,

like a really beautiful, beautiful cool season container. But I do like a list of a lot, so it's another one that attracts or it provides nourishment for beneficial insects like little parasitoid wasps and others. So those blooms are serving more than one purpose. And its fragrance is a little bit like honey. I think, I know you need quite a bit of it around. I mean, it's not one of those things that just fills the air and knocks you down with fragrance, but it does have a nice, nice, pleasant

fragrance. Other things, you know, when we get into the cool season, we have our ornamental cabbage and kale. Those are both really foundational because it almost doesn't matter how cold it gets. There about as cold heart as you can get. And they do really well. If you have ornamental kale, especially the kale, I like to let it stay in the spring for a while and send up its tall bloomstalks. You know, with little air, a little small yellow blooms all over the place, hanging in the air.

It's a really beautiful, beautiful little feature of the plant. And those are some examples of cool seasoned color plants that we have. There are other plants out there. Cycloman is one being used a lot as an indoor decorating plant now during the holidays. But you want to keep it out in bright light, not full sun, just bright light, maybe a little morning sun.

It does exceptionally well in that way. I think Cyclomans are beautiful red and pink and the white blooms that they have, So just take care of make sure they don't dry out. But on the other hand, don't stay soggy. They're not very big fun fans of that wet feet. Very few plants are. Those are some examples of cool season color. Go to your you know, mom and pop garden center and ask them about what they have, because they're going to have a bunch of things that I ain't gotten to

on the on the air here today. But make your outdoors bright. You can do it. You can line beds with these. Just to remember this when you're dealing with a dark area such as maybe you've got a some shade or just the lower lower winter light levels that we sometimes are experiencing just because the sun's traveling lower. But anyway, if you put white in a in a white in a dark area, it brightens it up. So some white flowers along a bed in front of shrubs where it's just not a whole lot

of light there, it brightens it up. Aztec grass, this is not a holiday plant, I mean a cool season plant. But aztec grass has its white striped foliage and you can put it down a pathway and it's just like runway lights. It just takes the eye right down that pathway. Really cool. So don't forget don't forget white, especially in areas that are a little darker that you can use, but why not brighten it up. Another thing to the eye just thinks of must is some cool seasoned containers, beautiful

containers. I talked about a list of spilling over the side of a container. We can also if we can protect it a little bit, we can grow the ornamental charts and they make a nice upright plant in the middle of a container as well, the one that they call rhubarb. It's red veins and red petiols. And then there's the bright lights that just has a range of different very subtle light colors of blooms, not real bold in the color,

but still beautiful. Nonetheless, there are other foliage plants I mentioned Dusty Miller that does well. But just create. Create some containers where you can just decorate and if they don't look good, just roll them around to another location, do what you need to do to them while they're recovering, put something else in their place. It makes it easy to keep those what can be sometimes a dreary winter day bright. Anyway, just some things to think

about. You know, the Star of Hope. You've heard me talk about them before, and I just so believe in what they do that I cannot think of a better way to provide funds that are helping somebody in a way that changes their life and their children's life long, long term. And Star of Hope is all about that. With your support, we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of Houston homeless people will call Star of Hope home for this Christmas.

In addition to they have the long term recovery programs that helps with employment, education and life skills. For example, they serve more than five thousand meals a week, so for two dollars and eighty cents you can provide a meal, and I cannot think of a better way to provide your money. To put your compassion to work, because I know that you want to help people and sometimes you wonder, well is this a good cause or not. I'll tell you this Star of Hope is an absolute good cause, no moment

of hesitation on that. I've seen the work they do. I've I've talked to them in depth about the different projects and things. It is is a great place. Shmission dot org. Shmission dot org. You should give You should really give them a call and see you can volunteer there. But you also just provide them funds to help them do what they do, and boy did they ever do a lot. You're listening to Gardenline. I'm your host, skip Rickter. Our phone number is seven one three two one two fifty

eight seventy four seven one three two one two five eight seven four. I knowe Buchanans had their big shin dig yesterday, the holiday open house. I hope you all had a good time. I was by there the day before just watching all the prep going on getting ready for that. But Buchanans is, as you know, those of you who went to this shindig yesterday. It is just absolute. By the way they call it holiday open house. I just like the words INDI. But they are loaded up with great Christmas

trees, beautiful trees, absolutely beautiful beautiful. If you want color, you know point sett as I mentioned cyclo in a minute ago. If you want decorations, you know, something from their gift shop. Oh my gosh, that is you just need to walk in and just see what I'm talking about. All kinds of good things there at the gift shop at Buchanans. You know, they're located on Eleventh Street in the Heights and their website Buchanansplants dot

com. When you go to their website, you need to check out some of the things that they offer. They have a text club where they will provide information of things coming up and going on. You can sign up to be a Buchanan's VIP Insider, but at least make sure and get that newsletter and check it out because it's very very educational and you'll always know what's going

on if you can. It's plants. We are talking about different kinds of things related to gardening this morning, and I was out the other day. I have two golden retrievers, and they have discovered squirrels and birds they have and their happy place is sitting at the window basically trembling, waiting to go

out and chase that squirrel that just taunts them running across the fence. But anyway, we were out there, I was taking care of some of the bird feeders that I have, and my favorite feeder, by the way of all is wild Birds Unlimited. It's a squirrel proof feeder. Just to ask

them about their squirrel excluding feeder, and it works really really well. Of course I have several different projects or products like that, but taking care of the birds getting them fed, and I always when I'm doing that, I always think about the fact that when someone sells you a bag of bird seed that's full of red bebes, that's just some generic thing that most of which is probably going to go on the ground. The birds are not going to eat it. And it's just true. When you buy wild bird seed,

you get seed the birds eat. They even have special blends for different groups of birds maybe or different times of the year, like suet when we're entering the cool season now, so it's easy to find what you need there and I can tell you this. Every time I go in. It's like a kid in a candy store. There is so many wonderful things like feeders and houses and just on and on. Just go in ask them your questions. They are excellent, excellent at helping you find a way to have success.

And the beauty and the enjoyment of birds in the backyard. I know I enjoy I enjoy ours a lot. We have a mocking bird. We used to have one when we lived in Conroe, that was Conroe Willis area. It was like the mocking bird was on crack at about six in the morning, before there was a day light anywhere. This bird would sing. In fact, the one when we lived up there would even in the night start

singing. And I don't know what was wrong with that bird, but boy, he serenaded us, whether we liked it or not, day and night. We had one at the house. The other day in the morning, is still dark outside and he's just singing like crazy. So someone's got to explain that one to me. But anyway, I guess he wants to be

earlier than the early bird to get the worm. If you have been thinking about getting a generator, I want to tell you about a company and a and a brand that you need to look for, and that's Quality Home products and it's generating generators. Quality Home has a promotion now a holiday blowout ten percent off your generator up to twenty five hundred dollars off. Go in and

talk to them. There is a reason they've won the eight times eight times the Better Business Bureau Award of Excellence, winner of the distinction specifically for customer service Quality Home Quality. Excuse me quality seven to one three qualities. The phone number qualitytx dot com is the website. Check them out. Welcome back to garden Linem. Glad you're with us today and we hope you will give us a call. Let's talk about the things that interest you at seven one

three two one two five eight seven four. The folks at Microlife Fertilizers have created such a great blend of I mean a blend, such a great mix of different product options from drig granular materials to liquid materials. Just an example of that is there. I call it Blue plus Blue. It's the fertilizer, the dry fertilizer that is is a very excellent product for use in any kind of situation. But now that we're in planting season. It's one that

you can utilize with your transplanting. It's called Microlife Ultimate eight four six, and again that's the blue bag. They also have Microlife Ocean Harvest, the Blue bottle. That is a fish based fertilizer stuff that you can apply as a folier feed if you'd like to do that. You can apply it as a drench to the roots. But when you're doing planting, consider this Microlife

Ultimate eight four six. And the reason I mentioned that is you're not going to burn the roots with it. It's not salt based and it is going to naturally decompose. You do not have to put it right around the roof. Just mix it in with the soil and the bed you're making and then

dig the home plant. It's really easy to do and plants will respond to that kind of nutrition and being organic, it's going to be released as microbial activity works on the particles and turns them into the wonderful nutrients that that plant is wanting to grow. You can find Microlife information at Microlife Fertilizer dot com. I'll tell you where you can find it, and also more about these products I'm talking about We're going to go now to friends would and talk to

Charle. Hello, Charle, Hey, good morning. We've got a couple of acres that used to be a citrus orchard until the last two winners, and so now we have just empty space and I'm thinking about turning it into grass or a filler, such as the hay that you see with the large bales of hay or I just read in the paper yesterday about a new grass that's called Southeast Texas Native Seed Mix that's supposed to be able to go with the drought or the flooding. Yes, well, someone called about that and

I'm not familiar with it, but I'm trying to look into it. Okay, Okay, you said it was Southeast Texas Native right, uh huh, Okay, that's what it says, Southeast Texas Native Seed Mix. Okay, Okay. So when you're saying bales, you said, this is just like two or three acres, I believe uh huh huh. It's going to be a little small to do hay bailing on for someone to come in with the equipment and all that. It's not worth it on that size. What kind

of seed do they put for that kind of hay. Well, that's a bermuda grass. Often it can be there are many other grasses that can be even planted and bailed for hey, around here, bermuda is a really common one. So okay, So do you have a way to mow this? Probably we do. Okay, Well, if you if you're able to mow it, you can do a bermuda field. But I don't know if that's

really what you are looking for. When I'm kind of trying to picture this situation, maybe some of the native grasses would be a better way for you to go. And there's there's a number of companies that will sell native grass seed for various regions, and you may want to try establishing that. Then it's more of a natural prairie look. It just kind of depends on the aesthetics and if there are any rules in the neighborhood is to what you mean?

Right, No, not here. What I'd like is to make it a native looking it used to have natives in there also, So just do you have a name of a grass, well a name of a company, because you're going to want to blend, Yeah, you want to blend native American seed. Native American seed is in Junction, Texas, Okay, other

side of San Antonio, and just go online. They have a catalog and you can talk to them and say, hey, I live in this region, what would you recommend and talking about any pros and cons and stuff. Okay, Charlee, And as far as as far as the Southeast Texas native seed mix, that may very well be a good one. I just I just don't know, So I'm not going to comm out until I feel better

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

If your landscape has really suffered through this year and you just really need some renovation done, or maybe you're just looking at your landscape going, you know what I'd like to I like to spruce things up a bit around here. I like a different look. The folks at Pierce Pierce Scapes, they absolutely have the ability, the training, the certifications, everything from designing to installations to I mean what do you need. Do you need an area that drains

poorly drained better? Do you need landscape lighting? Do you want some hardescape and a patio type thing or a walkway for example. They can do all of that. They can make sure your irrigation system is working properly, and that's important, very important. Whatever you need, I mean, they do it all. It's really amazing and the kind of work they do is also amazing. If you want to see it, just go to piercescapes dot com piercescapes dot com or call them two eight one three seven oh five zero six

zero. Easy to get a hold of them and take some pictures of the place, your place, you know, some different angles and things. Make sure you know it's framed well so they can kind of get an idea what it looks like, and they can make suggestions as to what you may want to do. Maybe it's a simple addition of some beds, maybe it's a total backyard makeover. Priscapes can handle it. They can do it. I was talking about cool seasoned color a little bit earlier and the importance of containers.

Remember with containers in the winter time, we don't have the water as much because it's not so hot, the demands are down, but we do have to water. But when you make a container larger number one, you're able to put more plants in it. So you can create that combo container that is so so attractive if you make it a little bit larger like that.

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

the garage. I think that's a great way to go, and it allows you to have versatile beauty and the cool season we need that those days can get a little bit dreary. Remember that. One little last thought is when you have these houseplants that want to be outside, like rosemary, and it's a little Christmas tree inside, now just remember to put it out as often as you can, as much as you can because it needs the sunlight to stay healthy and strong. We're going to take a break. Our phone number

is seven one three two one two KTRH. Well, good morning on a good Sunday morning. You're listening to garden Line and we're here to answer gardening questions. So if you'd like to give us a call, our number is seven one three two one two five eight seven four seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four Quality Feed. But they're located in kind of a north central part of downtown Houston. That's a lot of directions. They're on

Luzon Street eighteen thirteen Louson that's near the intersection of Equipment and Alesion. They're open Monday through Friday nine to six, Saturday nine to four, and today from eleven thirty to four pm. Qualityfeedco dot com is the website and you want to check them out. I think that it's one of the great old time feed stores been around along as it's like nineteen twenty eight and Ken and Chris they've been I think over thirty years now. They've been actually running the

place. I used to go to it when it's in the other location, and now that it's on Luzon Street, it's still just as cool as it ever was. They have really created a place where anything you need for your lawn and garden, they got the supplies for it there, like fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, pesticides, things like that great old time seed rack back from the day's early days of the store nineteen twenty eight, heirloom seeds stocked

in it. So that's kind of cool. Do you need backyard chickens? Do you need things to feed your backyard chickens or watering or other equipment? Kind of they've got it all and they get chickens in all the time. So anyone thinking about doing that, quality feed is a place you need to go. They really have everything that you need quality feed. You know. I love old time feed stores and it's just I don't know, there's just

something about it that's just kind of cool. And when you when you walk into a place like that, it's almost like you want the floor to creek or you want there to be I just every time I go into an old time feed store, you know, it's just it's I love the setting. It's a lot of fun, A lot of fun to check out. You're listening to Guardenline and we're here to answer your question. So if you like to give us a call it seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy

four. We'll be glad to visit with you about that. I want to remind those of you that the Oba yule Ball is that's a fundraiser that's coming up soon and if you want to go, you gotta get tickets ahead of time. You get your tickets at OBA online dot org slash register. That's OHBA online dot org slash register. It'll be Thursday, by the way, this Thursday, December seventh, from five thirty to nine thirty pm. There'll be a lot going on. They're going to have a magician and a fortune

telling and a little string group called the v C Strings. There'll be cocktails, a delicious dinner, and they'll do their slident auction. Because this is a fundraiser. OBA presents the Old the Mule the Lone Star yule Ball. Why is that our Lone Star Yu'll Ball fundraiser? And so the to cap off the day or the evening, Shake Russell, legendary Texas singer songwriter is

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

you a little bit. Something I was thinking about. Another option is, you know, Vego makes some small rolling containers that you could plant a like a citrus tree or something else that may be a little coal tender and and then just move it in, wroll it right in into the garage or wherever you have that's protected. So that's that's another way to do our containers. As a county agerlife Extension agent, I get a lot of phone calls about

whatever is happening at that time of year. People, you know, they call in and they want to know, you know, why is this dying or what's going on? It's the lawn and I have to think about what time of year it is. And that's why I made the chart that I have, the lawn care chart. It's my lawn care guide that talks about fertilizing all the options, tells you exactly when. Also I have a pest disease and weed management for the same reason. And for example, you wouldn't

need to treat for chinchbugs now. They're not going to be a chinchbug problem in the weather we're having right now, but there's times a year when we do. And that's on that chart and it's free. It's going online to my website. It's gardening with Skip dot com and you can find them there along with other updated information. I hope that you will check that out because we put it together hoping that it just makes it easier for you. You

know. I know not everybody listens to garden Line every hour of every show, and you can miss things, but when you print those out, you've got your answer right there in front of you. Makes it makes it really really easy. You are listening to Guardline, I'm your host, Skip Richter, and if you want to call in, our phone number is seven one three two one two five eight seven four. We're coming out pretty quick here

on a another break for the news. At the top of the hour, I did some water dry Anyway, what I want to have you thinking about because in two hours from now, in the eight o'clock hour, we're going to have someone from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Foundation of America PTSD Foundation of America, and I want you to just be thinking about what do you know

about PTSD. Just kind of ponder that a little bit. And when you hear about what the Camp Hope program the PTSD Foundation of America has done and accomplished, it is absolutely amazing. And so we're going to take the eight to nine hour and talk about that. If you'd like to give us a call about anything related to that that you want to ask a question, then just please dive right in, because we were here to kind of shed some

light on something that I think is extremely extremely important. And when you see programs that are doing a great job of helping people, that is inspiring and it makes you just want to be part of it, that's for sure. The RCW nurseries are there still going. I was looking at some of the social media stuff the other day that is pretty hilarious. At RCW Nursery dot

com. That's the website you can find out more about them, but it's the nursery at Tombo Parkway in about a eight They are open Monday through Saturday eight to five and Sunday ten to five and they have a selection of all kinds of plants. But when I think of RCW, I think about the fact that they grow their own trees up in Plannersville, and they have a great selection of trees and again, cool season, gotta plant those woodies.

They have one of the biggest selections of roses you ever find. I mean, it's amazingly long list. But anything you need is going to be there, and if they don't have it, they'll find a way to get it for you, and that is really important. Knowledgeable staff, friendly folks at RCW Nurseries RCW nurseries dot com. We we're about to take a break here to make way for the news. If you'd like to give me a call seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four when we come back,

Kyle, you're gonna be the first one up. Katie r H. Garden Line does not necessarily endorse any of the products or services advertised on this program. Welcome to Katie r H. Garden Line with Skip Rictor It's crazy you watch Trip just watch him as well. Welcome to garden Line. Thanks, We're glad you're with us this morning talking about the things that interest you. Our phone number is seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four.

Now when the weather gets cooler, varmints like to move into our house. We used to live in a house in another city. We had squirrels and rats both that got up in the roof. It's like, how do they get up there? Well, they got they got up there and they're doing significant damage. McGrath Pest Control can handle that. It doesn't have to have six legs. Mike can handle things with four legs or Scott excuse me,

Scott can handle things with four legs very very well. Also, you can go to the website metgrafpestcontrol dot com or just call Scott two eight one four six' nine eighty two forty. What do you need? If it's termites, if it's mosquitoes outside, if it's cockroaches in the house, whatever it is, that's what McGrath pest controls about, and you're going to appreciate the service. They schedule a time and they show up on that time. That's

why they're so highly related rated excuse me on the different review sites. With McGrath, it's kind of a modern technologlogy and technique with old fashioned customer service, and that is what we're looking for in any kind of a service industry. Right, you want people to show up, you want them to do it right, you want a fair price, you want them to know what

they're doing. Well. I just describe McGrath pest Control. It's one of the reasons they were a curator's pick for the best pest control companies in Houston. Congratulations Mike on that. By the way, I'm going to head out now to Kyle in Port and hus Hey, Kyle, Hi, good morning. How are you doing. I'm well, thank you terrific. I'm calling the phone behalf of my mother. She has a very large old oak tree approximately twenty feet away from her house, right in front of her front door.

We need to put a sidewalk in. We need to make well me back up. The roots of the tree are growing near the surface and have spread and in so much that we can't put a sidewalk in for guts, and we're concerned that our foundation might get cracked, okay eventually, So how do we cut the roots back without killing this beautiful tree? You know? And when the stakes are that high, Kyle, I'd bring someone in to

do it because they can assess it. There's a lot of factors. Roots go out in all directions, but not always the same amount of the root zone is in any is in all the different directions. In other words, roots could be growing primarily developing in an area where there is more dependable moisture or whatever it is. And so when you look at the tree and you think, well, I'm going to cut this root or that root, and

how many can I cut, it's very gray. It's a very gray area, and that's where you need a professional arbist to be to be able to do it. I always tell people if you're going to do anything around a nice valuable tree, get an arbust in there to take a look first before any damage gets done, and they tell you what you can can cut the In fact, they can do it for you if you want the job done.

But even just a consultation, I would recommend you heard me talk about Affordable Tree Service before Martin Spoon Moore, that's probably the one that I would call. Just have them come out and take a look and see his number. His number, by the way, Cole is uh seven to one three six nine twenty six sixty three I think I would go that route if were you. And what is his name? Martin spoon More And it's affordable tree

service. While you're right, yeah, while you're writing it down. The website is a f ftree service, dot Com a f f tree service. You know, even if I were out there looking at it, I would be, well, you know, let's bring in a sort of or you know, somebody really is is more scheduled, Yeah, because uh, you know, though you can do permanent damage to a tree just by not really knowing what you're doing. I took one look at it and realized it was

above my pay grade. Yeah, that's a smart that's a smart man. I agree with you, and I appreciate your advice very much. I have a wonderful day. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay, bye bye bye bye. That's funny. Yeah, when it comes to jobs where you yeah, it's over your head, recognize that and just get somebody in there to do it. Somebody knows what they're doing. And you know, when when you're looking at a valuable tree like that, you just don't want to

mess around with it. Speaking of trees, tree hugger sprinklers are the best insurance you can buy for a young tree you've just put in or in its first five, six, seven years of life even uh. And the reason is you put them around the tree, and if you've got that first hot summer coming, you can water right there where the roots are when you when you've planted real close to there, that's where the roots still are, and then gradually turn it up more and more to water a larger area as the

tree gets older and older. And then when we go into a summer drought, you don't have to waste water by running the whole system to water your tree. You can just focus on rescuing those trees with a tree hugger sprinkler. And it's as simple as that. Tree Hugger Sprinkler dot Com is the website. You're going to find them all over the place, everywhere. It seems like every time I walk into a nursery or feed store or wherever, they're going to have a tree hugger sprinkler on hand. And that's a good

thing, be a good gift to you. I would say stocking stuffer, but that would be a very unusual stocking to hold a tree hugger sprinkler. You're listening to Garden Line our phone number seven one three two one two five eight seven four seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four give us call. Let's talk about the things that are of interest of interest to you if you are interested in tomato growing and pretty much any vegetable gardener. Tomatoes

is kind of like the it's the big queen of the garden. I guess people always are calling about tomatoes compared to green beans or squash or co robbie or something else, and it's just a passionate deal for people to see if they can grow the perfect tastiest tomato. Well, if that's you, the

Texas Tomato Lover's Conference, you need to check this out now. The Tomato Lover's Conference is going to be at the Anti Grows Imporium up in Independence, Texas on Saturday, January thirteenth, right in the big middle of January. Saturday, January thirteenth, there's going to be talks on growing tomatoes with the young family, mastering container grown tomatoes, the best varieties for twenty twenty four. That's one worth here in too, and then eight step to success in

grafting a tomato. I'll also give a talk on the ten Commandments of Tomato Success at the Texas to meatal Overs conference. You need to call them to get registered because it is a limited space two five four eight four eight ninety three ninety three, or just email Sally at Texasgardener dot com. Sally at Texas Gardener dot com. I hope to see you there. I'm looking forward to it, that is for sure. We're going to take a little break here and we will be back in just a moment. The phone number is

seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four. Welcome back to garden Line. We are glad you're with us this morning talking about things related to gardening. Uh. You know, gardening goes indoors too. If you have a house plant, I would say, I'm going to call that gardening because you're taking care of it, you are finding the right conditions for it to thrive in. And when COVID hit houseplants suggest it's like people became crazy over

houseplants. I mean everybody, everybody. It seemed like, was you know, buying this or that kind or here's some new thing you've never had, And boy, did plants get kind of weird. And expensive in some of these online forums, like the string of plants, string of pearl, string of dolphin, string of heart, string of turtles, all those kind of things. They just it was nuts. I saw a little cutting and it

had a little pearl. It was a string of pearls. I want one little two little nodes actually with one little pearl on them, and it was going for like nineteen dollars. It's like you have to root it yourself. And that was kind of crazy. And the more obscure a plant was, the more unknown, the more valuable it is. And that has continued even after even after we kind of got past the brunt of the COVID issues,

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

they like, and what about watering and the soil mix and whatnot. It's easy to have success if you take care of light, the soil moisture, not too much, not too little, and the temperature being within the range of that particular plant. So mine go outside sometimes during the summer. Certain houseplants the Thanksgiving Thanksgiving cactus, Christmas cactus, those two definitely are spending their time outside just rejuvenating a little bit during the summertime. They're inside now with

their bloom buds. But it's not that hard to have success with houseplants. You can do it. You just take it a step at a time. Buy your houseplant from one of our great mom and pop nurseries that know what they're talking about, that can direct you to plants based on your description of where you want to put them. They'll have the best chance of being successful. And then when you have issues, you go back to that nursing and talk to them about can you help me with this? That's what they're there

for. That's what they're there for. We love feed stores here on Garden Line and League City Feed. That is a real easy win right there. I mean, we're talking about a place that's been around for forty years. Remember what I said about liking the old time feed stores. It's been around for forty years and it's now run by Wes and Madison. The Thunderberg family started it again forty years ago in an Okra patch for crying out loud.

It's on Highway three, a few blocks south of ninety six. So all of you and all those neighborhoods down there from Elkamina, Reale, League City, Lamark all through the region, this is your hometown feed store. And they carry the best products that you need, premium premium products for your pets as well as backyard chicken needs, and then the fertilizers I talk about,

as well as a great selection of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Here's the phone number for League City Feed two eight one three three two one six one two. Now they're open until six pm on Monday through Saturday, so you have time after work to swing by there, check it out or grab some

feed for the critters around your place. When I was talking about earlier, we had these two golden retrievers and there they now are very What is it obsessed with squirrels, I guess is what they like the thing about I mean, I've put this in social media before, but think about my goldens.

They don't understand what to retrieve and what not to retrieve. When Ellie was a pretty young puppy, she went with me out in the backyard and tagged along as I planted plants, little four inch pots along side of a bed. I'm going to decide to get drink of water, whatever. And came back out and there was a little four inch pot on my back doorstep, four inch plant rather that she had retrieved. And so I think we need to know how the dog shows have all these different groups of dogs, the

hunting group, the whatever. We need a gardening group. But first we need to train some people, some dogs, how to garden and help us. They sure could help dig a hole, but this retrieving thing, I need to give them a good talking to. That's not working out very well. If you're planting plants, and I hope you are this fall, because fall is the best season for planting, always remember when you're going to water them in, put a fertilizer solution around the roots, and if you want

to take it up. A notch has to grow six twelve six. That's got the nutrients in it, but it also has seaweed extract, it's got humic acid, and it has a medinosol activator all in there. I mix it in water and just drench it over the plant when I plant it. And when I say a plant, it could be little four inch herb, it could be a tree, a big old tree that we're planting. It's got roots and it's trying to get established, and so we want to give these plants a boost, and has to grow is a great way to do

it. Has to grow six twelve six, do it when you plant, and do it twice more about a week apart, and that seems to be a pretty good schedule. After that, you can kind of back up and do your other kinds of fertilizing to those plants to kind of build the soil and to carry them through season after season. Or you can just continue to use a has to grow on them. You can use it as a folio feed and it won't won't burn your plants. Our phone number is seven one

three two one two fifty eight seventy four. I'm going to go out now to Spring Branch and we're going to talk to gud Hello, Judy, good morning, good morning. I've planted some knockout roses back in March and they are growing tall, but hardly any roses on them. Wondering should I fertilize them, cut it back or what. Well, we do a winter pruning on rose bushes in general, and then their biggest bloom season starts, you

know, March April. The spring time carries on in waves like knockout or bloom continually in waves going through the summer, and then October is another big great time to get the roses going and looking good. As far as them not blooming yet, I think it's probably a combination. How long ago did you say you planted them about March March? That is a little bit strange. I think you probably need to beef up the feeding of the roses.

Are the plants looking fairly healthy right now? Yeah, they look healthy, they're just spiny looking. How much light? How many hours of sunlight do they get? Do you know? I would say about four? Okay, Well, you're you're kind of on a low end there to get good bloom production. Fortunately. I don't know if there's anything you can do to add to that four hours, you know, cut off some limbs or something,

but four is a little low for good success with roses. You you may get a few blooms on them, but that's just now the rose bush itself will grow, but as you said, in low light, they get a little bit on the spinley side and twiggy side. Have you noticed any issues on the foliage of the plant any just colored? They look fine? Yeah. I did hit them, yes, when they bloom, follow the bloom back to the first leaflet with five first leaf with five leaflets on it,

and cut it back to about okay, that's called dead headings. Taken it out now. You don't have to. I mean people all the time they don't. And on shrub roses when you're kind of just sort of shearing them back a little bit, you're gonna end up cutting off the old dead blooms anyway. But that's a nice tidy way to go about it. And you recommend the fertilizer for that. Yeah, you know, a good quality balanced

blend is going to be it's going to work. Well. We have rose type fertilizers, you know, the companies of Nelson's Nitropossa has like rose type fertilizers. And then you've got if you want to go organic, we've got things like the Microlife fertilizer, and there's some other organics out there as well. But you could put those down and water them in, and I like to just use all my roses. I pretty much just use law fertilizer. To be honest, if your phosphorus is a little low, then you need

something with more phosphorus than lawn fertilizer. But in general, we're just stimulating growth because when you have growth, then you have more terminals where you can have ballooms. So let me explain that if you have one shoot, you're going to have a bloom at the end of that shoot. But when as you prone, you get more terminals, and then as you fertilize and stimulate more growth, then it's able to create more roses. And well that's some

good information. Thank you so much. All right, Judy, thank you very much. I appreciate I appreciate your call. If you're looking for where do I go to get a rose fertilizer, for example, we're just visiting with Judy about that. Well, how about an ACE hardware store. They're all around you. I mean there's forty of them here in the Houston area. You can buy all your fertilizers and plant needs there. But right now you need to be considering the Christmas lighting because did you know that ACE is

a place for all holiday decorations. We're talking about indoor and outdoor lights. We're talking about the swag, you know, the the garland and the wreaths and all the things like that. And when you're at an ACE Hardware, just ask them about custom lights by the foot. That is a really cool thing. They'll explain how it works and you will be thinking, why didn't somebody do this before? But Ace Hardware forty stores, acehardware dot Com find

the store nearest to you at their store locator. Well, gosh, we're Nicky's already back in the rim. You just walked out by five minutes. It seems like it, doesn't It seemed like it. Absolutely. We're going fast this morning. Look how clear the skies are. We're in the front of a big window. Oh yeah, and it had been really kind of

foggy very early, and now we can see all the buildings. Someone was complaining about the cold to me the other day, and it was like, do you do you remember how many months of absolute hell we went through this summer? Yeah, I think I would like to freeze to death for a little while, just to balance it out. I'd forgotten all about that. Yes, we did go through very hot times, very brutal, very difficult, and our plants suffered a lot outdoor plants. But right now they're doing

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

about. Seven one three two one two five eight seven four. Hey Greenpro greenpro dot net. That's the website. Green Pro is a company that I've talked about in the past. They come out and they do deep time aeration where they pull the core out of the soil properly. Very very good equipment to do what you just can't do with a little rental operation. Uh you know, you go somewhere and try to do your own corporating. This does a better job. It goes down deeper, it pulls the core out very

well. And they know how to do it, and then they follow with a compost top dressing. They can do that now this time of the year. If you've lost some areas of lawn, if I've had a number of callers that are renovating their lawn, gonna have to replant some things. Do that? Have those have those folks come up from green Pro and they can also do kind of a spreading of a topsoil to fill in the low areas so that you're ready to go when you're ready to plant your grass. And

so that's another service that they can provide by Greenpro. Again it's greenpro dot net, greenpro dot net. Have them come out and take a look and tell you what they can do to make your lawn and landscape just much more successful. We're going to go now to Northwest Houston and talk to Donald. Hello, Donald, Hey, how are you. It's all logod morning, Good morning. I'd like to talk about pumpkins. I'd like to talk about tomatoes. However, I have a fifty foot pine tree thirty two years old.

It's been architecturally planted, thank goodness, about twenty five feet away from the house in the front lawn. It's straight up. It's really nice looking. I've had it cleared, you know, the branch is cleared for find out. However, the roots that are growing, some of them are growing toward the house. We're two or three inches around, And I guess previous to me being there, somebody had cut a chunk out of it to stop it from growing, like a twelve or fourteen inch piece, just cut it

out so wouldn't grow into the foundation. What didn't hurt the tree. But the roots are above ground all around the tree, and you can't walk across the front lawn without falling a trip and on them. And I don't know how lawn cutter guys even do it. Yeah, how do I get them top of those roots off? Well? First of all, when I'm talking on the phone to someone and I can't picture the tree in the exact setting right. So just to want you to be extra careful when you start taking

roots away from a tree. It affects the structural strength of the tree, first of all, but it can also take away a lot of that tree's ability when you overdo it to get water and nutrient. So don't take too much out if you're trying to take a root out you might want to have an arborist come out take a look at it and make the suggestions. But another alternative would be to bring some soil in and just an inch or two and here and there where you need it and kind of bring the soul level

up around those roots just a little bit. Well, you don't want to put like four inches of soil over the whole thing that that'll damage the tree, but a little bit here and there could help. Does that sound I'm sorry, Go ahead. It's a fairly large area, and it's the whole circumference around the tree, and the roots extend above the ground. That's not the whole root, it's just the top of it. I want. I thought about having a stump grinder guy come and just just clean the top of

the root off. Don't dig the root out, clean it off, just smooth it off, like you know with the stump grinder. Yeah, the car run it or something so it wouldn't rot, and then it would be smooth and the root would still be there. Well, it will still rot and then over time again there's your your anchorage of the tree that's getting compromised. Is that that would rots away? You know, I've seen people do that. The trees do survive it, but I don't know. I don't

know that it's the solution of what you're looking for. Yeah, what about just taking off let's say the root is four inches around or five maybe I don't know. I'm not digging underneath them to find out, but they're pretty brown up on the above the ground. What about just taking like an inch off the top just to smooth it off. See, you don't have this big lump that just step on a new trip over it. Right, You

can't roll the trash can over it because it's all bumpy enough. Yeah, I see, So I picture what you're saying, and yes, that would that would make it a little smoother. But you're opening the interior wood up to decay. When you do any amount once you've gone past the dead outer bark, you're making a wound on the tree and the process. I don't

think an arborist would go for that. I mean, you could hire someone to come out as a consultation and suggest some things that they see as options for you, but other than cutting a root or trimming down a root, as you said, which either one I'm not roll a big fan of, and especially as many as you're and have to do this too on that tree,

it's just bringing in some soil. If I did cut just the high part, just the top part, like you know, the nub of it off where it's where it's really sticking out, what would you suggest I could put on it? If I cut like a twelve inch slice and only a half inch just to smooth it off, what would I put on it too? I know about tar, but what's the good thing to put on it to seal it up? Yeah, we just don't recommend printing paints anymore in

general. What happens is you put something over it, and yes, it coats it initially, but then those coatings crack or they peel back or something, and now you have moisture being held into the wood instead of being able to air dry, you know, after a rain, and that just increases the problem. I never thought of this, But what about leaving it alone and putting the sod all around on top of it? Just cover it with sod squares and that would smooth out and the roots would be underneath the side.

They still get water. It's going to be very hard to get sod to grow there, just because the amount of wood in the soil, and I don't think that's going to be successful. And really, you know, sod just has about what a half inch of black play. It's got a lot of nerds, so it's not really going to raise the level. I mean it look like it because the grass is there, but you won't see what you're about to trip over, right, Yeah, anyway, that's that's

my two cents worth. If you want to talk to Martin an Affordable Tree and see see if they'll come out and just do a lookover and give you some other options, maybe being on site, some other things come up. Would you tell me his phone number? Yeah, let me, It'll take me just one second here, sure. His phone number is seven one three six twenty six sixty three seven one three six nine nine twenty six sixty three.

Or the website is aff Tree Service dot com. Just tell him we spoke on the air and I feel like he might be able to do a better on site assessment. And the first name of the company again, Affordable Tree Serve. Yeah, okay, Martin Spoon Moore, All right, man, well good luck with that. All right, Thank you so much, you bet, thank you. I appreciate that very much. Let's see your week. Gosh, we're at the end of another segment. Our phone number

seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four. I'll be right back. Welcome back to Garden Line. So glad you're with us today. We are talking gardening, and of course that's what a gardening show does, right and but we talk about what you're interested in if you have a question and want to give us a call seven one three two one two five eight seven

four. Those of you in Kingwood know already you've got two of the best garden centers in the world right out there by you, and that's Kingwood Garden Center and Warren's Southern Garden. Kingwin is still having their twelve Days of Christmas. That's November twenty fifth through December sixth, so it's ending this week. But their day where you get you know, thirty forty percent off. There are days where you buy one get one free. I mean, it's a

really cool deal going on. And boy do they ever have a really good gift shop. I love seeing just the amazing things that they have in the gift shop. A good place to go for your holiday gifts. By the way out at Warren's Garden Center full of color, lots of color out there that the Christmas trees are there. I mean, it's what you would expect of a quality garden center. Now, on the sixteenth and seventeenth of December, they're going to have an event called Cookies with Santa. Yep, Santa's

going to be out there. Go to there, follow them on Facebook. Just go find more in Southern Gardens on Facebook and there's a little code there where you can reserve your spot. And that's December sixteenth and seventeenth. We're going to head now out to Ashrab Forest and we're going to talk to Nick. Hello, Nick, here you good morning. Yes, so I sent my neighbor re had a pine tree cut down because of pine beetle I think

was what it's called, did a number on his tree. He had it completely removed, and his consultants, while doing that looked across the street at one of mine and saw a branch that appeared dead and thought it might be an indicator of the same issue. So far, it doesn't seem to have taken over any more of the tree. However, what makes this tree unique

is that it is grown at the base together with an. I think it's an oak tree, and I thought if I were to have to remove this pine tree, and it's again about two three feet in diameter, the oak tree is a good to three feet in diameter, how is it possible to remove? I mean they're conjoined literally at the final probably three feet of their base. Yeah, I don't know if they've grown together enough, it's going

to be really difficult to get one out without injuring the other one. But that's where you get an arborist in there, like Martin spoon Moore that knows how to do it, and they know what the limitations are with the cannon can't be done U sounds like those are both big beautiful trees. By the way, your pine tree does not have beetles. If you're not seeing globs of sap up and down the bark and or or sawdust coming in and falling so you see it catching in the bark pieces as it falls down the trunk,

you don't have You don't have pine bark beetles. But I don't see that now. Yeah. But but something to watch for is that big dead limb up there. We call those widow makers for a reason. When they come out. You don't know when they're going to fall out. That's a that is a hazard, a significant threat, and so I just want to watch for things like that and get somebody in there to take that out. If so, if I remove that, obviously I know it improved my safety.

Does it help the health of the tree. No, it doesn't dead. When you remove dead I mean it's you, You're just you're not affecting the health the life of the tree. It's not clipping your fingernails, you know, it's not. It doesn't affect. It's not a wound on you. You're just taking the dead material off. And so, yes, it wouldn't help. No, I was gonna say, I how urgent it is, but I would I would be real careful with it. Yeah, yeah,

okay, well all right, well I appreciate this information. All right, thanks very much, good luck, Hi, thank you, take care lobby. Our feed store and tom Ball is D and D Feed. We love feed stores here on Garden Line, and D and D Feed is about three miles west of Highway two forty nine, So as you head out west on twenty nine to twenty about three miles, you'll see D and D there

on the left. They've expanded this past summer a couple of times. They've gotten now bulks seed available where you have a little scoop and you can just scoop out the amount you want, real economical way to buy seed. By the way, they have quality dog food and quality livestock food. I mean, it's it's the kind of place where you go. Of course, it's a feed, so they're going to have feed, but it's also a place where you go for the fertilizers I recommend on garden Line for the pest control,

pest management, weed management kinds of things. They've got all of that there at D and D Feed. Again, they're three miles west of Highway two forty nine on twenty nine to twenty, just outside Tumble D and D Feed. I was driven by there the other day and looking they're always getting new plants into outside. They do a lot of that, and you can just see all of these, you know, top rank fertilizer before you even

get in the door. They're there there. You're listening to garden Line and our phone number is seven to one three two one two five eight seven four seven one three two one two. That is the way you get a hold of us. Coming up next hour, we're going to have David Malsby from the PTSD Foundation of America and Camp Hope in and we're going to talk about the issue of PTSD and what the folks at the PTSD Foundation of America and Camp Hope are doing to help the veterans that have served our country. I'm

looking forward to that. That'll be just a little bit around the corner here. I am always impressed when I go into Southwest Fertilizer, and the reason is you walk in and the amount of product that they carry and the variety of product that they carry is it's like none other. Like I say, if Southwest doesn't carry it, you don't need it. And I'm serious. Any kind of fertilizer anything I recommend on garden Line and more are there at

Southwest Fertilizer. They have an eighty foot wall of tools. If you need an insecticide, a fungicide, or a weed killer, and it could be synthetic organic, they have it all. They have it all there. You bring a problem in like a plant sample or a photo, they take a look at it and they point you at the right product. Just go to Southwest Fertilizer dot com. They're on the corner of Bissinet and Renwick and hey,

it's gift buying season. And if you've got a gardener in your list it doesn't have a kneeling bench, go buy and ask Bob show me the kneeling benches, because that tool change my gardening life. Anyone north of forty for sure, needs to get a nice kneeling bench. It helps you get up and down, it flips over, and it is a bench you can sit on and work on in the garden. Is one of my favorite tools

that I have. And I wake up not in the prenatal position the next morning because when you turn me loose to get up and down and up and down eight hundred times. Yeah, the next morning on a rough but not with my kneeling bench. So anyway, Southwest Fertilizer Southwest Fertilizer dot com, you are listening to Garden Line. Our show is here to help you have a more successful garden. The way I like to put it is a more beautiful garden and a more bountiful landscape. And that is exactly what we are

about here. If you are interested in giving us a call, we'll be coming back here in a minute from break seven one three, two, one two five eight seven four. Let's let Josh get you on the boards. But I want to remind you that the next hour we're visiting with David Malsby of the PTSD Foundation, and so we're going to take calls related to that. If you've got a gardening call, then just hold on and when we get to the nine to ten hour, we'll be back taking those kinds of

gardening calls. I want to remind you that my lawn care schedule that is that is a schedule. It's a multicolor PDF. You can download it from my website skip Gardening with Skip dot com gardeningwith Skip dot Com. It tells you how to fertilize. It gives you organic options, and it gives you synthetic options. It talks about aer rating the soil using a trace mineral and

when you might want to do that. It talks about mowing, how to properly mow, and that is one of the most important things in having a beautiful lawn is regular mowing with a sharp blade that is very helpful, makes it look so nice and uniform and makes good density. When sunlight hits a so on Nature Plants a week. When you create a dense lawn, you block the sunlight. It also talks about watering while you're there online look at some of the articles that I put up so far. We don't build a

lot more up when we get past the first of the year. But also you'll find my lawn pest disease and we'd management schedule. So when do you treat for chinch bugs? When do you treat for soid web words? When might you want to be looking for gray leaf spot or large patch brown patch in the fall season? How about take all root rot? It's all on the schedule. When it comes to weeds, when would you apply a pre emergent and what are options that are synthetic or organic that might be helpful for

managing weeds? When do you need to use a post emergent? When do you not want to use it? You see what I'm saying. One little schedule. Actually these are two sheets now that I'm talking about, and it just makes things so so much easier, and it's free. Katie R. H. Garden Line does not necessarily endorse any of the products or services advertised on this program. Welcome to Katy r h Garden Line with Skip Ricter. It's so crazy just watch him as a world. Welcome to the garden Line.

We're glad you're listening. We're back to talking about gardening topics right now. I'm your host, Skip Richter, and our phone number if you'd like to call, is seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four. If you're up in the Montgomery area, Ana Home, Ana Plants and Produce, that's your hometown garden center. And boy do they ever have everything that you might need for gardening. That's just what they do. Uh. They have coming up today at coming up today, coming up at noon today the

annual free Santa Festival at the garden Center there in Montgomery. Now it's your opportunity to get group photos. Bring the kids and do this. You can take them with Santa and Missus Clause out at the Ana Plants and Produce. They also have a While you're there, you got to pick up some of their holiday color. The point set is the ranges of colors are amazing. That the Christmas cactus, Thanksgiving cactus thing, oh gosh, they look so

good. But also grab some of the fertilizers. We talk about some of the products that you might need for taking care of your landscape. They got it all at a NA Plants and Produce. They're just on the east side of Montgomery on one five. As you're heading toward Conroe. We're going to go now out to League City and talk to Susan. Hello, Susan, good morning, Skip. Hey. Thank you for having that talk about PTSD. I'm a big believer of Camp Hope. I donate to them regularly,

and my husband is a veteran, so we appreciate all the work. Well, thank you for doing that, Susan. I appreciate that. I have a question though. I have a dishwasher that we only use for like three months, and we replace it because we want to upgrade it, and I cannot give that thing to anybody. Do you think I can donate that to any of the organizations? Yeah, I don't know. You would have to contact them and ask them. He didn't go into anything like that, but

you're interested. He had a question and I have for you please is I have two beautiful gardenia bushes. They are in container. They are about six week tall. They were doing great the summer, dark green leaves, big beautiful flowers. But within the last three four months, I mean weeks or so, they start dropping leaves. They the leaves turn yellow, they dropping. Is that normal? It can be normal. Fluctuations in moisture and other

things can cause that. I don't if you've ever had apotheos ivy indoors and you don't water it for a while and then you water it, the leaves turn yellow and fall up, and it's like after you you rescued it with water. But it's just part of the process on that plant. I suspect i'd say ninety nine percent chance you're talking about older leaves, not the new leaves at the end of the shoots, and correct that plant can it can grow new leaves and they'll be okay. Just kind of watch the sow moisture

level. It needs the drain well, but it also needs to stay moist. Guarden are not a drought tolerant plan. And so that's what I mean. Yeah, I wouldn't fertilize it right now though we're going into the cooler season. Just hang on and you can do some fertilizing later coming out of the season. If you want to do okay, you just answer my next question. Thank you so much. I appreciate your help. All right,

Susan, thank you. I appreciate the call very much. Hey, do you live out in Mount Bellevue. Your hometown feed stores Texas feed Stop. That's right, it is there. It's easy to get to if you're on Iten. You just go a few minutes north of Iten on Highway one forty six and right on the right hand side there. They are right and it's a family oriented feeds are in the sense that they make you feel like family.

You walk in there, that you're greeted your help. Brian and Hope Roads have created a really great environment there and they carry everything you'll need, all the fertilizers. I talk about issues with pest, well, they've got everything you can imagine, as well as diseases you can in summertime. We got those mosquito dunks we need to get and protect and some mosquitoes they've got that. They have lots and lots of products and they carry the bags out

for you in that old fashioned way. If you live in Baytown, this is your hometown feature you just minutes away from Texas Feed Stop. Again, it's a few minutes north of itown on Highway one forty six in mont Bellevue. Let's now go out to Caro in spring am I saying your name right? Yes? Thank you? Huh question. I got my eight twelve sixteen furlizer the fung aside the barricade, didn't get it down. Okay, what

should I do? Well? If you walk out, Yeah, if you walk out and look, you may see some little tiny weeds that are germinated already and growing. You know, maybe that you kind of miss the boat there. So you could do one or two things with it. You can go ahead and put it down, knowing that additional weed seeds will be germinating

in the cool season and so you'd control that. Or you could wait and at this point now just go ahead and put it on in early February, early to mid February to protect against the warm season weeds that'll be germinating at that point in time. You kind of now you're talking about the barricade. Coreer. Yeah, the barricade. You've kind of caught me in between seasons here, and you can really do it either way. I think of his mind, I'd probably just wait and put it on in February because you're gonna

need it then anyway, okay. And then the fertilizer for the grass. I'm just for the grass we're talking about, or is that right? Yes? Okay, so that would be applied. Do not apply too much, now you can. If you've got a fall type fertilizer lower nitrogen numbers than our spring and summer fertilizers, you can apply it now. Just kind of

go in a moderate level with it, not too much. If we have some nice, decent, mild temperatures, your grass will continue to take up moisture nutrients and it just helps it build strength in the winter and then coming out of the winters. So yes, you could go ahead and do that if you've got it on hand. Now, what I bought was the one that's eight twelve sixteen. Yes, that's Nitrophoss's Fall Special and uh so that would be fine to put down right now. Again, just don't don't overdo

it, and right, I got it. Yeah, okay. We're not trying to make the grass grow, We're trying to strengthen it so it can make carbohydrates basically, yes, sir, okay, Well, I appreciate it, and I really enjoyed the program. On the Veterans program. Was wonderful. Thank you, happy, thank you, bet, thank you, Carol. I appreciate that. Well, we're getting close to our first little break

here in this hour. I am going to be coming back and we'll get right to your calls when we come back, and the number is seven one three two one two five eight seven four. If you would like to give Josh a call, we can certainly take care of that. Hey, if you are interested in uh, hold on just a minute, I pulled up the wrong thing here. Well, I tell you what, we're close enough to break. I'm just going to wait and save that one until we come

back. I do want to talk about some of the things that are two dues for now out in the garden and the landscape, and so in just a moment we'll start doing that. If you have any gardening questions in the meantime, seven one three two one two kat rh or if you want to dial it out by number fifty eight seventy four. We look forward to talking to you. Welcome back to Garden Line. We're glad you're listening today. If you'd like to call phone number seven one three two one two five eight

seven four. Hey, last week I talked about Santa and Missus Claus coming to the arbor Gate and due to incleminent inclement weather, they've had to move that forward. And so here we go. Here's your opportunity. Next Friday, December eighth, from one thirty to five pm, they'll be there. Come get your picture made. And hopefully you've behaved yourself way this year, so there's not a bunch of coal, right and that how that works well Arbigate. When you're there, you need to pick up all of the other

things that you need for your lawn and garden. And by the way, if you grow vegetables, garlic is in there. They've got some onion bundles still in there as well, and go ahead and get them in. Don't wait any longer. While you're there, you are going to find so much in the way of decorations, beautiful, beautiful wreaths and both. The gift shop is just it's it's turned into Christmas time. For sure. You need to go buy and check it out and then pick up their one two three

system. The soil, the compost, the molts, all organic and for anything that has roots. The soil what I say, soil and compost, not molts, soil and compost and fertilizer. Yeah, the organic four four to three fertilizer. I forgot that one, but pick it up because when you're going to plant, you need to use the brown stuff before in order to make the green stuff happy. And so that's what we're talking about at Arburgate. We're going to go now out to Brazoria and talk to Larry Hello.

Larry Hello. I have some p andy buds, they call them little tiny things, and I was thinking, I was wondering if I could plant them now. And I have a quantt hat I can put them in where they would never freeze if it got down to freezing, and see if they you know, I had to start on them so in the spring I could transplant them where I want. And these are pa and ees like the flower right, Yes, okay, well they don't do well here, but you

got them, and you ought to give them their best chance. And to give them their best chance, you would put them in a very very bright shade area, a little morning sun, but definitely not the hot, blazing afternoon sun. P and E's are beautiful perennials in the midwest northern north of us. Our heat is really difficult for them to cope with. Well, I think I got a good place where it's partially shaded and they'd have the

best chance. All right, there you go, yep, do you think do you think it's a good idea to plant them now and keep them from freezing through the winter and then that have maybe a step head start on the spring when I transplant them where I want them. That's worth that's worthwhile. It's definitely worth a shot. See what you can do. Just don't don't peonies can take freezing. I mean they again, they look further north. They survive the winners every year. It's just yours are in a container,

right, and so you also don't want the top to die down. You're saying you want to be able to keep it through the winner so it's stronger coming out. And I think that makes sense. Okay, Well, thank you very much. All right, Larry, thanks for the call. I appreciate that very much. You know, Nelson Plant Food. Nelson Plant Food is doing this thing I've talking about it where forever bag of carbo loads sold this fall, they'll do a two dollars donation to Randy's memorial scholarship Randy Lemon

Memorial Scholarship for every bag now. Carbo Load is both a fertilizer designed for the fall application to strengthen the plants in the winter and to make them come out stronger in the spring. And it's also a pre emergent herbicide. So put it down watered in with about a half inch of water, because you've got to move the fertilizer into the soil, and you've got to move the pre emergent herbicide down into the soil surface as well, because that's where it

does its work to prevent seeds. But Nelson's many places easy to find all the great Nelson products. Carbo Load's the one I'm talking about now, though, and that's the one that comes to that two dollars bag donation to Randy's scholarship. We're going to head now out to pair Land and talk to k Hello. Okay, good morning Skip. I have just a comment really about

kudos to I went yesterday to check on I have. I purchased Craig Myrtle back in the spring and they were doing work in our backyard in my subdivision and I couldn't have it planned it then went by to kind of check on it and to see if they I heard you say yesterday that they were having a sale up to fifty percent off. So I went in to check because I've been looking for a couple of Vitex trees there that I've had my eye

on. And they said, well, the sale ended yesterday the day before, and I said, well, I heard it on the radio on the Garden Line show. And he said, well, we have to honor that if it was on the radio, and he called to the pit guy and he said, yes, go ahead and do that. So I got two Vitech trees at a very good sale price. And they checked Mike, who was at the head that he talked to set call back, and he said, I checked on her record, and you know, he said, I

think we're going to go ahead and continue to sail through December. Oh wow. So verdant is and I dealt with Trey very kind, very accommodating, very very willing to do everything just right. So I got the two Vitecs trees that I've been waiting for, and I'm going to get them all three planted on December twelfth. There you go, well, that just sounds like

a happy ending for everybody. I really was. I'm always glad to hear positive comments about these folks that are sponsors, because we chose our sponsors carefully and we do want them to be the kind that provide the service and the quality products and everything, and we know that that's verdant anyway. But yes, it's good. The one other little thing, if I have a chance, I went into Friendswood. I deal with Friendswood Hardware and Garden Center,

and they are no longer Friends with Hardware. They are garden Emporium okay, and they have turned all into a garden center. It's beautiful. They have some of the neatest gift shop items and gardening things and decorations ever. Thank you, thank you and your call, and thank you so much for your program. I love it. You take care. It's the holiday season and ACE is a place for all your Christmas lighting and decoration needs. It's indoor

stuff, outdoor stuff. Do you need some garland? Do you need wreath to put on the door? Do you need lighting? Oh my gosh, they've got box lighting and every kind you can imagine, the bulb sizes, the shapes, the colors, the everything. And they also have something called custom lights by the foot, and you just got to go by there to see how this works. But it is what it sounds like. Custom lights by the foot. You can create a lighting strand that fits your situation.

How long does it need to be and so on. Just go by and ask the folks at Ace Hardware. Go to Ace Hardware, look at the store locator and you can find one of the forty stores in the Greater Houst scenario that is near you. We're gonna now go to Alvin and talk to Frank. Hello, Frank, Hey, Skip, I'm calling about a live oak tree that I have out front. It has some black meldew, like a black mildew about midway up the trunk and going up into the branches of

the tree. Okay, No, the picker woods had been hitting that thing and going after it above all the other trees. Okay, things like it's sick. What do you recommend? Does the tree itself look okay from a distance the amount of foliage and the color of the foliage. Yes, it looks okay, but it's not. It's not progressing in growth as fast as the other ones around it. Okay, Well, you know the black stuff is just a sooty or material, or it could be a lichen of some

sort, just real dark. I would worry about either one of those. That is not the problem. You might dig down around the base of the tree with a little hand trowel or get a water hose to blast out some of the soil and look for a root going around the trunk that might be embedded into the trunk. Sometimes this is underground, you don't really see it. Sometimes it's right at the surface. But as that happens, the tree will continue to declimb because it's being cut off from its root supply of water

and nutrients. I don't know that that's what's happening, but that's one thing that could happen. Other than that, I would say, next spring, let's get some fertilizer on it, wash it in really good, and just see if it responds to that. Okay, wait to spring to fertilize. Don't fertilize at this time for it. I mean, you can put a little bit down now, but oak trees are not going to be actively growing in the winter, and so would I would wait until the early spring and

get it done at that time. What about these fertilizer spikes. Yeah, will you hammer around or do you recommend those at all? No? No, I don't. That tree has a root system that goes way out beyond the branches in all directions. And when you put a spike in, you're putting a fertilizer in one tiny location spot. And yeah, some roots will benefit from that. But if you want to make your tree healthier, fertilize

the whole area. If there's a lawn under it, when you fertilize your lawn, it's helping that tree too, because there are roots all through the soil, not just where you might put a spike. Plus plus spikes are a somewhat expensive way to go about fertilizing. I got you, Okay, thank you very much for your information. You're very informative. Thank you great. I appreciate your call very much. Let's uh tell you what Let's go now out to John in Santa Fe. Hey, John, good morning,

and thank you for your show. Sir. I have Russells sprouts that are about a put in a half tall, and something's eating the leaves. What put on it? Have you looked around the plant to see if you can find the culprit I'm my best guess is that it's a caterpillar. That's the most likely by far. When you turn a leaf over, you may see them they kind of almost sure the color of the leaves sometimes, but you

may stand underneath. They'll eat holes in the leaves, and for small plants, they'll even eat almost a whole leaf up when it's a little bitty leaf. Bacillus thuringiensis is an organic spray. It's a disease of caterpillars. It's a type of bacteria that doesn't hurt anything else, doesn't hurt ladybugs and grasshoppers

and other things, but it does kill the caterpillars. And you have to spray it where they are feeding and because they have to eat it, and so you kind of spray upward from underneath, and that'll do a pretty good job of controlling the caterpillars. You might put just a few drops of soap in it to kind of help that spray stick to the leaves, because Brussels sprouts and other coal crops can be a little a little bit on the slick side where water just boils up and or balls up and roll off. Yeah

s a fact exactly. There. You go huh, but check first, just to make sure it's caterpillars. But that's what I would do. That's about as low tox as you can get. All right, What about seven dust? Seven dust will also kill them. You can get it on. When they eat seven dust, it will kill them. It lasts quite a while out in the environment, and so we always say wash your vegetables, especially when you're using something that's so persistent as that. Okay, okay,

how long how long does the seven dust last? Okay, I'm trying to calculate. Okay, some little Brussels sprouts. Yeah, oh no, no, no, not that long. We're talking a week or two out there in the garden. Yeah, it doesn't break down the BT. You're going to need to spray it maybe twice a week until you've got those caterpillars shut down. But anyway, don I'm gonna have to take a break here. Thank you very much for the call. I appreciate that. Our phone number

seven one three two one two five eight seven four. Welcome back to garden Line. Glad you're listening today, and here is a phone number if you'd like to give us a call. This is the last half hour of the show this weekend, and so this would be a good time to give us a call seven one three two one two five eight seven four. If I have any questions we can help with, We're more than happy to do that. Uh. Star of Texas is one of the best causes that I can

think of in terms of where should your money go? Where? Where? How do you help Star of Hope. Let's say Star of Texas. That's a stock show. By the way, for those of you who live in the Austin area, Star of Hope, thank you for Josh. Star of Hope is doing just amazing work here. We're talking about huge numbers of people that they bring in and they change your life. It's not just feeding them.

They do feed them, but how about training, how about caring for the kids while mom is learning about things so she can go out and get a job, or while dad is. Star Hope is absolutely the best organization I know of when it comes to dealing with the homeless folks around Houston and

providing life change. Not just food for a day, but your donations can help them serve more than five thousand meals a week to the residents for just two dollars and eighty cents, you can provide a meal and that's pocket change. Consider supporting Star Hope. My wife and I do, and I find that it is one of the most worthy organizations of our funds because every dollar you give changes somebody for the better. It's absolutely just the stories and the

stories you hear coming out of Star Hoarpe just amazing. And I've been there, visited with residents before there, but it's just an amazing place. S o Hmission dot org. S o hmission dot org. We're gonna go now to pair Land and talk to Kevin Hellokevin, Hey, good morning, Skip. I know this question has been asked many at times, and I'm sorry for re asking it, but what is the deal this year with all of the acorns there? It's kind of a perfect storm thing. Coven acorn oak

trees. They have a certain cycle that they produce acrons on, some some just like every two years and some annually. Uh. And when you combine that with the fact that certain years are just heavy mass years. The mast is the term they use for the acorn production or just heavy mast years, and this is one of them everywhere, and it's interesting. It's not just here in Houston. I have a mother in law in the San Antonio area. Driving up her driveway is like running over bubble wrap. I mean,

all the acorns that are on the driveway. It's just crazy, crazy amounts. Yeah, it's it's not. It's not a sign of a problem though, So don't worry. Don't worry about that. Just don't run. Don't run barefoot through the yard for just a little while here. Okay, thank you very much for the question. Yeah, we've we've had that one a lot. But uh, you know, it's just part of what do we call it, the vicissitudes of nature maybe affecting that. I think that's probably

a big part of it as well. Have you been out to enchanted forest that's in the Richmond are In fact, if you're if you're in Richmond and you're going on fifty nine towards sugar Land, it's going to be off to the right, off to the right, and enchanted forest isn't enchanting place right now. They've got their fresh Christmas greenery, and I'm talking about fresh wreaths and swags and garland and really quality fresh cut Christmas trees, beautiful gargeous trees,

absolutely and feel that a wonderful pine type smell in your house. That evergreen smells so so nice. Saturday yesterday was a great day out there. Today is a great day out there again. Anytime you go out to Enchanted Forest, you just you enter an enchanting world where they have everything, everything that you possibly could need. The plants right now are outstanding. The decorations for outdoors or outstanding. You know when I'm talking about house plants are holiday

plants. I usually am talking about points that is and Thanksgiving cactus, Christmas cactus. I've forgotten to talk about one, and that's in theorium, and theorium is it's a green leaf plant, but the top the spath where the equivalent of the bloom up on top is beautiful red. And you just have to go out and Enchanted for Us has got a great ply of them. Check out the etherium. I should have included that in the holiday list as well. We're going to go now out to Montgomery and talk to Jen.

Hey, Jen, hi, I have I just need some general information on lawn cair for the winner. Okay, I do have some brown patch I noticed I have I think I have a raccoon or somebody that is digging up. I think I have moles. Okay, I'm I don't know what to do for the winner. Yeah, well, the large patch of brown patch if the if you've already got a bunch of circles, there's no spray that makes the circle go away the spray. Wait a minute, it's not it's

not circles. It's just like a whole area of brown. We're kind of like dead grass, don't I don't know that it's brown patches, brown patch. I'll the circle circular, not always a perfect circle, but it tends to be more circular than I think. What you're looking at is gress. It just got stressed from summer drought. It could have been maybe killed outright by drought, but it also could be a disease that often follows up stress

like drought in Saint Augustine lawns and some other species. And that's called take all root rot, and it just kills the plant. As the name implies, it takes all by killing the roots, and the plant just doesn't survive that disease. Now is the time still when you can do some things about it. But most importantly I think at this point in time would be a

spring application of something to prevent that disease from occurring. Diseases are always better to prevent than to try to cure, and that would be the time. Call me back in the spring, or just go online and look at my schedules. If you go to gardening with skip dot com, the schedule is there and it tells you for take all root rot when the application times ideally would be Okay, okay, now this is this is what my neighbor told me to wait. But in the meantime, should I be watering or you

should not have to water your lawn in the winter? Hardly after water that demands are super low. We do get some rain, the evaporation has decreased significantly, and I mean, if we go through I don't know, three weeks no rain and we are getting some warmer temperatures, maybe a little a little water would be fine. But in general I do not ever water in

the winter myself. You don't, okay, Okay, one more thing, what about I have like I have moles or okay, hey, hey, jan you got a bunch of questions and I'd like to help with them. I'm going to put you on hold. We're going to take a break and when I come back, we'll continue this call. The phone number is seven one three two one two five eight seven four. Be right back. Welcome

back to Garden Line. We're entering our last segment for the weekend. We're here ever Saturday and every Sunday from six am to ten am, so you can listen in if you'd like to give us a call. Our phone number is seven to one three two one two five eight seven four. A while ago, I was talking about Enchanted Forest and the ethereum and whatnot that they have in You know, they also have a great supply of cycleman by the way, and that is just whether it's putting it in containers, using it

to decorate indoors. You got to get it back out in the sun between between activities. But it's a great plant too. And to get to Enchanted Forest you just go out of Richmond northward sugar Land. But it's FM twenty seven fifty nine. That's the road there on twenty seven fifty nine, and really do go check it out because it is an enchanting place for sure. We've been talking to Jen out of Montgomery and I think we're going to continue that right now. Hello, Jen, Okay, Hi, I'm in my

car on my way to shirt so I'm fine. Okay, So I have some I think you're grubs, and I've had some holes in my backyard and my neighbors said, possibly I have her breadcold or something like that. So okayot grub grub away or whatever it was. Okay, it says I only put it down in the spring. Okay, so I should just wait on

that. Yes, yes, but here's what you need to do. My schedule at gardeningw skip dot com tells you when the grub applications need to be We do an earlier grub application for the young larvae near the surface that have hatched out from the junebugs in our feeding, and then we can go a little bit later and do one. But it's a little bit different product approach when we go through those two. But it's all there on the schedule. You don't have to remember it. You just go check it, check it

out, print it out for yourself and tell me. Tell me again what skip gardening with skip that's me gardening with skip dot. Yeah, that's just on my computer. Yes, And when you get there, you're going to scroll down and you're going to see some really interesting articles that have dealt with stuff through the year. But you're also going to see these two charts that

are multi colored for fertilizing and managing pest weeds and diseases. Okay, all right, super well, I always listen to you, and I never all of a sudden I'm realizing I've got some problems. All right, Well, that's why we're here just so right now, I'm just gonna forget to do anything, right, I think so. I think based on what we're seeing the little holes in the yard, it could be just armadilla's pushing their noses in around. It could be skunk. There's a lot of different critters that

can do that. Yeah, yeah, okay, I know what it is. But okay, thank you very very much. All Right, you're welcome. Thank you very much for your call. Jan Let's see, we have got a clear board here. I'm going to get in close to kind of time to go out, so I think we'll make a few more comments. I've got some things I wanted to talk about that I didn't get to today, and one of them is gardening gifts. This is a perfect time to

get a gift for the gardener. In your life. In fact, I would put it this way, this is the perfect time to give garden related gifts to everybody that is around. And here's what I mean. Gardeners love plants, right, Gardeners love tools. It's easy to shop for a gardener. For some other folks that aren't into gardening, they probably would love to have a house plant. You go to a gathering during the holidays and you want to take a hostess gift, well, those ethereums I was talking about

would be a great choice, as would cyclemen for example. But there's a lot of good options out there for that. And for people that you know just aren't into plants at all, the bird feeders and the bird houses and the different things they have at Walberts would be a great gift as well, because who doesn't enjoy watching hummingbirds right on the outside. And I just think that this season gives us so many opportunities to really provide some really cool stuff

to the folks in our life and help them be a better gardener. By the way, remember when you give somebody a plant, like I say, a rose bush, for the rest of the time they're there at that house, they're going to remember you. Every time they see that rose bush, that's the rose bush it So and So gave me. That means a lot. If you've got an elderly person in your family or life and you also go buy and plant it for them, that's just an extra gift. So

something to think about. Let's head out to Galveston. Now we're going to talk to Bill. Hello. Bill, Hi, got a question for you about citrus trees. I've got citrus trees that have curly leaves on on their green but they're curly, and I'm trying to figure out what's causmic that is caused by the citrus leaf miner. It's a little fly creature that lays an egg in the leaf and a and not a caterpillar. A fly larvae, which would be technically a maggot, eats through the insides of the leaf tissues

between the upper and lower surface. You'll see their little trails as well as a little thin black line which is them pooping as they go along, thank you very much. And the foliage curls up, it gets silvery looking, white looking, it just curls up. It They they are focused on the new tender leaf tissue, so the old leathery already fully developed leaves that that's not what they go after. So you can use sprays for it. Sprays containing spinosid s P I N O S A D. Spinosid soaks into the

leaf tissues. So oil won't help or not OLNM oil can help, but I would rather than do a knem oil. I would do the asid direct in form of name. When you go to a garden center and you see name products, there's two forms. One is the oil and the other has this long word as a direct and as the ingredient that is extracted from the name plant, and that will soak into the tissues and do a very good job against leaf feeding creatures as well. But one last thing about the leaf

miner. Once the tree is established and doing good, leaf miners just don't really bother a lot. You have a young tree in every shoot that's trying to grow is suffering from them. I get it, But in general, you don't have to always spray citrus. If you can put up with it not being quite as attractive, you're still going to have plenty of leaves that come out and support the bloom production and fruit production. Can you spell that thing? I'm supposed to get a Z A D R A C H T

I N yes, sir, that is it. Now, that's the en. If you want to go the name way Spinosa, it is s P I NO S A D. That's generally what I recommend. But I think alternating between the two would be wise because some of these insectorcides you can get bugs building up resistance to them. So it's always good to switch things out a little bit. How often do you do it? What's the week and switcher the switch? You could do that or you could I mean you switch

in seasons even if you want. But yeah, if you got them both on hand and you switch out between the two, just remember all you got to spray is a tender new growth. That's what's got the that's the target, and so don't worry about spraying all the old leathery leaves. Okay, thank you so much. All right, Bill, thank you. I appreciate that very much. Well, here we are, end of another gardenline day. Thank you for listening. Appreciate that. I hope you'll get out today.

The weather is awesome, it looks beautiful. Be a good day to out and do some of that shopping for friends and family. It'd be a good day to get out and just see some of the cool stuff that we have at our local garden center. Some of our other suppliers we talk about have the product maybe to get those Christmas lights you've been planning on getting up, or the swag and the other decorations. It's a good time for all of that, and I hope that you have a really blessed weekend. We

look forward to talking to you again. We are going to be continuing to answer gardening questions and talk about things that are current with the season as we go through week by week. That is really important, So anytime you have a question, feel free to just give us a call. It's Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings six to ten. I'll talk to you next week.