Hello, and thanks for joining us for another episode of Mid American gardener.

I'm your host Tinisha, Spain.

And joining me in studio today are two of our panelists to talk about all things gardening.

Let's have them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit more about them before we jump in with questions and show and tell.

So, Jim, we'll start with you.

I'm an entomologist, retired entomologist from the Illinois natural history survey.

So I deal with the insects and mites attacking trees, shrubs, and flowers.

All right, and John, and I'm John Bodensteiner.

I'm a vermilion County Master Gardener, and I enjoy doing if it's a plant, I enjoy it.

And yeah, that's, that's all I'll say.

Okay, so we've got some generalists on the panel today.

So the first thing we're going to do, Jim is going to talk about birds.

It's, it's, we're slowly getting into the winter months where our flying friends could use some help outside.

So John, or Jim is going to talk to us a little bit about how to feed the birds and what that looks like.

Yeah, I mean, you know, the problem with bird feeders is you have the problem with raccoons and squirrels.

A long time ago, I solved my squirrel problem by putting a very thin, strong line of wire between two posts.

And that worked for a while.

And then the feeder was in the center of the wire.

But what happened that night?

The raccoons would go down, and they'd hold on Oh, my gosh.

Oh, like a monkey bars like monkey.

Wow, that didn't work that didn't work out for this.

in preventing the damage, got a big raccoon?

They probably tear their lawn.

Yeah, they did.

They just tore it apart.

So that's always been a problem.

So what we I found out is using a PVC pipe as a base for the feeders, and if we could show that photograph of the there it is there.

That's really worked.

Well.

I have not had any problems.

And then we got the direction.

So Tanisha, you said that would be the directions on how to yes, we're going to post those on our social media.

So you can find those on our Facebook and Instagram.

He left some wonderful instructions about how to make one of these critter proof feeders.

Yeah, I mean, it's really, really nice.

You don't have to bother with the raccoons and squirrels.

I mean, it's really, really pretty nice.

And I've been able to do that with you know, you can put shelf breaks on and you can put the feeders hanging in front, like I showed it here in the photograph, you know, you got to do that.

So it really worked out really very well.

Okay, and you've got another photograph that you wanted to show.

Did you wanna do that one now or yeah, we can do that.

This is in the summertime when you have grape jelly and jam.

And like John and I were discussing, these birds are very particular, they like the expensive grape jam and jelly, like the storebrand because I gave him a test one time.

I had two containers of grape juice, I mean, jam that I got from the storebrand and then two of the expensive you know, places and they went the down the expensive jam and jelly.

They've got a refined palate.

I really do.

So now my birds get overly expensive kind but wow.

Aren't those special birds?

Yeah, they are.

So that really works out well the PVC pipe and wet unit if you follow those directions into three simple, okay, and we'll get those posted to again, our Facebook and our Instagram so that you can have access to those.

All right, John, you've got a lot of stuff to show but you want to start with the ginger.

Sure.

I like growing ginger, I like to cook so I like fresh good ginger.

And this is what you usually find at the grocery store.

And you can grow your own, you're going to only end up probably with what they call baby ginger, which is not near as strong as as what this is.

This is a mature ginger plant.

But if you look at certain parts of the ginger like right here, there's a little white knob coming out of it.

And that is the new chute that's going to form into the plant.

And you what you want to do is say this, this is how you're going to kind of do it like irises, you're going to just lay it underground and bury it about three quarters of the way.

You can you know it varies you know, just so that you can see parts of it outside of the ground.

You don't really want to use good soil potting soil because you're going to be digging these up eventually and moving them so you don't want hard old soil.

You want good draining soil.

They don't like to the they'll rot if you get the soil to wet but I did bring a a ginger plant here this is one that I've been growing and you can see in the in the soil the ginger is starting to work out out of the ground already so like I said it takes about 14 months to get something like this and we don't have a day they are tender you have to bring them in they will not survive freezing temperature or anything like that.

It's a tropical plant and but so does this just serve in your house is a house plant you know and then you just come over and take a chunk off it just remote Yeah, you can just take a chunk off and you don't have to harvest the whole thing and it like I say this is baby ginger.

It's going to be much milder not as you know tarped is uh you know that bite that sometimes ginger gives you but it still gives you that ginger and and it makes good ginger beer and ginger ale and that type always in the kitchen.

Always in the kitchen will visit your place.

He's always making dips and jams and jellies.

It's fun.

It's just something I if I can so I do.

Yeah, I like it.

I like it.

And can you eat the foliage?

I have never tried.

No, I don't just curious.

I now I know what I did wrong.

I tried to plant mine first.

I don't even know if I got a good one because I don't know if I did right.

And it was too wet.

Yeah, it was too wet.

Right and want to have a good draining soil and a hole in the bottom of the pot.

So that the water does not too it will just it will just run it did too.

And it smells bad.

It's something that you'd want to eat or drink.

No way.

Okay, excellent.

Thank you.

All right, Jim.

We're gonna go back to you.

We're gonna do question 74 This is about spider mites.

This is from Margaret and Lincoln.

She writes in I have some house plants that have been outside all summer and have spiders in them.

Can I use a fungicide or fungicide three on them to get rid of them before bringing them in?

Also, can I trim my twice blooming lilac bush this fall?

So we'll tackle the spider spider mites Yeah, why don't we just show that table that bornite is the trade name and the company makes this mixture called might x and it contains cottonseed ginger I mean cut and seed oils and clove and garlic oils.

And I think if you use that and swell the directions on the label that would be controlling the spider mites on the on indoor plants.

What about name year a lot of people talking about diluting them and putting them I'm pretty sure if that has approved for household use.

Okay, that's the problem.

I mean, that's why I like Gone I'd company because it has all these products adult homeowner can use indoors.

Neem has a pretty strong fragrance to it.

So yes.

So I prefer not to use that indoors either.

So.

Okay.

And then for the second part of the question, and John feel free and John can answer.

Sure.

I mean, we're a little bit past this, but they were asking about trimming back the lilac bush it's a twice twice blooming.

Yes.

So you know, they always say to trim your flowering plants right after they flower.

The problem with this is that it blooms twice.

So I would trim it after the fall blooming to shape it get rid of any damaged and an it because you're still going to lose some flowers.

But just remember, just do minimal.

If you have to do some major trimming.

If you've let it grow for many years, you are going to lose a year's worth of flowers.

But you know that that's a sacrifice you have to make if you haven't kept it kept it up.

So Okay.

All right.

So we're back to you, John, you were out in the yard.

And he brought in several things from the yard.

So this this one here isn't from my yard, but I want to talk about this today, because now's the this is the season we're seeing them in store.

So this is this is a Thanksgiving cactus.

And I brought this this printout.

You can see the top photo is the Christmas I'm sorry, the Thanksgiving cactus.

You can see the little sharp ears on there.

And that's how you can tell it's a Thanksgiving cactus.

The second one here, this is the Christmas cactus and it still has the little ears but they're kind of rounded off.

They're not sharp, like the Christmas cactus.

The bottom one is a Easter cactus.

It has no ears at all.

And that's how you kind of tell them apart.

They all flower according to the number of hours of light.

That is the stimulating amount and there There's multiple colors, there's white, there's orange, there's red, there's pink.

This is one, that is another nice thing, we broke this off.

And the nice thing is you don't throw these away, what you do is take it apart.

And now you plant it.

Say this is the foil level, about like right there.

And again, in good drainage, drained soil, I like to start mine in sand.

Because if you can get the sand nice and close to the leaf, and it makes contact with it.

And within a month, you're gonna have new growth showing end to end.

And you'll have roots at no time in no time at all.

Sometimes.

In fact, this one here, if you really focus on this right if the band you can see those little hairs, that's actually the, that's the new roots that would form.

So, never throw if you break one off.

Some of these can be hundreds of years old.

I know.

We've got one that's that is from my wife's great, great grandmother, oh my gosh, and it's it might a mine, I've left mine and it got too wet.

And it rotted but my daughter, I had given her a slip, and she had it.

So I've got a slip from her slip that got my slip.

It just keeps getting just you know you can keep and so it's still it's a clone of that original plan.

So it's something that is very, very so you still have a piece of the or not, do you still have the original one, but you're great.

Oh, no, that was that was at my wife's mom.

I think she might still happen.

Wow, that's incredible.

Excellent.

Okay.

All right, Jim, we are back to you.

Let's do let's talk fungus gnats, because another perfect time of year.

And we've answered this question, but I like to leave it on the list because each of you do something a little bit different.

We've got some panelists who don't mind using, you know, more integrated pest management, we have some who want no chemicals.

So I like to get a variety of answers.

So here's the question.

This is from Elaine.

Earlier this year, you address the problem of small flying insects that originated from the soil of houseplants.

There was a product mention and even shown that look like a sticky strip that could be tucked into the store soil.

Tell me more.

So how do you deal with fungus gnats?

Well, there is a product and it's made by safer safer is the trade name.

So safer a sticky stakes, it's called.

And you can just put this around now that will control the adult fungus gnats.

What the problem is, is that you want to control the larvae the maggots in the soil because they're the ones that can cause damage to household plants.

And the adults are simply sort of a nuisance problem.

So you can get you actually can make your own sticky traps tissues, Vaseline on some steaks.

And when the adult flies land on the state, they'll get trapped.

You can also use a cider vinegar, they really like cider vinegar, you can put those in shallow bowls, and that will attract the flies and they'll drowned in that.

And then the band aid makes a systemic chemical that you can apply to the soil.

Now, you got to be very careful with these systemics because you know you don't want to put that on any edible plant because it contains the STEMI.

But that is one that will control the larvae or the maggots feeding on this in the soil.

Normally, the fungus net and make it won't cause that much damage as if the population is low.

But when it gets high, they can feed on the root hairs of plants and the plant will be coming very very stunted.

So if you have that problem with standard plants and plants that don't flower, and you have Bongo snaps, you might want I'll go with that bond I'd systemic and that does have label approval for indoor use.

I have a question.

So if you've got something let's say you've got a young fruit tree that does have fungus gnats, the the tree will not be mature enough to produce fruit for four or five years.

Can you use a systemic on that?

Since you won't be having you know you won't be harvesting fruit for a while.

How long is that in the system of the plant?

Well, I think it's in there for certainly a couple of months for sure.

But I really don't think the fungus gnats a problem outside though.

It's the indoor Well I was thinking like a small ornament like an indoor lemon.

Okay, something that you would eventually eat the fruit from but it was inside.

Yeah, I would definitely not eat the fruit.

If you look at the label, it's going to you know it's illegal to use that any product on a plant that's not listed on the label Gotta because they are liable for if there's any damage.

And so it's, they've they've, they've actually passed laws saying use it exactly, not only just what should be used on but also the strength and when and all there's all kinds of precautions, and you need to read that label and follow it completely.

One of the other things I like to do that gym, I'd like to get the yellow pieces of paper and you can go to any garden center and get yellow sticky paper, I just hang them where I have my plants, and I monitor that if all of a sudden I'm seeing something on there, then I'll investigate because you don't want to let it go to the point where it's been going for a month or two months, and then all of a sudden you just happen we got to plant new seeds you want to have because they'll get on there and and they will they will stick.

The other thing that I like to do is if I do find them I bought them water because you want that top layer that top inch or two of soil to be dry, okay.

So yes, the water will wake up depending on on on the type of soil you have you want good again, the secret is having good soil, bottom water it.

Another thing I like to do on the very top of my soil is put some vermiculite it tends to dry out a little bit more.

And if the adults land on that I put a quarter inch half inch of vermiculite they tend not to to lay their eggs there because they figure it's too dry fluttering dry.

So you know, the only thing I had to mention with these sticky traps is if you have a cat or a dog, got to be very careful.

Karen mentioned that her cat would get stuck in one and then the cat would have like a complete nervous breakdown.

Yeah.

And she's trying to chase the cat and the cats running from her.

And it was just a nightmare.

So yeah, good point there.

And is there something about letting the soil sort of dry out?

Yes, yeah, you always want to let it dry out that top part especially.

But anytime you buy a plant, you might take it out out of the pot and look at the bottom because that's where you might see some.

If you see any larvae or anything like that, it's probably could be fungus gnats, and I would set that plant back and not put that one right back where you found.

Take that home because you're just asking for problems.

Anytime you find an insect on a plant.

There's probably babies that you don't see eggs, and you just leave that plant alone.

Okay.

All right, whatever.

Your Yard discoveries.

Yes.

Cool walk outside.

Yes.

This is this is beauty berry and it's, it went through a couple of Frost's here, so it's not as vibrant.

It was just fluorescent purple.

And it just was beautiful.

It still is and the birds do like to eat on this.

It does spread it's gets to be about five feet tall.

I've had one now for about 10 years and it just keeps pushing out getting a little bit bigger.

And it has very small delicate flowers in the spring has nice leaf structure.

Nice, nice flowing structure, but this is called beauty berry.

And the it's just not showing up quite well.

It's dulled right now compared to what it was still a pretty purple color though.

John, you convinced me this spring, I'm going to pat them get a beauty bear.

Okay, if I can, I'll break off a plant and get yourself Oh, and they call me a DJ so we can record it.

So the other thing right now is we've had some frost and most of the leaves on the tree are off.

This is oriental or bush honeysuckle.

And as you can see, it's I just picked this this morning.

It looks like it's thriving.

It's still got its all its leaves.

And you can see even it's got the red berries, that's another telltale sign.

And in the birds loves these berries, and you know, when they defecate, they spread the seeds everywhere and they tend to acid in their stomach.

Was it called clarify it?

Yeah.

And so every every seed grows every seed.

So another way to tell us what it is.

If you look at the bottom stem, you can see it's hollow.

So if you're wondering, I've got this tree, just cut a piece off, and it's got that hollow little hollow tip there.

I remember we were talking with an environmentalist, and she said that the berries on honeysuckle are like junk food for birds.

Yeah.

And they just eat it eat it eat it and it doesn't have a whole lot of nutritional value.

And this is same thing this this they'll eat it need it need it.

They'll it it will depend on which end it comes out of.

Sometimes it will they'll just throw it up.

Sometimes it'll pass through.

They'll if they haven't eaten a lot of it, but there's very little nutritional value to this but it does have some moisture and so they will eat it and every seed that comes out every single seed that comes in It's just absolutely horrible, horrible plant.

And the reason for that is because as you can see, this is still got his leaves on, all the fall plants that were underneath this were were starved for for sunlight.

Come spring, this is going to be the very first one to leaf out again.

And so anything else, all the natives underneath, it's going to shade those out.

So there, this is going to eventually take over the whole hillside.

I've cut out.

I hadn't done it.

And I didn't realize what I had.

But I think I've taken out 500 Wow, gosh, you know, you have a lot of honeysuckle on your property is same thing.

And until everybody gets rid of it, we're going to continue because the birds, especially the mature ones, have the seeds, not all you know, the small ones aren't going to have the seeds, but the mature ones are so just unit and the other thing is that when I've harvested these things got rid of them.

And actually, if you cut it off and lay it on the ground, the thing will spread well it will it'll actually sprouts, it's like, let it dry and then burn it.

Okay, get rid of his whole horrible, horrible plant.

Wow.

So there's, there's a number of that we have in our area.

And this is probably the worst.

It's the worst I think part of it is now if you want to clean up your yard, now's the time.

Even if you just grew up with some red ribbon.

If it's too cold for you go out with a ribbon and try to remember so that you know what is what and then you can get rid of it when if you get armor if you get it when it's only about that tall.

It just pulls out really easy because it is a shallow rooted plant when it's small.

Once they get to, oh, I'd say and the inch, you're going to need a shovel or something to take it out.

Okay, I need to get it all up.

Because if you leave any part of that route, like Jim says, it's gonna cut this brown.

I mean, it's a plant that's almost willing to you know, go through all kinds of stuff.

You just can't get rid of it.

Wow, horrible.

But now's the time to now in early spring, you know when everything else before everything else is has leached out.

This is the time to look for this.

And get rid of it.

All right.

And you found you've got another something another stick there?

Yes, this is I just brought this because I know Jim was interested in birds and insects.

And this is a Mexican sunflower.

And as you can see, the inside is like a hard marshmallow.

And some of your wasps.

Oh, yeah.

Love this type of an L yeah, I'll let you continue.

Well, I mean, you can you can just make your own notice, you know, hollow steaks or something like that.

There are like that little bamboo.

Grass any of the grasses, yeah, that have that in soft interview, not cut down?

No for that reason, right?

Because, you know, a lot of people do too much cleanup in the fall, or they take everything and burn it.

If we can just wait and let those beneficial insects most of them are beneficial.

Yeah, we have those that will do this that are bad insects, but most of them are beneficial.

Yeah, definitely.

So we're finding that even the leaf matter you know, i Everybody likes to rake up every leaf I leave some areas where the beneficial insects that's where they overwinter.

And so if we can maybe not be tidy, quite so tiny and just let a few things grow will will will be much much better and too many gardeners are so tidy, you know, we need to be met messy gardeners, like insects overwinter?

Totally, we've got about two minutes left.

Do you want to get softball?

Oh, yes, we've got to get to the pop off.

So if somebody had a question, yes, Yolanda shields wrote in and she said that John spoke about the paw paw she wants to know where she can get a tree.

And do you have some information?

Yes, I looked at Arbor Day Foundation if you belong to Arbor Day, they offer that stark brothers, which is a very reputable, you know, they even call me one time they I ordered some stuff and they called me about six months.

They did all your trees live because if not, we're going to we're going to send you some new well Wow.

So service a gurneys is another one, white hill is another so if you just go on the internet, so Arbor Day Stark brothers Gurney or white hill, and some of them are offering now to put micronizer on the routes for an addition it's an additional cost some of them sometimes it's pretty expensive, but what micronizer does, it's a it's like a mushroom and mushrooms break down organic material and release the nitrogen the phosphorus and potash naturally rather than adding fertilizers and so the trees will do much the finding that the trees will do much much better.

So a Popeye's you need two trees from the can't grafted.

If you know somebody that's got a pop up patch like I do, you can't go in there and dig them up, because those will never produce pawpaws they'll grow, but they will never produce pot, they are male and female.

And it's, it's not even so much male and female, but it's two different non cloned trees, they have to be from two different seeds, two different seeds and otherwise you will get very diminished or know if you dig up the plant and transplant rather than if you dig up the mother plant, you'd be okay.

But if you dig up any of those suckers, you'll never have, because that's a technically cloned plant.

Okay.

Wow, I learned a lot that I did too.

We're out of time.

And there's so many more questions that I have to ask.

So thank you guys, both for coming in today.

I really appreciate it.

We will make sure that we get Jim's bird feeder instructions on our website on our social media accounts.

If you have a question for any of our panelists about anything past seeds, where to get things, how to do things, send us an email to yourgarden@gmail.com or you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

We will see you next time.

Thanks so much for watching tonight.