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Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Blooming Studio a here at proven Winners Color

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Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with

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Stacy Hervella, Me, Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer

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Adrianna Robinson. Today we're going to talk about fertilizer and amendments.

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I'm not an agronomist. I'm not a soil scientist, simply

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someone who's grounded in fifty years of experience helping people

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interact with their plants. What's worked, what hasn't worked, and

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to date myself, I'm not taking the Thomas Dolby she

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blinded me with science approach because I'm not a scientist,

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but I do know what works in feeding our plants

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and Stacy, I've often told people that the gardening season,

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the growing season is a marathon. It's like running in

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a race. And the best analogy that I can apply,

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because I like to uncompetitively, is I experiment with electrolytes

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and energy gels and chews and caffeine and beat juice

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and all this kind of stuff. As a matter of fact,

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when I was training for a marathon, one of the

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people who was training us was big into pepper and

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chini juice from the jar from peppern chini peppers, and

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you drink a little bit of that, that'll make you

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pucker up. But we're always looking for that edge, something

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that gives you that competitive edge. And Stacey, I've learned

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over fifty years people are very interested in.

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Speaker 2: That, oh for sure. Yeah, and it's not going to

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surprise you or our listeners that I have some awfully

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strong feelings about fertilizers that will be shared today, shared

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in But no, I think this is a great time

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for this topic because you know, like pretty much everything's planted.

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I have to confess I do not yet have my

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tomatoes planted because the night time temperatures are still so low.

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You know, we're still looking at you know, a hovering

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around fifty, which can set back tomatoes. So you know,

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I grew them all by from seed myself. I'm not

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willing to sacrifice them to the weather. But from most people,

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everything's planted, and now we kind of move forward into

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the gardening season, wait to see what it does. And

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shortly after all of this we start thinking about fertilizing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, then buckle in and put your seatbacks in

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the upright position. Because I come from the garden center industry,

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and essentially what we do is we try to help people,

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and we're in the business of selling fertilizer, selling amendments,

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selling the next best thing. The people who pick up

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the phone and call me and say, Wow, we're having

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a competition in our neighborhood. I want to have the best,

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the greenest lawn. By the way, I have a pointer

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around that. We'll get to that at some point today.

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Can you help me? But you're going to fertilize different

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plants in different ways. For example, the hungry teenagers of

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the plant world are the annuals that we're busy planting

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right now, whereas perennials and shrubs need far less fertilizer

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than annuals to thrive, maybe a single application per year,

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maybe none whatsoever. We'll hear from Stacy on that and

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how she feels about it, and what we get out

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of the way right off the bat is NPK, so nitrogen, phosphorus, potash,

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the major nutrients. The phosphorus in the center the center number.

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It's going to help with blooming and rooting, and the

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potash is good for overall vigor. But then there are

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many fertilizers including this fertilizer that has the micronutrients. And

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I have found, Stacy that most of the micronutrients a

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are readily available in soil without having to add them

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be generally help in the whole process of photosynthesis and

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chlorophyllm many of them do, and you'll see it in

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the foliage if you are lacking in some of these

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micro nutrients. But I guess the point here to be made,

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Stacy is that not all fertilizer is made the same

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or equal, and it's important, just like anything else, to

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read the label and to follow label direction it is.

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Speaker 2: And you know, so basically, you know, we kind of

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got this idea for this show. We had someone say, hey,

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what is what is that NPK thing all about? And

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so briefly, to make a very long story short, there

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was a soil scientist who determined that nitrogen, phosphorus, and

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potassium were the most limiting nutrients to plant growth. So

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that is why to this day, even though this happened

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like in the seventeen hundreds or eighteen hundreds, that's why

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to this day all of our fertilizers are based around. Now.

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They may have macronutrients, they may have micronutrients. Both micronutrients

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and macronutrients are equally as essential to plant health. However,

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micronutrients are just needed in much smaller quantities. And like

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you said, Rick, most of these you know, kind of

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secondary and tertiary nutrients. It's not that they're less essential,

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it's just that there tend to be a lot more

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likely to already be found in your natural soils. There

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are definitely exceptions, like if you live in an extreme

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climate like the desert, you can get all sorts of

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crazy things happening because you aren't getting like regular moisture

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in your soil. So there are conditions throughout the US

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where you may be deficient in some of these nutrients.

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But overall, we base our fertilizers on NPK, and whether

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you choose an organic or a conventional or chemical fertilizer.

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You know, the thing that was kind of mind blowing

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to me when I learned about this is from a

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plant perspective, it does not make any difference. The plant

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is going to experience that nitrogen, phosphorus and potascia the

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exact same, whether it gets it from a quote unquote

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organic fertilizer or conventional slash chemical fertilizer. The difference, of

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course to us as gardeners is how they are made.

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And one could potentially make the case that the organic

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fertilizers are going to be made in a way that

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is a little bit more environmentally friendly, less perhaps industrial

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than a lot of those kind of more standards. So

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when we talk about the difference between choosing an organic

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versus a conventional or chemical fertilizer, there are all chemicals,

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like when we're talking about nitrogen and phosphorus and all

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of that's all chemicals. It's really up to you and

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kind of thinking about that source if you are adding

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these fertilizers to your garden.

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Speaker 1: And my personal opinion would be that the organic fertilizers

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tend to be a slower release. Now I know that

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that's a general rule of thumb, but that is my

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approach there. It's also important to understand ratios as far

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as fertilizer is concerned, and we can talk about that

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in segment four. Let me give you the fertilizer limb

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a rick this week. I tend to be an analyzer

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with this and that and an advisor. I want to

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give it a jolt that causes my plant to bolt.

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I just want a good fertilizer. Just give me a

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plant energizer, not a performance tranquilizer. So here's the deal.

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My plant wants a meal, not a short lived, lame appetizer.

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Don't need no equalizer. I want to maximizer, a positive

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charge that makes my plant large and makes me look budwiser.

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That's the whole goal. Let's see how Stacey ties this

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in and plants on trial. That's coming up next here

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on the Gardening Simplified Show.

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Speaker 2: Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice

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Shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties

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to choose from. There's a flowering shrubber evergreen for every

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taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive white

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container your local garden center or learn more at proven

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Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome

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back to the Gardening Simplified Show. We were talking about

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one of my favorite topics, and I know I said

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that last week when we were talking about beneficial insects,

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but I am also really passionate about fertilizer. And the

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reason I'm so passionate about it is because it's so

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interesting and we do not, unfortunately have time, and you

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probably don't want to hear it anyway, but if you do,

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you can look it up to get way into the

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intricacies of fertilizer. But you know, I remember when I

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was in horticulture school. I thought that my soil science

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class was going to be like the most boring class

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that I would take in my career, and it turned

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out to be the exact opposite. It was literally life

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changing for me. I learned so much. It just completely

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changed the way that I think about growing plants, the

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way that I think think about soil, And you know,

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it was just one hundred percent great for me.

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Speaker 1: Did you ever watch the movie Billy Madison with Adam

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Sam I've never seen that one. Oh okay, You're sitting

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in the classroom and the teachers feels exactly like.

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Speaker 2: You do about soil science.

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Speaker 1: Yeah and excited.

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Speaker 2: Really and it's soil science in the movie.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and then he says chlorophyl more like borror film.

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Speaker 2: Oh really, I've heard people say that before.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know it came from a movie Billy Madison.

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Speaker 2: Okay, anyhow, sorry, interesting, Well, at the risk of making

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myself the butt of a joke. I learned so much

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and if I have one single issue with fertilizers, are

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you ready for this. I've said it on the show

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again before, but I'm going to say it again. Fertilizer

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is not plant food. Fertilizer is not plant food, and

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I have a huge problem with calling it plant food

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for two reasons. Number One, plants make their own food

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through the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is literally the foundation

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for life on earth as we currently know it true,

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and therefore, by taking away by distancing plants from their

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ability to their amazing ability to make their own food

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and act like food is now something we have to

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give them in the form of a fertilizer, just as

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a huge disservice to the amazing power of plants and

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how truly intrinsic they are to keeping our world habitable.

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So I think plants deserve some credit for their incredible

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ability to make their own food. Therefore, I have an

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issue with calling fertilizer plant food.

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Speaker 1: No.

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Speaker 2: I am in marketing, so of course I understand when

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way way back this idea of it being plant food

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was someone's genius marketing idea. The other issue that I

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have with it, though, is that it makes it sound

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much more essential than it really is. Now, as we

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started to discuss in segment one, if you were growing annuals,

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if you're growing vegetables, if you are a farmer, of course,

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if you're doing anything from a high production standpoint, like

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if your annuals, you want a lot of flowers. With

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your vegetables, you want a lot of tomatoes, you want

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big carrots. If you are trying to get those, you know,

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really excellent results, then yes, you will probably mean to

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either manage your soil fertility by you know, adding composts

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or manure and mulching and maintaining a healthy soil, which

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is not always practical. Like I would love to be

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able to do that, but I don't think it's practical

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for me to constantly maintain the amount of composts that

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I would need, and it would also raise my grade

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of my yard, which would drive my husband up a wall,

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and we don't want that so short season. Yeah, anything

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that you need production from that, you're you're expecting real

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results rather than just like standing over in the corner

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looking beautiful. But yeah, so when you call it plant food,

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it makes it sound like something that you must do,

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when in fact, probably the more apt coral for fertilizers

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would be vitamins or supplements. And you talked a little

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bit about this when you're talking about, you know, different

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things for running, and so that's really what it is.

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And it's also really similar in the fact that we

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know that we can get most of our nutrition by

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eating a balanced diet and eating a wide range of

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different types of foods, and that that can generally cover

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almost all of our nutrient needs. But sometimes, you know,

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we're here in Michigan, vitamin D is a big issue,

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not really found in you know, a lot of our foods,

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so very many Michiganders and other Midwesterners end up taking

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a vitamin D supplement. So that's really more what it's like.

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You're not going to die if you don't take that

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vitamin D supplement, but it could be you know, harming you.

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So you know, I not only do I resent the

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lack of credit plants get by calling it plant food,

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but I resent that it makes it seem very much

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more essential. And it's it's simply not the case in

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all situations. But when it comes to shrubs and a

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lot of what I'm about to share with you is

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by extension true for perennials as well, but I'm really

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focusing on shrubs overall. I don't think a lot of

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fertilizer is necessary. And we hear from so many gardeners

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who are like, how many times a week should I

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be fertilizing my new hydrangea? And absolutely do not fertilize

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your new hydrangea multiple times a week. That is not necessary.

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Now I will say, for myself, living in an area

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with a very sandy soil, I fertilize my shrubs and

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perennials once a year. Yep. Just go out there and

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I put a granular fertilizer all over the garden in

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like early spring, late winter and call it good, and

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it's fine. I have absolutely no complaints about the performance

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of my annual of my perennials and shrubs. But there

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are some situations where it will be beneficial, and so

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that's what I'm going to share next. So number one,

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if you have reblooming shrubs, fertilizer is going to be

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very beneficial. Now this goes act about what you're saying

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kind of about that production reblooming shrubs. Bloom on old

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wood like their conventional counterparts, their rebloom, their new wood

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bloom only happens on whatever new growth they are able

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to put on between that old wood bloom. And you

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know when they are when that new growth is mature

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enough to actually create that new wood flower. So the

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key to good rebloom, whether we're talking about bloomerang, lilac,

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Let's dance, hydrangeas, steady Eddy, if I burn them our

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sonic bloom reblooming widealas which are just starting to get

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going right now and looking fabulous, I do recommend a

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little bit more fertilizer on these because if you fertilize

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them after their first bloom in spraying or early summer

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or whatever that is, you give them a little fertilizer

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that is going to help them to put on that

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extra growth and you will get a much better rebloom

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as a result. So it's really key if you want

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the best rebloom. No, you don't have to do it

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for everything, but if you want the best rebloom, that's

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what you're gonna have to do. Number two, you're saying, Rick,

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some shrubs are just hungry. Now most of them are not,

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but some do have some higher fertility needs. And I

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find probably the best example of this, Rosa Sharin interesting

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a plant that is absolutely positively low maintenance. Yeah, you

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don't have to worry about it. But if you have

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a Rosa Sharon, it's still probably flowering fine, that's cool,

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but you're probably resigned to it having this kind of

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you know, sickly pale, greeny yellow looking foliage. It does

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not have to be that way. It really needs those

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resources for the best foliage. So like if you look

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at our photos of roses of Sharon and the proven

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winner's color choice line, you're like, wow, those look amazing.

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You got to fertilize them if you want that, you know,

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to go from that kind of you know, Namby Pamby

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yellowy green foliage to that thick, lush, dark green blue

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foliage that you see in our photos. So that is

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one plant that also benefits from regular fertilizer.

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Speaker 1: I have one that looks like that right now.

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Speaker 2: So you might be if you have a Rosa share

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and now would be a great time to go ahead

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and give it some fertilizer and see how much better

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it can be. You just don't want to confuse your

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hungry shrubs, for shrubs that are having a pH issue,

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because soil pH can cause nutrient deficiencies that aren't true

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nutrient deficiencies. The nutrients are there in the soil, but

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they just can't access them because of the pH, and

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you cannot fertilize yourself out of that problem. You need

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to correct the pH. And then finally, last situation where

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you may want to fertilize a little bit more than

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just that one time in spring. If you're starting with

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a small shrub like you bought online, like our little

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court shrubs, which sometimes that's all you can find when

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we have a new variety by those online, or if

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you're starting a privacy hedge and I did recently start

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a privacy hedge, and I did fertilize that quite a lot,

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because hey, I'm trying to get privacy here. I want

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some rapid growth. So these are situations where you might

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want to fertilize more often. I would say about monthly

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from early spring through late July. No. Here are my

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quick des and for fertilizing shrubs, and by extension perennials,

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like I said, number one, once a year in spring

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is sufficient in most areas, I do recommend late winter

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early spring because the soil is still going to be

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wet from all of the winter rains and snow and

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everything that will help to carry the nutrients down to

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the roots of the plant. And because these granular fertilizers

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rather than a liquid fertilizer, so a fertilizer that is

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going to be grains to kind of sprinkle around the ground.

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Those need time to weather They need time for the

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soil and the moisture to work on them before they

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become available to the plant. And if we do this

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in early spring, the weather, the weathering is going to

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happen and those nutrients will be available just in time

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for the plant to burst out into leaf. Okay, so

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number two, use granular fertilizers instead of liquid fertilizers. The

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reason that I feel strongly about this now, I feel

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strongly about this because I am already fertilizing my vegetables

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and the number of times that I have to go

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and mix up a new batch of liquid fertilizer to

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spread through my garden is enough to drive you crazy.

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It's like an all afternoon project.

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Speaker 1: But that's what I mentioned in the first segment is

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people who will come up to me and say they

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used a liquid fertilizer at some point on their shrub.

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I think you're just far better off with a granular fertile.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you can apply it so much more easily, so

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much more effectively over those large areas, and it is

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generally a longer lasting nutrient delivery because again the weather

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is acting on those grains of the fertilizer and slowly

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delivering all of that nutrient as it starts to weather.

328
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So I am a big fan of granular fertilizers for

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00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:43,839
our perennial shrubs, landscapes, trees, all of that kind of stuff.

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Number Three, if possible, use a fertilizer formulated for woody plants. Now,

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this is not super duper crucial. I will also say,

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you know, going back to the granular fertilizer thing, most

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granular fertilizers you're gonna have a lot bigger selection than

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you're gonna find among the liquid fertilizers. So you can

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kind of dial it in a little bit more. Now,

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I recommend a general rose fertilizer for fertilizing flowering shrubs. Why, well,

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roses are flowering shrubs them cells, So anything that is

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going to get the best results on roses, is going

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to tend to get equally good results on your Wigela R. Hydrangea,

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your lilac, or any other flowering shrub that you can

341
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find or that you have in your landscape. If you

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cannot find a shrub of fertilizer formulated for woody plants,

343
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do try to look for one that is low in phosphorus.

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I was talking in segment one about how this kind

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of notion of all of our fertilizer choices being based

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on NPK those three numbers dates back to those being

347
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the most limited. But here in North America there are

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very few, if any I'm sure there are people out

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there that are going to say, well I have low phosphorus,

350
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but very few residential scenari where you do not have

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sufficient phosphorus for your plants.

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Speaker 1: And again, far more important if you're doing container gardeners, yes,

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or growing.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, and so, phosphorus is the primary culprit for

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non target pollution, so like it washes out of your

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soil and goes into waterways. And again, almost all of

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us are going to have more than sufficient phosphorus in

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our soil, and plants cannot so called luxury consume phosphorus.

359
00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:36,720
In other words, if they have a ton of phosphorus,

360
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it does them no good. They can't use it to

361
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do extra, they can't do more with it. They can

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only use what they can use. And again, you probably

363
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already have sufficient phosphorus in your soil, so try to

364
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avoid fertilizers with a high amount of phosphorus. You're already

365
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providing all of those needs and it's just not necessary

366
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and it will potentially lead to pollution, especially if you're

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out here in West Michigan where we have so so

368
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many waterways, and many.

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Speaker 1: Of those fertilizers are no longer on the market like

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they used to be there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and a lot of municipalities have banned them. And

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00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,279
I think that there has been some movement towards increasing

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the availability of low to no phosphorus fertilizers, but we're

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not there yet. So if you can and you're shopping around,

375
00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:24,160
look for that middle number the p the phosphorus to

376
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,480
be lower than the other two or even zero would

377
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not be a problem. Now, my number five and final

378
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before we wrap this up, is do not fertilize your shrubs.

379
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Perennials are going again going to be a little bit

380
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different here, but don't fertilize your shrubs after late July

381
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or early August. Now you may think, like, what, that's crazy.

382
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That is literally the height of summer. You'd think I'd

383
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,640
want to be fertilizing them like crazy. But the fact is,

384
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by the time late July early August roll around, we're

385
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already having much shorter nights. I mean, you know, it's

386
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been over a month since the summice, so we've already

387
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:06,559
lost a full month of daylight. Nights are getting longer. Uh,

388
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And it starts to trigger the plant, even though it

389
00:22:09,599 --> 00:22:11,359
seems so far away to us at that point, it

390
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:14,519
starts to trigger the plant towards dormancy, starts to say, hey, listen,

391
00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,880
shorter days are coming. You better start shutting down now.

392
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Like I just explained, the granular fertilizers need to weather.

393
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:24,359
They need to have the water and the soil and

394
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,200
everything work on them to make those nutrients that they

395
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,680
contain available to the plant. So if you're applying that

396
00:22:30,839 --> 00:22:34,599
in about you know later than say, early August, that

397
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,759
nutrient does not become available until now we're talking late September,

398
00:22:38,799 --> 00:22:42,240
early October. And if we have a really warm autumn,

399
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:44,079
and all of a sudden, this plant has this influx

400
00:22:44,079 --> 00:22:46,759
of nutrients that can push quite a lot of new

401
00:22:46,799 --> 00:22:49,519
growth at a time when the plant should be shutting

402
00:22:49,559 --> 00:22:53,440
down rather than going gangbusters. Now this is especially crucial

403
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,119
for big leaf hydranges because these are plants that love

404
00:22:58,279 --> 00:23:03,079
to respond to excessive forertilizer. They will just grow like crazy.

405
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,200
So you don't want those nutrients to become available at

406
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,960
a time when the plant would otherwise be shutting down.

407
00:23:09,039 --> 00:23:11,079
So if you live in a hot climate, you can

408
00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:15,079
certainly push that last fertilizer you know, into probably August,

409
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,200
mid to late August, because you're going to obviously be

410
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,240
getting that winter shut down later than we will here

411
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,359
in Michigan, but for most of us here in the Midwest,

412
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,519
the Northeast, any place where we have that cold winter

413
00:23:25,599 --> 00:23:29,440
that typically starts going around you know, November or so,

414
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stop your fertilizing of your woody plants and perennials by

415
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late July.

416
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Speaker 1: Now that's a theory that I do want to test, Stacey,

417
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:42,039
because when it comes to trees, I have always fertilized

418
00:23:42,079 --> 00:23:45,519
trees once the foliage is dropping off the trees.

419
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Speaker 2: Let's see that's completely different.

420
00:23:47,079 --> 00:23:51,279
Speaker 1: Correct, And the idea here, and I agree with you

421
00:23:51,319 --> 00:23:54,960
completely later in the season, or let's say around August

422
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,880
first or whatever, last thing you want to do is

423
00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:01,039
try to stimulate new growth. That sort of thing. Rhododendrons,

424
00:24:01,079 --> 00:24:04,799
you should cut off feeding. But with trees, I like

425
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,880
to apply fertilizer in fall when the foliage has dropped off,

426
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,400
because I think we're amazed by how long the soil

427
00:24:12,519 --> 00:24:15,880
stays warm, and I believe that it benefits the tree

428
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,839
and helps the tree off to a better start the

429
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following spring. So I have always made that a practice.

430
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,680
Speaker 2: Right now, in that case, again, your plant's completely darmant.

431
00:24:24,759 --> 00:24:28,079
Now we're talking more like November rather than in that

432
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,960
kind of late summer fall time period in October. After

433
00:24:32,039 --> 00:24:34,279
that period, yeah, so once the plants dormant, things are

434
00:24:34,279 --> 00:24:37,559
a little different. Now. Personally, I would avoid doing that

435
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:43,720
simply because I don't want to risk the fertilizer running off.

436
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:46,759
So I like to keep it where I know the

437
00:24:46,759 --> 00:24:48,519
plant will be making good use of it, because the

438
00:24:48,559 --> 00:24:50,880
longer it sits in the soil without the plant making

439
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:52,559
good use of it, which you know it may not

440
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,000
happen if we have nice, warm temperatures and roots are

441
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,440
still metabolizing, then you risk it, you know, just washing

442
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:01,079
away because of rains or whatever.

443
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,799
Speaker 1: So I do it, and it makes the point. Don't

444
00:25:03,839 --> 00:25:05,440
fertilize on frozen soil.

445
00:25:05,559 --> 00:25:07,839
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, I don't fertilize on frozen soil. That would

446
00:25:07,839 --> 00:25:08,880
be a very bad idea.

447
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:09,160
Speaker 1: You know.

448
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 2: This is really just all about trying to do the

449
00:25:11,279 --> 00:25:13,920
best you can for your plants with your money, with

450
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,319
your time, and with the fertilizers that you use in

451
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:19,640
your garden. So as you can see, it's a topic

452
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,920
I feel strongly about. It's a topic that everybody I

453
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,960
think who has had years of gardening experience, you know, says, oh,

454
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:27,680
this is my trick or this is what I do.

455
00:25:28,279 --> 00:25:31,319
And that's fine. But let's all at least try to

456
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,119
keep in mind that we have a responsibility when we're

457
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:38,880
using fertilizers to minimize pollution, especially to our waterways and

458
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,079
other places that we don't want fertilizer to wind up.

459
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,799
So on that note, we're going to take a little

460
00:25:44,839 --> 00:25:47,160
break and open up the mouthbeg when we come back,

461
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:56,720
So stay tuned at proven runners, color choice shrubs. We

462
00:25:56,839 --> 00:25:59,640
know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.

463
00:26:00,079 --> 00:26:03,079
Team of experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering

464
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,119
shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to ensure

465
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,200
they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable,

466
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,079
beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style,

467
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,920
look for Proven Winners shrubs in the distinctive white container

468
00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:19,559
at your local garden center or learn more at proven

469
00:26:19,599 --> 00:26:25,039
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome

470
00:26:25,039 --> 00:26:27,000
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it is our

471
00:26:27,039 --> 00:26:30,279
time to help you with your gardens questions, quandaries and conundrums.

472
00:26:31,519 --> 00:26:33,759
And if you have one about fertilizing, well, hopefully we

473
00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,640
just answered that question for you. But we are infertilizing season,

474
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:40,640
so yeah, if you plant it up those annuals, they

475
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,400
probably were pretty well fertilized at the garden center before

476
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:45,400
you purchase them, but that will be running out in

477
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:47,640
the coming weeks, and you'll want to make sure you're

478
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:51,400
maintaining that high nutrient level so that you keep getting

479
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:53,440
lots and lots of flowers.

480
00:26:53,519 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: Well. As you've often said, the potting mix that we

481
00:26:57,519 --> 00:27:01,720
put in containers really isn't dirt or soil. Right, it's

482
00:27:01,799 --> 00:27:05,440
a potting mix, and so adding nutrients to that soil,

483
00:27:05,599 --> 00:27:08,640
especially for heavy feeding annuals important.

484
00:27:08,759 --> 00:27:11,119
Speaker 2: Right. There's a reason why when you shot for potting

485
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:13,799
mix at the garden center, every single one of them

486
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:17,799
is from a fertilizer company, right, So because they are

487
00:27:17,799 --> 00:27:21,119
putting their fertilizers in them, because they are not inherently

488
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,880
full of nutrients. And especially if you're like me and

489
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:26,400
you were reusing your potting mix a year after year,

490
00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:28,960
then yeah, you definitely need to do that and make

491
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,960
sure that your plants, you know, have that ability to

492
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:34,759
have all the nutrients they need so you can keep

493
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:37,759
enjoying the reason why you plant it in the first place,

494
00:27:37,839 --> 00:27:41,480
which is flowers or of course, in the case of vegetables, fruit. Now,

495
00:27:42,319 --> 00:27:43,920
I feel like we had a lot of questions. I

496
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:46,359
opened the inbox and I was like, whoa, Like my

497
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,880
hair blew back. So we're gonna get started. What's our

498
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:51,640
first question.

499
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:56,319
Speaker 1: Sarah writes, Help, what's wrong with my SPYREEA? So Sarah sent.

500
00:27:56,559 --> 00:28:01,240
Speaker 2: Pictures, several pictures. Yes, So, Sarah, thank you for kicking

501
00:28:01,279 --> 00:28:05,400
off powdery mildew season for us in style your spirea

502
00:28:05,519 --> 00:28:07,960
has powdery mildew. And I feel like powdery mildew is

503
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,720
something that we throw around a lot, We say, oh,

504
00:28:09,759 --> 00:28:12,839
it has powdery has powdery mildew without really talking about it.

505
00:28:12,839 --> 00:28:17,839
But powdery mildew is a fungal disease, and it basically

506
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:22,480
looks like the leaves are kind of covered in a dusty, whitish.

507
00:28:22,079 --> 00:28:23,559
Speaker 1: Blue powder, white powder.

508
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it looks different depending on the plant that

509
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,400
gets it, but it usually, especially if you've got a

510
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:32,319
trained eye for powdery milde you can kind of pick

511
00:28:32,319 --> 00:28:33,960
it up pretty quickly well.

512
00:28:33,799 --> 00:28:36,839
Speaker 1: And certain plants are more prone right powdery milk.

513
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,960
Speaker 2: And one of the plants groups groups of plants it's

514
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,200
most susceptible to powdery mildew is the Rose family. Of course,

515
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,839
anyone who's grown roses knows that there are susceptible to

516
00:28:45,839 --> 00:28:48,000
powdery mildew. But when I think of other members of

517
00:28:48,039 --> 00:28:50,960
the rose family, Spiria is one of them. Nine bark

518
00:28:51,039 --> 00:28:54,480
is another plant that notoriously gets powdery mildew. Also in

519
00:28:54,519 --> 00:29:00,759
the Rose family, apples, peaches, cherries get powdery mildew. There's

520
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,160
just a lot of plants in the rose family that

521
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,359
are susceptible. The interesting thing about powdery mildew. Even though

522
00:29:07,359 --> 00:29:10,400
we tend to talk about it as just one disease,

523
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:16,039
there are actually hundreds, possibly even thousands, of different fungus

524
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:20,160
organisms that cause powdery mildew, and they tend to be

525
00:29:20,359 --> 00:29:24,799
specific to that genus of plant. So the weird thing

526
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,200
is that when you see powdery mildew on say, your

527
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,440
spyriea like Sarah, you don't necessarily have to worry about

528
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:33,960
that powdery mildew suddenly popping up on your zucchini because

529
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:36,839
it is a totally different organism that has evolved specifically

530
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,640
to be on that plant, and the zucchini powdery mildew

531
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:43,400
is a totally different organism. So people see powdery and they, oh,

532
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:44,640
I don't want it to spread to any of my

533
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,799
other plants, and that is actually relatively unlikely. Last week

534
00:29:48,839 --> 00:29:51,000
we were talking about how carpenter ants in your house

535
00:29:51,039 --> 00:29:53,119
can kind of work as a sentinel to tell you

536
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,279
that your wood is wet. Similarly, powdery mildew can kind

537
00:29:56,319 --> 00:29:59,279
of work as a signal that your plant is probably

538
00:29:59,279 --> 00:30:02,319
not planted in in ideal conditions for its needs.

539
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,319
Speaker 1: And it goes back to the approach again, the triangle.

540
00:30:05,359 --> 00:30:08,279
You need a host. You need a pathogen and you

541
00:30:08,359 --> 00:30:11,160
need an environment yep. And nine times out of ten

542
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,599
the environment becomes the problem, possibly a lilac tree that

543
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,000
was initially planted in the sun and now is in

544
00:30:18,039 --> 00:30:22,519
a shady area, or cucumbers that are being watered over

545
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:27,359
the top. I was doing some reading on powdery mildew Stacey,

546
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,960
and this individual called it an obligate parasite, meaning it

547
00:30:32,079 --> 00:30:34,559
needs living plant tissue to survive.

548
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:36,720
Speaker 2: I thought that was in Yeah, it doesn't grow on

549
00:30:36,799 --> 00:30:40,319
dead foliage. Now, what can happen with powdery mildew is

550
00:30:40,359 --> 00:30:46,039
the spores that develop the powdery mildew will overwinter on

551
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,400
the fallen foliage, and the next spring, when your plant

552
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,759
starts to leaf out and that nice, soft, glowing foliage

553
00:30:53,799 --> 00:30:57,079
does not have that protective executicle, those fungal spores are like, oh, yeah,

554
00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,720
this is my time. They infect the plant. So the

555
00:30:59,759 --> 00:31:03,039
power mildew that we're seeing now in early June actually

556
00:31:03,039 --> 00:31:05,920
infected your plant weeks ago. This is not something that

557
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,920
just happened and infected it probably when the foliage was emerging.

558
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,480
That's why one of the really important parts of treating

559
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,279
powdery mildew is to remove all of last year's foliage

560
00:31:15,319 --> 00:31:18,519
after it drops in fall. But again, if the conditions

561
00:31:18,559 --> 00:31:20,279
are right for powdery mildew, which is going to be

562
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,079
too much shade, low air circulation, so maybe you have

563
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:26,640
plants spaced too closely to it, or maybe there's something

564
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:29,359
else that change in your yard that is obstructing the

565
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,759
airflow to the plant. And of course as things grow,

566
00:31:32,839 --> 00:31:34,960
they tend to get a little bit more crowded and

567
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:39,880
also alternate wetting and drying. Powdery mildew, like most fungal diseases,

568
00:31:40,279 --> 00:31:43,640
thrives when it is being wet at the same time

569
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:45,400
every day, has all day to dry, and then the

570
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,799
next morning it happens again, which is exactly how our

571
00:31:47,839 --> 00:31:48,880
sprinkler systems work.

572
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,839
Speaker 1: Again, moving water is not a problem, it's standing water.

573
00:31:53,039 --> 00:31:56,279
And so again going back to host pathogen an environment,

574
00:31:56,519 --> 00:31:59,640
you do have some control over the environment, improving air

575
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:04,599
circulation when you water, all of those factors contribute.

576
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:06,279
Speaker 2: So if you want to move it, that could be

577
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:12,960
a good approach. Also, this is may come as a surprise,

578
00:32:13,079 --> 00:32:17,240
but milk sprays have proven to be somewhat successful against

579
00:32:17,279 --> 00:32:20,759
powdery mildew. A spray of about thirty percent milk to

580
00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:23,279
seventy percent water. You're going to want to use a

581
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:27,519
full fat milk, don't use skim milk. And apparently there

582
00:32:27,599 --> 00:32:33,200
is some evidence that this is successful. The milk encourages

583
00:32:33,279 --> 00:32:37,519
a fungal colony on the leaf that outcompetes the powdery

584
00:32:37,599 --> 00:32:41,240
mildew fungus. Now, some people are probably going, I'd rather

585
00:32:41,279 --> 00:32:43,880
just have the powdery mildew than whatever fungal colony the

586
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:45,759
milk that I'm about to spray is going to do.

587
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,920
It can be smelly, but it can be an effective way.

588
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:51,880
That's what Adriana sent to You're going to have to

589
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:55,559
make some new posters for that, so that is something

590
00:32:55,599 --> 00:32:57,400
you can consider. But again, that should be more of

591
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,599
a preventative spray than once you already have the powdery

592
00:33:01,279 --> 00:33:03,319
And who's thinking about that? When the plants are coming

593
00:33:03,359 --> 00:33:05,720
out in spring, you're not even thinking about powdery mildew.

594
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:10,480
Speaker 1: Then, well against Stacey and garden centers spell they sell

595
00:33:10,599 --> 00:33:14,759
plenty of fung signs. But the issue here, I think

596
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:19,000
the important issue is changing the environment somehow, changing the

597
00:33:19,119 --> 00:33:22,920
environment or your practice, because that's going to make the difference, right.

598
00:33:22,799 --> 00:33:26,000
Speaker 2: So why apply something some chemical exactly it could have

599
00:33:26,079 --> 00:33:28,960
off target unintended consequences. It's going to cost you money,

600
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,200
that's going to take time. When powdery milk, when it's

601
00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,200
going to come back when it's just as simple as

602
00:33:34,279 --> 00:33:37,279
making sure that the cultural conditions are right for it

603
00:33:37,319 --> 00:33:40,119
to not develop. So very common, I will say, powdery

604
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:44,000
mildew is primarily an esthetic consideration. Rarely is it really

605
00:33:44,039 --> 00:33:46,400
going to take down your plant in a way that, like,

606
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,279
you know, it's going to die. But yeah, people don't

607
00:33:49,279 --> 00:33:52,039
really like seeing it around in their beautiful June gardens.

608
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:55,440
So lots to say about powdery mildew. But I hope

609
00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:58,640
that helps you. I would definitely make sure you can

610
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,559
try the milk spray now if you Otherwise, I would

611
00:34:01,599 --> 00:34:03,400
plan to clean up really well after that plant when

612
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:05,839
it drops its foliage, or plan to move it and

613
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,880
see how it does in a new spot Stacy and others.

614
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,199
Speaker 1: Sarah writes to us, Hi, my question is regarding toxicity

615
00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:15,760
of black walnuts and jug bloan. We recently cut down

616
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:17,920
a line of walnuts. I'd like to plant a hedge

617
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:22,480
of hydranges, specifically limelights in their place. Full sun zone

618
00:34:22,599 --> 00:34:27,239
for b southern Wisconsin. However, I've read that the decaying

619
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:31,639
walnut roots can also cause toxicity. Will the old roots

620
00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:35,000
cause issues for my new hydrange?

621
00:34:35,599 --> 00:34:39,760
Speaker 2: Right? So, you know, people have so many questions about

622
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:43,000
black walnuts, and it continues to be such an elusive

623
00:34:43,079 --> 00:34:48,119
topic because it's just very difficult to generalize. Now, black walnuts,

624
00:34:48,559 --> 00:34:50,159
We've talked about it here and there on the show,

625
00:34:51,039 --> 00:34:53,639
are known just to emit this chemical called jug loan

626
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:57,360
that can interfere in the growth of neighboring plants. Black

627
00:34:57,360 --> 00:34:59,559
walnuts are the biggest culprit, but there are a number

628
00:34:59,559 --> 00:35:02,840
of plants do this. Sunflowers, for example, famously are also

629
00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:07,320
a lollopathic. But the trick with black walnuts is that

630
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,280
there are also cultural conditions that determine whether a plant

631
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,440
can withstand the presence of juglanes. So you may have

632
00:35:14,519 --> 00:35:17,639
something in your yard that can absolutely not grow around

633
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:20,360
that black walnut, whereas your friend has the exact same

634
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,039
plant and is doing fine, and you're like, what gives Well,

635
00:35:23,079 --> 00:35:26,480
it's probably water stressed out plants. Plants that aren't getting

636
00:35:26,519 --> 00:35:29,480
sufficient water are far less likely to be able to

637
00:35:29,519 --> 00:35:33,760
withstand the jug loan that the plant is emitting than

638
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:38,000
plants that are well cared for. Also, everybody blames the

639
00:35:38,079 --> 00:35:40,119
roots of the walnuts, because of course that seems to

640
00:35:40,199 --> 00:35:43,599
make sense. But the bigger culprits and the bigger reasons

641
00:35:43,599 --> 00:35:46,239
that your plant may have stunted growth is actually fallen

642
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:49,679
walnut leaves. Fallen walnut fruits, which you know is a

643
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:50,239
problem for.

644
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,800
Speaker 1: It are messy. Anybody who's had to live near a

645
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:55,920
walnut tree see is the mess thing.

646
00:35:56,159 --> 00:35:58,360
Speaker 2: Yeah. My neighbor has a huge walnut tree and they

647
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:01,519
had a glass had as the upper word glass patio table.

648
00:36:01,599 --> 00:36:07,480
They no longer have a glass patio and the fallen twigs,

649
00:36:07,599 --> 00:36:09,719
So if you can keep the site clear, I think

650
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:12,320
it'll be fine. I will tell you, Sarah, I had

651
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:14,960
a magnolia that was almost dead in my yard and

652
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,119
it was very very close to a black walnut. My

653
00:36:18,159 --> 00:36:20,519
neighbors took down the black walnut because they wanted to

654
00:36:20,519 --> 00:36:25,199
put up a fence, and honestly, within a year that

655
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:27,679
magnolia had completely cut back. They didn't get the stump ground,

656
00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:30,119
they didn't take out the roots. It was really just

657
00:36:30,159 --> 00:36:33,039
not having that tree around anymore. So I think it

658
00:36:33,079 --> 00:36:36,119
will do okay. I do know that smooth hydranges like

659
00:36:36,159 --> 00:36:39,599
Incredible are going to be much more sensitive too, jugglon

660
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:42,920
than panicle hydranges, but I also have heard that all

661
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,239
hydranges can have some sensitivity. So what I would say

662
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,880
for you, Sarah, start with one limelight. Put it in

663
00:36:50,039 --> 00:36:53,119
you know, probably the most susceptible spot, that what you

664
00:36:53,159 --> 00:36:56,000
think is the most dangerous spot. Give it a year

665
00:36:56,119 --> 00:36:59,239
of watering it and see what happens. If you're coming

666
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:01,599
out and you're seeing like crazy welting or blackening of

667
00:37:01,639 --> 00:37:04,880
the foliage, then it's going to be too sensitive. But again,

668
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,920
it's not simply the plant and what's left of the walnut.

669
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,119
It is the care conditions as well. So it's a

670
00:37:10,159 --> 00:37:13,000
difficult question to answer. And that's why if you start

671
00:37:13,079 --> 00:37:16,199
researching online plants at tolerate juggloon, you are going to

672
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:21,119
see very contradictory answers from reputable equally reputable sites. They're

673
00:37:21,159 --> 00:37:24,480
just going to completely contradict each other. So fascinating topic.

674
00:37:24,559 --> 00:37:26,320
I wish someone could do some research on it, but

675
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:29,599
it's just a little bit too slippery. So we're going

676
00:37:29,639 --> 00:37:31,280
to take a little break. When we come back, we

677
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:41,880
are continuing our conversation about fertilizer. Simplice Toyitude, thanks for

678
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:44,639
listening to the gardening Simplified podcast brought to you by

679
00:37:44,679 --> 00:37:48,079
Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs

680
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681
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683
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. As we talk

684
00:37:59,079 --> 00:38:05,400
about fertilized and amendments, Stacey, people will say to me, well,

685
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:08,320
look at how well the trees and stuff grow in

686
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:12,840
the woods. Nobody's out there fertilizing that stuff. And I

687
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,679
guess it brings up the point that I am a

688
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:20,400
big proponent of organic fertilizers. I'm also a big proponent

689
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:26,800
of using organic matter within a landscape. And you know,

690
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:30,199
I like to use the shredded leaves within a landscape.

691
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:34,000
I think it's a form of fertilizing. That's what happens

692
00:38:34,079 --> 00:38:38,480
in the woods. But in addition, it's very important for

693
00:38:38,639 --> 00:38:42,480
the structure of the soil. Again, if you have compacted soil,

694
00:38:43,199 --> 00:38:48,400
soil that does not have good organic matter in it,

695
00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:51,199
it's not going to work real well as far as

696
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:53,960
fertilizer is concerned too. In other words, we're going to

697
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:58,320
be prone to runoff. So I'm big into that organic matter.

698
00:38:58,199 --> 00:39:00,679
Speaker 2: Right, I mean, you can't even really compare them because

699
00:39:00,679 --> 00:39:03,599
there's also nobody in the woods, you know, taking away

700
00:39:03,599 --> 00:39:05,800
the leaves and bagging it up and sending it away.

701
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:10,159
And so by leaving the leaves in the woods, you know, yeah,

702
00:39:10,159 --> 00:39:13,480
you don't have to worry about runoff and rain coming

703
00:39:13,519 --> 00:39:17,079
across the forest floor and leeching out nutrients and sending

704
00:39:17,119 --> 00:39:20,360
them somewhere else. You're building our organic matter or compost.

705
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,119
So compost is kind of happening in a sheet, you know,

706
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:26,840
over the plant. And again, we're not talking about plants

707
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,760
needing fertilizer. We're talking about them benefiting from fertilizer. And

708
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:34,280
really that's about what we benefit from plants that we fertilize.

709
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:37,199
But yeah, absolutely, I think that people who think that,

710
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:39,199
you know, oh hey, you don't need fertilizer in the woods,

711
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:43,480
you know, they just don't realize how what those plants

712
00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:46,039
could do if they were fertilized. But they don't need

713
00:39:46,079 --> 00:39:47,239
to be fertilized.

714
00:39:47,639 --> 00:39:51,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I want to reiterate also, Stacy, that I'm

715
00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:55,599
going to come out and say those annuals and containers

716
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:59,199
and your annuals, feed them, feed them, feed them, feed them. Frequently,

717
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:01,800
and I really step on the gas. As far as

718
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:05,880
feeding is concerned, it's the other plants, the perennials, the shrubs,

719
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:10,159
the trees where we do not feed plants that way.

720
00:40:10,599 --> 00:40:14,599
Some of my experience through the years is that I

721
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:19,239
was involved heavily with turf. Well, with turf, I use

722
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:25,960
a fertilizer called milorganite, and milorganite it's essentially the iron

723
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:30,239
in the fertilizer that really greens up turf, and it's

724
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:33,639
fascinating to me. I would always apply it in late fall.

725
00:40:34,119 --> 00:40:37,800
Then in January we get those thaws where the snow melts,

726
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,239
and I had the only house in the neighborhood where

727
00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:44,679
the lawn was green, and people would ask me why.

728
00:40:45,039 --> 00:40:47,360
And that's kind of the approach that I take. As

729
00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:50,440
I mentioned also as far as trees are concerned, for

730
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:55,719
that late feeding, but again important to note that the

731
00:40:55,719 --> 00:41:00,039
soil has to be good and prepared and organic in

732
00:41:00,119 --> 00:41:03,480
order to hold that nutrient in the soil and not

733
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:08,679
run off. We've got to talk about ratios a moment.

734
00:41:10,079 --> 00:41:14,199
I'll have somebody coming into the garden center and they'll

735
00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:21,239
say I need ten ten ten NPK. Well, I'm sorry,

736
00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:23,400
we don't have a ten ten ten, but we do

737
00:41:23,519 --> 00:41:26,039
have a twelve twelve twelve, and they'll say, well, I

738
00:41:26,039 --> 00:41:28,800
don't want it because it says right here, I have

739
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,840
to have a ten ten ten. So a fifty pound

740
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:35,519
bag of ten ten ten fertilizer contains ten percent nitrogen

741
00:41:35,639 --> 00:41:40,559
five pounds, ten percent phosphorus five pounds, and ten percent

742
00:41:40,639 --> 00:41:44,480
potassium five pounds, and then usually the remaining part of

743
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,760
that fertilizer stacey is just filler.

744
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:50,239
Speaker 2: Material, right, a carrier, so you can actually apply it

745
00:41:50,599 --> 00:41:53,880
because otherwise everything would be so tiny. Yeah, that's you know,

746
00:41:54,119 --> 00:41:56,679
that's called a balanced fertilizer. And all three numbers are

747
00:41:56,719 --> 00:42:00,360
the same. And again we're not it's not like as

748
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:02,960
many as much as fertilizer manufacturers would like you to

749
00:42:03,079 --> 00:42:07,519
believe that you can like optimize your fertilizer and have

750
00:42:07,679 --> 00:42:10,039
like you know that you need to have a whole

751
00:42:10,079 --> 00:42:12,559
cabinet full of like twenty different fertilizers for all of

752
00:42:12,599 --> 00:42:14,039
these specialty uses.

753
00:42:14,119 --> 00:42:17,239
Speaker 1: Told you we're in the business of selling fertilizer.

754
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:20,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know it's again from a plant perspective,

755
00:42:21,119 --> 00:42:24,119
there can be these minor optimizations, but they are minor.

756
00:42:24,559 --> 00:42:29,519
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I have to mention something. Well, let's let's

757
00:42:29,519 --> 00:42:33,280
not move from ratios yet, so let me mention that

758
00:42:33,599 --> 00:42:36,960
as far as ratios are concerned, then Stacey, it's the

759
00:42:37,079 --> 00:42:41,159
ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus to potash in the bag. Yes,

760
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:48,159
the major nutrients. Yes, all right. Number one fertilizer supplement

761
00:42:49,079 --> 00:42:54,000
that aside from turf, because everybody wants that high quality

762
00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:58,920
golf course turf. Okay, But one of the number one

763
00:42:59,079 --> 00:43:03,559
supplements people ask me about, aside from let's say, feeding

764
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:07,599
annuals and giving them that boost, because I'll put a dry,

765
00:43:07,639 --> 00:43:12,239
slow release in the soil of my flowering annuals and

766
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,559
then supplement pretty aggressively with a water soluble fertilizer in

767
00:43:16,599 --> 00:43:19,880
the containers. I just do. But what do you think

768
00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:23,639
that number one supplement is that people ask me for.

769
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:27,239
Speaker 2: Blood beel?

770
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:36,719
Speaker 1: No, I want a supplement that will turn my hydranges. Yes, yes,

771
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:40,719
it happened to me six seven times this past weekend.

772
00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:46,119
And can I use something to make this plant turn blue?

773
00:43:46,519 --> 00:43:46,719
Speaker 2: Yeah?

774
00:43:47,599 --> 00:43:49,639
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of confusion on that, and I

775
00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:55,360
know that you include that in hydranges demystified, But Stacey,

776
00:43:55,840 --> 00:44:01,400
to share with folks, essentially, it's getting a pH test

777
00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:06,280
determining if the pH is acidic enough. But that's not

778
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:09,960
just enough. People will walk in and say, I want

779
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:13,840
the soil to be acidic, so my macrophilla hydrangees will

780
00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:15,119
turn bluem.

781
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:17,199
Speaker 2: So again for your hydrangea to be blue. If you

782
00:44:17,199 --> 00:44:19,320
have a hydrangea that can turn color, so a big

783
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:21,400
leaf hydrangea that is not white as to be pink

784
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:24,719
or blue. White ones can't change color. You need to

785
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:27,159
have acidic soil, and you need to have aluminum in

786
00:44:27,159 --> 00:44:30,239
the soil. And out here in West Michigan, our hydrangees

787
00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:32,719
do tend to the pink because in sandy soils we

788
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:35,800
have very low aluminum. Correct, aluminum is very abundant in

789
00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:40,199
clay soils. So if most of the products that you

790
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:42,199
find on the shelf of a garden center for churning

791
00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:46,360
hydrange's blue are merely soil acidifiers, they are never going

792
00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:50,400
to work. If the problem is that your soil that

793
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:53,639
you need aluminum to actually affect the color change, so

794
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:56,559
aluminum sulfate is the safe. So actually the first thing

795
00:44:56,599 --> 00:44:58,119
that you should do is get a soil test. Like

796
00:44:58,199 --> 00:45:02,280
Rick said, people think soil tests are for like real gardeners,

797
00:45:02,679 --> 00:45:05,840
fancy gardeners. They are inexpensive, They cost less than twenty dollars,

798
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:08,440
and they will give you invaluable insight into your plant,

799
00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:11,400
into what's going on in your yard. And just think

800
00:45:11,519 --> 00:45:14,920
about the money that you could save by buying fewer products,

801
00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:17,960
or by buying the right products. Rather than shooting in

802
00:45:18,039 --> 00:45:21,000
the dark about this, know what you have, know what

803
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,760
your pH is, you'll know what your aluminium content is,

804
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:26,559
and then you could make an intelligent choice about what

805
00:45:26,599 --> 00:45:28,440
you are going to do. That's not only going to

806
00:45:28,599 --> 00:45:30,760
save time and money, it's actually going to get the

807
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:32,639
results you want exactly.

808
00:45:33,039 --> 00:45:34,599
Speaker 1: But that's one that we as.

809
00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:37,440
Speaker 2: Yes, So you threw me off with the annuals. I

810
00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:39,960
was thinking that it was just about annuals. That yeah, definitely.

811
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:43,079
That is probably the number one soil amendment. You know,

812
00:45:43,159 --> 00:45:48,320
I have another hot take on fertilizer. You cannot fertilize

813
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:49,679
yourself into a miracle.

814
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:54,880
Speaker 1: And that's a good point.

815
00:45:54,159 --> 00:46:01,000
Speaker 2: You cannot. A lot of people, well we've tried. I've tried, yes,

816
00:46:01,079 --> 00:46:04,760
and you can't do it. I've tried because you know,

817
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:08,920
as we have been saying throughout the show, most of

818
00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:11,760
us in our soils, if we live, you know, in

819
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:16,320
a climate with somewhat regular rainfall and regular soil. All

820
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:19,320
the nutrients that we have are already All the nutrients

821
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:21,760
that a plant needs are pretty much already there. The

822
00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:24,159
issue is not if your plant is suffering or dyeing

823
00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:29,519
or whatever. The issue is almost never that it needs fertilizer.

824
00:46:30,079 --> 00:46:34,199
And if you do get results from doing this, I

825
00:46:34,199 --> 00:46:37,440
would say nine times out of ten, that was not

826
00:46:37,599 --> 00:46:40,039
the fertilizer that did it. It was all the watering

827
00:46:40,079 --> 00:46:43,440
that went along with applying the fertilizer.

828
00:46:44,199 --> 00:46:47,360
Speaker 1: Well, this topic is fascinating because again, I've spent fifty

829
00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:50,639
years in the garden center industry and I've spent fifty

830
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:53,519
years selling plant food.

831
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:56,880
Speaker 2: I know, I know, I know it's out there.

832
00:46:57,199 --> 00:47:00,559
Speaker 1: But there is a good point here. While fertilized seems

833
00:47:00,599 --> 00:47:04,960
a sure fire away to help plants thrive, certain plants,

834
00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:10,000
maybe many plants perform better in lean soils and can

835
00:47:10,039 --> 00:47:14,239
be harmed by extra nutrients, over fertilizing can lead to

836
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:20,360
weak floppy stems or reduced flowering or let's talk about

837
00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:24,360
herbs or lavender or that sort of thing, a reduction

838
00:47:24,679 --> 00:47:27,880
in the scent or natural flavor of plants.

839
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:30,519
Speaker 2: Yeah, because it dilutes it because it pushes growth very quickly,

840
00:47:31,079 --> 00:47:35,000
so things don't harden off, they don't develop certain compounds

841
00:47:35,039 --> 00:47:38,000
that they would normally develop trying to grow under more

842
00:47:38,119 --> 00:47:41,280
hard knock type of conditions. You know a lot of

843
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:44,119
things like big leaf hydrangels, for example, they do benefit

844
00:47:44,199 --> 00:47:48,360
from high fertility and you will typically get better rebloom

845
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:50,880
on them, especially, But if you go crazy with a

846
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:53,280
fertilizer thinking if a little is good, a lot has

847
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:55,360
to be better, what you're going to end up with

848
00:47:55,559 --> 00:47:59,280
is a lot of foliage, and even worse foliage that

849
00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:02,559
obscures the flowers because the growth is happening so fast

850
00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:05,280
that it completely covers the flowers that you do have,

851
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:07,360
and they're hidden within this sea of green, and you're

852
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:08,559
just like, what's going on?

853
00:48:08,719 --> 00:48:12,199
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's true. And I'm a person, you know,

854
00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:17,920
I'm a meteorologist wannabe, so I'm fascinated by atmospheric nitrogen

855
00:48:18,239 --> 00:48:24,159
or nitrogen fixing plants, beans, peas, lentils, that sort of thing.

856
00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:27,800
But when you think about plants that perform better with

857
00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:32,239
no supplemental fertilizer, I think you could put plants in

858
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:38,719
that category, like butterfly weed, maybe false indigo asters or

859
00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:43,440
cone flowers. I know on the list are setums and

860
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:49,119
boy it bothers me, but ornamental grasses because I put

861
00:48:49,159 --> 00:48:52,679
malorganite on my ornamental grasses to try and get them

862
00:48:53,039 --> 00:48:56,599
really green and full. But they don't necessarily need.

863
00:48:56,559 --> 00:48:58,880
Speaker 2: Oh no, they don't need it at all. Yeah, but

864
00:48:58,920 --> 00:48:59,880
you can always experiment.

865
00:49:00,159 --> 00:49:00,400
Speaker 1: You can.

866
00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:03,639
Speaker 2: You can put it on, trust me, I'm sure you have.

867
00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:06,239
But I'm telling talking to the people who haven't experimented yet.

868
00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:09,920
Put it on for one year, see what the results are.

869
00:49:10,079 --> 00:49:12,440
You know, you'll probably see results if you're using a

870
00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:16,239
granular fertilizer in about three ish months or two to

871
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:18,679
three months, once everything has had a chance to weather

872
00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:21,000
and the plant's had a chance to metabolize it. And

873
00:49:21,039 --> 00:49:23,360
aside for yourself, is this something that you want to

874
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:25,760
continue to do? Do you like the results enough? Or

875
00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:28,239
is it not making enough impact for you to go

876
00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:30,039
through the time and energy and money anymore.

877
00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:32,559
Speaker 1: Have you ever gone to the gas station and stood

878
00:49:32,599 --> 00:49:36,199
at the pump and looked at the three different types

879
00:49:36,239 --> 00:49:39,599
of fuel that are available and asked yourself, you know,

880
00:49:40,719 --> 00:49:42,960
maybe if I spent a little more and got that

881
00:49:43,119 --> 00:49:46,559
high octane stuff, I'd get better performance.

882
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:48,119
Speaker 2: In my car No, I've never thought that.

883
00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:52,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, see I have. Again, that's the difference because I've

884
00:49:52,960 --> 00:49:55,320
sold plant food all my life.

885
00:49:55,679 --> 00:49:59,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, i like to save money on gas as

886
00:49:59,159 --> 00:50:01,960
well as on soil supplements in fertilizers.

887
00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:04,639
Speaker 1: But I'm sure that there are people out there that

888
00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:08,360
can relate to me on this because you know, we're

889
00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:12,440
looking for a quick fix, We're looking to really boost

890
00:50:13,039 --> 00:50:16,880
that plant. But you are correct, and in many cases

891
00:50:17,119 --> 00:50:22,360
we can create more problems than we're setting out to solve.

892
00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:26,000
And in addition to that, yes, when you look at

893
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:32,639
those micronite nutrients, essentially they are already available in most soils.

894
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:36,760
That said, you look at chlorosis in plants and the

895
00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:41,159
need for what magnesium or manganese or something like that

896
00:50:41,519 --> 00:50:45,039
to deal with chlorosis. Sometimes a plant needs a boost.

897
00:50:45,159 --> 00:50:47,559
Speaker 2: Well most of the time, if your plant has chlorosis

898
00:50:47,639 --> 00:50:50,840
or yellowing foliage, it's a pH issue and not a

899
00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:53,880
fertilizer issue. And you know what, all of our fertilizer

900
00:50:53,920 --> 00:50:56,119
problems stem from calling it plant food.

901
00:50:57,639 --> 00:51:02,199
Speaker 1: It's like everything else, it all all comes down to marketing.

902
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:08,320
Thanks Stacy. This has been fun and boy interest.

903
00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:09,400
Speaker 2: Yes, strong opinions.

904
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:11,599
Speaker 1: Thanks very We're gonna have to do another one of these.

905
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:15,039
Thank you Adriana, thank you Stacy, and thank you for

906
00:51:15,079 --> 00:51:18,079
watching us on YouTube, listening to the radio version of

907
00:51:18,119 --> 00:51:21,880
our show, or downloading the podcast. Have a great week.