Narrator> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina.

This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina, family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons, a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.

♪ ♪ ♪ > Good evening, and welcome to Making It Grow.

Where we strive to provide gardening information in a fun, easy to understand format.

But you can trust that it's research based.

I'm Terasa Lott with Clemson Extension and as you can see we have changed things up today.

Amanda is off enjoying some time with her family, but she will be back.

Joining me tonight to cohost is Zack Snipes, the Assistant Program Team Leader for horticulture.

You've got a lot of responsibilities, Zack.

> Yeah, absolutely.

But this time of year, Terasa is really my favorite time of the year.

It's the end of May.

We're harvesting crops right now.

We're getting ready to harvest some crops.

We're protecting crops, and we're putting crops in the ground.

So, it's extremely busy but this is the time of year it's an extension agent's dream, because there's a lot going on, and every day is just a whirlwind.

So, I'm really thankful to be here today.

I'm also, going to introduce a great panel of, of folks that are going to help us answer some questions tonight.

To my far left is Mr. Glen Payne.

Glen and I work together a little bit in Beaufort.

So, Glen, what's going on in your neck of the woods?

> Hey, Good evening, Zack.

In Beaufort, it has been dry, dry, dry.

And then it wasn't.

And then it rained about six inches in 48 hours.

So now it's wet, wet, wet.

We've seen a lot of spider mites.

We have seen a lot of Phytophthora that's coming out, in the turf as well as in the plants.

And it's that time of year we're hearing that beautiful music of mole crickets once the sun goes.

Zack> Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

And it seems like lately it's either boom or bust.

You know, it's really, really dry or it's really, really wet.

So, hopefully we'll get some questions tonight, that kind of address both of those.

So next is Miss Christiana Huss.

She is one of our newer agents.

She's a Commercial Horticulture Agent in the Pee Dee area.

Christiana, welcome to the show.

> Hello, thanks for having me.

Zack> Yeah.

So you've been with Clemson how long now?

Christiana> About a year, just over a year now.

Zack> Yeah.

And you're doing a really great job.

I hear from a lot of the farmers that I used to work with that are now become your clients, and they have nothing but good things to say about you, so.

Christiana> Thank you.

Zack> What's your favorite part of the job so far?

Christiana> Well, I like that I'm learning something new pretty much every single day.

I love whenever people bring in things to my office.

And they ask me questions about, you know, what kind of insect is this?

What kind of weed is this?

What kind of disease is this?

And I like going on those little fact finding missions.

That's my favorite part.

Zack> Yeah, yeah.

And so you work with commercial horticulture, mostly.

Christiana> Yes, for the most part.

Zack> But if consumer walks in with a homeowner question, you'll take care of them as well, right?

Christiana> Yeah, I don't send them away.

No.

Zack> There you go.

And it's an opportunity for us to learn.

I will say this is Christiana's first time, and I'm a little hurt because she, she signed up to be on the show to meet Amanda.

So I think she's probably a little disappointed today too.

Christiana> Yeah, she's a local celebrity.

Zack> Yeah.

You'll have to come back.

Christiana> Yes, I will.

Zack> And on my left, last but not least, Doctor Herrick Brown with the A.C. Moore Herbarium at USC.

Thanks for coming on the show today.

> Yeah.

Always a pleasure to be here.

It's kind of winding down at USC this time, time of year with folks graduating and the students have moved away.

But we're keeping it real in the herbarium.

We have a few things to talk about.

We'll mix it up, a mixed bag of things, and some... explore some of the hidden worlds that we have in the herbarium.

Zack> Absolutely.

When you walked in, I got really excited because there's a, a lot of plant material you brought in.

And us plant nerds really, really, like, learn from each other a lot.

So this is a real good opportunity for the folks watching tonight to learn, so.

Dr. Moore> Thank you.

Zack> Very cool.

So, Terasa, I think, you're going to give us a little tease about what we're going to see tonight on the show Terasa> That's right.

Just a little bit of a preview.

We have two exciting segments for you.

One of which is some tips from Forest Lake Greenhouses in Florence, South Carolina.

They're going to let you know a little bit about both sun and shade plants for containers.

And we also take a trip to Crooked Cedar Farm in Blythewood.

That's a family owned vegetable and flower farm.

I know you won't be disappointed.

Zack> All right, Terasa.

So, I think it's time for "Gardens of the Week."

Terasa> Yes it is.

Zack> I need a little inspiration.

It's been, as Glen mentioned, it's been hot and dry and nothing really grew in my garden at all.

And then all of a sudden we got four or five, six inches of rain.

And so, you know, things aren't looking great.

So maybe you can cheer me up a little bit.

Terasa> I think we can or not me, but our viewers for sure.

Because "Gardens of the Week" is your time to shine.

It's when we get to take a virtual field trip around the state and see what you're growing in your yards or gardens, and sometimes you've captured one of the many beautiful places in our great state.

We begin today with Sandie Parrott, who shared Hydrangeas under her pergola in Bluffton.

And it just looks like such a serene place to sit.

From Bettye Insley, Oakleaf hydrangea which is flowering for the first time.

And she said, "She grew that from a cutting."

Ann Lorenz shared her Nikko Blue hydrangeas, which are adorned with a great blue heron statue.

From Nancy Tompkins, a monarch caterpillar that is chomping down on some butterfly milkweed.

And last but not least, Ted Dunn shared a landscape bed and window boxes adorning the railing of his home in Blythewood.

Remember that this is just a random sampling of photos.

There are many more on our Facebook page.

We hope you go there, look at them all and when you see us make a call for "Gardens of the Week," don't be shy, post your photos right there in the comments and they may appear on air.

Zack> All right, well thank you Terasa for sharing those.

And thanks to the viewers for sending those in.

We, I really look forward to looking at them and, take a lot of inspiration and get some ideas for my own garden a lot of times, by seeing those.

<Me too> Yeah, absolutely.

So how can we help some folks tonight?

I know we probably got a list of questions that, we need to solve some, some mysteries.

Terasa> We do.

We are going to travel down to the Lowcountry.

David from Okatie said, "I want to know why this one-year-old red maple is dropping leaves and the twigs and bark are splitting."

And luckily, we do have a photograph to go along with that question.

Zack> All right, so red maple in Okatie, Glen, I think that's your neck of the woods.

What in the world is going on?

Glen> So David, this is a sad looking little red maple that's looking like it's in a drainage area here.

There's some fungal issues going on with the grass.

The poor trunk of the red maple, that's only about a year old looks to be splitting.

The ends of the twigs are splitting open.

So, what we've got here is some very poor drainage in this drainage area.

Maybe some heavy clay soils.

I would recommend a soil sample to see if there's any nutrient deficiencies.

In the meantime, David, if you could get a tissue sample sent off to the Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic, that would help you, with diagnosing exactly what's wrong with the plant and what the best mode of action is for treating it.

Looking like with Phytophthora, if that is the case.

It's very similar to a fungus, but it's actually a waterborne mold.

And once, you had that, you probably will want to remove that red maple and go with maybe a sweet gum or a magnolia, a plant that's going to do well, with Phytophthora in the soil.

> Yeah.

I think that's really important.

And we preach all the time that, you know, planting the right plant in the right place.

And so this might be a case of, you know, another plant would do better there.

Glen> Right.

And I always say be proactive, don't be reactive.

You can do things if you have heavy clay soils, like add a soil conditioner or well composted manure.

That's going to increase your microbial activity.

It's going to protect your root system on your plants.

So that if they are receiving too much irrigation from a turf area, kind of like this maple looks like it is.

It's got rotors, it appears that are watering the grass as well as the maple tree.

So there's not dedicated irrigation just for the tree.

Zack> And what I've noticed a lot too, especially around the foundations of houses.

Especially in our area, where they have to bring in a lot of soil to build it up so it doesn't flood.

They use a lot of that heavy clay, as a base for the foundations of these houses.

And then when you plant a plant, it just kind of becomes a bowl and just holds a lot of water.

Glen> Right.

And you can look for the first symptoms of it right away will be any wilting leaves that you have.

And it can mimic other issues with the tree like a nutrient deficiency.

But if it is truly planted in those heavy clay soils, you'll notice that the leaves begin to wilt immediately.

There's not a lot of new growth that's coming out of there.

And like with this plant, you're also seeing some trunks splitting just where there's a lot of pressure underneath of that cambium layer, where the water is building up.

And you'll start to get the splitting, especially on the, the southern side where that, water underneath of the cambium layer heats up really quick and it can cause splitting.

Zack> Yeah.

And we've seen a lot of that this year, especially with some of our winter injury as well in fruit crops, so.

Well thank you, Glen.

Hopefully, they'll bring in the sample, to our office and we can send it off to the lab for them.

So, thank you.

Terasa, what's next?

Terasa> This one is sort of a mystery as well, from Angela.

Who wrote in and said, "My Amethyst Falls Wisteria has these bugs.

Are they a friend or foe?"

And again, we do have a, a photograph.

So we can get a good look at what Angela is seeing.

Zack> All right.

Well luckily, I think one of our panelists is a trained entomologist.

So we will let Miss Christiana tackle this one.

What's going on Christiana?

> Yes, I do love the insect questions.

So these look like they are kudzu bugs.

Kudzu bugs are similar to stink bugs.

They look sort of similar, but they're a bit smaller and a bit rounder.

But kudzu bugs specialize on your legumes.

So your soybeans, really any kind of bean, and in this case it's Wisteria.

Zack> Oh, Wisteria is in the legume family?

<Yeah> See, I told you I'd learn something tonight.

Chritiana> Yes, it is.

And... this, in this case, it's technically a pest, because kudzu bugs are using, their straw like mouthparts to suck some of the juices out of the plants.

It's probably not going to be causing too much harm to your Wisteria unless you have you know, maybe hundreds of them on your plant or if maybe if the plant is still very young.

But you can just, knock them off of the plant, maybe into, some soapy water, and that's all, all you need to do for them.

Zack> Man, if we could teach those kudzu bugs how to get on the non-native Wisteria, that'd be a blessing versus a pest.

Terasa> Yeah, I was going to say I was really happy that it was the Amethyst Falls, which is our native Wisteria, rather than any of the invasive ones.

Zack> Right.

And I think that's I think that's really important, you know, is using natives when we can, so.

Yeah, that kudzu bug came in, I guess, what ten years ago or so, and we were really nervous about it because it was, we were concerned about it getting on soybeans.

Which is another legume, but I don't think it's done as much damage as we kind of thought it would, so.

Christiana> Yeah, it'll eat the kudzu, which is great because kudzu as we know, is very invasive.

But... And if it gets on your soybeans, it could be a problem.

But you're right, it's, it's really more of a... Zack> It's just there.

Christiana> It's just there.

Thank you.

Zack> Well, and some, some other insect or some bird or something I'm sure is using it.

Becomes part of the food web at some point in time.

Yeah.

Cool.

Well, Herrick, did you bring anything to show us?

I know, I mean...

I don't know if you have any more room in your car for all the stuff you brought.

> I have a few things that I brought to show and tell.

The first thing I was, go in to about was a little bit, of a mystery.

Like, you typically don't see these things, during the growing season.

But mixotrophs, which are, kind of an intriguing group of plants to me at least, that we normally think of plants as being photosynthetic primary producers.

But there's this whole group of smaller sort of herbaceous things that rely on stuff that's in the soil, like the mycosphere and, fungal associations.

And so I've noticed a few of these things on the USC campus.

And, we actually have a few of the native orchids that are really reliant on the, you know, good soil conditions and the healthy mycosphere.

And then also noticed something that we call "striped wintergreen."

Which is a small little, another common name for it is Pipsissewa.

It's this small little plant, related to, blueberries actually in the heath family.

And what they do is they'll kind of like, hide out during the growing season, underneath these, densely shaded canopies.

And they rely on that, association with their root systems and the mycosphere, the fungi that are in the soil to help... get extra moisture and nutrients that they aren't able to obtain because they're not getting any sunlight down there during the summertime.

And then in the wintertime, they switch their modality, their way of getting nutrients to, actual photosynthesizing.

Zack> So it's almost like a hybrid car.

Dr. Brown> Yeah it is.

Zack> We're using gas and then we're using- Dr. Brown> Yeah.

Variety is the spice of life there.

Zack> What a cool adaptation though, I guess for, you know, survival, you know, having different modes of making energy.

<Exactly> And so, can you give us some more examples of these.

Dr. Brown> Yeah.

So Crane-fly Orchid is, one that, it only puts leaves out during the winter time.

That's the only time it actually has access to sunlight.

And it works out real good, when I'm teaching a class on campus in the fall, I can actually show the students this plant.

But in the summertime, it's not so, so obvious, because the leaves actually just die, and senesce.

And it goes dormant during the typical growing season.

It's kind of interesting.

Another real showy one is, Rattlesnake Orchid.

It's a beautiful, rosette of these dark green leaves with white veins that run through it.

It's another one of our native terrestrial species of orchids.

And if you have, a plot of land that has some space that you're not typically using, and you see any of these things, it's generally a good indicator of sort of a, undisturbed environment, good soil conditions and, that sort of stuff.

Zack> Very cool.

So these things, I guess... Can you explain a little bit more about the different modes of how they're getting energy?

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around that.

So in the spring they get their energy from fungi?

Dr. Brown> Yes.

So if you... think of a mushroom, right?

You've got this sort of it's actually the fruiting body of the fungus and down into the soil there are these things called "rhizomorphs."

They're like roots.

They're not really roots because it's a mushroom.

But those things kind of go in and they break down these sort of decaying organic matter, and they, they're able to metabolize that cellulose and other sorts of things that, other, plants and things aren't able to get a hold of.

And they break them down into... smaller bits that these plants can then metabolize.

And so the, the rhizomorphs will actually sort of connect or intertwine with the roots of these mixotrophs, which are basically plants.

And, transfers some of the nutrients that they're absorbing.

Zack> So it's not a parasitic relationship necessarily.

Dr. Brown> No, symbiotic.

Symbiotic.

So there's a mutual benefit here that, the plants will then in turn, transfer some of their carbohydrates.

So that's basically what plants are doing when they're photosynthesizing is producing a lot of sugars and that sort of thing.

And this helps the fungi that are attached to those plant roots because it'll transfer some of the carbohydrates.

Glen> So they really help with energy production and just moving energy through the biosphere.

<Yeah> Zack> Isn't it crazy, the, you know how interesting nature is and things you might not even notice when you look at it, but like there's just all these intricacies in life and in nature that's really fascinating.

So thanks for sharing.

<Yeah> Pretty cool.

Well, Terasa, I think it's time for a segment.

What do we have on deck?

Terasa> It is time for us to learn about shade and sun plants, that are going to perform for you, even during the stressful conditions that we have in South Carolina summers.

Let's take a look.

Amanda> I'm talking to Dakota Nettles and she came over from Florence, Forest Lake Greenhouse.

Thanks for coming.

> Well, thank you.

I'm so excited to be here.

Amanda> So, I know you have a specialty area, as do lots of people, but overall, what are some of the things that you'll do there?

Dakota> So, Forest Lake Greenhouses grows a lot of annuals, but we also have things like perennials and shrubbery.

We have trees.

We even have a native plant section.

<Cool> So that's pretty awesome.

Tropicals and houseplants.

Lots of plants, lots of plants.

Amanda> And what's your specialty?

Dakota> So I deal with a lot of annuals outside.

I do container gardening, help people choosing, their annuals that they want to put in their containers or in their beds.

Amanda> These are things for part shade and shading.

Dakota> Yeah.

So a lot of people have trouble finding things for shade.

So I just wanted to share, a bunch of options that you can put in your containers or your, your garden beds.

Amanda> This is the coolest looking thing I've ever seen.

Dakota> This is very pretty.

So this is a crocodile fern, and a lot of people use it inside as a houseplant.

Amanda> Look at this leaf.

Dakota> Isn't that beautiful?

Amanda> Have you every seen anything so crazy?

Dakota> The texture is very nice.

Even though a lot of people use it inside, you can put it outside in the shade or in dappled light.

So it's a really good option this time of year in spring and summer, when it's not so cold outside.

Amanda> Okay.

Yeah.

And then, look at the colors in this.

Isn't that fun?

Dakota> Isn't that so pretty.

This is an Ajuga.

And it takes shade.

It's a ground cover.

It's going to stay really low to the ground and kind of creep.

A lot of people use that right in the front of their house.

Amanda> Yeah, it's so pretty.

Dakota> Lots of different color.

Yes.

Amanda> Yeah.

All righty.

"Sedges have edges" as Dr. John says.

Yeah Dakota> I love this grass.

It's a sedge, a Carex grass.

Sometimes we can't find things that bloom for the shade.

Or you need something a little bit bigger or taller.

And a grass is, a really good thing to use.

And this doesn't bloom, but it has this lime green to give you that color variation.

There's usually a lot of greens in shade, so this breaks it up a little bit.

Amanda> Isn't it wonderful?

Dakota> It's very pretty.

Amanda> And the texture also.

Dakota> Oh yeah.

It's very flowy, very flowy.

Add some texture in that garden.

Amanda> All righty.

Let's see who else we have over here.

Ahh... Let's do this wonderful one.

Dakota> So I really like this one.

This is Heuchera, commonly known as "coral bells."

It puts off these little shoots.

The blooms actually kind of look like little bells.

Amanda> Yes!

Dakota> So, Heuchera actually in South Carolina is mostly evergreen.

It can take shade or part shade.

It can take some sun.

And it's mostly used for the foliage.

Amanda> Look at the, I mean the foliage is just beautiful.

Dakota> And it's a different color green too.

It's a little bit more blue-green than your regular.

And then you've got the pink flowers for contrast.

And these come in a... bunch of different colors, lots of different colors.

Amanda> Okay.

Well, I think that is the shady and part shade ones.

Ah, let's go to the sun.

(laughter) Dakota> So, I guess you can start off with this one.

This is a Spanish lavender.

Isn't that beautiful?

So you can use the lavender for medicinal purposes, and then it puts off these great big blooms.

A lot of people have trouble finding heat tolerant plants, plants that will go through the summer here in South Carolina and take our awful, awful sun, our brutal sunlight.

And this is one of them that can.

This can take you all summer long, and might even come back for you next year.

Amanda> Also, it's a great container plant because it does not want to be overwatered.

Dakota> Yes.

It does not want to be overwatered.

So it, it really does do great in containers.

It adds a lot of height, variations of height for the containers.

Yeah.

Amanda> Mercy, mercy, even when it's not flowering, it's very beautiful.

Dakota> And it smells wonderful.

Amanda> Yeah.

Okay.

Dakota> Yeah.

So the next one that I have over here is a Verbena.

<Ah> Verbena is kind of like a ground cover as well.

That's going to, stay real, real low and spread.

So it's good for planting in beds, but you can also use it in containers because once it does spread, it'll get heavy and fall over.

Amanda> Fall over, of course.

Dakota> Yeah.

And these flowers are so vibrant and pretty.

Amanda> And it has a long, long blooming period.

Dakota> It does.

It will go all summer long and pretty much till the cold.

There are some varieties of Verbena even, that are perennial here.

So they'll come back.

Amanda> This was a mighty pretty one.

Oh, wonderful marigolds.

Old fashioned but fun.

Dakota> So everyone knows marigolds.

A lot of people will put them in their garden beds and whatnot.

Amanda> And deer resistant, I think.

Dakota> Yes, I was going to say that's a very, that's a very good quality is them being deer resistant.

They have a really fun texture too.

Amanda> Yeah, they do and they come in- Dakota> Super vibrant.

Amanda> All different sizes and, different colors as well in the same palette.

Dakota> Oh, yeah.

Different varieties will get... different sizes.

This one may stay a little bit smaller while another one gets like twice as big.

So that's fun.

They're really good for containers.

But like I said, a lot of people use them in their garden beds, too.

Amanda> And just a happy, cheerful flower.

Dakota> It really is.

It really is.

Amanda> Okay.

Dakota> All Right.

So this one's really fun.

<Yes> This is a Gaura.

A lot of people call it "whirling butterflies" because of their blooms.

<Yes> Doesn't that look cool?

Amanda> And they do move very easily.

Dakota> If you ever see them.

Like a lot of people have, have them lined up in the front of their house and when the wind blows, it just looks so beautiful.

Yeah.

It comes in a bunch of different colors too.

Gaura actually comes in pink and red.

<Hmm> And their leaves will even be pink and red.

This is a perennial here.

A lot of people use it to plant in the ground, but it actually could be a really good container plant as well.

Amanda> Okay.

Butterfly fly away.

Dakota> Right.

So this one is another popular one.

<Yeah> This is Vinca.

Extremely heat tolerant plant.

And it comes in a bunch of different colors.

So this is, this is a really cute little pinky color.

Kind of matches your shirt.

And it comes in trailing and upright varieties.

So this one's an upright variety.

Amanda> But also when you're... because you like to do containers.

<I do> It's wonderful to put in a container.

Dakota> It is because it'll just spill right over and it has just the same look.

It just kind of falls over instead.

<Yeah> But these are great heat tolerant plants and they don't really like a whole lot of water.

And then the last two things that I wanted to talk about.

We have asparagus fern and sweet potato vine.

<Uh-huh> Which are both kind of trailers, some spillers.

So they're both this green color.

You can add them together, although I wouldn't recommend because this guy gets huge.

And this one also gets fairly huge.

Now- Amanda> So placement is important in the container.

Dakota> Yes.

Placement is very important.

If you were to put these two together in a container, I just feel like... You would never be able to water it.

It would grow so many roots.

The roots are so vigorous on an asparagus fern that, I just think it would just take over if you tried to add anything else in there.

Amanda> Whoa.

Dakota> Yeah.

Amanda> Do you have any tips for watering?

Do people sometimes put ice cubes in things or, or devices that slowly let the water trickle into a container?

Dakota> So it usually depends on the plant itself.

For example, an asparagus fern doesn't really need that much water.

And so you can go outside and water it maybe once a day.

Amanda> All right.

Dakota> On maybe an 80 degree, summer day and it be just fine.

And I...

I wouldn't recommend doing ice cubes either, because if you think about it, a lot of our plants aren't used to cold, cold temperatures.

Amanda> Oh, that might shock it.

Dakota> Like an ice cube is, yeah it would burn its roots.

Amanda> Okay.

Dakota> Yeah.

But a lot of people do use, these tricklers or like a sprinkler system to stick in their pots to help them water throughout, throughout the season.

Amanda> If you gonna go out for the weekend, what in the world are you going to do?

Dakota> You can't let them die.

So, yeah.

Amanda> You don't want to.

Dakota> Yeah.

Amanda> All right.

Well, I think it's really fun to think that people can come over and you'll help them select a container and you'll walk them around, and they can pick out some things that they really love and would enjoy at home.

Dakota> Yes, we love doing that.

Yeah.

It's, it brightens my day.

Amanda> I bet it does.

Thank you, so much.

Dakota> Thank you.

> I'm excited to have some new ideas.

I feel like I use the same thing in my containers every year, and it's nice to be able to have some different plants that I can use that I know are going to be able to take the heat so to say.

Zack, how about you?

Do you, you and your wife and family plant containers at your house?

> No, we don't, but I have a lot of natives in my yard, so I might draw some inspiration from that.

I told you, I get inspired every time I see a segment on Making It Grow .

Terasa> That's like, Amanda's not here, but she always says it's like, continuing education for us.

Zack> Yes, absolutely.

Even for horticulture agents.

Terasa> That's right.

Zack> Well, we might have some more questions.

See if we can help some folks out.

Terasa> I know we do.

Let's see... You know, I think we alluded to it in the intro that sometimes we hear certain sounds that remind us of various seasons.

And there's one particular, mole crickets that are "chirping," I guess we'll say at this time of year.

Zack> Mole crickets.

So, tell me about the sweet song of a mole cricket, Glen.

Glen> Hey, Zack.

Yeah, if we want to talk about making music with the mole crickets.

It started back in about 1900 at the Florida Georgia line down in Brunswick, Georgia.

Zack> There's a band named "Florida Georgia Line."

(laughter) Glen> There is.

So it kinda segue right into the music of the mole crickets.

Which, when these male mole crickets get wound up about an hour after sunset, they're creating these tunnels which sort of are acoustically created, which actually amplify the sound of that beautiful 130 degree hertz song that they're putting out there.

And they really only have one note.

So it's really hard to distinguish from some of the frogs.

Zack> Can you whistle that note for us?

Glen> I won't do that.

Zack> We'll have to Google it.

Glen> I'll spare you that.

I want to do justice to the mole crickets.

So I'll let the boys have the fun, but it drives the lady mole crickets crazy.

They can't resist it.

And, you see the byproduct of this at the end of May and beginning of June, when you have the little baby nymphs that seem to come along.

Zack> Very alluring music.

Glen> We're at that time, we've had some rain, it's kind of pushed them down in the ground.

It's kind of put the concert on hold for a little while.

Things are warming up again.

They really like that sweet spot of about 75 degrees in the soil temperature.

Terasa> I kind of like that temperature too.

Glen> It's great.

And I just checked and we're at 76, so things are warming up.

Zack> So we're going to start getting calls about mole crickets, is what you're trying to warn me about.

Glen> It is possible.

You may be getting calls about mole crickets.

Things you can start to look for are the tunnels.

Your grass may be appearing spongy under your feet as you're walking across the ground.

Other things you can do are create little pitfall traps.

Kind of, take the top off of a coffee can and bury it in the ground.

You can put some soapy water in it and you'll see what, little insects go across the ground and fall in.

You can look down to see if you've got the little half inch nymphs, or the two and a half inch adults that are there.

And in the Lowcountry, we've got two, that we're really, really fighting with the Tawny Mole Cricket as well as the Southern Mole Cricket.

Zack> But, so when you said when we trap them, we'll get nymphs and adults.

So, at what stage do we, if we want to manage for those, which one's going to be a little easier to manage?

Glen> Your nymphs are going to be much easier to manage.

They have not become full fledged adults yet.

They're not able to reproduce at this time.

And they don't have wings, which is, really a big deal.

So they're not able to move around in the environment, through the air and flying.

So they'll have to go through a few instars before they're able to fly.

But the males and females, they will have wings on them and they'll be able to fly around.

Zack> Are they attracted to a particular type of turf, or is it all just kind of if it's there, they'll... they'll come.

Glen> If it's there, they'll come.

It can be a case of, where maybe you've treated your lawn, and your neighbor has not.

And they seem to come in just overnight.

That's probably truly what happens.

They are attracted to areas where you leave your, lights on at night.

It attracts a food source for them.

So they'll come into those areas.

The nymphs typically are going to feed off of the root system.

Some of the adults, they'll feed off of other insects.

So leaving those lights on at night will really attract those.

Zack> So turn your lights off.

Is one of the, takeaways here.

Glen> May be a little more beneficial to you if you can do that.

Other things that will help is if you have compacted areas, you're walking around the same side of the house to the hose or something.

Areas get compacted if you would consider aeration this time of year.

That will really help, break up the soil compaction and the air in it.

As these mole crickets are in there and they're tunneling around.

They really like sandy areas.

They like that 75 degrees and sunny.

So those are all things that they- Zack> I'm sure we have a factsheet on the Home and Garden Information Center on this, correct?

Glen> Absolutely.

Zack> Very cool.

Yeah, talking about the... crickets and the singing, when I was in college, we had to identify frogs by their calls.

And we actually had an exam, on the frog call.

So maybe, you know, we can throw that in a class at Clemson.

Glen> You had the "Beatles," you had the "Byrds," you have the mole crickets, which are the ones who work in the dark.

That's a mole, according to the Webster's Dictionary.

And with your crickets, you know, they're going to make that noise in that high 130 hertz trill, by rubbing their forewings together in the front.

And what's really weird is in their, forewings, and they're going to have their ears that are down there.

So they're on the side of their head.

And a big way to ID the two, we touched on Tawny.

The Tawny ones, if you look at the back of their head, they're pronotum, that protects their muscles for their legs and their wings.

It's a mottled, brown and black color.

And if you look at the Southern Mole Crickets, they have four very distinct dots that are on the back of their pronotum.

So you look at it, it's very distinct with the four dots to tell which one you have.

Zack> And I'm sure on our fact sheet we can parse all that out with identification and everything.

Awesome.

Well thanks, Glen.

I appreciate it.

Glen> Thanks Zack.

Zack> Christiana, you have brought something for show and tell.

Christiana> I did.

Zack> What have you got today for us?

Christiana> Yes.

So I have a... Zack> Lunch.

Christiana> I have lunch.

Yes.

And this is, the Florida Betony, or it's also known as "rattlesnake weed."

Which sounds scary, but it's completely harmless.

Zack> Why would it be named "rattlesnake weed?"

Christiana> Well, if you look at the root of it, it sort of looks like a rattlesnake's tail.

And I found this whole bunch of them in my yard yesterday.

Probably only took me, you know, 10, 15 minutes to dig all of them up because there was quite a few in my yard.

Zack> Can you pull one out so we can kind of get a good look at, what it looks like up close?

Christiana> Yes.

I'll- Terasa> I was hoping we were going to do a taste test?

Christiana> Yes.

Terasa> Did you wash them?

Christiana> I did.

I washed them very well.

Zack> So you can eat these?

Christiana> Yes, you can eat these.

Zack> Really?

What do they taste like?

Christiana> They taste like water chestnuts.

Is what I'm told.

I've actually never had a water chestnut.

So to somebody who has not eaten a water chestnut, Zack> Probably- Christiana> I think they taste, they have the texture of a radish, but they don't really have the spice of a radish.

They're kind of like a... like a crispy... Zack> Yeah.

That's- Christiana> Just like a crispy- Zack> That's really good.

Christiana> Tasteless radish.

It tastes a little earthy, but I think they're, kind of fun to snack on if you like the texture.

Zack> Could you pickle this, maybe?

Christiana> Yes, you can.

Zack> In a pickle brine, that would be really good.

Christiana> Yeah, you can pickle them.

And I actually... when I washed them, I washed them in a saltier water to maybe give them a little flavor.

They didn't necessarily pick up on as much of that flavor as I hoped.

But yes, you can pickle them.

Zack> Really cool.

However, if you're eating them, what are some precautions of what we should look out for if we're going to eat them?

Christiana> Yes.

So, with foraging any kind of food outside that, you know, you yourself didn't plant, you want to follow some safety precautions.

Never eat something that has potentially been sprayed with any sort of chemical like herbicides, pesticides, or if you just don't know if somebody has sprayed something in that area, it's best to just leave it alone.

You want to avoid some of those higher traffic areas where people might be walking their dogs or... Zack> I can see why with the dogs.

(laughter) Christiana> Yeah.

Zack> We don't have to go any farther there.

Christiana> Yeah.

We don't, need to be eating that, or even right up against the roadsides.

You can get, things like oil or heavy metals and things from the roads could be a danger as well.

And then, of course, never eat anything that you are not 100 percent sure what it is.

You can, ask your extension agent to confirm with you, what this might be.

Check with several sources.

You can look through books.

And then always research any kind of toxic look-alikes that could also look like what plant, you're looking at, just to double check that you're certainly not eating anything that's dangerous.

Zack> We were talking earlier, you know, about that you know, is it invasive?

Is it, you know, naturalized here?

You know, that's a debate we could probably talk about forever.

But, you know, I have it in my yard.

And, you know, now that I know that I can eat it, it's pretty cool.

But it has a really beautiful flower that pollinators like.

Christiana> Yeah.

Whenever I was digging these up, there was bumblebees all over, all over the flower.

It's got this pretty little purple light purple flower to it.

Zack> Yeah, yeah.

Very cool.

So yeah, it adds a little pop in your yard.

And, if we just kind of change our lens on, you know, what a weed is, I think, you know, maybe not plant it, but if it shows up then it is what it is.

Christiana> I don't think you need to plant it.

Terasa> No, probably not.

Most people want to get rid of it.

I was going to say that my word of caution was just because you can eat it, you probably don't want to intentionally plant it for that purpose.

<Yes> Christiana> Yeah, your neighbors might not like it if you plant it too close to the fence line.

Because a lot of people definitely do not like this plant, but I like it.

Zack> Well, thanks for sharing.

I appreciate that, and I'm excited for dinner tonight.

(laughter) Herrick, do you have, I'm sure you got another show and tell?

What do you want to show us?

Dr. Brown> I brought something larger than life here.

Zack> All right.

Dr. Brown> So, we, at the herbarium have a very diverse collection.

And we have... not just plants, but, some fungi and, algae and other, photosynthetic organisms that we curate in that collection.

But recently, this group called the Humanities Collaborative at University of South Carolina, put on a little exhibit called (In)Visibility.

The "In" being in parentheses.

And the idea was that we would present sort of works of art or things that we had been doing research on that had sort of a hidden story behind it.

And, this sort of phenomenon was actually discovered by my, Assistant Curator, Avery Browning.

Who was, working on digitizing our algae specimens.

And she noticed there were all these inclusions of, like, whole crabs or mussels, like these marine invertebrates.

And, so this piece that, that's sort of blown up here, has some, micrographs.

So we took a photograph using a microscope of some of the little tiny shrimp that were included in this algae specimen.

<Wow> And I think it's just really interesting because, you know, I'm a botanist, I'm curating this collection of dried plants and stuff, but there's this whole ecological, you know, mystery going on here that, we could ask questions about.

What sorts of other little critters, inhabit the environment where these plants have grown.

Zack> And the associations they form with it.

And, you know, are they dependent on that plant?

And then what species are dependent on the things that live in the plant?

So it's, a very complex food web.

Dr. Brown> Exactly.

Pretty interesting stuff.

Zack> That is really cool.

So where can we see this if we want to see some of these?

Dr. Brown> So we have, Avery actually put this into a iNaturalist project.

Because we're botanists, we don't really know a lot about the invertebrate side of things.

Sorry.

But, so she farmed it out to, community scientists in the iNaturalist portal.

And so you can go to inaturalist.org I think it is.

And, type in usch-invertebrates and it'll bring up the project.

And it has all of these microscopic photographs of the... of the inverts that are on these specimens.

And then they link out to our full herbarium record as well.

So you can see the whole, whole association there.

Zack> So, so what are these that we're finding in here?

Dr. Brown> I think it's like Gammarus or something.

It's like one of those little, tiny-like fairy shrimp or something.

That's included in this- Zack> That's a freshwater?

Wow.

<Yeah> So there's little freshwater shrimp.

<Exactly> Probably not enough for a shrimp scampi.

(laughter) As small as they are.

Dr. Brown> Might need some baleen or something.

And then, you know, sort of filter them out like a whale.

Zack> Yeah.

What a cool world that exists that, you know, a lot of people, you know, don't even know about.

Very cool.

Well, thank you for sharing.

I appreciate that.

Dr. Brown> Thank you.

Zack> All right.

Terasa, do we have anything else?

<Well> That we can help someone with?

Terasa> I think we do.

This one comes from Linda on Hilton Head Island.

And she has a palm.

She sent us a photo and she said, "What do I do?

Should this palm stay or should it go?"

Zack> All right.

Well, I planted some palms a few years ago and I didn't know what to do, so I... called Glen, who is...

I would say our resident palm expert.

So, what's going on here, Glen?

Glen> Hey, Zack.

It's good to be the "palm guy" in the Palmetto State.

Zack> There you go.

Glad I could be here to answer this question for Linda.

This question actually came through HGIC.

And I was sent some photos of it.

Had not spoken to Linda actually, yet.

But in looking at the photo, what they're going to be doing is adding a deck to where they have a concrete aggregate deck already existing and about 90 percent of it is paved, and 10 percent of it has this palm tree growing out of it.

And if you look at the photos that Linda's included, there's some fungal activity going on at the base.

If you go up the trunk, there's some penciling that's going on noting some, nutrient deficiencies.

Zack> Penciling?

Describe that for us.

What does that mean?

Glen> Penciling, when you look at your palm tree, you're going to see some penciling.

It's going to get real thin.

That's usually indication of a nutrient deficiency in the tree.

Nine times out of ten, you might want to get a soil sample pulled to see if you're low in potassium, on that.

You'll get that penciling- Zack> Potassium... is the main culprit most of the time.

Glen> It is, as well as lack of irrigation.

Now, with this particular palm being surrounded by concrete and the aggregate, it's probably not getting a lot of water to the root ball.

Whether it's vertically below the palm or horizontally spreading out.

Where the majority of palms spread out horizontally, to intercept their water, it's all covered.

And so it's very hard for it.

And as you look up above the penciling of the palm here, you'll note in the top of the tree, it's also, being pruned well above where it's recommended to prune.

Kind of looks like a... V-shape at the top of the palm.

Where it should be at the nine and three o'clock position where your fronds are hanging down.

This one is pruned up a little more.

Zack> And correct me if I'm wrong, but before you prune, before the leaves completely die, a lot of those nutrients get recycled back into the plant.

And so when you cut those leaves off, you're removing a lot of nutrients.

Glen> Right.

So at that point, by the removal being too early and not waiting until late July, early August to remove those lower fronds and let those nutrients translocate into the buds.

You're going to stress that palm out.

And if you haven't pulled a soil test, you don't know what you're deficient in.

You don't know what you don't know.

And so as you've pruned, you've created this artificial deficiency.

And looking at this photo, it's also very withered up in the leaves, not getting a lot of water.

So on this one, it'd be up to the homeowner if they're going to be installing a deck here.

Maybe it is a consideration for removal at this time.

So that would be up to them to decide.

Terasa> You know, why you were talking... Sabal palmetto I think, if I'm not mistaken, it's our state tree, but it's not really a tree at all.

Maybe?

Dr. Brown> I've heard this sort of claim and I'm on the fence with it.

I mean, my definition of a tree is something that produces a single dominant woody stem.

And so, you know, sabal palmetto, it doesn't really produce branches like trees you would think of.

But the stem is kind of woody.

It's a singular stem.

I think it fits sort of a definition of a tree.

But a lot of folks say it's a monocot, it's closer to a grass, so.

Zack> Yeah, but who wants a grass on the state flag?

(laughter) I think it's a tree.

Glen> Right.

And just to add some food for thought with the monocot on that, it has a pseudo-bark, not really a cambium layer.

Which a tree would have.

<Right> But arborist work on trees.

And I think if you have a problem with your palm, you call an arborist- Zack> You're not going to call a turf specialist.

Glen> Right.

The debate rages on.

Zack> That's right, that's right.

Terasa> The world may never know.

Kind of like the Tootsie Roll Pop, right?

Zack> Well, Terasa, I think it's time for a field trip.

Where are we going next?

Terasa> It is.

We first visited the proprietors of Crooked Cedar Farm, during the "Ag and Art Tour," and we're excited to share their farming operation with you.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Amanda> I'm near Blythewood, South Carolina at Crooked Cedar Farm and speaking with Edwina Harrell.

Edwina, how did you get the name "Crooked Cedar?"

Edwina> Well, when we've cleared our land that we're growing our present garden on.

It was during the wintertime, and we were trying to think of a name, a catchy name for our farm.

So we were just sitting out near the field, and we looked up and there was a cedar tree that had a crooked top.

(laughter) So we said, "How about Crooked Cedar Farm."

Amanda> Well that's fun, and it does- (both speaking) Yeah, but, you and your husband moved here relatively young in your marriage.

And tell me how y'all started?

Edwina> Okay, we moved here in 1972.

We built our house in January of 1972.

And we moved here on April 5th on my husband's birthday.

For the first couple of years, I mostly stayed in the house with the, with the children but he was out working in the yard and we would clear parts of the yard as we would go along.

And then one day, he said, "You need to come out in the yard with me."

And so I did and I never went back inside.

Amanda> Dirty hands suited you.

Edwina> Dirty hands were fine with me.

Amanda> So I guess first you landscaped and your yard itself is beautiful.

<Thank you> And I think you have a great love of pollinators.

Edwina> We do, we love the birds.

We love the butterflies.

We love the bees, the honeybees the bumblebees, everything that flies and just goes from plant to plant.

We love them.

Amanda> And, so that gives you this lovely... flower garden near the house.

And you rather than have to go and buy new plants every year, the annuals.

I think you try to overwinter them?

Edwina> I do, I... about half of the things in the flower beds are annuals.

Some will overwinter pretty good.

But the ones that will not overwinter I dig in the fall, pot them up and put them in the greenhouse.

Amanda> And what are some of those so that we can show?

Edwina> Well, I do the "blue my mind."

Some of the Euphorbias like the Diamond Mountain, Diamond Snow they don't overwinter.

Like some of the grasses like in these pots, the purple fountain grasses, all of that goes in the greenhouse.

Coleus, lots of things go in the greenhouse.

Amanda> I was interested when we were looking at the flowers that you grow Dahlias from seed.

I did not even know that was an option.

Edwina> Oh yeah, they're very easy to grow from seed.

Amanda> And bloomed the first year.

Edwina> Bloomed the first year and they come back every year and I love them because they're, they're more compact plant.

The plants are, the flowers are smaller, they make very good cut flowers versus the dinner plates which are kind of heavy.

But yeah, they all of the... most of our Dahlias are from seed.

Amanda> And... sunflowers, sunflowers, sunflowers.

I think y'all let them kind of scatter in the fields but Selvin told me that he plants them in rotation.

So that there's always something there for the pollinators, I believe.

Edwina> That's right, Yeah.

And they're beautiful, and the pollinators love them.

And when you're growing vegetables, you need pollinators to help, you know, get the plants going.

Amanda> And then, I think you were kind of surprised at one of the sunflowers that came back this year.

That was... gigantic.

(laughter) Edwina> That was a surprise.

I think one of the birds.

We feed the birds.

So I think one of the birds planted that sunflower for us.

It's a giant sunflower it came up by itself in the field, and it's been great.

It's been beautiful.

Amanda> But then y'all have also been very interested in growing vegetables.

Edwina> Yes, we have always grown vegetables just, the first parts of our marriage, we always had a garden.

We grew up with gardening, our grandparents, our parents, all had gardens.

And a lot of our great grandparents had big... big farms.

But we always had a vegetable garden for our needs.

But when we retired, way back when, about 20 years ago.

We said we're young, we need to have something to do.

So we decided we would start a farm and grow on a big scale.

Amanda> And you are particularly interested in things that taste good.

So, are you trying new things sometimes?

And what are some of your favorite things to grow?

Edwina> Well, we grow a lot of new things.

But now we've kind of settled into what everybody likes.

But our main crop they grow in the summer, is the Cherokee Purple tomato.

(laughter) And that's our signature tomato that we grow here on our farm.

Amanda> And in the summer, you can get things started early, you have a greenhouse.

Edwina> I do, yeah.

Amanda> And so you like to start things early, because you've got a clay soil.

Edwina> We do.

I like to start my own seed.

I find that with starting my own seed and growing out my own plants, they just seem to do better.

They are more acclimated, I think to the surroundings and environment.

Plus, I baby all of my seedlings when I'm growing them I'm in the greenhouse.

I'm touching them, I'm talking to them all day long.

And I think they respond to that.

Amanda> You know, and they do.

I mean, I think plants do respond.

Edwina> Yeah, they have feelings, too.

Amanda> And then y'all are very conscious about things like water use, I believe.

Edwina> We are, we have a well and sometimes it rains really good and then sometimes, some years it's no rain.

Our water source is our home well.

We have drip irrigation that we do in the field.

And in the raised beds, we're putting in drip irrigation.

Now the flower beds and borders in the yard, no drip irrigation yet.

Amanda> You have a garden shed and it has air conditioning, which I'm sure is wonderful.

And heat, because you, tell me how you like to do your cold crops how you like to start them.

Edwina> Brassicas like the collards and the cabbage and the brussel sprouts and the broccoli, which we grow.

They like to have a cool germination temperature.

So in the summer when you start them, July is not cool here.

So we built this garden shed or garden, we call it the "garden cottage" and we put air conditioning in there so that I can start my seed inside under lights in the air condition.

And that helps them not to stretch and get leggy.

Amanda> So that when you put them out, they're less likely to lodge or fall over.

Edwina> They're just a nice, compact little plant, and you can, they just do better.

Amanda> And then I think in there too, also, with all of these wonderful flowers that I see.

Some people like to come to you and get bouquets.

Edwina> Yes, we... We started the cut flower part of the farm about two years ago.

And so we just, I make flower jars, which are just small, like jelly jars or whatever kind of jar I can find, and then I also do the wrap bouquets.

I do buckets of flowers.

So... people come and we have those available.

Amanda> And as we were out there in the back part where y'all actually have the little farm.

It was "ba, ba, ba, ba, ba."

(mimicking chicken sounds) Because as if you didn't have enough, you've got chickens.

Edwina> Oh yeah, we have about 50 laying hens.

And they're, they're fun.

They're special.

And we sometimes have pet ones, but right now we don't have a special pet one.

(laughter) But I imagine we will.

Amanda> I bet you will, too.

So you're collecting eggs every day, I imagine.

Edwina> We collect eggs everyday.

And we offer those to the public also.

Amanda> Okay.

So people like to come out here and take advantage of the things that you have.

Tell me how people find out about what's available?

Edwina> Okay, we send out an email each week or sometimes twice a week.

And also I posted it on Facebook and Instagram.

Amanda> Well, I think that I went around this morning, I didn't have breakfast.

And I pinched and grazed as I was here and had a wonderful time doing that.

And It's just been a glorious experience coming and seeing- Edwina> Thank you.

We appreciate it.

Amanda> What y'all have managed to do.

Thank you so much.

Edwina> Thank y'all for coming.

♪ ♪ Terasa> Flowers, veggies, chickens.

A little bit of everything.

Wasn't that fun?

We have so many wonderful farmers of... And their operations are all very unique, different.

Some are very large, some are very small.

We hope that you support them.

Zack, drought's been terrible.

Zack> It has been terrible.

We did get a deluge of rain recently.

But because we had such a long drought so early in the season, you know, usually our drought comes in July and August.

I saw some really unusual things.

And this is one of my favorite flowers in my yard.

This is a blue mistflower.

Normally they bloom October- Terasa> Much later.

Much later.

Zack> Or September.

Terasa> Yeah, maybe August certainly not May or June.

Zack> They're blooming at the middle of May, which is really interesting.

And I think it's probably because of the drought, so.

You know, I think a lot of things are a little bit different this year and off because of the drought.

Have y'all seen anything lately that's a little interesting this year because of the drought?

Christiana> Yeah, I've... from the drought last summer, I actually am still seeing things coming up this year.

Just leftover from that last drought.

I've seen some Christmas trees that have totally turned brown, and we sort of figured out this is just, some long lasting effects rolling over into this year.

Zack> Yeah, especially for things that are long-lived.

It kind of takes a while to bring them down.

Christiana> Yeah.

Zack> So.

Well, very cool.

Well, I, thank y'all for being on the show and coming to the show tonight, and I learned some things, and...

I'm going to take some things home.

I might even plant some, ornamentals in some pots.

Terasa> Give it a try.

Zack> Maybe so... Terasa> In your spare time.

Zack> In my spare time.

There you go.

Well, we thank you guys for tuning in tonight, and we'll see you next time.

♪ Narrator> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina, family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons, a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.