Narration>> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, certified South Carolina grown helps consumers identify, find and buy South Carolina products.

McLeod Farms in McBee South Carolina.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 22 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by International Paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau insurance.

♪ Amanda>> Well, good evening, and welcome to Making It Grow.

We're so glad you can join us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty and I'm a Clemson Extension Agent.

And we've got a great show for you tonight.

I can tell already because I know that everybody on the panel has so much fun.

And we also are going to have a segment that I think you'll find quite fascinating with TJ Saverino, one of our Forestry and Natural Resources agent who's doing some amazing research on how to encourage pollinator friendly plants and plants that are friendly to wildlife in stands of Long Leaf Pine.

And everybody loves longleaf pine, because they are so beautiful.

Terasa Lott.

Oh, we couldn't do making grow without you.

And that you do a lot of other things as well.

Terasa>> Yes, a jack of all trades, master of none, perhaps my primary responsibility is managing the Master Gardener program for the state with the help of our Master Gardener Coordinators, all across the state and the they really provide a wonderful service by helping get that research based information out there.

Amanda>> And then wonderful to think that hopefully, when they finish it, that they can then convey that information to other people.

It's kind of like just you know, broadening the waves of information so that everybody can make decisions that might be helped protect the environment, environmental sustainable, sustainable decisions and things for wildlife and, and all those good things correct.

And pretty plants as well.

Oh, yes, of course.

Yeah.

Christopher Burt lives in the lovely community of town of Moncks Corner.

But boy, I think your tires.

You need to put the quarter in and check them a lot.

Because how many counties are you covering?

Christopher>> So I cover Berkeley, Dorchester in Charleston counties.

And you are a horticultural agent as Yes, as well as Master Gardener Coordinator.

Okay.

Amanda>> And do you help any of the nurseries and things, do you check in with them if they have a problem?

Christopher>> So I work with nurseries, landscapers as well as homeowners.

And I try to check in with the nurseries as much as possible.

But in all three counties, it can get to be quite a lot, but absolutely Amanda>> Well, and I think 50 people a day moved to Charleston or something.

And um, let's hope they have tiny patio yards, because otherwise she wouldn't help all these people figure out how to grow things in the south.

Christopher>> No, absolutely.

Yeah, I think Berkeley County was the fastest growing county in the state.

So it's pretty exciting, but always new and interesting questions.

Amanda>> Yes, yes, yes.

And Vicky Bertagnolli, you know about new and exciting questions, because you now have so many hats.

And one of them is you're helping with HGIC, I believe.

Vicky>> Yep.

So whenever I was coming here, previously, it was it was just as the extension agent slash Master Gardener Coordinator for Aiken County.

And in the fall of last year, I took on the duties of being one of four in a pilot program for a virtual extension agent, right.

And then I also started working part time for HGIC.

Amanda>> Ah, and so you do get questions.

often from people far away, sometimes from other countries, we get Vicky>> them from all over the globe.

But um, Amanda>> and one of the things that I thought was interesting is that if somebody wants to pesticide recommendation, there are a lot of red flags that go Vicky>> up.

Yeah, we're not gonna you know, it's one of those things, we need to know where they live because the pesticide laws are different state to state.

They're also very, very different country to country.

So the HGIC staff, we're only going to make pesticide recommendations for folks that reside in South Carolina.

Amanda>> I thought it was interesting that they change from state to state, you know, your think that would be federal, but um, but it's not.

And so, I'm glad that y'all find out and make certain that you're telling them things because the label is the law.

Yep.

Vicky>> And you'll find all that information if it pertains to you or if you're excluded from that from that label.

It's, it's written on there.

Little print but it's on there.

Yeah, Amanda>> yeah.

Have on your bifobifocals or have them near?

Yeah.

And Bruce Mclean we are so happy to have you here.

I've had wonderful conversations with you over the past couple of years.

But this is the first time we've had an opportunity to have you here.

And you grew up being kind of well, you you've you've learned at home about small fruits and things, but I think tell us what you're doing and where you're working now.

And who are you helping?

Bruce>> Okay.

I am the area commercial horticulture agent for Horry, Marian Dillon and Marboro counties.

Oh, Mercy.

Yes.

And, Amanda>> and so what crops are you helping them with?

Bruce>> Commercial fruit, vegetable and tree nut?

Pecans.

Okay.

Oh, that's Sure.

Amanda>> Yes.

Okay.

All right.

Boy, that's a lot, isn't it?

Yeah.

And then.

But again, like most agents, if you get a call from somebody else, you end up and you end up helping them too.

Oh, yeah.

And had people ever come by your office and ask you questions who are just people people?

Bruce>> Sure.

Absolutely.

And in Marion County, and that's where I'm based out of is we're kind of multiple hats on.

Yeah, in that office.

I've wear you know, the commercial hat but also I do work with consumers with homeowners out of the Marion office so yeah, all a lot of the the folks come in with with plant questions or even insect questions.

I try to help them out and in the Marion office.

Well, I Amanda>> do think that's just kind of the backbone of extension, at least.

If we can't answer help them find somebody who can.

Absolutely we try to help everybody.

Well, Teresa, we usually try to start off for answer difficult questions with something uplifting on the Gardens Of The Week Terasa>> Yes, this is such a fun segment where we get to explore your yards and gardens and see what's going on across the state.

We're going to begin with Elizabeth Gay who shared some assorted camellia flowers that she had displayed it looks like in a nice bowl on the table.

From Sandy Crowl we have a container of pansies and dusty miller she says there at the mailbox and the deer haven't found them yet.

Ah, don't tell them.

Sherry Enn sent us her bed of carrots, dill and garlic and there's an unusual like lattice structure.

She says that's her attempt to protect them from the cats and the squirrels.

I hope she's having good success there.

Helen Mishoe sent us her rosemary.

She was so excited.

It's flowering for the first time after four years, Mike Cannon sent some lovely hellebores, which he notes are the first to flower in his landscape.

And then we finished with a really fun tribute to you, Amanda, from one of Laura Lee's Master Gardeners well two of them actually Patte Ranney and Fran Grozier, and it's a tribute to your hats and your favorite gardening tool, which is a Saws-All.

Thank you everyone for sharing your photographs.

Remember, they're selected at random, you can see all of them on our Making It Grow Facebook page, I encourage you to share yours whenever you see us make the call.

Amanda>> Oh righty.

Well, Terasa you help us with people when people post questions on Facebook or sometimes they email them and all.

And you've been really helpful getting a compilation of those for when we get some people who know more than I do together.

So um, let's start off with a question.

Terasa>> Let's give it a try.

Our first one comes from Steve in Myrtle Beach.

And Steve says my soil report says I should broadcast 46 pounds of lime per 1000 square feet.

I have a half acre yard.

And I would need almost 500 pounds of lime.

How can I apply this much without breaking my back?

Amanda>> Oh gosh, how would you even get it home from the store and out of the out of the car?

Christopher, We've talked about soil reports and thinks that how we can deal with them.

What What can this person do?

Um, that's a pretty big job.

Christopher>> Yeah, so that one's a little bit tricky.

Obviously, it does take a lot of lime to raise the pH and if your pH is too low for whatever crop you're trying to grow, it can be an issue.

But there are different types.

Amanda>> If I can interrupt for a second.

Sometimes it even depends on your soil type some soils, it's easier to change, and some soils are more resistant to changing.

Isn't that Christopher>> true?

That that's absolutely correct.

And thankfully, when you get a soil report back, it'll go through all that the hard work for you and it'll tell you exactly how much to put out based on your soil type.

But it does even so even with some of the easier soils it can take a lot.

You don't have to necessarily apply it all at once.

A lot of times if you can break it up into multiple applications, there's not really a bad time to apply lime outside of when there's frost on the ground.

And of course always watering it in after you do so.

And there are also many different types of lime that you can utilize so you don't have to necessarily go out get kind of your standard standard pelletized lime, you can use other different products.

Just keep in mind application rates are going to vary based on the type of lime, as well as application hazard can sometimes be associated with some of the hydrated lines or burn limes.

So do be very aware of what type you're putting out.

But for the most part, you don't have to put it all out at once.

Amanda>> So that and you know, when I first was told about that, it was a report to a farmer.

And it said, its bottom.

And I don't help farmers, but somebody was showing it to me.

And it said, you can either put out this amount of lime or that amount of lime and I was thinking, Well, gosh, Pete, that doesn't make much sense.

It seemed like you need to put it out.

But they were saying, well, some farmers rent land.

And they might not want to go to the expense of putting up the total amount when they could get the same response.

And then if they did real well and decided that they wanted to rent again, the next year, they could put some more out so and that's another reason to send your soil test to Clemson because it went and got one of those little doohickey things from the big box store, it wouldn't take into account your soil type, and you really wouldn't be fine tuning it quite so correctly.

Christopher>> No, absolutely.

And also keep in mind, a lot of those home tests aren't necessarily as accurate.

And so it's kind of nice to make sure you get the proper number before you go out and just start applying lime to hopefully amend the soil but and also you want to know what type of lime.

So keep in mind there is different types based on whether you have high calcium or low calcium or high manganese or magnesium or low magnesium in so knowing what you have in the soil as well as your pH is also important to figuring out what type of lime.

Amanda>> So Vicky since you've helped people at HGIC.

We have a fact sheet there that I think tells you how to go and take that soil test, don't we Vicky>> so there's not only a fact sheet, there's also a video.

So if you're not, you don't want to read it, you want to watch it and watch it instead.

But all you have to do is go to your very favorite search engine, type in soil testing HGIC and it'll pop up.

You can go to the fact sheet or you can go to HGICs.

homepage, scroll all the way to the bottom.

And there's a video on the left side of it.

And that's how to take a soil sample.

Amanda>> and tell people what HGIC stands for?

The HGIC Vicky>> is the Clemson Home and Garden Information Center.

And that website is it.

There's a couple different components to it.

So it's a website that has over 900 factsheets that are on that website.

They're available.

24/7.

And then we've also have a very small staff that fields phone calls and emails Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

Well, I think Amanda>> they're lucky to have you as a part of that team.

Well Terasa so what have we got next we can help someone with we hope.

Terasa>> Paisley in Loris reached out to us and said I have an established fig tree that was here when we moved in.

Can you tell me when and how I should prune it?

Amanda>> Uh huh.

Um, Fig trees can get pretty big mine.

It's certainly gotten away from me.

Give, give us some advice for those of us who have a mature fig.

Bruce>> Okay, they right now.

Yes, you know, just coming out of dormancy.

So you really want to you want to ideally prune it once all the cold weather, the bulk of the cold weather is behind us, but really about the time that we're just starting to get into to start in the break buds.

Okay, so the idea is to really just take out any you know, the dead or diseased or deranged or day rage dead diseased or damaged and then you know, and then anything like any suckers that are coming up that are unwanted any unwanted growth anything I'll have to remove it, any and that would be actually the the deranged.

If it's if it's, you know, branching is way too high that yeah, Amanda>> I can't get to mine anymore.

So how would I, where would I try to cut giving that situation Bruce>> a lot of times, if, if there is some really nice branch and on it, you can just come back and take it down to a to a secondary branch.

And, but if it's just a just like one, one cane that's going straight up and really doesn't have any branching?

A lot of times you just have to head it off.

Amanda>> Okay.

Now, I have heard that if you just prune it horribly dramatic, that sometimes it kind of puts it in shock, should you maybe do it in stages or or can you prune pretty heavily, you Bruce>> know, my experience is that you can prune it you know, rather heavy, okay?

And you know, and sometimes it does take that that heavy pruning and if we do have just just a horrific, cold winter, you can actually have some some pretty substantial damage some cold damage, especially the further inland that you go Okay, so sometimes it does take you know, really getting you know really harsh on pruning with it.

Amanda>> With all the people who are coming here from other places I think out in California in places they have figs that we don't grow here there's certain ones you should get one that you know is suitable for our situation.

Bruce>> Yes, the figs that you want to grow around South Carolina is the common fig and typically you want to go with more of the cold hardier ones, okay you know the brown turkeys and the celeste and even the the hardy Chicago and some of those.

They do.

Okay, you know, fruit quality as the fruits a little small.

But uh, but you know, Amanda>> maybe the insects and birds will miss it.

Bruce>> And that's just it with especially with with birds.

Surprisingly, the lighter color figs.

The birds don't bother them as much.

So some of your your yellow, your honey figs, actually birds do not.

Do not bother them as much.

Amanda>> I don't know about a honey fig.

Is that when we can go here?

Yes, Bruce>> yes there.

There are a few of the the yellow, yellow figs said that we can grow.

I don't know maybe I'll just it looks a little different.

Amanda>> Well Terasa what's up next?

Terasa>> It seems as though Madeline and Anderson has a critter that she would like identified.

Madeline said we moved the magazine rack in our bathroom and found this bug.

What is it?

And do we need to do anything?

Amanda>> All right?

Well, Vicki, you're kind of a bug gal.

And we mean that in a complimentary way.

What do you think it is?

Vicky>> This is really common in the houses.

This looks to be one of the Dermestid beetles.

This is an adult, but we find the larvae all the time, oh, the larvae.

So the beetles are maybe about an eighth of an inch a little bit smaller.

Your larvae can be all the way up to a quarter of an inch.

Some of them are carrot shaped, some of them are real hairy.

And most of the time, you're going to find the larvae and the adults in two different places.

So a lot of times you're going to find the adults like I'll find them in the bathroom, you'll find them in the window sills, because they're attracted to light.

But the larvae you're going to find in the closets and the dark corners, you're going to find where lint accumulates where hair accumulates, because they're eating natural fibers.

So they're eating the hair.

So you're gonna find them where you store your sweaters.

If you've got wool sweaters and Gora hair, maybe you've got you know, whatever cashmere, they're going to be around there.

They're going to be eating your socks.

But it's, it's not uncommon.

So the way that we manage these beetles, we don't necessarily recommend that you spray for them.

Because what you're going to find is a whole bunch of cast skins where those larvae have molted.

So it may look like your infestation is worse than it actually is.

So instead, we encourage you to clean the dust bunnies clean up any clutter that you may have.

Take your take your your dresser or your closet apart, vacuum all the cracks and crevices because these things are tiny, so they're living in the cracks and crevices and dust accumulates.

You know you've got all sorts of fibers in there so Amanda>> well.

I know with wool, wool sweaters, they say that generally the moths go to where you've spilt some food or something.

Does that apply in this case so does keeping your things clean and dry cleaned out.

Vicky>> And so a lot of your stored fabric pests are going to be attracted to soiled clothes.

Okay, now I'm not talking soiled like filthy dirty, I'm talking you might have worn it to dinner and you took it right back off whenever you got home.

But if there's any body oil on it, perspiration anything like that, that's a little beacon saying hey, you know, this, this is clothes is suitable for us.

Amanda>> Well, that's that's pretty interesting bottom.

Terasa>> If you play a stringed instrument that has a bow made from like horsehair, the Dermestid beetles might be attracted to that as well.

Vicky>> They'll they'll come to taxidermy if you've got dried flowers.

If you've got insect collections, if you've got if you've got maybe you collect furs, like maybe like a stole or, or a cape or something like that, they're gonna go after that stuff.

They'll also hang out with leather goods.

They'll feed on your leather goods.

I mean, it's anything that's a natural fiber.

They're going to come in, they're going to come and hang out and feed on.

Amanda>> Now, when we went to Clemson there's that wonderful, small museum that's full of taxidermy things.

And they had a box that was where they were trying to clean up all the living tissue or formerly living tissue to get to the bones.

And I believe with those Dermestid beetles that we're doing that larvae that we're doing that Vicky>> they are they're, they're typically I think darkling beetles, okay, and those are ones.

So those are different than the ones that are in your house, or the ones in your house.

They're, they're like Carpet beetles.

Or they might be something like a cigarette beetle or something like that.

But they're the darkling beetles are much larger.

But they do a fantastic job of cleaning.

And so a lot of times whenever you go send your your prize offer professional taxidermy, and they're cleaning the skeletons, they'll use those Amanda>> fascinating, so they're all They're good things and unpleasant problems.

I mean, they're gonna menace the car in your house.

They're not that horrible.

Yeah, they're cute.

Yeah.

And they just be the Vicky has an unusual sense of occasionally.

Well, I think sometimes Terasa, someone, you know it.

It's not easy to be a garden of the week.

But you could just have one part of your yard look great.

But some people manage to have several places in the yard that are TV worthy.

Do we have one of those?

Terasa>> We do.

It's a mystery that we have that happens because I can pick and choose where I take photographs, right.

And so when I post them, people think, oh, it's magnificent, but they would never want to come to my yard.

But that is not the case for Linda Roberts in Little River, South Carolina.

Now, Linda didn't submit the photos, but they came from her neighbor Peter Hanak.

And these were taken last summer so it might have you yearning for warmer temperatures and seeing lots of color in your landscape.

He said Linda and her husband relocated from Ohio after retiring and created this splended space in just one year.

They've used quite a few containers, as well as in ground plantings and some garden art, including a really large collection of frogs that create a colorful and inviting space.

I can imagine relaxing under that pergola with a cool beverage on a warm sunny day.

So thank you very much, Peter, for sharing your neighbor's garden with all of us.

Amanda>> Well, that was quite beautiful.

And um, you know, our producer, Sean Flynn, his wife has an affinity for frogs, and they have a Christmas tree that all has this frog ornaments.

So I don't know if we put that up this year.

Maybe they have a picture of it.

We could, we could share.

I think people would enjoy that.

Well, I know you've got another question for us.

Just somebody who'd liked it there.

You're just as beautiful as the garden spotlight.

Terasa>> That is right.

You know, we never seem to run out of questions.

This one comes from Bryce in Charleston.

He said, my citrus tree has black stuff all over the leaves.

What is it?

Hmm.

Amanda>> Christopher?

I think a good many people down in Charleston because it's warmer, may try to have citrus.

Is this something that you've seen?

And can you maybe help this person?

Christopher>> Absolutely.

So a citrus you're right is something that most of most people in Charleston County do try to grow.

Though.

Keep in mind, Charleston County is under quarantine.

So if you happen to grow citrus in Charleston, it cannot leave the county.

But that being said, yes.

So the sutty mold is Amanda>> let me Excuse me.

That's because of the citrus greening.

Yes, sorry.

And so you're not supposed to take the oranges that you grow or the lemons that you go out of the county, or you're not supposed to go to a nursery and purchase a citrus plant and take it home somewhere else?

Christopher>> Excellent question.

So you're not supposed to take any citrus plants.

So the fruit is not necessarily the concern.

It is the plants themselves, but you're right it is citrus greening, which is a bacterial disease that was identified actually in Charleston County in 2009.

And so unfortunately, we're still under quarantine.

Because of that both Charleston and Beaufort I believe I might be incorrect in second County.

But both of those are under quarantine for that not and so just kind of keep that in mind.

And when you do buy citrus, make sure it is certified and inspected.

Oh.

So obviously, the USDA is inspecting all of these Department of Plant industries with Clemson is going to be inspecting a lot of these.

And so make sure it is inspected to to be disease free before you go.

Amanda>> So planning.

So once you go through all this, you've been going to have black stuff all over the leaves.

Christopher>> So this this can happen.

This is something that is fairly easily treatable, but it's sooty mold, it's actually a fungus that is growing on honeydew, which is an excretion from sap sucking insects.

Very likely scale, I think is the most common one I see on citrus.

But it's a pretty straightforward fix.

You want to use what's known as horticultural oil.

A horticultural oil is put on during the cooler temperatures, cooler time of the year, hence why it's also called dormant oil.

Now but that is going to help break down that Sutty mold as well as helped control that insect population which is what's causing the sutty mold.

Amanda>> So Vicki, how does the oil help control the scale does it kind of smother them or what?

Vicky>> So that's what you're hoping for.

But it's it's one of those things where you have to make sure that you're that you've got the right pest that is definitely scale.

And then you're trying to you really are so they've got a waxy covering on that insect.

And that waxy covering if you were to spray it with some kind of water based insecticide, it's gonna roll right off, like water on a duck's back.

So what you're hoping to do is break that wax covering Oh, and actually have the insecticide get to the insect so you're gonna, you're gonna coat it and and smother it.

Amanda>> Okay, well, there's a horticultural, oil, toxic and it's insecticide or is it's worked differently.

Christopher>> So so so no horticultural is it's not going to have an active ingredient like say something like neem oil will in so theoretically it is exclusively going to do that suffocation act, okay, which is what we want to really utilize, especially with something like citrus, which is of course edible fruit.

Amanda>> Well, thank you both so much.

Well, now we're going to go over and visit with our friend TJ Savereno who has done so many fascinating programs on the natural environment and using native plants and find out what he's doing under the longleaf pines.

♪ We are near in Florence, South Carolina at the PeeDee Research and Education Center.

Now speaking with TJ Savereno, TJ which one of the extension team so you associated, with?

T.J. Savereno>> I am on the forestry and wildlife extension team.

Okay.

And Amanda>> we are today going to talk about long leaf there's a real interest in long leaf and historically, how important was long leaf in our part of the world?

T.J. Savereno>> Well, long leaf was the dominant upland species in the coastal plain, from Virginia, or parts of Virginia, down through our part of the world and then on out into the Gulf coast all the way to Texas.

It was the dominant species in a lot of the upland habitat.

And estimates are that it covered between 60 and 93 million acres.

Amanda>> Boy, what wildlife habitat that was.

Yes.

And now we're down to T.J. Savereno>> somewhere between three and four million there's there's been a lot of restoration efforts going on and we're picking up acreage each year.

Okay.

Amanda McNulty>> And one of the fascinating things about long leaf is that it's fire dependent.

And that when it had that massive area that it covered that could have even been from natural lightning strikes and things or I believe even indigenous people, yes.

And, and it's got all kinds of adaptations that makes it makes it able to withstand firers of a certain type.

T.J. Savereno>> Exactly, yeah, the SE is known for its its lightning storms, right?

Especially down in Florida where it reaches its its ultimate level of burning.

So fires historically that were set by lightning would burn until they ran out of fuel or until they hit a body of water and couldn't burn any further.

There wasn't anybody to put the fires out.

So fire was a big part of the evolutionary history of that ecosystem.

And the indigenous people did burn they knew the beneficial effects of fire in creating habitat where they can hunt game more easily and control pests like ticks, and things like that.

So there was a lot of fire used by indigenous people as well.

longleaf is very fire tolerant, it's fire dependent.

It's not fireproof, you can kill long leaf with fire in inappropriate times.

But it is dependent on fire for controlling competition from other species.

Every plant that grows here, and any plant that's growing around the longleaf seedling is competing with it for resources like food, nutrients, water, sunlight.

And if conditions aren't right, for that seedling, it'll sit in what's called the grass stage with just a little tuft of needles that come up out the ground.

And until that competition is removed by prescribed fire and sunlight is sufficient to support the growth of that plant.

It will start to bolt in what we call the rocket stage where it really starts putting on height growth Amanda>> and one of the things about longleaf is it looks like when it's it's kind of cupped around the growing tips.

And I think that helps protect that growing tip?

T.J. Savereno>> those those terminal needles and surround that the terminal bud which is the growing point on that that branch It's important that that part not get killed by fire and it can be killed by fire.

But those surrounding needles when they burn, they have moisture in them and that moisture evaporates.

And what it does is it reduces the temperature around that terminal bud and helps to protect it from that extreme heat.

Amanda>> And one of the wonderful things is we found that there's some endangered species that now that y'all have learned that prescribed fires important and are using that.

Not only are we getting all this with sunlight, so we've got pollinators supporting herbaceous and Woody, I mean, you know, herbaceous perennial and annual plants coming up.

But I think there's even a bird that's particularly dependent on this.

Yeah, T.J. Savereno>> the federally endangered Red-cockaded woodpecker is dependent on an open understory.

It forages on the barks on the bark of trees for things like ants.

And if there is a lot of understory that hardwood understory that comes in, in the absence of fire, they they will abandon that site, they can't move around easily.

And they become open to predation, the trees will grow up near the level of their cavity and allow predators to get in.

And eventually, as those conditions deteriorate, the birds will abandon those sites.

Amanda>> And then here you're doing some research because they're federal programs to encourage the replanting of longleaf pine, and you're looking at two stands of longleaf that had historically very different backgrounds trying to decide how a grower should how far he should go and trying to provide seeds if necessary for this pollinator species to come back in.

T.J. Savereno>> What we tried to find out is, you know, what the legacy of their land uses and what what their likelihood of success might be, before they go to the expense of buying a lot of native seed, which can be expensive, depending on what species are included in it.

They may want to if they're willing to give it some time and do some management practices like using prescribed fire, they may not need to go to that, that time and expense.

Okay, this area behind us here was is 12 acres.

It was historically crop field, it was cropped, as long as Clemson has owned this property.

And it was cropped prior to that, at least decades, if not for 100 years plus and the other areas 36 acres that was previously a longleaf pine stand it was cut in 1996.

And we were able to get these sites back into shape and plant long leaf in both of them because they represent very different starting points that that people may experience on their own land, because there's Amanda>> gonna be a different seed bank in the soil.

And what did you find TJ?

T.J. Savereno>> Well, the site behind us the 12 acres, the last crop that was planted in here was soybeans in 2008.

And in 2009, which was the same year we planted the other site, we planted it in longleaf pine, we did not plant any of the native plants that you see in here right now.

And in the first couple of years, we had problems with things like Texas Panicum and sickle pod and, and other things had to do a banded herbicide application over the seedlings in order to allow them to survive.

But other than that, all the we have done here is manage it with prescribed fire.

And we got species like Broomsedge come in and the bluestem grasses which are great for carrying fire through the stand, which is really important.

But we've also got these native legumes that are showing up in here too and golden rod that you see in the background and Pityopsis And just a multitude of species and over time that gets better and better.

Amanda>> So those were deep within the seed bank, I guess T.J. Savereno>> they were to some degree, some of them were probably carried in by wildlife.

Amanda>> So this now is good habitat.

T.J. Savereno>> It is it's good habitat for a lot of different species.

It's great pollinator habitat, and bobwhite quail.

We hear them frequently in this stand.

Amanda>> So you've got some native cubbies here that we do, which is really important and kind of unusual.

And then the other place, which had been longleaf for Lord knows how many decades and decades and decades, right?

Let's talk about the experience you found over there.

T.J. Savereno>> Sure, unfortunately, it was cut before I started here.

So I don't know exactly what it looked like.

But I'm told by other people who have worked here for for years and years that there was some really nice, big long leaf trees in there.

It was cut in 1996 but there was no follow up treatment done to it.

So it grew up in some hardwood species and some loblolly pine as well.

Things like persimmon and SassaFrass in other things like that, and some oak species as well, which kind of close the canopy and there wasn't much sunlight able to get to the ground.

So it was fairly barren in there.

But once we removed all that vegetation, we had to do an aerial application of herbicide on that site to take out those taller trees, which we were talking about 20 to 30 feet tall, and, and then removed that through mulching and planted those seedlings.

And the response has been amazing.

The the diversity there is so much greater than what you see here.

Even though this is getting really good.

It doesn't compare to what was in that Stand, which never was turned by a plow and was not farmed.

And that seed bank, which is the the few inches of soil below the surface that contain all those seeds that accumulate over time was just sitting there waiting to respond.

Okay.

Amanda>> Well, I think it's wonderful to see that Clemson is doing research that first of all, joins in with the government programs that are encouraging the reestablish of this and the wildlife that we've lost so much of their habitat.

And this is restoring that.

And then also seeing to it that the people who choose this route, can do it in the most economical way.

T.J. Savereno>> Right, right.

We don't want anybody to go broke doing this, and there's no reason for that.

Amanda>> That's because you're doing that good work here.

T.J. Savereno>> Yes.

Trying to Yes, well, we thank you for that.

Yep.

Thanks.

Amanda>> T.J. is really an environmentalist and has done many projects, we've shared some of them with you before.

And this one particularly enjoyed was also fun to see how they get that bunchgrass.

And that's a great place for Bob white quail, who are kind of we hope, maybe coming back a little bit, I was out in the yard.

And this is my favorite time of year because the Shoe button spirea, which is the first one that blooms in my yard is in bloom, and the forsythia, and then I have a small azalea that I think has awfully pretty flowers.

But I thought y'all might enjoy learning about Shoe button spirea, my mother got this for me one time, we used to go to antique stores together.

And this is what women used to have to have in order to dress and prepare themselves for the day.

So this was to button, your buttons on your dress.

And Vicki, you said you've seen a wedding dress, Vicky>> a wedding dress, somebody used that on a wedding dress, Amanda>> yeah.

And then um, this you would heat and then curl your hair with.

And this is what you'd use to get your shoe on with.

And once you got your foot in the shoe, this would be the teeny tiny instrument that you would use to button your shoe.

So you couldn't casually if your foot hurt a little bit, take your shoe off in public and slip it back on.

This was it was getting dressed was quite quite, quite different than it is for most of us these days, fortunately, but I thought that was fun.

My moma got that for me a long time ago.

So we used to have a lot of fun going to antique stores together.

Terasa.

I know you got something else we can get some answers for somebody for what's good.

What's it gonna be?

Terasa>> This one comes in from Russell in Conway, Russell says I'd like to grow blueberries, but I'm not sure where to start.

Are there specific types that I should plant?

Oh, Amanda>> Bruce, um, I've always, you know, we always tell people that that's one of the easiest and best, and I think blueberries actually indigenous to the United States.

I mean, we didn't go and get it from somewhere else.

So let's get this person to some blueberries in his yard.

Bruce>> Oh, absolutely.

So the but as far as to make a comment on what you just mentioned, blueberries are indigenous, they are typically up and down the eastern seaboard.

We, we have the Vaccinium corymbosum Okay.

And, and there's there's also different corymbosum kind of encompasses kind of a lot of different, you know, slight differences, you know, that some taxonomists actually look at it as being different species, but some actually group them together.

So we'll just call them our corymbosum.

But then there's that's typically all up or down the eastern seaboard.

Rabbiteye are more from Georgia into into northern Florida.

And then once you get down into Florida, then there's the vaccinium darrowii Well, what Amanda>> okay, we're in South Carolina.

Yes.

What should we do to try to get some that are going to be successful here.

Bruce>> The one is going to be the easiest to grow is going to be rabbiteye, , rabbiteye, and they.

For the most part, they're much easier compared to say the highbush blueberries, okay?

And which is the other one that we can grow and highbush blueberries typically are grown more commercially.

And Highbush blueberries are also they, they tend to be a lot more finicky a lot more fickle.

They have a lot of requirements and most homeowners just really aren't gonna.

Gonna.

Amanda>> Okay, I want it easy, so get me started.

Bruce>> So rabid blueberries, you know, and there are some really early ones that that may be bitten by frost.

So plant them cautiously and that might be something like a premier or a climax.

They do they come out really, really early.

So the Amanda>> if you lived in Charleston, that might be fine for you.

Yes, yeah.

Okay, now, um, am I supposed to plant three premerears and three of the others?

Am I supposed to plant one of each?

So I'll get good pollination?

Bruce>> Well, you ideally you want to plant at least two different varieties, okay.

And whether it's, you know, if you wanted to go with something like powder blue and a tif blue, or you know, like a bright whale, and yeah, Columbus, you know, that would be more of a mid season.

And that's Amanda>> because you get better set from pollination you Bruce>> do and, and ideally, you want to match up like a an early bloomer with an early bloomer bloomer with a mid bloomer, and a late bloomer with a late bloomer, okay.

And so, it can be a little bit tricky if you if you don't have the maybe the best lineup on, you know, if you have like an early bloomer in the late bloomer, then you might not get good pollen transfer.

And so you know, your crop will suffer a bit, most all rabbit eyes are, are typically thought of as being self infertile or self incompatible.

Amanda>> Oh, so they gotta have something else just blooming at the same time.

Bruce>> Yes, yes.

So ideally, you do want to have a pollen source that is going to be transferred, and then the pollen source from that one be transferred over to the other one.

Amanda>> Now, I noticed when we have our soil test, when we send it in, it seems like there's a I mean, there are a lot of things that that are kind of lumped together like roses, you know, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah.

But I think blueberries has its own little category.

And why is that, Bruce>> because their requirements are so different than most anything else.

They really they require extremely acidic soil.

When I say extremely acidic, I would say moderately acidic to extremely acidic.

I mean, they they do like acidic soil.

So ideally, pH is going to be from four to five, for if it was if you're talking about a highbush.

If you're talking Rabbiteye, we're talking 4.5 to maybe 5.3.

It is much more tolerant of you have a little higher pH, if you start getting into some really high pH, then a lot of times you end up getting some some iron chlorosis issues, the lease will turn a bit yellow.

So you do you do want to maintain a low pH where Amanda>> so if you send a soil test in for blueberries, would they tell you how to adjust the pH?

I mean, we never ever want to.

I mean, that's a different way that we usually go usually we're trying to raise the pH.

Bruce>> Exactly.

So the one thing that that is not going to suggest for on a soil report is lime, okay, typically, but it will also suggest as far as application of sulfur, sulfur, lowers pH, whereas lamb raises pH.

And so a lot of times, most of our soils in South Carolina are going to be typically moderately, you know, slightly, slightly, slightly to moderately acidic.

So you know, you're not having to really move the needle that much, Amanda>> okay.

Are they relatively pest free?

Bruce>> relatively, you know, the, if you if you look at rabbiteye versus a highbush rabbiteyes are much more much more homeowner friendly.

I'm gonna say like, they do tend to have less insect problems and disease problems.

Amanda>> Alright.

And Terasa, I mean, Vicki, imagine we've got fact sheets so that cover all of that and maybe talk about when you have to prune them and Vicky>> stuff we do.

So there's a blueberry factsheet on the HGIC.

And it talks about it breaks it down into rabbiteye and highbush and then it also breaks it down into their bloom period.

So are there whenever you're wanting to plant them together.

So early season, mid season, late season, and then it's it's really easy to find?

Just go on there, type in blueberry HGIC and you'll find it.

Amanda>> Is it much of a commercial crop in South Carolina?

Bruce>> It's a growing commercial crop there is a much greater interest in, in it.

As far as in our acreage is really going up.

And our primary production area is where we're seeing a lot of growth is around Horry County, and then down around Charleston and then back over towards like Allendale Hampton Barnwell Amanda>> and people who insist should maybe starting that could get in touch through their Extension agent with you.

You could give them some advice.

Bruce>> Oh, absolutely.

Any questions that they might have?

The more than happy more than happy to help them out.

Amanda>> All right.

Vicki said you had something Vicky>> I'd love to add something to it.

And in Chris May, hopefully he'll agree with me.

I think that blueberry is a really underutilized landscape plant.

You know, it's, it's one of those things.

It's got really nice color to it.

It's got a nice texture to it.

And then bonus you get fruit off of it.

And if you've got if you've got maybe you've got little people that live in your house, and they might like some snacks while they're tootling around the yard with you.

I mean, this is it's a great little, it's a great shrub.

Amanda>> Well, it's wonderful.

Thank you so much.

I like that idea.

Yeah.

A great suggestion for homeowners.

Alrighty, Teresa, what have we got?

Terasa>> Seems like we have another critter sort of a question from Ashton in Ballantine.

She says there are red specks on the side of my house.

Are they baby ticks?

Amanda>> Vicki?

Oh, I sure hope not.

I don't like baby ticks.

Vicky>> it's, it's scary whenever you see these things in mass like we do.

And a lot of folks this time of year are going to be reporting that they're seeing Clover mites.

Oh, and we do have Clover mites around here.

We'll see them Amanda>> Do they look like what she just described?

Vicky>> They look a lot like them.

Okay.

But so we've got the clover mites, and we're going to see those come out like in the change of the seasons.

A lot of times we'll see them in the spring, we're going to see them all over our plants on the sides of our houses, the concrete in our turf, and they are a plant feeding arthropod.

But this one that that we've got is not actually the clover mite.

The one that we've got is a predatory mite.

It's in the genus Balaustium.

And this one is often misidentified as the clover mite.

So when you look at the two next to each other, the clover mite.

So they've both got eight legs, because they're they're not.

They're arachnids, but they're not spiders.

But the the clover mite, the front two legs are going to be really long.

But whenever you look at the Balaustium , the shape is a little bit different.

So on the clover mites are more round, and the Balaustium kind of oval shaped, but all their legs are the same size.

Amanda>> I've heard people say that they just make them itch, an itch, an itch, itch, and is either one of them really a problem for humans, or for our landscape plants.

And what should we do if we see this phenomenon?

Vicky>> So Clover mites are they can be a landscape pest, but they're they're really more of a nuisance.

Same thing with these Balaustium there.

It's it's because they show up, the numbers are so large, sometimes they can come into our houses.

And that's when they they really become pestiferous.

But what's going to happen is when they come in the house, they tend to only live a couple days because they're going to die of dehydration or desiccation.

And so it's one of those things where they really tend to stay outside in our landscapes.

And one of the things that we teach when we're talking about landscape management, pest management, integrated pest management, we're talking about keeping like a border around the house of plant there, there's no plants.

Oh, and that's going to help keep pests out of your house.

Because if you've got plants that are within about 12 to 18 inches of your house, or maybe they're touching the house touching the foundation, you have to think like a pest and those are all little highways, okay, into our into our our dwellings, Amanda>> but they're not going to bite us or Vicky>> they're not feeding on us.

So the clover mites, their their feeding on the plant material.

The Balaustium there's there's one group of them that feeds exclusively on pollen, but the rest of them they're predatory and all of their life stages.

Amanda>> Just vacuum them up.

Yep.

All Alright.

Well, that's a nice, easy thing to do get out in the vacuum.

All right, well, I don't know what the next question is gonna end up with a vacuuming, vacuuming Terasa, but we'll see.

I Terasa>> don't think there'll be a vacuum involved.

This question is from Harriet Edmonds in Columbia.

Now Harriet, there's sort of a lot of information before we get to the actual question.

She said I planted a pack of Asclepias Tuberosa milkweed.

I soaked the seeds and water put the seeds on a paper towel.

When they began to sprout I, I put them in the refrigerator and planted them.

Every single seed grew to about three to four inches.

It was the fall October.

I thought they might be large enough to harden outdoors.

They flourished.

Then it got cold.

They fell over and turn brown and I thought I lost them.

But a friend told me if there was a tuber in the ground, I should keep them moist and they would come back 20 of them are coming back and I'm thrilled Here's the question, When can I transplant them outdoors?

And where will they do best?

Amanda>> Oh, goodness.

Well, Christopher, I know that Master Gardeners within you work so intimately, always, you know, want to do something and they should, because that's the only thing that the larvae of the monarch butterflies can feed on that correct?

Right.

But so I'm so excited.

I've already had one, one incident, you know, one near death experience, how can we forget actual death.

Christopher>> So, unfortunately, when it comes to milkweeds, they are not the easiest plant to grow.

And so Asclepias tuberosum, that's kind of the the more common milkweed that people really want in their gardens, because that's kind of the one that can grow pretty much anywhere in our gardens.

Unfortunately, that's not the one that's commonly sold.

But that being said, transplanting the Asclepias is going to be a little bit tricky.

So you're really going to want to make sure you're doing it in the spring, the chance of frost, you want to avoid doing that.

Because once you start to get growth, if you have anything that kills off that growth, it might not come back.

And so we really want to wait until the spring in order to transplant those, we're gonna try to keep as much of that root system around that tuber as possible in order to transplant them.

And of course, once you transplanted them plenty of water to keep them as happy as possible.

And remember, once that heat hits, then you might need to monitor them.

Amanda>> I've heard that many of the nurseries grow and tend to sell the tropical milkweed.

And then I hear that some people, some organizations don't think that that's healthy for the monarchs.

And so but But if that's all that you can get in grow easily.

What's is there kind of two trains of thought on that?

Christopher>> Yes.

So that's the Asclepias syriaca, I believe, but that is the the sorry, yeah, the tropical milkweed is pretty much the most common milkweed that's sold in nurseries due to the fact that it looks so good and transplants so easily, it's probably one of the easiest milkweeds to grow.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of thoughts on probably the downsides of those milkweeds.

First off, that milkweed tends to stick around longer into the winter, which can be thought to disrupt the migration cycle of the monarch butterflies, which is something we want to avoid, we want them to migrate, as well as because it stays green longer, it could pose some parasite parasite issues that can of course affect them, really in reality, with the decline of milkweed on a whole.

I've also seen the other side of it where having milkweeds, at least some milkweeds, it's still a food source, because it has to be a milkweed.

In order for monarchs to reproduce on it, if there are no milkweeds, then they don't reproduce, we lose our monarch butterflies.

And so at least there is something.

And I've seen many successful generations on the tropical milkweed even in nurseries.

And so the idea is, at least something is growing that is providing that food source.

And of course, obviously we want to prefer we prefer natives is where we can get them.

But sometimes they're just harder to find and harder to grow.

Amanda>> Okay, Bruce, we're almost out of time, but they were talking about using blueberries, it's a landscape plant.

And I've seen some that just have these shoots that are way up in the air, can you prune one to keep it to look pretty nice in your yard and still haven't be productive?

Bruce>> You can is, you know, it's rabbiteye tend to be the larger ones and that you know that you do tend to see those those real long shoot, yeah, they're really long canes on them.

And and you know, the so a lot of times it's so it's so tall, that it's going to provide fruit that is going to be completely out of reach.

And so a lot of times, unfortunately, you're going to have to sacrifice those, you know, in and kind of keep the size in check a little bit, but a good winter pruning will, you can actually do some, some good winter pruning to where you're, you're taking some of that, that height off of it, cutting it back to, to a weak or secondary branch without really sacrificing a lot of a lot of fruit.

Amanda>> So it wouldn't look like this crazy thing that you just hadn't paid any attention to for two or three years has gone wild.

Bruce>> Yeah, because rabbiteye themselves.

I mean, I've seen them you know, not not maintained well and there can be you know, 15 16 feet with the without any problems.

Okay, well, that's great.

Amanda>> Thanks.

Thanks for giving me that.

So that those little children it may be some it's not gonna do.

Well, I want to thank all of y'all for being with us today.

It was so much fun having you here and I hope that we gave people at home some some really, really good information.

I've learned a lot from everybody and Bruce Thank you.

I hope that you will be brave enough to come back and put up with us again.

Okay.

Okay.

All righty.

Well, let's all say goodbye and we'll see you next week right here.

On Making It Grow.

Narration>> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

Certified South Carolina grown helps consumers identify, find and buy South Carolina products.

McLeod Farms in McBee South Carolina.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 22 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by International Paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance