186 Are Fertilizers Overused? The Best Plant Photo ID Apps. Repotting Houseplants

Show Transcript

Ep. 186 TRANSCRIPT Understanding Fertilizer Labels. Best Plant ID Picture Apps. Repotting Houseplants.

Farmer Fred  0:00  

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. it's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred. Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot. 

Farmer Fred  0:31  

Are fertilizers overused? That’s what America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, says. She also deciphers all that information on a fertilizer label so you know exactly what’s in it and what it will do, if anything, for your plants. Meanwhile, in the great indoors, spring is the time for repotting houseplants. We chat with the author of “Houseplant Warrior”, Raffaele DiLallo about how to go about repotting houseplants for the best success.   Also, we get a Quick Tip about answering that oh-so common question, what’s the name of that plant? We talk about the best Apps for identifying pictures of plants accurately (and that’s the key). And, how your local garden club can help you in your gardening journey to pinpoint those best local plants, as well.  We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots. And we will do it all in under 30 minutes. Let’s go!  

UNDERSTANDING FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZER LABELS

Farmer Fred  1:39  

Here on the Garden Basics podcast, one thing we harp on, but it's true: read and follow all label directions on a pesticide or fertilizer label, or for that matter, a seed packet. Because you're going to have the best success if you do follow it. There's a lot of interest in organic-like products when it comes to fertilizers especially and if you see the word "natural" on a label,  Debbie Flower is here. Our favorite, excuse me, America's favorite retired college horticultural Professor. What does natural mean?

Debbie Flower  2:12  

Natural has no definition, Fred. Things like organic, the term organic has a legal definition, but natural does not. So it tells us nothing. I think it's just used sort of as eye candy.

Farmer Fred  2:24  

So if you see the word natural, especially if it's prominently on the front of the label, that should be a red flag that you should ask yourself, "what's really in this". So take us through how to read a fertilizer label. One of the more popular fertilizer amendments these days includes kelp meal or seaweed, a lot of people tout its benefits. But in a lot of situations, that's not the only thing in that package, right?

Debbie Flower  2:49  

By law, and there are laws about how fertilizers are packaged and what has to be said on the label that you can read when you buy it at the store, not a label hidden somewhere else, but one that you can see before you purchase that package. And either on the front or the back will be the analysis, which are three numbers. First one is percent nitrogen. The second one is percent phosphoric acid, and the third one is percent potash. So N-P-K is how it's typically referred. The N is for green growth, Phosphorus is often is for energy. And potassium is for tolerance of environment, all around health. But plants need 16 or more nutrients in order to survive. So those three are the ones that a plant uses in large amounts, and they also move out of the root zone fairly quickly. And so those are the three that are required by law, but you can look much more closely and there will be another table on the package, either on the front or the back, and it'll say guaranteed analysis. And it goes through everything that is measured in that fertilizer, not necessarily everything, but everything that is measured and reported in that fertilizer. And the place I always go first when I'm picking out a fertilizer is the bottom of that guaranteed analysis table which is the "derived from" table. That will tell me where the fertilizer was made. If it says seaweed powder than I know they went to an ocean and harvested from an existing environment and got seaweed. If it says ammonium phosphate then that was made in a laboratory. Same with potassium nitrate. There is laboratory urea, but there is also natural urea. The urea found in fertilizers is made in a laboratory. Blood meal  would come from animals that have probably been slaughtered for consumption by humans. Fish meal, same thing. That would probably come from the leftovers of fish that are consumed by humans. There are things that are mined, which includes bone meal and sulfur. And then there are other things that may have come in along with those other products. Micro nutrients or heavy metals, such as iron might be in there; zinc might be in there, copper might be in there. And those were probably not intentionally put in there. But they came along with other products that this fertilizer was derived from.

Debbie Flower  2:50  

I won't say it's rare, but it's unusual, if you get a soil test done that you find very many micronutrient  deficiencies. But it pays to have your soil test done and then choose the appropriate fertilizer. 

Debbie Flower  5:26  

Yes, that is a good thing to do when you're starting a garden, and especially something good to do  if your plants are showing symptoms of not being happy. Fertilizers, I think, are overused. I think people apply them because they think they should, because the label of the fertilizer says it should be applied, because the ad on television gives you a calendar during which you should apply these fertilizers. But fertilizers should be applied in response to deficiency symptoms in plants.

Farmer Fred  5:57  

Yeah, exactly. That's a hard habit to break. And in fact, in a lot of situations, if you're just feeding your soil with mulch and compost, that may be all the nutrients it needs.

Debbie Flower  6:08  

Yes, that's especially true for woody plants, trees and shrubs. They don't typically need lots of fertilizer, if it's a plant that you are harvesting from, say, in your vegetable garden, you're taking lots of tomatoes off the plant or you have fruit trees that you're taking a lot of fruit off of the plant, then that may call for slightly more fertilizer application. And then the other case is lawns. Lawns are grass and grass is a high user of nitrogen and nitrogen moves very quickly out of the landscape. But you can just mulch and especially mulching with chicken manure, composted chicken manure, and solve your nutrition problems that way too.

Farmer Fred  6:48  

And sometimes you get into a habit of doing things because you heard that, "oh, this is great for transplants." Kelp meal or seaweed comes to mind, that if you're doing transplanting, that the seaweed can help root development. Are there any university studies to that effect?

Debbie Flower  7:06  

There are no scientifically based studies that show that kelp meal or seaweed have any desirable effects on plants. People will tell you that they are plants and they provide what plants need, including some hormones that plants need, but externally provided hormones of the type you find in those do not have an effect on plants. 

Farmer Fred  7:28  

We have discovered, though, that over the years that certain horticultural amendments that are very popular, things like seaweed and peat moss, actually have environmental drawbacks.

Debbie Flower  7:40  

Right. These are things that are made by nature. And to date, the way we are collecting them is by going into nature and taking what we want and that is not sustainable. In the case of seaweed and kelp. It provides a habitat for the organisms fish and otherwise that live in the water. Peat moss is a different habitat and it's created by nature. And when we go in and take it away, we are removing that habitat. So we are doing Earth destruction by collecting these products. And in the case of seaweed and kelp, they are not providing our plants with anything they need or anything they can't get anywhere else. Some of the seaweeds and kelps are known to be accumulators of heavy metals, they can only live in fairly shallow water, so they're fairly close to the edge of the body of water. And if something like a manufacturing plant is nearby, and some of their waste gets washed off, or there's a highway and waste gets washed off the surface of the highway into the water, all water goes downhill, all water ends up in the ocean. If it's not collected in the soil, then the heavy metals that is washed off with that water can end up in the seaweed, and then we apply it to our garden, and then we potentially eat it. If we are harvesting from that garden, that is dangerous.

Farmer Fred  9:01  

So, this is another good reason to get a soil test, especially if you've been using some of these products on a regular basis for a number of years. Get that complete soil test done that would indicate the amount of metals that may be in your soil. And what does a gardener do? Build raised beds at that point?

Debbie Flower  9:19  

If you do find that your garden soil is full of heavy metals, and there are other reasons for that, like lead in paint. So you have to specify you want the heavy metal soil test and if you find out you do have it, then grow ornamentals there. And grow  your edibles elsewhere. Or put in a raised bed with a solid bottom so that the plants can't get the roots into the heavy metal soil, and use container media.

Farmer Fred  10:06  

There you go. Solve your heavy metal issues right there. There is more and more, a movement in horticultural circles. And it's a trend that's growing, picking up steam. It's the "pick and drop" method of mulching. Basically, it's pulling weeds and then adding it to your compost pile, or doing something with it. So it's returned back to nature.

Debbie Flower  10:31  

Yeah, so you walked my garden earlier... 

Farmer Fred  10:34  

We're in your garden now!

Debbie Flower  10:35  

We're in my garden. Yes, we're sitting in the shade of the tree on the patio, in the shade of the tree, a lovely place to be. And we walked the garden earlier. And I don't know if you noticed, but there are piles of weeds all over the place. Because if they do not have seeds formed on them, I am willing to just pull them and let them lie on the soil. The two things I will remove are weeds with seeds, take them out of the landscape. And, undesirable Bermuda grass, because it will root from its its stems.

Farmer Fred  11:03  

Rhizomes, stolons and seeds, the Triple Threat of Bermuda grass, but if you're a good gardener, and it takes persistence to get out there and pull these other weeds before they flower, it's perfectly good as mulch or compost.

Debbie Flower  11:17  

Right. And it returns those nutrients to the soil.

Farmer Fred  11:20  

So you may not even have to buy that sea kelp.

Debbie Flower  11:23  

Yeah, or you can have a formal compost pile and get your workout by turning it.

Farmer Fred  11:28  

And your worms will eat it too. 

Debbie Flower  11:29  

Yes, they will. 

Farmer Fred  11:30  

So if you don't do anything else, get your soil tested, too. My go-to places for soil tests include the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Colorado State University, you can do an internet search for their soil testing facilities. They're very reasonably priced. It's a fairly complete soil test, too, and unless you know somebody locally who does a complete soil test, that would be my go-to recommendation. But find out what's in your soil before you add anything to it. Debbie Flower, it's a beautiful day in your garden. Thank you.

Debbie Flower  11:59  

Yeah, I'm enjoying it. You're welcome.

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Farmer Fred  12:05  

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QUICK TIP: BEST PLANT ID PICTURE APPS. JOIN A GARDEN CLUB

Farmer Fred  14:01  

Here’s a quick tip: All successful gardening is local.  And if you’re wondering what plants thrive in your neighborhood, take a walk and see what looks good. And if the homeowner is working in their yard, strike up a conversation. Gardeners are usually very friendly people! And when it comes to plant identification, there are a lot of inexpensive, or free apps, that can help you identify those pictures you take of the plants.  And, as you might assume, there have been university studies done to determine the best plant picture identification app. The horticulture department at Michigan State University as been testing and ranking plant picture apps for four years.  The top performing app in their latest evaluation  was PictureThis, with 67% of the suggested identifications being correct. Following this lead, there was a cluster of three apps with about 50% accuracy: PlantNet, Plant Story and LeafSnap. These top four apps all displayed 50% or greater accuracy for flowering broadleaf ornamentals and broadleaf weeds. Surprisingly, the 2020-second runner-up, iNaturalist, came in fifth place with about 30% accuracy. We’ll have a link to this study in today’s show notes: 

Farmer Fred  15:25  

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/plant-identification-theres-an-app-for-that-actually-several 

Farmer Fred  15:26  

But obviously, most of us don’t have access to the successful plants in everyone’s backyards. However, your local garden club just might. Local garden clubs are a great resource for good plant information as well as horticulture events. And your local garden clubs just might be conducting home plant tours this spring, as a fundraiser. Many garden clubs have fundraising activities for worthwhile causes, such as college horticultural scholarships and grants, local  beautification projects and ongoing educational programs, such as elementary school gardens. Spring plants sales are one source of revenue. Another is selling tickets for local home garden tours, a chance to take a peek into the backyards of some outstanding gardeners. One such tour is happening this weekend, April 23 and 24, here in Folsom, California, put on by the Folsom Garden Club. More information about that can be found at their website, folsomgarden.org. But chances are, you, too, are close to a garden club that’s doing the exact same thing in your area. Here in California, you can find a list of many of the garden clubs in the Golden State at californiagardenclubs.com. Around the country, look for a garden organization near you, courtesy of the National Garden Club, at gardenclub.org. We’ll have links to those two organizations in today’s show notes as well. And about right now, anyone listening to this under the age of 50 is probably rolling their eyes, and muttering, "you could probably Google the phrase, 'garden club near me'." Yeah, ok, fine. By the way, you don’t have to be a gardener to join a garden club. If your goal is to find out more about what grows well in your area, joining a local garden club is a great way to begin your journey to acquiring a green thumb.        

GARDENBASICS.NET. THE BEYOND THE BASICS NEWSLETTER

Farmer Fred  17:27  

The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast has a lot of information posted at each episode in the show notes. Maybe you’d rather read than listen? Not a problem, a complete transcript is posted, and you can find that link in the show notes or on our new homepage, gardenbasics.net, where you can find that link as well as all the previous episodes of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. There, you can leave a message or link up with our social media pages, including our You Tube video page. And at garden basics dot net. click on the tab at the top of the page to read the Garden Basics “Beyond Basics” newsletter, which usually has a bonus podcast attached to it. Plus, in the show notes, there are links to any products or books mentioned during the show, and other helpful links for even more information. Plus, you can listen to just the portions of the show that interest you, it’s been divided into easily accessible chapters.  Want to leave us a question? Again, check the links at garden basics.net. Also, when you click on any episode at garden basics.net, you’ll find a link to Speakpipe, where you can leave us an audio question without a making a phone call. Or, go to them directly: speak pipe dot com slash garden basics. You want to call us? We have that number posted at garden basics dot net. Spoiler alert: it’s 916-292-8964, 916-292-8964. Email? Sure! Send it, along with your pictures to fred@farmerfred.com. Or again, go to garden basics dot net and get that link. And if you send us a question, be sure to tell us where you’re gardening, because all gardening is local. Find it all at garden basics dot net. 

HOW (AND WHY) TO REPOT A HOUSEPLANT     

Farmer Fred  19:17  

We are talking with Raffaele DiLallo, author of the book, "Houseplant Warrior." He's also the creator of a wonderful website about houseplants, Ohiotropics.com. It's springtime. A lot of people are outdoors, planting. What about indoor plants and repotting plants? How can you tell when your  houseplants need repotting? And is spring really the best time of the year to do it?

Raffaele DiLallo  19:46  

Sure. There's a number of things that I look for. That will indicate to me if a plant needs a larger pot or not. And of course you won't really know until you take the plant out. I actually just repotted a Thanksgiving cactus that I have grown indoors. And it's been in the same pot for years. And if you've try to touch the surface of the potting mix, it was all roots, it was just a hard mound of roots. So that's a pretty sure sign that you probably need a bigger pot. Another thing I look for is: look at the drainage hole at the bottom of the pot. Are there any roots growing out? That's another indication that your pot is full of roots. Another thing, too, is sometimes people write to me and they say, "Oh, I've I haven't changed a thing with my plant. I've been doing the same thing for a long time. And now suddenly, it looks horrible." This comes into play if you have a strict watering schedule. It may work for a while, but eventually your pot is going to become full of roots. And suddenly  your once a week watering schedule might start to fail, because your plants are going to need water much more frequently, because it's full of roots. So those are some indications you won't know until you take your plants out of their pots. But springtime is definitely a great time to repot, and summertime is a great times to repot your plants. I would say just try and avoid doing it during the winter time. If you have poor conditions,  very low light and your plants not growing at all, I would hold off on repotting during that time. But if you're using grow lights, and your plants are getting the same amount of light year round, you can safely repot  any time of year anytime that you need to. So, if you do have an emergency, and you're really worried about your plants health, and it really needs to be repotted, go ahead if you're growing year round, under grow lights, and you  have them on 12 hours a day year round, go ahead and do whenever you want to. I would just avoid anytime if your plants are not actively growing and you have dark days, probably it's best to hold off until springtime when your days are getting longer, and your plants are starting to grow. That would be a good time to repot the plant.

Farmer Fred  22:00  

There is a movement afoot here on the West Coast: when transplanting outdoor plants, shrubs or small trees,  wash off all the soil off the roots before transplanting it into its new home. Would you do something like that with a root-bound houseplant, though? When you take that plant out of the pot and you see encircling roots, would you try to free up the roots by washing off the soil and putting it in fresh potting mix? And, how big of a container should it go into?

Raffaele DiLallo  22:31  

Personally, I do not wash the roots off. I've seen people do that. Personally, I've never done that. I would say unless you have some kind of pest in your soil, I would prefer not to do that. My philosophy is  try to disturb the roots as little as possible. But that being said, if you have, like you're saying, if you have a really root-bound plant with roots circling along the bottom, I always loosen, I always try to tease those roots loose a little bit and loosen the root ball, at the bottom of the root ball and then at the sides as well. So I do that. And sometimes, some of the soil will come free and that's fine. For the most part, I try and keep as much intact as I can. But I do loosen the root ball. I'll give an example, just to show the importance of it. If your plant is not severely rootbound, you can probably get away with not loosening the rootball  pretty easily. But if you have a really root-bound plant, this is very important. One time, many years ago, before I knew any better, I had a Peace Lily that I put in a new pot. And I was really really rough on it, while giving it a bigger pot. I was expecting it to respond a little bit better than it did. But it was just sulking there, for maybe a year or so. And then I  was asking myself, why is it not growing?  It's not doing as well as I thought. So then I took it out of that pot. And there wasn't a single root that grew into the new potting mix. And it was all because all the roots were so tightly bound. So I did loosen the rootball. That's a good example of why it's important to do that. In terms of the size of a pot that you use: In general. I'm not saying do this in every single case ever, but in general, I always recommend only going up one pot size. Let's say you have a four inch diameter pot, and it's time for a new pot. Only go up to a six inch diameter pot. You know, I see a lot of people go much too big in terms of the pot. And so what happens there, is that the soil or your potting mix is going to take a lot longer to dry out. And that can cause a lot of issues down the line with perhaps root rot. If your conditions are  poor enough to cause that. So it's always better to stick with smaller than you think. And go by the size of the roots  and not necessarily by the size of the leaves or the stems. Sometimes the plant might appear to be nice and big. But the root system isn't very large, you still want to pot up. Judge it by the size of the root system and not necessarily by what you see above the soil.

Farmer Fred  25:17  

I am enchanted with the fact that you use the term, "tease the roots loose". And whereas a lot of people, especially with outdoor plants, they will cut the roots when transplanting. If they find a root bound plant, they might take out a screwdriver or a box cutter and score on four sides and a big X across the bottom. Can you do that to a houseplant? Can you take weapons out on your houseplants?

Raffaele DiLallo  25:41  

Absolutely, absolutely, you can definitely take weapons out.  It's funny because sometimes I have a plant that I'm afraid I'll harm if I take it out of the pot. So sometimes if I have a terracotta pot or a pot that I don't really care much about, I'll take a hammer to the pot and break it. I get some backlash about that on social media, people sometimes get get a little touchy with that. But as far as other other weapons, as you mentioned, it's perfectly fine to do that. Sometimes depending on if you have a really fibrous dense root system, it can be really difficult to try and tease the roots apart with your hands. So in those cases, like you mentioned, you can score the rootball, maybe make some vertical cuts along around the perimeter of the rootball. And in those areas, it'll help to encourage new roots to grow into the potting mix. Sometimes people will slice the outer quarter inch of the root ball, that that works as well. Otherwise, I try and just use my hands and try and break up the rootball, tease some of the roots apart. Stick my fingers in there and make some holes around the perimeter so that the roots have really somewhere to start growing, into the new potting mix.

Farmer Fred  26:57  

Well, weapons seem appropriate for the "Houseplant Warrior". 

Raffaele DiLallo  27:00  

Yes. 

Farmer Fred  27:02  

It's been a pleasure talking with Raffaele DiLallo, author of "Houseplant Warrior: Seven Keys to Unlocking the Mysteries of Houseplant Care." The website is  Ohiotropics.com. If I'm not mistaken, you're also on Instagram.

Raffaele DiLallo  27:15  

I am. Just type in Ohiotropics, one word. I'm on Instagram. I'm also on YouTube and Facebook as well. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure to talk with you, Fred.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. AND READING!

Farmer Fred  27:28  

Garden Basics With Farmer Fred comes out every Tuesday and Friday and is brought to you by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. Garden Basics is available wherever podcasts are handed out. For more information about the podcast, visit our website, GardenBasics dot net. That’s where you can find out about the free, Garden Basics newsletter, Beyond the Basics. And thank you so much for listening.