S3:E05 Container Gardening with Ashley Bachtel-Bodkins Artwork

The Garden Thyme Podcast

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The Garden Thyme Podcast

S3:E05 Container Gardening with Ashley Bachtel-Bodkins

May 06, 2022 • Season 3 • Episode 5

Hello Listener,

In this month esiopde we are talking about continer gardening with Ashley Bachtel-Bodkins, Senior Agent Asso. & MG Coordinator for UME in Garrett Co. If you are limited on space and time a container garden may be a perfect way to add in the garden you’ve always wanted. We talk picking the correct size container for your plant needs, drainage tips and growing media.

We also have our:

Native Plant of the Month (Sweet Bay Magnolia, Magnolia virginiana ) at 26:00
Bug of the Month (Spongy moth, Lymantria dispar) at 30:45
Garden Tips of the Month at 38:45.

If you have any garden-related questions, please email us at UMEGardenPodcast@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GardenThymePodcas. For more information about UME and these topics, please check out the UME Home and Garden Information Center and Maryland Grows Blog at https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/.

The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Senior Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture, Rachel Rhodes- Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne's County), and Emily Zobel-Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County).

Theme Song: By Jason Inc

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The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Principal Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture; Rachel Rhodes- Senior Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne's County); and Emily Zobel- Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County).

Theme Song: By Jason Inc,

Garden Thyme Podcast Transcript S3:E05 Container Gardening with Ashley Bachtel-Bodkins

Note: The Garden Thyme Podcast is produced for the ear and is designed to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.

:Up beat music:

Mikaela

Hello, listener. Welcome to the University of Maryland Extension presents the Garden Thyme podcast, where we talk about getting down and dirty in your garden. We're your hosts. I'm Mikaela.

Rachel

I'm Rachel.

Emily

And I'm Emily.

Mikaela

In this month's episode, we're talking about container gardening.

:Up beat music:

Mikaela

It's finally May, and gardening season has sprung, and we're all really eager to get our hands dirty and get things in the ground. However, if you're limited on space and time, a container garden might be a perfect way to add the garden you've always wanted. Today we're joined by Ashley Bachtel-Bodkins, senior agent, associate and master gardener coordinator for the University of Maryland Extension in Garrett County. So it's our western counterpart. We're so happy to have you on, Ashley.

Ashley

Thank you, guys. I'm so excited to be here today.

Emily

We are so happy to have you.

Mikaela

And I'm particularly thrilled because I do terrible with container gardening. So I'm going to be particularly listening close today to learn more. You'd think I should be an expert on stuff like this, but I'm really not. So, Ashley, we're going to have some real good questions for you, and feel free to add anything else that you think would be really beneficial for listeners as we talk today.

Ashley

Okay? Wonderful, thank you.

Emily

So I think one of the first questions that a lot of people have is why should I garden in a container instead of just putting things in the ground?

Ashley

I think that's a great question, and I think it's twofold. So one reason is that I personally think it's easier. It's easier to get started. It might be a little bit more expensive than just buying a shovel and going out in your backyard, but it's a lot less labor intensive, so I think that that can be very appealing to a lot of different people.

Rachel

So, Ashley, there are so many different containers out there. How do I pick the right one for my garden, my site, and what size do I need to grow herbs versus flowers or vegetables?

Ashley

So University of Maryland Extension and the Home and Garden Information Center has some great information on their website, so I'd recommend that you visit that site to get started. In general, I tell people the larger the container you can get, the better you'll be. That tends to be the biggest problem that I see with people container gardening is that there's just not enough room or they overcrowd it. They put too many plants in a too small of a container. So guidance for me is larger vegetables like tomatoes, they need at least a five gallon bucket. Something smaller like a pepper, especially like your dwarf varieties or container varieties, they can probably go with a three gallon. For herbs, especially annuals, those that are going to die with the first killing frost, they can be a little bit smaller. I find very few uses for a container less than a gallon in size. Maybe some annuals, but the smaller the container, the more work you're going to have to do. So the more water you're going to have to give it, the more fertilizer, the more often you're going to have to fertilize that container. Let size be the guide as far as the space you want to fill, but the larger you get, the better your plants are going to do.

Rachel

Can you talk to us about the different types of containers? Because you have plastic, you have wooden, you have porous, and how do you dictate which ones you're going to use or not use, or is there any suggestion on which ones that you like more?

Ashley

Sure. So as far as container types, it really comes down to what look you like. A lot of containers are made of plastic now, so as far as that goes, all plastic containers are pretty much created equal depending on color. The darker they are, the hotter it's going to get. So that can be kind of detrimental to some of your roots, especially where you guys are in the eastern part of the state, where it's going to be a lot hotter. So darker colors can be a problem. I also like to stay away from porous containers so those natural materials like clay. They make beautiful pots, but if they're not glazed or sealed, a lot of water can leach through there and you're going to end up having to spend more time watering those plants.

Emily

So the one thing I will say about porous pots is if you are growing something like a succulent that likes it hot and dry, the porous pots are actually really good in those cases. I have found that I kill succulents in plastic containers, but as soon as I moved all my succulents to clay pots, they dried out a lot faster, and I did not overwater and kill them quite as quickly. I still overwatered and killed them. It just took an extra six months to do it.

Ashley

That's great advice, Emily. Definitely a good point there. So again, like we tell people a lot of times, if you can match your plant need with what you have to offer that plant, it's going to make a happier gardener and a happy gardening situation.

Mikaela

Do you have any pots or materials that you would not recommend for using for, like, edible plants? Like, is hypertufa something you shouldn't use if it's something you plan to eat and harvest?

Ashley

Sure. So if you're talking about recycled materials for container gardening, I always tell people to stay away from anything that could have had something toxic in it, especially if you're going to be food gardening. Otherwise, as long as the container is large enough for the plant, and as long as it has a drainage hole of some sort, you can almost make anything into a container.

Emily

So what if I have these beautiful ornamental pots that someone gifted me and they don't have a drainage hole in them.

Ashley

So if you have a container that does not have a drainage hole in it, you can do something called double potting, where you would put a less decorative container inside of the more decorative container, and then all that water would leach out into the container. One thing to think about is that sometimes these containers, any type of container that you have can leave stains on your deck or concrete. So you may want to think about using self watering containers, which tend to be a little bit more expensive, but in the end have a few less headaches for you. Or you can use the saucers underneath of your containers to make sure that you're not getting any negative things that are occurring from leaching out of your container.

Rachel

So, Ashley, I'm a huge container gardener. I have so many containers around my property, it's unreal. And we get a ton of questions all the time about what type of soil do I need to put in? Do I absolutely have to change my soil every time or every season? Can I keep that soil? Can I use it somewhere else? What do you think about these?

Ashley

So I'm a big believer in the soilless potting mix or soilless growing media for containers just because it's been specially formulated and they've tested it just to figure out exactly what it needs to have in there so that it'll grow the best plants that you can. So a lot of those different mixes may be Sphagnum peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, lots of different things that go into those different mixes depending on brand or purpose or that sort of thing. So I found that just a general all purpose mixture works really well in containers. If you purchase some and it looks not right in color, it should be a nice dark brown, lighter, black type of color. If it doesn't look well, if it doesn't smell well, that's something that you definitely don't want to use. So there's different bacterias and different funguses that can get in there and cause anaerobic conditions, and that's not definitely not what you want. When we're talking about starting a container garden, I do recommend changing it every year. I guess it kind of depends on how intensively you're growing or how extensive the root system was in that container. But usually once you have experience with container gardening or with this soilless growing media, you'll be able to tell right away if it's still fluffy and it still looks like something that those plants are going to be able to do well in.

Ashley

If it's pretty much not fluffy and doesn't look like something that your plants would do well in, then definitely change it. You may get a year or two, but I like to change it every year, and because it is all natural products, so it can go directly into your compost pile and just be recycled that way.

Rachel

So do you add any compost or any type of fertilizer or slow release fertilizer in there. When you're using a soilless mix.

Ashley

It's going to depend on some mixes come with fertilizer already mixed in the slow release granules, but definitely because these plants are limited to where their roots can go because of the container that limits them for water uptake, nutrient uptake. So you're going to have to think about feeding them some way. So whether that's through slow release granules that you'll mix in yourself or through water soluble products that you're going to mix into the water as you apply those. There's also products that I've used in smaller containers, especially hanging baskets. When I used to work in a greenhouse, they would mix something called soil moist or silica gel, which is kind of like these little tiny beads that whenever you mix it with soil, it expands the reservoir that's available for water to absorb to. So they kind of expand and get double, triple, quadruple their size. And then as they dry out, they just go back just to the silica gel. So that's a product that I find very helpful, especially if you're going to be someone that can't water their plants every day or every couple of days when they're going to need that.

Rachel

Those are great suggestions, Ashley. So along with reusing soil, can you reuse your containers every year? And is there anything that you should do from season to season to kind of make sure that your containers are nice and clean and ready to go for the next growing season?

Ashley

Good question. And that's one we get a lot here with extensions, so definitely I recommend using some sort of a sanitizing product, which can be just as simple as one part Bleach, nine parts water solution. Just scrub your containers with that, even just plain old dish soap, if that's all you have, that works just fine, too. Anytime you can sanitize those containers, it's going to help prevent any disease pests that could be overwintering in any stage, and any type of insect that potentially could be there. It's highly unlikely, but always err on the side of caution and just give them a good rinse.

Mikaela

It's good information. And actually kind of going back to the question about watering, do you use any of those self watering bulbs or like a watering system for when you can't get to your pots all the time before they dry out?

Ashley

I have not. I've used the bulbs, like the self watering bulbs and house plants. I never use them outside, though.

Emily

Okay.

Ashley

I don't know. Just curious, anybody else here has or not, but I have not.

Rachel

I really want to set up drip irrigation to some of my containers this year because I'm horrible watering them. I have to remind myself, hey, you got to water your containers like twice a day. I feel like in the heat of the summer because it gets so hot and so dry so quickly. So that's one of my on my wish list. But who knows if it will actually happen.

Emily

When it comes to drainage, I know one trick that people used to talk about to help with drainage was putting things like gravel and then putting the soil on top of that. Is that something that you would recommend to people?

Ashley

Definitely not. Growing up that's what we always were told. Put some rocks in the bottom before you put that soil and the plant in there. So they've done a lot of research and I just read a study that came out just like the other day that said it actually creates more humidity by having that layer of rock in the bottom because water just kind of lays there. And if you don't have a whole profile of soil, then the water leaching properties don't work correctly. So the rocks kind of disturb that so you kind of get a better drainage system. And a lot of these soilless potting mixes that you're going to use to fill these containers, they're designed for those leaching properties in the water to kind of flow naturally just like it would in a regular soil profile. So yeah, I would definitely recommend not putting rocks or anything in the bottom. Just fill your container all the way to the top with your potting soil or your soilless growing media.

Mikaela

Are there any special tricks for growing like a lot of people recently have been asking me about growing either native grasses or shrubs and not necessarily trees, but some more material that I don't think of as traditionally being in containers. Would you grow those any differently than you would some of these other things? We're talking about some of the more traditional crops.

Ashley

I think the main difference when we talk about putting perennials into a container is that you need to think about what's going to happen to that root mass as the winter season starts, especially here in Garrett County where I am. So I don't necessarily discourage people from doing that. But just think about you need to either put those roots, like up against a wall or somewhere where they're going to have more of a windbreak because the cold wind tends to be what kills a lot of roots. And that's same way with a lot of our perennials that people try to put in a zone where they don't belong. So it's not necessarily like the snow or the precipitation that's going to kill them, but it would be the cold wind. So protecting the root zones on those nontraditional container plants would probably be my best guidance on where to start with trying that.

Mikaela

That's a really good point because I've had several people recently who grow evergreens, like evergreen shrubs in containers and they are just so much more exposed. So they have a lot more bronzing and it seems like they're drying out a lot quicker. I don't know if they're being protected or not, but my guess is not, especially with those large containers that you can't move. Exactly.

Ashley

Nobody wants to go out and try to move that around. It's not an enjoyable thing.

Mikaela

Do you place any value in using the planter feet? They can sometimes be decorative, but I've used bricks before. Is there any benefit or purchase to that?

Ashley

I think definitely anytime we can increase that air movement, and any plants I think is going to be beneficial. Again, that can also help dry out the area underneath, so you might not get, like, fungus and the other things that could potentially stain your deck or your concrete. So I'm a fan of it if it's possible, and you can make it look appropriate.

Mikaela

That's good to know. I thought I was just being crazy by using some bricks to put my planters on.

Emily

I use bricks as well, Mikaela so youre fine.

Mikaela

They're cheap.

Rachel

I like to have them up off of my deck just a little bit, especially if you have a wood deck or even if it's salt treated, you still want to avoid getting any potential rot or fungus or anything like that on your deck. So I like to keep them up just a little bit.

Mikaela

Yeah, that's a good point, because our concrete gets stained as well, even our concrete pad.

Emily

I like to raise them up because then I find that the slugs can't easily get to them, particularly. So I have strawberries that I grow in containers, which are a weird kind of thing, because strawberries have really shallow roots, so you don't need deep containers to grow them, which is one of the reasons why they make such nice container plants. But I always lose half my strawberries to slugs, so I found that if I raise them up, the slugs will still get to them, but it's harder for them to spend all day underneath the pot, so it's a little harder for the slugs to get to my strawberries.

Mikaela

So, Ashley, do you have any tips or other suggestions for success in growing container gardens?

Ashley

Definitely. So when we talk about containers, I think the most important thing to remember is that you don't overcrowd your plants. You give them as much space as you can, and sometimes that takes patience. And I realize that's hard. When people want to container garden, they want to think about going to a nursery or a greenhouse, and they want to think about those big, beautiful baskets that are completely full at the beginning of the season. And unfortunately, a lot of times those are going to be overplanted, so you have to be patient. So just a couple of plants at the beginning, and they may not look beautiful right at the very get go, but just be patient and let your plants fill out so space, water and feeding, and anybody can be successful with container gardening.

Mikaela

I'm so excited. This is inspiring me to try some new things this year for container gardens.

Emily

So Ashley, how would we handle a raised bed versus a container?

Ashley

So, raised beds are treated very similarly to container gardening. Again, you're focusing a lot of energy on a small space, so they tend to be more intensively managed. So they do require, again, good soil to start with, good drainage because they are already raised up. We tend to require a lot more watering on those raised bed situations. So being mindful of that, also things like what you're going to build your raised bed out of, so we don't recommend using treated lumber. Try to stay away from that just in case something could leach out of there, especially if your raised bed is going to be for food production. Also again, making sure that you have fertilizer in there so that the plants can have a continual supply of nutrients.

Emily

Awesome. So are there any plants that you don't recommend attempting in containers?

Ashley

I would stay away from large trees, particularly perennials for the most part, just because they're going to require a lot more care. So I would not start with perennial woody plants. Not saying that you can't do that, just it may require a little bit more dedication. So if you're starting your container journey, I really like to start with herbs. I think that they're something fun, especially to have close to your front door where you're going to be able to access them quickly. Most people don't want to have to put shoes on and go out into the back garden to find your herbs, to then take them in to make a salad or whatever you're going to do with them. So the closer they are to your kitchen, the more likely you are to use them. So that's what I tell people to start with. Herbs in a container. I really like flowers, so a lot of annual flowers are set up perfectly for containers, especially ones that are a little more cheaper to purchase. So annuals that are like in cell packs, so you can buy a lot of plants in cell packs for cheap and you can mix and match them as long as they have the same sunlight requirements.

Ashley

Mix and match them to make really beautiful planters and they're a little bit more cheap to put together that way than maybe purchasing them straight out and buying like a six inch container league grown pot or something like that.

Emily

I will say on the herb component, I think you touched a lot on overcrowding. And I think if people want to start an herb garden going and getting the single cells of herbs instead of going to the grocery store, they have those $3 pots and it's like 20 basil plants. And people always call into me and talk about how they couldn't get those to survive and I'm like, yes, they're overcrowded. They're not meant to survive, they're meant for you to use them as cooking herbs move on. So for those of you guys who are going to start with transplants, because herb seeds are not always the easiest to start with, I think it's worth noting to go ahead and get the ones where it's a single plant in a pot and then transplant them if you do want more. But again, you have to take into consideration how large that plant is going to get in its final stage, like in the peak of its growing season.

Mikaela

It's good Advice. Do you have any other kind of cultural planting tips? Do you rough up the root ball just like you would if you were planting them in the ground? Or can you kind of leave them because they're just going from one container to another?

Ashley

Sure. Yeah. I think whenever you get ready to start planting in your container, one thing to remember is to fill it all the way to the top. With soil, I find a lot of people that have containers, they leave six inches below the top of the container. So I always find that a little frustrating. So you've purchased this container. Make sure you use the entire space. Soil is an expense, but it's something that your plants are going to benefit from. So fill that container all the way up. Whenever I do containers, I always push it down. Not super hard, but push it down at least one time and then refill it to make sure that you are giving your roots a good base to grow into. And then whenever you take your transplant, if that's what you're using, whenever you get ready to put them in, pop them out of the container they're in. Make sure you loosen that root ball. If it's an annual, especially like an annual flower, like a petunia or something like that, I just rip the bottom like half inch off, which seems a little bit vicious, but you want to kind of be a little aggressive so that those roots know that they're being disturbed.

Ashley

Again, that only works on plants like annual flowers and things like that. If it's a cucumber or a vegetable plant or something like that, you might need to be a little bit more cautious and not so aggressive with that. But yeah, mess up the root ball on most everything and put that right into the container. Make sure that you keep the soil of the same level that it was already growing in. You don't want to put most things too deep. The one exception, of course, would be a tomato. Tomato transplants. You can plant those as deep as you almost can, just don't cover up the first leaves. But all that stem area can be covered on a tomato. So make sure you get good soil contact around your transplants. Put them in, make sure that they're nice and sturdy so that the wind isn't going to be blowing them over. And then make sure that you water them in. I think watering them in is a great way to settle the soil, just like when you plant anywhere now.

Emily

So when you go to plant these, do you wet your soil before you put your plant in, or do you put your plant in and then wet the whole thing?

Ashley

I really believe in wetting your soil first. So a lot of these soilless growing mixes that are common on the market today, they don't really like to absorb the water very well, so it takes some work. I like to use a wheelbarrow where I just put the soil block in there, break it apart, and then add my water. Make sure that you mix it in. This can take a good 15 to 20 minutes. What I found, the more time you spend mixing it in and getting a good product to start with, the better off your whole entire growing season is going to go, especially when you're putting that soil into a container that's going to be there for four to five months, potentially growing. So, yeah, I wet the soil first. Definitely.

Emily

Awesome.

Mikaela

I'm so excited. This is inspiring me to try some new things this year for container gardens. Do you recommend bulbs in containers?

Ashley

Yeah, I think it's fine to do bulbs in a container. They're just going to be a short season type of container. So if you're going to either dig them up or you need to let that bulb complete its life cycle if you're going to save that bulb for the next season. So you could have a couple of months where your container is just sitting there and kind of not the most attractive.

Mikaela

That sounds like my containers anyways.

Rachel

I plant bulbs in containers. Yeah, I have some with daffodils and hyacinth and crocus, and then when they get done blooming, I literally just plant over top of them. Who cares? It's just some extra greenery.

Mikaela

Do you save the bulbs then, Rachel?

Rachel

Yeah, I forget about them. And then the next year I'm like, oh, that one has bulbs in it.

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us, Ashley. We really appreciate you being here.

Ashley

I appreciate you guys having me on today, and I hope that everyone is very inspired to go out and start a container garden. Again it's a very easy way to get into gardening. If you have a little bit of sunshine, at least six to 8 hours of sunshine, you can go out and have a garden almost anywhere. Happy Gardening and happy May.

Mikaela

Thanks so much, Ashley.

Rachel

Ashley I know you've inspired me to put more containers in or get my containers ready before June.

Ashley

Awesome. I'm so glad to hear it.

:Up beat music:

Mikaela

It's the native plant of the month with Mikaela.

I'm so excited for this month's native plant of the month. I try and bounce back and forth between herbaceous perennials, shrubs and trees. This is truly one of my favorites. Sweetbay magnolia or Magnolia Virginiana, is one of our native trees. It's become a very popular landscape addition and for very good reason. It's a little more demure than the southern magnolia, which is nice, but I think it's almost a little too dense, a little too evergreen. And the Sweetbay is a fantastic native tree alternative to include in the landscape. It has what we call semi-evergreen foliage, which means it may not lose all of its leaves, but it will lose some. And it will grow new leaves in the spring. And these leaves are a lighter green than the southern species, and they have a silvery underside to the leaves, which are really pretty. And it's a very simple oval shape that's very pleasing to the eye, I think. So in May, the creamy white flowers will start to bloom and they have a very fragrant aroma. People describe it as being kind of like a lemony scent.

Mikaela

I don't know about that, but it's a very nice fragrance. And the seed pods that form afterwards, they're almost like sculptural. They don't almost look natural. They have these clusters of red fruits, bright red fruits, and the wildlife will quickly eat them. So they're kind of a really interesting seed pod to have. So the shape of this tree is more shrub like. In fact, it sometimes gets classified as either a tall shrub or a small tree. It is kind of in that gray area. This means it has kind of a multistem trunk. It looks very attractive and it's got a very upright shape, so it doesn't go very wide like most shrubs, it stays pretty tall and it's become a staple in many commercial rain gardens, as well as parking lots and other kind of like bioretention units. So you've probably seen them, whether you know it or not in the landscape while you've been shopping. So this tree is a heavy hitter when it comes to site conditions. It can tolerate full sun to full shade, although I will say it doesn't bloom nearly as much in the shade as it does in full sun.

Mikaela

So if you're looking for more blooms, it should definitely be in full sun. But it does tolerate sandy to clay soils, and it can even tolerate periodic drought and inundation. So it can dry out, but it can also take periodic flooding. Now, it prefers wet to moist soil types on a regular basis, but it is a pretty versatile tree and it even has a bit of tolerance to salt. So those landscapes that are kind of in brackish water areas, it won't handle salt water inundation frequently, but it does tolerate it. And while they may occasionally get like a leaf spot, it's frequently on lists as a low maintenance woody plant. And it also has deer resistance. And I say deer resistance because, as we all know, if deer are hungry enough, they will definitely take a nibble or they will try and sample things that they normally wouldn't. But this is one of those trees or shrubs that they tend to stay away from or they won't sample first. So it definitely has a lot of positives going for it. If you don't know what this looks like, I definitely recommend googling this immediately. Magnolia Virginiana.

Mikaela

You won't be sorry. It is definitely one of our beautiful native alternatives. And actually, I just looked it up. I wanted to take cuttings of it to try and root cuttings. Now is the perfect time to do that. So they root on what we call soft wood. So that's new growth. So spring and very, very early summer is when that new growth is coming. So if you try to propagate them, you can kind of snip a short cutting on the tips of those branches and try your hand at it.

Rachel

Would you dip that in rooting hormone, or would you just put it in soilless mix?

Mikaela

I think I will.

Ashley

Yeah.

Mikaela

But I don't have like, a commercial rooting hormone. I just have what you can buy at Lowe's or whatever. So I'll use that and see if it helps.

Rachel

It sounds like a good project.

Mikaela

I'm always trying to propagate things in my landscape.

Emily

The problem is I think about it.

Mikaela

When it's not the optimum time to go do it, so I never remember when it actually is the season. So this time I'll be on it because it's the perfect time to do it. And that's all I have for native Plants of the Month.

Rachel

I love it.

Emily

Yeah, these ones are pretty. I love the big white flowers.

Mikaela

I know everybody loves the southern magnolia, and they're okay, but I actually prefer this one because it's a little smaller. It's not as, like, heavy, dense shade. I don't know why, but the southern magnolia is just, like, too much for me.

Ashley

I think.

:Up beat music:

Emily

What buzzing is the bug of the month with Emily.

Emily

I feel kind of bad because this is the third of pest type insects that I've done in a row. And I swear next month I'm going to do a beneficial one. But I know this is one that I always get calls about in May because people start seeing them. And if you see one, you see bunches of them, and that is the Spongy Moth, which is Lymantria Dispar. And if that name sounds familiar but spongy moth doesn't it's because spongy moth is its new common name. These guys are formerly known as the gypsy moth, but last year the Entomological Society of America voted to change the name because gypsy is offensive. So it is now the spongy moth, which gets its name from the French name for it, which is characteristic of its spongy tan like egg mass. I think it's a super cute name. Despite the fact that this is a pest insect that nobody really wants.

Mikaela

It makes sense. It has more to do with their characteristics.

Rachel

Exactly.

Emily

Yeah. So this is an invasive insect. It was native to Europe, but was accidentally introduced and released in Massachusetts in 1869. 1st serious outbreak in Maryland dates back to the 80s. So it's been around for a while, but has sort of slowly taken time to grow. Like most lepidopteras, the caterpillars are the damaging life stage and they start to hatch out kind of late April to May, and they begin feeding May through June. So now is when you're going to more likely notice them. They're oftentimes confused with the Eastern tent caterpillars, which are also seen at this time of year. Eastern tent caterpillars have a black head, a dark, hairy body, and a white line down the back of their body versus the spongy moth caterpillars are going to be black and hairy when they're young, but as they get older, they get these really pretty blue and red spots on them. I think people tend to confuse them because they have the same characteristic of feed together. And then when they're getting ready to pupate, they kind of go out and journey on their own to find a place. So when you find lots of wandering caterpillars, you kind of just associate them with whatever you're hearing more in the news.

Emily

So I think that's one of the reasons why a lot of people tend to get them confused. So as the sponge moth caterpillar grows, it will again start off as kind of black and hairy, and then by the time it gets to its third instar or developmental stage, it's about five eighths of an inch, and it's going to have ten black spots going down its back. It will then continue to malt and by the time it reaches the last caterpillar stage, so it's fifth instar, it's going to be about two inches in length. It's going to have five pairs of blue dots and six pairs of red dots.

Mikaela

That's very specific.

Emily

Yeah, I actually think they're very cool. Yeah, they're very specific. When the caterpillars are finish feeding, they migrate out of trees into search for hiding places to pupate. The adults will emerge out late June through July. The females are going to have white wings with little dark brown spots along the margin. And they actually don't really fly that much. This is another one of those species where the female tends to emerge and she just hangs out someplace and releases her pheromones. And it's like, you come to me, boys, like, I'm not going to you. When I'm done mating, I'll go find a place to lay eggs, but until then, I'm going to just chill here. They do only live a short amount of time, so just enough time for reproduction. The egg masses are felt like tan. Again, they have that spongy texture, hence the name spongy moth. They're going to be tan and oval and about one to one and a half inch long, and they tend to be laid in the crevices of bark, tucked in branches, on loose stones, boards, firewoods, any place that the female finds it a safe place. We do only get one generation of these per year here and they will spend the winter in that egg mass stage and then again hatch out as caterpillars in May of next year.

Emily

Now, if you just had one or two of these, it wouldn't be a big deal. But those egg masses can have 50 to hundreds of eggs in them and she can lay multiple around each other. So what ends up happening is you get this mass flood of these caterpillars that are pretty voracious feeders. So what they can do is defoliate trees. They particularly like oak trees, although they will feed on other things such as hickory, maple, cherry, cottonwood, black gum, sassafrass. So they're not particularly picky eaters. But again, you get a mass amount of them. They're ferocious eaters, they can defoliate rather quickly. And a lot of these trees are so tall, you don't always notice the defoliation when they're small. So by the time you notice it, it's sort of already happened. And if this just happens once a year out of every like five years, it's not too big of a deal. It's going to mildly stress out those trees. But again, a well cared for tree will be okay. It's just if you encounter these year after year after year, that additional stress on the tree can make them more vulnerable to other insect pests, which could eventually kill the tree.

Emily

So some simple things that you can do to manage them would be to remove the egg masses that you are finding, and you would want to theoretically hunt for those egg masses in April or in the wintertime and remove them before they start hatching. So now would be the ideal time to get out there and check and see if you've got any and remove them before they start to hatch. If you are listening to this and it's already warmed up and they've already hatched, you just want to make note so that come this fall and winter, you can scout for them. You want to scrape them into a baggie to dispose of or into a jar of soapy water, which will ultimately kill them. Just scraping them off and letting them fall to the ground doesn't necessarily mean that the eggs will get destroyed and that the larvae will not hatch. It's worth noting that because they have that felty hairiness to them, some people do have an allergic reaction. So we recommend wearing gloves as you're doing this. You can use sticky bands to trap the young caterpillars before they get up to the tree tops, but you may not be able to get all of the young caterpillars using the tree bands.

Emily

BT is also something that can be sprayed from above. So if you have smaller trees, you can use it, but it's not necessarily effective in your larger trees just because your ability to get it up in that canopy is really rare. There are predators, parasitoids, and diseases that will attack the spongy moth caterpillars. The Maryland Department of Agriculture conducts a survey for these tests to monitor the population. Areas with high populations can be treated in cooperation with the Forest Service. That is what I have for this month's bug of the month.

Mikaela

Now, this brings back a lot of memories because as a youth in Wisconsin, this was a big pest of concern. Like, it was really rampant, and we had a cabin in the northwoods, and part of our job would be to scrape the spongy moth caterpillar egg masses off of the cabin. Well, I am really saddened to hear that scraping it off is just not enough, because that's all we did. We didn't really destroy them. So it's good to know that hours of my youth was wasted doing exactly what you told us not to do.

Rachel

You were in nature, so it wasn't really wasted.

Mikaela

I'm pretty sure it was just to keep us busy.

Rachel

Probably as a parent, you understand that now.

Mikaela

Yeah. Now, I know the task at hand here.

Emily

I feel like you probably killed, like, half of them, but the ones in the middle, that may still have survived, you definitely reduced the population a little bit.

Mikaela

I felt like they got squished because we would use, like, a painting scraper, so I feel like they got squished a lot when we did that.

Emily

Yeah, I'm sure yours all got squished. Other people's maybe not. But yours, Mikaela?

Mikaela

Yeah, just mine, yeah.

Emily

It's worth noting that this is definitely a major pest out in the Midwest.

Ashley

Yeah.

Emily

Cool looking caterpillar, but not a very fun bug.

:Up beat music:

Rachel

Get your tip of the month here with Rachel.

I don't know about you guys, but Ashley's talk really inspired me to up my container game and really get everything started and ready for planting season. So if you're like me, I'm going to be changing out my soil in my containers. Because it's been a few years, I'm going to make sure that they're nice and clean. If you like to have a vegetable garden like I do, you can begin setting out your transplants of warm season crops like squash, pepper, eggplant, and tomato. There is still a small possibility for late frost, so be prepared to cover any plants with a floating row cover or type or even a light blanket. If frost is expected, remove that after the danger of frost has passed and before planting. If they have blooms, make sure you pinch off those blooms and set them out because you want to encourage root growth, not fruit growth in the beginning, and make sure that you're gently breaking up the roots if the transplant is root bound. Before transplanting. I always have a problem with squash vine borer and squash bugs in my garden.

Rachel

So if you have a floating row cover and you like squash as much as I do. You can throw a floating row cover on your squash plants until they have a bloom, and once they have a bloom, take it off. But that's a good way to try to avoid the early squash vine borer, because I feel like I get hit as soon as the season starts. I don't know it's there and then by mid June, my squash plants are just done. If you are getting any new perennials this year or adding things to your landscape, make sure you get them in the ground before the heat starts, because you really want to promote that good, healthy root growth. Did your garden get overtaken with weeds like mine did last year?

Emily

Yes, it did.

Mikaela

I'm still overwhelmed.

Rachel

I'm still overwhelmed.

Mikaela

I don't know what to do.

Rachel

So if it did start spreading mulch around your plants and between rows. You can use dried grass clippings. You can use leaves that you've collected from last fall, or even sections of newspaper cover with straw just to help suppress those weeds in your vegetable garden. It really does help in the long run to get them on there before the active growing season begins. It's May. Everybody's mowing their grass. You can hear the collective engines rumbling on Saturday mornings, so make sure that when you're mowing your grass, you're only cutting one third of the blade off. And grass cycling is a really great way to eliminate bagging and labor costs, and it adds some organic matter and nitrogen back to your soil, and it does not contribute to latch buildup. So it's a really great method. If you don't feel like bagging, I love to add summer bulbs to my garden. I probably say this every single summer, but I'm going to beat that drum again. It's time to plant your Begonias, Cannas and Dahlias. If you love them like I do, get them in the ground in May. I also put out my support structures for them when I put them in the ground, because if I don't, then I forget and they're too big, especially with Dahlias, they tend to fall over as soon as we get a really heavy rainstorm in July or August.

Rachel

So get those things supported with either an extra peony cage or some steaks just to have it in the ground and ready. If your Azaleas, Rhododendrons and other spring flowering shrubs are growing too large, prune them after they bloom, all right? We don't want to wait until winter to prune them because you're going to cut off some of those buds for the following year. If you have Boxwoods, it's time to thin them out as well. Or like we say, just cut them to the ground and get rid of them. So if you're thinning out your Boxwood, it's improving air circulation and reducing disease problems. It's also a good time to inspect them for Boxwood Blight. And Boxwood Blight begins with dark or light brown spots or lesions on the leaves, and the leaves will quickly turn brown and just fall off while the stems then will develop the black spots or lesions. And if you have Boxwood Blight, you really just want to get rid of that plant and not plant Boxwoods back there. And if you ever want any diseases IDing you can always reach out to your Ask extension or your local extension agent and they can help you ID any diseases that you might have on your boxwood or any other plants.

Rachel

Older leaves of holly and magnolia may begin to yellow and drop. This is a natural process of regeneration and it does not indicate a problem with the trees. However, if you're seeing a massive drop, then you want to see if there's an issue with either an arborist or your extension office. If you're going to a nursery and you're trying to pick out a new plant, try to avoid invasive species. And most of our invasive plants are going to be labeled now through the Maryland Department of Agriculture as a tier one or two tier two invasive plant. So that would include Japanese Barberry, Privit Norway maple, and they can really have negative impacts on our wildlife in native areas. And that's all my tips of the month.

Mikaela

You always remind me of all the things I'm not doing that I need to do. So they are good tips. It's just like, oh man, I have so much to do. Like the weeds. One, I still haven't gotten rid of the weeds.

Rachel

I seriously looked out at my raised bed yesterday and I was like, oh God, I know I got to get it ready.

:Up Beat Music:

Rachel

Well, that's all we have for this episode listener. We hope you enjoy it and we'll tune in next month for more gardening tips. If you have any garden related questions, please email us at umegardenpodcast@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook at gardenthymepodcast. That's garden. T-H-Y-M-E for more information about the University of Maryland Extension and these topics, please check out the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center website at go.umd.edu/hgic thanks for listening and have fun getting down and dirty in your garden. Goodbye.

Mikaela

The Garden Time Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland extension. Mikaela Boley, senior Agent Associate in Talbot County for Horticulture. Rachel Rhodes, Agent Associate for Horticulture in Queen Annes County. And Emily Zobel, senior Agent Associate for Agriculture in Dorchester County.

Emily