Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

109 Tomato Troubleshooter, 2021 Pt1. Feather Grass.

June 08, 2021 Fred Hoffman Season 2 Episode 109
Garden Basics with Farmer Fred
109 Tomato Troubleshooter, 2021 Pt1. Feather Grass.
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Gardeners around the northern hemisphere have their tomato plants in the ground. They’re growing, but some of them are developing problems, already! Why are there cracks appearing in the tomatoes? Why is the skin yellowing? And what is that big ugly brown spot on the bottom of the tomato? What’s a gardener to do? Today, it’s Tomato Troubleshooter 2021, Part 1.
It’s all on episode 109 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery.  And we will do it all in under 30 minutes. Let’s go!

Pictured:
Blossom End Rot in a San Marzano paste tomato.

Links:
Smart Pots
Dave Wilson Nursery
Farmer Fred Rant: Tomato Troubleshooting
Farmer Fred Rant: Blossom End Rot
UC Davis Arboretum

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GB 109 Tomato Trouble Pt1. Plant of the Week: Feathergrass 

29:58

SPEAKERS

Don Shor, Warren Roberts, Farmer Fred


Farmer Fred  00:00

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. 


Farmer Fred  00:20

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  00:32

America has their tomato plants in the ground, and they're growing, but some of them are developing problems already. Why are there cracks appearing in the tomatoes? Why is the skin yellowing? And what's that big, ugly brown spot on the bottom of the tomato? What's a gardener to do? Today, It's tomato troubleshooter 2021, part one. It's all on episode 109 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast brought to you today by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. And we'll do it all in under 30 minutes. Let's go. 


Farmer Fred  01:10

Tomatoes, tomato plant problems. Oh, there's always problems every year. And with the changing in the weather especially if you live in an area where summers are getting hotter and hotter. Well, tomato problems are changing a little bit but some good old problems remain. And who better to talk about the ongoing battle against tomato pests and diseases and environmental concerns than with Don Shor, owns the Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, California. Don, every year we start getting the tomato questions about this time, it seems almost that the first malady that comes up with people's questions is, "what is this leathery spot at the bottom of my tomato?"


Don Shor  01:53

Yes, the blossom end rot question. Hello, Fred. First of all, let's be optimistic. We're in an area where it's really easy to grow tomatoes in general. And in most of California we have a climate that allows us to grow them without using a whole lot of pesticides and other remedies. But you're referencing BER, blossom end rot, which shows up almost always on some of the very first tomatoes that set, the ones that people get so excited about. They set early, they planted early, because they want to beat the season, they get some fruit set on there, and then they look on the bottom. And if it's still green, they sometimes notice a little discoloration or a little oddity to the bottom or the blossom end of the fruit as it ripens. That part is soft and mushy and unpalatable. Yes, you can eat the rest of the fruit, but it's very disappointing. When that happens with the very first fruit that's set. Notice, it's usually on the first fruit that set. And we know now about blossom end rot that it is primarily a disorder related to low temperatures during the fruit expansion phase, and sometimes keeping the soil too wet when the nights are cold.


Farmer Fred  02:58

Ah yes. And of course, people will rush to the nursery and look for your shelf of calcium sprays because they keep hearing that blossom end rot is due to a calcium shortage when it really is just an inability of the plant to uptake that calcium because what's going on in the soil, as you mentioned, with cold wet soil, it can't uptake calcium. How's that calcium spray shelf doing? 


Don Shor  03:20

Well, I have it up there for the people who won't listen to me. And we not only get requests for calcium spray, we get requests for gypsum, which is a calcium product. We also get requests recently for some reason for Super phosphate, rock phosphate potassium products. And of course, the inevitable Epsom salts, somehow going to solve this problem because they're focusing on some kind of cation, and some kind of fertilizer remedy for what is actually a physiological disorder of the plant. So the bad news is, you don't have an on-the-shelf product that's going to solve it. The good news is, as the soil warms up and the plant grows and you water deeply and evenly, the next fruit will be fine. One thing many gardeners have observed is that some varieties are way more susceptible to blossom end rot than others. Roma, which is a very popular home garden tomato variety, the first fruit almost always get blossom end rot. Just plan on it. And actually you can  see that discoloration even before the fruit ripens. If you see that my suggestion is just pick those off, dispose of them, the next ones that come along will be fine. So this is a problem that the plant basically outgrows.


Farmer Fred  04:27

Yeah, blossom end rot, for the most part, is operator error. And it could be a number of things like you mentioned, uneven watering. Too much nitrogen fertilizer can also lead up to that as well. Or if your soil pH is wrong, I think tomatoes prefer a soil pH usually in the range of what six to 6.8 or so.


Don Shor  04:46

Yeah, and most of us on our side of the valley are dealing with even higher pH issues and so that might be a factor. Ammonium based fertilizers are definitely correlated with it. So if you're using ammonium sulfate, that could be a factor. Again, the most common correlation I've observed is people planting early. And they may not be listening to this podcast, which tells him to plant on April 27 (April 28). Well,  he may be here in this area, waiting until the soil temperature is about 60 degrees or nighttime temperatures are about 55 degrees, you can plant earlier than the plants will grow fine if the temperatures don't fluctuate too wildly, but that early fruit will be affected. And so one of the most common things I find when I asked people, when did you plant? Is these are the folks who planted in March, early April in this area, the plants are growing fine, but that first fruit may just have to be sacrificed. Good news, we got a very long growing season, plenty of time for good fruit to develop. 


Farmer Fred  05:42

Yeah, exactly. Have you asked the question when people are complaining about blossom end rot if they are growing in raised beds? Because sometimes if you plant in too sandy of a soil that can lead to blossom end rot.


Don Shor  05:53

I'm sure that's a factor. And we have more and more people doing that and honestly managing the soil and the soil moisture especially. And in fact, the nitrogen in raised beds is more complicated than just out in the open garden soil. So that does become an added factor as well. So blossom end rot becomes one of those things that we just have to move through. And I watched the weather and I've noticed a strong correlation of blossom end rot about eight weeks after we have a unusually cool period of night temperatures. As we record this show, we're going into a period when the nights are going to drop below 50 degrees for three or four nights here in the Sacramento Valley. That's not harmful to the plants. But my guess if I marked my calendar for about eight weeks out because that's how long it takes for from blossom to pick for most varieties about eight to nine weeks, for the fruit to ripen from when it first sets, I'm guessing some of those fruit will be affected by those nighttime temperatures. Only suggestion would be to gardeners to water more carefully, water deeply, thoroughly, and then have intervals between watering so you're not keeping it constantly soggy. That really is the key anyway to successful tomato growing. But it really seems to be a very important factor in blossom end rot.


Farmer Fred  07:03

And I think a lot of these purchased alleged cures for blossom end rot puts in the gardeners' mind that they work, when in reality what they're doing, is they're now paying more attention to their plants. And they may spray on a calcium spray that basically just rolls off the plant, doesn't do any good. But they're watering more carefully. 


Don Shor  07:25

They're  watering more attentively, which is really what we're trying to get at. Also the placebo effect is a real phenomenon in horticulture.  It is. "I did this and I did this. It worked. Therefore I'm going to do it again next year."


Farmer Fred  07:41

Yeah, we usually do more combination attempted cures than just one and then we go back and think oh, well that one thing worked. Maybe, maybe not.


Don Shor  07:51

The Tums tablet underneath the plant, when it was planted, right?


Farmer Fred  07:54

Oh, don't don't even say that.


Don Shor  07:56

Let's back up. We don't recommend Tums for planting tomato plants and Epsom salts don't do anything for blossom end rot.


Farmer Fred  08:05

One nice thing about using mulch around tomato plants is that can help moderate blossom end rot because what mulch does it helps to moderate soil temperature and moisture fluctuations. Yeah, we want to keep the soil the soil moisture even and keep the roots saturated and not let them go to dry seems to just be a stress reaction more than anything. I am seeing more pictures of people's tomato gardens on social media. And they're using plastic mulch around their tomatoes. And there have been studies in the past that shows certain colors of plastic mulch like red, can increase early tomato production, but I'm wondering what plastic mulch might be doing to the soil temperatures.


Don Shor  08:47

I would think it would be increasing them in some cases and I think it would also make it more difficult for you to water correctly. So I would urge people not to jump too quickly into things like that. The common mulch with compost, some sort of good organic material, is always beneficial, especially in a raised planter where you're having difficulty maintaining even soil moisture and maintaining a good steady supply of nutrients. The mulch you choose, if you buy a good quality product in a bag, probably has some nutrients in it, probably has some source of nitrogen, as well as just enhancing the soil moisture and its ability to retain moisture and retain nutrients. So, mulch is good. My preference is natural mulch, something you actually buy. That's a good quality compost product.


Farmer Fred  09:29

Alright, let's talk about sun issues. Here in California, because of our increased temperatures in the summertime, longer bouts of heat. We're seeing more and more plant failure by July, early August where some varieties that have been very popular here like Juliet, all of a sudden are croaking in mid summer. And I'm wondering what sort of strategies people can employ to mitigate that if they live in an area where the weather is getting too hot,  too soon, for too long.


Don Shor  10:01

Well, I just had a conversation with someone who was talking about how great his tomatoes did last summer, and then they all kind of fizzled out in August. They shouldn't do that, they should continue to grow all the way until Thanksgiving practically, here in the Sacramento Valley and in many parts of California. Invariably, I then ask, how are you watering. And what they've done is they have set up a watering system early in the season, which was appropriate for the young seedlings and even to the young growing plant, but does not provide sufficient depth of watering to a more mature plant. Tomato roots grow deep, they'll go down as deep as they possibly can. And so my suggestion in general to get your tomato growing, flowering and fruiting longer, is to water more deeply as the season progresses, less often, if you prefer depends on what else is in the bed with the tomato plant. Personally, I always have my tomatoes separate from almost all the other vegetables and because they need less frequent watering, but longer watering as the season goes along. And that way, if your plant is growing well and you're watering deeply, it can hold the blossoms, it can hold the fruit, and you can be harvesting all the way through October and even into November. Here in the Sacramento Valley and in many parts of California and other climates that are similar to ours, my biggest harvest invariably in my garden is in the month of October, when the fruit that set in August are ripening, and I have a lot of people coming into my shop in August, whose plants are sort of fizzling out at that point. Invariably, they're running their drip systems for 10 or 15 minutes, perhaps every day, perhaps every couple of days. And that's nowhere near long enough, I think you have a good example of how long you run your drip systems on your raised beds. If I recall, it's a little longer than 10 or 15 minutes. Yeah, it's


Farmer Fred  11:41

Yeah, it's more like two or three hours, twice, maybe three times a week depends on the heat. And the whole idea is to get that water down as deep as possible to encourage the roots to go deeper. If you're just watering a drip system, 10-15 minutes, you're putting on a quarter of a gallon of water.


Don Shor  12:00

That's enough for the young seedling when it first goes in and for the first few weeks, but it's best to just water longer. Unfortunately, raised beds once again have the drawback of draining out more quickly. So you definitely have to water more often in a raised planter. Those who are just doing it out in a normal garden bed may be able to go 5-6-7 days between waterings as long as they run the system for a couple of hours. The main thing is a tomato plant needs several gallons a week. And if you don't give it that, the plant will keep flowering. Keep trying to fruit and then yeah, just kind of fizzle out. As we get into the month of August. We can continue to harvest well into the early fall here. As long as the plant roots get deep enough and they get the moisture that they need. 


Farmer Fred  12:10

You're making all those people listening in Michigan very, very jealous. 


Don Shor  12:20

This is tomato country out here. All those tomatoes you buy in cans in the winter, a lot of them came from California. Exactly everything that happens in the summer heat though. And this happened a lot in the summer of 2020. We had seven heat waves in the Sacramento Valley, the fruit burned, it scalded on the west, or the southwest side of the fruit as it was ripening. And  that was a real problem. And we of course, if we're going to have hotter summers and hotter, hotter episodes of high temperature during each summer, that can be a real risk on the fruit as it ripens. So sunscald is something, especially people growing peppers, bell peppers have commented on this. But it also happens on tomatoes. If the fruit itself is directly exposed to the sun at five or six in the afternoon when we're 105-110 degrees, that fruit can be damaged to the point that you can't really use it. So that has been an issue and I expect we can anticipate it'll be an increasing issue.


Farmer Fred  13:37

I was just watching a squirrel steal something from my yard and move on. I think he took a donut peach.


Don Shor  13:43

Alright. Very nice of you to  share your garden with the wildlife. Yes, I


Farmer Fred  13:48

Yes, I know. Right? Yeah,  sunscald usually manifests itself as a light brown or leathery look on the side that's exposed to the sun. I think one problem that people are doing that is encouraging sunscald is they're pruning the leaves away for whatever reason.


Don Shor  14:03

Yeah, keep that canopy as dense as you can. I will say that certain varieties are more susceptible to it. I've never personally been a big fan for example of Celebrity, which is a very high yielding tomato but it has a pretty thin canopy of foliage, and we get a lot of sunscald on the fruit on Celebrity. Look at your spot where you're planting. That would be one possibility. If you're having a chronic problem with sunburn on your fruit. Maybe you do find a place that's a little shaded in the afternoon. My concern is people are coming in looking for shade cloth to put over their vegetable gardens, you know 55% shade cloth, over their tomato plants for the growing season. I can almost guarantee that will reduce your yields. So really you don't want to shade the plant Summer vegetables are full sun-loving plants. What you want to do is shade that fruit as it's beginning to ripen. If a heatwave is in the forecast  some people will just put a couple stakes in the ground to the west of the vine and be prepared. Just put some shade cloth over that if we have a heatwave, but here's another suggestion. If you have fruit on the vine that is at "breaker" stage (getting into some fruit physiology jargon here), in other words, gone from the solid green to just lightening up a little bit, or even a little bit of that yellow or red color, it'll ripen on your counter. Very high temperatures slow down the ripening of the fruit on the vine. This is a fact. When 100 degrees or even 95 degrees plus ripening slows down outside, on your counter in your kitchen, it will continue. So if there's a heatwave threatening, and we certainly have warning about these, you know, triple digit temperatures, and you've got a bunch of fruit that's just blushed or are beginning to turn red. Perhaps if those fruit are exposed to the direct Western sun, you may wish to pick them, bring them in, set them on your counter and let them ripen over the next three to five days indoors as a simple way to avoid sun scald on that particular batch of fruit in that particular heatwave,


Farmer Fred  15:52

I would think it would be important, just like you would be harvesting those tomatoes that are slightly yellow or turning towards the end of the season when you're doing it. Now, when you put them on your counter, you would want to separate them in a space and have air circulation all around them. So possibly set them in a container, maybe bring in one of those garden trays. And that always looks nice on the kitchen counter. And then keep your tomatoes in a single layer with a little bit of space between each one. So they're not touching.


Don Shor  16:21

Yeah, if there were any kind of injury on one of them, such as caused by stinkbugs or something like that, it might lead to some rot and decomposition which can spread pretty quickly to the fruit nearby. In general, when you're storing things like this, not only the peaches, whatever, you bring them into the house, they will continue to ripen on the counter, they shouldn't be in contact with each other. You can get a special tray just for this just to make it more elegant, put it out on your counter. And those are the tomatoes that are ripening but is it most people don't know that the high temperature slows down the ripening process. It actually does. It kind of shuts down the plant when it's extremely high temperature. So if you're wanting that tomato for a salad three days from now and it's 100 degrees, it'll actually get there faster on your counter than it will on the vine.


Farmer Fred  17:01

Hmm. Okay, to other sun-related issues you may be seeing on your tomatoes if you live in a high heat area: solar yellowing and tomato fruit cracking. And both of those basically are cosmetic. Again, use that kitchen knife and cut away the discolored portions.


Don Shor  17:19

Well, they're also varietals. A lot of the heirloom types are known for cracking or splitting. And it's just one of the things that goes along with growing those particular types. That's why they're not commercial varieties because they don't hold well or store well. They're fine. They're certain varieties I grow every year. Amos Coli is a great sauce tomato, I know it's gonna crack along the stem and it just happens and you just cut that out when you use it. And that's one of the reasons if you're into storage or you want your tomatoes to look picture perfect. Just one of many reasons for focusing perhaps, on having at least some hybrids in your portfolio.


Farmer Fred  17:51

I like what you said in a previous episode of Garden Basics about choosing heirloom tomatoes, and that was to choose heirlooms that were developed in your area. And we talked about Brandywine, only producing one tomato here whereas if you're growing tomatoes back in Pennsylvania, where the Brandywine came from, you'll have a bush full of tomatoes.


Don Shor  18:13

presumably Yeah, the reason they grow in Brandywine, Pennsylvania. My experience here is you get one to two very large extremely delicious fruit off of a ten to 12 foot vine, which is not exactly the yield I'm expecting. Most of the heirloom varieties are from the east coast of the United States not the east coast, but Upper Midwest, Mid Atlantic states, Pennsylvania, Ohio, places like that. Beefsteak and Brandywine are two that I very routinely talk people out of at my garden center because they simply don't yield well here. We don't have very many heirloom tomatoes in California because California is too young to have developed any varieties that have been around that long. We do have of course varieties from Italy and places like that, that are very well adapted to our climate here because it's a very similar, hot summer low humidity climate and try the heirlooms, that's fine, but I'm very nervous when people come up to the counter with six tomatoes and all of them are heirloom varieties. I say, "could you at least throw in a you know a cherry tomato in there or an Early Girl or Champion or something so that I know you'll get some good yields? Because  in 2020 as an example, a very hot summer, heirlooms in general did not perform well. A lot of tomatoes, even hybrids didn't perform well but they were particularly just slow with producing and didn't do very well. So try to balance your  heirlooms for their flavor with your hybrids, which also have very good flavor for their reliable yield and their disease resistance. That's another big advantage of hybrid tomatoes.


Farmer Fred  19:42

Like they say at the stock market: past performance is no indicator of future results. Let's talk about what worked last year in our gardens here. Here in California again, heat was a big issue. And surprisingly the one of the best performing tomatoes in my yard was the Orange Oxheart, which is an heirloom and I think the reason for that it was getting late afternoon shade.


Don Shor  20:05

Yeah, your local microclimate makes a huge difference. And last summer 2020, Early Girl was a top performer for me all season. And my general expectation is it's going to be more of an early producer and a late producer, I happened to plan it, where it got shade after about 3pm. And I think that was a big factor. And just because of the number of heat waves we had in the summer of 2020. So it's not a bad idea if you're a longtime tomato gardener to keep notes and see what the consistent patterns are. No variety performs perfectly every year but there's some varieties that perform poorly in general year after year. I've mentioned a couple of them: Brandywine, Beefsteak and others. And I try new varieties every year and I've come up with some that are very consistent so I do have a list on my business website of my picks of that you know the top five or six but I also throw in try new ones. There's a whole new series of Wild Boar Farms tomatoes, doing very well here in the valley, here in the Sacramento Valley. But I think your listeners back east might want to try them see if they do well in Brandywine, Pennsylvania or places like that. These were developed by a farmer in California so they may become our equivalent of heirloom varieties. He's a farmer, he wanted yield and he wanted flavor as well. So he's looking for ones that are good performers. He's just got to try different things every year. You got to plant 20 or 30 tomato varieties. That's all there is to it.


Farmer Fred  21:22

There are just so many problems with tomatoes. Don Shor will be back next time with even more tomato troubleshooting advice for us. And on that episode, we're going to be talking about tomato hornworms, root knot nematodes, and the various wilts, Fusarium, verticillium. Bacterial speck, black mold, late blight, all sorts of fun stuff. So we'll have more with Don Shor. Next time here on the Garden Basics podcast. Don Shor, Redwood Barn Nursery Davis, California. Thanks for troubleshooting our tomatoes for us.


Don Shor  21:54

Great to be here. Thanks, Fred.


Farmer Fred  21:58

Don mentioned earlier about his list of his favorite tomato varieties to grow. You can find that list at his website, redwoodbarn.com, that's redwoodbarn.com. You can also find out about his radio show and podcast at redwoodbarn.com as well. 


Farmer Fred  22:19

You've heard me talk about Smart Pots, the award winning fabric planter here on the Garden Basics podcast. They're durable and reusable. I've been using mine for five years now. And once again, they're being pressed into service in my yard. Yeah, I have this problem. I grow too many tomatoes for the amount of allotted sunny space I have for them. So those extra tomato plants go into the Smart Pots. I place them in scattered areas around the yard where I know they'll get enough sun, which is a premium in my yard. And even five years later, I can pick up those Smart Pots, plant and all, and move them around without fear of the Smart Pot tearing or ripping. Smart Pots are made of breathable fabric, which creates a healthy root structure for plants. And, Smart Pots come in a wide variety of sizes and colors. Visit smartpots.com/Fred for more information about the complete line of Smart Pots, the lightweight fabric containers. And don't forget that "slash Fred" part. Because on that page are details of discounts when you buy Smart Pots on Amazon. Okay, now I understand maybe you want to see the Smart Pots before you buy them. That's not a problem. Smart Pots are available at independent garden centers and select Ace and True Value stores nationwide. To find a store near you, visit smartpots.com slash Fred. 


Farmer Fred  23:43

 Are you thinking of growing fruit trees? Well, you probably have a million questions. Like, which fruit trees will grow where I live? What are the tastiest fruits? How do I care for these trees? The answers are nearby. They're just a click away with the informative Fruit Tube video series at DaveWilson.com. That's Dave Wilson nursery, the nation's largest grower of fruit trees for the backyard garden. They've got planting tips, taste test results, links to nurseries in your area that carry Dave Wilson fruit trees. Your harvest to better health begins at DaveWilson.com. 


Farmer Fred  24:22

Every week we like to talk with Warren Roberts out of the University of California Davis Arboretum and public garden. He is their Superintendent Emeritus. Every week, he has a plant of the week for us. And today, Warren, it's an ornamental grass. I think ornamental grasses are very underused in the landscape and they can provide some very nice accents. And this one can be a pretty good sized ornamental grass.


Warren Roberts  24:48

Yes. Stipa gigantea, well name so, it's probably the biggest of that genus. The common name in English is giant feather grass. It's one of my favorites. For its beauty, and it brings light and movement into the garden, even on a almost still day that there's any movement at all these beautiful plumes of flowers and seeds dance a little bit, maybe a slow day. But very, very beautiful. It was a Roger Race, the great California plantsman, pointed out that it brings movement and light into the garden. It certainly does.


Farmer Fred  25:30

The clump itself can get, what, two to three feet tall? But those flowers you talked about, those can get up to what, six feet tall?


Warren Roberts  25:37

Six feet or even more. If you want a very dramatic grass in the garden, it's a good one to use. And it's not weedy like the Pampas grass species are. It's not quite as bold, I suppose. And aesthetically, to me, it's more graceful and more beautiful. I have it in my own garden. And I really like it very much. It's native to Mediterranean areas in the western part of the Mediterranean. So it's native to Spain, central and southern Spain, also native in adjacent Portugal.  I guess technically Portugal is not on the Mediterranean, but it certainly  has a Mediterranean climate, and also across the Strait of Gibraltar into North Africa.


Farmer Fred  26:25

I think that besides thriving in Mediterranean areas where it can grow, in many other areas of the country, I noticed, that the Sunset National garden book points out that it can grow in Sunset zones 29 through 34, which is basically through the south and then up the Atlantic coast, through the Mid Atlantic states up through Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and on South. So this plant actually probably has a pretty good range throughout the country.


Warren Roberts  27:02

Yes, I think it would in areas with wetter summers, plant it in well drained areas and sunny areas would probably give it more chance of success. But it would grow. It can grow throughout Mediterranean or Mediterranean climates all around the world, for example, central Chile, but also I think Peru and Argentina, Australia, parts of New Zealand, I think it's it has a really broad, a really broad range to South Africa too. In Spanish, it has some nice common names. binaries, yes. Which means little flags. I think that's an illusion to the way the plant looks. When it's in the in a breeze. It also has a common name barron  like barron, and also dersale, d-e-r-c-e-o, and Barseal would be a place where this grass grows. I should have looked at the names in Arabic, Berber, and Portuguese, but I'm sure that has would have common names there as well. Oh, lovely grass, and it fits in easily. It doesn't crowd things. Even after the flowers have gone, the seed are gone, it looks very nice. I would say the time to cut it back would be when it starts looking disheveled, or probably about the time of the winter rains coming. Or we'd say mid fall, late fall. So it's a once a year maintenance plant.


Farmer Fred  28:32

And so it's ideal in Mediterranean climates but give it a chance, too, if you live in a fairly mild climate, probably down to USDA zone six, you might just give it a shot.


Warren Roberts  28:43

See what happens. And I think also you know, in for example, in Bulgaria, it would probably be fine along the Black Sea coast. And certainly are all around the Mediterranean area.


Farmer Fred  28:56

So there you go, my fans in Bulgaria. The giant feather grass Stipa gigantea. Give it a shot. What the heck, since they got palm trees growing in Switzerland, why not? Anything can happen. That's true. All right. Warren Roberts with the plant of the week, the giant feather grass. He is the superintendent emeritus of the UC Davis Arboretum and public garden. You can visit it online at arboretum.uc davis.edu. Warren, thank you so much.


Warren Roberts  29:28

You're welcome Fred.


Farmer Fred  29:32

Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday and is brought to you by Smart Pots. It’s available just about anywhere podcasts are handed out. And that includes Apple podcasts, I Heart Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Podcast Addict, CastBox and Google podcasts. And for Northern California gardeners, check out this podcast: the Green Acres Garden Podcast with Farmer Fred, also available wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving comments. We appreciate it. 


Tomato Troubleshooting Pt 1
Smart Pots!
Dave Wilson Nursery
Plant of the Week - Feather Grass