Ask The Garden Geek with Michael Crose

Michael is back with a fresh batch of “Ask the Garden Geek,” and the music is brand new. Why? The old tracks vanished when his audio interface gave up the ghost and needed a factory reset. This week he covers Halloween, from the neighbor’s cemetery yard to the 18-year-old electric pumpkin he’ll plug in until the bulb burns out. He also grumbles about August candy sales and shares a memory of a Halloween night at Norton’s bar in Dunedin.

The real topic is fall pruning. Michael is shopping for an electric chainsaw to cut back a neighbor’s overgrown Viburnum odoratissimum and a bougainvillea creeping over the property line. He compares prices on EGO, DeWalt, Oregon, Toro, STIHL, and a budget Walmart brand, and wonders if a cheap model will do for a one-time job. He’ll also borrow a pole saw to trim branches threatening his new roof.

Along the way, he recalls cutting firewood with his buddy Bobby Hockaday back in the seventies. Michael’s advice: if you have large shrubs or trees needing a severe cutback, this is the season, and a good chainsaw is your friend.

Expect rambling, laughs, and a closing-music mishap, because Michael doesn’t edit.

Michael confesses to creating a Florida lawn mystery in the 1960s: burying scrap lumber from building sites. Decades later, that decaying wood still sprouts mushroom fairy rings across Dunedin yards. Michael explains why those circles appear, why mushrooms are nature’s recycling crew rather than a problem to spray with fungicide, and how beneficial fungi help plants absorb water and phosphorus, which boosts blooming. He also covers the downsides: some fungi cause root rot, and yellowing shrubs may signal trouble. Most important is the one rule to remember: never eat wild yard mushrooms unless a qualified expert has identified them, because the wrong one can kill you. Plus, an audio interface mishap leaves Michael without his closing music, and the buttons get tested live. Enjoy the mushrooms!

Michael, your Garden Geek, is back with a rain-soaked October episode, recorded as a tropical depression churns through the Gulf of Mexico and heads for the Florida panhandle. Michael sends thoughts to listeners in its path, then breaks down what to do in the garden this month, depending on where you live.

Up north, clean up spent annuals, plant spring-flowering bulbs before the ground freezes, and keep watering new trees and shrubs. In the middle of the country, take advantage of cooler weather to plant trees, shrubs, and perennials, but don’t go overboard on fall cleanup. Down south, October is prime planting season for cool-season vegetables, herbs, petunias, and shrubs.

Along the way, Michael shares his take on early Halloween candy and a few surprising lessons in smart, low-key marketing. Grab a coffee and get ready for fall!

Michael Crose digs into Superthrive, the cult-favorite plant vitamin solution he's used and loved since the 1980s. He shares the story of meeting its inventor, the mysterious Dr. John A. Thompson, on his old radio show, and recalls handing out sample bottles to his horticulture students. From reviving a famous transplanted oak tree in Clearwater to rescuing cold-damaged palms after Florida freezes, boosting orchids, houseplants, and grass plugs, Michael walks through decades of real-world results. He also compares the original formula's "50 vitamins and minerals" claim to today's more vague labeling, questioning what's changed — and promises to track down the company for answers. A nostalgic, candid, and slightly rambling love letter to a garden staple.

https://youtu.be/XNVYhM6aVZg?si=RqHO5Im0VwJKQhxC

In this exciting episode, I talk about Allyn Hane, who is known on YouTube as the Lawn  Care Nut. I have included a link to his YouTube channel and to a video he did about Bahia grass. First, let me say that I am a giant fan of Allyn Hane and his channel. He seems like a cool guy that I would enjoy going to a dive bar and day drinking with. Which, by the way, would be a lot of fun when you consider that I don't drink. But I might be up for the challenge. The video that I encourage you to watch shows his disdain for Bahia grass, which I happen to love. Alan is a fine young man, but he doesn't understand the complexities and the history of this fine grass, and I am here to educate him. If you want to listen, that's fine. I hope you enjoy it; if not, this whole podcast was created purposely for Allyn Hane, The Lawn Care Nut.

Garden Geek Michael Crose returns for a gloriously unfiltered fall shrub tutorial that spirals into a scam-call showdown, a Beatles-vs-Beach-Boys debate, and his son Zack's one-track podocarpus obsession. Underneath the chaos is real advice: how to evaluate shrubs for stragglers, pests, and disease before you prune; why he ditches mulch entirely, insisting it locks nutrients away from roots; a homemade dish-soap trick for stubborn dry soil; and his case for deep, infrequent watering over daily hosing. He walks through the best window for fall planting and transplanting, plus his go-to citrus fertilizer with a minor-element boost. Recorded completely unedited — interruptions, phone calls, wandering tangents and all — this episode is equal parts gardening masterclass and slice-of-life comedy, ending, naturally, with a conversation about pulled pork.

Garden Geek host Michael Crose takes aim at the flood of "not-quite-fertilizer" products marketed to homeowners — humic acid amendments, kelp extracts, biochar, and other soil boosters that legally can't be labeled fertilizer because, well, they aren't. Michael shares a cautionary tale from his organic lawn care days in the '80s, when he sank serious money into a Texas company's "miracle" products, only to discover via a truck driver's MSDS sheets that the liquid "fertilizer" was just molasses, and the granules were humic acid and chicken manure. He recounts turkey-feather nitrogen, a radio interview gone hilariously wrong, and a friend's lawn business that nearly failed chasing organic promises before switching back to real fertilizer with actual nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Bottom line: grass needs proven nutrients, not clever marketing. Tune in for the full, entertaining breakdown.

In this episode of Ask the Garden Geek, Michael Crosedives into the wonderfully dramatic world of houseplants — and trust him,they're more temperamental than your ex. Michael shares decades of hard-wonwisdom, starting with the golden rule: light matters more than water, and it'sthe reason most houseplant deaths happen in the first place.

Get ready for the legendary saga of the ficus benjamina — aplant so sensitive it'll drop every leaf just because you moved it six inchesto the left. Michael recounts real stories from his own living room (and threedifferent marriages) to prove just how touchy these "little trees"can be.

You'll also learn the only moisture meter you'll ever need(hint: it's already attached to your hand), why drainage is absolutelynon-negotiable, and the cautionary tale of a truckload of houseplants that meta frosty demise in Kentucky. Plus, repotting tips, a Super Thrive endorsement,and a daughter's dirt-and-rocks drainage disaster that'll make you laugh outloud.

Equal parts horticulture lesson and stand-up comedy, thisepisode will change the way you talk to your plants — literally.

In this episode of Ask the Garden Geek, Michael Crose walks you through everything your shrubs need as summer turns to fall. He covers how to properly evaluate your shrubbery — checking for insect damage, disease, dieback, and plants that have outgrown their space — before you ever pick up the pruning shears.

Michael shares his approach to pruning (an art form, in his opinion), why he skips mulch entirely to keep micronutrients available to plants, and his method for training shrubs to develop deep, drought-resistant roots instead of relying on frequent watering. He also explains his trick for helping dry soil absorb water using a little dish soap, and breaks down the fertilizer he swears by

Beyond the big three, Michael dives into crucial secondary micronutrients like calcium for cell walls, magnesium, sulfur, and iron. Drawing from personal anecdotes—from growing high-calcium tomatoes for his daughter to recovering his own health with vital minerals—he highlights how trace elements make all the difference for plant vitality. Plus, get his honest take on classic products like Super Thrive!