>>Alejandro, I have to admit, it's so good to be back at the AREC station, which is the Hampton Roads Agriculture Research and Extension station.

>>This is a great place we love to be here.

It is a 70 acre plot.

We have eight faculty resident here.

So from expertise in, like myself, in pest management, we have wheat science, disease management, even water engineer, greenhouse, and container and nursery production as well.

So our goal is to provide science-based solutions to homeowners, to our community, but also to the green industry, the growers, the nursery growers, the horticultural growers.

So overall, we would like to provide those beautiful plants for everybody to enjoy.

>>Yes.

And you even do what I call, the best part, is you do a display garden of all these different types and varieties.

>>Yes.

>>Of the annual bedding plants and perennials that we enjoy in our gardens so you can come and check it out.

>>Yes.

I like to invite everybody.

>>Yes.

>>This is 24/7, but I don't know if you want to come in the night.

>>Two in the morning.

>>Yeah.

Or two in the morning, of course.

Yeah.

But it's 24/7, 365, and it's open to the public.

You can make up your mind to see which colors you're gonna combine in your garden or your front lawn.

>>Exactly.

>>That tool, it's available for free here in our station.

You can come in on your own pace.

Everything is labeled.

It's a beautiful garden.

It's a beautiful display.

And it's a great resource.

It's a hidden gem.

>>Yes.

I will be honest, many of the Italian garden designs at Maymont were planned in that garden.

>>Oh, that's amazing.

That is amazing.

Okay.

>>In the heat of the summer.

>>Okay, cool.

>>So that's what I'm sharing.

>>Cool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>>It's a great resource.

>>But you've got other resources.

You've been involved with a lot of experiments directly yourself.

So share some of those with us.

>>Yeah, so actually behind us, we have one of the examples.

This is a pollinator strip.

So when we interact with homeowners in the community, the question was, "If I wanna plant something, can that attract pollinators?"

And the answer is yes, you can plant anything.

But now Alejandro, the million dollar question is, which ones will we plant?

>>Yes.

>>We have native perennials like black-eyed Susans.

Those are the poster child.

They are the ones that are bringing the bees, the flies, that are the underdogs for the pollinator world.

>>Absolutely.

>>They are interacting with flowers.

So our research actually showed that we can pay attention to those guys.

Those are one third of the individuals actually interacting with flowers.

So then you have beetles, you have moths, you got butterflies and all that.

But the entomology program comes here at 10 in the morning, 12:00, 2:00 PM, and we want to understand what are the pollinators are doing, are they present or not, which are the flowers they are present?

So all that is gonna be summarized in this little Virginia Cooperative Extension reports that we put together as well.

>>Fantastic.

Where can you access those reports?

>>Those are in the Virginia Cooperative Extension website, there is a search menu.

You can gonna find all these documents or summaries, one, two pages, with all the research that the faculty would put together for the community and for the growers as well.

>>Excellent.

Well, what are some of the other projects going on?

>>For example, related to pollinators, we do have more studies about use of different herbicides in order to prevent weeds to be overgrowing the flowers.

>>Yes.

>>We also have turf grass research.

So we have everything from drought, different cultivars and mowing, and insecticides and all these different things.

>>That's exciting.

It really is.

I mean, it's basically a homeowner's delight to come here and see what's going on, 'cause it all will affect them.

What is learned here will benefit them.

>>Absolutely.

We merge those two beautiful worlds.

So we serve the growers with the science-based solutions, but also serve the community, us as end users, to have that all ability and all that knowledge together.

Yeah.

>>Fantastic.

>>That's our goal.

>>You have another project out here and it intrigues me.

It's with hydrangea paniculata.

>>So here in the back we also have our growing path.

So we have a huge pest called the red-headed flea beetle and it only likes the ones that are potted.

>>That's weird.

>>Once you move them to your landscape, they're gonna be gone.

So now the driving question is why this red-headed flea beetles, these are native, they are in the landscape, - >>Yes.

>>so why they're preferring to be in those containers?

>>Yes.

>>So nutrition, irrigation, you know, substrates and all that.

And the beauty is that we are here with this multidisciplinary team at our station.

We can look at these questions as trying to answer in the years to come.

So stay tuned.

This is really exciting.

We really want to understand why this insect prefer that and becomes a pest.

>>And we need to remind homeowners too, that when plants are under stress, they emit a pheromone.

>>Absolutely.

>>Which pulls in the insects.

>>Absolutely.

Though there will be chemicals that are gonna help signaling the insects, like, hey, I'm a little stressed, I'm a little weakened, right?

So that's why we love gardening, we want to tend to those plants and give them the best, what I call the love, right?

>>Yes.

>>So the more you love them, the more they're gonna be cared, so, yeah.

>>Which ties into me with the other experiment you're doing with the herbicides and trying to understand how to better manage ornamental gardens.

Because we all go on vacation, we all come back and go, oh my gracious, look what happened?

>>Yeah.

So the the first things that we're trying to look is the pre-emergent herbicides, right?

Something that you can get it started with.

Then the other ones is, since we mostly get broad leaves, maybe we can selectively spray in a herbicide that actually goes after the narrow, which are the grasses, so.

>>Right.

>>Why there you got multiple tools that can help you getting those beautiful flowers getting up.

Once they get started, they're a go.

So we want that good start.

>>Yes.

>>And the herbicides can help.

And you and I we talk about this.

How can we limit exposure?

Because the pollinators are gonna come, no matter what.

They don't know if something is sprayed or not.

>>Right.

>>So when the weeds are not flowering, there's still the likelihood.

>>The window, yes.

>>It is that window where you probably consider to spray something.

But once the flowers are out, you don't wanna spray anything.

Even it's against the law.

>>Yes.

>>You know, the label says.

When something is blooming, you don't want to spray anything.

>>You don't wanna spray.

>>Yeah.

>>We've got those bee-friendly labels now and I love 'em.

>>Yes.

>>Because we were talking about sustainability, we understand that our gardens are now the ecosystem.

>>Yes.

Absolutely.

>>They're no longer separate.

>>Yep.

>>That we're all one now.

Well, Alejandro, what else do you have going on around here?

>>Another area that we are doing some research is releasing beneficials.

So we are using drones, and we're using the insects that are reared in the laboratory and bringing it back.

So called augmentative biological control.

>>Okay.

>>That gave us, yeah, it's a mouthful.

>>It is, yeah.

>>But it gave us the idea that you can attack having a pest that's eating your flowers, eating your plants, somebody, in this case, the good guy come in and lower down the population, so.

>>And that technology is making it accessible for growers to use.

>>Yes.

Yes.

>>So it's no longer something out of reach where they had to pay somebody.

They can now do that.

>>Absolutely.

And now you gotta think about, you know, the corners that you know, there might be, you can drop them, or specific areas of the farm that you need them.

>>And people don't realize that growers kind of treat their fields like we treat our gardens.

They know the corners, they know little hotspots, they know the areas, so it's not blanket treatments.

>>No.

>>Just like it shouldn't be in our gardens.

It's targeting the pest at the location of the highest concentration.

>>We would like to promote the scouting.

I've been told, "Alejandro, you sound like a broken record every time you talk about scouting."

But, Hey, that's the cornerstone.

We start with that.

Know how many.

Know what beetles.

Now, why, how, right?

Those questions.

>>Yes.

>>And then you can jump into, all right, can I release a beneficial, can I spray a selective insecticide, can I do a cultural practice, can I change the color of the pot?

>>Yeah.

>>You know, all those questions are gonna come together, and that's the beautiful integrated best management.

>>Please get out in your garden and walk it.

>>Yeah.

Absolutely.

>>And see it and look at it and watch it.

>>Yeah.

Absolutely.

>>So that you understand what's going on and where?

>>Yeah.

>>Even with your cup of coffee in the morning.

>>Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>>Just get outside.

>>Absolutely.

>>So.

Alejandro, I wanna thank you so much for all the work you're doing here, and you're making it easier for us to take our cup of coffee and go out and walk in our garden and have more tools in our toolbox to better understand what's going on in our gardens, so.

>>Yeah.

>>Thank you.

>>Thank you.