Garden Success with Stephen Brueggerhoff

KAMU Studios
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Home & Garden
  • Updated Weekly

Garden Success with Stephen Brueggerhoff is a call-in gardening show airing each Thursday from noon to 1:00pm on KAMU-FM. Stephen, an extension specialist in horticulture at Texas A&M Agrilife, serves as your garden consultant, answering questions to help you grow a bountiful garden and beautiful landscape in the Brazos Valley. Stephen will give you time-saving tips, guide you to the best plants selections and provide proven pest management strategies including both conventional and organic techniques.

  1. 7h ago

    Garden Success — Sun Scald, Sticky Driveways, and a Mysterious Mealy Grass

    This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff tackles a mailbag full of late-summer heat casualties, starting with a Master Gardener's bronzing Nellie R. Stevens holly — diagnosed as sun scald from sustained triple-digit temperatures rather than disease, with a side lesson on why this acid-loving holly (ideal soil pH 5.5–6.5) benefits from an actual soil test rather than guesswork. Two callers write in about oddly similar mysteries: sticky droplets under a crape myrtle turn out to be aphid honeydew (harmless, and not worth spraying a tree too large to treat safely), while a post oak dripping sap on a driveway in Burleson County likely points to woolly aphids — with a fun aside on their beneficial lookalike, the mealybug destroyer. A hibiscus grower gets a rundown on treating a genuine mealybug infestation (insecticidal soap over DIY dish-soap mixes, and why horticultural oils are a summer no-go), and a grass mystery from listener Tom turns into a genuine discovery: a rarely-seen "Lindheimer muhly mealybug," solved with help from AgriLife entomology colleagues, with cutting back the grass mound recommended over chemical treatment. Stephen also covers current stage-one water restrictions and the BV Water Smart app's cycle-and-soak watering guidance for the ongoing dry stretch, and reminds fall vegetable gardeners it's time to get broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower transplants in the ground. Plus: upcoming events including blooming bulbs at the Bryan library (September 19th), a Texas A&M Forest Service tree research talk (September 22nd), and the return of the family-friendly Wings in the Garden pollinator event after a several-year hiatus (September 26th).

  2. Aug 20

    Garden Success — Ask the Plant Doctor: Root Rot, Nematodes, Oak Wilt, and a Cigarette-Powered Virus Test

    This month's Ask the Plant Doctor segment brings host Stephen Brueggerhoff together with Hannah Ayala, head diagnostician at the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab, for a wide-ranging conversation about what's landing on her lab bench this summer. Top of the list: Phytophthora and cotton root rot, both driven less by the pathogen itself than by overwatering-stressed roots — a reminder that fungi in the soil only take hold once a plant is already weakened. The two dig into plant-parasitic nematodes (microscopic root-feeders identifiable by nodules on pulled-up tomato roots), why no home nematicides exist and cultural controls like solarization and trap crops are the real fix, and a memorably gross tangent on tobacco mosaic virus — including the lab's go-to demonstration of detecting it straight off a cigarette. Hannah also flags a genuine first in her decade of diagnostic work: oak wilt confirmed in a post oak, a species she'd never seen it in before, alongside a growing caseload of Cercospora leaf spot on crape myrtles and a peek at the lab's forthcoming faster molecular testing for oak wilt (cutting turnaround from weeks to about a week). Along the way: fungicide rotation and FRAC codes to avoid resistance, herbicide misapplication damage, a cautionary tale about a caller who'd been watering only her plants' leaves, and listener cases including JD's crape myrtle leaf spot and a persimmon grower's marginal leaf necrosis and mysterious fruit spotting. Plus a shared soft spot for American beauty berry, and a reminder that the lab (Research Park, Centeq Building) accepts walk-in samples Monday through Friday. Plus: upcoming events including a tree-pruning workshop at Martha's Bloomers on August 22nd and the family-friendly Wings in the Garden pollinator event on September 26th.

  3. Aug 13

    Garden Success — Redbud Roundup, Ground Cover Alternatives, and a Water Conservation Check-In

    This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff reports back from the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association's annual trade show in San Antonio with a redbud tree deep-dive: the diminutive "Emerald," the finicky non-transplantable "Carolina Sweetheart," and weeping, variegated varieties like "Golden Falls" and "Ruby Falls" — plus a reminder that the drought-tough "Oklahoma" redbud remains the reliable local pick. He also flags frog fruit's resurgence as a native ground cover after years out of commercial favor. Water conservation coordinator Jennifer Nations calls in for a timely check-in on the toll a month of near-100-degree, rainless weather is taking on local water systems — from shrinking soil pulling on water pipes to spiking demand — and previews a Healthy Lawns, Healthy Waters workshop in the works for early 2027. Stephen then runs through a lineup of ground cover alternatives to go-to but aggressive Asiatic jasmine, including purple heart, obedient plant (a rain-garden-friendly pollinator magnet), silver pony foot, and woolly stemodia, with notes on drainage needs and spreading habits for each. Listener mail rounds out the show: Kathy shares success growing red yucca from seed, and Tanya gets practical advice — hand-grubbing plus herbicide painted on freshly cut vines — for a nine-years-in-the-making poison ivy battle creeping in from a drainage ditch. Plus: upcoming events including fall vegetable gardening and the Brazos County 4-H Club Fair on August 15th, two programs at Martha's Bloomers in Navasota (August 18th and 22nd), and the family-friendly Wings in the Garden pollinator event on September 26th.

  4. Aug 6

    Garden Success — Galls, Nests, and the Water You’re Not Wasting

    This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff walks through his own late-summer irrigation routine — twice-weekly watering, 15–20 minutes per station, guided by the Be Water Smart app — as a model for conserving water during the Brazos Valley's dry, triple-digit stretch, and shares a fellow gardener's report of possums and squirrels doing the fig-harvesting for her. Caller John opens a fascinating detour into insect galls on his live oaks — the tiny, non-stinging gall wasps behind those strange growths, why they're a curiosity rather than a health threat, and even their surprising historical use as ink (including, Stephen notes, in the treaties signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos). John also asks about weeping lesions on his water oaks, which Stephen flags as worth a closer look — with pictures headed to the upcoming Ask the Plant Doctor segment. From the inbox: a new Texas transplant named Jenkwan finds a bird nest in his garden hose holder and learns about the state and federal laws protecting non-game bird nests and eggs; Aubrey asks about a potted prickly pear cactus developing corky growth and a mature crape myrtle that won't bloom, prompting a rundown of light, pruning timing, and fertilization factors behind stubborn crape myrtles; and two different Johns write in about tree-watering habits — one wondering if watering the base of an oak helps the tree (it doesn't — absorption roots extend well past the drip line) and a site-visit with clients Vickie and her husband whose Shumard oak was showing leaf-margin burn traced back to overwatering. Plus a full slate of upcoming events: a native seed-saving workshop at Lick Creek Park tonight, fall vegetable gardening and the Brazos County 4-H Club Fair on August 15th, and the family-friendly Wings in the Garden pollinator event on September 26th.

  5. Jul 30

    Garden Success — Postcards from Abilene: Drought-Tolerant Natives & Backyard Q&A

    This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff returns from a Texas County Agricultural Agents Association conference in Abilene with a suitcase full of plant inspiration from "cow country." He shares a personal-history detour — from Sam Houston State to the City of Houston Parks Department to a botanical program in Seattle to a full-circle stint at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — before diving into the drought-tough natives he spotted around the Abilene convention center and on a field trip to the 5,000-acre Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch. The plant rundown is a highlight: Turk's cap and its hibiscus-family flower anatomy, hummingbird-magnet autumn sage, pastel-pink rock rose, and three silver-leaved ground covers — silver pony foot (including the cultivated "Silver Falls" selection), woolly stemodia, and their trade-offs around drainage, aggressiveness, and pet-proofing your beds. Mesquite as a street tree turns out to be an Abilene surprise worth talking about too. Back home, Stephen works through listener correspondence: Alison's struggling redbud tree, diagnosed as a case of oversaturated soil and superficial mycelium rather than disease, and JD's Asian persimmon client dealing with minor marginal leaf necrosis. Along the way: a primer on parthenocarpic (seedless) Asian persimmon varieties, a sugar-light almond fig cake recipe offer, and a reminder to use free tools like Be Water Smart to avoid overwatering Brazos Valley's notoriously clay-heavy soil. Plus, a full rundown of what's coming up locally: Birding 101 at Lick Creek Park (Aug 1), a hummingbird program at Martha's Bloomers and a native seed-saving seminar at the Gary Halter Nature Center (both Aug 6), and fall vegetable gardening at the Bryan library (Aug 15).

  6. Jul 23

    Garden Success — Surviving the Summer Heat: Bald Cypress, Black Spot, and Rose Rosette Q&A

    This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff checks in after a brutal 104°F day, sharing how his container fig trees, in-ground vegetable garden, and irrigation system held up — and offers practical watering wisdom for the sustained summer heat ahead: no more than once (or twice) weekly deep watering, cycle-and-soak techniques, and why a little wilting in the landscape is nothing to panic about. Then it's back to listener mail. Joel writes in about marginal necrosis on his bald cypress needles, prompting a deep dive into this Texas native's quirky "knees," its surprising flexibility across soil types, and how to rule out spider mites versus simple drought stress on a tree too large to spray. David asks about black spots on his dwarf yaupon, leading to a rundown of Cercospora fungal leaf spot in the holly family and when (rarely) fungicide is worth reaching for. And Richard sends in photos suspecting rose rosette disease — a real and detected threat in the Bryan–College Station area — but Stephen walks through why his roses' red new growth and leaf cupping look more like normal growth and irregular watering than the virus itself. Caller Karen phones in with a fresh set of raised garden beds and questions about when to start planting vegetables, and gets pointed toward the upcoming Learning at the Library fall vegetable gardening session. Plus: an update on Stephen's own fig harvest (27 pounds and counting), a first sighting of fig rust on the foliage, and reminders about upcoming events — the Brazos County 4-H Club Fair and fall vegetable gardening class on August 15th, and the return of Ask the Plant Doctor on August 20th.

  7. Jul 16

    Garden Success — Inside the Plant Clinic: A Conversation with Dr. Kevin Ong

    This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff launches a brand-new monthly segment, Ask the Plant Doctor, with guest Dr. Kevin Ong, director of the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab and associate department head of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Texas A&M. Kevin pulls back the curtain on how the plant clinic actually works — from processing summer's flood of samples (mostly from arborists, landscapers, and commercial growers, with homeowner inquiries routed through county extension offices) to Texas's small network of specialized diagnostic labs, including the High Plains lab in Canyon and the plant virus lab in Weslaco. He and Stephen also dig into the state's larger role in the National Plant Diagnostic Network, a nationwide web of land-grant university labs protecting U.S. agriculture from emerging and exotic pathogens. The conversation covers real biosecurity stakes: laurel wilt's foothold in Houston, sudden oak death's watery, swimming spores (still not established in Texas — knock on wood), and why bringing home plant cuttings or seeds from a trip abroad is riskier than it looks. Closer to home, Kevin and Stephen trade stories from actual client cases — a live oak in decline traced back to root damage and compacted soil, a squirrel-stripped tree bark mystery, black spot disease plaguing roses across the state, and an update on the multi-state research hunt for rose rosette disease resistance. Plus: practical guidance on reading fungicide labels and timing treatments correctly, where to find AgriLife's free rose disease fact sheets, and a plug for Stephen's free native-plant landscaping talk this Saturday, July 18th, at the Bryan library.

  8. Jul 9

    Garden Success — Soil Science, Rice & Water: A Conversation with Dr. Jake Mowrer

    This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff sits down with Dr. Jake Mowrer, the newly appointed director of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension's Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory, for a deep dive into everything happening beneath our feet. Jake shares how he stepped into the lab director role after 11 years as a soil fertility and water resource management professor (and 15 years in Extension work in Georgia before that), and explains why "don't guess, soil test" should be every gardener's and farmer's starting point. The conversation ranges from the philosophy of "soil function" versus the trendy NRCS term "soil health," to Texas's declining rice acreage and Jake's cutting-edge research showing that intermittent flooding can cut rice irrigation water by 25% with zero yield loss — a potential game-changer for water-strapped Texas rice farmers. Along the way: the surprising size of the soil microbiome, why extension work touches far more of daily life than most people realize, and a candid look at what did and didn't work in Jake's multi-year solarization trials for weed and nematode control (spoiler: mustard-based biofumigation is winning out). Two callers phone in with real backyard battles: Jennifer wrestles with Bermuda grass overtaking a flower bed and asks about solarizing with plastic, and Rose seeks mulch strategies to keep lawn grass from creeping into her front garden bed. Jake and Stephen offer practical, science-backed advice for both. Plus: a reminder about next Thursday's new monthly segment, Ask the Plant Doctor, featuring the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, and a plug for Stephen's free native-plant landscape design talk on July 18th at the Bryan library.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Garden Success with Stephen Brueggerhoff is a call-in gardening show airing each Thursday from noon to 1:00pm on KAMU-FM. Stephen, an extension specialist in horticulture at Texas A&M Agrilife, serves as your garden consultant, answering questions to help you grow a bountiful garden and beautiful landscape in the Brazos Valley. Stephen will give you time-saving tips, guide you to the best plants selections and provide proven pest management strategies including both conventional and organic techniques.

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