Re: seedling spacing

Donald, those are mighty healthy seedlings you have growing there.  Looks as if they may all bloom for you come spring!  Hopefully it'll be a warmer winter/early spring than most years for you so you can see your babies.  
 
Possibly even at 8-10 inches that will be fine.  I usually plant my seedlings a foot apart and that seems to be a sufficient enough of space until just after their maiden bloom. After their maiden bloom I usually replant. You know though - even at a foot apart - you have those seedlings that look as if they are on "steroids" and others that are yelling "just leave me alone, I like being lazy".
 
This is what I do with those that are way too vigorous:  When they reach the point that they may crowd another seedling or seedlings out I will simply dig out the section or sections of it which is/are intruding on the others and leave the rest of that seedling there untouched.  Then I replant those dug out sections in another location to continue growing........be it a newly bought pot or an area where something else did not grow or winter killed off.   So far this works well for me.
 
This year I DID go ahead and plant them closer (about 8-10 inches apart) due to lack of space.  Seeing your photos I may be sorry that I did............but maybe not.  
 
~ Margie V.
Oro Valley, AZ.
 
----- Original Message -----
From: d*@eastland.net
To: i*@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2006 1:09 PM
Subject: [iris-photos] seedling spacing

It's nice to have the seedlings grow well. In fact, considering that these
were knocked down to ground level after a major hail storm, these look
darned good. However, I foresee problems. The obvious one is they are too
crowded. Spacing them 8-10 inches apart looks fine when they are 1-2 inches
tall, but good growth and anywhere from 2-6 increases and more increase
showing up every week uses that space rapidly. How far do some of you other
folks space seedlings?

The other problem is they have grown well enough that most of them will
bloom next spring. They are primed to get the bud stalks frozen by the
almost inevitable late freeze. Once again. My experience is that seedlings
will bloom the first time earlier in the season than they will in subsequent
seasons. Not quite sure why. I'm not going to like that.

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7b, USA

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