Interesting questions. What if one wants to keep the entire clump
undisturbed, like your clump has only one to two rhizomes and you
can't afford loss? Or you want to see in situ display of
pollen parent to observe flower characters closer to that of
outdoors, etc? You could be choosing between two separate clones as
who to use?
I wonder if a temp plastic mulch could help? Plastic mulches can
raise or lower soil temps depending on application. Clear film
raises soil temps higher better than black despite the conventional
wisdom. The critical temps are those inside the rhizome/non-emerged
bud so close to the soil. Soil temp is buffered so big swings in air
temp aren't as critical as say a greenhouse tent. (The greenhouse
need only be brought to play later?) Use of a thermal cover at night
could reduce heat loss from the soil. A full device like the
greenhouse tent, a tarp or simply treat the iris like a person, a
wrap at soil surface. Having spent many nights trying to protect
reblooming irises in the fall from frost, getting up and out in the
morning to keep irises from overheatng under black plastic pots is
the worse part.
hmmm .... there could be reasons to delay a pod parent's bloom until
the pollen parent bloomed. "Force" by another tact. So the objective
is to keep the bud colder longer. A "blanket" wrap around plant left
on all the time might help. Crown left to "breathe"Â I hear burn
over of a clump can delay bloom by a week or so. Kill those pesty
borer eggs at same time.
Delay an early pod parent and speed up a late pollen parent and a
cross of your dreams becomes possible one year ahead?
Shaub
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