Plants will have received bud set conditions before winter. After
that they need appropriate amount of vernalization hours. These
vernalization hours are accumulated in temperature range of 35-54F
with maximum accumulation at 40F. So as long as they have accumulated
enough hours they will initiate bloom when placed into growing
conditions.
Chuck Chapman
-----Original Message-----
From: Shaub Dunkley sdunkley1@bellsouth.net [iris-species]
<iris-species@yahoogroups.com>
To: iris-species <iris-species@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Jan 30, 2015 3:41 pm
Subject: [iris-species] Re: Forcing bearded irises for early bloom
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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