Re: Iris borer

 

Hi everyone, 


I am new here, but happy to see familiar names.

Dennis, 
I am so sorry to hear about your loss and want to convey my sincere condolences to you and your family.

On the iris borer, I am glad to say, we don't have the borer here in Switzerland yet. But the very hungry voles will hit during the winter. We are at an altitude of 1300 m (4000 ft.) and on the average get the first snow by mid-October. 2-3 ft of snow cover from 4 1/2 - 6 months is normal. Unfortunately I never manage to get all the foliage cleaned up and field mice will also enjoy the tasty  Iris sibirica and build their nest in the middle of a clump, while the voles hit from below. They hit on Iris ensata first and occasionally go for I. typhifolia.  Last winter they discovered PCNs and destroyed 2/3rd of all plants. Although I invested in some new high tech mousetraps, I only caught 2 in spring. During the growing season they move back to the surrounding meadows. Most likely they hate the vibration from the lawn mower or chipper/shredder....

Liselotte

On Jul 25, 2011, at 3:05 PM, Rodney Barton wrote:


Dennis,

Add me to those late condolences. I'm very sorry to hear of your father's death.

Rod

From: Dennis Kramb <d*@badbear.com>
To: i*@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2011 10:22 PM
Subject: [iris-species] Iris borer

 
About once every 5 years I forget to trim back & discard my iris foliage in winter.  It's a trick my grandma had for controlling iris borer (get rid of the foliage, gets rid of the eggs).  Once again I *completely* forgot to do it.  In fairness, I had lots of distractions, death of my father, layoffs at work, major car repairs, REALLY bad weather, etc., etc.  For me it was a rough winter, and now for my irises it's a rough summer.  But they'll recover in a couple years.  I just have to remember my wintertime chores!  My water irises are fine, though.  Borers can't breathe underwater!  My bearded irises though... wow, boy do they look sad.

Dennis in Cincy





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