Re: CULT: Botrytis

Snow cover has left at last most (still not all) of my iris beds so I can
check losses. Surprisingly no one was lost due to freeze (almost iris heaven
here). Only 2 of 133 rhizomes received last year from two suppliers have
died of botrytis: perfect result. Unfortunately about half of rhizomes
received from third supplier has died of botrytis.
Though botrytis is very common in the garden it affects mostly lilies and
peonies, very rarely I found an iris affected by botrytis. I think botrytis'
spores widespread in the air but irises are hardy enough in the garden. The
real problem - imported rhizomes and results strongly depend of the
supplier. The worst one are usually from largest suppliers. I link this not
with agrotechnics of grower but with storage-handling-shipping procedure.
Largest growers have longer procedure. I think irises became prone to
botrytis infestation at this stage. There was only one case when most irises
bought at local source was lost of botrytis. Irises was stored about one
month in badly aired shed in this case. So than fresher irises are sent, the
less probability of botrytis.

So I think you don't need to excavate a lot of soil.

Juri
in Moscow, Russia
zone 4-3

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